The Right Guy Got The Job

The Fond du Lac School District got it right. Adam Zakos was offered and accepted the head boys basketball coaching position on Thursday after being interviewed on Wednesday night as the only internal candidate to apply for the job. Zakos was named interim-head coach last summer when Dick Diener retired after a historic run on the Cardinal bench. Many people, including myself, felt Zakos should have been named the permanent replacement immediately. Shortly after Coach Diener retired the district said they wanted to wait to name a full-time successor until after the season. As it turns out, they didn’t need to do that extensive search because the best man for the job was already in place. The Cards went just 6-15 this season but there were many positives that came out of the 2006-07 that the overall record doesn’t show. I won’t go over those again, because I’ve documented them in other blogs, my co-worker Bob Hoffmaster has pointed them out on KFIZ and both Jon Casper and Doug Whitely did a nice job breaking the thing down in The Reporter.

I can tell you this, in a town like Fond du Lac where people are passionate about their sports; rumors were flying about who would be named the full-time coach after the season concluded. Even though I felt Zakos was the right guy, the rumors were out there that other candidates were in line. You probably heard them in the barber chair, at other sporting events or via the Internet…Coach (fill in the blank) was contacted by (insert administrator here) and promised the job. After hearing this stuff from so many different directions, you start to wonder if there was some validity to them despite denials by all involved.. When it was all said and done, the rumors proved to be just that…rumors .

Again, I’d like to congratulate Coach Zakos on getting the “interim” ripped off the front of his job title. I’m happy for Adam, the Fondy basketball program, the school district, and the city of Fond du Lac because he and his team will represent us all well. He’s a good guy and the right guy for the job.