http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-h...p&type=lgns

Funny and interesting story, imo.

sounds like he should have been fired

The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with “learning differences,” such as short attention spans or dyslexia.


why was this game scheduled in the first place?

This is why he shouldn't be fired. Who sets up this game?

That's my exact feeling about the whole situation. The local governing body for High School sports in that area (Section whatever) should be taking all of this heat, not the school, coach and team. It's shameful that the school fired the coach for doing his job by keeping his team motivated and playing their absolute best.

If the opposing team can't be even marginally competitive then they shouldn't be there. It isn't good for anyone.

I see both sides of this one.

1) Regardless of the level of the competition... the coach needs to prepare his team for the playoffs. That means running his offense the way it would be run if it were a tie game.

2) was it necessary to ring up a 100 points on a team that had no business even playing his school.

I didn't see the game so I don't know if those 100 points could have been 200 had he tried...or was he really trying to run up the score for no other reason than to embarrass the other team.

I would venture to say that his firing came from his meeting with the school board and how he handled that part of it.

Board: Why did you run up the score on those poor kids?

Coach: Hey...screw 'em! They shouldn't even show up if they don't want their ass beat. I'm here to win!

If I remember right from when I heard about this he did call off his team in the second half to an extent. I think they were up 58-0 at half, so it's not like they poured it on.

From what I heard on the radio in regards to this story today, the assistant coaches were celebrating as the team got closer to 100 points, and the winning team was shooting 3s in the last few minutes. That's kinda chicken shit, although I agree the game should obviously never have been scheduled.

I agree. Fuck sportsmanship. Furthermore, he should've left his starters in the whole game instead of pulling them once they got up by a mere 90 points.

If your watergirl can put up 20 points in the only game she plays all year, there really wasn't anything else that could be done except flat out tanking. The team only put 12 points on the board in the 4th quarter, 4 whole 3-pointers in 15 minutes (or 12, I'm not sure) of action. The game was 25-0 after three minutes of play, at which point the coach says he instructed his team to stop applying defensive pressure and just play zone. The opposing team took 7 shots in the entire game.

The bottom line is that if the other team was too hapless to put so much as a simple layup on the board against the other teams reserves, they had no business being matched up together. That's on the athletic commission.

I was thinking about this the other day. It is interesting because even if you empty the bench, and they are just that much better this is going to happen. Also, as AJ said, if you have been the 12th man (girl) all year, and I have been there, you get into a blow out, you want to play and show the coach what you can do.

At this point it becomes a scrimmage. If I were the coach I would put in my second/third team and have them practice the offense and different defenses. You have to be out there for the full 32 minutes, you might as well use it as a teaching tool.

Also, if the score had been 83 - 0 would this even be a story?

EDIT: I do agree launching three's and celebrating in the fourth is uncalled for.

I find it hard to believe that the watergirl put up 20 points since the starters weren't taken out until after the 3rd quarter (when it was 88-0).

I'm pretty sure girls high school basketball doesn't have longer quarters than the NBA. (They play 8 minute quarters.)

It took until it was 25-0 to realize he shouldn't be pressing? He should've known before the game started it wasn't necessary. Also, zone defense doesn't mean relaxed defense. And if the other team only got off 7 shots, that's because the winning team kept stealing the ball. You can play solid, fundamental defense without trying to steal the ball at every opportunity.

Whether or not they should've been matched up against each other is beside the point. Well, my point anyway. I'm just saying once they were out there, they could've handled it much, much better.

All high schools should have a mercy rule, completely pointless to have this game go on past half time.

The point is having an athletic activity. The second half should just be extended playing time for both teams backups and the kids who don't normally get to play much.

That's completely unfair to the dude selling hotdogs and candy bars.

The point is also competition. There wasn't any in this game. They don't necessarily have to call the game, they could just continuously run the clock once it gets to a certain margin, say 30 points or something like that.

I've seen rules like that. No clock stoppage in the second half if down by X amount of points, that would make sense.

first hand accounts have the winning team chucking up threes and full court pressing in the second half, even into the 4th quarter, not to mention celebrating, in a way, rubbing it in a tad.

The school then apologized for winning classlessly, then the coach stuck it to the administration by saying he doesn't support the apology. Hence, he got shitcanned.

Guy was probably a douche and a pedophile, coaching girls basketball. WTF?

girls basketball, who gives a shit.

It wasn't a fair game, they were playing paraplegics. And he should definitley be sorry....

I've heard they dropped back into a zone and stopped pressing after getting up 25-0. I also heard in the 4th quarter they mostly passed it around the perimeter to waste time and just chucked up long jumpers.

I don't suppose this game has a box score floating around anywhere.

St. Ignatius Junior High girls basketball. It's fantastic.

The coach reported the scoring as 35, 24, 29, 12.