Dwayne Hauschild was unexpectedly relieved of his duties as Dos Pueblos girls volleyball coach at around noon on Wednesday.
The Chargers were ranked No. 1 in CIF for most of this past season and swept through the Channel League before falling to Santa Barbara in the CIF Finals, finishing with an overall record of 27-6.
Hauschild, who had been at the helm since 2002, said in an interview that he was “extremely surprised” by the decision. He said that he was offered the option of resigning first but chose not to.
Dos Pueblos Athletic Director Dan Feldhaus was brief in his comments.
“It was a personnel advisement of not only the athletics office but the administration, and we decided to go in a different direction with our volleyball program,” he said.
Hauschild said that the decision was based on the complaints of a small group of parents who disagreed with his on-court personnel decisions, mostly involving playing time and a perceived lack of communication.
“It’s a political move. Two or three parents were unhappy with how I handled playing time and had the perception that I’m not open to discussion and it created backlash,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because no matter how much positive support you have, it’s the voice of those who are unhappy that gets heard the loudest.”
Hauschild said he knew that such issues would arise a couple of years ago, when the program saw an influx of elite talent enter as underclassmen. At some points two years ago, up to four sophomores were in the starting lineup:
“I told the administration that it was going to be hard because there were these two different levels. There are these girls that are Division-I scholarship athletes and there are girls that are just high school volleyball players. The level that we were going to be playing at was very split, but we lost more games (not matches) than we felt we should have this year because we wanted everybody to play. We lost games to Buena and Ventura that we shouldn’t have because we wanted everyone to get on the floor. Everyone got a fair opportunity.”
The coach also said that he has received numerous letters of support since Wednesday afternoon from former players, even those who did not receive as much playing time as others.
“The fact is over the last eight years we’ve had so many great memories and positive things that it’s hard to see how such little negativity could cause this,” he said. “I have the support of the entire volleyball coaching community, and I recently found out that my JV coach, Greg Novak, has resigned in support of me and this unfair decision.”
Feldhaus claimed that decision was not based solely on a parents’ opinion.
“We never judge coaches on wins and losses, and it wasn’t just about parents,” he said. “We evaluate every coach along the same lines.”
