Warriors firing Henney was wrong call CIF champion football coach deserved better from Westlake administration Acorn

Warriors firing Henney was wrong call

Warriors firing Henney was wrong call http://www.toacorn.com/news/2016-12-08/Sports/Warriors_firing_Henney_was_wrong_call.html … "well said..what about mistreat Mitnick kids FIRE minor offense SUCKS Nick Q

CIF champion football coach deserved better from Westlake administration

Eliav Appelbaum

COMMENTARY

Tony Henney deserved better than this.

Henney coached the Westlake High football team for two seasons before getting fired last week in a meeting with Principal Jason Branham, one day after the team banquet and less than three weeks after the season ended.

The whole episode would be shocking if this wasn’t Westlake, a school that churns through coaches like Charles Barkley does betting slips.

This isn’t shocking. This is outrageous.

Few pundits gave the team a chance to make the postseason. With just two returning starters on offense and four on defense, it was, by definition, a rebuilding year. Yet the Warriors stunned St. Bonaventure, beat Camarillo and had a chance to snare the Marmonte League title entering the regular season finale against Oaks Christian.

Apparently that wasn’t enough for Branham.

Both Westlake and Oaks Christian lost in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs. Oaks Christian, which underachieved, didn’t freak out and fire its coach. But Westlake, which overachieved, did. That doesn’t make sense.

COOLING OFF—Former Westlake High football head coach Tony Henney cools off Chase Jasmin (a current San Diego Statefreshman running back) during a practice last season. Henney was fired as head coach last week after guiding the Warriors for two seasons. Henney has won three CIF-Southern Section titles. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn NewspapersHenney deserved better than this. Stray mutts in Yulin, China, get treated better.

In 2014, Henney left a CIF title-winning team in Trabuco Hills for a chance at what he called “thecoaching job in Ventura County.” Truth be told, the Ojai native wanted his wife to be closer to family. Tess Henney knows a lot about winning in her own right—she beat breast cancer.

For those who grew weary of Jim Benkert’s football empire, Henney was a breath of fresh air. He brought fun back to Westlake. He didn’t care if a student-athlete was a four-star wonder boy or a benchwarmer, he was fair to everyone. His only demands? Work hard. Hit hard. Have fun.

This is football, after all, not splitting the atom with Doctor Victor von Doom.

Henney won three straight section championships from 2012 to 2014 with Nordhoff (for the first two rings) and Trabuco Hills. He’s a brilliant offensive general. His teams are smart and tough, and his players would scale the Himalayas for another first down. He knows how to win, but more importantly, he wants to win the right way.

Wish I could tell you, fair reader, why Henney is gone.

The school hasn’t released a statement. Branham hasn’t returned my calls for a week. Assistant Principal Nicole Judd at least responded: “Thank you for reaching out,” she wrote. “I will pass your message along to our principal.” She sent that message on Nov. 29. Since then, crickets.

Whatever the real reason behind Henney’s termination, the message is this: Winning is paramount.

That’s the wrong message to send to high school kids.

Westlake parents are culpable here, too. In the words of Frank Costanza in the Festivus Airing of Grievances, “I got a lot of problems with you people.”

Overbearing parents who demand winning; who meddle, kvetch, complain, intimidate and grumble; who run coaches out of town have created this grotesque environment. I understand why parents want the best for their kids, but they’ve taken this too far. I applaud the parents who stood up for Henney at the most recent Conejo Valley school board meeting on Tuesday.

We’re big fans of John Burtzloff and Kyle Kegley, respective head coaches for baseball and boys’ basketball teams at Westlake. They are passionate about their sport and their players, and they should be given a chance to coach as long as they see fit, regardless of wins and losses. I don’t want to see them suffer Henney’s fate.

I also don’t want to see Westlake’s football program return to the malarkey of the previous regime. I hope Westlake isn’t trying to keep pace with Oaks Christian, which really belongs in the Mission League.

Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, two schools that do it the right way, played for a section football title last year. They both missed the playoffs this season. Teams go through ups and downs when local kids play at local schools. That’s normal. That’s good.

Henney should still be coaching at Westlake, but he won’t be sidelined for long. Any program would be lucky to have him.

The Warriors want to win championships every year, but that’s never going to happen, folks. Bill Belichick doesn’t win a Super Bowl every year.

Henney was building something special at Westlake.

He didn’t even get a chance to set the foundation.

Email sports editor Eliav Appelbaum at eliav@theacorn.com.