By Tim Clinton

SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle head football coach Marcis Fennell submitted his resignation as of Thursday, sending the following letter to the district as well as to the West Seattle Herald.

“I would like to thank you for the opportunity in being the head football coach at West Seattle High School. I have learned a great deal about myself and the process in being a coach on the high school level. Unfortunately, I am writing to resign from my position as head football coach. I have made this decision based on many reasons.

Upon my inception, I inherited a program in dire needs. The program had a -$5,000 budget, two footballs, 18 shoulder pads (surplus of extremely outdated shoulder pads), no practice equipment, a non-supportive booster club, a hostile parent group, a culture that enabled student athletes to disregard their responsibilities as students and athletes and one returning varsity player with significant playing time from the season prior. Despite those hardships, I fundraised (and personally donated) a total of $48,000 to cover the deficit in budget and equipment. Additionally, I was able to provide team meals, team apparel, nutritional snacks, an 18-week winter offseason strength and conditioning program (open to all student athletes) and a free first-class end of the year banquet in which all attendees enjoyed prime rib, mashed potatoes, vegetables, cheesecake and beverages, and all student athletes who earned their varsity letter were gifted their own varsity lettermen jacket.

Though I was able to provide these wonderful experiences for the student athletes, I continued to receive unwarranted resistance from every aspect of the program. I have attempted to voice my and my coaching staff’s concerns about our treatment throughout the entire year to no avail. As a result of the constant  resistance, the roster size has decreased 75 percent in a year. Such decrease is abnormal and greatly threatens the stability of the program. Therefore, I have chosen to remove myself in hopes that the program may survive. I hope that I may depart on good terms, as my calling is to be a coach to young people, just not at  West Seattle High School. Thank you for allowing me to attempt to change the culture of the program.”