SEATTLE - A flute-playing, poetry-reading Seattle high school girls tennis coach who was profiled in a weekly paper has been fired.

The Ballard High School coach, Aaron Silverberg, says he was surprised by the firing and says the only reason given was that something was "inappropriate."

The Ballard athletic director, Doug Bruketta, says there were factors other than the article in the "Seattle Weekly" that led to the dismissal.

The cover story last week described Silverberg reading sensual poems to the girls on the bus ride home from a tennis match. He's a former tennis pro who calls himself a "Buddhist tennis coach."

Silverberg says he took the high school job for fun and to give something back to the community. He's a life coach who assists clients in achieving goals.