Dori Monson is a long-time Seattle conservative radio talk-show host.
His side gig is coaching girls high school basketball. In 2016, he coached a Seattle-area team to a state championship (photo, left). It’s not surprising that school district was on the verge of offering him a coaching job for the 2021 season.
True, Monson got in trouble a year ago with the Seattle Seahawks for an anti-gay tweet, but his apology made that all good.
That incident didn’t keep the school from offering him the coaching job. Something else did.
Earlier this year, the legislature passed a law banning public schools from using Native American mascots.
As a result, the school has to drop “Thunderbirds” no later than January 1, 2022 (as of today, it still appears in the school website).
Back in March 2021, Monson interviewed a former student upset about the name change, then tweeted about it in terms such as “Silly and meaningless”; “nonsense”; “Takes away from society”; “Waste of $”; “all out of control.”
Since obeying a law is none of those things, I’ll be charitable and assume Monson is criticizing the law and possibly also the legislature that enacted it, not the school for complying with it. (As noted above, the mascot hasn’t been changed yet; so it seems evident that Monson’s current beef is with the passage of the law, not a name change that hasn’t occurred yet.)
He can do that, of course. That’s within fair bounds of political commentary, which is what he does in his day job. The school, however, decided he wasn’t the right “fit” for the coaching job given his views on the matter. Read story here.
Monson has hired a lawyer who is “energized by taking on the seemingly impossible cases of publically perceived bad guys” (sic). See his profile here. This is the same lawyer who defended the Oklahoma City scumbags who stole Seattle’s NBA team back in 2008. No doubt his fees will far exceed the $8,000 or so that Monson would have earned for the season. For him, it’s the principle of the thing, and he apparently can afford it with his other earnings.
(This could be a smokescreen. More likely he’s doing it to promote his show, and the publicity is worth the legal fees.)
This could get interesting. Monson claims there was an “offer” and “acceptance,” therefore a “binding contract” exists, which was breached “in violation of his First Amendment rights.” But the school board apparently had to approve the contract, and as it didn’t — it may well have been the board who objected to hiring him — he didn’t have a contract. School officials without approval authority can’t legally bind the district to hire him, no matter what representations or promises they made.
Monson says he was “unfairly fired.” This can’t be true if he wasn’t hired. The Seattle Times quoted him saying, “Who’s next? School secretaries? Bus drivers?” But that’s not comparable; a secretary complaining about changing the mascot name isn’t the same thing as the team’s coach disparaging the change. One affects the players’ morale more than the other.
Remember, these aren’t NBA or college players; they’re impressionable kids. If their eyes are too tender to read a Nobel Prize-winning novel about slavery, then their ears are too tender to listen to their coach’s whining about being required to respect Native American culture. In addition, players don’t want a whiny coach any more than coaches wants whiny players. That’s probably why the school felt he wasn’t a good fit.
If Monson hasn’t seen the movie “Hoosiers” yet, in which Gene Hackman plays a high school basketball coach, he should watch it. Hackman’s performance will teach him a few essential things. Like focusing on the game. Who cares what they call the team? He should worry about the players getting the ball through the rim.
The legislation may run into issues here. There is a United States Air Force team named the Thunderbirds. There is also a British puppet series from 1960named the Thunderbirds.
The fact that schools on tribal land can have certain names other schools cannot or must get permission of a local tribe seems border line unconstitutional. There is the minor league hockey team named the Thunderbirds. Some vehicle was called the Thunderbird.
In native American mythology the Thunderbird is a mythical creature. So are Buffalos, Salmon, Eagles, Otters, Bears and even trickster rabbits so teams with such names would be similar to Thunderbird and possible not permitted under Washington state law. Perhaps there are ummm unforeseen consequences in the bill. Clever lawyers love such things, especially when their client was a winning volunteer coach, but not a coach under contract and bound legally to support a good or stupid law depending on your view. What the man said on the radio sahould have played no part in the boards deciscion and the schools attorney should have told the board just that.
Your argument that this legislation is unconstitutional is baseless. This is a subject on which the state has a right to legislate. The rest of your comment is irrelevant.