Football Coach Quits, Cites Booster Club Changes

Veteran Portland High football coach Mike Bailey has called it quits after 26 years and a winning record. Among many reasons, one particularly stands out: The recent booster club reforms issued for Portland and Deering this past September. Instead of separate booster clubs for each sport, next year will only allow one booster club for all sports.

We’ve already mentioned how pooling voluntary resources would impact private donations, bake sales and funding for individual teams, but we failed to consider that beloved coaches may quit as a result. Mike Bailey reflects, “It took me 26 years to develop my boosters. I wanted to keep as much as I could.”

Although that he admitted he would have gone along with the new booster policy had he stayed, his remarks still show the importance given to booster clubs affiliated with different clubs. Unfortunately, Title IX number crunching is to blame, and it will impact schools and their people far and wide.