On April 9, dissension transpired between varsity baseball head coach Brian Kelly and a player which ultimately led to Kelly’s suspension and a change in the coaching staff.

Senior James Barnett said the conflict began when Kelly allegedly made an inappropriate joke to motivate the team but ended up insulting a player. “I think the worst part was that the team had to go through a complete coaching overhaul and that one player was insulted in a way that no one should be spoken to,” Barnett said. According to Barnett, he did not agree with Kelly’s actions towards the anonymous player. After practice, he confronted the coach about the misconduct, and in return was verbally assaulted. “It just kind of escalated,” junior Jon Zeglin said. “We were all a little shook by it.”

After he told his parents about the issue, Barnett’s father spoke to Principal Noreen Likins. “I didn’t know what would happen,” Barnett said. “I just thought the situation would go back to normal, and that the coach would apologize. He swears a lot, but something just switched. He took it too far.”

The administration discussed the incident that occurred on the baseball field and decided to suspend Coach Kelly from the coaching staff. He has coached baseball at Gunn for four years. “We initially decided that it would be better for him to not coach in the immediate future,” Likins said. “After investigating we decided it would be better all around for him to not come back to Gunn.” Neither Kelly nor Coach John Harney could be reached for comment for this article.

According to Likins, coaches should be role models for students. “We like to have teachers coach because they know how to interact with students,” she said. “When we hire coaches from outside, they are unknown entities, and we don’t know what they will be like. They could be a master at the sport but not necessarily a good coach or teacher. We encourage coaches to look at their job as more than just instilling knowledge of a sport.”

The change in coaching staff occurred mid-season and, according to Barnett, was problematic for the team.

After Kelly was removed from the staff, previous assistant Harney became interim head coach and Scott Einfalt remained as an assistant coach. The original staff consisted of four coaches; however, after the incident, Kelly’s friend, who was also a coach on the team, decided to quit as well.

According to Zeglin, the change hurt several players’ morale. “It has affected our team a lot,” Zeglin said. “It’s bad for the team environment and everyone’s a bit frustrated.”

Einfalt said that though the change had some negative effects on players, the team began the healing process. “The incident was very hard on the team and initially it fractured us,” he said. “That was very hard for us to recover from for a few games, but within our last couple of games I think we’ve gotten over the hump and became a team again.”

Two new assistant coaches were also hired, bringing the coaching staff up to four people once again. “We just recently brought in two brand new assistants who are younger and have unbelievable baseball knowledge and skills,” Einfalt said. The new assistant coaches include Gunn alumni Greg Matson and University of California Los Angeles graduate Matt Thayer, who was also drafted in professional baseball. “They have been phenomenal in the healing process,” Einfalt said.

The team also faced member changes—Barnett left the team, and said that many other players remain bitter about the incident. “I think some of the players are bitter still, and some of them are bitter towards me, but the majority is pretty upset with the coach,” he said.

Though Barnett said that Harney has some experience and will do a good job holding the team together, he still believes that the team would have won more games with their previous coach. According to Zeglin, the team has become less focused, but sooner or later they will turn things around. “We still need to play as best as we can despite what happened,” he said.

According to Einfalt, despite the fact that the team has not played up to its potential thus far this season, they are determined to prove that they can succeed in the El Camino division. Progress has already been made. In a recent game, senior Jonathan Jung threw a no-hitter, an extremely rare event in baseball, against league opponent Santa Clara. Prospects are hopeful due to Harney’s help, according to Einfalt. “Coach Harney’s done a phenomenal job of bringing the boys back on track,” he said.