John Nash Column -- Weston's witch hunt brings down a good man and could be costly

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Mike Hvizdo was born and bred for days like this; for moments when two basketball teams come together, the score is tied 0-0 and the ball is tossed up kicking off another game.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, Hvizdo should be on the Weston High School boys basketball bench as his Trojans square off against Bethel in a South-West Conference playoff game at Masuk High School in Monroe.

Unfortunately, he won't be.

Maybe he'll be at his Norwalk business, trying to stay busy while not thinking about all that has transpired over the last two weeks; the rash decisions left out of his control that have upended his being in ways he never thought imaginable.

Maybe he'll decide to stay at home, finding the comfort of his own couch as a respite from the cruel world in which we all live, a world that can be so vindictive that all it takes is a person with a vendetta to break your heart.

Maybe he'll try to hide from the pain he's feeling, but that's an impossibility. It's inside him now -- empty, haunting -- as much a part of him as the game he loves, and the team he gave everything for.

Hvizdo should be coaching on Saturday, plain and simple. But he won't be.

A little more than two weeks ago, Hvizdo was called into a meeting with his athletic director, the school principal, the district's superintendent and the head of human resources.

Needless to say, such a tribal council is never a good thing. There was no way Hvizdo was going to survive such a meeting.

Officially, for now, word is that because more than a decade ago, Hvizdo was a featured player in a movie short titled "Forbidden Fruit," a raunchy nine-minute comedy film which included plenty of vulgar language and a sexually graphic theme (but no nudity), the powers that be at Weston High School decided there was no way Hvizdo could lead young men anymore.

Word is everybody left that meeting with the knowledge that Hvizdo should resign his position, effective immediately, which he did. He told his players he was stepping down for "personal reasons" -- citing something from his past, something that wasn't illegal, yet still cost him dearly.

To anybody on the outside looking in, of course, this entire incident reeks of nothing short of a modern day witch hunt.

And, of course, this is the United States of America in the Year 2013, so you know where it all starts -- the disgruntled parent.

As reported in The Weston Forum newspaper, "a general consensus among the school basketball community was that a parent brought the issue to the school's attention."

According to multiple sources with connections to the Weston High athletic program, this parent(s) was upset with the way their son was being treated as a WHS basketball player, and the inquiry into Hvizdo's' past was nothing more than a blatant attack with the sole goal of getting the coach removed.

These sources would not name the parents in question and did not want to be quoted on the record for fear of future reprisals. After all, the sources said, this isn't the first time the parents have done something like this.

It's just the lowest they have sunk to do so.

These sources, however, did say that playing time wasn't at the center of the parent's complaint. It was Hvizdo's attitude and/or mannerisms toward the boy on certain occasions that raised their ire.

One source, a Weston parent, said the player in question is "a good kid" who may not even know of his parents' attack on the coach.

The disgruntled parent(s) reportedly didn't want to approach Weston athletic director Mark Berkowitz for fear that nothing would be done. Instead, they bypassed the chain of command and instead sent an e-mail to those higher up than the athletic wing.

Berkowitz confirmed WHS Principal Lisa Wolak -- who is out the country and not able to comment on the matter -- received an e-mail about the movie in question.

As for the movie itself, one thing must be said. This is not some random stupid amateur movie that Hvizdo did in college, something that was placed on YouTube and lost until somebody could find it and then use it to attack him in the future.

Hvizdo dabbled in acting in his 20s and both the coach and the movie in question can be found easily on IMDB.com -- the International Movie Data Base.

The film was directed by Steve Moremarco, a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Moremarco has worked on films, including "School of Rock" starring Jack Black and Miranda Cosgrove, and television shows like "Everybody Hates Chris" and the former NBC hit show "ER."

Yes, the film would carry a heavy R-rating and yes a naughty word or two dots the dialogue, but I'm sure language like this is used on a regular basis by teenage basketball players far and wide, including those at Weston High School.

For Hvizdo to lose his job -- and have his passion just snatched away from him like this -- is one of the most ridiculous and sad things I've ever had to write about.

I asked Berkowitz straight up, "What if Hvizdo had starred in the movie Animal House?" -- a movie as tasteless and crass, but wickedly funny and popular. Or, how about any of the Porky's movies, or "Revenge of the Nerds?"

Would Weston have fired him then? (Yes, Hvizdo "resigned", but let's face it, folks, his movie-based crass was grass the moment he walked into that meeting on Feb. 7).

What if Hvizdo had been a teacher/coach and not just a self-employed business owner, who also coached to give back to the game? Would the corner office people at WHS and down in the administrative offices been apt to get rid of him so quickly if the teacher's union were involved?

Or, was this just an easy way to get a problem parent off their back? Let's dump the stipend-making coach and not be forced to deal with this headache of a parent for the next couple of years.

Weston High should be both ashamed and embarrassed -- not because their former boys basketball coach played a role in a movie -- but because of how they've handled this entire situation.

Instead of standing up to one of the things that is wrong in our educational system, and supporting somebody who is doing things for all the right reasons, the Weston School Department just cast him aside like he doesn't matter.

In doing so, though, Weston also just weakened itself for the future.

How many good and qualified coaches do you think will apply for a high-profile varsity job at Weston High School after this? You might have chugged a beer before you were 21, or taken a hit off that bong that was being passed around in college.

Gasp, you might have mooned a video camera at some point, or told somebody to "Bleep off" while you were driving down I-95. If bad words aren't allowed in the fictional world of movies, then how could Weston allow a coach who used such language in the real world to be around their children?

I know Berkowitz has to toe the company line on this one. As athletic director, he's administration, too. I can't help but wonder if his reputation as a coach's athletic director is going to take a hit.

But, to Superintendent Colleen Palmer, Principal Wolak and Human Resources Director Lewis Brey, each of whom took the easy way out on this one, you dropped the ball big time.

You did a disservice to each and every one of your basketball-playing students, whose lives would have been affected, likely for the better, by being around somebody like Mike Hvizdo.

You are the ones who should be ashamed.