Chris Collins, who was brought in at the beginning of January after previous coach Kevin Bridgeforth stepped down prior to Christmas break, was informed he was being relieved of his duties as of Wednesday, Feb. 4. Photo by Rick Sloan

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Former Cordova Lancers boys varsity basketball head coach Chris Collins has decided to speak publicly after his untimely dismissal in early February, just over one month after taking the job.

Collins, who was the Lancers’ second head coach of the season after the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District moved on from the teams’ previous head coach Kevin Bridgeforth in December, was called into the school offices on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 4. It was at that time he was told by FCUSD Director of Athletics Peter Maroon that he was being let go, and that as an at-will employee who was not a teacher at the school, he could be terminated for any reason at any time without being provided cause. Collins stated that he still has yet to find out why he was fired and has questions.

“I asked why over and over again,” Collins said. “Like, for what? What did I do? Anything that’s ever been brought to my attention I’ve tried to self-correct. Is there any way I can rectify it or be given a warning? I’ve never had any meetings prior to this, nothing. No reprimands, no write-ups, nothing.”

Collins, who took over in early January as the Lancers were just set to begin Metro League play, is a well-respected figure in the AAU basketball scene as the Director at YBA Elite, one of the biggest youth AAU programs in Northern California. Additionally, he serves as an assistant coach at American River College and has built a reputation as a no-nonsense coach who has the players’ best interests at heart when it comes to athletics. With the dismissal out of his hands, Collins would like to know what he did wrong so that he can learn from the experience.

“I just think on a human level it’s highly disrespectful,” Collins said. “You can’t tell me on a human level ‘this is what happened’? It’s unfortunate. At least let me know so I can learn. I want to learn from my mistake.”

Chris Collins, who is now moving forward and continuing his work at YBA Elite and American River College, is ultimately disappointed by the outcome and was hoping to bring positive change to the program. Photo by Rick Sloan

It is Collins’ belief that his dismissal may have been forced because of two different reasons. The first being a recent practice that was held in the gym at Cordova that included an appearance by popular social media influencer “DriftyJay”, who participated in an unsanctioned practice game with the students, which could be in violation of Bylaw 502 within the California Scholastic Federation. Bylaw 502 states that “No school belonging to the CIF shall compete, scrimmage or practice with any team outside the jurisdiction of the CIF without the consent of the CIF Section involved.” Collins stated he was just trying to do something fun for the students with a figure that they know, and was unaware that could potentially have been a violation.

The second possible reason according to Collins is that, after doing some digging of his own and talking to people behind the scenes, there is a belief that there may have been a small group of parents who complained to the administration at Cordova about Collins’ tough coaching style. Collins admitted that a select few students took offense to his way of coaching, but by and large the team understood why he takes the approach he does. Collins also mentioned he learned of a parent group texting thread that featured conversation by unnamed parents who bragged about being responsible for Collins’ firing.

Collins, who is now moving forward and continuing his work at YBA Elite and American River College, is ultimately disappointed by the outcome and was hoping to bring positive change to the program. Also, Collins, who is bi-racial, is looking at the situation from a much broader perspective.

“Some of these young black kids don’t have structure or direction,” Collins said. “If you’re taking that away from these kids, that’s where you get a lot of the systemic problems that I see. That’s where you get kids that are doing misguided Tik-Tok challenges that are taking their lives away. They have no leadership. You’re taking away the roles and positions that when I grew up were the staples of leadership in our society. Coaches were the ones who provided structure and were the foundation pieces.”