Around New England

Former New England Patriots Player Says Brockton High School Got Rid of Him As Football Coach Because He Isn’t A Member of Teachers Union

May 8, 2024

Former New England Patriots tight end Jermaine Wiggins says Brockton High School refused to renew him for another year because he isn’t a member of the teachers union.

“There had been some complaints about me not being in the union and they chose to go in a different direction,” Wiggins said on WEEI radio, according to the Brockton Enterprise. “I was stunned my damn self. I was like, all right, I’m not going to cry over spilled milk. If some people are complaining about me not being a union guy and everything like that, I mean … I feel bad for the kids.”

The teachers union contract in Brockton says union employees will be given preference for coaching positions when a union member “has equal or greater qualifications than another applicant,” according to the Brockton Enterprise.

Wiggins, 45, a former standout at East Boston High School, won a Super Bowl while playing for the Patriots at the end of the 2001 National Football League season.

He earned a standard first-year coaching stipend of $15,339 from the Brockton public schools for the fall 2023 season, according to the Brockton Enterprise.

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