More than 100 Ironton High School students rallied at Tiger Alley this morning, refusing classwork and asking superintendent Steve Kingery to make Bob Lutz a full-time coach.

Friday, April 07, 2000

More than 100 Ironton High School students rallied at Tiger Alley this morning, refusing classwork and asking superintendent Steve Kingery to make Bob Lutz a full-time coach.

An hour later, they had promises of a special school board meeting Tuesday.

"He doesn’t want to teach, he wants to coach," former Tigers quarterback Jimmy Peyton said while students cheered.

Kingery spoke to students for about an hour, urging them to go back to class amid yells of "no Lutz, no school" or "let him coach." Some parents parked on nearby streets to watch and to honk in agreement.

"The coach hasn’t left, he hasn’t lost his job," Kingery said as students huddled around him.

"I’m willing to help, but you have to cooperate with me and go back in," he said.

Students refused, saying Lutz and Mike Burcham have enough support from the community that the school board should allow them to retire and retain them as paid coaches.

"If the community is so strong about it now, we can do it," Peyton said. "I’ll fight tooth and nail."

The school board heard similar support from Ironton residents at its regular board meeting last week, but board members were not formally approached about the plan by the coaches. The idea had only been discussed with Kingery.

Tim Collins, who assists the high school sports teams, attended that meeting and supported students this morning.

"Let them come here," Collins said, referring to the school board as students cheered him on.

"They’re the best doggone coaches in the State of Ohio," he said. "I got about 65 phone calls from adults who are ready to go to the board."

Kingery told the students they could make their point, but they had to do it the right way.

"If you want to have a positive effect on this, you need to do it the right way You can’t do it from a parking lot," he said.

Kingery called the board president from the high school office, then came back to tell students a meeting would be held Tuesday.

"There will be an informational meeting that will allow the board to express what the situation is and the students to express their opinion," he said.

Students pushed for the board meeting to be held at school during the last class period of the day.

Kingery said he would meet with three student representatives and would work out details of the meeting.

By 9:30 a.m., students were heading into the stadium to meet with two board members who were supposed to visit.

At first, about 8 a.m., students gathered in front of the high school, stopping traffic on Seventh Street and chanting, "We want Lutz, we want Lutz."

Lutz urged them to go back to class, but one by one they stayed outside.

Student Tyrone Allen said students decided to rally last night.

"Mike Burcham’s son told our quarterback and he called a bunch of us," student Chris Haney said.

The coaches want to just coach right now, the community wants them to continue coaching, but the school doesn’t want to support the students, Haney said.

"And the coach has the record to do it," he said.

High school dean of students Lance Clanton said officials would not force students back to class but would watch over the crowd for safety reasons.

Clanton said students had already made their point by 9 a.m. and should have returned to class, but they weren’t listening to those willing to help them.