Soccer coach Peterson is fired at St. Ursula

6/7/2008

St. Ursula Academy has fired soccer coach Bruce Peterson, only telling Peterson they "wanted to go in a different direction" as a reason for the dismissal after eight years as coach.

Peterson was let go by St. Ursula athletic director Steve Parrill on May 30, the day after he met with next year's team to discuss summer conditioning. Peterson said he was first asked to resign but said he could not do so without knowing for what reason.

Peterson led the Arrows to six district finals and coached the team to its first state semifinal berth in school history in 2004. Since the firing he has heard from St. Ursula players and parents who he said have told him "the support for me is overwhelmingly more than the detractors."

"My sense is that they're the ones who are owed more of explanation than I am," Peterson said.

Parrill did not return a message seeking comment yesterday.

A week before he was fired, Peterson said he met with a senior administration member at the school who told him to ignore the rumors that he would be fired, but did express the complaints of one team parent.

"There was some input somewhere with people that were unhappy with me and the direction of the program," Peterson said.

- Maureen Fulton