The Greenbrier County Board of Education voted against letting West Virginia governor Jim Justice add a second high school basketball team to his coaching duties.
According to WV MetroNews, the board on Monday voted 3-2 against a motion to hire Justice as the Greenbrier East High School boys’ basketball coach. Justice has coached the GreenBrier East girls’ basketball team since 2000, according to MetroNews, and served as West Virginia’s governor since 2016. His second term lasts until 2024.
“We deserve and want a full-time basketball coach, a coach that comes to all practices, not only games. We want someone who is going to care for us; we want someone who is going to put as much hard work and dedication as we do every day,” junior boys’ basketball player John Gabbert said during the board meeting.
Justice coached the Greenbrier boys’ team from 2010 through 2017. Former NBA player Bimbo Coles took over the position from him, but resigned in July.
“The board of education in Greenbrier County made a decision that will ultimately hurt, not me, but the kids,” Justice said Monday, saying the board’s vote came down to personal or political preference. “At my age, I’ll have to have great assistant coaches. And to be perfectly honest, they’ll have to do the work. I’ll coach the game. Nevertheless I love the kids. That’s all there is to it.”
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