On March 3, 2025, Payam Hajjarian was informed by FHS administration that his current position, FHS Girls’ Varsity Soccer Coach, would be posted for public applications, because the school would be “going in a different direction.” This came after Hajjarian’s 12th year as coach, and a historic 2024-25 season where the team qualified for the Central Coast Section semifinals. Hajjarian was allegedly fired due to issues related to his attendance and punctuality.
His release came as a surprise to many, including members of the soccer team, like FHS senior Monica Nevarez. Nevarez has been on the team for all four years of high school, and played on varsity for the last three.
“It caught us all by surprise,” Nevarez said. “I didn’t think anything big enough happened for this to take place. It’s not like the program wasn’t doing good, it’s not like Coach Payam wasn’t providing enough for the program.”
Hajjarian, too, was not expecting this to happen, especially in the wake of an extraordinarily strong season. His absence will likely be felt, as he made numerous contributions to FHS soccer. Among these are his scholarship program, which gives away thousands of dollars to seniors every year, and his fundraisers, which have raised over $100,000 over the years. Hajjarian also coached the team to its first three league championships and five CCS appearances during his tenure. Although he will no longer be coaching the team, Hajjarian will remain at FHS as a special education teacher.
The team has attempted to take matters into their own hands in recent weeks. A meeting was organized between players and FHS Principal Bryan Emmert regarding the situation, and some players made an appearance at an FUHSD board meeting, where they expressed their concerns. An FHS alum also started a petition to get Hajjarian back on to the team (and it has over 300 signatures as of April 4, 2025, from players, parents and other FHS students).
When asked to comment on the dismissal, Emmert noted that he is legally unable to disclose that information due to employee privacy.
“I do understand your (and other’s) desire to know more about any factors that went into the decision,” Emmert wrote in an email. “Because of the confidential aspects of personnel decisions, I am unable to share this information. What I can share is that, per our contract, all stipends, and in this case – coaching stipends, are up for review at the end of each season or school year. The school does have the authority to remove a stipend from a coach or employee ‘without cause.’ This does not mean that we do not have to have a reason, but that means there is no assignment of blame or fault for that individual. While I can understand that this may be frustrating for you or others, I am not able to go into that detail or have that conversation.”
Despite their efforts, players do not seem hopeful about the decision being overturned. Both Nevarez and fellow FHS senior teammate Marina Melton expressed their belief that ultimately a change would not be made.
“Based on what we’ve heard from Principal Emmert, we heard that the decision actually isn’t going to be changed,” Melton said. “So we’re kind of disappointed that no matter how hard we work or no matter our efforts, that the decision is still going to be final.”
Hajjarian also expressed discontent with how he was treated by FHS administration in his years as soccer coach. He felt that he was rarely spoken to positively and did not receive the necessary support.
Hajjarian added a final comment via email regarding his opinion on the management of his situation. He felt that how this was done was not right.
“The way this was all handled, to me, as I explained to the principal, was quite unprofessional, and I expect more from our leadership,” Hajjarian said. “For an educator to have given so much to a program that served the school, community and beyond, to be dismissed with little to no feedback is not how a public school should function.”
High school coaching positions are rarely favorable, and it is often difficult to find people willing to fill them. Senior Taylor Williamson, a field hockey and basketball player, commented on school administrators’ rationale for firing.
“Coaches have a little bit more leeway with the mistakes they made or the things they do, just because it’s hard to replace them,” Williamson said. “[To get fired] it has to be bad enough.”
