LAFAYETTE – Former Acalanes football coach Floyd Burnsed told the Bay Area News Group that school principal Eric Shawn asked him to resign after a disagreement over Joel Isaac’s role on Burnsed’s coaching staff.
Burnsed resigned as Acalanes’ coach after meeting with Shawn on Friday morning, and, as the Bay Area News Group reported on Monday, Shawn replaced him with Isaac a few hours later.
In an interview with this news organization on Monday evening, Burnsed said he and the principal disagreed about bringing back Isaac, who was the team’s offensive coordinator and running backs coach last season.
Isaac took a coordinator position with Monte Vista this offseason.
Shawn had spoken to the Lafayette Football Association, which helps pay salaries for coaches at Acalanes, about possibly bringing Isaac back, Burnsed said.
Burnsed added that Shawn did so without his knowledge, and that the coach only learned about it after having lunch with members of the association later in the week.
Burnsed declined to provide specifics about why he did not want to bring Isaac back.
Isaac did not respond to a request for comment.
Beyond his desire to not want Isaac to return, Burnsed did not express negative feelings toward his former assistant, who joined the Acalanes staff in 2016 when Burnsed arrived, left for two years to coach at Vanden-Fairfield, and then returned to the Lafayette school.
“I didn’t have any problem with him,” Burnsed said. “I kind of tried to mentor him, because I knew he probably wanted to be a head coach one day.”
The coach and principal arranged to meet last Friday, and Burnsed said that he already had drafted a resignation letter in case the meeting went south.
After the two could not reach an agreement about Isaac, Shawn made his suggestion, according to Burnsed.
“He told me it was time to step down, and that was the time to give him the letter of resignation,” said Burnsed, adding that Shawn did not want to accept the letter until Isaac confirmed that he would accept the role of head coach.
“Once I walked out of the office, I didn’t care what he said when he called me back. I wouldn’t come back,” Burnsed said.
Burnsed, who led Acalanes to the 2023 3-AA state championship, said that he was not going to “fight” Shawn’s decision, adding, ‘You know, the principal is the boss, and he makes the decisions.”
Asked about Burnsed’s account of events, Shawn told the Bay Area News Group on Monday evening, “I have no additional statements to add.”
Burnsed, who is in his late 70s but declined to give his age, said he does not know if he will pursue another coaching job. He said he had hoped to coach at Acalanes for two more seasons.
Acalanes went 68-34 under Burnsed, with the coach turning the program into a consistent contender during his nine seasons in charge.
He led the Lafayette public school to its only state championship and was a two-point conversion away from reaching another title game last season.
Before leading Acalanes, Burnsed coached at Miramonte – one of Acalanes’ rivals – from 1982-2000, where his teams went 154-62-2 while winning 10 league and four North Coast Section titles.
He then coached at Solano Community College from 2000-2016.