Half Moon Bay won’t bring back Forslund

Rich Forslund, who coached the boys basketball team at Half Moon Bay to the Northern California playoffs each of the past six seasons, was told by administrators Tuesday he will not be rehired.

Half Moon Bay went 167-50 under Forslund, an off-campus coach, the past seven seasons and is the only public school in Northern California to have reached NorCals in each of the past six seasons. In the six seasons before Forslund was hired, Half Moon Bay was a combined 48-99.

The former coach at Riordan — where he won a state title in 2002 — said he was not “blindsided” by the move but “surprised ultimately they would terminate me.”

He said he had heard rumblings from three sets of parents about his firm coaching style.

“There is just way too much parental involvement in this process,” Forslund said. “If they are not happy with you or their son’s playing time or if you are trying to correct a player, then they couch it as if you’re being a bully. And if they don’t get what they want, they they’ll go to the (athletic director), the principal, the school board and create as much drama as possible. It’s happening everywhere.”

Forslund’s firing comes on the heels of the recent dismissals of girls coaches Brian Harrigan (St. Francis) — the third-winningest coach in state history — and Mike Gutierrez (Mercy-San Francisco) and boys coaches Rich Buckner (Riordan) and Chris Lavdiotis (Piedmont), all of whom had coached at least 19 seasons.

Coaching contracts are year to year, and administrators generally do not comment on personnel matters. A phone call to Half Moon Bay athletic director Justin Ferdinand was not immediately returned.