Parents want Coronado volleyball coach found guilty of recruiting gone

Parents are calling for the dismissal of the Coronado varsity volleyball coach a week after he was found guilty of recruiting by a University Interscholastic League State Executive Committee.

Coronado’s highly-successful Raul Lawrence, who coached the Thunderbirds to the District 1-6A volleyball title last season and into the third round of the state playoffs, was found guilty of recruiting more than a dozen freshmen to his program by not only a UIL District Executive Committee, but a State Executive Committee as well last week. That resulted in a public reprimand and two years probation, the highest penalty available to the SEC.

“Unfortunately sometimes the power and desire to win becomes tantamount to doing things that are not what should be done,” said Mitch Morgan, the first Coronado parent to speak out publicly about the issue back in September.

This week, ABC-7 received an email from concerned parents calling for Lawrence to be dismissed.

“Will a varsity coach be allowed to be found guilty of this behavior and receive no consequence from his district?” the email reads. “Will EPISD not represent to the community that cheating will not be tolerated?”

It goes on to request for the district “to consider the determination of both the DEC and SEC UIL committees and consider the replacement of Raul Lawrence as varsity volleyball coach at Coronado.”

That email about what’s next for Lawrence was also sent to every member of the EPISD board, it’s superintendent and it’s athletic director. None would comment, however, since it’s considered a personnel matter, but ABC-7 did receive the following statement from EPISD.

“The district is aware of the decisions made by the UIL and the concerns raised by parents and other interested parties,” the EPISD statement reads. “Any action taken by EPISD is a personnel matter. Therefore, the district will not comment publicly about the incident.”

The email pointed out it took a lot of courage for parents and current and past players to “stand up against this system and whistle blow against Lawrence.”
Now they will wait and see if the district will take action.