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Jermaine Wiggins discussed his exit from coaching football at Brockton High School
"It was their decision, not me."
Former Patriots tight end Jermaine Wiggins lasted just one season as head coach of the Brockton High School football team. After it was confirmed earlier in December that he had stepped down from the role, Wiggins addressed the matter during a segment on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Wednesday.
Wiggins, a co-host of the daily sports talk radio program, seemed to contradict the earlier account from Brockton Public Schools chief communications officer Kelsey Lynch, who told Brockton Enterprise reporter Christopher Butler that the former NFL tight end “informed the district that he would be resigning from his role as the BHS football coach.”
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Wiggins pointed the finger back at the school system.
“It was their decision, not me,” he said during the WEEI segment.
The major issue, according to Wiggins, was that he is not a member of the Brockton Education Association.
“There had been some complaints about me not being in the union and they chose to go in a different direction,” Wiggins said, as originally transcribed by Cody Shepard of The Enterprise. “I was stunned my damn self. I was like, all right, I’m not going to cry over spilled milk.”
According to Wiggins, the person (who he did not specifically name) who originally brought him in as coach was “let go” as a result of the recent discovery of a $14 million budget deficit that the Brockton school system was facing.
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“Coming in, it was a different guy who hired me. The guy who hired me was in all that stuff that happened with the whole [budget deficit],” Wiggins said. “He was the original guy. So he kind of knew, and he fought that battle for me.
“Once he got let go, then any real connection to being able to make moves, that ultimately went out the window.”
The Brockton Education Association, which Wiggins is not a member of, includes contract language that states its members will be given preference for vacant coaching positions when “a Unit B Member has equal or greater qualifications than another applicant.”
Wiggins was hired for the role despite having no coaching experience (either as a head coach or an assistant) prior to taking the job. He replaced Peter Colombo, who had coached Brockton for 20 seasons.
“I feel bad for the kids,” he added of the situation.
Wiggins coached Brockton to a 3-8 record (after a 1-5 start) in his lone season in charge. Having grown up in East Boston, Wiggins relished the chance to lead a local program.
Reflecting on what he was able to accomplish in one season, Wiggins asserted his belief that the team is on its way up.
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“The culture was changing. The standard was changing,” he said. “I know our record wasn’t where we wanted it to be, but we had a freshman quarterback who was evolving. We were headed in the right direction.”
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