What a shame!
HoWolfson High School baseball coach Jed Douglas was dismissed from his position Friday after coaching in just one game.
Athletic director Frank Jenkins confirmed Friday night that Douglas was no longer the coach.
"We had to name an interim coach today," Jenkins said. "We appointed Joel Chaitovicz to that position. Cir#######stances made it necessary for us to do this. Other than that, you'll have to check with principal [Hammond] Gracy for further comment."
Messages left with Gracy's cell phone and his home phone were not returned. Calls to Douglas' cell phone were also not returned. Douglas is also a biology teacher at Wolfson.
According to a Wolfson player, several members of the baseball team were questioned by school officials Friday.
"They called some of us in and asked if we had seen him [Douglas] put creatine in the Gatorade," senior catcher Josh McCray said. "I told them I had not seen this.
"But this really upsets me that someone could be messing with my Gatorade. What happens if sometime down the road I get tested and they find something in my system and I know nothing about it? I could lose my college scholarship."
McCray has signed a scholarship offer to attend Pensacola Community College next fall.
"You would think your coach would be looking out for your best interest, not doing something that would come back to hurt you," McCray said. "You bet I'm upset about this."
McCray said he had not spoken to Douglas since his firing. "None of us had a chance to talk to coach about this," McCray said. "They made him leave the campus before school got out."
Wolfson defeated University Christian 5-0 Friday in a game played shortly after Douglas was dismissed. Chaitovicz had been the junior varsity coach.
"Principal Gracy asked me to step in for today's game," Chaitovicz said. "I don't know beyond that. It's up to them if I continue in this position."
This isn't the first time Douglas has been dismissed as baseball coach under questionable cir#######stances.
On Feb. 25, 2008, Douglas was dismissed from his head coaching position with the Dalton High (Ga.) baseball team, one week before the team's season opener.
Dalton athletic director Ronnie McClurg told the Dalton Daily Citizen that "the baseball program wasn't going in the direction we needed it to be going."
A source told the Georgia paper alleged there were "illegal workouts."
Douglas took the Dalton job after coaching at Jacksonville's Eagle's View Academy in 2007, when the Warriors won the Class A state championship.
This marks the second time in eight months that Wolfson has had to deal with controversy involving a coach and a nutritional supplement.
Last June, Wolfson football coach Law Johnson was asked to resign over a supplement that he had approved for Wolfpack players to take.
Wolfson's baseball program is typically one of the better teams in the Jacksonville area, and expectations were high for the 2009 team. The Wolfpack was 21-6 last season, and a district runner-up. Wolfson has eight senior starters this season.
jeff.elliott@jacksonville.com,
w about this for a high school. This team is talented enough to win a state championship as well.
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