Football in Dover NH
After reading a story in Fosters, a local NH newspaper, Frustrated Dover coach Dunn thinks firing was unfair (Nov. 22, 2016), I was confused about why the offense listed would lead to a firing if no previous violations occurred. Enough people were confused that the Union Leader, a different NH newspaper, reported that Petitioners want Dover coaches’ dismissal decision reviewed (Oct. 27, 2016). Given that no previous violations were mentioned, it seemed like there had to be more to the story.
The Fosters first reported the firing of Dover coaches for drinking about a month ago (H.S. Football: Dover coaches dismissed for drinking on Oct. 20, 2016). To better understand the context here, I researched the Superintendent and her views on related policies. It turns out that there has been a larger debate on continuing the Dover football program which has been discussed for a few years.
In Oct. 2012, the small town of Dover NH made it’s way into the New York Times with A Town’s Passion for Football, a Retired Doctor’s Concern. The retired surgeon had done some reading and felt that health risks outweighed the benefits of continuing the program. He felt strongly enough about his position to view ending the game in Dover, NH, as a moral imperative.
About three years after the New York Times article the Fosters released another article: School Board could revisit football debate (June 9th, 2015). In this article, Superintendent Arbour expressed that she’s open to a broad discussion about the future of Dover School District’s football programs. About two weeks after this article was released, Seacoast Online, a different local paper wrote an article about the safety statistics of athletics in Dover High School, Football responsible for fraction of Dover High concussions (June 24th, 2015). Based on the three articles discussing the merits of a Football program in Dover, we can see that there’s a larger debate happening here.
Are there any other issues which could be creating tension between Athletic programs and other programs at Dover? The Seacoast Tribune wrote an article, unrelated to the Football program, Dover schools beating the odds (May 3rd, 2015). It turns out that the Dover School District has the third lowest per student spending in the state of NH. In the article, Superintendent Arbour appeared to convey some concerns about the low level of funding:
Superintendent Elaine Arbour hopes to do something about Dover’s higher-than-average class sizes in coming years and called its low per-pupil spending “disconcerting.”
Budget crunches inevitably create tension but that doesn’t mean it’s a conflating factor when trying to understand why assistant coaches from a Football team were fired.
Based on reading these articles, I do believe there was more to the story when those Football coaches were fired. It appears that the Dover community will inevitably have a broader discussion over time about the justification of the assistant coach firings and overall future of the Football program. I have not been part of the Dover community since 2006, however, I am a Dover High School Alum. I’m actually just here visiting my parents for Thanksgiving and this Football thing came up.
I did spend some time in the Football program. I wasn’t very good at Football, and did not make Varsity. However, I do remember Coach Dunn and how I felt like he was a positive role model. I understand that there are broader issues at play here, a number of which are beyond the scope of this essay. As someone who is no longer part of the Dover community, I do not have an opinion to share on future directions for Dover Football. As someone who has gone through the Dover Football program, one of the things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving are lessons I learned from Coach Dunn and the Dover Football coaching staff.
**Note: All articles cited here have been saved as PDFs and shared publicly in a Google Drive folder you can access here. Sometimes links change so I didn’t want that issue to come up.
