Bel Air High School soccer coach suspension lifted

UPDATE: Allegations of heated exchanges at a recent Borderland soccer game had left the Bel Air boys soccer team without their coach.

Bel Air soccer coach Sergio Delgado was thrown out of a Feb. 7 game against Del Valle.

Delgado was suspended and was under investigation. But just a day later, the suspension was lifted. Ysleta ISD released this statement on Wednesday with little to say about the investigation.

“Mr. Delgado returned to his duties as a teacher and coach at Bel Air High School on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Since this is a personnel matter, Ysleta ISD cannot provide further comment.”

But ABC-7 caught up with one Bel Air Freshman soccer player who said he doesn’t think this will leave a good impression on the team.

“Most of them are really surprised, and they were kind of, they didn’t expect that from him,” The student said. “I think it looks bad on our program now. He is our teacher, he is our mentor, and that is kind of putting a bad example on us.”

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But his players are crying foul and demanding their coach be returned to the team.

Cesareo Martinez’s son, Cesar, plays for the Bel Air team.

“They are demanding to have the coach back to their team,” Martinez said.

Martinez and other parents accompanied the team to the Yselta Independent School District’s main office, looking for answers.

Parents and the team claimed those alleged heated exchanges involved coach Delgado, Del Valle coach Bruce Reichman and some referees.

“There was a lot of problems going on between the coaches — you know, complaining about the referees not making the right calls,” Martinez said.

School district officials would not elaborate on exactly what led to the investigation because this is a personnel matter.

But parents and the Bel Air team did get a chance to talk with district Assistant Superintendent Pat O’Neill.

“Unfortunately, we have to do this. We owe it to the community and to all of our stakeholders that when there are allegations and matters of this nature come up that we do a thorough investigation. We don’t rush and make a mistake one way or the other. You want to gather all the information you can and make a good decision,” O’Neill said.

That was not the answer Bel Air player Emliano Delgado wanted to hear.

“Why are they not investigating the Del Valle coaches? At the game, the Del Valle coaches said bad, bad foul language towards the ref and towards our team,” Delgado said.

We reached out to Del Valle coach Reichman but he had no comment.

“To us, it seems very unfair. Since both sides of coaches were complaining and calling bad names and getting out of hand, we truly believe that the other coach should have been suspended from the game,” Martinez said.

The Bel Air team seems to be emotional when it comes to their coach. The thought of losing him for the rest of the season has them worried.

Player Rene Ramirez said the team is already being affected by their coach’s absence.

“It’s just going to affect us really greatly. And for us, as a senior wanting to go to college, we can’t get the help that we want right now because we don’t have our coach’s support,” Ramirez said.

O’Neill had some encouraging words for the Bel Air team.

“It’s approximately 10 days and we are almost finished. HR just has a few other people they want to visit with. Then we will bring the coach back in and get this resolved,” O’Neill said.