Salyers resigns head football post
by COY BAYS • Sports Editor Coalfield.Com
07.19.11 - 12:07 am
WISE — Veteran coach B.I. Salyers informed Central High and Wise County school officials Thursday that he was relinquishing his opportunity to be the new consolidated high school’s first head football coach.

Salyers’ resignation came after a disagreement with the Wise County school system’s central office concerning his use of the school system’s gas pumps in Wise.

Former Pound head coach and J.J. Kelly assistant coach Jason Mullins was named interim head coach by Central High principal Charles Collins upon Salyers’ resignation.

Central High, which is a consolidation of J.J. Kelly and Pound high schools, will play its first season of football this fall. Salyers’ resignation came just 17 days before the Aug. 1 start of practice for the Warriors.

Salyers’ disagreement with the Wise County school system’s hierachy including Superintendent Dr. Jeff Perry stemmed from his filling a private vehicle with gas from the school system’s pumps to which the former J.J. Kelly High coach had been issued a key.

Salyers had borrowed the vehicle in question, a pickup truck, to haul a piece of weight room equipment from Maryville, Tenn., to the Central High weight room at Carroll Dale Stadium in Wise.

“I don’t think what I did was wrong because I was doing it for the school and the kids,” Salyers said. “I have all the respect in the world for Jeff Perry, but when he said putting gas from those pumps into a private vehicle was illegal — that’s when I decided to resign.”

Salyers said that he has often used his personal vehicle for school-related matters without asking to be reimbursed by the school system. In this instance, he said he was replacing the gas used in transporting a leg machine from Maryville to Wise that will be used by Central’s football players, athletes in other sports at the school and physicial education weight training classes.

Salyers, who graduated from J.J. Kelly in 1986, returned to his high school alma mater as head football coach in 2004 after successful stints of leading the gridiron fortunes at St. Paul and Castlewood.

In seven seasons at J.J. Kelly, Salyers led the school to a 32-40 record including a couple of Division 2 playoff appearances. Beginning with the 2008 campaign, J.J. Kelly posted records of 7-4, 8-3 and 7-3 in Saylers’ final three seasons at the county seat school before its merger with Pound.

Mullins served as an assistant in Salyers’ program at Kelly after stepping down as Pound’s head coach following the 2006 season. He compiled a 17-33 overall ledger in five seasons at Pound. His best season at Pound was the ‘05 campaign when the Wildcats posted a 6-4 mark.
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