More than 30 active and former Falmouth High School football players have signed a petition calling for the resignation of head coach John Fitzsimmons, citing mass attrition and player safety concerns.
Prior to the 2023 football season, more than 40 percent of the Navigators’ players left the team, and only 29 players finished the 2023 season, according to the petition. Additionally, one third of the roster suffered a fracture or concussion during the 2023 season — a rate six times higher than the national average for high school football players, as reported by the Journal of Pediatrics in 2020.
“We are not adequately coached for competition, and our safety is not prioritized. We players have attempted to make our voices heard on this matter for far too long,” sophomore Matthew Grace, the team’s Defensive Player of the Year, stated at Tuesday’s Falmouth School Board meeting.
“Too many players have quit in recent years and not enough will return this fall if you do not make changes to the team’s coaching leadership. This program will be ruined by the inactions of the athletic director and administration.”
Fitzsimmons did not respond to a request for comment.
Falmouth’s varsity football team finished 2-6 this season, and was forced to forfeit its Sept. 22, 2023, game versus Portland due to a lack of healthy, active players. Falmouth’s junior varsity team was unable to complete its final two scheduled games for the same reason.
The petition was generated last week after the Falmouth School Board failed to recommend removing Fitzsimmons as part of the district’s formal staff complaint process in response to letters submitted to the board by more than 36 players and parents. The petition also cited numerous meetings with Athletic Director James Coffey — who himself was on the coaching staff during the 2023 season — that failed to yield improvement.
In addition to concerns about player safety, the players described the “toxic culture” of the football team.
“We ask you to place the wellbeing and sports educational experience of several dozen students ahead of the desires of a single man by accepting this petition and doing what is undoubtedly difficult, but ultimately correct,” Grace said on Tuesday.
The Falmouth Football Boosters expressed its support for the players’ petition.
“We support our players’ voices in requesting new leadership as the only viable course to enable this team to get back on its feet and back on the field,” the statement read. “These young men deserve better.”
