Matthew Taylor was relieved of his duties as the high school basketball coach at Eastlake in Texas. However, he remains employed by the school.
The circumstances of this sudden change are unclear.
Players on the Falcons high school basketball team recently rallied in support of their head coach. Parents are equally as confused as everyone else by this mysterious ouster.
Eastlake High School is good at basketball!
Eastlake High School is located in El Paso, Texas. It enrolls approximately 3,000 students in Grades 9-12.
The Falcons compete in Region I of Division 6A competition in Texas. They won 16 games combined during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. Matthew Taylor was promoted to head coach in 2023 after previously serving as an assistant with the program.
Since then, it has won 18 games in the district and 45 games overall. The 16-4 start in 2025 is the best start to any season in program history.
The students love him.
However, Eastlake played its last two games without Taylor and will be without him for the foreseeable future. His former assistant, Eric Martinez, is currently serving as the interim.
Why? Nobody knows.
Matthew Taylor was fired as head coach.
The Socorro Independent School District confirmed the ouster of Taylor as head basketball coach at Eastlake High School earlier this month. The reason for the sudden unexpected coaching change is unclear.
Because this is a “personal matter,” the Socorro Independent School District cannot comment further or provide a statement. Taylor is choosing not to speak publicly to let the process work itself out.
But here’s the thing.
Matthew Taylor remains employed as a mathematics and special education teacher at Eastlake. Only his role as basketball coach was taken away from him. Not his job.
If Taylor did something horribly wrong, wouldn’t he also be fired as a teacher? It’s all very strange.
According to Christina Taylor, who I believe is Matthew’s wife, neither he nor the parents of the program received an explanation. The principal at Eastlake supposedly stated that the coach “did not commit any fireable offenses” and does not have a disciplinary record. She also claims this entire situation stems from “false accusations by administration that were proven false by parents and players.”
The players stood in support of their head coach at a game last week.
Everybody wants answers. Where are they?