Eagles' girls volleyball coach claims disgruntled parents behind his firing

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

Town Crier file photo When Los Altos High administrators told Dave Winn they were considering firing him as girls volleyball coach, “They dropped a bomb on me,” he said. Two weeks later, he was let go.

What’s known for sure is that Dave Winn will not return as Los Altos High’s girls volleyball coach next fall. What’s not so clear is why he won’t be back.

The coach said complaints by the parents of four seniors prompted Los Altos to fire him April 6. One of these parents said Winn’s poor communication skills are to blame for his dismissal. A junior on the team points the finger at the team’s disgruntled seniors. The school’s athletic director cited the program’s lack of growth, while the principal said Winn simply wasn’t a good fit.

Before a mid-March meeting with principal Wynne Satterwhite and athletic director Monica Lodge, Winn said he had no reason to believe he wouldn’t return for a fifth season as coach.

“They dropped a bomb on me,” said Winn, who guided the Eagles to four consecutive playoff appearances. “They told me, ‘I’m not sure if things are working out and we’re thinking of letting you go.’ It didn’t make any sense.”

Winn said he was fired two weeks later, and he is convinced the parents of four seniors who didn’t play much are behind it.

“Their parents are obsessed with playing time,” Winn said. “Some kids, at the end of the day, don’t perform as well as others. I put the six out there who give us the best chance to win. One mom in particular didn’t like it, and I’m sure she tried to form a coalition with other senior moms.”

That mom, Grace Acosta, acknowledged she wrote a letter to the administration criticizing Winn in January after the coach refused to meet with her. However, she said the focus was on Winn’s communication skills and not playing time.

“He has a very difficult way of communicating,” she said. “It’s like talking to a bouncing ball - he starts in one direction and ricochets off in another. It’s tough for the girls to get direction and confidence.”

Acosta said the parents of other seniors felt the same way. The parents of two of them joined Acosta in a meeting with Satterwhite and Lodge later that month to express their concerns.

“We made it clear that it had nothing to do with play time,” Acosta said. “We weren’t looking for Dave’s head, but this is what was going on and it needed to be addressed. I’m not saying it was a bad choice to fire him, but that wasn’t our intent. It wasn’t an off-with-your-head meeting.”

Satterwhite and Lodge next met with the four seniors to hear what they had to say about Winn. The administrators then invited the team’s underclassmen and seniors to a meeting in February for more feedback.

“They pulled six of us in and asked what we thought of Dave as a coach and what were his weaknesses,” said junior Christan Schaefer, an all-league outside hitter. “We brought up some points but nothing that would get him fired.”

Schaefer believes Winn was dismissed “because he made it competitive and the seniors who didn’t play got mad.” She added that all the returning players “were adamant about having Dave back next year.”

Caroline Acosta, the only senior in the meeting, came away from it with a different impression, according to her mom.

“Every player agreed that, on a pure volleyball level, the program was going nowhere - it had flatlined,” Grace Acosta said. “Some of the girls rallied behind him, but they clearly didn’t endorse him.”

Christan’s mom, Perry Schaefer, is unhappy that the administration did not consult her and the parents of the team’s other underclassmen.

“It sounds like a few parents came forward who were disgruntled, but they never contacted us,” Schaefer said. “My husband and I are disappointed. We had no problem with Dave’s coaching, and Christan wanted him to be the coach for her senior year.”

The Schaefers aren’t the only ones who felt this way, according to Winn. He said, “Every returning varsity player wanted me to come back.”

So if that’s the case, why didn’t the administration retain him?

“Dave was not rehired based on feedback that Monica and I received from a wide variety of sources; it was not based on just one group,” Satterwhite said. “We felt that we needed to find a better fit for the volleyball program at Los Altos High School.”

Lodge was a little more specific: “The program wasn’t growing. It wasn’t going forward - it kind of stayed where it was.”

Which wasn’t a bad place, according to Winn.

“I had a 99-47 record, which was on par with Jason Mansfield,” said Winn, referring to his predecessor, who left Los Altos to be an assistant coach at Stanford University. “And to them, that’s not competitive? It’s absurd.”

The expectations for the volleyball team are apparently higher than that of most sports at Los Altos. While programs such as football and girls basketball have languished since the 1980s - with only a few of the long line of coaches fired over performance - volleyball has thrived. The Eagles won a Central Coast Section title in 1999 under Mansfield, who posted a 90-38 record in his four seasons.

Following Mansfield and continuing his level of success would be a daunting task for anyone, according to Mountain View High girls volleyball coach Gerrie Phillips.

“Four years ago when the position opened, I considered applying for it, but I thought it would be tough to go into because Jason had built such a great program already,” she said. “Regardless of what you did, they will remember what Jason did. If you have an off year, you’re a bad coach. If you have a good year, it’s because Jason built up the program.”

In 2004 Los Altos tied the school record for most wins (29), but last season the team failed to get past the opening round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997.

Perry Schaefer said Winn “did a tremendous job last season, which was a rebuilding year.” She doesn’t expect the school to find a better and more dedicated coach, especially just four months before tryouts.

“My thought is, ‘Please don’t get rid of him unless you have someone fantastic in mind. I hope you have a plan here,’” she said. “That’s really upsetting to hear that they don’t. I don’t understand it.”

Lodge said the school is actively seeking candidates for the job. She asks anyone who is interested to call her at 960-8857.

As for what’s next for Winn: he isn’t sure.

“I’m pretty soured on high school volleyball right now. I’ll look around, but I’ll be choosier the next time around,” said Winn, who also coaches club. “To fire me this late is completely unprofessional. Two months ago there were jobs open at Palo Alto and Woodside that I declined to interview for because I was loyal and didn’t want to leave these girls. Now, all the jobs are filled.”