Coach on the Winning End of 100-0 High School Rout Gets Fired, Remains Adamant He Did Nothing Wrong
Youth Sports January 26th. 2009, 11:30am
We spent most of Friday working on the Al Michaels interview, and so we never really got a chance to chime in on the 100-0 girls basketball rout. Since then, a lot’s happened!
* The winning school’s administration, feeling the sting of a local and then national backlash, offered to forfeit the game.
* The winning school’s coach went to a website to defend himself and his team. “I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel ‘embarrassed’ or ‘ashamed.’” He also talks about how his team backed off big-time when the score was 25-0.
* The winning coach was fired.
After reading the coach’s defense, it seems like a bit of an overreaction to fire the guy. Sure, we’re in an era where everybody gets a trophy, parents in youth sports seem to have more passion for the games than the young athletes themselves, and sportsmanship (thanks to youngsters emulating the pros they watch on TV) is in the shitter. But fire the guy?
Two questions for the school administration: 1) Did anyone from the school witness the game in person, or on video? 2) After reading the coach’s breakdown, is it possible the media (nods in the direct of ESPN) blew the story out of proportion? If his team wasn’t shooting three, was working the clock, and wasn’t pressing, is this really that much different of an outcome than the 82-6 beating Covenant took a few years ago?
Covenant coach who beat Dallas Academy 100-0 is fired (Dallas Morning News)
69 Responses to “Coach on the Winning End of 100-0 High School Rout Gets Fired, Remains Adamant He Did Nothing Wrong”
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January 26th, 2009 at 11:34 am
are they suppose to jack shots up from half court after they’re up 25-0? this is incredibly dumb.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:35 am
My favorite part is they never stopped their full-court press.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:37 am
But yet, you backed off? Riiiight.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:38 am
but he says they called off the dogs after 1 qtr!
i’ll never forget the intramural semifinals in college, where i swear we played a team straight out of blue chips. we had nobody who could dunk; they had at least 3 guys.
they full court pressed us the entire time, even up 40. bastards. i nearly got in a fight.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Mike & Mike are probably why the coach got fired. They think that this is the biggest travesty in the history of sports. Who cares. It is a highschool girls basketball game. If you have ever watched much highschool basketball you know most of it is just garbage. The women’s game is extremely un-athletic. It is no suprise a team got beat 100-0. The coach that should have got fired was the one who lost. I mean come on. Get your girls to at least draw a foul and shoot some free throws.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
i hate this shit…this is why kids grow up to be pussies. if you’re not good enough, you’ll find out sooner or later, might as well let young kids know that just showing up doesn’t mean shit (i wish HoF voters applied that rationale to cal ripken)…
and wouldn’t you want them to shoot 3’s? much lower % shot than a layup this team was seemingly getting at will.
i see nothing wrong here.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
The covenant team could probably beat the Maryland Men’s team. Duke handed them an epic beatdown this weekend. 15 points at half is just embarrassing.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:41 am
at what point if you are on the losing team does it stop being upsetting and start being funny?
January 26th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Naturally. Idiots.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Except, the coach says he called it off after 3 minutes and a score of 25-0.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:45 am
There is no bigger d-bag in sports than the team/coach/player/fan who whines about getting beat soundly. Missouri football fans complained that Stoops and OU “ran up the score” on ‘em this past season. Here’s an idea Tigger fans: How bout you STOP them, just once?
Same here. When you are dominating the hell out of someone, is it really your fault that they are that inferior an opponent? Everybody showed up to play the game and now the loser doesn’t like how things are shaking out. Well too bad, you suck, deal with it.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
So winning is bad. Got it.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
When you’re in Mark Cuban’s skybox watching a Mavs game.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:48 am
A few of the parents on the losing side said the full-court press was taking place in the fourth quarter, and they kept bombing 3s.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:50 am
this is why we still have to endure womens basketball….people still treat it like it matters.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:51 am
maybe harsh….people still treat it like it’s watchable
January 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I watch it often.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
“It’s not worth winning if you can’t win big!”
Seriously, I’d only fire this coach if he apologized for being good at his job.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Yeah, it seems like the coach is lying here. All other accounts of the game were the 3 pointers and full court press were still going on in the 4th quarter.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:57 am
The lengths winning teams sometimes go to to avoid the appearance of running up the score is often more embarrassing than the loss itself.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:58 am
The other team should have never been playing at that level in the first place. They’re more of a girls town team competing against girls looking for college scholarships.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
My senior year in high school our team got beat 90 - 7 in football. On Homecoming. We didn’t really care. Of course, not caring much may have assisted in that 90 - 7 score. We gave up 82 a couple weeks later.
Moral of the story… It didn’t scar any of us for life.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Dallas Academy should hire him as a coach
January 26th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Yeah! Those girls should grow a set of balls and take that asswhipping like a man!!
January 26th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
And why didn’t the losing coach throw in the towel at the half? Why didn’t the winning coach go to a four corners offense after the first quarter?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
How do you go from getting beat 82-6 to beating a team 100-0 in a few years? How do you get shutout in basketball? There is no way they dialed it back and got 100 points. I would watch a tape of this game i think.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
if it was such a travesty, the AD should be fired for scheduling such an inferior team
January 26th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I cant believe the shutout part of it either.. the losing team couldn’t draw one foul? Come on refs, throw them a bone.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I hope these hoes can can cook.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
4 corners brought about the shot clock for a good reason; it was horrible basketball. Also, 4 corners was implemented as a defensive posture on offense to preserve a victory, not as a way to keep from hurting someone’s feelings too much. I mean when you look at it what is worst, getting beat 100-0, or getting beat 59-0 with the other team playing monkey in the middle with you for the entire second half?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
By dropping Penelope, Molly, Abigail and Caroline for Savannah, Wren, and Marquita
January 26th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
The kids on neither team suffered. The people watching did. Whoever scheduled this game should’ve been fired, not the coach. I know if I was on a team with a chance to beat someone 100-0, I would be playing like it was game seven in the NBA finals. If I was on the losing side, someone would be missing some teeth…
January 26th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Pussification of America at its finest!
January 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
did anyone ask the team that lost if they actually give a shit? 100-0 seems to me like they wouldn’t even want to watch a basketball game on TV.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. the only thing i would have done differently is taken off my press after a 30 point lead or slightly sooner. the object on offense is to score as many points as you can. the object on defense is to stop the other team from scoring as many points as they can. the rules do not state there is a specific time to let the other team feel ok about themselves. the guy who should be fired is the losing coach.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Have we ruled out these girls being handicapped?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’m all for that on college/pro level, but the players in question go to a school for slow learners/mentally handicapped girls. Not really apples-to-apples.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
why would anyone even schedule this game. play against other like schools.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Our Mission: Dallas Academy restores the promise of full academic enrichment to students with learning differences. Our staff establishes a meaningful connection with each student to overcome barriers to success.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
They deal with kids who are diagnosed with things like ADD, not necessarily mentally handicapped which is totally different.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
These were the best players on my high schools girls team.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I remember an 80-0 girls basketball game about a decade ago that drew some national attention. It pitted one of the top girls teams in the state against one of the worst (a district contest that had to be played). The coach for the winning team didn’t play her starters at all and pulled her second team after a quarter-and-a-half when it was obvious the game was in hand. She played junior high kids the rest of the way, but she ran her offense saying, “Those kids practice just as hard as their kids do. They deserve the right to play and, at some point, it’s up to their kids to stop us.” She also told her girls, under no circumstances were they to foul … not because they wanted the shutout but because she thought that would encourage the opposing team to drive to the bucket for (presumably) an easy layup. Never happened.
When I asked, “Did you ever consider fouling them so they could go to the line?” her response was, “Which is more insulting, shutting an opponent out or intentionally fouling someone and giving them free points? Why not just have one of my players shoot it in out own goal? That would accomplish the same thing … giving them points.” Kinda hard to argue with that logic.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Yikes. That’s a whole new aspect to the story I was not aware of. Can see how this would be a sensitive issue to the schools involved. At least according to the article, the losing team moving to a different league.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
The winning team only has EIGHT girls on the roster. I’m at a loss on what the winning coach should have done, outside playing keepaway from the other team, or feeding the losing team with a pass so they could make a layup.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Adderall?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
NickP showing some heart. I like it. I have 3 daughters in this age range and some of the comments here are despicable. Some of you guys that think they just suck or that they need to learn how to cook are just assholes.
As far as the game goes, you need to win with class and lose with class. I was not at the game, so I do not know if they stopped pressing and stopped jacking 3’s, but that is a very important point. The coach said only one 3 was made in the 2nd half, but didn’t say how many were attempted. If they kept pressing and kept shooting three’s, then they are deserving of all the bad press and reaction they’ve gotten. If not, then whoever reported that as fact when it is fiction should be on the chopping block.
This is the difference between Tom Osbourne & Nebraska being ahead by 50 points and only running the ball between the tackles the rest of the game - if they score fine, if not that’s fine too. That is classy. Contrast that with Spurrier or some of the other guys who are still calling reverses and trick plays when up by 50. Bush league and deserving of scorn.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Chris if you raise winners you have nothing to worry about. Challenge your kids to be winners and they wont get stuck in the kitchen.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Just keep them off the pole.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
LoL. Im glad someone listens to Chris Rock.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
The losing coach and his team say, “We don’t play to win…”
Well, then what the hell do you expect to happen? Herman Edwards would be very disappointed.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I am always amazed how people who have “kids” react to these things. It is like they have some profound insight those of us without children have on the world.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Maybe Dallas Academy should hire the former Covenant coach?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
@ Coach K -
Thank you.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Wrong. Typical “if it doesn’t affect me, then i do not care” bullshit. I worry about dickheads like you disparaging other peoples kids. Just because they aren’t my kids doesn’t mean I cannot care about their well being. At my daughters basketball games, I never root for the other girls to screw up like you would. You’d probably cheer at a 9th grade girl getting hurt if it was the oppositions best player.
These girls are trying to learn to play the game. How exactly does stomping on an inferior opponent teach the “winners” anything?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Coach - if you don’t think having kids gives a parent more insight on how kids should react and do react to adolescent situations, then you have the intellegence of an elementary schooler.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Chris that’s a bunch of loser talk. Detroit sucks.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
That’s some bullshit that the guy was fired. If he called off the press and let them get their shots off then what was supposed to tell his team to do? Accidentally tip in one of their baskets so they could score? And how does one not draw a foul and go to the line? Fire the coach who couldn’t get his team to score a bucket.
And where are the mercy rules these days?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
@ Chelsea Chris -
What’s the big deal here? Some girls can’t play basketball very good? This story is so overblown and such a non-issue that it has morphed into a platform for bleeding hearts to preach and lecture people on.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
All I know is that I need to get me some kids, so I can finally get some morality and insight to how the world should work.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Oh and I just read the article about him getting fired. The team they played was from a school for people with learning disabilities and hasn’t won a game in 4 fucking years. The ones that need to be fired are the administrators of the school system for putting these kids against competition (way) out of their league.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I think this is exactly the problem. Coach who got fired said he called off the press, other coach said the team was still pressing until they scored the 100th point midway through the 4th.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Bacon (great name, BTW),
My original point was that I do not know how the coach handled it. Seems to be conflicting reports. But IF he did continue to press and jack 3’s in an attempt to get to 100 points, then the coach and team are deserving of all the negativity. If that is not true, then I agree with Rockstar…if they played normal defense and normal offense and let the reserves play, then fine.
It is about winning with class and trying to teach the girls something about basketball and about life. You do not humilate weeker foes in sports or in life. It makes you look worse than your target.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
= point shaving?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It’s probably difficult for the slowlearner school to schedule games. There’s probably very few (if any) schools like that in their area.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@ Chelsea Chris -
What if that was the winning team’s style of play to press mercilessly and put as much heat on the opponent as possible? So now they are on the hook to alter their play because the athletic director scheduled a game against a team that had no business being in the same building?
And where in the rule book does it state a team is required to play with class? I’d like for there to be world peace, I’d like to see homeless people get a free furnished apartment and I’d like for starving nations to be fed but life is not a Norman Rockwell painting.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Actually, it is now.
Chhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanggggeee!!!!onel!!11eleven!!
January 26th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
@Bacon - the whole point of class is that it IS NOT in the rule book. If it was in the rule book, it wouldn’t be classy, it would be required. You act nicely and treat others with respect because it is the right thing to do, not because you have to. That should be the lesson.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Class gets you ass.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
@ Chelsea -
If you have class, you don’t point fingers at those who don’t. You also don’t whine, preach or lecture people about its definition.
If a team full of slow, over-matched, inept wanna-be ballers steps on my court, they’re getting taken to school. Bring your tissue.