After reportedly losing his appeal to have his contract renewed by the school board, Iowa boy’s basketball head coach Jeremy Ainley will not be the Clear Lake High School boys basketball coach for the 2026-2027 season.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Clear Lake Community School District Board of Education voted 4-1 in favor of the administration’s recommendation not to renew Ainley’s contract after a meeting that lasted over two hours. Both former and current players and parents were largely in favor of Ainley’s return after he led the Clear Lake Lions to nine North Central Conference championships and a 167-23 record over the last eight seasons.
Ainley had been placed under investigation by Clear Lake Schools Superintendent Ian Dye for claims of bullying and harassment, but the claims were found to be untrue.
“Accountability is not a bad word,” Ainley said. “There’s been a total lack of direction through this whole process, from not allowing the AD to do his job to an investigation that didn’t include half the team.
“And finally to us having to get a petition to force this on the school board to even discuss it.”
Jason Enke, Ainley’s representative, said that board policy was not followed.
“The investigation report should have been written by the investigator according to your board policy, but the one we saw was written by superintendent Dye,” Enke said. “Superintendent Dye shared the unfinalized report with parents, which ended up being a false claim of a founded harassment and bullying claim.”
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.