West Fired as Football Coach at Royal After 3 Losing Seasons

Tom West, the football coach at Royal High, has been fired by interim Principal Marjorie Blackburn in the wake of the team’s third consecutive losing season, including a 1-7-2 mark this year. No replacement has been named.

In West’s three years Royal was 4-24-2 and 1-16-1 in Marmonte League games. Royal has not qualified for the Southern Section Coastal Conference playoffs since 1983.

Blackburn is a former assistant principal at the school and last month replaced John Fitzpatrick, who took a job in the Apple Valley school district in San Bernardino County. Blackburn was unavailable for comment, and Athletic Director Glenn Lipman would only say that the decision was Blackburn’s.

Blackburn met with West on Monday morning, three days after Royal concluded the season with a 24-14 loss to Camarillo. West said he was unclear on the reasons for the dismissal.

“It was not really well-defined,” he said. “The statement was that the program had reached a stale point. Unfortunately, this profession is one where the survival rate is not real high. You’re probably going to get fired.

“I had inclinations when I was told I had a meeting at 7:10. They don’t usually have meetings like that to wish you good luck or to find out what your Christmas plans are.”

In 19 years of football, Royal has qualified for the playoffs three times and has never won a postseason game.

“We’re not dealing with a positive power base to begin with in terms of expectations,” West said. “Real definitive progress is slow and measured, but I do feel we’ve laid some pretty good ground in the situation.”

West is a Cal Lutheran College graduate and was a member of the 1971 football team that won the NAIA Division II national championship. He worked as an assistant coach at Simi Valley High before moving to Royal in 1981 as an assistant. He replaced Bob Mead, who resigned as Royal coach after the ’84 season.

West, who teaches physical education at Royal, said he has made no decision about his future.

“If I make a decision now, it would probably be an emotional one,” he said.

Staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this story.