Gord Beattie has had enough.
The chaos that has surrounded the Saint Mary’s football program this off-season — from the administration’s refusal to renew head coach Steve Sumarah’s contract to this week’s confusion over the selection of a successor — has marked the end of the line for the Huskies’ longest-serving assistant coach.
Beattie handed in his resignation Thursday as offensive line coach.
The Halifax school teacher, one of the Huskies’ volunteer coaches, has coached somewhere every year since he graduated from university in 1991, except for two years when he was studying for a master’s degree in education. He’s been with the Huskies for the past 11 years, a run that has included five trips to the Vanier Cup and national titles in 2001 and 2002.
"I’m fed up, I’m disenchanted," said Beattie, a huge Sumarah supporter who wouldn’t say on the record what would have to happen for him to change his mind and stay with the Huskies.
He said he sent his letter of resignation Thursday to university president Colin Dodds and athletic director Steve Sarty.
Reached late Thursday afternoon, Sarty said he had no comment on Beattie’s resignation. He also wouldn’t confirm or deny rumours that a second assistant coach had also left.
Sumarah got the boot from the Huskies in early December, meaning there has been no head coach to oversee recruiting during this crucial time of year.
"It’s been very frustrating to see what’s going on with this program," said Beattie, a former AUS player with Acadia and St. F.X.
He said there are signs the football program is in trouble. Players are being left to wonder about their football future, and quarterback Jesse Mills is publicly pondering a move to Ottawa to rejoin Sumarah at Carleton, which hired him as its head coach a month ago.
"The past six months have been really frustrating," said Beattie, who took only a small honorarium for his work with the Huskies.
"I’m just disappointed, I’m sad, I’ve seen something that I’ve helped build basically come crumbling down. I’m disappointed for the players."
He said the program is underappreciated by the school administration, and a lack of funding is hurting the team’s chances of returning to national contender status.
"I can’t continue to go down there, participate and be involved in coaching young men when I know there’s not the support there," Beattie said. "They (Saint Mary’s) say they want to compete nationally, they say they want to be there, but they’re not prepared to do the things they need to do.
"When you talk about the environment down there (at Saint Mary’s), it comes from the top. It starts with the commitment to athletics. I think Saint Mary’s is not committed to their athletic department."
It’s obvious Beattie hasn’t lost his passion for football, or his love of helping young players become better at the game.
"At the end of the day, I’ve enjoyed coaching young athletes, young men, some that have gone on to be pros, some that have gone on to a job and some that have gone on to be great fathers. That’s the important thing."
He said the Huskies’ other assistant coaches are also frustrated, both by the loss of Sumarah and by the way the program has been operated since.
Whether the other coaches stay or leave, Beattie said he’s comfortable with his decision.
"I’m going to go back and coach high school," he said. "At this point, it looks like I’ll probably join Mike Tanner at Citadel as a high school coach."
Chris Cochrane is a sports columnist with The Chronicle Herald and the author of Inside the Game.
