There are a couple of things that I would like to clarify and hopefully help put this situation to rest.

On March 23, I contacted Mr. Drylie and discussed the matter of his son not being selected for the Sr Classic. He told me the facts that made him believe why his son should have been selected. I was unaware of some of the information and I came away believing that he had many valid points. I expressed that with him but in the end, I did not believe that his criteria was enough to change the decision made by the committee. I told Mr Drylie that the committee may have made a mistake; I apologized to Mr Drylie and felt as if we were moving in the direction that we would have to agree to disagree.

The athletes were selected on a state champ basis. I need to clarify a statement first made. The kids that did not win titles, FINALISTS, were all given info sheets and asked would they be interested in wrestling in the SR Classic. Mr Drylie says his son turned one in. I never saw his son's sheet and because of this, I believed that we had the next best available athlete due to the fact that the young man from Lawrence had a sheet in the paperwork.

I believe that Mr Drylie has a valid point; he wants to make the organization better. With that being said, I have a few suggestions. JOIN THE ORGANIZATION. You can’t make a difference if all you do is complain when a situation does not turn out the way you wished. The information to join is posted on the Kansas Wrestling website. Every year at our fall clinic, we have elections. I would also like to encourage these “15 coaches that have contacted you” to put their name in the mix and run for a position. Last year I believe we had 3 open positions and had 4 people express interest in those positions.

At this time, we have a solid membership, in my opinion. It can always be better and hopefully this thread will cause a desire to join the KWCA. 37 out of 84 123A coaches belong. 31 out of 64 4A coaches belong. 17 out of 32 5A coaches belong and 11 out of 32 6A coaches belong. We have a system that definitely has some flaws, but if coaches follow the procedure, we don’t need to send out a verification email for this event. IF YOUR KID WANTS TO WRESTLE, FILL OUT THE SHEET. We have email list for all current members, but my question to you- quick off the top of your head, who is the head coach at , Whitewater?, Horton, Immaculata, Rosalia?? Etc. Will they be there next year , did they change their email address, a million different things and excuses why they did not get the notification and how the SR Classic does not do enough, Blah, Blah, Blah. Follow the procedure and there may be a few hick- ups every once in awhile, but the system is getting better and we are doing everything we can and working to get better.

Finally , Mr Drylie. As soon as I receive your membership, I have a job for you. I am making a Presidential Decision, without board approval. You now have the job of obtaining every email address of every coach in the state for the purpose of being able to contact them for the 2013 SR Classic. Please verify these addresses and get them to me as soon as possible. That way if there is a mishap again, we can say we did it your way, and it still boiled down to the committee getting the information it needed from the athlete, coach, parent, and tournament officials etc. Thank you for your time in advance and I look forward to receiving the list in the near future.
James A Renfro
jrenfro@usd447.org