Ex-coach speaks out after firing for profanity-laced victory speech
SANFORD, Fla. - A controversial video cost a state championship-winning baseball coach his job, but now there's an effort underway to get that coach his job back.
The former coach of Seminole High School baseball told FOX 35 News his side of the story. He says he's sorry and humbled to receive the backing of more than 8,000 people who have signed a petition to have him reinstated.
"The whole [expletive] state. We got this [expletive] right here. No one else has it. It’s [expletive] ours."
This cell phone video cost Kenne Brown his job as coach for the Seminole High School baseball team. It was a cursed world laden victory speech on the bus after the team won the state championships last June.
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Now Brown is apologizing. "I’m sorry for the pain that has been inflicted upon so many people because of my language," said Brown.
FOX 35 News spoke with him at his home Monday, weeks after completing a five-day suspension for the video and being fired as head coach. This happened after the cell phone video gained traction online.
"You showed up. You [expletive] played the game," said Kenne Brown in the cell phone video.
"They just assumed that 25 seconds of this video defined everything about me as a man, as a coach, as a leader and it doesn’t," Brown told FOX 35 News.
The superintendent for Seminole County Public Schools sent a letter to Brown, saying "I am appalled with and extremely concerned about the abundance of profanity that you used with the students that you were responsible for supervising and leading."
Alumni and parents started a Change.org petition to have him reinstated as a coach.
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"He is so much more than a few seconds of cursing. We feel like it’s been a crime. It is so unfortunate. It’s heartbreaking," said Cara Collins Glazar, whose three sons play on the team.
The petition already has more than 8,000 signatures.
"I don't know if there’s any way I can ever thank everyone. It’s very humbling."
A group of parents plan to speak out about former Coach Brown at Tuesday night's Seminole County School Board meeting at 5:30 p.m.
Brown is still teaching at Seminole High School.