By Greta Nerad
Executive News Editor
and Josie Collier
Editor-In-Chief
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District is in the process of hiring a new badminton coach after former head coach McKenna Wilson resigned in June.
Vice Principal Stephanie Hall and Athletic Director Glenn Marx gave Wilson the option to resign or be fired from the program on June 3 in a meeting, Wilson said. Wilson sent in her resignation letter on June 10 in protest, stating her shock about the situation.
“[I am] very confused and disappointed because I’ve never actually had a two-on-one with [Hall and Marx] in the three years I have been a head coach,” Wilson said. “I initially thought I was going to get feedback about the program and what they saw this year, [but] that didn’t turn into that conversation.”
After her resignation, Wilson heard about the job opening posted on the MBUSD website from a friend and decided to reapply over the summer, but she never received a response, she said. According to Wilson, she has all of the qualifications for the job listing except for teaching credentials, which are suggested but not required for the position.
Hall and Principal Dr. Ben Dale could not legally discuss the details of or reasoning behind her replacement because it is a personnel matter. Wilson chose to comply to the ultimatum because she did not want a termination on her record, she said.
“[For] coaching applications, you have to put what the reason is for leaving, and I did not want that reason to be I was terminated,” Wilson said.
According to Badminton Booster Club President Ron Liu, the administration has not updated the team or the booster club about hiring a new coach. Parents of badminton players reached out to Dale, MBUSD and the Costa Athletics Department in hopes of attaining information about the status of the team but received a response explaining they could not disclose any information, badminton player and sophomore Kelly May said.
“[The administration’s] communication is very poor,” May said. “I do not feel like this is professional, nor acceptable.”
Several members of the badminton team, along with Wilson, Liu and assistant coaches, attended the MBUSD board meeting on Sept. 18 to speak about their frustrations and concerns. According to Liu, the booster club has not received any explanation for Wilson’s dismissal.
“It’s a bad example that they are setting,” Liu said. “If you just dismiss a coach without any reasoning, it sets a bad example.”
Wilson has been Costa’s badminton coach for the past three years and has led the team to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) finals all three years, placing third in last year’s CIF tournament. Wilson also led Costa players to first and second-place wins in the individual events.
“[Wilson] is an amazing coach; I cannot stress that enough,” badminton player and sophomore Vivian Liu said. “Finding a new coach who’s as good as her would be really difficult.”
According to Wilson’s resignation letter, the ultimatum was driven by Hall and Marx’s intent to move the program in a new direction. The school’s number-one priority is to continue the badminton program, Dale said.
“Badminton has a long history of success; they’ve always done a good job,” Dale said. “Now it’s time to have a new coach, and hopefully the program will continue to go like it has been.”
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