Editor’s Note: Rebecca Gallow, Charlenne Falcis-Stevens, Brian Seymour, Ronald Marquez, Kevin Brown, Ron Nocetti, Holly Haggerty, Bryan Marcus, John Kessler and Michael Hoeger were all contacted via email and/or phone about the opportunity for an interview, but did not respond to our inquiries. 

Following the at-will contract termination of former boys varsity tennis coach Bruce Taub in June, a group of parents of the 2024 boys varsity tennis team sent a formal request to the SDUHSD Board of Trustees and the Superintendent of Schools to investigate administrative misconduct throughout the 2024 boys varsity tennis season on Sept. 4, along with two separate complaints about TPHS administrators and certain CIF officials, respectively, at later dates.

After serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the girls varsity tennis team during the 2021-2023 seasons, Taub was approached by athletics director Charlenne Falcis-Stevens about an open position for the boys varsity tennis team head coach. At that time, principal Rob Coppo, assistant principal Rebecca Gallow and Falcis-Stevens did not inform him of any prior history of heavy conflict between the TPHS boys varsity tennis team and opposing teams as well as certain CIF officials, according to Taub.

“You know our basic premise … is that administration withheld pretty amazing information from me regarding the climate out there, relative to the TPHS boys tennis program,” Taub said. “Specifically, how they were perceived, and how they could be treated by opposing coaches, opposing teams, opposing parents …”

Coppo said in an emailed statement that he was not aware of the hostility from certain CIF officials and opposing teams towards the TPHS team. 

“Given the past history of complaints against the behavior of the team, CIF has historically been supportive and worked with us to ensure our student athletes are treated appropriately,” Coppo said. “As an example, several years ago CIF approved all of the waivers I submitted after other teams refused to play us in an effort to keep us out of the playoffs.”

According to Taub, the first time he witnessed poor sportsmanship and biased treatment from opposing teams occurred on Feb. 28 against La Jolla High School. Parents and coaches from LJHS began to verbally abuse TPHS players with obscene language, according to Taub. The tension escalated to such a degree that Taub was forced to stop one of the doubles matches completely. After the match, Taub said that the LJHS captain apologized for the “embarrassing behavior of the parents and coaches.” Post-match, Taub received a “nasty email” from a LJHS assistant coach who was not present at the match, but she later apologized after a Zoom conversation with the LJHS captain. Additionally, an anonymous complaint was submitted to TPHS administration after the match about the behavior of the TPHS team, claiming that TPHS players and Taub exhibited “outrageous behavior.” Taub suspects that a LJHS parent submitted the complaint.

“Given our past history [of complaints against the behavior of the TPHS team,] we were prepared for the criticism and worked to address it as it was shared with us,” Coppo said. “In situations like this, we understand the need to differentiate between valid complaints and general bias against our team for their skills and ability.”

Following the incident, Taub debriefed Coppo, Gallow and Falcis-Stevens. Administration then informed Taub that they would not take action based on the event. 

 “It dawned on me at that point that it was just something that was standard operating procedure because coaching the girls, we never had any issues like that,” Taub said.

At the National Invitational All-American tournament on Mar. 22 and 23, the team dealt with issues regarding the warm-up venue. Later, the team received a text from tournament director Michael Hoeger accusing the team of causing $3,000 worth of damages to the court after it had recently gone under renovations. According to Taub, “there was no damage at all to anything.” The team was not fined for damages. 

“The reason he sent that text message telling me that we were in trouble was because we were going to be in the finals, and we’re getting ready to play his buddy at University High School,” Taub said. “ He wanted to send me, the coach from TPHS, hate mail at 10 o’clock at night, hoping that I would worry about it and not be able to put an alliance together or not be able to perform properly. It’s psychological warfare.”

During the tournament, the team also faced heavy insults, including derogatory language from long-time rival Harvard-Westlake School. According to Taub, opposing coaches contributed to these insults against the team. One HW coach stated that the TPHS team “suffers from white privilege.” According to Taub, his players were provoked by the yelling of the HW coach, but it was addressed and stopped quickly. 

On the final day of the tournament, Taub submitted a faulty lineup, where his doubles teams were seeded based on combined Universal Tennis Rankings instead of ladder rankings by mistake. Hoeger called the incident “borderline cheating,” and disqualified all three of the TPHS doubles teams from playing the match, giving University High School a 3-0 lead. Though the TPHS team won all four singles and ended up winning the tournament, none of the TPHS players made the All-Tournament team. Hoeger claimed that this was due to the complaints about the TPHS players.

Following the tournament, Taub met with Gallow and Falcis-Stevens. Taub requested that Falcis-Stevens and Gallow send a letter to the athletic director from UHS regarding the behavior of one their head coach, John Kessler, towards the team, specifically his actions of continuously yelling at Taub and claiming that the TPHS team’s behavior was “terrible.” In a letter that was written by Hoeger and submitted to Falcis-Stevens, Hoeger stated that the teams behavior in their finals match was “fine.”

“I said, ‘I demand that you write a letter to the athletic director at [University High School] complaining about how this coach treated me in front of strangers, players, officials and parents, and did in violation of everything we’re supposed to be teaching these kids as sportsmen,’” Taub said.

According to Taub, Gallow said in the meeting, “We’ll take care of it,” and two weeks later Falcis-Stevens said that she had sent the letter. After the CIF Southern California Team Regional playoffs, Taub said that in a conversation with Gallow he requested a copy of the complaint letter, which Gallow said was never sent. 

“I can tolerate a lot of things,” Taub said. “Deceit isn’t one of them. And I was angry, because they not only should have been able to send it because it was more than justified, they lied about it.”

Three days prior to the team’s departure for the CIF Southern California Team Regional tournament on May 17 to 18, at a meeting with Falcis-Stevens and Taub, Gallow informed Taub that she would not be accompanying them.

“The decision to not send an administrator to the state final was mine and mine alone,” Coppo said. “As the #1 public school for athletics, the demands on our staff are significant, and we have the same staffing as schools with far less successful teams…We expect our coaches to be able to manage their teams and players in a way that represents TPHS with pride, and upholds the CIF philosophy of ‘pursuing victory with honor.’”

While at the CIF Southern California Team Regional tournament, senior captain Robert Freedman (‘24) was disqualified by tournament director Brian Seymour. According to Freedman, he and a teammate were watching a match and having a private conversation when referee Holly Haggerty approached them claiming that the two were insulting her. The incident was witnessed by players and spectators. Taub did not witness Seymour disqualifying Freedman, but witnessed Seymours subsequent behavior.

“I didn’t understand what was going on  … And here is this 18 year old boy asking the director to explain what he did, and the director just yelled at him to go and sit down,” parent liaison of the TPHS boys varsity tennis team Hong Zeman said. “And I’m wondering, you know, should we intervene? Is it our place?”

According to Taub, he was informed by SDUHSD District’s Chief Compliance Office, Evelin Medina that Seymour disqualified Freedman due to “poor sportsmanship.” 

“It was terrible,” Freedman said. “It was a huge loss for me in terms of my high school experience, it was something I’ve been working for my entire junior career, my high school career. To see that taken away in three minutes by someone who clearly had their mind made up about us felt terrible and it stings, it still stings. I’m never going to get that match back.”

As Freedman was the number two seed on the TPHS boys varsity tennis team, his disqualification shifted the team’s line up going into the finals. 

“She clearly had issues with our team and with Robert, and that’s not right,” one of the parents from the 2024 TPHS boys varsity tennis team, Buddy Bohrer, said. “As an umpire you have to be impartial, and she wasn’t. I think that obviously our big contention at the point in time was, you know, she changed the outcome of the tournament. And that’s not okay, and it teaches the wrong lessons to our kids.”

Freedman had prior experiences with Haggerty, dating back to when he was 12 years old. Freedman recalled Haggerty’s mocking of the way Freedman spoke because of his Russian accent. Later on, Freedman also overheard her speaking unprofessionally about him to other parents at a separate tournament.

“She looked at me and she mocked me, mocked the way I spoke … which is really weird to see, especially as a 12 year old,” Freedman said. “And on top of that, a couple years back at Easter Bowl … she was there as well in one of my matches, and I was winning the match, and she was audibly saying to the other team parents, ‘Yeah, I wish I could do something about it but unfortunately I can’t,’ … so that’s really unprofessional … you can’t have that.”

After the incident at regionals, Freedman emailed Seymour and Nocetti asking to set up a call “regarding what happened earlier that day.”

“It was six months ago, I still have yet to see a response from him,” Freedman said. “So just completely getting blown off by those in charge [is] something that I think should be noted.”

While there is no definite way to tell if Gallow’s presence would have affected Freedmen’s disqualification, Coppo “[does] not believe the presence of an administrator would have had an impact on the decisions made by the CIF officials.”

“It is not our role to govern or direct the work of CIF,” Coppo said. “We answer to them, not the other way around.”

According to Taub, upon the team’s return to campus following the conclusion of the tournament, he spoke with Gallow and Falcis-Stevens, asking for their assistance in filing a report against multiple CIF officials, including Seymour (CIF state), Ron Marquez (San Diego CIF),  Kevin Brown (San Diego CIF and Canyon Crest Academy head tennis coach), Ron Nocetti (CIF state), Haggerty (United States Tennis Association referee), Kessler, (University High School Irvine head tennis coach) and Hoeger (tournament director at the National Invitational  All-American tournament and head coach Palos Verdes Peninsula High.)

“[Tennis is] not the big money maker of the school, but there should have been somebody there and this was  a situation where they really failed in that capacity and they put our team and our coach in a compromised position,” Bohrer said. 

Coppo, Gallow and Falcis-Stevens did not move forward in assisting the team in filing reports. After numerous emails from Taub and parents, Coppo and Falcis-Stevens responded in an email stating that they were busy with the conclusion of the school year and graduation, and that they would reach out shortly after. Following the email from Coppo and Falcis-Stevens, Taub, parents and players have not received any information regarding the scheduling of a meeting to discuss all matters that occurred during their season. 

“This was a major disservice to our team and to the school and to our coach,” Bohrer said. “… it was just completely swept under the rug. And I think that’s when I really got disappointed with our administration. They just wanted to make it go away.”

In early June, Gallow and Falcis-Stevens gave Taub his evaluation where they informed him that despite the team holding an undefeated record, his at-will contract would no longer be extended — wherein the employer cannot renew the individual if they chose not to do so.

Many players and team parents shared that they believe Taub’s contract was wrongfully terminated. They said that Taub did more than just extract his players’ technical potential, but also “made the team feel more like a family.”

“It was really phenomenal, just because he was interested and he developed the relationship with the players and to take a coach like that and just summarily dismiss him was criminal,” Bohrer said.

Freedman agreed.

“But he was really more than a tennis coach,” Freedman said. “It was a great culture fit, and he brought the entire team together in ways I hadn’t seen in my first three years at Torrey Pines … I hadn’t seen as united … and as courteous and as respectful and as cohesive as a team. So that was really special to see as a result of Bruce.”

In response to TPHS administration’s lack of assistance in filing reports, Taub and parents seeked the help of Medina. While Medina is “unable to comment on specific matters,” she shared that “the District utilizes the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP) to conduct an investigation.”

According to the report filed on Sept. 4 to the SDUHSD Board of Trustees and the Superintendent of Schools, the parents of the 2024 TPHS boys varsity tennis team requested: “a formal inquiry and hearing to investigate the occurrences during the CIF Southern California Regional Championships and if necessary, the All-American. Investigation of how a referee with a personal bias influenced a CIF official to disqualify [Robert Freedman] based on eavesdropping on a private conversation unrelated to the tournament. Investigate the circumstances, meetings, and accusations leading to or in support of the negative review provided to coach Bruce Taub, the termination of his at-will contract and why there was a complete lack of support by the Administration. Other matters as may be recommended by counsel.”

Furthermore, on Oct. 24 parents of the TPHS boys varsity tennis team submitted a complaint against Coppo, Gallow and Falcis-Stevens. That complaint entailed “deceptive employment practices, abuse of power, conflicts of interest, between the district employees and certain CIF officials… and dereliction of duty.”

On Dec. 3 a report against the CIF officials involved (Seymour, Marquez, Brown, Nocetti, Haggerty, Kessler and Hoeger,) was sent to CIF, while the SDUHSD Board of Trustees, SDUHSD Superintendent, Assistant SI Athletics and Assistant SI of HR was also copied on the complaint. The report listed the same grievances as those stated above.

Up until now, no other reports have been filed.  While currently little action has been taken in response to the complaints, a general consensus from the TPHS boys varsity tennis team is clear: they demand change. 

Zeman, Bohrer and Freedman all stated that some high-level players who were on the team last season do not plan to return this upcoming season due to Taub’s contract termination. When asked about a possible new hire, Coppo said that he “cannot comment on HR issues.”

Looking forward, parents hope that no other teams ever have to deal with a similar experience.

“My goal for the outcome of this, and we are going to present it with CIF, is to make sure that there is a guidance set that says that this can never happen again,” Bohrer said.

While there has not been much movement with complaints filed, Coppo said in an emailed statement that the administration “supports all of our programs at Torrey Pines, including the incredible success of our boys tennis team.” 

“We are proud of their accomplishments, and we work hard to ensure that our program meets the high standards of our site, our district and the four pillars of CIF,” Coppo said. “On two occasions, our boys tennis program has faced the potential of a loss of competition at the playoff level. In both of those situations, we have intervened on behalf of the team and worked with CIF to ensure that our student-athletes could compete. We will continue to advocate for our students, teams and parents so we can continue our long history of success on the court.”

Corrections were made on 12/22/2024 regarding the National Invitational All-American tournament, Taub’s complaint request against UHS, the CIF Southern California Team Regional tournament and administration’s timeline in scheduling a meeting with the team.