An Arizona high school football coach has resigned over accusations that he ran up the score in a 60-0 rout Friday night.
Devin Dourisseau, head football coach at La Joya High School, says he had no intention of running up the score after his team jumped out to a 30-point lead in the third quarter.
Dourisseau says that La Joya principal, Stacie Almaraz, asked the school’s athletic director to “dial it down” at that point. However, La Joya still managed to score more points.
“My principal comes over and catches my [athletic director] and asks him, 'How many points do you plan on scoring this evening?' " Dourisseau told the local ABC affiliate. "He tells her hopefully that’s it, and she said, 'It better be if you want [Dourisseau] on the sidelines next week.' "
Almaraz would later accuse Dourisseau of intentionally running up the score. For his part, Dourisseau said that unintended defensive points led to the additional scores. He also maintains that he was rotating starting players in and out with second-stringers throughout the game.
“I’m not gonna stop my boys from playing hard," he said. “These boys are trying to get scholarships. I’m going to coach my kids to the best of their abilities, and I’m not going to have them back down or lay down simply because the team that we're playing is not 100 percent up to the task.”
After a number of meetings on the matter, Dourisseau says he chose to step down from his position as head coach.
“It was unreal and unconscionable for me for that to happen," Dourisseau said. “It was one of those decisions that in life you have to stand for something or fall for anything. When you have a lot of conviction and a lot of belief in something, that’s when you fight for it.”
Dourisseau changed his mind Tuesday and rescinded his resignation, and he is hoping the district will reinstate him.
“We are poised to run the table and go to the playoffs for the second time in La Joya's history," Dourisseau said.
