FORT WAYNE – Casey Kolkman wasn’t willing to wait, but Larry Getts is.

Then there is Greg Gehl, who is just hoping for a job.

They are three SAC football coaches who got caught up in Fort Wayne Community Schools’ budget cuts and were unemployed just as summer workouts were starting.

Kolkman, the North Side football coach for the past six years, went to Bluffton to take over the Tigers’ football program last Monday.

“There were too many question marks,” said Kolkman, who will teach middle school social studies at Bluffton.

“(FWCS) had painted me into a corner. I had to do something. There were no guarantees. They weren’t even sure what was going to happen with coaches even after they set their teaching staffs.

“They said they were doing what was best for the schools, and off I went.”

Kolkman, Getts at Wayne and Gehl at Northrop were all part of Fort Wayne Community Schools’ staff reductions that resulted in more than 300 laid-off teachers.

As part of the hiring process, all three might have had chances to interview to teach again in their respective schools or possibly elsewhere in the district.

The process was expected to conclude by the end of June.

But coaching positions in those three schools probably won’t be decided until early-to-mid July.

During the interim, Getts is conducting business as usual with his Generals, who have also been trying to integrate players from now-closed Elmhurst.

Getts is 19-36 in five years with Wayne but has begun to turn the program around like Kolkman did at North Side. Wayne was 7-5 in 2009 and had a strong junior class.

“We are running camps in June until the IHSAA break (June 28-July 4),” said Getts, who teaches U.S. history and physical education/health.

“We have the label right now of a ‘volunteer coach,’ but we have always been that during this time.

“But we don’t know what the future holds, and that’s the toughest part, building toward the end product. The kids feel it too. They see the teachers get (laid off), and they are aware of it.

“We try not to think about it, but it could be a hard reality in a month.”

After going 1-19 in two seasons with the Bruins, nothing was clear-cut about Gehl’s coaching future for next season.

But the school district’s decision to lay off teachers made Gehl unemployed as both a social studies teacher and a football coach.

“I am looking for a job,” Gehl said of his current status. “I am even waiting to see when I can actually interview (for a teaching position) and see when they will be posted.

“It is a movable timeline with FWCS. It is very frustrating.

“For the first time in my life, I am not preparing for a football season. I am going stir crazy right now. I don’t have a job, and that includes coaching.”

A former assistant coach at Bishop Luers and Bishop Dwenger graduate, Gehl said he would be willing to leave Fort Wayne to get a teaching/coaching position.

“With education right now, it is tough all around,” he said. “I don’t want to leave Fort Wayne, but I have to have a job. My odds in Fort Wayne are probably pretty slim.

“It hurts the kids, and obviously it is not a big issue for some when it comes to athletics. A lot of kids are suffering, and there are teachers suffering in the process too.”

Two other district schools weren’t as affected by the whole process – Snider coach Kurt Tippmann and South Side coach Mike Cheviron were allowed to stay.

“Everybody else is scrambling,” Gehl said. “It puts football behind the eight ball in those schools.”

Teachers could lose their jobs because of the situation or be considered surplus teachers, which means a better chance they would come back to the district.

Interviewing and the “lead job fairs” are still ongoing at Fort Wayne Community Schools.

But football is not the only sport affected by the job cuts within the school corporation.

At North Side, for example, only one teacher/coach in the building – girls basketball coach Greg Rahrer – has been rehired for next year, even though he hasn’t formally been brought back as a coach.

“We have people working with the athletes over the summer,” North Side athletic director Dale Doerffler said. “I have told the head coaches to act the same unless told something different. It is just like past summers.

“FWCS believes academics come first, so they are hiring the teachers first. I feel good about the progress, and we will have quality coaches in place.”

gjones@jg.net