Brian Boyd’s coaching tenure at Gilroy High came to an abrupt end following a meeting Dec. 10 with administrators where he says he was asked to resign, but the Mustangs aren’t letting him go without a fight.
A petition, started by senior field hockey and soccer player Katrina Carter, has been drafted and will soon be circulating the campus in an effort to save Boyd’s job as head coach.
“The disagreement on and off campus is overwhelming,” Carter said via email Tuesday. “As a result I have begun to write a petition. Once it is completed I am going to be asking for signatures from the school and community. I will also be posting it online so that alumni and fellow friends and family can be apart of it as well.”
The decision boiled down to wins and losses, especially the team’s performance in the Severance Bowl, the annual cross-town rivalry contest between Gilroy and Christopher High schools, according to Boyd. The Mustangs lost that game 48-10.
Since Boyd took over the program three years ago, the Mustangs have a combined 10-20 record under him, including a 3-7 overall record this season.
“Everybody wants wins—no one more than me,” Boyd said. “My name is plastered all over that program. You look up Gilroy football and you see Brian Boyd.”
Gilroy Assistant Principal Bruce Corbett told Prep2Prep.com that Boyd resigned due to family reasons, citing the coach’s desire to watch his son Brandon play football in Oregon. Boyd insists, however, that he did not and will not resign. Instead, he insists he was fired and wants to make it clear he did not quit on his players.
When asked by the Dispatch to shed light on why the decision was made Wednesday, Corbett declined to comment.
Christopher’s Tim Pierleoni reached out to Boyd and offered him a position with the Cougars next season, though Boyd says he hasn’t completely closed the book on returning to Gilroy High—especially if Gilroy administration admits the whole situation was a misunderstanding.
Corbett, however, is looking to the future.
“We sat down and decided the trajectory of the program was not what it would take to be successful and get us to the next level,” Corbett told Prep2Prep.com. “It’s our intention to get into the Gabilan Division and so there’s a question of how do you attend your sons’ games and do that? It would be a burden on him. We welcome him as a (assistant) coach and he’ll be a good one with us or wherever he lands.”
Boyd has coached football at various levels over the past 13 years. During that time, he coached his son Brandon—who rushed for 2,300-plus yards and scored 30 touchdowns in 2013—and the Mustangs to their best record, 5-5 in four season. His youngest son, Christian, is a freshman at Gilroy High.
“High school coaches are more than just about wins and losses. Good high school coaches make great people and I know that Coach Boyd makes wonderful student-athletes,” one commenter wrote in the comments section of the article online. “To develop a program takes time and hard work and he deserves the chance to continue to build his program and grow whole people. To think that athletics is the doorkeeper is a fool’s errand. Sports shapes people and he has had a huge positive influence on the community around him. When Katrina Carter starts that petition, I know my name will be on it.”
See Carter’s petition to re-instate Boyd here.
