EATON — Accustomed to celebrating Colorado’s most successful high school baseball program, this small town now finds itself divided over the drama entangling its beloved coach.
Jim Danley has spent the past 45 years raising young men on Eaton’s ballfields while building a dynasty. But recent complaints from parents about his leadership and his Eaton High staff have led the school district to demand change or the 69-year-old icon’s removal.
“It sounds like it’s a witch hunt,” said Christy Alexander, who works behind the counter at Eaton’s most popular eatery, Steven’s Grill, where the walls are covered with photos of the baseball team, including Danley. “His record speaks for itself.”
About two weeks ago, Danley was presented with a 13-point improvement plan and an ultimatum: Get with the program or get off the field. The aftermath has split this baseball-crazed Eastern Plains town of 4,000 — 70 miles northeast of Denver — into pro-Danley and anti-Danley camps.
“It’s not about state championships,” Randy Miller, the district’s superintendent of 11 years, said this week. “It’s about what makes sense for kids.”
The school district says it will not back down on the improvement plan despite pleas from Danley to find some compromise. Both sides say the stipulations are petty — such as requiring that Danley’s adult son, Kirk, be barred from the baseball program and that a team handbook be created — but agree the impact would mean major change.
The plan also mandates that no championship banners from summer league baseball teams be displayed on the school’s field and that Danley promote multisport athletes.
“I don’t have anything against coach Danley at all. … He has done some pretty amazing things here,” Miller said. “He could win 100 games in a row, but there’s still some things he could be improving upon.”
Miller said the improvement plans and changes probably should have been initiated sooner. The district says Kirk Danley’s restriction from the team centers on his terse communication with parents and players — specifically, text messages and phone calls.
The controversy will come to a head Monday night at a school board meeting. The district says if Danley refuses to sign the plan, he will not be among the coaches presented to the board to lead the team.
The board, however, has the authority to keep him on even if the superintendent keeps Danley’s name off the list. Locals supporting Danley have vowed to turn out en masse.
“He’s like God around here,” said Austin Wahlert, a 2007 Eaton High graduate.
Danley’s regimen for players is known for its intensity, including summer league participation and offseason workouts. Players often begin under his program when they are youngsters and work their way up through coaches who were former players on the high school squad.
He sees the improvement plan as an attack on the baseball culture he has built.
“I can’t sign something that wouldn’t allow me to be me,” Danley said Thursday, sitting in the team’s dugout. “I’m coaching the same way right now that I’ve been coaching for the last 45 years.”
Danley, whose career record is 807-163-2, has been inducted into multiple halls of fame. Over each of the past 37 years, the Eaton Reds have won either a league, regional or state championship.
In the 2015 season, Danley led the Reds to their 11th state championship in the Class 3A division, an American Legion A varsity tournament win and a MaxPreps ranking of 17 among all schools in the country.
“For a one-stoplight town, that’s a pretty good year,” Danley said.
He refutes many of the points on the improvement plan, saying he already promotes multisport athletes, noting how 17 members of his 19-player varsity roster play other sports.
Danley says his son has “absolutely assured” him that beyond the “occasional use of salty language” in communications with players that “one might typically hear,” there has been nothing inappropriate.
The iconic coach is convinced the friction revolves around playing-time disputes with older players on the team, specifically during summer American Legion games in which Danley prefers to give younger players time on the diamond to give them experience.
“Success is helping kids, success in any endeavor,” Danley said of his coaching. “Teaching kids the elements of success is one of the best thing we can do in a school system.
“I’m not going to apologize for winning championships,” he said.
The Denver Post contacted four senior players on the team, all of whom declined to comment at length on the unfolding drama.
“I’m just here to finish my last year of high school baseball as a team and hopefully win another championship regardless of what happens,” said senior Dalton Lind.
“We plan on winning another championship regardless who is coaching or what circumstances surround our team,” said another senior, Matt Burkart.
Donn Swanson, whose son is a junior on the team, said he is trying to stay as far away from the drama as possible.
“I’ve asked my son about it, and he doesn’t know,” Swanson said. “He just wants to play baseball.”
Former players have been sending letters supporting Danley to the school district. One demanded the district remove the plan and apologize to the coach.
In the meantime, many in Eaton are wondering why the district would want to part ways with a man whose success, they feel, speaks for itself.
“Jim’s very demanding, we know that,” said Joe Swank, a lifetime Eaton-area resident, as he paid for a haircut Thursday afternoon. “But how do you build a program like that without being tough?”
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin contributed to this report.
A breakdown of the 13-point performance improvement plan:
1. Kirk Danley, coach Jim Danley’s son, will not have contact with anyone associated with Reds baseball during the school year, including e-mails, texts and phone calls.
2. During the summer, Kirk Danley can’t communicate with Eaton concerning spring baseball.
3. Kirk Danley is confined to the stands at all Eaton prep baseball games and is to have no contact or communication with players or coaches during games.
4. Dalton Cox will return as an assistant coach for 2016 play.
5. A baseball handbook will be created and approved by the athletic director. It will include lines of communication; decisions for making the team; lettering criteria; and parental, player and coach responsibility. It is to be available by Dec. 1.
6. All statistics programs for the prep team will be managed by only board-recognized coaches.
7. No banners other than those signifying spring titles can be displayed on the outfield fence during spring play.
8. Jim Danley must promote multisport athletes.
9. Danley must complete the National Federation of State High Schools’ online course “Creating a Safe and Respectful Environment” by Dec. 1.
10. Members of the spring team will not be required to play summer or fall baseball to keep their positions.
11. College recruiting must go through the athletic director’s office.
12. There will be no retribution to players as a result of this plan.
13. Danley and the athletic director will send a joint letter to families of baseball players outlining changes.
If any of these requirements are violated, Danley will be terminated immediately.
