Salinas High School track coach Roger Chagnon has been suspended
from the position for 45 days for an incident unrelated to the list
of violations that put the school on probation and banned all teams
from playoff competition for at least one year.
By George Watkins, Salinas Californian
Salinas – Salinas High School track coach Roger Chagnon has been suspended from the position for 45 days for an incident unrelated to the list of violations that put the school on probation and banned all teams from playoff competition for at least one year.
Salinas High principal John Macias said Thursday the decision to remove Chagnon was made by Salinas Unified High School District officials.
“Everything was handled at the district office,” he said.
Chagnon’s dismissal follows last Wednesday’s resignation by Salinas High football coach Mark Ironside.
Macias said he’ll meet with other Salinas High administrators next week to determine what will be done to find a replacement for Chagnon.
Because it was a personnel matter, Macias said he couldn’t comment on whether Chagnon would be reinstated when the suspension is lifted.
“His situation could be evaluated in the future,” said Alejandro Hogan, Associated Superintendent of Human Resources for the SUHSD.
Chagnon is a full-time teacher at Salinas High, where he has been coaching track and cross country for about 12 years.
Both the cross country and track teams have been involved in the current troubles at Salinas High, which landed the entire athletic program on probation and put a one-year ban on playoffs for all teams on campus.
The football team received two years probation and was also barred from playoff competition for two years as part of a series of player conduct, rule violations and eligibility issues the school has been dealing with since November.
In addition to the Salinas High football team having to forfeit six games, the track and cross country teams had to forfeit their 2005 league titles because of an ineligible player.
Chagnon was accused by a former Salinas assistant track coach, Karen Carrillo, in November of knowingly allowing an out-of-district player to compete on his teams.
He has denied the charges.
In addition, Chagnon was cleared of any wrong-doing of intentionally using an ineligible athlete by a three-member CCS hearing panel Jan. 19, which he attended.
Included in a three-page letter to Salinas High last Friday detailing the sanctions to the athletic program was the hearing panel’s response to charges of Chagnon allegedly knowing he allowed an ineligible player to compete.
The letter read, “The situation involving the cross country team and the alleged knowledge of the current coach regarding the falsification of an address by a student we find to be inconclusive. There is insufficient information on either side of the issue to determine clearly whether or not the alleged conversation with the coach and student did or did not take place.”
In 2002, Chagnon was temporarily removed as coach after two cross country runners engaged in inappropriate behavior during an overnight stay in Fresno, site of the state meet.
