Go ahead and try making sense of this … Ernest Banaag, the most successful coach in Mayfield Senior School history, will not have his contract renewed for the 2010-11 school year. Banaag, in his four years at the parochial school, led the volleyball team to three consecutive CIF-Southern Section championships. Banaag said school officials said they wanted the program to “go in a different direction.”

“That’s all they would tell me,” said Banaag, who coached the team for four years. “They wanted to go in a different direction. I don’t know what direction winning CIF three years in a row is. If it was for due cause, then I would understand. If it was three losing seasons, I would be happy to go. I did not fulfill my duties. I asked them if they slept on it if it would change their minds and they said no.”

Robledo’s thoughts: The school should give an explanation. You have a coach publicly asking for one after winning three straight titles. I would understand if the coach went quietly because there was some inner turmoil with a student or teacher that they both didn’t want going public, but for him to be let go out of the blue after everything he has done for the school doesn’t make sense. It’s not fair to the coach because of the way he was fired, it makes it look like he’s done something wrong that we don’t know about. If he says he hasn’t, and asks for an explanation, the school should do the responsible thing and give one.