Sometimes the end result is all that matters. That’s what we have to keep in mind this week as the Pike County Board of Education begins anew the hiring process for an athletic director and head football coach at Goshen High School.

At the heart of the debate this week was the issue of process: did the superintendent, principal and board of education members follow the proper process in their attempts to hire Mike McCombs as coach and athletic director? Or did they circumvent the open meetings law, intentionally or unitentionally?

Considering the fact that McCombs was present at the Board of Education meeting at which his hiring was scheduled to be discussed and voted upon and, according to many people he was scheduled to attend a practice that evening, it certainly seems plausible that discussions about the hiring could have taken place outside of public meetings.

And that, not McCombs’ merits as a coach, should have remained the focus of the issue.

The group of concerned citizens who petitioned the court to stop the hiring reached an agreement with the school officials this week, settling their complaint and a counter-complaint filed by the superintendent and principal. And, for the record, the citizens publicly stated in a letter written as part of that settlement that the meetings law was followed by officials.

Let’s hope the motions and legal filings are behind us now. And, more important, let’s hope the good folks on the Pike County Board of Education will redouble their search efforts to find and hire the best qualified candidate for the Goshen position – and do so with a transparent and open process that follows the spirit and the letter of the law.