Ousted Serra Coach Files Grievance, Seeks to Be Reinstated

What constitutes verbal abuse?

Kevin Crawley has asked himself that question since Oct. 7, the day he was fired as football coach at Serra High. The school gave no official reason for Crawley’s dismissal, but several sources have said it was because he verbally abused his players with inappropriate language.

Crawley, 27, denies the allegations and has filed a grievance with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles seeking to be reinstated as coach. He contends that Serra violated standard procedures by failing to give him prior notice that his behavior was unacceptable.

“No one had ever discussed or had given me any sort of written warning that I was doing something wrong,” Crawley said. “The first time I heard of these complaints is the day I was fired.”

Serra Principal Arthur Hernandez would not respond to Crawley’s charges because of possible legal repercussions. Crawley has retained a lawyer and is considering filing a lawsuit. He remains employed by Serra as a teacher until the end of the school year in June, when his contract expires.

At the time Crawley was fired, in his second season as coach, Serra was 1-3 and had gone 2-5-2 in nine games dating to 1992. The Cavaliers have since gone 2-1 under interim coach Charles Nash. They play host to first-place St. Monica in an important Camino Real League game Friday night.

Crawley, whose record was 7-6-2, said if Serra wanted to get rid of him because the football team was losing, that’s one thing. But he is determined to restore his reputation against what he considers false accusations.

“They’re claiming that I’m verbally abusing kids,” Crawley said. “You’d get a totally different reaction from the kids. Yeah, I get on them when they do things wrong, and that’s expected. Name a coach who doesn’t. I get on them and I get a little heated, but as far as abusing them, no.”

Some parents of Serra players don’t feel the same way. In a letter dated Sept. 28, Kevin Cormier, the student activities director at Serra, wrote to Hernandez that he had received complaints from several parents regarding Crawley’s behavior after the Cavaliers lost to Calabasas in a nonleague game Sept. 23.

The following week, after Serra had lost its league opener to Verbum Dei, a petition was circulated calling for Crawley’s dismissal. The petition, which was signed by 35 parents, supporters and players, is dated Oct. 3.

On Oct. 5, the disgruntled parties voiced their opinions at a booster club meeting. Two days later, Crawley was fired and banned from having any contact with the football team.

In the petition, parents complained that Crawley was verbally abusive and had failed to enforce an after-school study hall. Crawley contends he was told by Cormier that a study hall was not required during the football season.

“I’m a little bitter,” Crawley said. “I want justice. I want my name cleared. If they don’t want me around that school, fine. But I feel for the humiliation they put me through, I should be compensated for something and the people who did this so illegally should be dealt with.”

So far, Crawley is waging a one-man war. Two Serra players said the team is running more smoothly since Nash took over.

“Everybody thinks that Coach Nash is a better coach,” said Milford Kinnard, a senior linebacker and team captain. “The team has come together more as a unit.”

Asked if he thought Crawley had verbally abused players, Kinnard said: “He would cuss sometimes, but I wouldn’t say that he was verbally abusing us. Everyone has a temper. I think it was mostly out of frustration.”

Junior running back Ricky Boyer, who considers Crawley a friend, said he never had a problem with his former coach, although he thinks the team is better off with Nash in charge because of improved communication between coaches and players.

“I don’t think it’s right what the school did to (Crawley),” Boyer said. “In games, he never cussed at us, never grabbed us and never hit us.”

Boyer, however, acknowledged that Crawley sometimes used profanity when he became upset. One of those times was after the loss at Calabasas.

“It wasn’t really verbal abuse,” Boyer said. “If you go to any college in the nation, the coach is going to yell at the kids. Basically it was the parents complaining. I didn’t see anything wrong with (what Crawley said). My thinking is, if you can’t take a few words from the coach, you can’t succeed on the college level. Every coach is going to cuss a little.”

But a Serra faculty member who requested anonymity said Crawley’s cussing and verbal tirades were unprofessional and affected team morale. The teacher dismissed Crawley’s grievance as a “last-ditch effort to save face.”

“No one on this campus wants him as coach,” the teacher said. “He can complain all he wants. He wasn’t getting the job done.”

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Between them, running backs Bob Cracknell of Redondo and Eric Chaney of Hawthorne have rushed for 2,086 yards and scored 32 touchdowns this season.

And they used to play for the same team.

Chaney and Cracknell were members of the Pop Warner Redondo Seahawks, who were 34-4 and won two Pacific Coast Conference titles from 1987-89.

Other prep standouts who played for the Seahawks include Hawthorne receiver-safety Justin Stallings, Mira Costa quarterback Ryan Barnes, Leuzinger lineman Marcel Johnson and Redondo lineman Carlos Velasquez.

Since Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hawthorne did not have Pop Warner programs, players from those cities were allowed to play for Redondo.

The team was coached by Jack Chaney, Eric’s father. His assistants were Walt Cracknell and John Velasquez, whose sons were also on the team.

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Mira Costa football Coach Don Morrow likes his team’s kicking stats. The Mustangs, averaging 37 points a game, have kicked plenty of extra points but only two field goals.

That’s a tribute to the Mira Costa offense, which has yet to be stopped inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Phil Fonua, a 6-foot-2, 285-pound junior fullback, leads the team with 14 touchdowns, many of them on short plunges.

“(The running backs) don’t run around too many people, but they’ll run over them,” Morrow said.

Morrow hopes that’s the case again Friday night, when Mira Costa (8-0, 2-0 in league) visits Culver City (5-3, 2-0) with first place in the Ocean League at stake. The winner clinches at least a tie for the title.

With a little luck, El Segundo could be 3-0 in the Pioneer League football race. Instead, the Eagles are 0-3 and were eliminated from playoff contention Friday in a 15-13 loss to South Torrance.

It continued a frustrating pattern for a team that plays tough defense but has trouble scoring. El Segundo (2-6) has lost its three league games by a total of nine points.

“Our kids were destroyed (emotionally),” Eagle Coach Craig Cousins said after last week’s defeat. “My biggest assignment as a coach will be to keep the team together.”

Opposing coaches have raved about El Segundo’s defense and, in particular, tackles Matt Jasik and Mike Fransz.

“They’re the best tackles we’ve faced all year,” South Coach Mike Christensen said. “They were in our backfield all night. They have good size and are extremely quick. They’re scary.”

Jasik, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior, blocked an extra point against South to give him five blocked kicks this season.

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Football isn’t considered a one-on-one sport, but parts of Friday’s game between North Torrance and West Torrance certainly looked that way.

North’s Lacy Watkins and West’s Jim Yates waged their own private war in North’s 9-6 victory.

Watkins, a senior tailback and free safety, rushed for 91 yards in 28 carries. Yates, a junior tight end and free safety, left his biggest mark on defense, aggressively coming up to make numerous tackles.

Afterward, Watkins acknowledged that Yates and the Warriors made him earn his yardage.

“Yeah, I took kind of a beating,” Watkins said. “(Yates is) always there. He’s a good defensive player. He knows how to get to the ball.”

West Coach Kerry Crabb thinks Yates is a better safety than Watkins, although he knows he would get an argument from North coaches.

“Not to take anything away from Lacy Watkins, but I think Yates is the premier defensive back,” Crabb said. “He’s all over the field.”

Notes

Eric Wilson, a former assistant at Cal State Los Angeles, has been named boys’ basketball coach at Leuzinger. Wilson succeeds Jimmy Ellis, who was laid off from his teaching and coaching jobs in July. . . . The Mira Costa girls’ volleyball team completed an unbeaten Ocean League season Tuesday with a 15-6, 15-7, 15-13, victory over Redondo. The Mustangs, ranked sixth in the Division I coaches’ poll, are 14-2, 8-0 in league play.

Bragging rights for the area’s top eight-man football team will be at stake Friday when Chadwick (7-0), ranked second in the Large Schools Division, plays host to fifth-ranked South Bay Lutheran (5-1-1) in a 2:30 p.m. nonleague game. The game features running backs Scooter Atkins of Chadwick and Marshean Cox of Lutheran, the area’s two leading eight-man rushers. . . . The North Torrance girls’ tennis team (15-2, 8-1) clinched the Pioneer League title Tuesday with a 12-6 victory over South Torrance.