Olympic Fencing

[Lamplighter]

On the other hand he could weaken every other coaches hand by submitting.

Is it really clear that the Coach was actually "fired" ?

Maybe he was protesting that the staff person "went over his head",
and so resigned in protest or took early retirement, rather than "submitting".

It does sound strange for the a manager to have been "fired"
... unless there was something more involved than described in the OP.