Suncoast Coach B.J. Gilbert Released From Coaching Duties At School

Coach B.J. Gilbert from Suncoast.

Suncoast coach B.J. Gilbert took over the baseball program five years ago, near the same time that his son was born. In that time he has helped both to nurture and grow.

But on Monday Gilbert learned that he will not be retained as the Chargers baseball coach.

“I don’t know what the quarrel is with me; I am coming off of my best year over here,” Gilbert said. “Today I was called into a meeting and they just told me.”

Coach Gilbert had known he had an evaluation that was coming up soon, as the news had been relayed to him by Suncoast Athletic Director Kelli Erianne. But the coach had been confident that his performance this season spoke for itself, after the Chargers advanced to the Class 5A regionals and had nearly pulled off a road-upset over eventual 5A state champion American Heritage Plantation. Coach Gilbert had also been named Coach of the Year for his district and had just served as an assistant coach for the palmbeachhighschoolbaseball.com inaugural All Star Game. The team was also named to the state’s spring All Academic team with one of the highest team GPA’s in the county.

The coach says he was blindsided by multiple accusations, hearing claims that he had used an ineligible player during the preseason, that there was money missing from the team funds, and that he had turned his paperwork in late this season. The coach claims he asked where these accusations stemmed from, but was only told that the school had decided to let him go based on this information.

“They’re claiming I did these things, then why didn’t anybody come talk to me during the year?” Coach Gilbert wondered. “They let me go the entire year and then today they start saying these things? Everybody needs to know where this is coming from. I don’t want anybody else to ever feel this way.”

Coach Gilbert had requested that his assistant coaches all be allowed to be present at Monday’s meeting as well, but was denied that request. Instead it was only himself, Mrs. Erianne, Athletic Supervisor Kevin Oates and Principal Linda Cartlidge. He says that all of the coaches have input and are part of the program, and he was surprised there was no investigation into these claims.

“There was nothing I could do,” he said. “I just shook their hands, thanked them for the opportunity, and walked out of there.”

Coach Gilbert said his players did not take the news well, and that some had claimed they would not play for another coach. Players said that they were just starting to win and gain respect from the other top teams in the area, and that they supported their coach. But Gilbert said he would never ask that his players give up the game for anything, and that he simply encouraged them to work harder and go win the district title next season for him.

Numerous accusations have swirled around the Suncoast campus this spring regarding misuse of funds, and Gilbert voiced his concern that he may be a casualty of that damage-control. He adamantly denies any wrong-doing and says he can account for any claims that are made regarding the use of the baseball team’s funds.

What Coach Gilbert does know is that the program he has given his heart and soul towards for the past five seasons will now be the responsibility of somebody else.

“It feels like part of me is missing now,” Gilbert said. “Now I have to go break this news to my family. We just gotta make due and move on I guess.”

Officials from Suncoast have yet to respond regarding the coach’s status.

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