KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Former Football Coach Plans to File Claim Against Clovis Unified

Former Football Coach Plans to File Claim Against Clovis Unified

By: Ariana Duarte & Ashley Ritchie

"I'm angry yeah. I am a little angry. I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't," said Marty Martin, former football coach at Clovis West High School.

One month after being removed as head coach at Clovis West High, Marty Martin says he's ready to fight back.

On Friday, Martin and his attorney, Dan Siegel, who represented Stacy Johnson-Klein against Fresno State, announced their plans to file a claim against Clovis Unified School District.

"The claim itself is wrongful termination. There's also likely to be a claim involving fraud," said Siegel.

Siegel says when Martin accepted the position as head coach in June of 2007; he was advised the position was a permanent one.

"He wasn't told at the time that his continued employment was contingent upon keeping a group of boosters, alumni, and family members of players happy," said Siegel.

Siegel adds that he believes Martin was dropped as head coach after the parents of players complained that their kids weren't getting the playing time they deserved.

But representatives with Clovis Unified School District say, their actions aren't based on a few complaints by parents.

"It's a process that begins at our school site. Decisions are made by our principals and our principals alone as to who they want to hire and who they want to terminate," said Kelly Avants, Clovis Unified School District.

And the district says Martin was never "fired."

He signed on as a Physical Education teacher, with an additional coaching assignment.

"There was a termination of a co-curricular assignment but not a termination of a teaching assignment, and so in our minds, we still have a teacher on our staff," said Avants.

But Martin says, in his mind, he's a football coach; one who took his team to a Division One championship and was let go without just cause.

"You know, if we'd come in and we'd gone 2-8 and gotten blown out and gotten killed and I did a horrible job I would understand that, you know? But they never once intimated that this was a trial-and-error deal," said Martin.

Martin's attorney says they're not looking to get Martin's coaching job back, at this point they're only seeking financial compensation. In fact, Martin has already accepted a coaching position at Kerman High School.