During a February meeting of the Madison Board of Education, the board voted 4-0, with one member absent, not to renew the coaching contract of the now-former head football coach, Jessie Hubbard.
Deputies were called to the board meeting, which included about two dozen team members and parents who were upset after the vote not to renew Hubbard’s contract.
Some were said to have become loud as they gathered in a hallway outside the auditorium.
A review by the Journal-News of sheriff records the evening of the board meeting showed calls for deputies were noted by the dispatcher as a “dispute in progress” but no arrests were made.
Madison Schools officials recently posted on the district’s website the news about the hiring of Lima’s Perry High School football coach Dan Baker to lead the Mohawks in the coming season.
Baker told the Journal-News: “I felt that this position was the perfect fit for me as a coach.”
“It is an opportunity to help to bring a program back to the level of its recent success and to unite the community. When looking around the district and the community you can see that there is a lot of potential to succeed here and it seems that success on and off the field is something that can be accomplished,” said Baker.
Baker was 20-9 the last three years and was named 2019 Division VII Northwest Ohio coach of the year.
“I believe that there is the talent in the (Madison) program to be able to build and sustain success at a high level,” he said.
It’s the latest move by the school system to change its sports program after announcing earlier this month long-sought-after artificial turf will be installed in Madison’s sports stadium thanks to a grant from the NFL.
Madison’s football program reached a historic peak when the 2017 squad went deep into the state playoffs.
Madison was 4-5 last season.
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