That's right! You heard me.
By now, I'm sure you've all heard of the great tragedy in Dallas, Texas where the coach was fired for allowing his team to win over another school 100-0. In addition to firing the coach, Micah Grimes, the administration of Covenant School , a private Christian school called the January 13th win over Dallas Academy, "shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition."
In response, the Coach, who was asked to apologize, posted a statement on the Covenant website that said that he did not agree with the school, nor did he feel embarrassed or ashamed. His quote of significance said, "my values and my beliefs would not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with integrity and honor."
What about Dallas Academy? they have 8 girls on their varsity team and 20 girls in their high school. It is winless over the past 4 years. The academy is known for its small class sizes, and specializes in teaching students who struggle with "learning problems."
So, now that we have as much of this story as we know or probably need to, let's make some observations.
1. This coach is probably a jerk for pressing and shooting three-pointers when his team already had lead at halftime 59-0. However, have we thought about the other girls who played for the winning team? Are they supposed to just come in and know not to use their skills they have apparently learned a heck of a lot better than the other team? My answer is, No!
2. What the Hell is Dallas Academy doing playing basketball if they can't even compete? That's unfair and uninteresting for teams that are trying to compete fairly. Their losing forces a team to quit playing the game honestly, and do other things that may hurt them when they have to play against a team that can compete.
3. The Coach is apparently teaching his kids to play basketball very well. He was hired, I assume to teach, and at least in this case, basketball. One could argue whether he has great compassion, or whether or not he's too aggressive in winning, but no one can argue the fact that he's either a great teacher, recruiter, or both. Yet, he gets fired for doing his job, as I'm sure he was not hired with the hope that he would beat Dallas' Academy's losing streak by losing as much as possible.
4. What is the purpose of the game when you play it? You want to score and you want the other team not to score. Guess what, mission accomplished! The ultimate in this case is a shutout. So Covenant Academy is so ashamed, that they forfeit the game, which now becomes a 2-0 win for Dallas Academy. What? We give 2 more points credit to an unprepared team than they could score themselves, we bail out a coach who is doing a lousy job teaching, and we in a very politically correct manufacture a gray area that says that it's not about winning and losing, but strictly how you do it. Talk about sending a mixed bag of messages to kids, what are they learning here?
5. Our country thrives on competition, and yes, we want to win with class, but winning and losing in our society is part of who we are. For every winner, there is a loser. If you don't have a chance to compete, should you step into that situation until you have at least some of the fundamental tools. I won't be able to compete against a great golfer until I have practiced and honed the skills to step onto that stage. The coach is classless, but should never have been fired. Admonished, yes; not fired. The people that should be fired are the two administrations of these two schools who taught all the wrong lessons to the students involved.
One group learned that winning is wrong, and the other learned that someone will bail you out even if you lose. They were also taught that basketball in this case was made too important instead of worrying about more life and death issues that deserve far greater attention.
No, I say fire the two administrations, and depending on the situation, the OTHER COACH who has done a terrible job. If I walked into a classroom to teach students and consistently over 4 years had such bad lessons that it was the equivalent of a losing streak every day, I would expect to be fired, and any administrator worth his salt would do it. In this case, the only one with any salt were the kids that competed.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Wrong Coach Got Fired!
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5 comments:
If I remember something of your bio, Gary, you were a successful girl's basketball coach. I can stake claim to leaving my two years coaching 7th grade basketball with a very average record.
I don't quite see how you can say this:
"know not to use their skills they have apparently learned a heck of a lot better than the other team"
How about a little wager. If you remember, I am at Indiana University. I will scour my 30,000+ campus for 12 of the best young women basketball players. You go down to York Community College and seek out the best 8 young women players you can find.
After a set period for us to coach our players let's play a game or two. I would venture a guess that my team would probably clean up the floor with your team. It's not likely to be a shut out, but I bet my team would win handily.
After that, I don't think either of us could say with a straight face that I was a better coach than you. Player talent matters, too.
Maybe instead of learning that winning is wrong the players on the winning team learned a lesson in compassion.
As a former coach myself I can say for sure that laying a pasting like that on someone else does neither team any good.
I question why the samhill an Athletic Director would even schedule a matchup like that. I'd be interested in hearing their response....."Oops" wouldn't be good enough for me.
If I had been in that coach's shoes I probably would have handled it differently. I certainly wouldn't have had the girls pressing and jacking up 3-pointers. I'd have slowed the game down, watched the clock run out, shake the opposing coach's hand and go home. The next day I'd be in the A.D.'s office before school started.
Wow. Hope they weren't in a full court press at 80-0. I've read that in some areas they have a mercy rule, like if the margin gets to be 40+ in the second half, the clock runs nonstop to the end of the game- something along those lines.
Slow news day ??
You guys are pansies. I coached. I coached more than one sport. I coached teams that did very well and I coached teams that had more issues that my grandmother had prescriptions. I have no problems with the winning coach. He told his kids to do a job and they did. He was not wrong. The most impressive number here is not 100, it is 0. It seems that the losing team should not be playing in that league and perhaps the administration of that school ought to be seeking competition for its team in a more appropriate league.
the schools and the league have taught that the lessons that losers should whine and winning cannot be done with class. Administrations like these are why I no longer coach.
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