Legendary Texas prep volleyball coach fired after 48-2 season
A week after a Virginia state champion prep football coach was axed for allegedly running up the score, a Texas state semifinalist volleyball coach received his walking papers.
Over lunch, Southlake (Texas) Carroll High athletic director Kevin Ozee told Arthur Stanfield he's "no longer the varsity volleyball coach and they’re going to go in a new direction" despite the 59-year-old leading the Dragons to a 48-2 record and the Class 5A state semifinals this past season, the coaching legend told The Dallas Morning News.
Stanfield's 960 career victories in 29 seasons, including a 272-40 record at Southlake Carroll, rank among the top 20 winningest prep volleyball coaches in history. He led Red Oak (Texas) High to three state titles in 19 seasons before joining the Dragons in 2007. Stanfield earned District 4-5A Co-Coach of the Year honors this past fall.
While Ozee would not comment on the firing, Stanfield most certainly did, telling both The Dallas Morning News and and Forth Worth Star-Telegram that he refused to resign.
“It was a difficult year with all the off-the-court isues,” the 59-year-old told The Dallas Morning News. “The parents were unhappy with me. I angered the wrong parent or parents, I did something they didn’t like, and they weren’t going to be happy with a 48-2 record. They weren’t going to be happy until I was gone. There’s no sense getting into it. Something happened and parents couldn’t let it go. They didn’t like my response to what happened and they kept on it and on it and eventually they got what they wanted.”
The controversy remains a mystery, but a commenter signed in through Facebook named Bobby Rawls provided some insight into the possible issues Stanfield referenced.
Let me set the record straight, this guy is a Bully in the worst way, He had an ALL American Libero on his squad. She was offered the opportunity to visit the University of Texas in September or November for a official visit. She chose in September when they played a patsy in district instead of November when the playoffs start. He had a policy of not playing the next game, she knew tht and decided to take the punishment for getting a full paid scholarship of missing one game.She gets her scholarship, sits out the game, then the next, then the next, then the next game. Mind you this girl is the top ranked at her position in the US. HEr team questions why this is happening, this man is a BULLY in the simplest of terms.
Indeed, Southlake Carroll featured Texas-bound senior libero Cat McCoy this past season, the top-ranker at her position in the Class of 2014 by PrepVolleyball.com. For the record, the Dragons finished 7-0 in the month of September, winning all 21 of their sets.
Stanfield will continue teaching at the school, but is uncertain if he'll coach again, telling the Star-Telegram, "I don’t know if I want to go somewhere and start over from scratch."
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