Posted on 12/10/2001 9:27:10 AM PST by RippleFire
Fired coach: I was accused of running up score By Marcus Nelson, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, December 7, 2001 LAKE WORTH -- Wellington High School girls basketball coach Teresa Krellner said the school's principal fired her Tuesday after accusing her of running up the score against Santaluces. The Wolverines defeated the Chiefs 67-11 on Monday and Krellner was dismissed the following morning by Wellington Principal Rod Montgomery, Krellner said Thursday night. "He said he felt like it was an embarrassment to his school," Krellner said. "I was told I was being fired because I deliberately ran up the score in the game. He thought it was an embarrassment that at the end of the game players were laughing on the court." Montgomery would not disclose the reason Krellner was fired. "Issues that we have with personnel we don't discuss with the press," Montgomery said during Wellington's game at Lake Worth on Thursday night. "The bottom line is we thought the program could be taken to another level." Krellner was 41-16 in three seasons as head coach and the Wolverines are 5-1 this season. "Obviously doing it once the season has started is not ideal, but it's a decision that was made and we're going to live with it," Montgomery said. "Hopefully everyone will rebound." Krellner also attended Wednesday's game, where she was hugged by several players and greeted by parents angry about the firing. Players said they were notified of the decision by Wellington Athletic Director William Dupere. "We were all called out of class and (Dupere) said that coach 'Tree' was not going to be our coach," senior forward Mary Carter said. "He told us it had to do with the game on Monday. There were three or four girls crying and we all thought about quitting." Parents of the players were upset with Krellner's dismissal. "This woman has been a role model and is beyond reproach," said Barry Schnittman, the father of guard Cari Schnittman. Krellner said she told Montgomery she took several steps to keep the score down against Santaluces, which is 0-5 this season. "I tried to explain that we didn't run up the score and we called off our press in the first quarter," Krellner said. "I told our girls that we could not fast break. I did everything short of what I thought would be humiliating to the other team." Krellner said the starters played sparingly in only the first and third quarters before she let them back in with 1:45 remaining. Even then, Krellner said, the players were not in their regular positions. Krellner said that was why the players were laughing. Wellington players said they did not run up the score. "The people that scored in that game don't get to play that much," Carter said. "We don't believe in running up the score." Santaluces coach Bruce Wasserman does not believe Krellner ran up the score. "I did not leave the gym that night thinking that they had run the score up on us," Wasserman said. "We're not a competitive team. I've been on both ends of games like that and there's not much you can do." Krellner said she called Wasserman to make sure he wasn't upset about the game. Vic Navarro, who was an assistant on the Wellington boys team, was named the coach of the girls team and the Wolverines beat Lake Worth 40-25 Thursday.
It's only 'running the score up' when the 1st stringers are in the entire game. If this coach put in the 2nd and 3rd stringers.
Two years ago, we played a bad team. We're a passing team. We told their coaches, while we will play everybody, we will pass in the 2nd half to give them reps in our system. They understood that. We beat them handily.
The principle is an jagoff. I doubt he played any sports in his life. He is either 1. Not smart enough to understand competitive sports, or 2. Caved to a bunch of whining ninnies(probably all democrats) who do not understand it.
I feel sorry for the players. They gave it 100% and played their hearts out, and their coach is fired since they did the right thing. I hope the coach goes on to win a state title at another school.
Politics.
"That, I believe, was the hidden reason that Coach got fired," one Wellington player said, echoing the sentiments of a handful of others who talked. "Obviously, the timing of her return is kind of odd. It's something that a lot of people are questioning."
No, really.....players aren't stupid when it comes to this stuff.
How can they not, when the mother of the prodigal sophomore works in Wellington High's front office?
And there I think is the real reason. A few years back, the former head coach, who is now an assistant about 20 years after the incident was fired. He benched a hot shot for slacking. This hot shot wasn't giving effort that is demanded by our program and was benched. The whining baby cried to his dad on the school board, and the rest was history. Luckily, we had a good replacement who is still coaching today. He's a winner.
Jerks like that cause more harm to the program than anything else. They hurt morale. They wreck programs. They prevent good coaches from coaching, and prevent good players from playing for them.
OTOH, I do note that Ran Carthon and Willie Greene -- the #3 and #4 running backs get a fair amount of runs late in the game. Greene's first career run was a 5 yard touchdown around left end, during a blowout -- LSU, if I remember right. Both of them should've been used more than they were.
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