On what was supposed to be the first day of spring practice, members of the Canarsie High School football team spent the day rallying for the school to reinstate head coach Brian Ellis.

Ellis was first hired before the 2018 season, and since then, he says that every single senior on the football team has graduated from high school.

"He was so inspiring," said Zy'eare Schulters, a freshman running back.

Schulters says he only came to Canarsie because of Ellis.

"He kept everybody motivated," he says.

Junior cornerback Jayden Anderson said Ellis' influence went beyond the football field, saying "he takes us like to colleges. Before I came here, I never been to a college before."

But before this past season, the New York City Special Commissioner of Investigation's Office accused him of knowingly recruiting players from outside the city, as well as allowing someone to coach the team who was not cleared.

Ellis lost his coaching job because of those charges.

"It was like a piece of us was missing," said junior lineman Tyler Jordan.

Without Ellis there, Schulters says on and off the field, "everybody's focus is not the same."

Ellis appealed, and documents from the New York State Department of Education show that the charges were all dismissed.

But the school said they would not be rehiring him.

"The principal just said he just couldn't come back, there was really no explanation," Schulters said.

Anderson called the decision "heartbreaking, because I really love that man."

The frustration led to the team walking out of school at 11 a.m. on Thursday, and staying through dismissal, holding signs and chanting for their coach to come back.

"The reason why he was fired was not true, then I feel like he should automatically get his job back," Jordan said.

Parents tell News 12 that they tried talking to school administrators, and were only told that Ellis was bad for the school's culture.

"Without him being here, these kids are cutting class, they're not going to school, their grades are dropping," argued Chee Chee Brock, one of the parents who joined the rally. "How is he not changing the culture (for the better) when the kids are going to college?"

Players and parents both say that if Ellis does not get his job back, then most of them will be transferring to another school.

News 12 reached out to both the Department of Education and school administrators, and has not heard back yet.