Player Boasted About Defying Coach's Order On Social Media

ANDOVER, MA -- The Andover High School senior at the heart of a controversy that resulted in boys volleyball coach E.J. Perry on administrative leave posted his version of events on Instagram. The post has since been deleted, but not before screenshots of the post were shared online. Alex Shih made the posted after an April 11 match against Lawrence in which he refused to leave the court, prompting Perry to strip him and senior Matt Guthrie of their captainships.

In his post, Shih did not dispute that he refused the coach's order to leave the court, or that Guthrie refused to substitute him. Shih said Perry tried to substitute Guthrie in after Shih "basically miss[ed] the ball completely." Shih said he looked Perry in the eye and told him he was the "best passer on the team."

"If I go off we would lose the game," Shih wrote.

He said after the match, which Andover won, Perry "basically destroyed me 1-on-1 . . . and he was like you and Matt aren’t captains anymore." The two students then went to Andover High School Athletic Director Bill Martin, who placed Perry on leave and sent a note to parents saying his department was conducting an investigation into "credible enough" complaints about Perry's coaching techniques.

The leave does not impact Perry in his role as a teacher at West Elementary School, or his role as head football coach. Perry led the boys volleyball team to a 22-2 record last year and is highly regarded by parents, athletes and colleagues in the school system, according to multiple posts on social media sites supporting Perry.

"I’ve taught 26 years at West Elementary and I’ve coached 18 seasons at Andover. It is unfortunate that anyone can make false allegations to the school and then the school feels like it has to react without hearing from the coach," Perry told the Boston Globe on Tuesday. "My only concern is for the players and their well-being right now."

Subscribe to Andover Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.