The curious dismissal of Fort Worth ISD's athletic director

Fort Worth Independent School District recently hired a good man to be its new athletic director in Todd Vesely, whose first priority should be to watch his back.

If he didn’t know it already, FWISD’s school board can be treacherous and Vesely should carry anti-viper vaccine with him at all times.

Case in point: The district's curious handling of his predecessor, Kevin Greene.

Greene has dedicated his professional life to high school athletics, and from 2010 served as FWISD’s athletic director.

Unbeknownst to most people, last fall Greene was essentially shoved out of his office at Farrington Field, down the street to the main FWISD building, and into an office for his new job as Title IX coordinator. There is nothing on his resume, or personnel evaluation records, that indicates he was ready for his new position, that he wanted it, or did anything other than exemplary work in his old one.

Greene politely declined an interview request for this column.

Per records obtained through Open Records Request, every single category on Greene's evaluation as FWISD AD was marked "Exceeds Expectations," "Clearly Outstanding" or "Meets Expectations."

Along with Houston ISD, Dallas, ISD, Austin ISD and San Antonio ISD, running the FWISD athletic department is not necessarily an un-winnable proposition. But it's close. Vesely should do a fine job, but there was zero reason to make this move.

Greene wanted his new job of FWISD Title IX coordinator so much that, according to Carroll ISD, he applied for the vacant athletic director position.

FWISD has been in the process of trying to push him out for about one year, according to sources.

When asked if there was anything about Greene’s leadership that led to this change, FWISD superintendent Dr. Kent Scribner said, “No. I think organizations go through change. He had a nice long run and it was an opportunity for us to head in a different direction. ... We are trying to make a change in the culture.”

Until a June school board meeting, no explanation was given as to why Greene was moved out. Mostly because no one asked. A press release, which was made available in June, on FWISD's website states the position change.

FWISD rejected an open records request for Greene's personnel evaluation. Although Greene did not want to be interviewed, he did consent to turn over his evaluation records.

This move reeks of change for the sake of change, and members of a school board that wanted to see it completed because someone had their feelings hurt.

In 2017, Fort Worth voters passed a $750 million bond for FWISD; a portion of the money is dedicated towards improvements and upgrades in school athletics, specifically field houses. Somehow a new AD is going to turn a new field house into winning a state title, or something dramatically different.

If the expectations for this "change in culture" include winning state titles in football, Vesely should resign now and return to Ector County ISD, where he previously worked.

Just as the man before him, Paul Galvan, Greene did a fine job given the set of circumstances he was handed. Among them was operating without an assistant athletic director that remained vacant for several years, meaning both he and his staff had to do more with less.

Also included on his job responsibilities was to handle a staffer who was re-assigned by FWISD to be under his watch, former Texas Southern football coach Johnnie Cole, whom the district "found a reason to believe" had an improper relationship with a student when he worked at Eastern Hills in the 2014-15 academic year.

Cole, who was fired from Texas Southern because of NCAA violations, denied all claims against him.

Despite a recommendation by FWISD to fire Cole, he was moved out of Eastern Hills to a different position in the district as tickets and facilities manager.

And Greene's list of responsibilities included to follow a direct order from a superior to try to deliberately squeeze Trimble Tech in as a 5A school despite its meeting the criteria as a 6A school during Texas University Interscholastic League re-classification earlier this year.

Per Scribner, FWISD had 15,000 student-athletes last academic year, and the participation, grade point averages and performance of the teams and respective staffs were good.

"Every year we go through program evaluations and in January of 2018, based on board feedback, and my own professional judgment, it was obvious we needed to look at three departments," Scribner said. "One was technology, another was operations and the other was athletics. Each needs more support and, certainly in some cases, a new direction."

The school district continues to grow as Fort Worth expands, while FWISD's budgets are routinely reduced; meanwhile, its high school coaches look longingly at suburban districts that offer more money and a less congested feeder system from the middle school levels.

After Greene was moved out, the district held a national search for his replacement. After a series of interviews, their first choice, according to an open records request, was former Arlington ISD, Carroll AD and Duncanville AD Kevin Ozee.

That fell through and it went with Vesely.

"The reality is that Fort Worth ISD has great coaches and kids and things that are going on that are excellent," Vesely said. "There are always areas that need improvement. It's going to take a while. But our expectations are for our young people: Winning isn't necessarily on the scoreboard. The goal is to win, but there are things that make huge differences in a young person's life and that's what athletics is all about."

The challenges this district faces are so numerous and complex no one person can be expected to fix it all. The position of FWISD AD is about juggling, and managing circumstances.

The districts that win these days have become the affluent suburban schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, et al.

Just as Paul Galvan before, Greene did a fine job. But he was drilled because someone on the board decided it was time.

Mr. Vesely, Godspeed, and watch your back.

This story was originally published July 4, 2018 at 6:00 AM.