By Nicholas Williams
Brooklyn College Athletics fired William Holley, former Assistant Coach for the Men’s Basketball team, on February 19.
“I can’t believe we let such a great guy go,” said junior guard Michael Tesoriero, “Especially someone who was defending his players. So, I mean, I was angry about the whole situation cause he didn’t deserve that.”
Holley was suspended after sending a controversial email to City College of New York (CCNY) Athletics Director Lydia Travis, expressing his thoughts on a last-minute game change against The CCNY Beavers that he felt inconvenienced his players. A game scheduled for February 9 was rescheduled for February 10 at York College due to water damage on the courts at CCNY. Holley then attempted to attend the Friday game against CCNY at York College to support the team but was escorted out of the gymnasium. That led to him being fired, and Holley released a YouTube video with his podcast, WBH Radio, detailing the incident which led to his termination.
Initially, Athletics Director Bruce Filosa expressed his displeasure to Holley for sending that email and wanted him to apologize to Travis. WBCR News asked Filosa to provide information on Holley’s termination, which came four months after he was initially hired in October. He declined to comment on the situation.
In an interview with WBCR News, Holley said, “It’s just sad. I wasn’t 100 percent correct in what I did but I don’t know if my actions should have led to me being escorted out of a gymnasium.”
Holley feels there are still unanswered questions in the situation and considers his termination to be unjust.
“I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned on both sides. I’m not exactly sure what I would do differently but I’m still replaying all the events that took place,” Holley said.
Holley stated he made the podcast specifically for the players saying he wanted them to “know the whole truth.” Players from the team were still left confused about the situation, not understanding why things were being handled the way that they were.
Despite his departure, Holley remains hopeful and plans to continue to build his own future.
“I’m still working on a Doctorate Degree,” he said, “and I’m doing that right now and maybe some more podcasting!”
“I feel like things should have been done a better way, a more professional way,” junior forward Jade Spencer said. “It was a lot of mistakes and stuff that should have been prevented and stuff that should have been more established in a better way.”