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Why was Morro Bay High School’s football coach really fired?

November 1, 2018

David Kelly

School officials fired the head coach of the Morro Bay High football team after he recently told a junior varsity player to stop looking at him like a homosexual. Yet, some players on the team say they believe their coach was fired because of the squad’s poor performance. [Tribune]

David Kelley made the comment on Oct. 24, when the junior varsity squad was messing around in the locker room, senior football player Rocky Brebes said. Kelley told the junior varsity players to stop it and go to practice.

But, one junior varsity player kept sitting in the locker room and smiling at the head coach. Kelley then became more angry and told the player to stop looking at him like a homosexual and to get the (expletive) to practice, Brebes said.

Kelley was dismissed from his coaching position shortly following the incident. Morro Bay High Principal Kyle Pruitt then sent a letter to parents telling them Kelley had made comments that were “insensitive to the LGBTQ community.”

However, it is unclear whether or not school officials fired Kelley because of the remark he made to the football player. The Morro Bay varsity team finished the 2018 season 1-9 and win less in their league.

Kelley had been Morro Bay High’s head football coach since 2015, a year in which the team went 0-10. The team finished with a losing record in each year Kelley was head coach.

In a meeting with players and Principal Pruitt, Kelley told the team he was not fired because of his comments, Brebes said. Rather, Kelley said he was fired for “the other thing.”

Kelley then looked at Pruitt and asked him, right? Pruitt shook his head yes a couple times, Brebes said.

The former coach currently remains employed as a U.S. history teacher at Morro Bay High School. He has apologized for his remarks to Morro Bay students and families.

Brebes said he acknowledges Kelley made a mistake, but he loves his former coach, as does every player on the varsity team.


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I’m an athletic coach at a local high school and to report that team performance is at issue here is inherently false. Coaches are not held to any performance standard. Nice click bait though…


0

So you all seem to be fine with this from a teacher.


-4

So ya, seems like most are fine with this coming from a COACH. Most agree coach’s can be a little tough on little Billy.


Then when Friday night night arrives and the guys on the other team come at him he’ll understand why he needs to toughen up a tad! Or Billy can stay home and do something different.


-1

How much thinner can skin get? Yes there is a man’s world and a women’s world and at times they are different.


16

Oh, come on. A history teacher should know more than anyone that words matter. I would rather see him out of the classroom than off the field. Speaking from experience, football culture is a bastion of toxic masculinity. The worst thing Kelley could think of to say was something homophobic, How typical. If I had a kid in his class, I would be asking for a transfer. It’s time to raise gentlemen, people.


-23

We as a country are in real trouble, the diversity has turned to hate. Anytime someone says something there is some a**hole that will blow it way out of proportion and use it fully out of context for some ugly reason. If I took offense at just a small portion of some of the things that my drill sergeant said during my basic training years ago, I don’t think that I would be as tolerant of what people say today.


15

How is calling someone a “homosexual” (yea right, he didn’t use f****ot) in a derogatory way diversity exactly? Hate, yes.


1

Every time someone says anything some a**hole will blow it way out of proportion, intentionally misrepresent the statement for some political bent, and use it to vilify someone who ment no harm. If I took offense at just a few of the comments that my drill sergeant uttered during my basic training years ago I probably would be a bigger mess than I am today. We have to lighten up and begin to realize that not everyone likes you but that doesn’t mean that they are aiming to intentionally verbally insult you.


7

If I were a coach in the locker room and one of the team members remained behind only to smile and glare at me. I’d file a claim against the School District and let them figure it out. The teachers need to protect themselves from abusive students, a good lesson for the students too.


17

Agreed. I don’t remember being brave enough or disrespectful enough to sit in my coach’s presence. Obviously they kicked him loose for the losing record of which I doubt he had much control of given the players he has to choose from. Heck, even a blind squirrel gets a nut, right?


13