Should the coach have been held to blame for this?
 

DALLAS — The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

Kyle Queal, the headmaster for Covenant School, said in The Dallas Morning News online edition that he could not answer if the firing was a direct result of coach Micah Grimes' e-mail disagreeing with administrators who called the blowout "shameful."

Queal did not immediately answer phone messages or e-mail from The Associated Press.

On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.

Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to the newspaper that he does not agree with his school's assessment.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=904726

I don't know how much the coach should be held to blame for something like this. When I played baseball in high school, there was a team in our league that was horrible - just absolutely terrible. There were situations where we scored a bunch of runs, but it wasn't like we were trying to run up the score..it just kind of happened.

I'd assume that's what happened here. I think, short of just dribbling around and letting the shot clock expire on every possession, there's not a whole lot more that could have been done.

That said - it sounds like the coach was fired in a public relations move because of his email, not because of what happened in the game.

I don't understand shit like this. Why is the coach getting punished for coaching his team correctly? What are they suppose to do, end the game at half-time? The coach probably would have gotten shit for letting the game end soon and for being up 59 points.

People are sore losers, and they just can't be happy for a team that does well in a game.

The refs should have called the game for a blowout...heh...

I wonder if there was some kind of non competitive rule out there ...I mean by 50 or 60 to 0 somebody should ahve just threw in the towel...heck the coach that had the team with ZERO should have been blamed for sticking a non competitive team out there...SMH

I read that... the coach should not have run the score up like that. They were playing a 30 person school for people with learning disabilities.

The coach is a douchbag and he deserved to be fired. His team was obviously running up the score. They were taking 3 pointers and playing a full court press right til the end.

Totally low class. They schedule a game against a school for handicapped kids with only 24 girls in the school and then they run up the score.

And like the school officials said, not very "Christlike"!

According to the school's website, it specializes in teaching kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia.

DS - in my state there was a rule for baseball games (I think 10 or 15 runs); I would wonder why there wasn't some sort of similar rule in TX for basketball games, like the game ends after the first half if the score is a certain amount, etc.

As a coach, I can say that even when you play teams that aren't at the level of your own, you can ALWAYS find a way to keep the score down. It was an unfair blowout and they continued their full court press. There are always modifications that can be made -- i.e.: only dribbling with left hands, shooting after ten passes, etc. Maybe they had a team that was stacked, but there is still no excuse for this. Its poor sportsmanship and we should use sports to help these kids become better citizens, something that the fired coach obviously knows nothing about. The refs also are partially to blame as they should have done something..although, sometimes coaches don't listen to refs at all and there may not be rules in the book that allow refs to call a game in that situation.

Well that changes my opinion drastically...thank you for pointing that out. I saw that but it really wasn't pushed frontwards in the story, thus it didn't really stick.


WWJD

The kids have learning disabilities, I don't think that means they are "handicapped."

I know people with dyslexia, and other learning disabilities, and yet they can still play sports, be in theater, be in orchestra/band.

If these kids disability does inhibit their basketball ability, then I think the fault should be placed on the DA coach, not on the Covenant coach.

There is no "mercy" rule in Girl's basketball that says they have to stop the game if the score is being run up, so it wasn't like the coach broke any rules.

Being a douchebag is one thing, but getting fired for doing his job is another.

Maybe it's not so much of a rule..moreso just a matter of ethics or being polite I guess.

I am still curious to know what kept the other team from scoring not one single point...I don't think I ever heard of a team scoring zero points in basketball unless it was just that lopsided...we see someone hitting a full court lucky shot every few months and these young ladies didn't hit a basket in range?

Hmmmm....I dunno

Would you please tell this to Bob Stoopes? ;)

I think running the score up on anyone is classless, but unfortunately, it is sort of becoming de rigueur.

No longer are teams taught to win with class and lose with dignity. Now it's all about how many points (style points???) are scored. That is the measure of worth! Not, HOW you won the game...

His job is to teach his students how to play well and how to exhibit good sportsmanship. If this story is any real indication about this guy, I wouldn't want him coaching at my school or coaching my kids.


"I said a long time ago in my career that if what I'm doing is just about W's and L's – wow, how superficial! I give up my whole life to that? No, its about investing in people. If you just help one person in a small way, if they have a better life because of it, you know you've done something."

Kay Yow, 1942-2009

This has been on the radio for the last two days. The students all have IEPs. There are lots of students out there with IEPs-including ADHD students. The losing team wasn't upset about losing-that's the kicker. The administration of the winning team forfitted the game. I also found it interesting to learn that the winning team had a 2-17 record only four years ago. The coach trained his players and planned games against larger public schools to improve his players. I think there has got to be more to this story.

In high school we played a team that scored 1 point to our 39. The one point was gained from a free throw after they got into the bonus. We played everyone on the bench and tried to let them score..they were just REALLY bad at shooting. It was at the point where I was a center who rarely played and I was only allowed to shoot from beyond the arc. All guards shot lefty and we were only allowed to take a shot if we were completely wide open.

Apparently Dallas Academy struggled to even field a team, but they put in hours of practice each week. I believe that they struggled to score any points...especially on a team that was pressing and playing full man-to-man defense the entire game.

My point is that there are ways to attempt to keep the score low, still make it challenging for your own team. My lacrosse team has a codeword that I yell onto the field if the score is becoming too lopsided. They know that the codeword means that they're to only play with their non-dominate hands and are to not take any fast break points.

Something else comes to mind also, part of his job as coach may also go along with what the school decides to do.

It's a possibility that his firing was a result of his publicly speaking out against the school's apology on thier website.

How can the school look to be apologetic if the head of the team refuses to go along with the apology?

If both entities are in disagreement over the apology, it's probably worth nothing to give it.

When I was in middle school I played on the 8th grade basketball team. We were really good. And when I say we, I mean the team played very well, not me. I only played maybe a quarter's worth every game. Which was fine with me, I was just having fun.

Whenever the score would get run up on our side, I'd play a whole lot more.

I'm really proud that I was the reason the contest was more fair. Yay for no hand-eye coordination!

It seems to me that the school for special kids shouldn't be in this athletic league. Either that, or the really good team needs to be in a league with more parity.

Most athletic leagues are paired by location and enrollment. I know that some states also have different leagues for public and private schools. Athletic dominance in sports changes too often and it would be far to difficult to specialize it for every sport. They could be horrible at every other sport and just have a good girls' basketball program.

That's what I thought - not to be cynical, but I think that if he had spoken the party line, so to speak, he would still have a job. Whether he should have kept his job is, obviously, a matter for debate.

Yeah, that is what I wondered too.....even the worst players can get at least score one basket.

I mean, it was wrong for the Cambridge coach to run up the score, but when was he suppose to call it? At half when the score was 59-0?

If they cut it at the half, parents of the DA players would have probably been upset that they didn't get a chance to up their score, and people would have still complained that he run up the score.


Ahh yes, I can see that, although it is a dumb reason to fire someone (although with school districts, any "dumb" reason can get someone fired)

It's a private school, so they would have much more leeway to fire someone than would the typical public school. As for it being a dumb reason, in my experience most church-related private schools have some very defined ideas of mission and philosophy. Teacher who do not reflect (or are not willing to reflect) that philosophy will be let go. Simple as that.

FWIW, this is the school's statement, as posted on the school's website:

The Covenant School, its board and administrators, regrets the incident of January 13 and the outcome of the game with the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team. It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition. We humbly apologize for our actions and seek the forgiveness of Dallas Academy, TAPPS and our community. The school and its representatives in no way support or condone the running up of a score against any team in any sport for any reason. The school’s board members, Head of School Kyle Queal and Athletic Director Brice Helton have acted to ensure that such an unfortunate incident can never happen again.

Covenant school officials have met with and personally apologized to Dallas Academy Headmaster Jim Richardson and Athletic Director Jeremy Civello and wish to extend their highest praise to each member of the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team for their strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner. Accordingly, The Covenant School has contacted TAPPS and is submitting a formal request to forfeit the game recognizing that a victory without honor is a great loss.

Kyle Queal
Head of School

Todd Doshier
Board Chair

The coach's response is here. It's long, but worth reading. After reading it, I'll stop suggesting that he was acting in an unsportsmanlike-way in the way he coached during the game. It does appear to me that he is no longer at the school not because of his attitude to the game per se, but because he would not join in on the apology and because he publically disagreed with his bosses.

Considering that he worked for a private Christian school, following the party line is extremely important to the people who run these schools. They only want employees who foster the religious and ethical standards that attract students to that type of school. So says the nine year veteran of private Christian education. Often these values are more p
important than the competence of their teachers/coaches.

The game never should have reached the score that it did. I feel like his comments in there about the blowout that his team previously experienced made it seem as though he was doing a favor to Dallas Academy. Also, I think the guy is a cocky prick for posting quotes that players have made about him. Defending yourself is one thing -- boasting about yourself is another.

It also says 80-90% of their students go to college. That's a pretty high rate.

At what point does the losing team take a little responsibility?

I agree that they should have held down their score. That said, there really should be a mercy rule. I played on the worst softball team in the league, and we appreciated that rule a whole lot!

Take responsibility for what -- still having the pride to put a team on the court even though they're losing? For spending hours practicing and for some girls to sacrifice their time to join the team because they almost didn't have enough players to field a team? For suffering the embarrassment of making national headlines even though it takes a person with a great attitude to go onto the court and represent their school, knowing that they may be the weakest team in their division and lose every game?

The word around here is that the leaders of the school felt that the coach was being insubordinate. Insubordination is one offense that can get you fired (or nonrenewed contract) or transfered in a public school. In a private school, it would apparently be an automatic firing.

For not scoring one point.

That has nothing to do with the situation. The issue is that the coach of the winning team just didn't know when to stop or how to control his team.

It was the responsibility of the losing coach to prepare their team to be competitive.

It's funny how two people can read the same thing and come to different conclusions.

I, for one, believe what he's saying and take the words of the actual players to heart.

Wow. I totally read that differently. I felt like the coach saying that the 86-6 blow-out they suffered was horrible, but that his team learned from it so he wouldn't complain about the other team's performance.
I think that the quotes from the players showed more about the game and the team and him as a coach than his statement did. I also think that including their thoughts gave them an outlet that they were not provided. There are people who are calling these girls and their coach un-christian because of how they played. That is unfair to the team. The same way the losing team went to the gym and put in hours and sacrificed the winning team did. To forfeit their hard work is disrespectful to those girls. It is not as if they did not play to get those points and the W. They busted their butts on the court and won the game. They deserved the W. Punishing the team because the coach wasn't more restrictive in the 2nd and 3rd quarters is completely uncalled for. I mean 29/24 points 8 players thats 3/4 points per player which means they're only making 2 baskets each against a horrible team. They only scored 12 points in the 4th so I think the coach should have done more to reel in the team during the 2nd and 3rd. For the most part the only thing the coach could do to better the score would be to tell his team not to even make an effort.

For the most part both teams have done most of the above. Quite frankly I think the losing team may have had too much pride. if the score is 59-0 at the half as a coach you probably should back out of the game. The losing team is so bad that they didnt get a basket. There is some responsibility that falls on their team for playing that poorly.


ETA: I agree with the coach going against the admins because his team worked hard and played well to say that they are sorry for doing well and to forfeit that game was out of order. Someone needed to stand up for that team and as the coach he should have been (and was) that someone

Backing out?? What kind of example would that show. The whole thing has to do with class and sportsmanship, something that the coach obviously lacks.

Here's what I posted on another forum about this topic.

That would show that for every person there may come a time when you're in over your head and need to back out. I usually would not advocate backing out, but in this situation there is not much that could have been done. Its either the other team basically quits playing because they're scoring too much or your team quits because they're that much better.

I think the fact that the score consistantly droped shows that they played with class and sportsmanship. If the winning team is even decent it would be hard for them to not score on the other team. Its like saying you shouldn't score that many points playing with no opposition. They were playing with very little opposition so of course they're going to keep scoring. what would have shown more sportsmanship? Him telling his team not to defend the other team and not to take shots?

Coach: Okay team in these last three quarters there will be no rebounds, no defense, and no shooting.

You know... I'm just going to let you know that I read that and disagree :D

but.....

Texas scored more points in the 4th quarter than OU did last year... just sayin'