A girls' basketball coach at a Dallas private school was fired Sunday shortly after he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he wouldn't apologize for a game which his players won 100-0.
You can read more of the details here. But basically the school administration of the team that won 100-0 posted a statement on its website saying the 100-point win was "shameful" and "clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition." The coach disagreed in his e-mail and was later fired.
Now there are a lot of ways to get red-faced about this. Should a Christian school show mercy to a coach who apparently showed none? The opposing coach has said his team was still getting pressed at midcourt, even though already down 59-0 at halftime. But shouldn't a "Mercy Rule" be enacted in which the clock runs constantly or the game is simply stopped? (Some states have these, some don't -- Texas didn't in this case).
As a volunteer youth basketball and soccer coach, I've been on both sides of blowouts. They are like avalanches, and they make me cringe a little on either side of them.
But they can be slowed down -- although not stopped entirely -- by the coach of the stronger team. There are a variety of ways to do this -- playing only your benchwarmers, giving your team certain rules about how it can score for the rest of the game, etc.
None of these are perfect solutions, of course.
But beating a team 100-0 in girls' basketball -- that's just wrong. I'm glad this coach was fired.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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25 comments:
I think the coach who's team got beat by 100 should have been the one that got fired. I'm mean come on, does that coach even know anything about basketball.
And I think its a crying shame that the other coach got fired because he did his job. Coach K didn't show any mecry this past week when Duke beat Maryland 85-44.
Fowler: Life's best lessons many times are in the form of losing 100-0 You do kids no favors by preventing them from getting their butts handed to them. I played public HS football in NC and we lost consective games 44-0, 51-0, 40-0 and 33-0. What happened was the cowards quit and the real players decided to get better. You and your ilk are raising a generation of wimps and future sportswriters.
Fault lies in a lot of places in this story. The losing team's school has about 25 students enrolled and this is the first year they've had a team. They have no business playing schools with competitive programs, and they've been steamrolled in each game they've played.
This game should never have been scheduled in the first place. The small school should have been playing a JV schedule.
My question is when was the "100th" point scored. It sure seems like they were trying to get to that 100 point score. Awfully coincidental that it was exactly 100 points.
I'm sure the coach could have done a lot of things to ease up when the blowout was assured instead of trying to see if they could score 100.
I'm glad to see the posts thus far are generally siding with the winning coach. We do not know if his actions during the game were in good conduct or not. Realistically, only he knows that. However, the current goal of youth sports in America is to teach children that they are all winners. That there are no losers in life. That you don't actually have to be talented or try hard to succeed, you just have to show up.
In sports or life, you learn nothing from a victory. You learn from a loss or constructive criticism. We are engraining a sense of entitlement in our youth.
jfklancer; I agree with you, get better or find another activity.
As someone who has followed this story, what is omitted is the losing team is a school for kids that are learning or socially impared...in otherwords an alternative school, that only has 21 girls in the entire school.
These girls aren't going to be competitive, and the opposing coach knows that. The winning coach had them play all out until the score was 100-0, then had them not score anymore. He obviously wanted to feel like a stud that his team could score 100.
To compare this to Divsion I basketball is ridiculous. Not only is the outcome far more lopsided than anything in D-I, but those games have something at stake in terms of seeding. This was one guys ego boost.
And to compare this to pro sports, the Panthers certainly played to run the clock and played benchwarmers in games like the KC blowout.
I don't know if its firable offense, but it certainly shows a lack of class and common sense. What school will want to be associated with this guy now?
They scored 100 with 4 minutes left....yes, the coach obviously wanted to prove he could beat a team 100-0...classy!
How about the local East Meck/South Meck girls' varsity score in the Observer today. East Meck won 80-9. They were up 42-2 at halftime before South Meck poured in 7 after the break. Does this mean the East Meck coach is going to get fired?
Special needs school with 8 players and your cheering that you reach 100.
Your pressing and shooting 3's deep into the game and you see nothing wrong with that?
Poor judgement and lack of class were truly demonstrated. You deserve to be fired.
It's the job of any team and or player to stop the opposing player from scoring. The fact that these young ladies couldn't do that is not the fault of the team scoring the points. If your going to be a big girl and play big girl sports...you better be able to deal with the consequences of your poor play. Censoring the coach I can see, but firing him for having his girls ready to play..inexcusable. Note to the team from Dallas Academy.."if you can't hang with the big dogs...stay on the porch." I think its true to say "you know..every person IS special" but there are winners and losers in everything..especially life. If you decide to swim the english channel when you first should try swimming laps across the swimming pool... then you get what you get. These girls should have been playing a JV schedule..period.
One problem with keeping starters in after victory is assured (by halftime in this game) is injuries.
A friend of mine in his senior year of high school was on a football team and as they were running up the score in the fourth quarter he was injured to never play again (the teams star player).
Everyone practices, so if the game is decided except for the time, the 2nd & 3rd, etc. should play.
Might want to keep that in mind.
So first we fire coaches for losing. Now we fire them for winning.
Next thing you know we'll be firing them for poor penmanship on their game plans. Or for ending a sentence with a preposition. Or for wearing mismatched socks to practice.
Are we so thin-skinned that we have to blame a coach for doing his job? Who cares if the score is 100-0, 50-0, 1-0, the winning team wins and the losing team loses. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. Why should a Christian school asking the coach to show a little mercy go ahead and hypocritically fire the coach? And as far as the other team, it's 8 girls from a school that specializes in students with learning disabilities. As far as I know, that doesn't diminish athletic abilities. And a final note, this team hasn't won in 4 years, so you better go fire all the other coaches too for beating this team.
A couple of "corrections"
First of all this wasn't this team's first year fielding a team. They haven't won in four years.
Second, calling it a special needs school is very misleading. It isn't like they had a real handicap that limited them to walkers and wheelchairs. They had dyslexia and/or ADD.
Third, this coach should have his kids play as hard as possible for the entire game. Is it fair to send the third string in and tell them not to score? It could be the only chance some of those players get to play this year. Why take their moment away from them just because the starters did their job and put the game away?
This is not about how overmatched the school was, it is about the judgement of the winning coaches, and the officials. While Texas may not have a mercy rule, the official, in his judgement, could have installed one in the second half. He also could have spoken to both coaches to work out a plan before the second half started.
I agree, you do not tell the winning team to "not try", but you also do not press the entire game, and you do not leave your starting point guard in the entire game -- she had 48 of the 100 points. The judgement of the winning coach is lacking, and his lack of class is why he was fired. All he had to do was shut up and let his school handle it, and he would have saved his job.
Oh yeah, the losing school canceled their next game against this team scheduled for next week.
"what is omitted is the losing team is a school for kids that are learning or socially impaired". This designation makes a real difference. When confidence is lacking, none of us do our best. Firing the coach teaches the youth only that adults don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable.
The winning team scored 59 in the first half and 41 in the second. I saw nothing in the details that said that the coach didn't play his subs in the second half. They didn't score at all in the last 4 minutes. The losing teams coach could have stopped the game at any time. The only problem I see here is that the coach didn't toe the company line. Is that a firable offense? Was it the first offense? If I don't know those answers, then I can't say what is right. You can bet if it wasn't handled right, then the administration just got their school into a law suit.
The fact that I'm constantly working with the young people of America that really believe that everyone is a winner is based on this fallacy. No. There are winners and there are losers. It's the best lesson these children can learn. You do a disservice when you make every child feel 'special' just for 'being'.
Scott,
Please give us your feedback, but today for the first time I am going to put up something negative as the hiring of Ron Meeks is complete garbage. When has the Colts defense EVER been known as a good and tough defense. NEVER! What a stupid, stupid hiring by the Panthers. We can all look forward to a horrible season next year...look at the schedule and combine that with the qb situation plus this ridiculous hiring and one cannot see mucn positive in all of this.
The winning coach has no honor and no compassion. At 50-0, he should have put the bottom of his bench in.
Sports are not just about winning, certainly not at the high school level. If this lowlife can't understand that, he doesn't deserve a paycheck.
...and for what it's worth, I don't like it when Coach K or Roy Williams do it either. It's ugly and unnecessary and usually comes back to bite you in the ass. I remember when Duke blew out a pretty bad Virginia team by like 45 points at home. While I think that team won maybe 4 ACC games all year, they came back and beat a highly ranked Duke team in Charlottesville.
Do what you need to win. There's no need to grind your opponent into the dirt.
typical christian hypocrisy. "do unto others, blah, blah." but only when its convenient.
T makes a good point. It IS a lot like Coach K....not in the competition. Maryland sucks; and there is no need to "let up" in college sports. those folks are (mostly over 18; and many are piad to play via scholarship).
It is like Coach K in that this coach is an egotsitical prick, and so is K.
This story made http://detentionslip.org ! Check it out for all crazy headlines from our schools.
People are blaming the coach of the winning team. What about the coach from the losing team? He had the duty to forfeit that game. But no, he continued to have his team play. Should he be fired too? Some people are just idiots. Ohh, your poor kids can't handle losing? Do you want to hold their hand and skip down the street singing "We are the world"? Get over and teach your kids to grow up. These are high school kids that understand the difference in winning/losing. It is not like they are 4-5 year olds. By the way, these kids aren't impaired to the point that they can't play sports. It is a learning disability, not a physical or mental one. I speak from experience.
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