Update: RB High Baseball Coach Blalock Gets His Job Back

Updated: 7:35 p.m. Tuesday with statements from district officials.

Coach Blalock isn't out after all.

Longtime Rancho Bernardo High School baseball coach Sam Blalock, who was abruptly fired last week, was reinstated on Tuesday, the team said that evening.

"We are so excited. We're on a mission. We're going to three-peat," said Matt Jervis, 16, one of Blalock's players who had led a campaign protesting the coach's surprising firing.

Jervis, a member of the team which has won back-to-back titles, said he was with several other people when he heard from an assistant coach that Blalock had been given his job back. There was lots of hugging and excitement, he said.

Around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Poway Unified School District officials sent out a statement, saying Blalock, Superintendent John Collins, RB High Principal Paul Robinson and Athletic Director Peggy Brose had met that afternoon for the first time since some previously had not been in town.

"As a result of this meeting, I can affirm that Sam Blalock remains the head coach of the Rancho Bernardo High School Baseball program," Collins said in a statement.

"We were able to openly discuss what has transpired over the last few days and dispel rumors that have circulated. ...Having the opportunity to discuss this openly, were able to dispel rumors and to confirm our collective commitment to make the best decision in the interest of our students," Collins said.

Blalock, in a statement, said the meeting clarified "miscommunications and misunderstandings."

"I am pleased that I will be continuing as head baseball coach at RB High," Blalock said.

Robinson, who initially notified Blalock of his firing on Nov. 30, said in a statement that he was pleased the issue had been resolved.

"I apologize to the community for the concern and confusion this has created," Robinson said.

The announcement, like another released on Saturday asking for patience as officials worked through the situation, did not specify what issue had prompted Blalock's firing in the first place.

Since word of the coach's firing first spread last week, his players and community members have rallied around the man they describe as a "legend" and "fatherly figure."

On Monday, Jervis and fellow teammate Gosuke Katoh, 17, delivered petition signatures to the district office, expressing support for their coach. The team had been planning to fill the district office at the upcoming school board meeting on Dec. 12 if Blalock was not brought back.

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