Threats May Lead Hayes to Give Up Canyon Job : High school: Shaken by reaction to his comments in Welch case, Cowboy basketball coach is considering move.

Greg Hayes, the Canyon High basketball coach, is considering a job offer from an Orange County high school in part because of threats he’s received for his role in the Southern Section case against Harry Welch.

Hayes, 36, said Thursday he was offered a job this week as social studies teacher and basketball and softball coach of a school he declined to name. Hayes, who said he will make a decision by Monday, has characterized the decision process as agonizing.

His loyalties to the Canyon program have been shaken by threats and acts of vandalism in the wake of his comments against Welch, he said. Welch has been suspended as Canyon football coach until Dec. 31 for conducting an illegal off-season practice.

“The threats have been specific and general and a few have been carried out,” Hayes said.

According to Hayes, a Canyon football coach told him, “There are a lot of upset people out there and there’s no telling what they’ll do to you.”

The threats have not scared him, Hayes said, but he admits they are disturbing.

“We’re not walking around in fear or checking our back all the time,” he said about himself and his wife, Jan. “What bothers me is the mentality that the threats represent.”

Hayes said in a story published May 19 in the Newhall Signal that he had witnessed repeated violations in the Canyon football program and he repeated those charges to Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas during an investigation last month.

Thomas recommended a one-year suspension for Welch, a penalty later shortened to 5 1/2 months.

Some Welch backers lashed out at Hayes. One caller to The Times characterized him as a traitor. Sentiments such as those have prompted Hayes to consider leaving the Santa Clarita Valley.

“To be honest, the repercussions we have experienced since the story first broke motivated us to be open to whatever possibilities might be out there,” he said.

Hayes also has ties to Orange County. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater, El Dorado High in Placentia, and his wife’s parents live in the county. “They’ve been wanting us to move back there for a long time,” he said.

A 1977 UCLA graduate, Hayes served as a graduate assistant under then-Bruin basketball Coach Gary Cunningham in 1977-79. He worked two seasons as an assistant for Billie Moore, the UCLA women’s coach, before moving to Canyon in 1981.

He has been the school’s basketball coach for nine seasons and worked as softball coach last spring.

“This offer is very tempting but I put my heart into building something for nine years and I fell in love with coaching softball this year,” he said. “There are so many personal things. When you know the kids, it’s tough to leave.”

Still, life has been uncomfortable since the controversy began. Asked if he regretted his comments about Welch in the face of the threats he’s received, Hayes said, “All I know is I’ve paid a very heavy price for being honest and telling the truth.”