Coach fired after disagreeing with apology for 100-0 win

[Xee]

Coach fired after breaking with his bosses over apology for 100-0 victory

By Associated Press
7:28 PM CST, January 25, 2009

DALLAS (AP) — 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.

"In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed," Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

A phone number for Grimes could not be located by The Associated Press. The Dallas Morning News said Grimes did not respond to their repeated e-mail requests for a telephone interview.

There was no answer at a number listed for Doshier.

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become one-sided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said last week. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

The story has received national attention, and the Dallas Academy team has been recognized for refusing to give up during the lopsided contest.

[Xee]

More politically-correct BS, in my opinion. Sometimes you get your asses kicked, that's it. Why the hell should you need to apologize for winning?

[Halas85]

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

There's political correctness, and then there's common decency. When you're coaching a team that's blowing out an opponent like this and you don't, by the fourth quarter, tell players that another three-point attempt will lead to a permanent spot on the bench for the rest of the night, you're not teaching the level of decency and class in loses AND wins for which student-athletes should be held accountable. This has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with a coach that apparently believes that the ass kicking shouldn't end even when the opponent's unconscious and bleeding from said ass.

[wab]

I do think in a blowout scenario there is a time for a coach to put in scrubs and tell non-scrubs to "ease up". To me it's not about being PC...it's about winning with class.

But I also don't think the guy shoulda got canned either.

[Halas85]

But I also don't think the guy shoulda got canned either.

I have to imagine that a coach with this much class probably had a little bit of a history with school administrators. As far as assumptions go, this one seems pretty safe to me.

[Ormazd]

What a dick. He had his team pressing nearly the whole game, too. The other team only got off 7 shots.

[gaba]

High school sports should not be ALL about winning and losing. Sure, you want to win, but it's equally important that you teach the kids about sportsmanship. Not having actually seen the game, I can't really judge what happened. I guess it's possible that they DID ease up a bit. It would be a little condescending to have an open shot and just not take it. That doesn't mean you can't loosen up the defense, play some scrubs and go at 3/4 speed.

The problem I might have here, is that it is expected that this team should do that. If you show mercy because you have to, then it's not really mercy. It sucks that it happened but these girls shouldn't feel bad about what happened. Making a public apology for beating some poor team's ass just feels like rubbing salt in the wounds to me. Just forget about it and move on. Why the f*&k do we have to apologize every time someone gets their feelings hurt?

[RING4CHI]

I lost two state championships when I was in high school. I now expect 2 apologies.

[gaba]

I lost two state championships when I was in high school. I now expect 2 apologies.

You lost 2 state championships? Shanked the FG huh?

[gaba]

Let me make it up to you imp... on behalf of the entire world.

I'm sorry you had to endure the embarrassment of being a kicker.

[gaba]

I'm sorry you live in Iowa. (There... that's 2.)

[Boris13c]

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.

ah ... so, if they had stopped shooting basketballs and simply starting nailing the opposing players to crosses at midcourt, that would have been ok? I mean nothing says "christlike" to me more than a good ol' crucifixion ...

[gaba]

Just to get it out of the way... perhaps I don't recall the bible correctly but I think Jesus was the one nailed to the cross. I don't think he ever did it to anyone else. But then... I haven't read the whole thing.

Okay, now that that is out of the way...




I don't think there really IS a "Christ-like approach to competition." Jesus would be too busy healing the injured players on the bench and turning the water-cooler into an instant party for the crowd behind the bench. Again, I might be wrong.

I loved the story in the bible where Jesus told his disciples to take the bread and fish and feed the crowd, then that the disciple that fed the most got to go to heaven with him. I also love the one where he approached the man possessed by 1000 demons and said "last one out's a rotten egg." That Jesus... he was all about competition.

But then... what can we expect from a group of people that claim to be his followers yet also vote republican.