All high school coaching contracts in Ohio are annually renewable. DPS communication specialist Jill Drury said boys and girls coaches for the upcoming fall seasons will be addressed in a regular June DPS board meeting. All City League coaches must be approved by the school board. The league is comprised of Belmont, Dunbar, Meadowdale, Ponitz, Stivers and Thurgood Marshall high schools.
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
Powell said late last week he had been told by Dunbar principal Crystal Phillips that he had been renewed as the football coach for the 2017 season. At that time, DPS had not responded to a request for confirmation.
Powell had been embroiled in a dispute with DPS director of athletics Mark Baker over claims that Baker instructed Dunbar to lose a Week 10 football game to Belmont last season.
»WATCH: Video of controversial Belmont-Dunbar game emerges
Citing a “serious lack of administrative responsibility and institutional control,” that accusation ultimately led to a three-year suspension of all DPS boys and girls athletics programs and a $10,000 fine by the Ohio High School Athletic Association following a lengthy investigation.
EXPLAINER - DUNBAR COACHES: ‘We were told to lose’
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A separate DPS investigation concluded Baker did not instruct Dunbar to lose and reprimanded Powell and then-Dunbar AD Pete Pullen for playing an academically ineligible player. Pullen, also Dunbar’s boys basketball coach, resigned as AD in mid-November.
Powell is also a Dunbar boys basketball and track and field coach. He said the entire Wolverines football coaching staff from last season continues to oversee offseason weightlifting and conditioning. He also is a liaison with powerhouse college programs for several high-profile and uncommitted football recruits.
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Baker is a celebrated Dunbar alum who was a starter on the 1987 Class AAA state championship basketball team, Dunbar’s first. The Wolverines have won four more Division II state basketball titles since, all with Pullen as coach.
Baker also starred in basketball at Ohio State University. He’s in his first school year in succeeding Jonas Smith as the DPS director of athletics. As of Monday, Baker was listed on the agenda for Wednesday’s school board meeting as being considered for a two-year contract extension.
Baker previously was the boys basketball coach at Trotwood-Madison and Middletown.
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