Cal Szueber resigned as the head football coach at Fort Vancouver after Friday’s season finale, but he remains frustrated with a series of events that led to his exit from the program.
“I have to stand up to tell the truth. They released medical information (about me) that wasn’t true. It went out to the kids in a football meeting,” Szueber said.
The Columbian has confirmed that a meeting did take place with Fort Vancouver officials and the football team on Oct. 17, and the players were told that Szueber would not be in charge of the football program for the final two weeks of the season.
What exactly was said in that meeting has not been confirmed, but Szueber said he heard from some of his players that they were informed he was ill.
“They told the kids I had pneumonia. The principal said I was very sick,” Szueber said. “I was teaching while this meeting was going on. They were having a meeting with the football players without the coach there, who was in class.
“They said, ‘He’s going to take the next two weeks to get healthy.’”
Vancouver Public Schools refused comment Monday in regard to Szueber’s claims.
Two weeks ago, the district did, in fact, say that while Szueber remained the head coach in title, John Schultz, the school’s athletic director, would be in charge of the football program for the final two weeks of the season. Later that day, the district reversed that decision.
At the time, Szueber called the whole situation a “huge misunderstanding.” He was still the head coach but he welcomed the fact that Schultz would be helping him out the final two weeks of the season. The district agreed with that assessment by the end of the school day, on Oct. 17.
Now, Szueber says, Schultz ended up doing all the play-calling for offense and defense in the final two weeks of the season.
Plus, Szueber got hold of an e-mail sent from the Prairie High School athletic department to Prairie parents regarding the situation at Fort Vancouver. The e-mail stated the Trappers “no longer have a head football coach” and that the athletic director had taken over the program.
The e-mail further went on to explain to Prairie parents that there was a “gentlemen’s agreement” between the programs, that Prairie would pull its starters after the Falcons led by 21 points. The two teams played in the regular-season finale Friday night.
“I was not consulted about that,” Szueber said. “I didn’t know anything about it. I wasn’t too pleased about it. In 32 years of coaching, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The school’s meeting with the players made for an awkward situation, Szueber said.
“These actions severely hurt our team,” Szueber wrote to The Columbian to announce his resignation, adding that players and coaches “were confused” as to their roles.
Many players quit, he said, leaving the varsity team with less than 20 players for the final week of the season.
Then there was the agreement that Szueber, the head coach, was not part of for that final game.
“I stayed professional and did my job the last two weeks,” Szueber said.
The program has struggled for some time now. Fort Vancouver has six wins in the last six years.
Szueber, who coached the team from 2007 to 2010, returned to the Trappers in 2014.
“It has been a great pleasure to try to help our young men attempt to become good future leaders, fathers, and husbands,” Szueber wrote. “I will leave coaching football at Fort thankful for the great memories with some incredible young men who I hope I have been able to have as profound of an impact on their lives as they have had on mine.”
Vancouver Public Schools did thank Szueber for his time on the sideline.
“We appreciate what Cal’s done as a coach. He’s a teacher at Fort Vancouver and a valuable part of the teaching staff there and will remain,” said Albert Alcantar, the district’s athletic director. “With Cal moving on, we’re going to move on and start looking for a head coach and do our due diligence to find someone who has a hopeful vision of our kids and believes in our student-athletes.”
