Sherry Rybiski Miklusicak has announced she is resigning her post as co-coach of the Wayland High School bowling team.
She posted the following to parents, friends and fans on Facebook Friday, “I need to let you know that it is with a very sad heart that I resigned from my coaching position today. You all know bowling is a passion of mine as I basically grew up at Rock “N Bowl, as did my father.
“Our administration saw the need to make cuts and basically two or three sports bore the brunt of it, bowling being one of them. We will no longer have a boys’ head coach and a girls’ head coach next year, just one coach for both teams (with an assistant).”
Her father, Frank Rybiski, is widely regarded as Wayland’d greatest bowler with his more than 25 career perfect 300 games.
Miklusicak told Athletic Director Adam Valk in an e-mail that though she outranks girls’ coach Eric Bottrall in seniority, she has too much respect for him to compete for the remaining position.
Bottrall and Miklusicak both are Wayland High School graduates. Miklusicak graduated in 1986, joined the faculty at WHS as a math instructor in 1992 and was hired as bowling co-coach in 2015 to join Bill Holbrook.
“While most coaches do not coach for the money, a $4,000 cut to our program is a slap in the face of what has been accomplished,” she wrote in her letter to Valk. “I feel singled out, as very few programs had to take this type of cut, while some programs received an increase.
“The comparison the administration has made to other districts who practice far less and participate in fewer matches is unfair. We carry more bowlers than many other programs in the area. We also have enough participants to carry JV teams in addition to our varsity…Administration wanted these cuts and yet have a very healthy fund equity (budget fund balance) of 19%.
Miklusicak said Wayland’s bowling program has maintained numbers of participants due in part to her passion and presence in the high school building, promoting it on the outside wall of her classroom by celebrating victories with posters, talking with community members, and spending additional time working on team write-ups on Facebook.
During her time here, the Wildcats have had one state champion in Sydney Urben and two girls with near-misses, Bella Harnish Fitzgerald and Kadence Bottrall who just missed facing each other for the individual state title.
When asked about the resignation, Supt. Tim Reeves wrote in an e-mail, “We are currently in the process of negotiating the finances of our WUEA contract with our WUEA leadership team. Any comment regarding this process would be a breach of our agreed upon principles, and not professional.
“We may take action on this contract at our regular meeting in June.”
