Dave Houle resigned?
Dave Houle didn't resign?
Any way you color it, Mountain View's legendary — yes, legendary — coach is finished coaching championships and all-Americans at the Orem school.
He's a man with a zillion records, a zillion trophies and an army of parents who would swim Utah Lake to testify of his honor, integrity, coaching acumen, leadership and friendship.
Unfortunately, you also have an army of detractors, who would and have sent letters, made phone calls and protests over the years to Utah High School Activities Association officials, Alpine School District officials and Mountain View administrators about one Dave Houle.
Dave Houle is not Satan. He is a good man, perhaps even a great man, a patient, proven teacher of youth.
But even the greatest of men make mistakes. And the one Houle made on a basketball trip to Arizona gave his enemies enough fodder to cost him his job. If he had not resigned, in my humble opinion, somebody with the authority to do so would have taken his whistle away at Mountain View.
Houle had become a lightning rod and the great bolt finally struck.
While in Arizona, Houle had two of his female players come to his hotel room, distraught, like teen girls are wont to be. Houle has handled all kinds of situations where girls on his team needed help and he's delivered. These two girls didn't want to stay in a room where two teammates were ill. Houle, who said he had permission from their parents, in a sold-out hotel, gave up his own room located in a suite. Any rest he got in a restless night, he did on the couch in a living room layout separate from where the two players slept.
It was the wrong decision.
Regardless of the innocence; regardless of the Good Samaritan attitude; regardless of the permission given. In this day and age of appearances and political correctness, a time when Catholic priests, LDS primary teachers and myriadhigh school teachers have been accused of horrendous behavior, a male coach of female players can never be too cautious about anything he does — even in the bright burning light of day.
A man who has made a million right calls as one of the country's most successful basketball and cross country coaches made the wrong call. It opened the door for those who have enough clout to make a change — either by his hand or theirs.
The penalty? Dave Houle's reign at Mountain View is over.
It doesn't mean Dave isn't a great guy — he is.
But when you go to war, casualties will mount.
And over time, doing battle will give you scars. If you are in the coaching business long enough, you are going to be bitten or pay a price. It may come in terms of health, it might come in friendships or family, politics or just wear and tear and mileage. Coaching is a profession where jobs almost always end unkindly.
This time has come for Houle in Orem.
Houle has maintained he has done nothing wrong. Coach Houle probably thinks that in helping two distraught young teens get a good night's sleep, by giving up his bed and using the couch, he was serving a charitable and noble cause.
But these days, those are only great thoughts. In action, they can cost you your job.
I know parents who love Houle and credit him for absolute brilliance in dispatching duties as a coach with their daughters. I believe them.
I know other parents and coaches who cringe when they discuss coach Houle, his open-enrollment all-star teams and titles, and wish many aspects of his reign at Mountain View could be erased or recorded over.
Regardless of sides taken, nobody will take away Dave Houle's 11 state basketball championships and a run of success that may never be equaled in these parts.
A legend? Of course.
Controversial? Right to the end.
Will he surface again? I hope so.
But for now, Mountain View's players, faculty, staff, administration, alumni, boosters and family have to move on.
Legends, if they are true legends, never, ever die.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com