By Steve Gunn
LocalSportsJournal.com
NORTON SHORES – Last week officials at Western Michigan Christian High School announced that they had found their new boys varsity basketball coach.
Now they are searching for a coach again, because Jeff Bauer, who was introduced as the new coach last week, has decided to coach girls basketball at Holland West Ottawa instead.
Bauer had been an assistant men’s basketball coach at Grand Valley State University before accepting the WMC job. He was hired to replace former Coach Kyle Mastenbrook, who was released following the 2015-16 season.
“Our previously hired boys varsity basketball coach, Jeff Bauer, will no longer be joining our coaching or teaching staff,” WMC Athletic Director Josh Glerum said in a prepared statement.
“It was discovered, much to our surprise, that after Jeff had signed both an athletic coaching and teaching contract to join WMC, that he had still been pursuing other teaching and coaching opportunities throughout the area.
“At this point, Jeff will be taking a position at West Ottawa High School. It is incredibly disappointing that Jeff will not be honoring his contract, but we are confident in God’s plan.”
Bauer told LocalSportsJournal.com that a family situation forced him to continue his job search after accepting WMC’s offer.
“In terms of the change in positions, a family situation, which I can’t fully disclose, cropped up after I committed to WMC and forced the need to keep looking,” said Bauer, who added that his employment at West Ottawa has not been officially confirmed by the school board yet.
“I really appreciate the people at WMC and Josh. They have a great place. I also want to say that I feel bad about the timing and how everything went down.”
An eight-member committee that was formed to hire a new coach at WMC will meet on Monday to discuss the situation, Glerum said in his statement.
