ELDORADO — The Eldorado High School board voted Tuesday night to dismiss the varsity boys basketball coaching staff, including head coach Josh Bradley, his brother Austin Bradley, John DeBose and TJ Zurliene after an altercation on December 28th during the consolation championship game in the Eldorado Holiday Tournament where an Eagle player appeared to elbow a Hamilton County player in the mouth, resulting in the Foxes player receiving 18 stitches.
The board also approved the hiring of Rod Wallace as interim coach for a $1 salary for the remainder of the season. Wallace is a 1980 graduate of Galatia High School where he later coached from 1998 until 2007 before moving on to be the women’s coach at Southeastern Illinois College from 2008 until 2011. He returned to coach at Galatia from 2016 through 2020. Wallace noted that as of noon Wednesday, four of the five seniors on the club have quit the team and that the 5th is still undecided.
Wallace stated he didn’t know how long his tenure would last at Eldorado. He said he would fill out the remainder of this season, but beyond that, it’s up to the school. “I am doing this for the kids.” Wallace pointed out, in regards to his role. “It’s all about the kids. It’s not about me. It’s not about the parents. It’s about the kids.”
Coach Wallace is still building a coaching staff. “They will be basketball minds. Guys I know, that if I give them a task, they will understand how to get it done.”
In regards to the on-court incident Thursday that led to the dismissal of the previous coaching staff, Wallace stated “There were a lot of unfortunate events put in motion that led to the incident. We just have to focus on moving forward. I look forward to Friday night against Carmi.”
You can hear that game, Carmi White County at Eldorado, on the Eagles Channel at section618.com and on Lite 102.3 FM starting around 7:15. RJ Price will broadcast the game and will be joined during the game by Eldorado School Superintendent Ryan Hobbs.