Woodbridge High School's football coach placed on administrative leave

Keith King

By: Kipp Hanley | Inside NoVA
Published: September 30, 2009

Longtime Prince William County football coach Keith King was placed on paid administrative leave from Woodbridge High School, effective Monday.

King, a physical education teacher at Woodbridge, will not be able to coach or perform any other duties associated with the school until the matter is resolved, stated Prince William County Public Schools spokesman Ken Blackstone in an e-mail Wednesday.

“I can’t talk about it right now because it’s a personnel issue,” King said when reached Wednesday.

Blackstone stated he could not provide any other details as it pertains to a personnel matter.

“[The decision] is made by the school system. The process was initiated late last week, but it wasn’t official until Monday,” Blackstone said in a separate phone interview. “There is a formal acknowledgement. It is a formal process and sometimes there are some logistics involved in getting that done.”

Blackstone said when a school system employee is placed on administrative leave, the employee is told in a conference meeting as opposed to a phone call. He added that administrative leave is “always indefinite, at least initially.”

“It’s indefinite until there is a resolution,” Blackstone said. “How long it takes varies, depending on the individual case. It could be a matter of hours, days or months.
“That’s standard for any of our 10,000 employees,” he said.

King is in his ninth season as the Woodbridge head football coach and teaches health and physical education. Coming into the year, King had posted a 53-37 mark coaching the Vikings, and led them to the 2007 Group AAA Division 6 state football championship game, where they lost to Westfield.

King didn’t coach in Woodbridge’s 49-17 win over Stonewall Jackson on Sept. 25. Assistant coach and offensive coordinator Kevin Smith served as the interim head coach that night.

When reached Wednesday, Smith would not comment.

The Vikings, who went 10-0 in the 2008 regular season and won the Cardinal District title, are 4-0 this season going into Friday’s Group AAA Cardinal District game at Forest Park at 7:30 p.m.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062. Staff writer Joe Conroy contributed to this story.