A high school football coach in Connecticut resigned at halftime of a recent game after “confrontational exchanges” with his players.
Donny Panapada, coach of Stamford High School’s football team since 2022, quit in the middle of the team’s loss to Warde in Fairfield on Friday, according to CT Insider.
In an email to parents, Stamford principal Matthew Forker said the coach “engaged in exchanges with our student athletes and demonstrated poor judgement while coaching the first half of the game against Warde.”
The coach announced he was resigning to his players and athletic director Chris Passamano and didn’t coach the second half, but stayed at Warde HS, the report said.
The team trailed by 30 points at halftime and lost 42-14 to fall to 3-3 on the season.
After Passamano met with Panapada, his coaching staff and some of the players the next morning, it was determined there wasn’t “a viable path forward for coach Panapada to rescind his resignation and resume his role as head coach,” Forker’s email said, according to CT Insider.
Forker also said Panapada was remorseful but the coach “fell short” of Stamford’s “standards and expectations.”
Forker heard from families who were supportive of Panapada.
“It is clear that Coach Panapada has the support of families who believe he has been a positive influence in their children’s lives. We recognize and appreciate the relationships he has built with his players and the contributions he has made to the Stamford High School football program. Those contributions are not diminished by the circumstances surrounding his resignation,” Forker wrote, according to Patch.
“However, a head coach has a responsibility to lead by example and conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively on the student athletes, coaching staff, and the entire school community, no matter the circumstances,” Forker continued, per CT Insider.
“Confrontational exchanges with student athletes during a game, in front of a large crowd of families from both schools, followed by an in-game announcement of his resignation and a decision not to resume coaching responsibilities, are inconsistent with the standards we expect from those entrusted to lead our student athletes.”
Panapada, who had a 16-31 record as Stamford’s coach, declined comment to CT Insider.
The rest of the staff will coach the team for the rest of the season, Forker said.
