COLLEGE STATION, Texas— The marine terminal manager at Texas A&M University at Galveston, who also coached the school’s offshore sailing team that lost a boat during a fatal racing accident last month, has been fired for failing to disclose his criminal history, officials announced Monday.

Texas A&M at Galveston fired James Atchley on Friday for failing to reveal on his 1997 job application that he had a federal conviction seven years earlier related to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, said Jay Kimbrough, Texas A&M University System’s general counsel and deputy chancellor.

A&M System officials stressed that Atchley was fired for failing to disclose his criminal history and not for anything related to the sailing team.

“It’s important to understand that Atchley was terminated for having withheld the federal felony conviction information on his application, not for any job performance issues related to his oversight of the offshore sailing team,” Kimbrough said.  “Withholding criminal history information will not be tolerated.”

A telephone call to Atchley’s home in Galveston was not immediately returned on Monday.

Atchley’s employment application showed he left unanswered the question regarding prior criminal convictions. The Galveston campus did not begin criminal background checks on staff until 2001 and not on faculty until more recently.

Atchley was responsible for overseeing repair work and maintenance of the Galveston school’s fleet.

The sailboat Cynthia Woods capsized June 6 after its keel broke off, killing one crew member and stranding five others for 26 hours in the Gulf of Mexico.

The accident happened while the sailboat was competing in the Regata de Amigos, a sailing race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico. The crew included four students and two safety officers.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the four students and one of the safety officers early on June 8 about 27 miles off the Texas coast near Freeport. The body of the second safety officer, Roger Stone, was found that afternoon aboard the boat.

Officials think the keel of the vessel came off shortly after the race began, filling the boat with water and causing it to overturn.

Records show that the keel had been repaired in March 2007 after the vessel ran aground and suffered more than $1,800 in damage.

The sailboat first ran aground in summer 2006, records show. The only known damage was the loss of a cover for a navigation light on the bow.

Kimbrough has previously warned against reading too much into these earlier incidents.

The Houston Chronicle reports in its Monday online editions that after the 2006 incident, Atchley, who was acting as skipper that day, was scolded for decisions he made when trying to get the boat off the sandbar. E-mails between administrators at the time said that matter was considered “a serious situation that should be avoided in the future.” Concern was also expressed about making sure “the message registered” with Atchley.

School officials questioned his judgment for trying to maneuver the boat over the sandbar, which only made it more stuck, and for not trying to get a more powerful boat to help free the Cynthia Woods.

“It is my recommendation that ... Atchley receive a verbal warning for not exercising better judgment following the grounding,” wrote Brad McGonagle, the assistant vice president for administration at the school.

Jerry Brown of the school’s general counsel office said that the school’s investigation into the fatal accident, which is continuing, has found evidence of at least four incidents with the Cynthia Woods involving a grounding or crash with a submerged structure. The only one that resulted in correspondence was the 2006 incident. Brown said that had more to do with the passengers than the severity of the incident.