Mr. Buddy Garrity
01-10-2006, 01:56 PM
PAISD's Hampshire riles some coaches
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By Dave Rogers - The News staff writer Posted: 01/07/06 - 11:55:20 pm CST
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Editor's note: This is part of a series of stroies examining various aspects of the Port Arthur Independent School District's athletic program.
One of the many coaches who has come and gone at Memorial in the past four years said he first suspected that Lauri Hampshire wasn't very knowledgeable about sports when she wanted to paint the backboards in the gym black to match the school's predominant color scheme.
"Can you believe that?" Mark Honea said a couple of years ago. "Who ever heard of such a thing?"
Because of hurricane damage to their court at Memorial High, the Titan boys' and girls' basketball teams opened their 2005-06 seasons at James Gamble Gym on Memorial's Ninth Grade Campus.
The backboards on the side goals there are painted black.
"Who is this Lauri Hampshire?"
That's a question heard around the Greater Houston area in 2002, when Port Arthur schools consolidation created Memorial High and caused Class 5A athletic directors to be introduced to PAISD's newly empowered athletic coordinator.
It's a question Port Arthurans deserve to have answered in light of her substantial influence on a city's total athletic program that has consistently underachieved since the 2002 consolidation of Austin, Jefferson and Lincoln high schools.
Girls' basketball coach Honea, girls' track coach Ora Smith, baseball coach Kyle Green and football defensive coordinator John Cunningham, four high-profile coaches that quit during or immediately after Memorial's first year of existence, cited Hampshire's interference among reasons they left. Current coaches still complain about her.
"Does (her) job description require that you know about athletics and how long it takes to get equipment and uniforms (ordered and delivered)?"
Baseball mom Deborah Freeman asked that question at last month's school board meeting, after reporting that Hampshire had requested coach Wayne McKeller's equipment and uniform order in August, then failed to place the order until the end of the year, possibly too late for the equipment to arrive in time for the start of the season.
If that's the case, it will hardly be the first time.
Since Memorial opened for business in the 2002-03 school year, Titan teams have often started their seasons without the proper uniforms.
But that's not as bad as when Hampshire neglected to order supplies for the training room and Memorial's trainers had to beg athletic tape from their peers at Mid-County schools just to get through football season.
Coaches in Nederland and Port Neches still laugh about that one.
Yes, Mrs. Freeman, Hampshire's job description does include: "Process bids for purchasing athletic supplies and equipment and purchases for all athletic equipment."
Memorial's cross country teams, the first squads to represent the new high school in 2002, began their seasons without school-purchased shoes for their runners, according to longtime coach Leroy Leopold.
At least the shoes finally came.
Memorial's first-year track teams never did get rain suits, an equipment order that was canceled after a February, 2003, meeting in which spring sports coaches were notified that cutbacks were required because the entire year's athletic budget had already been spent.
But not before the baseball program, for which Hampshire's son Nick played, had received its shipment of seven sets of uniforms.
Dean Colbert, the PAISD athletic director, denied knowledge of the 2003 athletic staff meeting about empty athletic coffers, but Smith said Colbert ran the meeting.
Asked about the story about trainers being forced to borrow tape, the AD said "That's a lie."
But Nederland athletic director Larry Neumann said he knew of the incident, first told to The News by former Memorial trainer Ricardo Serna.
Hampshire, who refused numerous requests by The News to assist in the preparation of this story, apparently has little or no background in sports participation and lacks coaching experience. That's a combination that could not be found in a survey of other school district athletic coordinators conducted by The News.
But given that her background is in bookkeeping, it seems strange that coaches past and present at Memorial complain about Hampshire's oversight of their teams' budgets and her micromanagement when it comes to their equipment orders.
Coaches complain they are never told how much money is budgeted for them to spend on their teams' equipment and travel. They just hear from Hampshire that there isn't enough money for all they have ordered.
Serna, one of three trainers to quit at Memorial the past three years, said he did it because of long hours, the district's refusal to pay his job-specific travel expenses and Hampshire's line-by-line questioning of every item on his equipment orders.
He said she wanted to know why he was ordering more mouthpieces than Memorial had football players. She didn't realize players usually go through more than one per season.
The News left several phone messages for Hampshire, at her work telephone number, her home telephone number and her cell telephone number. The newspaper provided her with a written list of questions covering incidents in this story.
She did not return any of the calls nor respond to the written questions.
Colbert supports Hampshire, a native of Port Arthur who has worked for the PAISD since 1992.
"She does a good job, she does a quality job as far as I'm concerned," Colbert said this week.
When Port Arthur had three high schools, head football coaches at each campus were in charge of athletics at their school and their feeder schools and an athletic secretary in the PAISD's downtown office helped with ticket sales, stadium reservations and team travel arrangements.
Hampshire filled this role, reporting to assistant superintendent Louis Reed, whose oversight duties included PAISD athletics.
She gained more authority when Reed became interim superintendent in 2001.
Hampshire did it all despite not having a traditional college degree. She completed a two-year degree in accounting from Lamar State College-Port Arthur in 1998 and in the past two years has earned an on-line bacherlor's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.
In her job just prior to hiring on at PAISD, Hampshire worked as executive secretary at a beer distributorship. Other jobs on her resume include billing clerk for Dallas surgeons, outpatient registrar for Port Arthur's St. Mary Hospital and business agent for a roofing company.
According to the latest information available to The News, Hampshire earns approximately $50,000 a year, including a car allowance. In addition to being athletic coordinator, she is paid for being PAISD's game and stadium manager.
The News attempted to question superintendent Willis Mackey about Hampshire, but he referred the questions to Colbert, whom Mackey said was her immediate supervisor.
Two PAISD organizational charts provided to The News Thursday failed to show Hampshire reporting to Colbert. Her job isn't listed on the district's overall chart and on the Memorial High chart, her job is listed below a "Clerical" department shown reporting to assistant principals.
Coaches at Memorial often say they're unsure who's in charge.
"My perception was Lauri Hampshire was his (Colbert's) boss," Honea said. "I was in a meeting where he's there and she's there and she's acting like the real athletic director.
"I had never seen a head coach taking orders from a secretary before."
Because Hurricane Rita seriously damaged Memorial's baseball park, blowing away everything but the field itself, Hampshire looked into having the team practice and play elsewhere this spring.
McKeller said she asked him why the team couldn't play on the softball fields at Ford Park. She apparently didn't realize that softball fields are roughly half the size of baseball diamonds.
How PAISD athletics stacks up
Lauri Hampshire became athletic coordinator of the Port Arthur Independent School District without a college degree (she has one now) or coaching experience and earns a total salary of about $50,000 per year. She and athletic director-head football coach Dean Colbert (salary: about $80,000) combine to run athletics for the 9,800-student PAISD.
Here's a look at how other nearby and comparable school districts run their athletic departments. Except for Humble, all districts have one high school, and except for two, all are Class 5A schools.
Nederland ISD
(5,200 district enrollment, Class 4A)
Athletic director-head football coach Larry Neumann has a masters' degree in management and a staff of one, athletic secretary Charlotte Wallace. Neumann oversees all athletic accounts. Wallace handles ticket business, paperwork regarding expenditures for athletic equipment and travel, as well as game-day operation.
Neumann says his salary is in the "mid-70s" and Wallace earns "less than half" of the reported $50,000 Hampshire makes.
Port Neches-Groves ISD
(4,800 district enrollment, Class 4A)
PN-G's athletic department management is split between two athletic coordinators. Volleyball coach Barbara Comeaux is girls' coordinator and head football coach Matt Burnett is boys' coordinator.
Each oversees the personnel and budgets for the girls' and boys' teams for the middle school and high school. The coaches, who each make a little more than $65,000, share an athletic secretary who helps with the paperwork.
Lufkin ISD
(8.500 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Veteran athletic director-head football coach John Outlaw says "I have two full-time secretaries that pretty much run the show."
One is his personal secretary, who keeps up with Lufkin's 24 coaches and its athletes, keeping track of eligibility and ordering buses, among other things. The athletic business secretary handles the financial end of the department.
"They're probably both making right at $20,000," says Outlaw.
Victoria ISD
(13,000 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Like Port Arthur, Victoria consolidated schools, forming Victoria Memorial in 2000 from Stroman and Victoria Highs. The campuses are two miles apart, one housing grades 9-10, the other 11-12.
Athletic director Larry Hurt, a former head football coach with a masters in education, has two athletic coordinators who are head coaches with at least 25 years coaching experience, one for boys, one for girls. A total of three secretaries handle paperwork and financial accounts.
Deer Park ISD
(11,900 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Deer Park has an athletic director (ex-coach Jerry Creel) assistant AD-head football coach (Chris Massey) and an athletic director's secretary, Linda Petty, who said, "That is unbelievable" when told of Hampshire's salary.
Petty is Deer Park's ticket and game manager. She handles equipment orders and the bulk of the department's paperwork.
Like Port Arthur, Deer Park's one high school is split between two campuses. In Deer Park, one houses grades 9-10, the other 11-12, and they're three miles apart. There are four junior highs.
Massey, who has a masters degree in education, is in charge of all things having to do with football from seventh grade up and Creel is responsible for all other sports.
Humble ISD
(28,100 district enrollment, Class 5A)
The home of Memorial's District 22-5A foes Kingwood and Humble, Humble ISD is set to open a third 5A high school, Atascocita, next year.
Athletic director Zoe Simpson is an ex-track coach with 30 years coaching experience and numerous state titles to his credit. Assistant AD Neal Quillin has four decades of football-coaching experience and a state championship. Both have masters degrees.
Administrative assistant Naomi Curry and a clerk round out Humble's athletic office.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Dave Rogers - The News staff writer Posted: 01/07/06 - 11:55:20 pm CST
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's note: This is part of a series of stroies examining various aspects of the Port Arthur Independent School District's athletic program.
One of the many coaches who has come and gone at Memorial in the past four years said he first suspected that Lauri Hampshire wasn't very knowledgeable about sports when she wanted to paint the backboards in the gym black to match the school's predominant color scheme.
"Can you believe that?" Mark Honea said a couple of years ago. "Who ever heard of such a thing?"
Because of hurricane damage to their court at Memorial High, the Titan boys' and girls' basketball teams opened their 2005-06 seasons at James Gamble Gym on Memorial's Ninth Grade Campus.
The backboards on the side goals there are painted black.
"Who is this Lauri Hampshire?"
That's a question heard around the Greater Houston area in 2002, when Port Arthur schools consolidation created Memorial High and caused Class 5A athletic directors to be introduced to PAISD's newly empowered athletic coordinator.
It's a question Port Arthurans deserve to have answered in light of her substantial influence on a city's total athletic program that has consistently underachieved since the 2002 consolidation of Austin, Jefferson and Lincoln high schools.
Girls' basketball coach Honea, girls' track coach Ora Smith, baseball coach Kyle Green and football defensive coordinator John Cunningham, four high-profile coaches that quit during or immediately after Memorial's first year of existence, cited Hampshire's interference among reasons they left. Current coaches still complain about her.
"Does (her) job description require that you know about athletics and how long it takes to get equipment and uniforms (ordered and delivered)?"
Baseball mom Deborah Freeman asked that question at last month's school board meeting, after reporting that Hampshire had requested coach Wayne McKeller's equipment and uniform order in August, then failed to place the order until the end of the year, possibly too late for the equipment to arrive in time for the start of the season.
If that's the case, it will hardly be the first time.
Since Memorial opened for business in the 2002-03 school year, Titan teams have often started their seasons without the proper uniforms.
But that's not as bad as when Hampshire neglected to order supplies for the training room and Memorial's trainers had to beg athletic tape from their peers at Mid-County schools just to get through football season.
Coaches in Nederland and Port Neches still laugh about that one.
Yes, Mrs. Freeman, Hampshire's job description does include: "Process bids for purchasing athletic supplies and equipment and purchases for all athletic equipment."
Memorial's cross country teams, the first squads to represent the new high school in 2002, began their seasons without school-purchased shoes for their runners, according to longtime coach Leroy Leopold.
At least the shoes finally came.
Memorial's first-year track teams never did get rain suits, an equipment order that was canceled after a February, 2003, meeting in which spring sports coaches were notified that cutbacks were required because the entire year's athletic budget had already been spent.
But not before the baseball program, for which Hampshire's son Nick played, had received its shipment of seven sets of uniforms.
Dean Colbert, the PAISD athletic director, denied knowledge of the 2003 athletic staff meeting about empty athletic coffers, but Smith said Colbert ran the meeting.
Asked about the story about trainers being forced to borrow tape, the AD said "That's a lie."
But Nederland athletic director Larry Neumann said he knew of the incident, first told to The News by former Memorial trainer Ricardo Serna.
Hampshire, who refused numerous requests by The News to assist in the preparation of this story, apparently has little or no background in sports participation and lacks coaching experience. That's a combination that could not be found in a survey of other school district athletic coordinators conducted by The News.
But given that her background is in bookkeeping, it seems strange that coaches past and present at Memorial complain about Hampshire's oversight of their teams' budgets and her micromanagement when it comes to their equipment orders.
Coaches complain they are never told how much money is budgeted for them to spend on their teams' equipment and travel. They just hear from Hampshire that there isn't enough money for all they have ordered.
Serna, one of three trainers to quit at Memorial the past three years, said he did it because of long hours, the district's refusal to pay his job-specific travel expenses and Hampshire's line-by-line questioning of every item on his equipment orders.
He said she wanted to know why he was ordering more mouthpieces than Memorial had football players. She didn't realize players usually go through more than one per season.
The News left several phone messages for Hampshire, at her work telephone number, her home telephone number and her cell telephone number. The newspaper provided her with a written list of questions covering incidents in this story.
She did not return any of the calls nor respond to the written questions.
Colbert supports Hampshire, a native of Port Arthur who has worked for the PAISD since 1992.
"She does a good job, she does a quality job as far as I'm concerned," Colbert said this week.
When Port Arthur had three high schools, head football coaches at each campus were in charge of athletics at their school and their feeder schools and an athletic secretary in the PAISD's downtown office helped with ticket sales, stadium reservations and team travel arrangements.
Hampshire filled this role, reporting to assistant superintendent Louis Reed, whose oversight duties included PAISD athletics.
She gained more authority when Reed became interim superintendent in 2001.
Hampshire did it all despite not having a traditional college degree. She completed a two-year degree in accounting from Lamar State College-Port Arthur in 1998 and in the past two years has earned an on-line bacherlor's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.
In her job just prior to hiring on at PAISD, Hampshire worked as executive secretary at a beer distributorship. Other jobs on her resume include billing clerk for Dallas surgeons, outpatient registrar for Port Arthur's St. Mary Hospital and business agent for a roofing company.
According to the latest information available to The News, Hampshire earns approximately $50,000 a year, including a car allowance. In addition to being athletic coordinator, she is paid for being PAISD's game and stadium manager.
The News attempted to question superintendent Willis Mackey about Hampshire, but he referred the questions to Colbert, whom Mackey said was her immediate supervisor.
Two PAISD organizational charts provided to The News Thursday failed to show Hampshire reporting to Colbert. Her job isn't listed on the district's overall chart and on the Memorial High chart, her job is listed below a "Clerical" department shown reporting to assistant principals.
Coaches at Memorial often say they're unsure who's in charge.
"My perception was Lauri Hampshire was his (Colbert's) boss," Honea said. "I was in a meeting where he's there and she's there and she's acting like the real athletic director.
"I had never seen a head coach taking orders from a secretary before."
Because Hurricane Rita seriously damaged Memorial's baseball park, blowing away everything but the field itself, Hampshire looked into having the team practice and play elsewhere this spring.
McKeller said she asked him why the team couldn't play on the softball fields at Ford Park. She apparently didn't realize that softball fields are roughly half the size of baseball diamonds.
How PAISD athletics stacks up
Lauri Hampshire became athletic coordinator of the Port Arthur Independent School District without a college degree (she has one now) or coaching experience and earns a total salary of about $50,000 per year. She and athletic director-head football coach Dean Colbert (salary: about $80,000) combine to run athletics for the 9,800-student PAISD.
Here's a look at how other nearby and comparable school districts run their athletic departments. Except for Humble, all districts have one high school, and except for two, all are Class 5A schools.
Nederland ISD
(5,200 district enrollment, Class 4A)
Athletic director-head football coach Larry Neumann has a masters' degree in management and a staff of one, athletic secretary Charlotte Wallace. Neumann oversees all athletic accounts. Wallace handles ticket business, paperwork regarding expenditures for athletic equipment and travel, as well as game-day operation.
Neumann says his salary is in the "mid-70s" and Wallace earns "less than half" of the reported $50,000 Hampshire makes.
Port Neches-Groves ISD
(4,800 district enrollment, Class 4A)
PN-G's athletic department management is split between two athletic coordinators. Volleyball coach Barbara Comeaux is girls' coordinator and head football coach Matt Burnett is boys' coordinator.
Each oversees the personnel and budgets for the girls' and boys' teams for the middle school and high school. The coaches, who each make a little more than $65,000, share an athletic secretary who helps with the paperwork.
Lufkin ISD
(8.500 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Veteran athletic director-head football coach John Outlaw says "I have two full-time secretaries that pretty much run the show."
One is his personal secretary, who keeps up with Lufkin's 24 coaches and its athletes, keeping track of eligibility and ordering buses, among other things. The athletic business secretary handles the financial end of the department.
"They're probably both making right at $20,000," says Outlaw.
Victoria ISD
(13,000 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Like Port Arthur, Victoria consolidated schools, forming Victoria Memorial in 2000 from Stroman and Victoria Highs. The campuses are two miles apart, one housing grades 9-10, the other 11-12.
Athletic director Larry Hurt, a former head football coach with a masters in education, has two athletic coordinators who are head coaches with at least 25 years coaching experience, one for boys, one for girls. A total of three secretaries handle paperwork and financial accounts.
Deer Park ISD
(11,900 district enrollment, Class 5A)
Deer Park has an athletic director (ex-coach Jerry Creel) assistant AD-head football coach (Chris Massey) and an athletic director's secretary, Linda Petty, who said, "That is unbelievable" when told of Hampshire's salary.
Petty is Deer Park's ticket and game manager. She handles equipment orders and the bulk of the department's paperwork.
Like Port Arthur, Deer Park's one high school is split between two campuses. In Deer Park, one houses grades 9-10, the other 11-12, and they're three miles apart. There are four junior highs.
Massey, who has a masters degree in education, is in charge of all things having to do with football from seventh grade up and Creel is responsible for all other sports.
Humble ISD
(28,100 district enrollment, Class 5A)
The home of Memorial's District 22-5A foes Kingwood and Humble, Humble ISD is set to open a third 5A high school, Atascocita, next year.
Athletic director Zoe Simpson is an ex-track coach with 30 years coaching experience and numerous state titles to his credit. Assistant AD Neal Quillin has four decades of football-coaching experience and a state championship. Both have masters degrees.
Administrative assistant Naomi Curry and a clerk round out Humble's athletic office.