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It’s a situation where you can’t help but ask, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”

Erik Drygas discovered in e-mail on Sunday morning that his head coaching position with the West Valley High School hockey team is up for hire.

Like a goaltender getting beat on a backdoor play, Drygas was surprised because he didn’t resign from the program, which he has coached for eight seasons and has guided to the Class 4A state tournament each season.

“To say the least, I was shocked and disappointed,” Drygas said Tuesday. “I had been there eight years and I’ve had great experiences at West Valley.”

The position is open to Fairbanks North Star Borough School District employees until April 15 and if there is no qualified applicant within the district, then the position becomes open to the public. It means that the 31-year-old Drygas, who is not a school district employee, can apply for the position he’s held since 1999.

Shaun Kraska is exercising an option that’s available to every high school principal in the school district — a coach’s job can be put up for hire whether a team has flourished or floundered under his guidance.

“I’m not singling out Erik,” Kraska, who’s in her first year as West Valley’s principal after being an assistant principal there for the past five years, said Wednesday. “I’ve advertised many other positions and it’s not just about hockey.”

West Valley has a new track coach in former Lathrop head coach Milo Griffin; will have new head football coach this fall in Ben Johnson, who works next door at Hutchison High School; has retained Dan Callahan as head cross-country running coach and is advertising on the school district’s Web site for new head coaches in gymnastics, boys varsity basketball and girls junior varsity basketball.

Again, Drygas’ situation justifies the question, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?”

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t advertise hockey when I’ve advertised all the other (positions),” Kraska said. “I think the community will ask me that question, I think my staff will ask, too.”

Based on his accomplishments with the Wolfpack, Drygas’ position should have never been put up for hire. Observations should prevail over options in situations like this.

He’s the longest tenured coach at the school and he’s the third-longest tenured hockey coach in the state. In some places, a statue would be built in a coach’s honor if he took a team to a state tournament for eight straight years.

“You see coaches that are in programs for a long time and they have a chance to build those programs and stay with those programs for a while,” said Drygas, who’s also a member of the University of Alaska Board of Regents, “and I always thought I’d be able to do that as long as I’m successful.”

Under Drygas, the Wolfpack captured the Mid Alaska Conference regular-season title from 2000-06, took conference tournament crowns from 2002-04 and were runners-up from 2005-07. The eight trips to the 4A state tournament were highlighted by four fourth-place finishes (2002 and from 2004-06).

In the 2003 state tournament, West Valley lost 1-0 in four overtimes in a semifinal to Dimond, the eventual runner-up that year. The Wolfpack finished fifth in that tournament, but Drygas’ efforts were rewarded with the Anchorage Daily News/State Coaches Coach of the Year honor, and West Valley received the tournament’s sportsmanship award.

The Wolfpack also earned the state tournament’s academic honor three times (2003, 2004, 2006). The last time they were honored, they had a 3.49 grade point average that stands as the highest in tournament history.

Several former Wolfpack are either playing college hockey or are on their way to programs.

Ashly Waggoner skated with a Minnesota-Duluth program that played for the national title in the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Tournament. Hunter Bishop, one of the leading scorers this season in the British Columbia Hockey League, is headed to Ohio State this fall, and current Fairbanks Ice Dog and former Wolfpack Caleb Harrison has committed to fellow D-I program Holy Cross.

Also, former Wolfpack wing Isak Quakenbush is part of a Seattle Thunderbirds squad which advanced to the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference semifinals.

And Drygas has a career record of 113-77-5, including a Mid Alaska mark of 43-15-1.

Again, why fix something, or even consider fixing something, that’s not broken?

CAMPUS TRAILS: Kansas junior guard and Bartlett graduate Mario Chalmers has compiled 60 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals in four games of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. Kansas faces North Carolina in the Final Four on Saturday in San Antonio ... Boise State freshman forward Melissa Rima, a Monroe Catholic grad, had four rebounds, a point and a block in an 85-56 loss to Texas Christian in a second-round game of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, on March 23. She contributed seven rebounds, four points and a block three days earlier in a 77-54 win over Idaho State in a first-round contest in Boise ... Nebraska junior forward and Chugiak grad Kelsey Griffin had nine points, seven rebounds and three steals in 76-64 loss to Maryland in a second-round game of the NCAA Division I women’s tournament on March 25 in College Park, Md.

• Notre Dame junior goaltender Jordan Pearce, a South Anchorage grad, registered 20 saves in a 3-1 win over last year’s national champion Michigan State on Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., in the West Regional final of the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament. Notre Dame faces Central Collegiate Hockey Association rival Michigan in the Frozen Four on April 10 in Denver.

PRO NOTES: Forward and Juneau-Douglas graduate Carlos Boozer leads the Utah Jazz in scoring, averaging 21.8 points per game for the National Basketball Association team heading into Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat ... San Jose Sharks defenseman Matt Carle of Anchorage notched his 13th assist of the season in Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in a National Hockey League game in San Jose, Calif.