Carol Benedict, who led the Manitou Springs Mustangs to at least a top-eight finish in her three years with the program, has been forced out as the volleyball coach of the Mustangs.

The former coach transferred her kids out of Manitou and moved her family to the Walsenburg area.

Benedict was forced out due to repeated complaints from parents, which made their way up to the school board. According to Benedict, those parents “want to run the program.”

Rather than taking their concerns to athletic director John McGee, who was an avid supporter of Benedict, the parents went over his head and held meetings with principal Glenn Hard and reached out to district superintendent Ed Longfield.

“She is having a difficult time working through the relationships side of things … primarily, in my opinion, because her daughter is on the team and plays a great amount of the time,” Longfield said in a Dec. 9 email obtained by The Gazette.

He continued: “There are things that have been said and done that do not reach our level of expectation … but those things have been addressed. We have had multiple meetings with students, parents, coaching staff….I am not sure that it can be repaired at this point in time. And, I am not seeing the type of change or ability to change from the coach that I’d like to see given all of the support we have provided.”

Hard echoed the message put forth by Longfield. He added that there was no one reason why the change was made. He noted myriad issues factored into the decision, but wouldn’t get into specifics. He noted that through the course of the season he was aware of these issues and told Benedict that the parents, the players and the coach herself weren’t happy. His commitment to making sure the kids have a positive experience was a big factor in his decision to part ways with Benedict.

The Mustangs reached the state semifinals this year where they lost to Valley. They were state runners-up in 2013.

Benedict said normally she would receive her year-end evaluation within a week or so after the season. After the loss to Valley, McGee pushed the meeting back.

“John kept saying he didn’t have time,” Benedict said. “That’s when I started thinking that something was up.”

McGee said that pushing back his evaluation was not a factor. His goal is to meet with fall coaches in the first few weeks of December, but several committee meetings pushed back his timetable.

When McGee was ready to sit down with Benedict, Hard informed him that he would also be meeting with her. She was told that parents had met with Hard several times.

“I was asked if I could compromise my principles and continue to coach and work with these parents,” Benedict said. “I said I wouldn’t do that.”

According to Benedict, Hard then told her he would make a change at the position because it was the only way he could keep those parents out of his office. He did offer Benedict the chance to resign.

“I’ve appreciated the work and effort that Coach Benedict invested in our program,” Hard said. “Obviously, under her leadership, our kids won a lot of games, and both Coach Benedict and our student-athletes deserve to be extremely proud of their accomplishments.”

The parents claimed that Benedict was responsible for intimidation and bullying the players through the season. Benedict told a different story – one that had her daughter cornered by her teammates in the locker room at one point. She said her daughter wasn’t the first victim.

Benedict and a parent said the actions of parents who forced her out also caused the transfer of a former prominent Manitou volleyball player. According to Benedict, the player changed schools and was given 100 percent eligibility by the Colorado High School Activities Association due to being bullied.

This will mark the second coaching change for the volleyball program in four years. This is a trend for girls’ sports at Manitou. The basketball team has had five coaches since 2007 and the soccer team has seen three coaches since 2010.

Benedict has some pending administration issues that she is hoping to get resolved this week so she declined further comment. She did praise McGee for being someone who she felt stood up for her through the process.

Benedict went 71-13 and lost only one league game. When she was let go, she said she was told by Hard that “winning and losing means nothing” to him.

Hard disagreed with that sentiment.

“Winning games is only one piece of the experience that kids deserve when taking part in extracurricular activities,” he said. “In addition to winning, it’s very important that kids have an extremely positive overall experience. Unfortunately, due to a number of influences, I don’t believe our kids had this experience.”

McGee said he hopes to begin the process of hiring a coach shortly, saying it’s always better to do it sooner than later.

Manitou Springs volleyball coach Carol Benedict was forced out despite leading the Mustangs to a 71-13 record in three seasons and a trip to the state championship match in 2013. (Kent Nishimura/The Gazette)

Kent Nishimura