LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Patriots community is puzzled as to why a well-respected wrestling coach who has been with the Livonia Public Schools district for 24 years was suddenly fired.
It's happening as wrestlers prepare to compete on the mats this season.
For students like Miles Kwiatkowski, hearing of the firing of Coach Dave Chiola was devastating.
"Just know that I don't get to finish off my senior year with Coach Chiola," Kwiatkowski said.
The 17-year-old has been training under Chiola for three seasons.
"He is an amazing coach. He has done so much for the program," Kwiatkowski said.
Under Chiola, the Patriots have a total of 400 wins, including 18 of the past 19 city championships and 17 district titles.
"It just feels wrong. He didn't do anything. There are no complaints from the parents, no complaints from other students," Kwiatkowski said.
However, according to an email sent on Nov. 1 to the school's wrestling community, the coach was fired. Kwiatkowski's mom Angela says the email made her angry while reading the most upsetting part.
"They say: 'Coach Chiola continued to fall short of his own accountability and our expectations as a trusted adult for all students. Before a leader can hold others accountable for their actions, leaders need to be able to model this behavior each and every day.' And I feel like that's a judgment on his character," Angela Kwiatkowski said.
The letter also reads: "Multiple opportunities were provided to Coach Chiola to learn and grow from past actions, but those expectations were not met."
"And what is he supposed to be accountable for? What are your expectations? After 24 years, did your expectations change?" Angela Kwiatkowski said.
You can read the full letter that was sent to families below:
Chiola was informed that he would no longer be part of the team just over a week before the season started.
"We're separating ways is how it was worded," Chiola said.
Chiola explained to us what happened from his point of view.
"Since I'm not teaching the district, I'm subbing now. I was subbing at a rival school and I got a phone call from athletic director and he was talking about a wrestler who was joining the team and some concerns. And in my blunt way, I was just saying well, I don't know what you're worried about. He may quit because it's really hard. We had 69 kids on the team last year and at this point, we ended with 39. I said he missed a lot of practice, as he misses practice like that kick-off anyway, and some students overheard me and thought I was being mean," Chiola said.
Chiola says the conversation was about a student-athlete who is transgender. But that, as the district says, had nothing to do with the use of a locker room and that he said nothing derogatory.
Meanwhile, in a statement to 7 News Detroit, a Livonia Public Schools spokesperson wrote in part:
"Social media commentary has painted an inaccurate and misinformed depiction of the situation. Accusations suggesting that the termination decision was premised, in any way, on the handling of supports for a transgender student-athlete have been spread without any basis in fact."
We asked Chiola if he's previously coached students who identified as LGBTQ+.
"Yeah, I've had several gay kids on my team. One of them was really good," Chiola said.
The school also denies that "the call" had anything to do with the coach's termination.
Monday night, Chiola and the wrestling community will be putting up a fight at the board meeting asking the school to apologize to the coach.
