Sports

UPDATE: Counts to Keep Coaching Job at Oakton

Parents say they received email announcing Counts' reinstatement as girls lacrosse coach

UPDATE (4:30 p.m. June 22): Pat Full, Oakton High's director of student activities, confirmed Jean Counts will be head coach of the girls lacrosse team next season.

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UPDATE (9:30 p.m.): Jean Counts confirmed Tuesday she will maintain her position as head coach with the Oakton High girls lacrosse team next season.

Find out what's happening in Oaktonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After a meeting today with Principal John Banbury and Pat Full, the director of student activities, Counts said she was reinstated as the head coach for girls lacrosse. She will meet with Full again Wednesday to draft a statement to the school board.

"There was concern [from administration] I wasn't dedicated to coming back next year because I had earlier intended to resign," Counts said. "I assured them I wasn't going to continue to be wishy-washy. I've never once before done that in my 14 years. The one time I did question whether I'd come back, I immediately realized I love the job and wanted to keep doing it."

Find out what's happening in Oaktonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Counts will continue as the freshman field hockey coach, a position she held even after losing the lacrosse job.

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Original: Sources: Counts to Keep Coaching Job at Oakton

Days after Jean Counts as girls lacrosse coach, the 14-year veteran has been reinstated at Oakton High, parents said.

Parents of girls on the lacrosse team received an email Tuesday afternoon informing them Counts would continue her job next season. A formal announcement is expected Wednesday.

Dr. John Banbury, Oakton High principal, said he could not confirm the information.

Counts was not immediately available for comment.

The email informed parents that Counts met with the director of student activities, Pat Full, and Banbury today and she has another meeting scheduled with Full on Wednesday.

On Friday, a week after leading her team to the , Counts was called into Full's office and asked to resign. When she refused, they fired her, Counts told Patch.

In early May, Counts told Full she would not be returning next season, but within a week took it back. She said she was assured the job was hers. In a statement to Patch, Full said the school decided to accept her original resignation.

In 14 seasons as coach, Counts led her team to the AAA championship game five times, winning the title in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

After Counts lost her job, her players, fellow coaches and parents cried foul.

"To Oakton High administrators and Mr Full, get a backbone. If the only thing you can come up with is a few parents had issues then that is a poor excuse for letting a coach of this caliber go," Don Cooke wrote in the comments section of the . "The whole Counts family is part of the glue that makes this community great. I for one am proud to have the Counts Coaching, teaching and supporting my children."

Skip Singer wrote: "Jean Counts has been nothing short of remarkable for the Oakton program. She has consistently produced winning teams, has been an inspiration to her players, an icon of girl's lacrosse, a beacon of hope for the community, and a worthy adversary (we are from Herndon). We know plenty of Oakton players – past and present – and not one has shared any concerns about Jean Counts ro [sic] her character."

A petition began to circulate and many of Counts' supporters emailed and set up meetings with school board members, the cluster superintendent, Oakton's athletic director and Oakton's principal to discuss the matter. Players met with Full earlier today.


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