Cloud of Uncertainty Hovers Over Coach’s Exit at Westlake

Bob Fisher, Westlake High’s athletic director, said he is convinced Roy Gilmore resigned as the school’s basketball coach after he led the Warriors to the best season in school history.

Gilmore isn’t so sure. When asked Tuesday, Gilmore hemmed and hawed.

“Well, I guess I resigned,” he said. “I wanted to spend more time with my family, I guess. I don’t know.”

The circumstances are unclear, but the result is that Gilmore will not return to Westlake next season. Gilmore, 45, who coached for four years and had a career record of 68-36, led Westlake to a 21-8 mark the past season. The Warriors, who had not won a playoff in the school’s 10-year history, lost in the Southern Section 4-A final.

Last week’s news of Gilmore’s departure took Westlake players by surprise, and the timing of the move seemed strange. Gilmore indicated he didn’t voluntarily leave the program.

Asked if he holds hard feelings toward Westlake administrators, he hesitated before speaking.

“Does my pause tell you something?” he said. “Yeah, I feel I got no support.”

Fisher said academics played a large role in the decision. Fisher, in his first year as the Westlake athletic director, wants on-campus coaches and a basketball coach who teaches history, math or science. Gilmore teaches physcical education at newbury park high.

“Roy would have liked to stay with the program and be on campus, but there was just no way,” Fisher said. “We didn’t have any openings in the subjects he can teach. In that way, I guess he feels the administration didn’t support him.”

Fisher, who said he never asked Gilmore to resign, said the news hit hard because of his association with gilmore

In 1971, Gilmore took his first coaching job as an assistant at Newbury Park. He was hired by Fisher, the head basketball coach.

Gilmore said he wants to stay in coaching and is trying to adjust to life as a former coach.

“When I went on vacation over Easter, it was the first time I didn’t draw basketball plays or bring a basketball book,” he said. “Other coaches say once you get away you don’t miss it as much as you think.”