Willis May, the head football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, announced his resignation Wednesday, saying he feels miserable without his slain colleagues, ESPN reported.
The mass shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, at the Parkland, Florida, school killed 17, including assistant football coach Aaron Feis, who died shielding students from the gunman, and athletic director/wrestling coach Chris Hixon.
“I walk into my office every day, and Aaron Feis’ office is right next to me, Chris Hixon’s office is right next to me, and I miss those guys with all my heart every day,” May said, per the sports network. “It’s sad going to work every day because it hurts so bad to be without them. It’s been a year and it hasn’t gotten any better, so I need a change for me; I need it for my health.”
May added that he loved football but said “It’s hard to come to work, and you don’t want work to be like that, where you’re miserable,” according to the Sun Sentinel.
May said he is seeking a coaching job in Fort Myers to be closer to his parents.
“If we learned anything from the past year, it’s that life’s short and you don’t ever know if you’ve got tomorrow,” May said, per the Sun Sentinel. “So you better spend it with the ones you love because you don’t know how long you’re going to have them.”
An ESPN documentary about the football team’s season to honor the dead, “Parkland 17,” premiered in February. May discussed the difficulties of coming to work in the film as well.
His Eagles team went 5-5 in his sixth and final season.