This story is not a judgment on the selection of Staples High School’s new head football coach.
It reveals, however, important information about the processes by which coaches are evaluated, judged, renewed, not renewed and promoted – and the testimony that the Board of Education, acting May 12 on an appeal of non-renewal by Staples boys soccer head coach Russell Oost-Lievense, heard.
Or did not hear.
This story is based on reporting from witnesses, who requested anonymity to discuss private meetings.
At the May 12 hearing for coach Russ Oost-Lievense’s appeal of his non-renewal, his attorney had this exchange with Staples athletic director VJ Sarullo during her cross-examination of him:
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: Have other coaches or students come to you with report of coaches using profanity with student-athletes?
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SARULLO: Are you talking about my 2 years here at Staples?
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: Yes.
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SARULLO: No.
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: No student has ever come to you and made reports of coaches using harsh language?
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SARULLO: Not that I can recall.
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: No student has ever come to you and said that a coach has been bullying other players?
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SARULLO: No.
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: That’s never happened to you?
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR SARULLO: No.
According to multiple people at a meeting with Sarullo a little over a month earlier, the athletic director was not telling the truth — particularly with the last two answers.
Athletic director VJ Sarullo (center), at this month’s appeal hearing. He is flanked by Staples principal Stafford Thomas, and superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice.
A little over a month before this hearing — on March 25 — a group met to discuss candidates for Staples’ open head football coach position. The meeting included current Staples coaches, Staples Gridiron Club representatives, Staples administrators (including athletic director Sarullo and principal Stafford Thomas), and the captains of the 2024 Staples football team.
The meeting enabled various groups of stakeholders to discuss the 3 final candidates for the position.
At this meeting, the 2024 Staples football captains expressed great concerns about one candidate, an assistant coach on the Staples football staff since 2019. Their concerns related to numerous instances of bullying by the assistant coach, directed at players.
Examples raised by the captains at the March 25 meeting included film sessions that were so intense and humiliating to players that they were brought to tears. A few even considered quitting the team.
Principal Thomas expressed shock, as he had not heard those allegations before. Other people in the meeting were similarly stunned.
Sarullo was not surprised, however. He had heard the allegations numerous times since joining the school in the spring of 2023, from community members.
In fact, Sarullo had not only been informed of the coach’s bullying behavior by students; the previous head coach had also told the athletic director of unacceptable behavior by the assistant.
In both 2023 and ’24, the previous head coach had asked Sarullo to help him discipline the assistant coach, because the head coach believed the assistant had violated rules meant to protect players’ safety.
Instances such as these may be the reason why this assistant coach could not obtain a reference letter from his head coach of the previous 4 years, when applying for the head coaching position in 2025.
Enough concern was expressed during that March 25 meeting that some in the group felt it would be inappropriate for the assistant coach to be promoted to head coach.
Some in the meeting even raised the Staples soccer coaches’ situation, saying it would not be right to promote this assistant, while the soccer coaches were being treated differently.
Sarullo responded to the concerns by announcing that he would have a private meeting with the assistant coach on March 31.
None of this apparently mattered to administrators. On April 2, Sarullo named the assistant football coach as the new head football coach at Staples High School.
This “06880” post is not about whether the assistant is the proper choice for head coach. He has many supporters in town.
It is instead about the “arbitrary and capricious” nature of coaching renewals, non-renewals and promotions — the standard by which the Board of Education was asked to consider Oost-Lievense’s appeal.
The assistant football coach was accused multiple times of numerous instances of bullying students, but he was not non-renewed. Instead, he was promoted.
Oost-Lievense, by contrast, witnessed a single incident of an assistant coach losing his temper with a player. He put an immediate stop to it, told the assistant coach the behavior was unacceptable and could never be repeated again. It was not. The assistant coach apologized to the entire team for his outburst.
The non-renewal of one coach over an “incident” he was not personally involved in, while promoting an assistant coach accused of directly engaging in worse behavior than what the other coach merely observed (and handled), seems to be the very definition of “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Board of Education never heard about the assistant football coach, however. Sarullo (according to those at the meeting with him) did not give truthful testimony when asked whether any students had ever told him that “a coach has been bullying other players.”
Then, when Oost-Lievense’s attorney tried to ask principal Thomas about the bullying allegations raised at the same meeting — which Thomas attended — the superintendent of schools’ attorney objected.
The Board’s attorney sustained the objection, and refused to let Oost-Lievense’s attorney ask Thomas those questions. (See transcript below.*)
Board of Education members made their decision to affirm the non-renewal of Oost-Lievense’s contract based on the evidence their lawyer had allowed them to see.
They had to rule on whether the superintendent’s decision had been “arbitrary and capricious.”
Perhaps though, the failure of 5 members of the board to insist on seeing all the evidence — on May 12 and today — is the most arbitrary and capricious development yet, in this long, sad affair.
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*Transcript:
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: Do you recall that students have come to you and expressed concern that one of the football coaches [Attorney Mooney interrupts: I have an objection] is bullying players so severely [Attorney Mooney interrupts again: I object] that they have been driven to tears?
ATTORNEY MOONEY: This is outrageous. To bring another coach into the situation. There are no facts… [rest of his statement is unclear]
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: Well, to be clear, it is directly relevant if one coach has been promoted even after complaints of bullying and violating school policies.
ATTORNEY MOONEY: We are not here to try the fate of another coach. This is highly inappropriate…[next portion is difficult to hear], and irresponsible.
MEDIATOR DORSEY: It is all those things. We are not trying another coach here. We are trying this particular coach.
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: And it goes directly to the question of whether the decision not to renew this coach was arbitrary and capricious [Mediator Dorsey interrupts: No it doesn’t] when other coaches who have been accused of far worse conduct have been promoted.
MEDIATOR DORSEY: No it doesn’t because you don’t have what the other coach … and the board doesn’t have what the other coach did. We’re not here to try another coach.
ATTORNE FRANKLIN: We would have had some of that had my witnesses and evidence not been excluded.
MEDIATOR DORSEY: Well, you’re not going to ask that question so, move on.
ATTORNEY FRANKLIN: Well, I will just say to the board that the fact that there’s evidence which was excluded proving that other coaches have been [Attorney Mooney again interrupts: I object] treated differently from these coaches [Mediator Dorsey interrupts: Objection is sustained] is highly relevant.
BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBER ROBERT HARRINGTON: I would be concerned if coaches are treated differently by the administration, as a board member, for sure.
MEDIATOR DORSEY: That’s not here, an issue here either.
BOARD MEMBER HARRINGTON: Well, I’m a board member and it’s an issue for me.
MEDIATOR DORSEY: Well, well that’s fine.
Is it really too difficult for our town attorney, Ira Bloom, to draft a standard employment contract for part time coaches and then it strictly enforced by the Athletic Director? Such would avoid all controversies as to termination and if not, the coach can go to court. But quite frankly, this is like a episode of Mickey Mouse club, only funnier.
This is why people need to understand that the concern hear on the part of us should extend far beyond those with ties to Staples Soccer. This is emblematic of a fundamental problem with the way Staples and Scarice operate. Why is only one member of the school board at all concerned?
Yovan, Marshall (Jingles) Dorsey, Lane, Benedetti and all the other Westport coaches are turning over in their graves. Obviously from the last post on this, the students don’t want this firing to happen!
Jack, the names you mention were all ful time teachers that were fully integrated into the schools and were legends not to be messed with. That they were also union members certainly added a layer of protection. BTW, I would add Coaches Ed Hall and John Chacho to the list of Westport Coaching legends.
It seems as if the coaches that are the subject to this treatment are not full time teachers in Westport and not union members. They are part timers who are tryign to help out the kids. Much easier to treat them poorly, as the BOE is demonstrating.
Signed, “Don’t-Shoot-McCarthy” as Coach Hall referred to me.
Ed Hall (BJHS), owner of the trampoline center off Post Road (where GoodWill is now) and incredible athlete. Tried out with the Jets and got through several cuts until they found out he was 42 years of age. Coach Hall was good man with a wandering eye.
And as a football coach he tackled an opposing ball carrier running down the sideline. Love that story.
He used to QB and play against the entire BJHS team and we could never catch him. Nice guy. Hey, put me on the hoop team at 4’11” 103 pounds. Calvin Murphy had a field day with us.
Why is Sarullo not being fired for being a f…ing liar? I really don’t get it…as for the B of E, they truly suck as does, apparently, our overpaid superintendent.
Maybe Sarullo and the Superintendent should be fired? Just saying…
There is enough evidence out there that shows the incompetence of both the superintendent and the athletic director (and others as well, too many to name them all). Trust me, it’s slowly coming out as people are feeling safe to speak up. The community has your back people, speak up!
I honestly think this should be a private matter handed internally. Woog and his “charity” blog (*are our tax free dollars underwriting the latest gossip at Staples?) made a big deal and now it is big news. Let the system, both administrative and legal play out, work. Not hundreds of opinions on what to do. Hell, the tennis coach ought to go down to Darien and offer his state championship services. They would love him.
This absolutely disgusts me. I’m now very glad that my daughters were not athletes at Staples.
This is very concerning and I don’t have any students at staples. The fact that Sarullo can sit there and out and out lie to everyone’s faces and the school board, mediator and school’s attorney can suppress evidence and not be concerned at all about these lies and the facts surrounding all coaches and how they are “judged” differently about similar incidents is appalling! I don’t care and I don’t know either coach, but the fact that the administration is so arbitrary about how they evaluate and deal with coaches employment is awful! It should have been allowed to be brought into evidence since these are definitely relevant facts if there are witnesses to document these situations and it would not allow Sarullo to out and out lie to the faces of the public and the board of education. This is truly unethical and unacceptable!
This is nothing unusual. In the spring of ’66, I was starting 2nd baseman on the Staples JV baseball team for the first five (5) games until I was abruptly “cut” from the team. Nothing verbal. List on the bulletin board. Turns out the JV coach wanted his varsity playing nephew more playing time. My brother, who was ’64 and all everything, asked the Athletic Director why this happened and the manner of which it was conducted. “We do what we decide. Period. Now go away,” was the answer. It seems nothing much has changed.
Rage Against the Machine
What a feeling of helplessness. I may be a bit overexposed on this and related topics, but someone needs to make this STOP. As parents and educated people, how are we not collectively proclaiming that this has gone too far? It’s not too late to hit the reset button.
It seems like both sides could shake hands, an apology could be offered, and everyone could come away better for the lesson learned. Maybe even heal, although the sars will be deep for some.
I feel like I’ve gotten to know VJ—and even Tom—a bit. But seriously, WHO is advising them? The guidance they’re getting is TERRIBLE. These decisions can’t possibly be their own. My advice to VJ: trust your own judgment. Stop listening to whoever is steering you wrong. I know you know it.
To the Board of Education: remember that you are part of the very community you are alienating. Imagine you weren’t on the board and had to witness the behavior you’re now exhibiting. Would you be proud of what you saw?
And again—who is giving YOU advice? It feels entirely rooted in fear of litigation, in playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Where is your courage? You are all so far out on an island and you do not even see it. With the exception of one.
Stafford? Stafford? You have a voice—but no one has heard it. It’s nice to see you greet students every day but that’s easy. Now imagine one of them trying to give back to the school later in life and being treated with the indifference you seem to show one of Staple’s own.
That “hearing” was shameful. i am haunted by my vision of the BoE actually feeding that hapless town attorney corrections to his cross examination of Russ.
Why was the hearning not filmed? Does anyone have cell phone video?
Dan, under the freedom of information act, or something similar, can we see what the town has spent on these proceedings so far? It is money that could have (and could still) go to training and policy improvements etc)
Agree with everything you are saying!!
And wanted to say your son Saemus shone in the Diary of Anne Frank- wonderful presentation in the Black Box at Staples
Albie Loeffler, the legendary Staples soccer coach, who mentored so many and stood for integrity, fair play and doing the right thing must be turning in his grave at this travesty.
Isn’t lying under oath (in front of hundreds of students and parents no less) a fireable offense? It must be in the administration’s code of conduct/handbook? Oh wait, there probably isn’t one. Wake the hell up BOE and do your jobs!
Maybe if the parents and students who emailed complaints to Sarullo could make those public, ya know… to help him recall.
The lies are hearsay. Woog jumping to verdict. Let the system play out. Maybe they all should go?
From the transcribed portions of the hearing, it appears that Mr. Dorsey was acting as anything but a mediator. When the narrative of a hearing is predetermined and enabled by key players, there is little hope for common sense to shine through.
This situation is clearly not an isolated incident. And by situation I do not mean coaching error or lack of judgement, but leadership lack of judgement. it boggles the mind that in a community where the school district is lauded for excellence, a culture of fear and self preservation still prevails among those in charge.
“If elected First Selectman, my first act will be to fire the lot of them…supe principals ADs coaches‼️”
Winning campaign strategy
Terry I appreciate your attempt at reconciliation but those bastards don’t deserve a handshake but termination with prejudice. ‼️🇺🇸
I think it would be helpful to know how much the taxpayers have spent on this ridiculous situation of our paid administrators hiring attorneys to remove coaches who have done no wrong. It appears our neighbor town of Darien is okay with paying real money for Coach Russell to teach special education in the Darien school system, yet our administrators are not okay with him volunteering his time to coach despite the overwhelming support of his present and past players and the families of the players. We should all be very proud of our town and our tax dollars. I won’t root as hard against Darien anymore either. I wonder what Darien teachers and special education parents would say about Westport’s town attorney saying the “Staples soccer team is better off without Coach Russell.” Westport has clearly lost its way when our own tax dollars are going to attack one of our own who happens to be one of the really good ones. Shame on any Westporter who doesn’t stick up for Coach Russell or Coach Chris O’Dell. There should be a lot more outrage.
Thank you Dan for painting the WHOLE picture that was not allowed to be presented at the marathon show triall!!!!
Hopefully the Board will have the intelligence and courage to revisit this travesty and do what is right. At a minimum apologize and reinstate Coach Russ.
This should make you wonder:
How many complaints were logged and never came about? And if they did, how many NDA’s were distributed and signed with payment?
On the surface, and now below, a double standard.
No guide/hand or rulebook for coaches, what’s their to enforce and off of what?
This looks to me, a potential lawsuit with monetary award, and who will pay for it? The taxpayers. What we have paid, I am sure is high.
Lying under oath and avoiding the truth with objections is still equally as heinous.
As a taxpayer and assuming a worst case scenario as presented over the course of this entire episode, what RECOURSE do we have for complete and unaltered transparency of this situation in order to remedy any and all suspected malfeasance by the Staples administration and the Board of Education and their supplicants?
Your hatchet job on Matt Jacowleff on Wednesday was the most inappropriate and hostile piece of small-town journalism I’ve seen in a long time. What has transpired since the glowing review you posted of Matt when he was hired? Whose cause does it now advance to undermine a hard-charging, enthusiastic young professional at the start of a promising career? What purpose is served by your reckless off-topic editorializing? Why bite the hand that has fed you – up until now – for so many years? One sure way to lose readers and the broad base of community support that you once enjoyed is to do exactly what you did today – a despicable take-down that cannot be undone. Who’s the bully now?
Agreed. Woog is just trying to get revenge because they fired him at the request of his assistants.
So according to that logic he is getting revenge by supporting the very people you claim got him fired? #hmmmm
No he is supporting the coaches and had stinging reprimand for the athletic department in an earlier submission. I believe he used the word “embarrassed.”
Bravo Scooter. A bloog written by a bully for his old timer, 06880 bullies.
Not his Westport anymore.
Well said! Let’s cheer Westport’s finest getting removed over a player losing their starting position. Man the new Wesport, which I live in and support in many ways, is fantastic. Perhaps you should help create a slogan for the new Westport! Give me a break…
What an absolute mess this has become.
It is important to remember that this same administration completely bungled their attempt to non-renew the incredibly successful boys tennis coach – who happens to be a Staples grad. He should be renewed again this year.
Then Coaches Russ and O’Dell – both Staples grads – getting non-renewed and given a hearing that was impossibly tilted against them. Bring them back.
Now Coach Matty – Staples grad – being dragged into this. Give him a chance to prove himself.
We’re failing all of them. These are all people who bleed Wrecker blue and want to give back to their town. Also, kids can relate to the adults that grew up and played here. It’s a positive!
This Administration has been lucky enough to have a lot of wins on the fields & courts recently, providing them with a cover for their mismanagement (ie: Block S funding), lack of policy (ie: no coaches handbook), poor decision-making, and now, it appears, outright dishonesty.
BTW – this administration failed the kids too – including those kids who felt wronged – by letting things go this far so publicly. It is an embarrassment.
We’re going down a road where qualified candidates for coaching positions won’t even put their names in the hat because they can’t trust their potential future bosses will have their backs. It is already happening and it is terrible. We have to be better.
Just a suggestion for the well intended but misdirected 06880 “braintrust.” Let the parties involved handle this behind closed doors. The incessant coverage and endless rehashing is making it impossible for those involved to extricate themselves from a situation that all have handled poorly. The superintendent, the AD and the coaches are going to have a very difficult time getting a job and moving on which is the only wise move they have left. The students will find applying for colleges as Staples athletes embarrassing. Westport will have a hard time attracting any talent either to coach or to play on its athletic teams. And always, lurking in the background ready to put the final nail in the coffin is “The Hamlet in Saugatuck. Let it go.
Your message should be to the administration and the BOE. They have been offered opportunity after opportunity to avoid this. They have chosen to dig in consequences be damned. That is a fact. An offer for a solution was denied. The only people to blame here are the three stooges and their lawyers paid for by us not the 06880 braintrust.
Respectfully disagree. This never needed to be a public matter. People get into disagreements every day without it being trumpeted by social media which is all this blog is. I’m not questioning anybody’s motive I’m just saying that this mess was unnecessary. As the saying goes: “First do no harm.” Especially to what you love so much.
This mess was created by a disgruntled player and an incompetent administration. I’m curious how you think Coach Russell and Coach O’Dell should have handled this? Please advise as I’m sure they are all ears.
All they needed to say was: “Boss, I’ve got a problem. I made a mistake.” Who called in 06880 (the blog) for air support? That’s when the train went off the rails.
They did exactly that…man…
The parents are quietly lurking under the bushes planning an overthrow of Staples athletics. Hockey is next on the list. But they are the “button pusher” behind all this debacle. 06880 brain trust? LOL. Are our tax dollars we contribute to the blog go to investigate this kind of BS?
If the coach believes he has been legally wronged, he should simply sue the BOE and/or all relevant parties.
Beyond that, it is not entirely clear to me what the ongoing editorializing is intended to accomplish. A grass roots campaign to get everyone else fired or the BOE kicked out of office in the next election? If that is what it is, just come out and say it.
A lawsuit is the last thing anybody needs at this point (except the attorneys for the respective parties). That is why this should have been handled and kept as an internal Human Resources problem.
The goal is to get the coaches their jobs back. That is all they ever wanted. What would you do if you volunteered your time to something you love and were great at it and just about everyone supported you to have it all taken away by nonsensical garbage. Stop attacking these guys and start supporting them for God’s sake. Maybe write a letter to Scarice saying agree to let Russell be on probation as an assistant and all this goes away instead of blaming the victim here. All this collateral damage is being caused by the administration not the soccer coaches or 06880.
Read what I said. Any possibility of a discreet, private resolution was made infinitely more problematic when 06880: The Blog decided this needed to be its version of the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Lawsuit coming but you are incorrect. They gave the administration opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing. You’re blaming the wrong party. These are fellow Staples alumni who are excellent coaches, parents, student mentors, etc. I don’t think they deserve the blame.
Read Doug. You are not displaying a true comprehension of the facts. Some improper incidents did occur. But the system, however, flawed will prevail.
Okay — many people have had their say here, sometimes several times. All comments are appreciated. Let’s limit it now to those who have not commented before. Thank you.
This is outrageous. VJ Sarullo should be fired immediately. He has proven himself to be a liar and untrustworthy. He should have been fired for the false report filed with DCF. I think it is time for Thomas, Scarice and the entire board except for Robert Harrington to go. Robert Harrington has proven himself the only board member to care about the truth, transparency, and fair process. Smells like politics to me
The mediator is either not a trained mediator or has completely forgotten his training. No professionally trained mediator would engage in such language, and would be best served by taking certain aspects of this “mediation” to caucus. This is a big problem in Connecticut, where mediation by trained professional mediators is valued poorly in comparison to New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Instead, this state enables former judges or litigation lawyers to perform “mediation” duties, for which they have neither the inclination nor the skills. The soccer coach was well-served by his lawyer and poorly served by the mediator.
One more comment: A journalist’s duty is to speak truth to power and marshal the facts. That’s exactly what Dan Woog is doing here. How anyone could come on here and start deflecting from the actual issue at hand by blaming Dan for doing his job? Ridiculous, and only in Westport. Get out of town and experience the large number of corrupt towns in this state. What we need is 100 more Dan Woogs around CT in Bridgeport, West Haven, Waterbury, etc. and fewer Sarullos. This state would run a lot better.
I don’t understand why people are giving Dan a hard time. It’s newsworthy that the athletic director did not tell the truth in a public hearing. It’s newsworthy that the mediator didn’t allow the introduction of evidence for impeachment purposes.
Is the potential litigation the reason for the differing treatment between the football scenario and the soccer scenario?