Emotions high as Dauterive resigns
Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 23, 2010
By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur
LAPLACE – Saying that he did not want to generate any further distraction, Embattled East St. John High School Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Larry Dauterive said he decided just after 1:30 a.m. Friday morning to draft his resignation as coach effective immediately.
Dauterive informed St. John the Baptist Parish School Superintendant Dr. Courtney Millet during a meeting Friday morning in which the two were to discuss a series of comments made by Dauterive at a New Orleans Quarterback Club event on Monday. The meeting was part of a school system investigation that began after school board members received a number of complaints from residents and parents about the coach’s comments.
Assistant Coach Ronald Barrilleaux will fill in as head coach for the remainder of the season.
“I just realized there would be no winners in this thing,” Dauterive said regarding the resignation. “With all the rumors and innuendo … the last thing I wanted was a divided school and community.”
As a tenured teacher in the St. John the Baptist Parish School System, Dauterive will be reassigned within the school system as a physical education teacher, but not at East St. John High. Millet said administrators would meet Monday to determine where he would go next.
Millet said Dauterive’s resignation was not expected, but that it ended any need for discussion regarding further disciplinary action against the coach. She said she is proud that the team is doing so well and also thanked Dauterive for his service as coach.
During his speech to the quarterback Club, Dauterive made a series of comments regarding the makeup of his team and the community surrounding the school. Some say the remarks painted a negative picture of the black community in St. John Parish.
Dauterive said that most of his players come from single parent homes and many struggle to make the grades needed to academically qualify. As such, he felt he wore the hat of a father figure to most.
“I’m the only poppa they’ve got,” said Dauterive. “I’m the only chance (for them) to get out of there … We don’t have many Phi Beta Kappas on our team. We have a few that maintain a 3.0, the rest are just glad to be there, so we’re trying to keep them eligible.”
Dauterive also noted that many of his players lacked the advantages of those at other schools. He said that his team would eat after Friday night games but many players might not see another good meal until breakfast at school on Monday morning.
He also spoke of the challenges of being a “white coach coaching 100-percent black children” and referred to the Reserve school as “the Gaza Strip,” in that no one wants to go coach there.
Dauterive said he had requested that he remain as the school’s athletic director until his contract expires in June so that he could assist the new coach with upcoming football games against Dutchtown and Hahnville, but school system lawyers said the contract dictates that head coach and athletic director at East St. John High School are one in the same.
This is not the first time Dauterive has come under fire for comments he has made as head coach. In August of last year, Dauterive was suspended for a game for comments he made in the locker room in the wake of the team’s Jamboree loss to St. Charles Catholic.
Prior to Friday’s announcement, Millet held a meeting with the five black school board members – Patrick Sanders, Albert “Ali” Burl III, Russell Jack, Phillip Johnson and Keith Jones – to discuss the possibility of disciplinary action against the coach.
Sanders said he believed the African American community had been degraded and that disciplinary action needed to be taken. He said he was not told what course of action the Superintendant might take.
“The whole ordeal created an unfortunate situation,” Sanders said. “Based on his history, it is probably in the best interest of the community that he step down. We have come too far to accept and tolerate comments of that nature.”
Burl said Friday he was glad to hear that Dauterive resigned. He said that it gives the community an opportunity to move forward and get the system back to where it should be.
Jones said the decision was “100 percent up to the coach.” He said he wished the coach well and added that he has done a lot of good things for the district.
School Board member Russ Wise said Friday that he was disappointed to hear that Dauterive resigned and would have liked to see the situation play itself out further.
“I wish there had been more time,” Wise said. “I wish there had been no rush to judgment on either side.”
Wise said in the nine years Dauterive coached at East St. John he served as a mentor for hundreds of young men on and off the football field and led them to better lives in the future.
Dauterive had coached the East St. John Wildcats to a 7-0 record leading into Friday night’s game at Destrehan. He said he regretted not being able to finish out the season with his team.
“It hurts that it’s come to this,” he said. “In a way, if we were 5-2 and not 7-0, I wouldn’t have even been at the Quarterback Club on that night. Things happen for a reason and God has his reason for this. I never wanted to hurt or offend anyone with those comments. I think those kids know that I love them and that I wish them the best. I want to see them continue to make noise.”