Christian BB coach fired

[Anon]

I don't quite understand this. I read about this the other day, and today found out this guy got fired:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482825,00.html

Am I missing something? I mean really... if the other team was that bad, and they had to play the game for the full amount of time...I mean....I don't get it. But then I guess I"m not a sports nut so I have no clue what the issue is here.

I realize like in sports you are supposed to start putting in your "bad players" if you are ahead big time..and I realize in the first article I read that the girls continued to shoot 3 pointers, but I do not understand why this game made national news and why the coach got fired.

[Annie]

I don't quite understand this. I read about this the other day, and today found out this guy got fired:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482825,00.html

Am I missing something? I mean really... if the other team was that bad, and they had to play the game for the full amount of time...I mean....I don't get it. But then I guess I"m not a sports nut so I have no clue what the issue is here.

I realize like in sports you are supposed to start putting in your "bad players" if you are ahead big time..and I realize in the first article I read that the girls continued to shoot 3 pointers, but I do not understand why this game made national news and why the coach got fired.

Interesting topic, Kita. I think the reason the coach got fired is that he didn't put in his "scrubs" and call off his scorers. I'm not sure what I think about it all. It seems to me that, on one hand, putting in scrubs and slowing the game down in order not to hurt the other team's feelings is "not doing your best, to the glory of God." On the other hand, it is "Christlike (and chivalrous)" to be concerned about others' feelings. But, as a former ball player, I know it can be insulting to have the other team put in their scrubs; I wanted to battle it out against their good players to the end...It was more shameful to me to have their scrubs holding us off than to lose by a few more points against their best girls.

So, I imagine there are a lot of different perspectives and opinions about this issue. Since the Bible doesn't address "rules" for competition, I'm not sure what to think. I know that public opinion would swing in favor of pulling back scoring, just because "that's the way it is traditionally done." (Maybe our ideas of chivalry have filtered down from the medieval period.) And I sympathize with those (winning or losing) who want to play with honor by doing their very best against the other team's very best, even if it means winning (or losing) 100-0. And...I acknowledge that pulling back can be motivated by Christlike thinking. In this coach's case, it came down to a judgment call on the part of the administration, who obviously considered his behavior unsportsmanlike. Maybe it wasn't the first trouble they'd had with this guy. I know that in my Christian high school, my coach would have gotten at least a severe reprimand if he had done what this guy did. (Our girls' team was usually on the winning end of things--AACS national champs one year--and we always put in our scrubs if we were 20+ points ahead.)

[trc123]

Some like to run up the score, while others find it to be classless. Personally, if you are ahead by so large a margin there is no way for the other team to catch up; why not put benchwarmers in to get the play time and experience for when they are called upon later? The difference is probably in how it is presented the coach's attitude.

[Anon]

Oh...just asked hub and he says they fired the coach because the coach did not stand behind the school's public statement/apology.

[Alimantado]

I could envisage some UK Rugby players struggling to keep the score below 100-0 if they ever turned their hand to playing American Football against the yanks.

[Danny Carlton]

You only need to be ahead by one point to win. A 100-0 score is shameful. From what I hear the standard "spostmanlike" rule-of-thumb is to put in the second string once you're 20 points a head, and play defense only when you're ahead by more than 40 points. If my daughter had been playing on the winning team, I probably would have pulled her out at half time (when they were ahead 49-0) and told the coach a thing or two.

[pneu-engine]

You only need to be ahead by one point to win. A 100-0 score is shameful. From what I hear the standard "spostmanlike" rule-of-thumb is to put in the second string once you're 20 points a head' date=' and play defense only when you're ahead by more than 40 points. If my daughter had been playing on the winning team, I probably would have pulled her out at half time (when they were ahead 49-0) and told the coach a thing or two.[/quote']
Can you do that? I.E. Overrule and/or pre-empt the coach's authority during a game?? At our school's games the parents were told to sit in the bleachers and in no way were they permitted to do anything during the game except cheer.

[John81]

This whole thing got blown way out of proportion. It's a matter that should have been settled between the schools and not turned into a public matter.

I'm not sure what statement the coach refused to stand by, but one statement the school released sounded ridiculous to me and I can see why he wouldn't stand by that.

[Danny Carlton]

I'd like to see them try to stop me. I wouldn't allow my daughter to be a part of such a shameful display. You have to stand your ground, or integrity means nothing.

[pneu-engine]

Ok, but at our school you would very quickly find you and your whole family expelled forever. Whether you want that or not that's what you'll have. There ought to be a quieter, more peaceful way to solve the problem without making an odious scene.

[jchahl]

Here's what I think.

Number one: Why does a school with only 20 girls have a basketball team? Most decent basketball teams need at least 10-12 players, which the school is obviously unable to support.

Number two: Sometimes good teams need to flex their muscles. I've beaten teams in baseball as a manager by 15 runs and didn't bat an eyelash. It's important that your players know that they're capable of doing very well.

Number three: When you play a game like this, it is sometimes detrimental to the team when you sit back and coast the whole time. Bad habits form and could cost you the next game. The team may have been in the middle of a tough stretch of their schedule and couldn't risk losing momentum. It's impossible to quantify the value of momentum during a season. A 100-0 win would surely give the team confidence and momentum that would propel the team to success.

Number four: Games like this always make the coach of the winning team the bad guy. The parents of the stars of the winning team get angry because their kids are not playing as much as they should. The parents of the scrubs of the winning team get angry because their kids are not playing as much as they should. The other school gets angry because the coach looks evil when he destroys the opponent. The refs get angry because they are high school refs coaching a elementary school-quality game, which is very, very tedious and boring. The coach was in a lose-lose situation.

I don't have a problem with what this guy did. I would have thought about doing the same thing. The psychological value of scoring 100 points in a game, especially a girls' game, is huge and would be hard to pass up.

Just my thoughts. I'm glad I wasn't in the coach's position, though.

[jchahl]

Just to add to my last comment:

I've been on both sides of a blowout. When you're on the losing end, you don't really care, as a player or a coach, what they're doing. Whether they leave their starters in is the last thing you're worried about.

[amblivion]

I believe this is an interesting and unique situation. Although I can't find it in that article where he left his starters in the whole game, I have heard many people state it. I will assume that he did. I have played basketball since fifth grade to my senior year in high school, this include traveling basketball teams where they hand pick the players. I believe that as a coach he should have put his bench warmers in because they need the experience, so his team can continue to be good throughout the next years. As a starter though, I would have been bored out of my mind sitting on the bench for half of the game, almost everyone does it their freshman year and I wouldn't want to do it again.

Also, as a player I would have been embarrassed knowing that the other team went easy on us. If they would have stopped playing offense, I would have found that an especially huge embarrassment. It would also make for an extremely boring and even longer game. It also wouldn't give the bench warmers the experience they need.

As for the three point shot. Well, I have no problem with them shooting the three point shot. If you think about this logically, the three point shot is the lowest percentage shot made in basketball. Why wouldn't you want them shooting threes? If their threes were twos, who knows the score might have been even a bigger blowout. Anyways that is just my two cents worth. I really would like to know if the coach played his starters the whole game and also did a full court press the whole game though. The full court press would be another matter.

[pep_3000]

I do not think that there was anything wrong at all with what the coach did. Nothing. 100 points in a high school game is a great achievement (remember that a high school game is significantly shorter than a NBA game) and holding a team to 0 is even better. That is the kind of game that every coach wants every time.

Number three: When you play a game like this, it is sometimes detrimental to the team when you sit back and coast the whole time. Bad habits form and could cost you the next game. The team may have been in the middle of a tough stretch of their schedule and couldn't risk losing momentum. It's impossible to quantify the value of momentum during a season. A 100-0 win would surely give the team confidence and momentum that would propel the team to success.

This is a great point. Plus this gives you a chance to work an things that might need to be fixed before the next game.

If my daughter had been playing on the winning team, I probably would have pulled her out at half time (when they were ahead 49-0) and told the coach a thing or two.

If I would have been the coach and you did something like that, she would most likely never play on my team again. When I become a head coach one of the things that I will do is have a meeting with all of the parents and tell them that coaching decisions are made by me and my staff. In other words the parents have no say in playing time, strategy, ect. And I will tell my players to ignore everyone but me and my staff. They are to do what we say and not what their parents, relatives, or friends tell them to. They should not be rude, but should just node and then do what the coaches say.

This whole situations comes down to one of my pet peeves with Christians athletics. That it is somehow more "Christian" to lose. That it is a bad witness to play to win. In a athletic competition the goal is to win. If you are not there to win then do not show up. It saves everyone some embarrassment. In the school I went to there was this definite undercurrent that if you played hard, aggressive, pushed, shoved, and all of the others things required to win then you were not be a good "Christian witness." The only witness that kidn of attitude shows is that Christians are losers.

[JerryNumbers]

When did it become alright to kick someone when they're down? That is more or less what they did, or it has the same meaning. Seems in school sports there be coaches who gets a big kick out of doing such a thing. But all it proves in a complete lack of class and sportmanship.

What happened to good sportsmanship? Has it been forgotten about by even the Christians people in this world?

Surely if its alright for a basketball team to do this, them it would be alright for this to happen in the boxing ring. Many people would get a big thrill out of seeing all the blood while a human is getting beat to death.

This reminds me of the bullies you will find in our schools. They go about picking on anyone who they feel can't defend their selves, they do it just because they can't defend their selves, they think its lots of fun and entertaining. Why would be ever want to be like them in any manner?

Same with this basketball team, they run the score way up because the team can defend their self. Sad day when Christians cheer them on and say "Its alright." Not very Christ like setting their cheering a team on against a team that can't defend their self, nor cheering the boxer on when his opponent is already whipped and down.

What would Jesus do? I just can't see Jesus cheering the team on after their opponent have been beaten, no matter what sport it was in I just don't think He would get any enjoyment seeing a person nor a team running up a big score against a team that could not stop them.