Parent Conflicts Prompt Whiteley’s Resignation

Bill Whiteley has resigned as softball coach at Westminster High, citing conflicts with players’ parents as the main reason. But school administrators differ with Whiteley over events leading to his resignation.

Whiteley, a special education teacher at Westminster, said he quit after several incidents involving parents and because of a campaign to remove assistant Bud Doty from the team.

“I had parents and players who had meetings behind my back, who wanted to fire my assistant coach. I really don’t know why,” Whiteley said. “They demanded I show up (to a meeting), and I refused.”

Whiteley said he was confronted numerous times by parents who disagreed with his decisions. He said the school administration assured him games would be supervised and that parents who continued to question him would be removed.

But on March 17, Whiteley said, the father of a Westminster player questioned his daughter’s lack of playing time and “called me a profane name.” He said the administrator assigned to supervise the game, dean of students Joe McGuckin, was at another field when the incident occurred. When McGuckin returned, Whiteley said he requested that the parent be removed, but McGuckin refused.

“So I quit on the spot,” Whiteley said. He said Doty also resigned.

McGuckin said he remembers the situation differently. He said he was at the Westminster baseball game when someone told him there was a problem on the softball field, so he rushed back.

“The parent wanted Mr. Whiteley to explain his daughter’s role on the team,” said McGuckin, a former Westminster girls’ athletic director. “The parent said Mr. Whiteley told him to shut up and go back in the stands. The parent then called Bill a foul name. I asked the parent to apologize to Bill, and he said he would. I told Bill the man was willing to apologize, and I wanted to sit down and resolve the matter, but Bill refused. He said I wasn’t supporting him. The next day, he turned in his resignation.”

Dick Katz, Westminster girls’ athletic director, said Whiteley’s resignation took him by surprise.

“We didn’t want him to quit,” Katz said. “We were happy with him for the most part. He was working hard.”

The team is 5-11 and 2-4 in the Sunset League.

John Seeley, the former Marina football and baseball coach and now a social studies teacher at Westminster, replaced Whiteley on the softball team.

Whiteley coached Westminster baseball from 1984-86.