Space Coast Crew, consisting of student rowers from schools across coastal Brevard, took the opportunity to relax from intense practices and practice schedules last Thanksgiving. On Nov. 19, however, rowers received a surprise email from the board of directors stating that their men’s varsity head coach, Bryan Little, who was also director of operations and director of rowing, would not be returning for the remainder of the 2022-2023 season. 

Mens’ varsity captain and West Shore senior Jacob Marano described what ensued at SCC as “eight weeks of chaos.” As emotions flared over the board’s decision to terminate Little’s contract, rowers squabbled with each other and some tussled with the board. Some rowers left; some rejoined. Within months, the entire board had resigned and been replaced, and Little had been reinstated with a new contract, but SCC rowers returned to a team with a fundamentally different structure.

Marano, who has spent six years rowing for SCC and two years as a captain, said he immediately disagreed with the board’s decision.

“There were a lot of unhappy people, myself included,” Marano said. “There was a petition that I made, and there were a lot of vocal rowers against the old board. If you look at the history of the team, a lot of our success recently is only happening because of [Little]. The reasons he was terminated, as explained by the board, there’s much simpler solutions.”

Marano said the board had not followed proper procedures before terminating Little’s contract.

“You know, you warn people and you set consequences, and there was no warning even for him,” Marano said. “Nobody had any idea this was going to happen, except, ironically enough, people from other teams, which caused more distrust in the board of directors.”

However, sophomore Nathan Waligorski, who said he moved from SCC to the United Sculling Alliance crew team following SCC’s reaction toward the board, said he believes Little had been given more than ample warning.

“Coach Little was fired for a variety of reasons, including not following the budget, inappropriate behaviors and disobedience towards [the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association], which caused the team to miss a race, and possibly miss more later in the season,” Waligorski said. “I think the board was in the right to fire him. He had been given many warnings for many years, and he still continued to overstep the rules.”

An email sent by the board on Jan. 1 stated that Little had “misled the team” when he created a conflict between SCC and the FSRA by allowing SCC to accept rowers transferring from Melbourne High School’s crew team. This caused the FSRA to cancel SCC’s registration and thus its eligibility to participate in Florida regattas. After citing this as the main reason for terminating Little’s contract, the email stated that he had spent $30,000 over SCC’s budget and had overstepped other powers given to him by his contract.

Little declined to comment on the situation regarding his contract’s termination and renegotiation.

“I am not sure if I would have much insight in to what happened,” Little said in an email. “I spent a lot of the time in the dark and not knowing what was happening.” 

Freshman Jacob Fine, who has rowed for SCC for one year, said he didn’t know how to interpret the reasons for termination provided by the board.

“Some of [the reasons] were, I wouldn’t say stupid, but they were extra things to add for reasons,” Fine said. “Some reasons were pretty valid, others I didn’t really understand.”

Marano said he believes Little overspent the budget for legitimate reasons.

“He went over in the maintenance budget with the board of directors who, I guess, didn’t see a reason to reprimand him,” Marano said. “Then, this year, the board set up a purchase approval process, which he bypassed because they were not communicating with him over the summer. He had to purchase new lifts for the boats, that we use to get to the racks, because the old ones were going to kill a kid, and he also spent money to repaint the oars. While I see both of those as necessary purchases, I think they could have been done differently, but I don’t think they are transgressions worth termination.”

Waligorski said SCC’s reaction to Little’s termination greatly lowered his opinion of the organization.

“Before this event, I had a very high view of SCC,” he said. “Now, the whole event has revealed how much of the team was terrible people who demanded they get their way. Throughout the whole thing, I respected the board for keeping their cool, never being rude or demeaning and not stooping to the other parents’ level. I just wanted to still have a team to row on; however, now I’m just mad at the parents who were rude and disrespectful throughout the whole thing.”

Marano said the dynamic between the board and the rowers of SCC has changed since Little was fired and all members of the previous Board have resigned.

“With the new board, there’s a lot of expectations that are set for them to be better, more transparent, better communicators, which they have been,” he said, “but I think, especially the captains are now much more involved in the board of directors and the newly created parent advisory committee, so I think it has put more of a spotlight on the new board, and I feel future boards will also be held to higher expectations.”

Marano said he believes the entire situation fixed deep-seated problems in the board.

“I was worried for a little bit that in a couple years, I’d come back and there wouldn’t be a team anymore because the previous board was doing a lot of destructive things,” Marano said. “But I’m confident now with the new board that the team as an organization will be set back on the right track.”

In January, the board announced that Little would return as the mens’ varsity head coach and the director of operations but not as the director of rowing.

Fine said SCC rowers’ positive overall opinion of Little hardly changed during the ordeal.

“The team was split,” Fine said. “When he was not a coach, there were a lot of arguments. Most of the team liked him before, a little less now, but still most of the team. My opinions didn’t really change about him. Sure, it was kind of weird when he came back, but he’s still the same.”

Waligorski said he plans to remain with United Sculling Alliance.

“For now, I’ve moved to a different team, and I’d love to come back when [SCC] is in a better place, but I don’t see that happening soon, at least for the rest of the season,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, morale seems to be much lower now, and the previous lineups have been completely changed due to all the people who’ve left.”

However, Marano said he believes SCC will recover well from the ordeal.

“I think over December and parts of November, with the [being] short on coaches, some people were able to slip between the cracks and not be held as accountable,” Marano said. “So there’s some ground to make up individual fitness-wise, but in terms of team morale, I think willpower grew a lot in the lack of coaching staff. We got a little bit of ground to make up, but I think we’re going to be moving in the right direction going forward.”