Landry Russell was nervous when he started to speak March 26.

A board room full of people, at least one hundred of them, and they were all staring at him.

“The room was really tense when I got up there,” the MSU junior said.

But he settled down and started in on the business his hand.

He was defending Wichita Falls High School basketball coach Carl Pennington, whose contract was not renewed for the 2012-2013 school year.

Russell did the best he could and he spoke from the heart. But he had a tough crowd. He said WFISD school board president Reginald Blow wouldn’t make eye contact with him.

“The school board president didn’t make eye contact with me,” Russell said. “He looked like he didn’t want to be there in front of a hundred people.”

He said he was cut off by board members at one point for using “personal attacks” in his statement. Russell contested the charge that he had verbally attacked anyone.

“I never made a single specific statement,” he said. “They were all specific statements. I said, ‘Without Coach Pennington around, they’ll have people who lie, cheat and break the rules as their role models.’”

Russell, along with several other Wichita Falls community members, tried to appeal to the board. They were trying to save Pennington’s job.

In the end, board members voted 5-1 to not renew Pennington’s contract, a decision that has been hotly contested.

But Russell’s actions, which include creating a Facebook page to draw attention to the issue, have made him slightly famous. He has appeared on News Channel 6 and has been quoted in the Times Record News. He said he doesn’t mind the attention, but it distracts from the real issue.

“Being a public figure? It’s pretty cool,” he said. “But I’m not doing it for me. I’m doing it for him. I don’t give a damn whether I’m in the public eye or not.”

Russell’s dad, Dale, who is the Wichita Falls High School head athletic trainer, has been friends with Pennington for about 15 years. SuzAe, Russell’s mom, is the elementary special education supervisor for the WFISD. They’re both close to the esteemed coach.

Pennington has gone to parties, eaten dinner with and spent a good deal of free time with the Russells. They all consider him a friend.

“He comes over just to hang at the house,” Russell said.

Russell learned that Pennington’s contract would not be renewed March 9. He created the Facebook Page ‘Help Coach Pennington Keep His Job” about three days later.

“I wanted to get a lot of people there to support him because he’s done so much for his students. He needed people to be there for him.”

About 60 people said they were attending on Facebook.

“He’s the most morally sound person I’ve ever met in my life. He has taken everything (the administration) has thrown at him the past three years. He just keeps on going.”