T.C. Williams Basketball Team Asks School to Reinstate Coach Bryan Hill

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The student athletes on the T.C. Williams High School varsity basketball team have penned a letter to school officials, asking them to reinstate their coach, Bryan Hill. Hill was shown the door the week before tryouts for the team in a move that shocked the students and their parents.

Some of them say a disgruntled school board member misused his authority to get rid of him and that he'd been campaigning for a year to do so. The school board member, who has two boys at the school who play basketball, says he is just a concerned parent.

Hill says it was his understanding that he was let go as coach because he gave a student a ride home. He said that he thought letting him go from the position was an overreaction.

The school board member said he complained that the coach was using bad language and creating an atmosphere of fear at the practices. He said he wasn't the only concerned parent, but other parents say it was a one-man crusade to get rid of the coach and his attempts to get more parents involved backfired.

It appears that the other parents of team members and the students themselves want the coach rehired; but the school system is staying mum about why Hill, a certified special education teacher at the school who teaches algebra, according to The Washington Post, was let go from the coaching position. A meeting between school officials and parents led to few answers, according to parents and students who attended the meeting.

On Wednesday, the school hired a new head coach, Walt Coleman, who has been an employee and coach for many years. He was one of two people interviewed by Jesse Dingle, the principal of T.C. Williams and Steve Colantouni, the athletic director and director of student activities of the school, who will be leaving soon to start his job with the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. Dingle will be leaving the school at the end of the year.

Some parents say that Dingle and Colantouni didn't want to rock the boat by pushing back in meetings with the school board member, since both are leaving the school.

Here's the letter from the students to T.C. Williams Athletic Director Steve Colantouni:

Dear Mr. Colantouni

On behalf of the players of the basketball program at TC Williams, I ask that you please return coaches Hill and Harris to their roles as head and assistant coaches. These coaches have become part of our lives and have shaped the people we are today. They have taught us countless life skills like working hard and time management, which have directly influenced our improvement in the classroom.

They have taught us that everything must be worked for, and nothing is given. We have been taught the correct manners, communication, and teamwork which are 2/3 of the most recommended workplace readiness skills. These coaches have changed the viewpoint on the basketball program of TC from a bunch of “uneducated thugs” to well respected young men.

On the basketball court alone the progress that the dedicated players have made over the past year is insurmountable. It has created a sense of pride throughout the program as we all believed that a championship run was not only in the future but in the present.

The bonds that we have created give us a feeling of a family between all the players. The countless hours that we have been together is something that will never go away but the sense of a family will be torn apart with a new coach. Everything that we have all worked for over the past years will have meant nothing. On top of losing our beloved coaching staff, the way they have been ripped from us a week before the beginning of the season is painful.

We all knew that our team was going to have a great season and could possibly make a run at a state championship but now the team has been set up to fail. Overall, as the players we beg you that please bring back coach Hill and coach Harris as they have not only taught us basketball skills, but have also taught us countless life skills that have created a positive future for all the dedicated players in the program

Thank you

TC Williams basketball team