Eagle Rock principal presents his side of recent football coach firing

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Eagle Rock Principal Salvador Velasco broke his silence on the dismissal of former football coach Jerry Chou Friday, saying ‘it was not possible’ for Chou to get his job back.

Whether spurred by a morning walkout by an estimated 400 protesting students, or the continued requests from alumni to explain his decision, Velasco told The Times that he had not fired Chou but instead had accepted a resignation tendered by the coach in October, then decided he would not accept Chou’s desire to change his mind.

Velasco said he met with Eagle Rock’s coaches on Tuesday and offered the head position to former Chou assistants Michael McKay and Steve Whal. Velasco said he was waiting for an answer from either coach by the end of the school day today/Friday. ‘If they decline, then on Monday I will start looking for a replacement,’ he said.

Velasco also said he offered Chou an assistant coaching position for football, but Chou declined.

When contacted, Chou said McKay, Wahl and his other former assistants met on Friday afternoon and voted unanimously that no one would accept the head coaching job. ‘They felt it would be wrong to do so,’ Chou said.’

He added that after meeting with Velasco on Tuesday, he shook hands with his principal with the full understanding that he had no chance to return as head coach.

‘[Velasco] said the decision was final and I’ve accepted that,’ Chou said. ‘In my mind, I have told myself I am no longer the coach and won’t be because that decision was made by the principal. He’s the boss and I’m going to move on.’

Chou was the head coach from 2004-07. He has a career record of 43-7, with four Northern League championships. The Eagles also won City Invitational titles in 2005 and 2006.

There are still questions surrounding Velasco’s decision to remove Chou on Jan. 12. The answers, of course, depend on with whom you talk.

All parties agree that Chou tendered his resignation in October, doing so in protest of Velasco’s handling of a dispute between varsity basketball Coach Ron Kato, and frosh-soph Coach Drew Lord. Kato was the only one of the two disciplined by Velasco, Chou said.

Chou rescinded his resignation, but he was suspended a week, returning for the Nov. 2 game against Wilson. He coached the remainder of the season, which ended Nov. 15 with a first-round playoff loss to Huntington Park.

Chou said he did not know that Velasco had not accepted the coach’s offer to rescind the resignation until January, when he discovered his name was not among the football coaches working with the team during the spring sememster.

Velasco said he told Chou he would not be retained as football coach in writing on Oct. 31. Chou disputes this, saying he has a letter from Velasco reinstating him as coach for the Wilson game. The letter, Chou said, says nothing about his rescinded resignation not being accepted.

At the beginning of Friday’s student protest, Velasco was heard over the campus’ PA system warning students to return to class or face disciplinary actions. The rally did break up peacefully, according to witnesses. Velasco did meet with approximately 150 students in the school auditorium at lunchtime.

‘It was important for us to talk,’ the principal said. ‘They are not satisfied if coach Chou is not their coach. I told them that was not possible at this time.’

Chou said he was ‘caught off guard’ by the emotional rally.

‘It was a pleasant surprise,’ he said. ‘I had told kids not to do it. But that the kids believe in me, that is a good feeling.’

-- Mike Terry

-- Image from www.hbo.com