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Carolina Day Private School has attracted myriad of angry parents over their decision to cancel its girl’s basketball team with a winning streak of eight straight state titles.
They even fired head coach Joe Carrington, who was coaching since their first state win. The school is announcing that the cancellation of the basketball team is an effort to rebuild the girl’s varsity basketball team with a clean slate.
What Is The Problem Here?
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The cancellation of the varsity basketball team serves as an incentive for many parents to pull their kids out of the school. Jill Woods, whose daughter named Lani, transferred to Carolina Day over the summer to play for Head Coach Carrington, is now left with no decision but to look for other schools in where her daughter could continue doing what she loves.
“People don’t realize what a challenge this has been for everyone,” Jill Woods said to Citizen-Times. “This has affected so many lives. The trickle-down effect for this team and these girls, people had made major decisions to come to Carolina Day and now we have to start over.”
Jane Childress, Carolina Day’s director of marketing and communications, said on Thursday that “CDS will hold off on competitive play this season in order to rebuild the girl’s varsity basketball program with a fresh start.”
According to Citizen-Times, Lani was one of several Carolina Day basketball players who left the private school in Asheville after head coach Carrington was fired.
After firing a popular coach, a lawsuit and reports of a mass exodus of players, there is no girls basketball team at Carolina Day School https://t.co/WvMKCDAnjc pic.twitter.com/pqzWHuqHRk
— WLOS (@WLOS_13) November 8, 2018
But this issue doesn’t just affect Lani herself. The original varsity team is now forced to be spread out all over Western North Carolina in search of a new school to play for. Some even took the route to apply for public schools.
Raymond Greiner, whose daughter Eliza Greiner was preparing to enter her sophomore year on the varsity team, vented to Citizen-Times that he was “frustrated” and “disheartened” by the school’s decision to cancel the season.
“She has struggled to accept the sudden demise of the girl’s basketball program after winning eight straight state championships,” Greiner wrote in an email. “She was looking forward to playing this season and chasing a ninth championship along with a very talented group of teammates. This is an emotional and stressful time for Eliza as it would be for any committed athlete who has lost the opportunity to play the sport they love. Carolina Day School has been an academic asset to Eliza but the loss of the girl’s basketball program remains impossible to understand.”
As for former Head Coach Carrington, he is planning to take legal actions against the school with claims that the school was in breach of contract and also tarnished his reputation.
The civil suit, filed Friday in Buncombe County, states Carrington is seeking damages in excess of $25,000 and has requested a trial in front of a full jury.
The former coach is seeking damages in excess of $25,000 and has requested a trial in front of a full jury. https://t.co/aVfApnsg9d
— The Citizen Times (@asheville) November 2, 2018
Athletic Director Steve Henry could not be reached for comment.
