After three seasons at Davis High School, football head coach Nick Garratt said he was forced to resign on Friday.

According to the reporting from The Davis Enterprise, Garratt sent a letter to the paper and the school’s administration, saying “to his surprise,” the athletic director and principal stated they wouldn’t be renewing his coaching stipend.

“You offered me the option of being fired or resigning,” Garratt’s letter stated. “This letter is to communicate that it was not my intention to resign, but that I am now being forced to do so.”

In the letter, Garratt recounted the last three years since he was brought into the program in 2022. He recounted team bonding activities, such as 6 a.m. workouts or team camping trips up to Lake Tahoe.

“For the last three years, it has been our football program’s mission to foster a brotherhood that develops great human beings who exhibit compassion, integrity and courage to make great change in this world,” Garett stated in his letter. “Although we had limited resources, we were able to engage and challenge our young men to commit to a greater version of themselves. They competed with great effort, intelligence, enthusiasm and emotional strength. They sacrificed their short-term pleasures for their long gratification.”

Davis High School will host Woodland’s Pioneer High School in the opening game of the season, set for Friday, Aug. 22.

According to MaxPreps, the school’s other home games this season include Franklin of Elk Grove, River Valley of Yuba City, and Laguna Creek of Elk Grove.In 2019, the Blue Devils hosted both Pioneer and Woodland High Schools, defeating the Wolves 49-7 on Sept. 6 and the Patriots 48-0 a week later.

Davis had a 1-9 record this past season, and in his three seasons as head coach, Garratt has a combined record of 5-25. Garratt’s letter claimed the football program in Davis is “under-sourced,” and he claimed he approached school officials to try to create a weight-training class for his players to train them for what Garratt calls a “collision sport.”

“Without a strength-training class, during a curricular day, players cannot perform the necessary movements, nor understand where their opponent’s contact is coming from,” Garratt’s letter stated.

Athletic Director Mark McGreevy sent a letter to The Davis Enterprise regarding Garratt’s dismissal as head coach. McGreevy stated in the letter that the decision regarding Garratt was made “after much deliberation and in the interest of strengthening the DSHS Football program into the future.”

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to Coach Garratt for his dedication, time and energy over the past three years,” McGreevy said. “Leading a high school athletic program requires commitment and Coach Garratt has brought a strong work-ethic to this role.”