Basketball coach wins 100-0 and is fired..

[KnightLite]

DALLAS 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.

 

 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482825,00.html

[Returned3]

Lol I read this on the S'pore papers like... 1 week ago

[BlackDawn]

What the hell? Ashamed and embarrased for WINNING?? That's a load of [cabbage].

[Da_Latios]

What the hell? Ashamed and embarrased for WINNING?? That's a load of [cabbage].

 

Covenant, a private Christian school

 

They're Christians.

[____]

Gotta love the mind-set that being victorious is a bad thing. The only 'embarrasment' I would feel is that the opposition provided poor competition, not that my own team was victorious... I can kind of understand where the school is coming from but sport is a competetive enviroment, playing poorly or below your capabilities to give the other team a 'fair go' is not exactly being fair, if i was the coach for the opposition and found out the other team deliberately played poorly to give my team a chance I'd be insulted they felt they had to do that in the first place.

 

 

 

Some people just don't think #-o

[mmmcannibalism]

to everyone saying this isnt a bad thing

 

 

 

there is a difference between ensuring a good margin of victory and being a total jerk about it. A 100 point margin in basketball is a ridiculous disgrace. It would be one thing if they had won this by say 50 points but to keep scoring after there is no way the other team can even come close to catching up is pathetic. Seriously, you dont see anything wrong in winning any sport by that kind of margin? edit--just to be clear, Im not saying they had to give the other team a chance of winning, but they should have shown the respect to stop shooting after a certain point.

 

 

 

on the actual story

 

 

 

I believe the same thing happened in my area, but the coach quickly apologized avoiding a firing etc.. I thought the coaches statement that his girls played honorably is hilarious, its pretty easy to just stop shooting in basketball

[Intriguing]

there is a difference between ensuring a good margin of victory and being a total jerk about it. A 100 point margin in basketball is a ridiculous disgrace. It would be one thing if they had won this by say 50 points but to keep scoring after there is no way the other team can even come close to catching up is pathetic. Seriously, you dont see anything wrong in winning any sport by that kind of margin?

 

Why is that a disgrace? What were the girls meant to do with the entire second half, just pass the ball between each other until the end?

[mmmcannibalism]

there is a difference between ensuring a good margin of victory and being a total jerk about it. A 100 point margin in basketball is a ridiculous disgrace. It would be one thing if they had won this by say 50 points but to keep scoring after there is no way the other team can even come close to catching up is pathetic. Seriously, you dont see anything wrong in winning any sport by that kind of margin?

 

Why is that a disgrace? What were the girls meant to do with the entire second half, just pass the ball between each other until the end?

 

 

 

intentionally make some bad shots, just try to maintain possession there are a few options here. If they stopped trying to run up the score early they would have been able to do something to show some decency. My school does the same thing for soccer(what world calls football), if we get up by more then 5 goals we either start playing possession or start testing different set ups or start putting jv players in. Im not saying they cant win a game by 30, 40, or even 50, but I dont see why they had to keep trying clear up to 100. The story says they had 59 points at the half so it appears they didnt slow down very much.

[purfishx]

Ahhhh shaddup. If the other team sucks, exploit them. Hell, if it'd been me I'd go for 150 - 0.

[mmmcannibalism]

Ahhhh shaddup. If the other team sucks, exploit them. Hell, if it'd been me I'd go for 150 - 0.

 

 

 

This is why the world is in such bad shape

 

 

 

(I think you may have been joking but plenty have people do think like that)

[Riku3220]

In war do you purposely lose battles just to say to the other side, "Hey. You don't suck completely."? No, you don't.

 

 

 

A 100 point lead should be a thing to celebrate not demoralize...

[Furah]

Honestly, I'd have been worse off had they stopped trying to score on purpose, I'd feel mocked and humiliated. I cannot think of one non-competitive sport, and the school should have realised that sports are called competitive for a reason, to compete to see who played best on that day!

[BlackDawn]

Let's have a tip.it field trip down there, then we can all sit down outside the school and sing never gonna give you up while Lenin tortures the headteacher.

[angryjoe]

The losing team all had learning difficulties etc and the winners went all out, not exactly fair if you ask me.

[Lenticular_J]

Well, I wouldn't have fired him, but that no mercy thing is bull [cabbage]. 100 - 0 is completely ridiculous, and if you don't realize that, you've obviously never played in a team sport before. Besides, I went to preschool in a Christian (Episcopal) school. It's wierd. There's a lot more promoting of togetherness instead of the "BEAT THE [bleep] OUT OF THEM UNTIL YOU HAVE TO SHARE YOURS TO BEAT OUT OF" of public school.

 

 

 

And Episcopals are wierd anyways.

[____]

The losing team all had learning difficulties etc and the winners went all out, not exactly fair if you ask me.

 

I'd disagree to an extent. I really don't think their opponent went all out to go over 100 points... given their ah... learning difficulties, their team would suffer from poor offence/defence and the score reflects that. Comparatively the victorious school could have fielded a weaker team but the result probably would've been the same, although the margin of victory smaller... but people still would've been kicking up a stink about something...

 

 

 

"oh they fielded a weaker team and the other team should be insulted by it..."

 

"they lost x-0 and the coach says not to feel embarrses so we fired him..."

 

"the weaker team lost so the coach is fired for not fielding the regular team..."

 

 

 

and so on, seems like an out-right lose-lose situation no matter what happened.

[llcoolguy972]

The losing team all had learning difficulties etc and the winners went all out, not exactly fair if you ask me.

 

Tell me exactly how dyslexia would harm someone's basketball performance?

 

 

 

Maybe this loss will make the losing team wake up and say "wow, we really suck; maybe we should practice more?" Sports are competitive, get used to it.

[mmmcannibalism]

The losing team all had learning difficulties etc and the winners went all out, not exactly fair if you ask me.

 

Tell me exactly how dyslexia would harm someone's basketball performance?

 

 

 

Maybe this loss will make the losing team wake up and say "wow, we really suck; maybe we should practice more?" Sports are competitive, get used to it.

 

 

 

school of 20 vs regular high school, the only way that school of 20 is going to win is if they were drafted specifcally for the best basketball playing 20 person school ever.

 

 

 

This isnt about the fact that the better school would have won. Going into the game they knew they were going to run over the other team, they should have started 2nd or 3rd string players and had them take it easy. They still would have won by a nice margin 30-40 points, but at least the smaller school would have scored some and there wouldnt have been public outcry.

[Will H]

What the hell? Ashamed and embarrased for WINNING?? That's a load of [cabbage].

 

Covenant, a private Christian school

 

They're Christians.

 

Probably the reason. Typical religious crap.

 

Don't make that ridiculous assumption, I'm not often offended, but that statement was very unfair. Religion is used way too often as a false reason for bad things.

 

 

 

At OP: I'm confused, they're acting like they should have let the other team have free points. That's destroys the spirit of the game and would have humiliated the other team even more, they should have used a 'mercy' rule and finished it early instead.

 

 

 

Oh, and I love how the article tries to get a sympathy vote because of 'learning differences'. That holds nothing with me, you shouldn't put people in that situation if they are going to be severely disadvantaged by that.

[Flodder450]

Let's have a tip.it field trip down there, then we can all sit down outside the school and sing never gonna give you up while Lenin tortures the headteacher.

Siggied \

[Lionheart_0]

:| Something tells me that most people here don't play team sports, and are gonna try to compare this to either war, or gaming (In both scenarios, you try and gain as much as possible). In a team sport you don't try to show off this much. Sure you want to be noticed just in case there is a scout or anything, but this shows poor sportsmanship of both the team and the coach. I know in waterpolo, when we had a large lead (like 6-8 points, which was rare), we would pass around the ball, and score once in a quarter.

[RichieMcD]

This is why you don't let fundamentalist Christians run schools, apparently you're supposed to be ashamed of the fact you're better at sports than other people.

 

 

 

If it was my call, I'd fire the principal for being such a [kitty] and firing a staff member for correctly doing his job, technically speaking couldn't the coach sue for being unfairly dismissed since he did his job? To get results and make the team perform?

 

 

 

Lionheart, in the many different team sports I've played (Rugby, Soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, Cricket) I've always encouraged myself and the team to create the biggest lead possible as once your get overly confident it's easy to slip up. Sportsmanship isn't laying off on the other team, it's observing the rules and not playing unfairly or dirty.

[Lateralus]

I don't get this at all. It's not sportsmanlike to play underneath your ability - It's condescending. If the learning difficulties argument is to be brought up then the fault should be placed with the league for organising the game.

[Nadril]

Yeah I don't get this either. Just passing around the ball makes it sound like you're just screwing around with the opposing team.

[Madmanpur3]

The losing team all had learning difficulties etc and the winners went all out, not exactly fair if you ask me.

 

Tell me exactly how dyslexia would harm someone's basketball performance?

 

 

 

Maybe this loss will make the losing team wake up and say "wow, we really suck; maybe we should practice more?" Sports are competitive, get used to it.

 

 

 

school of 20 vs regular high school, the only way that school of 20 is going to win is if they were drafted specifcally for the best basketball playing 20 person school ever.

 

 

 

This isnt about the fact that the better school would have won. Going into the game they knew they were going to run over the other team, they should have started 2nd or 3rd string players and had them take it easy. They still would have won by a nice margin 30-40 points, but at least the smaller school would have scored some and there wouldnt have been public outcry.

 

My high school only had about 20 girls in it, yet our girls' basketball team never lost that bad or goes winless throughout the season.

 

 

 

I have played sports all my life, and I too think it's a little unfair for them to fire the coach over it and get all riled up about it (granted I didn't see the game, so the coach's actions could've said otherwise), but looking at it without those variables...if the team that got beat 100-0 was embarassed by it, they should either schedule better competition for them, practice a little more, or simply discontinue their basketball team.

 

 

 

If I were a coach and my team was up huge, I wouldn't punish them by making it a borefest for the remainder of the game and be like "Ok, let's see who can pass the ball". No, I would instead be like "Alright, now's a good time to practice contested shots as well as driving to the basket".