SoCalHoops High School News

Howard Abrams Reportedly
Pushed Out At Montclair Prep--(Oct. 14, 1998)

We have been hearing rumblings all summer about the predicament in which Howard Abrams now finds himself.  A few weeks ago, the LA Times ran an innocuous story, which we paraphrased, in which it was reported that Abrams, the head coach at Montclair Prep in Van Nuys for the last 20+ years had "resigned."    Er, um, ok, if that's the way they want to present it, we thought, that was certainly none of our business. "Resigned."  Uh, huh.  In the earlier story, Abrams "voluntarily resigned" as coach, and the school announced he would become the assistant athletic director and continue with his teaching job.  Bob Webb, a former UCLA player and the former girls' head basketball coach, would take over for Abrams according to the announcement. 

Ok, a plausible story, without any details and no embarrassment for anyone. Just a changing of the guard.

But if today's Daily News story is even half true, it paints a much different picture, one in which  Abrams apparently feels he was done wrong by someone at the school.  We don't know what the real story is, only what we read.  Well, actually we've got a little bit of background, and there's more to this story than meets the eye.

In today's edition of the LA Daily News,  Gerry Gittleson reports that Abrams was involuntarily removed, against his will, as the head coach.  The gist of the story seems to be that the "resignation" announcement was just a way for everyone to save face, and to accomplish moving Abrams out and Webb in.  Who was behind the move is left unstated.

Gittleson writes that Abrams, who has won one Division V State Championship, three CIF titles, and been to the State Tournament three times, apparently was sabotaged by someone at the school who wanted Abrams out and Webb in as the coach.  Some of the reasons stated by the school for his demotion, although they weren't stated at the time the resignation was announced, was that  Abrams hadn't   run the Montclair team during summer leagues or tournaments, and he reportedly "left practice" several times last year to attend to other duties. 

Personally, we find these allegations strange, since Montclair is not really like other schools in the area. A significant number of the student athletes there who attend during the year actually live on campus during the year and then leave for the summer.  The business about Abrams not being present at practice would also seem odd and perhaps irrelevant, since Greg Patterson, who resigned in the spring,  was a co-coach with Abrams last year, and presumably one or the other of them was always at all of the practices.  As long as one coach is there, it would seem that this is not really a legitimate concern.  But then we weren't there.

When Montclair lost to Pacific Hills last year, ending what had been thought to be a drive toward another state title, there were evidently some people at the school who wanted some answers.  And apparently, they were angry at Abrams and Patterson.  Ultimately, Patterson resigned after the spring semester.   Webb then offered to coach the boys team in early summer.  But one of his conditions, according to the article was that he coach alone, not as a co-coach. So in essence he gave the school an ultimatum, either him or Abrams, if the Gittleson article is to be believed. 

If Webb actually laid this down as a condition (which we don't know to be true, but assuming for the sake of argument he did)  we know what most schools would have said, and they wouldn't even need to consult a labor lawyer to come to the right conclusion. 

They would have said:  "Hey,  Mr. Job Applicant, thanks for the offer, but we already have a guy who's been here for 20+ years, who's never been disciplined, never had a bad word said about him, and by the way, he's won a couple of CIF titles and one State Title recently, and made it to the semi-finals of Southern Section this year, losing in triple overtime to the eventual State Champions.  So Mr. Job Applicant,  thanks, but no thanks, we think we'll stick with the guy who's been doing the job all these years and who's brought us some pretty good recent success."  

Now that is what most schools would have said.

But apparently not Montclair Prep, if Gittleson's story today is to be believed.

And by the way, we don't necessarily attribute any untoward acts or intentions to Webb.  It may very well have been that he was asked by the school to help coach, and simply said he would be willing to take the job, but didn't want to be a "co-coach."   Nothing wrong with that.  But at that point, it was up to the school to make the right decision.

Whether they did or not is something only time will tell.

But as a result of the apparent decision which Montclair did reach, the school and Abrams now find themselves at odds, and Montclair finds itself, in our view,  subject to some substantial criticism,  and they may be required to explain to Abrams why they, in effect, constructively terminated a veteran coach, leaving him with no other job alternatives, without any apparent good cause. 

In today's article, Abrams was asked for his account of what happened, but he apparently only hinted that there might be more information forthcoming; for now though, he hinted that he might be leaving to coach elsewhere next year, possibly at La Salle with Steve Goldstein, who was the co-coach at Montclair from 1981-1985 with Abrams.  Goldstein, who was also interviewed, said that it would be great for the two of them to coach again at LaSalle.

The real problem for Abrams right now is the timing of his, well, his "demotion", "resignation" or whatever you want to call it.   With every private school already in session, and all most if not all head coaching jobs filled, it's virtually impossible for him to find another spot until next year, if at all. 

We're pretty certain this isn't the last of the story. Stay tuned.

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