Greg Brown said he was shocked when told he was no longer the head basketball coach at Albuquerque High School (AHS), and he plans on filing a grievance over his dismissal.

“Whatever avenues that I have, I am definitely going to pursue filing a grievance,” Brown said to KRQE. “If I can’t do it in the public sector, you know, proper chain of command and proper process, you know, then I would do it privately.”

The former University of New Mexico Lobo and AHS basketball star said he felt blindsided when told he was no longer going to coach the Bulldogs. He was the school’s head coach for only a year and a half. COVID shortened his first year. This season, the Bulldogs were 11-16 but reached the playoffs.

“They said they wanted to go in a different direction,” Brown told KRQE. “I’m an at-will employee. I asked why. They said, ‘We don’t owe you an explanation’ after I worked COVID. During that whole COVID didn’t receive no COVID pay. I wasn’t sitting at home, I was at work; while other teachers were at home, I was at work on site.”

When the firing was announced last week, Chad Jones, AHS athletic director, said to KRQE only that he wanted new leadership in the boys’ basketball program.

Brown isn’t happy with the decision. “You know, this experience left a bad taste in my mouth,” Brown said to KRQE. “Right now, I’m going to continue to teach.” He teaches physical education at AHS.