This is wrong in so many ways.
It’s wrong that St. Edward’s School fired its football coach, Bill Motta, without giving him a reason beyond the feeble, “We want to go in a different direction.”
It’s wrong that St. Edward’s Head of School Mike Mersky, usually a stand-up guy, fired Motta and then hid under his desk, ducking an interview request and letting a brief, no-real-explanation press release speak for him.
It’s wrong that Motta, who spent a decade teaching St. Edward’s boys the life lessons they needed to become men and finding ways to win games without enough players to require a depth chart, was fired for being a coach who preached teamwork, demanded commitment and expected perseverance.
And saying a few nice words about him in a prepared statement doesn’t make it right.
Not any of it.
“Bill has done a wonderful job for us in his tenure,” Mersky said in the Nov. 19 press release, “and we will be happy to recommend him as a football coach at another school, possibly with larger numbers of student-athletes and a greater commitment to the sport.”
Recommend him? How, exactly? By saying he’s a tremendous coach we no longer wanted working with our players because he was too dedicated, too demanding, and too tough, but you’ll love him?
According to Merksy’s statement, Motta also “was dedicated to helping young men succeed, not just on the field but in life,” so much so that St. Edward’s players “show it in their sportsmanship and maturity on and off the field.”
Yet St. Edward’s no longer wanted him, even though he managed to win more games than he lost while making such a lasting impression on his players.
“I guess I’m more demanding than they want in their football coach,” Motta said last week. “I was never told why they wanted to make a change, other than they wanted to take the program in a different direction.
“What direction is that? I don’t know,” he added. “Maybe they felt my demands were unreasonable. Maybe they wanted to tone down the demands a bit. I have no idea.”
Did someone complain – players who couldn’t handle Motta’s old-school demands or parents who thought the coach was too tough on their boys? Given today’s everyone-gets-a-trophy culture, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
“I have no evidence there was any of that, but you’d have to think there was some catalyst for this,” Motta said. “My evaluations every year have been positive.”
As they should’ve been.
Year after year, Motta embraced the challenge of trying to win with rosters that usually ranged from 15 to 25 players, many of them donning a helmet and pads for the first time.
Often, Motta didn’t have enough players to conduct 11-on-11 scrimmages during practice, and he regularly needed some boys to play both offense and defense.
Somehow, though, Motta compiled a 51-48 record that included a Sunshine State Athletic Conference championship in 2010 and a return to the title game in 2016, when the Pirates lost in the closing minutes.
After winning three games in 2017 and only one in 2018, St. Edward’s finished 6-4 this past season, unknowingly punctuating Motta’s run with a rousing, 41-0 victory over St. Petersburg’s Shorecrest Prep.
“I enjoyed my time there, and I have no ill will toward anyone at St. Edward’s,” Motta said. “I didn’t really see this coming, but I did the best that I could, and the boys did the best that they could. As a coach, that’s all you can ask.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “The program was definitely trending upward.”
In his statement, Mersky said: “Friday night lights are a cherished American tradition, and we hope to continue to fill the stands at Pirate Stadium with football fans on this beautiful campus.”
He also said St. Edward’s wants a coach “who is on our professional staff full-time,” prompting early speculation that the school might promote Motta’s defensive coordinator, Rick Schofield.
All we know at this point, though, is what the press release tells us – that St. Edward’s “will spend the near future developing a plan for the program and looking at all options.”
Motta, too, is looking at options.
At age 58, the retired police officer and island resident said he wants to coach again at some level. He said he has had opportunities to coach elsewhere in the past, and he expects to find another position eventually.
“I might not jump right back in,” Motta said. “I certainly haven’t checked the classifieds or anything like that, and I can tell you that Florida State hasn’t called. We’ll just see what comes along.”
Motta didn’t see this coming, however, and unless Mersky or someone else at St. Edward’s finds the courage to address it, we might never know what really prompted the coach’s firing.
Was Motta too tough on his players? Did Mersky blame the demands Motta put on his players for some students opting to not play football? Or did Motta simply not win enough?
Certainly, St. Edward’s had a right to fire its football coach, but it did so the wrong way – and we suspect, until we hear otherwise, for the wrong reason.
