A “beloved” St. Louis high school football coach was fired for checking on his players’ welfare via social media chat and calls, per St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV.

Roosevelt High School (St. Louis, Mo.) head football coach and athletic director Trey Porter was reportedly fired for violating the school’s social media policy. The coach claims he was initially put on leave for talking to the media without explicit permission, then was dismissed Wednesday.

The school’s handbook does explicitly prohibit employees from connecting with current and former students on social media.

“It was typically for reaching out to the players and keeping up with the safety,” Porter told KMOV. “We focus a lot on mental health. A lot of my players don’t have cell phones, but they have Wi-Fi hot spots. They use Facebook to call.

“The rule is the rule. I was following not the letter of the law but the spirit. In this case, my kids were my best interest.”

A St. Louis alderwoman has already written complaining of the coach’s firing while the students he has been forced to leave — both his players and those in the larger student community — have been left shocked by his sudden dismissal.

“They are heart-broken. He did everything for them. Fed them. Clothed them,” sophomore Makiya Jones, told KMOV.