A full house showed up at Williston (Florida) High School on Friday, ready to see the Red Devils' home opener against Duval Charter (Florida). However, due to a clerical error, the officiating crew never arrived, and the game had to be cancelled. As the home team, Williston was stuck with a forfeit, dropping the Red Devils to 0-2 in head coach Cliff Lohrey's first season.
Rather than simply move on from what was understandably an embarrassing night, Williston principal Eulin Gibbs fired him. Without knowing the intimate details, this feels like a violent knee-jerk that almost certainly leaves the school in a worse place than it started.
In addition to being the head football coach, Lohrey was also Williston's athletics director. Head baseball coach Scott Hall will take over as interim athletics director, pulling him off his regular duties to plug the leak. The football team is now down its head coach with seven games remaining in the season.
Hiring a head football coach and athletics director is one of the most critical decisions a school can make. Why dismiss him so quickly, thereby sending your entire athletics department into scramble mode at a critical juncture of the school year, for failing to have officials show up at a game? Is this is a rash decision, or did Gibbs make a justified decision?
What do you think?