A fired Western Hills baseball coach is fighting to get his job back, saying he was unfairly sacked because of a principal’s personal agenda.

Matt Phillips, 32, said he was let go Jan. 14 because he wasn’t getting his players to study sessions. But Phillips said that would have been impossible, because the study sessions are new this year, and he doesn’t even have a team yet.

According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the first day of coaching for boys baseball is Feb. 22 this year. Coaches were banned from any contact with players between Aug. 10 and Sept. 7.

The Enquirer requested a copy of Phillips’ personnel file on Jan. 19, but it has not yet been provided.

Neither Western Hills University High School Principal Ken Jump nor Athletic Director Brian Meyer could be reached Monday evening for comment.

At the board of education meeting Monday, a group of more than 20 parents and players rallied on behalf of their coach. Sporting Mustangs hats, shirts and jerseys, they spoke about Phillips’ dedication to the team, the sport and the baseball “family.”

Sophomore Gabriel Bock-Marshall said baseball is what makes him look forward to school.

“It’s more than just a baseball team,” he said. “… I don’t know what it would be like not having him coach me. And I don’t want to find out.”

Phillips has been at West High going on three years, where he works security in addition to coaching, he said. Prior, he was a paraprofessional at Oyler School, where he helped start a baseball program.

“It’s a dying sport in the inner city,” he said.

Phillips’ own career ended with an arm injury, he said. He took some time away from the game before he decided to commit to coaching.

Baseball teaches teamwork, hard work, leadership and “what it means to go for something,” he said.

“It’s an outlet that kids haven’t been exposed to,” he said. “It got me into college. It got me to get a college degree.”

CPS Board of Education president Ericka Copeland-Dansby said the board can’t discuss personnel issues in open session. However, she confirmed Phillips did meet with the principal and a district superintendent, and they are “working through things.”

Assistant Superintendent Bill Myles said there will be another meeting on Tuesday. Myles said there were “issues that happened on both sides,” but “we will come up with a solution that everyone will be able to live with.”

Meanwhile, the coaching position was posted Jan. 19 on CPS’ website.

Phillips knows exactly when it went up.

“I applied about 15 times,” he said.