Coleman removed as CMHS girls’ basketball coach; players upset

Lauren Coleman has been removed as girls’ basketball coach after one season at Costa Mesa High, where several players disagree with the move and want to know why the ouster happened.

Coleman is upset and was shocked to learn she was let go after being told that she was doing well with the girls with regard to basketball. But Coleman, in her first high school girls’ coaching job, was not experienced in many areas away from the fundamentals of the game, CMHS Athletic Director Sharon Uhl said.

“We told [the players] that it’s a personnel issue,” Uhl said of what occurred during a meeting with players on Tuesday. “We’re just going to move in a different direction. She’s done a great job … this goes beyond the X’s and O’s of the game. We wish her well and we wish her the best.”

The Mustangs went 5-21, 1-9 in league this past season. Coleman said she was proud of the improvement the girls made. That showed in their final game, a 48-23 win over Saddleback. It was Mesa’s lone Orange Coast League victory, but the Mustangs were much better since when they lost to Saddleback, 31-30, in the first round of league play, Coleman said.

“I was extremely shocked,” Coleman said of being let go as coach. “[Uhl and Principal Jacob Haley] wanted someone that could deal with the drama. To me that hurts because that’s not fair to my girls. And, that hurts because I didn’t have any help with the drama. They never helped and that makes it even worse.”

Uhl said the word, “drama,” was never used when Coleman was told she would be removed on Friday.

Coleman said she did not receive guidance with the girls’ basketball schedule, and said there was a lack of support when it came to games and dealing with the program’s annual winter tournament.

The girls’ basketball schedule was yet to be filled when Coleman was hired in September.

Coleman, who played small forward for the Florida State University women’s basketball team (her final season was in 2014-15), learned of the Costa Mesa job through her brother, Brandon Greathouse, a security guard at CMHS, who’s also an assistant football coach for the Mustangs.

Coleman came with coaching experience, albeit with guiding male basketball players.

“She’s coached boys in AAU in Florida,” Uhl said when Coleman was hired. “She seems like the kind of person who can turn the program around.”

April James, a junior who played on the junior varsity team, said she met with Haley on Wednesday to attempt to receive answers for why Coleman was let go.

James, who wants to play varsity next season, said Haley was vague and that the meeting did not go well. James also wanted to say she disagreed with the move and that Coleman should return.

James was among several players who contacted the Daily Pilot to express disappointment that Coleman was removed.

James said that the Costa Mesa players want to be heard and want to be told why Coleman was removed, along with her staff JV Coach Kendra Dowen and frosh/soph Coach Barbara Whittaker.

“The coaches told us not to drop basketball [because of their removal],” James said. “They told us not to give up on that. I would like it to be with them because they are like family now. We were told [Costa Mesa wants] to go in a different direction. The direction they spoke of and what consists of that is what our coaches are doing. We are confused why they are being let go. We are getting vague answers.”

Several other players concurred with James that the bond among the girls in the program was like a family.

Freshman Katie Belmontes, a varsity starter, said she liked Coleman because she really knows the game well from playing at Florida State.

“She’s always been there for the girls,” Belmontes said as another reason why she enjoyed Coleman as coach. “We had a meeting with Mrs. Uhl and [assistant principal] Mr. [Erik] Pannizzo, and they said they want to replace Coach LC with a coach who is always on campus, which I don’t think is right. Whoever they find is not really going to replace Coach LC.”

Belmontes said a group of girls are wanting Coleman and her staff to return. Some girls will write a letter to the school district and Principal Haley with the hopes of bringing Coleman back.

Some players in the program said they don’t want to continue playing basketball for Costa Mesa if Coleman isn’t the coach because they don’t want to restart with a new coach.

Participation numbers within the program have improved from the previous year, as a frosh-soph team was added, and its coach, Whittaker, the former Trejo, helped as she is a former Costa Mesa player.

“I want to be involved with the program,” said Whittaker, whose husband Steve, also a Costa Mesa alum, coached the boys’ JV team and helped at times with the girls. “I played here for six years, in the middle school too. I’m invested. I’m very sad to see it end this way. I would love to see Lauren, Kendra and myself to keep going and continue the work. But it is what it is.”

Rudy Aguirre, the team booster president for the past four years, said he admired Coleman’s work even though she came to the program so close to the beginning of the season.

“It’s a shock to me that she was let go,” said Aguirre, whose daughter, Alicia, played on the team as a senior this past season. “It was rough this season that it was a late start for [Coleman] on everything. Putting our schedule together, I thought [Costa Mesa] didn’t put a lot of effort into informing the coach. I’m proud of Lauren. With the bits and crumbs she had to go build the program she did it. I think she did a lot of good stuff.”

A parent of a Costa Mesa player, who asked not to be named, said Coleman spoke negatively of Costa Mesa parents and administration during the team’s award dinner at Halecrest Park’s clubhouse on Thursday.

While at the banquet, Coleman spoke and said she felt it was difficult at the beginning of the season. But she said she didn’t speak negatively of administration.

What she did say: “This is the hardest coaching job I’ve ever had and it’s not because of the players. It’s because of the parents.”

The unnamed parent said the recent coaching removal has caused friction between some of the girls.

“All around it’s just a sad situation,” the unnamed parent said. “I feel like the girls are caught in the middle. They are young and impressionable. I get that they want to rally. But they shouldn’t be caught up in their feelings.”

In January, Coleman said she greatly appreciated the community support, as the team received donations to make up for money that was stolen during the Christmas break.

Coleman said she “definitely” wants to continue coaching and she plans to seek openings.

Dowen, who works at Costa Mesa Middle School as a behavioral analyst and interventionist in the special education department, said the coaches encouraged the players to voice their opinions and to advocate for themselves.

“Our biggest concern is how upset the girls are about our removal,” Dowen said. “The girls feel really strongly about what happened and want us back … This program is about the girls. It’s always been about the girls. We hope they get what they want and deserve. They are a great group of kids.”