Coach Fired After Attending Wrong Church In Alabama
A state champion coach was fired for not going to the right church. A football and basketball coach for the East Memorial Christian Academy in Prattville, Alabama, Scott Phillips was dismissed because he didn’t feel comfortable forcing his family to attend the East Memorial Baptist Church. Because of this, the school’s football team is now weeks away from kickoff without a coach.
Phillips became known in the area as somewhat of a super star coach, according to Yahoo! Sports. Under him, the school’s football team made its first state playoff in many years. When he coached basketball, Phillips managed to lead the boy’s team to its first ever state title.
As a coach, Scott Phillips was never required to attend East Memorial’s church of choice. However, when he was offered to take over as athletic director, this changed. Phillips says this almost made him turn down the job. Discussing the issues he had with the requirement, he says he was willing to come to a compromise.
The fired high school football coach did his best to make it work. Each Sunday his family would set off to the Academy’s preferred church at East Memorial at 9 am. After that, they would attend a late morning service at 11 am at their family church, the Church of the Highlands.
The Phillips family tried to make it work for nearly a year, but it became a problem, the Montgomery Advertiser reports. Scott Phillips says he began to feel uncomfortable with forcing his family to go to a church they didn’t want to attend. He also says that he began to feel dishonest to his family’s church. The fired coach’s church concerns finally reached a tipping point and he had to find a solution.
Hoping for understanding and reason, Coach Phillips went to talk to school administrators. He expected to explain his reasoning and would be allowed to return to going to the Highlands church on Sundays. Instead, he left unemployed.
The coach fired for which church his family attends says that his contract does not require him to go a specific Sunday service.
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