Wildcat81
12-18-2003, 04:44 PM
The Beaumont Enterprise home : news : sports news : local sports
Coach out of job days after state
The Associated Press 12/18/2003
SAN AUGUSTINE - Just three days after leading the San Augustine Wolves to their first state championship, Lynn Graves was out of a job as the school's head football coach.
San Augustine school trustees voted 5-2 Tuesday not to bring Graves back as athletic director and head football coach. The school board didn't give a reason for the action.
"It's a hell of a way to go, being Christmas and unemployed," Graves said in Wednesday's edition of the Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches.
Graves was considered a "contract employee" with San Augustine ISD under an agreement with the retire/rehire plan. He had retired last year.
"My understanding of his proposal last year was that he wanted to retire, work one year, hopefully have a good season and be finished," said board member Kathie Haley, who voted for the motion not to renew.
Graves said he never said this would be his last season.
The board's decision comes after the San Augustine Wolves won the school's first state championship with a 28-7 victory over Jim Ned in Class 2A, Division I. The team finished the season 12-3. It was Graves' fifth playoff season.
Graves said the school board's action "came out of the blue."
During Tuesday's board meeting, Graves was presented a plaque from the school board honoring the team's season.
After discussing Graves' employment status in executive session, board members voted in open session not to renew his contract for another season.
Before coaching in San Augustine, Graves was head football coach at Stephen F. Austin University, where he went 15-20-2 in less than three seasons after serving as the team's defensive coordinator for several seasons.
In 1989, his first SFA team went 12-2-1 and played in the national championship game, losing to Georgia Southern.
Less than two years later, Graves was fired during a season in which the Lumberjacks went 2-8-1.
Coach out of job days after state
The Associated Press 12/18/2003
SAN AUGUSTINE - Just three days after leading the San Augustine Wolves to their first state championship, Lynn Graves was out of a job as the school's head football coach.
San Augustine school trustees voted 5-2 Tuesday not to bring Graves back as athletic director and head football coach. The school board didn't give a reason for the action.
"It's a hell of a way to go, being Christmas and unemployed," Graves said in Wednesday's edition of the Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches.
Graves was considered a "contract employee" with San Augustine ISD under an agreement with the retire/rehire plan. He had retired last year.
"My understanding of his proposal last year was that he wanted to retire, work one year, hopefully have a good season and be finished," said board member Kathie Haley, who voted for the motion not to renew.
Graves said he never said this would be his last season.
The board's decision comes after the San Augustine Wolves won the school's first state championship with a 28-7 victory over Jim Ned in Class 2A, Division I. The team finished the season 12-3. It was Graves' fifth playoff season.
Graves said the school board's action "came out of the blue."
During Tuesday's board meeting, Graves was presented a plaque from the school board honoring the team's season.
After discussing Graves' employment status in executive session, board members voted in open session not to renew his contract for another season.
Before coaching in San Augustine, Graves was head football coach at Stephen F. Austin University, where he went 15-20-2 in less than three seasons after serving as the team's defensive coordinator for several seasons.
In 1989, his first SFA team went 12-2-1 and played in the national championship game, losing to Georgia Southern.
Less than two years later, Graves was fired during a season in which the Lumberjacks went 2-8-1.