TOXIC COACHING NEWS

3/14/08 - Youth Football Coach Intended to Threaten Referee with Explosive
(Article)
A youth football coach pleaded guilty to knowingly accepting a loaded pistol with the intention of intimidating the referee at a game, NBC News reports. After some inappropriate conduct, the referee terminated one of the games in the series early. The football coach threatened the referee and then proceeded to the parking lot, where he retrieved a bag containing a loaded .45-caliber pistol. He walked back onto the field carrying the bag with the weapon. The referee fled the scene before the police arrived. Police officers later found the bag containing the firearm and ammunition in the coach’s vehicle. The coach now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

2/27/08 – Upset at the Referee, Grade School Coach Causes a Scene
A grade school girl’s basketball coach was charged of grabbing and cursing at a teen referee who had ejected him from the game, a web staff for Katu News of Portland, Oregon reports. The 34-year-old coach was whistled for a technical foul in the first half when he argued with the 17-year-old referee about a foul called on one of his players. He was finally ejected from the game at the start of the second half after slamming his clipboard down on the hand of a student scorekeeper because he was upset about the officiating. Sherriff officials said it was just one of many confrontations that erupted during the game, which reportedly ended in a brawl between coaches and fans from both teams, exchanging vulgar words at each other.

1/31/08 - High School Wrestling Coach Bits Student
 A high school wrestling coach agreed to resign after being accused of biting a wrestler in the leg while wrestling with him, the Washington Post reports. The bite caused bruising, but did not draw blood. The student decided not to pursue prosecution and opted to drop the matter if the accused coach resigns. The coach’s attorney claimed that the incident was “completely innocent” and not malicious. The alleged incident took place “while he was joking around with one of the wrestlers. Certainly it was poor judgment and it cost him his job,” added the attorney.

11/01/07 – Youth Football Coach Attacks 12-year-old Player Who Knocked His Son to the Ground, Threatens to Kill Him (Article)
An assistant youth football coach is expected to be charged with battery and disorderly conduct after a 12-year-old player claimed the coach threw him to the ground and threatened him, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. During a practice for the boy's middle school football team, he made a block on his coach's son. After the block, the coach's son appeared to be injured and was on the ground screaming when his father approached him. The coach grabbed the player who blocked his son by the face mask and slammed him to the ground while hurling obscenities at him and threatening to kill him. The coach had to be forcibly restrained by other coaches. The boy was treated at a hospital for a bruised shoulder and is wearing a sling. The coach told police he "lost his cool," and he was trying to get the player away from his son (who sustained a thigh bruise).

10/25/07 – Two Youth Football Coaches Fight, Expelled from League (Article)
A post-game fight between two Pee Wee divison football coaches was caught on surveillance tape when it moved from the field into a nearby parking lot, KPHO reports. One of the coaches accused the other of running up the score in the game, which ended 26-12. Once both men had calmed down and went to leave, one of the coaches boxed the other one in with his car. A second fight broke out when the boxed in coach's wife and son joined the fray. The fight ended when a security guard intervened. Police intend to charge the wife and son with aggravated assault., and the coaches have been expelled from the league.

10/12/07 – Youth Coach Brings a Bag Carrying a Gun to a Game (Article)
A youth football coach was accused of carrying a bag carrying a gun to a game and now faces federal gun charges, The Baltimore Sun reports. A referee ended his team's youth football game early because of inappropriate behavior by one of the teams and its coaches. The accused coach threatened the referee, and then was seen heading toward the parking lot and back to the field holding a black bag. When police arrived, the coach ran back to the parking lot, place the bag in a pickup truck, and leave. Prosecutors say the owner of the truck consented to a search which revealed a black bag containing a loaded .45-caliber pistol. Authorities say that the coach was prohibited from possessing a firearm because of a prior felony conviction.

9/19/07 – Football Coach Pushes Opposing Team's Player to the Ground (Article)
A high school football coach in Wisconsin was accused of pushing a player on the opposing team to the ground during a game, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The coach, also one of the school's Spanish teachers, was attempting to correct a player on his team who was out of bounds and clear up the sideline. While leaning down to help up one of his players from the ground, an opposing team's player's helmet apparently made contact with the coach's face. What he claimed to be his "knee-jerk reaction" was to shove the player off of him, consequently pushing the boy to the ground. The coach was suspended for two games, issued a letter of reprimand and ordered to apologize to the opposing team's football coach.

9/14/07 – After a Car Collision with a Child on a Bicycle, High School Coach Leaves the Scene to Attend Team Dinner (Article)
A high school head football coach in Oklahoma was leaving the football stadium after practice to attend a team dinner the night before a game when a 7-year-old on a bicycle hit the coach's vehicle, the Associated Press reports. The boy suffered a broken collarbone, a bump on the head, and road rash on a leg and shoulder. The coach was less than understanding about the incident, leaving the scene a little while after the accident and failing to notify the police. Drivers involved in injury accidents must call police. Later that evening, police contacted the coach and asked him to come to the hospital to fill out a report. While there, he was reported as commenting, "I ought to be dealing with tomorrow night's game, not this crap." He was also quoted as saying, "I'm not going to file a report against a little kid, even though my car was damaged. It was the kid's fault. ” The coach pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge for failing to immediately notify police after getting into a traffic accident which involved an injury, and a civil suit is expected to be filed.

9/11/07 – Coach Sent Boy Home in Underwear (Article)
A Cincinnati mother claims her 10-year-old son’s football coach sent the boy home from practice in his underwear, WLWT News reports. The coach had kicked him off the team after he deviated from team rules during a practice drill in which players ran up and down a hill. The boy chose to walk down the hill in order to avoid bumping into and knocking over teammates directly ahead of him, and his coach berated him in front of the other players, telling the boy: “You’re too slow for the team; you’re no good for the team.” The coach demanded that the player take off his uniform and equipment and return them, right there on the field. The boy complied, disrobing in front of his teammates and some parents who were sitting in the bleachers observing the practice. The coach then instructed the boy to observe the remainder of the practice from the bleachers, clad only in his t-shirt and boxers. The boy went home and reported the incident to his mother who reported the incident. His coach denied any wrongdoing.

8/5/07 – Fight between Two Little League Coaches Leads to Criminal Case, Lawsuit (Article)
A fight between two opposing coaches over a “close call” has led to a criminal case and a civil lawsuit, The Daily News of Los Angeles reports. The incident occurred during a game involving 13- and 14-year-olds when a coach’s son was involved in a “close call” at home plate at the bottom of the seventh inning. The opposing team’s coach became enraged at the boy, apparently because he believed that the player had come in high with his cleats at home plate, thereby colliding with the catcher. He screamed at the runner and then screamed at the umpire. The player’s father, also a coach, came in from third base and a verbal altercation between the two coaches ensued. The two men ignored an umpire’s order to stop fighting and were ejected from the game, but the battle continued and the umpire decided to cut the game short. When the teams lined up to shake hands, the father of the base runner tried to patch things up, but the coach who took issue with the umpire’s ruling responded by screaming and spitting at him. The father stepped back to leave, but the other coach grabbed his shirt, shaking him, kicked him in the groin, causing him to fall to the ground, kicked him in the ribs, dug his fingers into his eye socket and gouged his face and neck, a lawsuit filed by the former against the latter claims. Another coach from the attacking coach’s team joined in on the fight, but it was eventually pulled apart by other adults at the game. The attacking coach was arrested three days later on suspicion of battery and a civil suit has been filed against him.

7/11/07 – T-Ball Coach Ordered Beaning of Autistic Player (Article)
A youth basketball coach was convicted of offering an 8-year-old player money to bean an 11-year-old autistic teammate, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The coach offered the 8-year-old $25 to hit his autistic and mildly retarded teammate with a ball while warming up before a playoff game. The younger boy complied, and hit his teammate twice. The first hit bounced and hit him in the groin, and the second ricocheted off the left side of his face, tearing his earlobe. It is suspected that the coach didn’t want the autistic boy to play in the game because he didn’t play as well as his teammates. League rules require each player to play at least three innings. The coach confessed that he had done something “pretty ignorant.” He was convicted of criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault and corruption of minors

6/30/07 – Little League Coaches Fight at Practice, Booted from League (Article)
Two men from La Porte, IN who coached for the same team reportedly swung bats at each other near a baseball diamond where they were holding little league practice, The Herald Argus reports. The coaches, ages 21 and 25, were hitting ground balls to four players during practice. At one point, one of the men said he no longer wanted to hit ground balls and began walking off the field. The other coach and his 19-year-old brother began to make fun of the first coach, leading to the fight. The baseball association for which the two men were volunteering decided that they should no longer be coaching and booted them from the league.

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