1. WAKEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL: WOLVERINE ATHLETICS
SPRING INTERNSHIP CASE STUDY
BY
BRANDON SIMMONS

2. Situational Analysis
Wolverine athletics is the athletic program apart of Wakefield High School located in
Raleigh, North Carolina. This program is a member of the Cap 8 4AA conference, and home to
over 37 men and women varsity and junior varsity athletic programs. During the fall season,
Wolverine Athletics offer 13 women and men sports, the winter boasts 13 women and men
sports, and the spring season hosts 16 women men sports. In total, fall sports generally draw
250+ student-athletes, winter 200+ student-athletes, and 300+ student-athletes in the spring.
With numbers like these, high school coaches across the board are normally strained but the
same can be said for the bus drivers for Wolverine Athletics.
To be clear, the athletic transpiration system for Wolverine Athletics is not broken and to be
frank, it has more good days than bad, but like all things in business, there are ways for overall
operations to improve. With inflation in overall spring athletic participation there has been an
increase in responsibility. One key responsibility is for coaches to meet scheduling demands by
transporting their athletes to all away games. The current busing system, according to Head
Athletic Director, Dexter Cooley, is that two drivers (employed with Wakefield High School) are
to hold Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs), as well as not coach in the spring to accommodate
transportation for spring athletic events. This method has been efficient for Wakefield Athletics,
but even this method can be tested. For example, on April 10th, 2015 Wolverine Athletics had 7
total athletic events in the books. JV Baseball, Varsity Men’s Lacrosse and JV Men’s Lacrosse
host Heritage at 4:30pm, 4:30pm, and 6:30pm respectively while Varsity Men’s Baseball,
Softball, M/W Track & Field, and Women’s Lacrosse had away games at 7:00pm, 7:00pm,
3:00pm, and 6:00pm respectively. On average in the spring, Wolverine Athletics are
experiencing three to four full days of events per week.

3. Analysisand Use ofEvidence
As it relates to quantitative data, there is none. This issue has been ongoing for years and
was inherited by the current Athletic Director, Dexter Cooley. Evidence to support that this is an
issue have been situations that have arisen because of the lack of bus drivers to accommodate
events. A reoccurring incident in the spring was Mr. Cooley feeling in for bus duty throughout
the season. Aaron Strickland, a member of the Wakefield High School football staff, is the
frequently used offseason bus driver. During the week of a Lacrosse Junior Varsity game, Mr.
Strickland was out of the office, so we were in need of a backup bus driver. All other offseason
coaches (with CDLs) were not available because of other duties. So the game had to be
rescheduled for a home match-up because there was a lack of drivers. There have been notable
differences in the lack of bus drivers available for the fall and spring. The major reason behind
those differences is that spring has 14 teams in season, whereas fall only has 10 teams in season.
This in turn reflects back on the number of bus drivers available for each season, with the lower
number of teams falling in the fall there is a lower number of coaches with CDLs that are
available in the spring. This also serves as evidence for Mr. Cooley on that this issue will
continue to arise for spring sports, because of the variances of available coaches. In spring 2015,
there have been 4 rescheduled matchups, primarily for lacrosse and soccer, because we were
unable to travel.
Although the number is not high, the inconveniences definitely were felt by the athletic
director as well as coaches. Another piece of evidence that was not quantified, but noted by the
coaches and athletic director were the amount of away games in the spring, as opposed to the
fall. In the fall, each team typically plays one to two games a week, which is greatly different in
the spring with each team playing two to three games a week.

4. IdentificationandEvaluation of Action Alternatives:
As Athletic Director for Wolverine Athletics, the best plan of action would be for each coach to
get their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). Prospective head coaches must have CDLs to be
considered for head coaching jobs and current coaches are encouraged to obtain CDLs through
the Wolverine Athletic Department. CDLs are usually between 85 to 100 dollars (dictated by
endorsements on licenses). Classes usually run from 8:00am-2:00pm, 6 total days of training (3
in the classroom and 3 on the road training) with an opportunity for an early release which is a
testing day. No prerequisites other a clean driving record is necessary and reimbursements for
coaches are available. It would be feasible for most coaches to obtain their CDLs because of the
scheduling of secondary schools.
If you are a coach who is off season and does not participate in afterschool duties, you
could obtain your CDLs during that time. Also Wakefield High School is not operational during
the summer, so there are no required hours for staff, an excellent time to get any additional
licensing. This will also be an extra source of income for coaches who are asked to drive during
their offseason, as well as many other school events that may take place. This could boost the
involvement in the driving school program at Wakefield High School, as well. There are
shortages of staff being involved in various afterschool duties and this could help with many
other issues that occur by pushing more to get additional licensing. A setback that could occur is
that because of the pay scale in secondary schools, there are a lot of staff members who seek
outside part time employment. This could delay how quickly people are able to obtain their
license. Giving them a year to obtain their license could help with planning and also show that
the department understands outside obligations. At the end of each season, Mr. Cooley can

5. evaluate who has received their license and schedule accordingly to relieve pressure from him
and coaches.
Conclusionsand/or Recommendations
In conclusion, the policy is as states “mandating all paid coaches apart of a Wakefield
High School sports team should receive their Commercial Driver’s License within one year of
employment”. This policy will help improve the overall efficiency of the athletic department in
spring, fall, and winter sports, because it will decrease the likelihood of scheduling conflicts and
travel inconveniences. Coaches will be paid for their extra duty of driving a bus, so this will also
boost involvement. Spring sports have been hit with the bus drivers’ deficiency more often than
any other season, because it has the largest amount of teams traveling for athletic events. This
will allow the Athletic Director to plan more accordingly when teams are scheduling their events
for the season, because there will be a greater amount of drivers to help.