Andover coach's run reaches sudden end

Maglio, still digesting the decision days later, was out at the baseball field observing the camp he had been running at the school each of the 17 years he had been head coach. The kids - some waist-high, others at eye-level with their parents - were all over the fields.

Knowing in varying degrees the news of his dismissal, friends stopped by to check on Maglio. Former players did the same. As camp closed for the day, one man with two boys approached Maglio to thank him.

“I’m finding out who my friends are now,’’ said the 60-year-old Maglio, who first came to Andover High in 1970, teaching, coaching, and going to school all at the same time. “They’re all calling and coming by the camp. It’s been a nice awakening to see that I did have an influence on some kids.’’

Maglio got word of the decision just as his camp was beginning. It was as much a surprise to him as anyone. Bergeron had evaluated Maglio immediately following the season and Maglio said he was given high marks and recommended to return.

Maglio won more than 250 games as coach of the baseball team, and put up a 65-68-2 mark in football.

Just a month and a half before he was fired, he and Bergeron met with no signs that any changes were on the horizon. Maglio, who had retired as a physical education teacher three years ago, had actually informed Bergeron during the school year that he was planning on making this coming season his final run.

That phone call came out of nowhere.

“Then,’’ Maglio said. “I went to his office then he handed me an envelope saying I would not be rehired; they were going in a different direction.’’

Three days after parting ways with Maglio, Andover named freshman football coach John Rex as his interim replacement.

Rex was an assistant coach at North Andover in the late ’80s and also a graduate assistant at Springfield College. He had been away from coaching for 13 years before Maglio gave him the opportunity to coach the freshman team, which he has headed the past five seasons.

“I’m very close to Ken,’’ Rex said. “I think the world of him. He’s a good man. I don’t understand the situation. I’m not involved. But he’s been very good to me. I have the utmost respect for him.’’

Rex said he and Maglio have talked almost every day since the events first unfolded, and while Rex was uncertain about the role Maglio would be allowed to play once he takes over, he said they’ve exchanged everything from game tape to advice.

“That alone is worth its weight in gold,’’ Rex said. “It shows his class.’’

Rex’s first official day with the players will be Aug. 23. He met with them Tuesday morning to discuss the changes.

“Not only has Ken been sideswiped and everyone else been sideswiped, but so have the kids, and that’s what’s most important,’’ he said.

Between the timing of the decision (six weeks before players begin training camp), the haste, and the lack of a concrete explanation, the circumstances around the decision are cloudy.

“It’s a situation that I think is a political situation more than anything else,’’ Maglio said. “I really didn’t want this to go this way; this is not a good situation. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve had 39 great years.’’

Maglio has filed a grievance to reclaim his job. This past Tuesday, supporters planned a rally in front of the School Committee building on behalf of Maglio and another teacher. Maglio intends to go before the School Committee and air his concerns to Superintendent Claudia Bach.

Tom Meyers, president of the Andover Education Association, the union for teachers and school employees, will be behind Maglio.

“We’re very confused what’s going on,’’ Meyers said. “To all of a sudden in the 11th hour at the end of the school year to pull it looks like some sort of a nefarious back-room deal going on. It’s bizarre.’’

Rather than place blame at the feet of Bergeron (“He’s in a difficult situation,’’ Meyers said, of the AD who had just finished his first season), Meyers said the superintendent was the one who had final say.

“Why would the superintendent - it’s supposed to be the superintendent making the decision - decide to terminate him in such a bizarre way?’’ Meyers said. “It would be as if I’m a teacher, if I were to give a student fine grades and then I flunked him. People would think that was absurd and call into question my competence immediately.

“The issue is that the superintendent is the one who’s ultimately responsible for this and I don’t know why she did it. She has the power. Ultimately she’s the one who hires and fires. It is her position and she’s passing the buck on to Chris Bergeron and that’s inappropriate.’’

Attempts to reach Bergeron were unsuccessful, but Meyers said the athletic director’s positive evaluation along with his recommendation to rehire Maglio say more than enough.

“To have them simply ignore what the evaluation stated and go ahead and try to fire him is a violation of due process and a violation of just cause, and we just feel it’s highly inappropriate,’’ Meyers said.

Dick Collins coached Andover’s football team for 37 years before leaving the job because of health reasons, passing the baton to Maglio, who held that post for 13 years.

“I won’t say I handpicked him, but I certainly supported his selection as my successor,’’ said Collins, a member of the School Committee. “He’s had a winning record that’s true, but the kids really like him, and that’s what coaching’s all about. . . . I think he’s done a fine job. He cares very much about the kids and I just do not support letting him go at all.’’

“I’ve had 39 great years of working with great kids, and I’m very, very fortunate to have done that,’’ Maglio said. “I thought I never wanted it to end; I’m going to fight it to find out why, obviously. But I’ve been very fortunate.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com