Catawba County Schools decline comment,
citing change as a personnel matter
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
CATAWBA – In addition to making a change in varsity boys’ basketball head coaches, Bandys High is also looking to hire a new head coach for girls’ volleyball.
Both positions were listed as open on a jobs list for Catawba County Schools (CCS) as of March 13, and Bandys’ athletic department confirmed last week Adam Dutka will not be back in boys’ basketball.
Erin Dutka, the wife of Adam Dutka, has been head volleyball coach at Bandys for the past four seasons.
When selected, both Dutkas received approval to coach via the Catawba County Board of Education, as required.
The school’s athletic department has not commented on a volleyball opening, referring any additional questions about coaching positions at the school to the CCS.
On Wednesday morning, Crystal Davis — the school system’s attorney — said via email CCS will decline comment about the coaching changes, citing personnel laws.
Davis said non-faculty coaches serve as at-will employees and termination decisions involving those type employees can be made by the CCS superintendent (or administrators) without discussions or approval of the Catawba County Board of Education.
Hires in the CCS are made via board approval after the superintendent recommends them, but principals decide the persons assigned to coach sports at their schools.
The jobs listings for the school system say they will remain open until filled.
The Trojans went 38-53 in volleyball under Erin Dutka, including 10-13 overall and 8-6 in the South Fork 2A last season. They tied Lake Norman Charter for fourth place and advanced to the state 2A playoffs, falling 3-0 at Forbush in the first round.
The volleyball records prior to that were 12-12, 8-13 and 8-15 under Erin Dutka, with a playoff win in 2017 and a first-round loss in 2016.
Erin Dutka became head coach in 2015, replacing Karden Darden after the team went 11-10 overall and 9-5 in conference play, reaching the state playoffs and being eliminated in the first round by Bunker Hill.
Dutka is originally from Canada and was an outside hitter at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. She was not available for comment on Tuesday.
Adam Dutka, coached the Bandys boys for four seasons. He has been contacted since being told he would not coach the Trojans last season but declined to comment.
His teams went 8-18, 7-16, 15-11 and 10-13, and his last two teams reached the state 2A playoffs to give the Trojans back-to-back postseason bids for the first time since 2008-2009 and 2009-10.
Bandys went 5-9 in the South Fork 2A this season, finishing sixth, and earned a No 30 seed into the West 2A bracket before falling 79-66 at No. 3 Shelby.
Dukta was hired after Jason Barnes left the boys’ job after the 2014-15 team went 1-22.
The next hire will give the Trojans their eighth boys’ head coach in 16 seasons.
Only one other coach – current Lincoln Charter head coach Brad Gabriel – has coached the Bandys boys for at least four seasons since Aron Gabriel, now superintendent of the Newton-Conover City Schools, was head coach for six years starting in 1997-98.
The Trojans, who were a state power for about two decades (early 1970s through 1990), have had a losing record in 24 of the last 27 years.
Bandys went 18-9 under Aron Gabriel in 2000-01, 15-12 under Brad Gabriel in 2009-10 and Dutka’s third team (2017-18) went 15-11.
