grayson fired at Westlake

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SoCalHoops High School News

Gary Grayson Fired As Boys'
Coach At Westlake--(Jan. 11, 2000)

Seems that teams from the West Valley have had a tough time with taking trips this past December. First it was the Newbury Park team in Vegas which ended up leaving early after some unspecified behaviorial problems with a few of the players. . .which ultimately resulted in their dismissal from the team.

Now it's a coach in hot water. Both the LA Times and the Daily News reported this morning that Gary Grason, the Westlake High School boys' basketball coach for the past 10 years was fired Monday, and has been replaced by Richard Sanders, the Westlake JV coach on an interim basis. The Times did not disclose the actual incident which led to the dismissal, but the Daily News was a bit more explicit. In a column by Vincent Bonsignore this morning, the Daily News blared this headline: "A Matter of Poor Judgment." Here are the basic details:

"According to two sources, the dismissal stemmed from a trip Westlake took to Hawaii for a tournament in December. One of the players lost his return ticket home, and by the time he and Grayons realized what happened, there wasn't enough time to get him a replacement ticket on the same flight. Grayson gave the player his credit card, and told him to purchase a ticket on a later flight. The rest of the team--including Grayson--boarded their original flight home, leaving the player at the airport in Hawaii by himself.

"Everything turned out fine, the player returned home safely. But apparently Wetlake officials weren't satisfied with Grayson's decision."

To any coach out there who has to travel with young players, this is an object lesson in the benefits of (a) "ticketless travel" and (b) never letting a player be responsible for his own ticket.

In any event, Grayson will continue to teach at the school and told both newspapers that he plans to appeal the decision. The new interim coach, Richard Sanders, played at Saint Louis University from 1961-64 and has been the JV coach for three years.