The Highland (Iowa) High School football coach, Cory Quail, has resigned from his position in an attempt to force the school to cancel the football season.
According to KCRG, Quail cited player safety as the main reason for his resignation. Quail said, “I tendered my resignation with hope that it would force the decision to not play another football game this season for player protection. Participation numbers are low and injuries have accrued. It was not safe to be out on that field last Friday night and anyone who saw us trying to put receivers in lineman jerseys would agree. That scenario will not change over the course of this year. I will not put our kids in an unsafe place to selfishly build ego for competition.”
Highland High School did cancel the next two football games in the wake of Quail’s resignation. Superintendent Spencer Lueders said the district will “evaluate what is best for the student-athletes.”
There were only 13 active players on the Highland football team when they lost their last game 40 to seven.
“To say that I’ve quit on our kids would be wildly inaccurate,” Quail wrote. “We are not going to let this one unfortunate situation define Highland. We will continue to show up and do work for the betterment of our kids.”
Quail will continue working for the school district as the high school physical education teacher, and he will continue to coach in the strength and conditioning program. The school has not appointed an interim football coach.
After evaluating the situation, Lueders said Highland High School may decide to proceed with the season and as many healthy players as they have. Or, the season may be canceled, and student-athletes from Highland will be allocated to another district’s team. That decision will be made in the next two weeks.
