NIT – Students, parents, teachers, coaches and citizens are not the only ones who are scratching their heads these days at the actions, decisions and seemingly endless financial struggles going on in the Mason City school district.
This weekend, one of Mason City’s best-ever athletes – Jeff Horner – took to social media and blasted the current administration in Mason City, saying he is “ashamed to have graduated from Mason City High School”.
Recently, the district attempted to fire its athletic director, threatened to fire a swath of other coaches – just as they did last year – and, despite getting all the tax dollars it asked the citizens for in a vote last year, remains $36 million in debt with threats of more cuts to teachers, coaches and programs a possibility.
According to the Des Moines Register, Jeff Horner’s dad, Bob, has been snubbed a number of times in attempts to get his old coaching job back, at the helm of the hapless boy’s basketball team. Bob won state titles in the 1990’s – with the help of another all-timer, Dean Oliver – and also took the team to state with the point guard play of his son Jeff.
Apparently, the district does not want Bob Horner back, and that isn’t sitting well with Jeff, who just weeks ago resigned as head basketball coach at West Des Moines Valley, a school in a town where money doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Jeff Horner cut loose via Twitter on Saturday and Sunday, and later Sunday deleted the posts.
“If I lived in the MC School District I would send my kid to another school. Everything about that school is an absolute joke and they wonder why they r never good at sports anymore. I can honestly say I am ashamed to have graduated from Mason City High School. It is sad to see the current administration bringing it down.”
It has been said that Mason City School Superintendent Anita Micich favors the fine arts programs over athletics. She is under fire in Clear Lake at this time as well, as concerned citizens wonder if the sharing agreement with Mason City for her services is worth the supposed cost savings.
Its a hell of alot better looking town than it was 15 years ago. I can vouch for that. If you think athletics aren’t important to the development of young adults then you are a complete talentless moron!
you should be, you had a much better thing at Lake Mills
Give it up. This story is 5 years old. Move on.
Well… arts are more beneficial and important than sport’s. How many guys do you know who blew their knee out or something similar at 17 and have suffered from it ever since? Most people dont go pro theres no future in that. With an art degree at the very least you can teach people which is beneficial. Less head injuries for children, im sure some dick has an arguement against calm intelligent human beings being creative instead of aggressive morons with brain truama.
Maybe MC is ashamed you graduated from MCHS too.
Spoiled stupid jock. MC sports stink.
I heard that Jeff use to play Tummy Sticks with the rest of the boys in the locker room.
You get high school diploma the same diploma as at the high school for attending school at the alternative school. Maybe if you were educated, you’d know that or to research your ignorant comments.
he bad mouths mason city cause he hardly got out of high school, not much of a scholar, if it wasn’t for daddy he would be over in the alternative school trying to get his ged
hahaha ha haha?? maybe consider this. if you dont understand the joke here,,, … then you’re dumb .. and you will always consider this nonsense to be important . you’re dumb idiots , all of ya! the dumbest is definitely those superstar family ‘high school coach’s super fam from he’ll,,, the Horner’s. they suck , any of their followers have manure for brains. and how about leaning real life learn-ables when your at a spot that’s chocked full of people getting paid to try to teach things to kids all day?? Eff scrappy high school sports , might as well the the ‘Tommy Too-Cools’ on the team learn how to play ducky for $$ ,, at least they’ll have sucked for a reason.
Wow!
What are kids sent to school to learn? Basketball? Football? No. Those are extra curricular activities. What ANY local sports team does during ANY season has NO real or lasting effect on a local population. Focus on the quality of an education at school not the sports that is PLAYED there.
Really ask us you were a part of a 1978 state champ fb team that..your an idiot
I agree Jeff!!
MAson City is is no West Des Moines! The medium income is higher and the commitment to excellence is higher as well. My kids were never on winning teams in Mason. We moved to WDM and they won state titles and may have lost 4-5 games their whole career. I spent a lot of money on state championship rings. Horner had Petter Jop. His dad, like him or not was a winner. Wake up Mason City, winning teams generate money. Anita needs to go. You want to create money in your community, commit to getting good coaches and get someone who can manage a budget. If you guys are $36million in debt, you need a state and federal audit right away. Also someone needs to come in there and temporarily take over till you can get this debit under control.
Honestly, it’s nice to have the fine arts program favored over sports for once. That happens almost never. If it’s going to happen, it should be in River City.
I had Bob for a coach… He was a joke, We should have won a lot more games but Bob doesnt know shit. He was a bad coach only cared about his son scoring and getting his due with the rest of kids taking a back seat
I heard Jeffy was lucky to have graduated.
..and i heard you can’t spell JEFF
Bob Horner was a nice coach, he also had 2 or 3 D1 athletes on their state title teams.
His last year of coaching, I believe his team went 0-17. Talent matters
This prooves he was a decent coach, not a God
Jeff Horner is a has been. If he’s the best thing to ever come out of MCHS for an athlete, then everyone is setting their standards very low. I’m not an Anita fan, but lets not down play the success of MCHS arts. An amazing, award winning choir year after year. More kids succeeding after high school in the arts as opposed to sports. And now they hire this tool Nick Trask. What do you expect? Bob Horner was successful just like other great coaches were because he had a team full of talented…
That’s not a very flattering take on this new coach. Why the name-calling? The man applied for a job, and got it. Why punish him for that?
Agreed, Matt. I know Nick. I think he will do a good job, or at the very least try really hard to create a winning program. It’s cliché to say, if you don’t like the hire you should have applied, but hey…
Anyway, I do know that there were no viable applicants outside of Mason City. No one beating down the door. Maybe, as a community and school district, we need to look at becoming more appealing to families, businesses, students, teachers, coaches, etc.
I am wishing the guy the best. I want MC to win. Certainly, any disparaging remarks about him are totally unwarranted, classless and not acceptable here. Thanks for the information on the other applicants. I’d agree, MC would not be a ‘destination’ for many coaches unless you are already here and looking to prove yourself. Mr. Trask will now get that chance and I’m sure will do a fine job.
I agree with Jeff. I graduated from MCHS and my kids have gone through our school system also. More money, more money and look what we get… Over paid administration (and some teachers), Millions and millions spent on the buildings (and still no new pool) and less enrollment and a lesser education. This needs to be turned around, starting from the TOP!
Mason City as a whole is a mess…..any surprise that the School District is as well?
No quality jobs, no real opportunities for advancement. Everything is service industry and unskilled work, unless you work at the Hospitals. I grew up in the area and every time i return, I am alarmed at what a pit Mason City has become.
I agree with you that the school system is a mess. But can you give me a comparison of a town the size of Mason City, at roughly 27,000 people, located 120 miles from a major metropolitan area, that has a booming economy with ample opportunities for advancement?
By no means am I saying Mason City is a great place to advance and raise a family, but are there any other areas like Mason City out there that have a great job base? Austin has Hormel Foods, but would you want to live there??
I think the population at last count was 28,000 … but by the time you wrote your comment, in might be closer to 27,000. Good call.
I could have googled Mason City, IA and gotten the population from the Wikipedia like you did Editor, but I could care less. I was off <1k and you felt the need to comment on THAT?
I would love to have a break down of our population by age. I assume our population is largely based on 60 plus citizens. Many who don’t have a dog in the fight any more and can’t remember when their kids went to school. Young professionals don’t come to MC due to lack of jobs. What does MC have to offer?? A poorly run school system. High drug crime. Oh, I forgot, a 9 million dollar library!!!! Good call!!!
if a private business or person donated the salary would the school district hire Coach Horner? Please let me know
We all have different options on the MCHS depts, depending on what we see and what we hear. What I witnessed last season really changed my view on the coaches. I have one son that plays sports because he had coaches that would tell the kids ” it don’t matter if we win or lose as long as play fare and learned the sport” my other son played for MCHS and was told by his coach ” we need to win this game, so you get the bench tonight”, problem is this happened all season. My son NEVER played a…
That is the way of the world. It’s not fair. When a company has a job opening and 30 people apply, only one gets the job. They might all play fair and have learned the position. The company just can’t employ all 30.
Did she mean “opinions”?
If you want to talk to some kids who feel like they were cheated- go talk to a kid that was on a state trapshooting team or individual champ.
Guns are bad, mmmmkay
Jeff is ashamed because his dad can’t get the job he wants. Most of us are in this position since 2008, yet we don’t job shame like Horner does.
No. He is ashamed because his dad is the most qualified and keeps getting passed over by his old employer. Coach Horner has two state titles, five trips to state, and was inducted into the Iowa High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Name one candidate that has a fraction of his accolades.
Unfortunately it goes back further than Anita (although it has got worse). Like a lot of school districts Mason City can’t afford to alienate young athletes. However, they have for years with play the teachers kid and friends first. Coaches sell there soul to a group of parents who actually do most of the work with fundamentals with that comes play my spoiled kid first. As kids grow the actual athletes give up. Well it works every 20 to 30 years or so and coaches look good.
Kind of like when John Lee had 1 or 2 fluke win seasons in football. A dedicated class of athletes, he inherited. Outside of them, he never won anything.
Like any other organization, what happens at the top trickles down to all that work there. If Anita is not a good leader, replace her. Put in someone who will care for Mason City. Someone who is a MOHAWK. Not a MoLion or a LiHawk combo. One competent administrator for ONE town. Live here, buy here, pay your taxes here!!!! Come on people, the winning tradition starts at the top!!!!!
This town is full of administrative people that cannot do their job, at the cost of tax payers. MCHS is a great school, but obviously the people that run it are not. MCHS class of “67”
Who is jeff horner and why should we care?
He is an accomplished athlete and up-and-coming coach who attended MCHS. What he says matters. Ever hear of Google? Works pretty good. Give it a try sometime. 🙂
Why does what he says “matters”? It doesn’t “matter” to me what he thinks. He won’t lower my taxes. He won’t cure some horrific disease. He won’t ease or enrich my life in any way. He is not “news”. He is merely “sports”.
Does your newspaper comes with a sports page? You bonehead.
You mean that paper thing that old people think is still relative? I wouldn’t know. Haven’t handled one in years.
Well, you got that wrong. I will decide what is news, since I am in charge here. Feel free to send ideas for other news stories if you so desire.
Believe what you want. Words have definitions for a reason.
Horner probably was not hired because Kinney didn’t want MCHS to have a dominant BB program again and his failure of coach Dusty Rhodes wrestling program that loses state championship wrestlers to Newman and Clear lake consistently look worse. Keep BB bad and Wrestling program doesn’t look that bad
Remember Kinney is a glorified Wrestling Coach from some 3A (who cares) bring back
Dan Delany and you will see a guy care about every athlete and every program and activity
Dusty Rhodes has done more with less than any coach at MCHS. Look up the history of the wrestling program since he took over and see where they are ranked every year and how his wrestlers are doing. An AD wants every sport to be good, basketball makes money if they are winning. Problem is, Mason City has no basketball talent- let alone a coach that can help them win. It’s not the coaches and AD that are failing the system- it’s the kids. Only a select few want to work hard.
Whatever Dusty Rhodes lost that Colon kid to Clear Lake. The Foster kid to Newman and countless others. Maybe when you have a person like Don Berry coaching with you, that explains a lot. Ask any law man in North Iowa and see what they say about Dingo Dang Don berry
The oldest Colon left before Rhodes got to town. Don Berry is a great coach and great guy. Been an assistant coach for NIACC the last two years.
Colon’s parents took the oldest son out of MCHS because he couldn’t beat out the 103 lber at MC, and Jim Cornick was the coach at the time. They left less than a week after Dusty lost his 3rd wrestle-off. Derric Thomas never stepped foot in MCHS, and look at what he did after high school…? Not much of an argument there. Jared Bartel will be wrestling varsity at UNI soon and another MCHS grad Travis Mallo is at WEST POINT. Kaz Onoo just won a title at MCHS.
I am not ashamed to have graduated from MCHS. But I am ashamed of us for allowing these people to run our schools.
You might be on to something there.
I also graduated from MCHS and that’s why my children go to the better school across town. Might cost a few bucks but well worth it in the long run. Better education, better athletics, and teachers that are there because they actually want to teach
I hear a few so-called educators at MCHS have a bad attitude. Hopefully nowhere near as bad as some of them I had coming through school here. A few of them were some of the worst people the good Lord ever created. Ever heard of Eldean Matheson? A sinister man. On a bright note, I did watch a classmate of mine punch his lights out one morning in the lobby at Roosevelt Middle School.
Eldean was a hawk eye and old school he didn’t like loud mouths, radically hyper kids. Heck we need more Eldeans today.
I think sinister is a bit harsh.
I think a few more educators in the same “vein” as Eldean might be good medicine for this spoiled generation. Maybe the Eldean you knew was different than the one I had in gym class at Grant School who was physically abusive to kids half his size. The man was a tyrant, an ogre who gleefully made the lives of kids hell for an hour a day. He hated all the kids in our class, I firmly believe that. He got his when he was knocked senseless by an 8th grader a few years later.
“It has been said that Mason City School Superintendent Anita Micich favors the fine arts programs over athletics.”
I must say, I AM impressed. Horner just wants his dad to get his job back. Well, we all want things Jeff, however we don’t expect others to pay for it. I’m ashamed too Jeff, for you.
I think a lot of former students & athletes feel this way. Jeff didn’t mince words and being a public figure iam glad he stood up for what he thinks… For the record any athletic director or school board that has a chance to bring back a former state champion coach and class act like Bob Horner and passes on him shows their motivation (not winning) and their education or lack there of
Bob Horner would of re-built Mohawk basketball into respectable level. Look at the girls program
Maybe the real story is, what does the MC Admin have against Bob Horner? Are they jealous of his success? Does he rub Anita the wrong way? More information is needed on this.
It’s should be what’s best for the kids. Period. If you have an indivual like a Bob Horner willing to give up his time and focus his energy to a basketball program and you dON’T hire him that’s a shame that is pathetic on the AD’s part, the admin everyone involved in the hiring process
Bob wins and Bob teaches and coaches young males into leaders and champions
The world lacks people who have the guts to say what they really mean. I think Mr. Horner spoke with the same kind of instinct he played basketball with. Slay the adversary, so to speak. He swished a free throw here. It would take more people like him to speak up about what goes on in MC to start to turn this place around.
@Matt-Good comments. I have spoken to some of the MCHS athlete’s and they are all disappointed in the programs. They feel like they have been cheated by the coaches as they play the favorites or the elite’s kids instead of the best athlete’s. You can certainly see it in the records of the various sports. Nothing against the athlete’s. They do the best they can but it is also why a lot of good athlete’s will not play. We are not getting what we pay for and they always want more for nothing.
I have lived in MC for almost 30 years and watched my son and his friend sit on the bench in every game of the season under Bob Horner. both of them showed up for practice every day and it didn’t matter if MC was up by 30 or down by 30, they never played a single minute in a game. I realize that “winning is everything” but not a single minute? You be the judge. My disabled daughter was treated very unfairly by the then principal JJ and when we petitioned the school to let us send her to a program at another school that was more suited to her needs, the school district balked because they would lose funding. Very quietly we sued the district and won on all counts. As part of the settlement, we have kept quiet for years about this but the fact of the matter is, the MC school district paid the total amount for her schooling. In other words, the tax payers of MC paid over $20K because of the inept way the school is run. I had even offered to pay up front for her schooling but Mc had their own agenda all the taxpayers got stuck with the bill. I would love to put my name on this but my children live here and don’t need the attention.