Gregory is Gone

[SALTSHAKER 10]

The Washington Co SB Fired Abingdons FB coach Last night at a 3 Hr closed session and when they came out it was announced that he was fired. Now who wants the job?

[ghs84 10]

I'LL take it.

[ScottGHS71 10]

lol

[Fridge 10]

Abingdon high is gonna have a hard time finding a coaches next season because i kno if they offer i wouldnt take it you cant fire a coach for yelling at the kids my god come on. He should be out there coaching them boys

[get_the_duck 10]

Are we actually going to have this same conversation again? He wasn't fired over yelling, anyone who honestly belives that probably thought Abingdon was going to beat Richlands too. He is gone, let him go in peace. Respect the man's privacy.

[BigD4VT 11]

[ QUOTE ]

Abingdon high is gonna have a hard time finding a coaches next season because i kno if they offer i wouldnt take it you cant fire a coach for yelling at the kids my god come on. He should be out there coaching them boys

 

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure there is someone out there who will be a good fit for them if they look hard enough. Abingdon is a great town and that fact alone is a strong attraction for a football coach. I just hope the school/parents will be reasonable (not suggesting they weren't in this case) and let the new coach do the job his way. Abingdon is coming to the SWD and I want them to be strong. It will benefit the entire league if they are.

[swvafball 10]

they have a history of passing on good, solid applicants....especially if those applicants are alumni. they better go old school, since they are going back to the old school swd!! and whoever they hire - LET THEM COACH

[get_the_duck 10]

I heard there is a big push for the interim head coach to take over officially. He's a UT fan, but nobody's perfect.

[rebelwave44 10]

Dale Cox would be a great fit......his career 8th grade record at Grundy is 169-8. He doesn't practice so he wouldn't have time to yell at the boys.

[dinkman 14]

i hate to hear that

[dinkman 14]

who is that

[REMINGTON 10]

Do you honestly think that was all that it was over? If so you all are more immature than you talk on here

[REMINGTON 10]

Like the news has left out and the paper has printed it......it was NOT only on the field....in the classrooms and in school was worse. Does your coaches teach anything? Do they act the same on the field as they do in a classroom?

[REMINGTON 10]

He NEVER showed anyone any respect.........you get what you give in life!

[coachftbl 10]

What is the football sit. like? Can you win there, the fans, the weightroom, off-season, administration, living in the area give us some insight. What is really good about abingdon? Thanks.

[schoolteacher 10]

Doug Marrs?

[jham 10]

just wandering:

 

i have never posted on this subject because i had no fight in the matter and for the most part really did not have an interest in that much. I always thought there had to be more to this than just cursing of players, because that happens everywhere. but i was wandering, i just heard the report on WCYB that he would not be returning as the football coach but was going to be able to teach in Washington County at Wallace Middle School if he chose to do so. Just wandering if the man was that bad in the class room also why would he be able to teach at a middle school. Also you all said when this was settled you all would spill the beans so lets hear what really happened

[hoops247 10]

im with you 100%...i have no idea what the guy did and ive defended the school just thinking there must of been something really bad..but, if the county is willing to let the man to teach even younger kids...well, that just doesn't make sense. all of these people who were talking about how they'd spill the beans when it was over with...well, what are the beans?? something doesn't add up. Sounds like the school board is insane. I mean, it can't be classroom stuff that got the guy fired from his football job or he wouldn't be fit to teach middle school kids..I think he teaches P.E...If he's done all of these terrible things in the classroom, etc., why would he be able to teach?? sure doesn't add up. maybe im stupid, but i really thought there was more to the story...but it sounds like the parents may have pulled a mutiny on the coach. if that's the case, who on earth would want that job? or any job in washington county? parents don't agree with the coach..they have some pull in the county...they get together and get the guy fired because they say he's a terrible man..but, they don't feel he's terrible enough not to teach in one of their middle schools? It sounds to me like that county has some answering to do...id like those abingdon people to explain this one.

[Beamerball 566]

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/sports.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2006-10-18-0005.html

 

ABINGDON – Former high school football coach Ray Gregory would not comment Tuesday on the loss of his coaching contract and his future plans.

 

The Washington County School Board voted late Monday to fire Gregory as head football coach at Abingdon High School and to transfer him to a teaching position at another school.

 

The vote followed a month of controversy that saw Gregory suspended after parents complained about his treatment of their sons.

 

Reached by telephone Tuesday, Gregory said he would not comment until after a meeting next month with lawyers and the school superintendent.

 

"I’d like to have my say," he said, "but just not right now."

 

The board went into a three-hour executive session late Monday to discuss Gregory. When they emerged, just before 11:30 p.m., they voted 6-0 to terminate the coaching contract.

 

Board member Elizabeth Lowe abstained because her son plays on the Abingdon High School football team.

 

The board also voted 5-0, with Lowe and Buckey Boone abstaining, to transfer Gregory to a teaching position at Wallace Middle School.

 

"I can’t comment on it," said School Board Chairman Curtis Burkett. "I know that people think I’m being evasive, but as an employee of the system, he’s entitled to privacy, and we have to respect that privacy."

 

Superintendent Alan Lee also refused to comment.

 

Gregory, a graduate of Patrick Henry High School, returned to Washington County last year to coach Abingdon after more than two decades coaching college and high school teams around the country. The team is 4-4 this season.

 

His mother, Barbara Gregory, said he’d planned to stay and eventually retire here.

 

The murmurs among Ray Gregory’s relatives and supporters, as they awaited the decision Monday, were the same that have rippled through the community since he was first suspended with pay last month.

 

Player parents and Gregory’s relatives wondered aloud Monday what he did and whether the School Board would explain its decision.

 

Gregory yelled at players who removed their pads before the end of a 53-0 losing game on Sept. 15 against Richlands. Some parents of players have said he cursed at their sons; Ray Gregory’s parents say otherwise.

 

About two dozen of his supporters attended the meeting; no critics spoke.

 

"I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say a curse word," said his father, Danny Gregory, adding he raised his son with discipline – a trait he says is important in football.

 

School officials have kept quiet on the subject, as has Ray Gregory. "If my son had been at Patrick Henry or any other high school, this never would’ve happened," Barbara Gregory said. "It’s because it’s Abingdon."

 

In 21 years of coaching, she said, her son never had a problem.

 

"This is a witch hunt after my son," Barbara Gregory said. "He’s been under the microscope from Day 1."

 

She said that when a group of parents first met with high school Principal Jeff Noe on Sept. 18, she was told her son would never coach another day at Abingdon High School.

 

Frank Kilgore, Ray Gregory’s attorney, said that because high school coaches are at-will employees, they can be fired from coaching at any time, with or without reason. Thus, he said, Gregory has no legal recourse with regard to his coaching position. Kilgore said, however, there have been no formal findings of wrongdoing.

 

"It can happen to any coach across the state of Virginia at any time," Kilgore said. "I think that given his experience in coaching, it won’t be hard at all for him to get another coaching job."

 

Kilgore also said he is communicating with the School Board attorney to lift a restriction preventing Ray Gregory from being present on school property. Gregory’s son, A.J., is a junior and a member of the Abingdon football team.

 

"If my son was fired from this position for yelling, then you’d better fire every coach in the county," said Barbara Gregory, Ray Gregory’s mother. "Everyone’s laughing at Abingdon because of this."

 

But his aunt, Peggy, said the rest of the story will eventually be known.

 

"It’s gonna come out," she said. "Just keep your ears open. It’ll all come out."

[hoops247 10]

where are all of the abingdon people who said they'd tell us the rest of the story? the man has been fired, so what are the details for those of you "in the know"

[Guest zeus71]

You would to fridge you aint got to lie to kick it.SWVA translation-Tell the truth we will still think your cool.

[VHSdevil 10]

[ QUOTE ]

You would to fridge you aint got to lie to kick it.SWVA translation-Tell the truth we will still think your cool.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

WHAT WERE YO TRYING TO SAY?

MUMBO JUMBO!

JIBBER JABBER! haha

[footballgal 10]

I have a question, my son attended a camp this summer where most all of Abingdons players were at. There was a Ferguson kid playing. I havent heard alot about him, is he still playing? I heard he was Duran Fergusons younger brother. Any ideas?

[swvafball 10]

duran carson....he is that guy's brother, just a different last name...and he is playing as far as i know

[coachftbl 10]

Can anyone tell us about the school and its history of football?