When Lakeville North girls hockey coach Buck Kochevar was convinced he was getting fired last October, 19 of his players showed up at their school board meeting to save his job.

On Tuesday, March 24, it was Lakeville South’s turn.

About 30 parents and students attended their school board meeting to show support for Blake Nicols, who resigned as the school’s girls basketball coach last week at the school district’s request.

Nicols’ resignation came just one day after Lakeville South boys hockey coach Josh Storm resigned, also at the district’s request.

It’s been a tumultuous time for Lakeville coaches, and two of the people who spoke in Nicols’ support criticized the process the district used to investigate him.

“This community is paying attention, and that’s because this situation matters,” said Maddie Wolkow, a former two-time basketball captain for Lakeville South. “What makes this so difficult is not just that we’re losing Mr. Nicols, it is that we’re losing him through a process that appears to have been unbalanced and incomplete.”

Wolkow said family members and people in the community who were ready to “provide important contacts were never interviewed.”

“Parents and coaches asked to meet and provide clarity, and that opportunity was never given, not because they couldn’t be heard, but because they were never asked,” Wolkow said.

Joe McCarney, who has two daughters in Lakeville South’s youth basketball program, added: “This decision feels as though it was made in a vacuum, one that did not adequately seek out or weigh the perspectives of those most impacted.”

Before the public comment portion of the meeting began, board chair Amber Cameron reminded the room of the ground rules.

“No formal action will be taken on a topic presented during ‘Public Comment,’” Cameron said. “As necessary, the administration will follow up with the appropriate personnel on any concerns that need to be individually addressed.”

The school district, citing employee privacy, has not publicly said why Storm and Nicols were investigated.

Storm, 44, is tenured and remains a physical education teacher at South. The district put him on leave Jan. 28, pending an investigation, and asked him to resign as a coach Thursday, March 19. He led South to three state tournaments in his first four seasons there.

Nicols, 36, taught business at South but was not yet tenured. He was put on leave as a teacher and then resigned as a coach. In his two seasons as South’s head coach, the Cougars went a combined 31-24.

Kochevar, 60, who was cleared to coach one day after the board meeting last October, led Lakeville North back to the girls hockey state tournament.

So why is Lakeville going through all this much coaching turmoil?

Tim Morris, executive director of the Minnesota girls hockey coaches association, spent six seasons as Lakeville South’s girls hockey coach before taking the same job at Stillwater.

“It’s a great school,” Morris said of Lakeville South. “There are some really great families down there. It’s a hard place to coach because people have very high expectations, and sometimes they’re very unrealistic expectations.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the coaches. If you don’t win, you’re not going to have some people in your corner, and they’re going to push whatever buttons they can to get rid of you.”

At the board meeting, the other speaker on Nicols’ behalf was former Gophers football captain and linebackers coach Mike Sherels, whose three daughters are basketball players in Lakeville South’s youth program.

“None of them will be Division I players, but Coach Nicols knows their names. He knows their interests,” Sherels said. “He cares about all the players up and down. He has started to build that type of program here.”

Wolkow added: “Mr. Nicols is a Lakeville South alum who chose to come back, purchased a home here and committed himself to this community. … This is about more than one position. This is about the standard.”