Taft High School dismissed head football coach Fred Emmerson on Tuesday after one season with the program.
Emmerson said that he was called into a meeting Tuesday and was informed by assistant principal Jose Loza that he would no longer be the head coach because the school wanted to go in a different direction.
“I’m still a little bit confused because as of right now. I still don’t know why,” Emmerson said Wednesday. “I asked, can I know what happened for what’s going on? He said ‘We’re just choosing to go in another direction.’”
Taft’s administration did not respond to the LA Daily News’ requests for comment.
Emmerson joined Taft in May after serving as an assistant coach at Kennedy, and he quickly made changes within the program. He introduced a faster-paced offense and brought on a host of new assistant coaches to help the team compete on the school’s newly renovated field.
The staff managed a varsity team of 60 players, which went 2-9 overall. Taft continued to struggle in West Valley League play with a winless record.
The Toreadors last had a winning league record in 2015.
There were signs of progression, however. Quarterback Devon Conroy passed for 535 yards and nine touchdowns in a 78-41 win against Grant to set new school records for passing yards and passing touchdowns in a game. Receiver Lior Lesham had 354 yards receiving and seven TD catches in the same game for new school single-game records.
“It was a pretty whirlwind, up-and-down season and I still wouldn’t take it back,” Emmerson said. “I still wouldn’t change it for the world. Those are some amazing kids over there.”
Emmerson helped the players create social media accounts on X, formerly Twitter, for recruiting purposes and took players on college visits during the fall. He said Wednesday that he helped arrange junior day college visits and had shared plans during his standard exit interview after the season to bring in a strength and conditioning coach in the offseason.
Taft dismissed boys basketball coach Derrick Taylor in July due to “allegations of improper adherence to District policy regarding COVID-19 testing procedures at Taft related to students involved in some of our athletic programs,” according to reports.
Taylor guided the Toreadors to a Los Angeles City Section Open Division championship in 2023 and the coach’s fourth City title of his career.
Emmerson said that Taylor and previous athletic director Mark Drucker were early supporters of his.
Taft’s previous football coach, Jeff Kearin, stepped down from the position in March 2023 due to the way a Taft faculty member was treated by the school’s leadership. Kearin coached for two seasons at Taft and helped the Toreadors win a City Section Division III championship in 2021.
Emmerson isn’t sure what his next steps will be. He said that multiple coaches have reached out to him after he broke the news on X, but he hasn’t ruled out stepping away from coaching for a while, either.
“Like I used to tell the players,” he said. “Sometimes life isn’t fair because a fair is a place where they judge pigs. Bad things happens sometimes, but you’ve just got to pick yourself up and keep pushing.”
