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Parents want FCHS to fire 2-18 coach

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

A group of parents, dissatisfied with back-to-back 1-9 football seasons at Fayette County High, have started a petition drive to get Tiger head coach Tommy Webb fired.

But school administrators are backing Webb, who is in just his second year at the school.

On Monday night, FCHS parent Carolyn Jones took her complaint to the Board of Education, saying that efforts to talk directly with Webb or Principal Charles Warr about the direction of the program had been unsuccessful.

She credited good coaching for the well-publicized success of football programs at nearby Starr’s Mill and Sandy Creek high schools and said Tiger athletes deserve the same leadership.

“It is unbelievable to me that Fayette County doesn’t have the program to give these athletes the opportunity to get scholarships and excel,” she said. “My son has a right to play for a winning team.”

Among the complaints lodged by Jones and others, she said Webb had conspired with members of the school’s Touchdown Club to show favor to players whose parents made large financial contributions to the school’s athletic program.

Jones said booster club officers had access to personal information about students, directed Webb about what boys to allow on the team, and controlled access to the school’s facilities.

“They controlled our team and our coach,” Jones said.

Jones said she had expressed her displeasure with the success of the football program and her son’s participation at an open meeting with Webb and others, and was told “if I was unhappy with the program, to take my son somewhere else.”

She added, “Why should I have to leave?”

Another parent of a 10th grade player, Valerie Crook, said her son and many others were considering quitting altogether after seeing little or no playing time, and few victories, this season.

“It’s very disappointing to send a child off to school before dark every morning to practice and have him come home late at night and stay up past midnight doing his homework, only to get four or five hours of sleep and do it all over again,” said Crook. “And for what?”

Booster club officers who spoke Monday night in defense of Webb said most parents understand the difficulty in turning a long-struggling program around, and that Webb deserved more time.

“The majority of the parents support the Booster Club’s efforts and Coach Webb,” said Kenny Stapleton, immediate past president of the organization.

“It’s a tough situation but we want to see Coach Webb take this program to a new level,” he said. “We believe he can do it.”

Webb built winning teams at Riverdale High and later Jonesboro High in Clayton County before taking the Fayette job last year.

A longtime resident of Fayetteville, Webb had many contacts in the community already through his church, New Hope Baptist, and at the high school, where his own teenagers are enrolled.

Webb did not attend Monday’s board meeting, but in an e-mail sent to The Citizen on Tuesday he said he was aware of the complaints and regretted the controversy.

“When you go through a difficult season, it is not unusual to have some who do not agree with what you do as the coach,” Webb said. “As the head football coach, it is my responsibility to look at the season, where we are, and see what needs to be done to get this program going in the right direction.

“Many parents and our administration have been very supportive of what we are doing and they understand what needs to be done for us to build a successful program,” he concluded.

School principal Warr, who hired Webb, wouldn’t comment on Jones’ charges directly. But he did say that he stands by Webb and the coaching job is not threatened.

“Absolutely, his job is secure,” said Warr. “He’s an outstanding individual.”

In keeping with policy, board members made no comment and took no action after the discussion about Webb.

By law, they have no say-so in the handling of individual personnel matters within the school system.