Article on Redondo Union Basketball Coach Who Was Fired

Digging through for some info regarding the people in this documentary.

Pretty much everyone comes across looking bad here. Even the "right school" coach is pretty unprofessional here in how much he is talking about the kids.

Redondo coach dismissed: Disgruntled parent sounds off on Tom Maier, who answers back
By Tony Ciniglio and Dave Thorpe Staff Writers
POSTED: 04/03/12, 12:01 AM PDT

The reverberations of Tom Maier's dismissal as the Redondo boys basketball coach were still being felt over the weekend.

But Redondo parent John Fox is one who says the dismissal shouldn't come as a surprise.

Fox spoke up Monday as one of the "posse" of five parents who Maier blamed for his firing, the father of sophomore point guard Ian Fox, ranked in ESPNRise's Top 50 sophomore point guards in the nation.

Fox described Maier as a "bully" and said the program was going in a negative direction with the 41-year coaching veteran.

"There was no love, no nurturing," Fox said "He was a negative Nancy all the time. It was all bullying. If Ian did something wrong, he'd yank him out immediately and say he was immature.

"He never sat down with him and treated it as a learning experience. He never put his arm around the kid and showed him what he needed to do. He just said `You're immature, you don't know anything.' You can't thrive in this environment. My son came home crying after basketball."

Fox also held the coaching staff accountable for his son's wrist injury, but added the coaching staff didn't mold him back into the lineup upon his return in January.

Fox pointed to 15 players who either left the program or chose to enroll elsewhere. The list includes Division I caliber players Reese Morgan (Peninsula), Brandon Jawato (El Segundo), Jordan Mitchell (Serra) and Daren Hechnova (North Torrance).

Fox said he was in the process of transferring his son to Burbank High where his mother lives, but Fox said he is now waiting to see what happens with the hiring process.

"I went to the athletic director to make sure the transfer was smooth and that's where I voiced my concerns," Fox said. "I didn't go out looking to get the guy fired. That was not my intention. But it's a travesty to see so many kids transferring out. I went there. All of Ian's friends go there. It's a great program with a great heritage. But they've just been dive-bombing in the last four years.

"Ian is on a nice club team. He's going to get a D-I scholarship. He doesn't need high school basketball. But it's nice to play for your school, to play in front of your friends. You don't get that in AAU. I wanted him to have that experience."

Maier took aim at the administration upon his firing on Thursday for not giving him the support to handle a disgruntled group of parents. On Monday, he re-directed his focus on Fox.

Maier dismissed Fox's claims as squabbles over playing time. And Maier said Ian Fox hurt his own playing time with insubordination and by not knowing the plays, things that would get players benched by most coaches.

"He is a very immature kid and very unstable," Maier said Monday. "He wasn't focused, he didn't study the plays, he missed a lot of practice time when he was hurt because he'd take off with his girlfriend instead, he played with his phone at practice.

"When he didn't get his way, he'd pout. He took his shirt off in one game and walked out on us. That's immature. That's all about him.

"He's got to grow up. We tried to handle him with kid gloves, but his work ethic in practice went up and down. You never knew what you were going to get."

Maier also responded to the 15 transfers, including the four Division I players.

Maier said Morgan never enrolled at Redondo and wanted to attend Peninsula because his friends were there and it was a shorter drive from their home.

Maier added that Hechanova and Jawato could not obtain permits and that was the reason they did not enter the school.

Maier also compared Mitchell to Fox, a young player upset about playing time. Mitchell began to blossom as he got older at Serra.

Maier said he can also rattle off a long list of players who thrived under him, including Alex Tucker, Martyre Demarco and Jacquiese Bates in recent years.

"This kid wants to go to Duke and play in the NBA. That's unrealistic," Maier said. "His father boasts about him being one of the top point guards in the nation. He's not. That's why we didn't use him that way.

"I've had a lot of immature kids, but as time goes on, they grow up and they better be better when they are seniors."