Hantsport residents rally behind volunteer coach fired hours before playoff game

The Hantsport School junior high boys basketball team was about to play their first playoff game of the season last week. But two hours before the game, the school administration dismissed Brandon MacInnis, the team's volunteer head coach.

"They told me that it was in the best interest of the kids that I was no longer going to be needed as their head coach and to turn in my keys," said MacInnis.

One of his long-standing coaching philosophies is for his players to be on time for practice, he said. Some of his players were fooling around in the locker room as practice was about to start last week.

"I hold the team to be accountable for their actions and because they were a little bit late we ran some line drills," said MacInnis.

The drills are common, and see players line up on the baseline of the gym and run up and down the gym floor.

None of the players complained and the rest of the practice went off without a hitch, he said. Players left the court pumped up for their first playoff game, set for the next day.

But MacInnis said school principal Jan Routledge and vice-principal Ian Morrison told him they did not agree with his disciplinary measures.

They declined a request from CBC News to be interviewed. A spokesperson for the Annapolis Valley Centre for Education said the school will be looking for a new volunteer coach for next year.

News of the coach's dismissal spread quickly in the community of about 1,500 people, located about 75 kilometres northwest of Halifax.

The players on the team were shocked to learn before the playoff game that their coach had been let go. They made the decision to stand behind their coach and did not play the game, which resulted in them losing by forfeit.

"I am very proud of those boys