Coaching basketball is what Chance Wells is most passionate about.
And he was hoping to spend a long time doing it at Saranac as the leader of its girls basketball program.
That will no longer happen after Wells was let go from his position as coach on Sunday, Feb. 1.
Wells learned of the school’s decision when he was called into a meeting with Athletic Director Jason Ricket and Superintendent Jason Smith on Sunday ahead of a scheduled practice his team was supposed to have later that day.
“(They said) ‘We decided to let you go,'” said Wells, who was in his fourth season leading the program. “They said ‘We’re doing this for your own good because we don’t want something to happen that you can’t come back from,’ was their exact words.”
When reached by phone on Wednesday, Feb. 4, about Wells’ departure, Smith said there were no issues with law enforcement or foul play involving Wells.
“We made a decision to go in a different direction is probably the best way to put it,” Smith said. “Nothing bad.”
Wells has dealt with a few issues throughout the season from parents, who had made claims about him initially to the athletic director and then other school officials. Wells said there were about three or four times where he had to sit down with Ricket about claims that were made against him by parents.
Some of the claims and complaints were that he was being too hard on the players, causing them to stress or for swearing during games, according to Wells. The 28-year old Wells said he cleaned up his mouth and started dressing in a shirt and tie for games at the urging of his athletic director to dress better.
The most recent issue came following a Jan. 30 game at Lansing Christian when Wells told his team he would be changing the starters for its Feb. 2 game to reward players who had been working hard and not playing as much as others. One of the parents confronted Wells at Lansing Christian after learning of the decision.
“She started screaming at me telling me I didn’t know what I was doing and her daughter deserves to start every game and all I do is tear the girls down,” Wells said. “She had to be held back by her own kid right there and I just walked away and didn’t say a word back. That’s the only time anything was said to my face by a parent.”
Asked if parents impacted the decision, Smith said he really didn’t talk to any regarding Wells.
Despite that incident and other claims made against him, Wells still expected to be coaching through the remainder of the season. He did inform the school in January of plans to step down following this season but was determined to finish things out and help Saranac achieve its goal of capturing a district title.
The administration told Wells in his Feb. 1 meeting that “his relationships with the parents are too far gone” when they decided to let him go.
“I was not expecting to walk into that meeting and be fired,” Wells said. “I did not think that that was even something that was close to happening.
“I just really tried to do everything right the whole way through. I didn’t reach out to any of the parents that were making these claims, never said anything to any of them. Every single thing that the AD asked me to do I did.”
Joe Rasmus, who had served as Wells’ assistant, has taken over the program for the remainder of the season. Saranac owns a 7-6 record entering a Feb. 4 game against Pewamo-Westphalia. The program has already exceeded its win total from the 2024-25 season where it finished 6-17. Saranac had improved its win total in each season under Wells.
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Saranac’s Chance Wells let go as girls basketball coach
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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