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Sports

Oakton Girls Lax Coach Fired

Players rally behind Jean Counts, whose 14-year as coach brought the Cougars three state championships

UPDATE (3:30 p.m. Monday): In an email to Oakton Patch, Pat Full said Jean Counts resigned.

"... Jean Counts resigned earlier in the season," the Oakton High athletic director wrote Monday. "After meeting with Coach Counts, Oakton decided to move forward with that resignation."

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Friday was supposed to be a day of celebration for Oakton’s girls lacrosse team, which won a district title this year and made it to the final of the Virginia AAA state championships before succumbing to undefeated Madison High. But after Coach Jean Counts was fired a few hours before the team’s season-ending party, the would-be celebration took on a somber note as Counts relayed the news to her team and their families.

Counts said she felt "blindsided" when the school’s athletic director, Pat Full, asked her to resign Friday morning.

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"He told me there’d been several complaints from parents, but wouldn’t provide any details," said Counts, who began coaching the Cougars in 1998 after graduating from George Mason University, where she played on the women’s lacrosse team.

School officials were not immediately available for comment.

In 14 seasons as coach, Counts led her team to the AAA championship game five times, winning the title in 2006, 2007 and 2008. She had told Full early last month this would be her last season. She and her husband, Justin — a homebuilder who is also assistant coach of Madison’s baseball team — have six young children, and she felt like she needed to spend more time with them. But a week later, Counts changed course after realizing how much the program meant to her. She says she was reassured the job was still hers. But weeks later, school officials told her they were moving on without her.

"He [Full] said, 'Tonight’s your banquet, you can tell your girls that you’re resigning,'" Counts said.

Counts told him she had no plans to go.

"I asked him where I stood, and he said, ‘We’re not going to have you back next year, we want to take the program in a different direction.'"

Heartbroken, she made two resolutions: not to mislead her team and not to let her emotions get the best of her at the team party.

"I prayed all day long that I could hold it together for them without crying, and I did it," she said. "It was supposed to be their night and I didn’t want to take that spotlight away from them."

Several players were in tears and many of the parents were shocked and angered by the decision.

"I’m really ticked off about this," said Mike Weathers, whose daughter Kelsey has been on the team for three years. "She’s a fantastic person. This woman teaches kids about family, about life and being part of a team. She’s a role model and a mentor."

Barbara Clarke, whose daughters Kaitlin, Kristin and Kelsey played for Counts, doubts any parents were critical of their daughters’ coach.

"I find it really hard to believe that there were complaints against her," she said. "The parents supported her and were in complete disbelief. She’s a lot more to these girls than just a lacrosse coach."

Several players interviewed for this story stated the team was unanimously behind Counts.

"We’re devastated because we don’t know why she got fired," said co-captain Jackie Rupp, a junior midfielder. "This is the worst possible thing that could happen because she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Oakton lacrosse."

"The team is really hurt and surprised," said Kelsey Weathers, a senior who plays defense. "It was shocking to hear that she’s supposedly not taking us in the right direction. We won Districts and went to State; what direction do they want us to go in?"

The players, both current and past, will try to get Counts her job back.

"We made a petition and are going in to talk to the principal," Weathers said. "We want evidence to know why she was terminated."

Counts said she never had any run-ins with players, parents or administrators and was shocked by her dismissal.

"No one ever pulled me aside with a complaint or a concern," she said. "If I was doing something wrong, I wish someone would have let me know."

Counts is a substitute teacher in Fairfax County and a longtime Oakton resident who has deep ties to the community.

"The worst part is not being around for those families that I’ve coached over the years," she said. "I just want to be with my girls."

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