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Edwin Zarowin, 88, has filed an age discrimination/retaliation complaint against Hunter College after being dropped as the coach of men’s and women’s cross-country and track and field.Credit Kirsten Luce for The New York Times

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Until last spring, Edwin Zarowin thought his job was secure. He was 31 years into coaching men’s and women’s cross-country and track and field at Hunter College, after having coached at Brooklyn Technical High School for 21 years. He was 88.

A new college cross-country season will begin this week, but Zarowin will no longer be Hunter’s coach. Unhappy over his situation, Zarowin has filed an age discrimination/retaliation complaint against Hunter, and some current and former athletes have waged an online war. He and his supporters claim that the college unfairly, and perhaps illegally, decided that Zarowin was simply too old.

Hunter officials initially refused to discuss Zarowin or his job status, after proposing that he accept a position as an “athletic archivist” at the college. Zarowin said that Athletic Director Terry Wansart had listed a slow work pace, poor technology skills and resistance to taking directions as factors behind his “unsatisfactory” annual performance review.

Zarowin rejected the job offer in a June 1 letter to Wansart, saying, “If it is your decision that this is the only option open to me, you will — in essence — have fired me.”

Wansart, in a statement released by college representatives last Thursday, said: “We truly hoped that he would have accepted the position as sports archivist, a role that people would honor and appreciate, and continue to contribute to the Hunter community in a valued way.”

Darnley Stewart, Zarowin’s lawyer, who filed the initial grievance on age discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 10, claimed in the complaint that her client was being “relegated to being an office assistant.”

“If you wanted to push him out, there’s a right way to do it, a humane way to do it,” said Stewart, who filed an amended charge including retaliation on Aug. 7.

Last year, Hunter held a 30-year celebration event for Zarowin that was attended by past and present athletes. Zarowin, who coached three national champions and 23 all-Americans, was named a City University of New York Athletic Conference coach of the year 33 times (he was recognized in multiple sports), and he was inducted into the Hunter College Hall of Fame in 1996.

But last January, in what Zarowin said was “the first negative review of my career,” Wansart checked “continued employment” for Zarowin on his employee evaluation form but also cited “recruitment, retention and graduation rate needs, utilization of technology, and improve supervision with coaches and knowledge of NCAA rules and regulations.”

Julio Piazza, who retired two years ago after 27 years as the track and cross-country coach at Lafayette College, described the Hunter response as “bureaucratic speak.”

“He was hired to coach,” said Piazza, a middle-distance runner for Zarowin 50 years ago at Brooklyn Tech and later a standout at the University of Pennsylvania. “The most important thing: Is he giving to kids quality understanding and experience? And he has.”

Zarowin’s unconventional coaching style of training sprints and hurdles in school gyms and hallways instead of at the 168^{th Street Armory proved successful in years past. But with Hunter athletes often living off campus and saddled with work and classroom commitments, suiting up enough competitors to fulfill N.C.A.A. regulations became sensitive issues.}

Stewart said she had talked to Laura Hertzog, Hunter’s special counsel to the president. “What she told me is that there have been N.C.A.A. violations,” Stewart said in a phone interview, referring to the minimum number of athletes required for a team at a meet. “I said, ‘Please send me a letter.’ That doesn’t exist.”

Asked about conversations with Stewart, Hertzog replied in an Aug. 21 email, “It is my policy never to comment on pending matters in which an employee is represented by counsel.”

Last week, Hunter announced a new coach, Daniel Selsky, who was an assistant at Sarah Lawrence College last year. Stewart said a mediation session under the auspices of the E.E.O.C. had been scheduled for Oct. 15, with Zarowin and Hunter officials scheduled to appear.

The past year has been stressful for Zarowin for other reasons. His wife of 67 years, Mary, died in December after a prolonged illness that required caregiving and schedule adjustments.

“I saw a lot of stress,” said Sidney Milden, who ran for Zarowin at Brooklyn Tech and has been an assistant at Hunter, on and off, since 1986. “But he was still able to give a lot to the program.”

Not enough for some athletes, however. Walter Rodriguez, a senior who finished second in the 10,000-meter run at the city championships, wrote on ipetitions.com: “I have not grown as an athlete because his current coaching methods have not allowed me to be successful, and our small team only grows smaller and less prosperous.”

But the overwhelming majority of athletes on ipetitions.com spoke fondly of “Coach Z,” as he is known, on many levels.

“He taught me that I can be anything you put your mind to,” wrote Natalia Bonilla of the Bronx, who was among the 126 who signed the petition.

“Under his direction, I became a better athlete,” wrote Tarcizio Rocha of Brazil, class of 1997, who was a member of the Hunter soccer team and was invited by Zarowin to run cross-country. “And even though I didn’t have much time for training due to work, he got the best of me.”

Even without a head coaching job in his future, Zarowin said he might accept a position as a volunteer assistant for a local high school this fall. A group of his former high school and college athletes is planning a “Celebration of Z” event for next spring.

“Coach Z has earned the right to choose when he wants the race to end,” wrote Donna Mahoney, a former Hunter distance runner from Canada. “And he should always have the last word and step down when he crosses that finish line.”