HHS athletic director resigns, citing union harassment

By Ian Perrotta
Review Staffwriter
It’s official. Athletic Director Adam Mused’s resignation has been approved by the School Board, and last Wednesday (Jan. 13) he officially stepped down from his position.
According to Mused’s resignation letter, he resigned because “the hours and the demand of this job at this point and time are a conflict of interest for my primary job [and] I am on the verge of losing my health care and the position in general.” Moreover, he alleged that he has been the victim of continued harassment by a representative from the teacher’s union.
In an interview with The Review, Mused stated that over the past year he has had repeated grievances filed against him for various reasons by Bo Karpinsky, whom Mused claims has “some kind of vendetta” against him. Karpinsky, the president of the Hamtramck teachers’ union, was unable to comment on the allegations, citing an ongoing unfair labor practice case which prevented him from speaking on the matter. However, he did say that once that case is resolved he would be able to comment.
Karpinsky was a coach for several sports that had their programs cut short or negatively impacted during Mused’s tenure. Mused concedes that some sports did suffer setbacks under his term, but he says they happened due to circumstances out of his control. The latest grievance filed against him gave him the final motivation to resign from his position.
That grievance maintained that Mused, who is also the coach of the wrestling team, was in violation of his contract because he could “not hold a supervisory position and coach at the same time.” However, Mused says that holding dual positions was the rule rather than the exception, and cited several precedents that back up his claim. Russ Collins was Athletic Director in Hamtramck for 15 years and also coached boys’ basketball and Chris Robertson held the position and was the girls’ basketball coach. There have also been others.
Mused said that he would rather step down from the position of Athletic Director to focus his effort on the wrestling team than face more “harrassment.” He felt that it undermined his ability to perform, which ultimately affected the students.
“It is very apparent that I don’t talk about athletics with the same joy and passion as I do coaching. I can mold these young minds to be respectable hard working kids who will grow into great adults and go on to bigger and better things. I cannot lead adults who just want it their way and no other. They have been doing the same things every year and that is why their programs have not grown or even tried to raise the bar to the next level,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
For now, Mused worries that the wrestling team may become the next target of Karpinsky’s agenda. He says that already there have been physicals that have come up missing, as well as new reports of player ineligibilities that were previously not found to exist. Regardless, he hopes to continue coaching the team and growing the sport in Hamtramck.
As a replacement for Mused, the School Board voted to hire Lawrence Geromin as interim Athletic Director. A former Athletic Director at St. Florian High School, Geromin is no stranger to Hamtramck athletics. He has also been an umpire for baseball as well as an official for football. He will begin Feb. 1.
“I’d like to see these programs get back to where they used to be,” said Geromin. “I want to get people in the stands, and really give these players something to play for.”