OT: California High School Girls Basketball Coach Suspended After Massive Win
Bleacher Report story about a HS Girls' BB coach who was suspended after his team badly beat an opponent by the score of :
No doubt the other team was extremely over-matched, but where should you draw the line in high school, college, or even in the pros? How do you balance good sportsmanship with having your team play a full 60 (48, 40, etc.) minutes?
Mod edit: No Bleacher report. Here are some links to other, non BR sources. JGB.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/girls-high-school-hoops-coach-suspended-aft…
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2015-01-15/california…
EGJ Edit: Original link did work, try again:
January 16th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
He was running a full-court press while up by 100 points.
And running a half-hourt trap while up OVER 100 points.
That is full-metal-asshole terriotry. I'm not gonna say that the other team didn't completely suck, because they obviously did, but once you are up by 30-40 points, call off the full-court press, asshole.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:26 PM ^
I don't understand why the other coach or a parent didn't say something to him?
I'm not saying sit on the ball, but why was he pressing?
Winning 90-2 and 161-2 isn't much of a difference, but put the bench players in and work on your 2-3 zone. If they can't score, that's on them...but don't press and force the action --- that's bush league.
Once it was clear the game was over, which was probably around 20-0...stop pressing. Once you're up 40...take your starters out and play a 2-3 zone. If they can't score, oh well, but at least you're backups are playing tough (but within the confines of the defense) and at least everyone see you're doing all you can do.
I'd never suggest that they just sit on the ball (remember, no shot clock, so they could've just held it if they wanted to).
But just play zone and tell your team you want (x) number of passes before someone can shoot. Get an offensive rebound and kick it out and execute a play.
I've coached at the 8th grade level and have had a team that was 159 points better than the other team. It happens at that level. We just played zone, we rotated players so that everyone got a chance to play and we just treated it like a practice. I'd draw up a new play and we'd run it over and over until everyone learned it. On defense we played 2-1-2 and worked on our zone even though we were a trapping team...they're 8th graders, they can still learn more about basketball even if you don't run it. We ran some box and 1 even though I'd NEVER run a box and 1. Offensively we just worked on new ideas that may have helped us down the road.
Only a d-bag continues to press and trap.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:29 PM ^
This coach is a complete and total d-bag. Did he just come from his day job as sensei of Cobra Kai?
January 16th, 2015 at 8:28 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 9:25 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ^
Addendum: Used primarily to deny the ball to the one player being guarded man2man.
As someone who has coached and is considering it again I would not want my kids playing for this d-bag. The chances of going pro are so slim its not worth contemplating. Teach them more than basketball and you make them men (or women).
January 16th, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
...and I'd never run it in a "real" game. We literally were just experiminting and letting the girls learn. Maybe they'll run a box and 1 in high school...maybe somewhere down the line someone would run it against us? Maybe they'll just hear it on TV and wonder what it is.
Who gives a shit. You're up 40-50 points.
Play odd defenses. Draw up plays during timeouts and see if everyone can run them against token pressure.
Why not just teach? Again, use it as a practice...you can actually make your team better while also being a good sport and not being a complete jerk. You may still win by 60, but I mean there are college games that are 60 point blowouts. 159 is playing video games and switching the the computers team and running out of bounds every time you get the ball and then allowing your real team to score. It's not fun, it doesn't teach anything and it's just poor on a ton of levels.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 8:30 PM ^
The coach showed good sportsmanship by putting in his bench at half and making them wait x amount of time before shooting. Suspending him is basically telling his team he gets punished for them being too good compared to his opponent.
Part of sports is learning life lessons. Obviously being respectful towards others and being considerate is important, but showing kids that doing their best for a full 60 min is punishable is a load of crap.
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January 16th, 2015 at 8:34 PM ^
Runinng a full-court-press when you are up 100 points is not "good sportsmanship". It is called being a total dickless asshole. What life lesson are you proving at that point? Oh we're up 60-0, but we can be up more? Now we're up 90-0, but we're gonna grind you into the dust.
The only life lesson he taught anyone is what an f'ing asshole he is.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:34 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 8:43 PM ^
It looks bad, but who knows, maybe he was running the press and normal defense so his team could, you know, get better at it. It sucks for this game, but unfortunately winning 161-2 doesn't carry you too far into the next game. Maybe he felt his players needed more practice on defense?
I'm not saying that's how I would coach, but I also know what it feels like as a coach when you want a competitive game and it's over before halftime. Nobody is gaining anything by having the team sit around and burn clock. Either play or end the game.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:07 PM ^
When you're clearly head and shoulders above the competition, that obviously can't even remotely handle the press, you're really not going to get any real "practice" by pushing on for the entire game.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
That's like me deciding that maybe I can get better by going out and playing some 1-on-1 against my 3-year-old.
Once you're up 40-0 or 50-0 you obviously aren't gaining anything because your competition is pathetic. Call off the dogs on defense. Put in a 2-3 zone and just play regular basketball. Oh no, maybe you'll only win 120-25 instead of 162-2.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:33 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^
The other coach agreed to allow him to run the press.
The winning coach was wrong not to do more about keeping the score reasonable. The losing coach was a bigger douche by whining and casting aspersions on the opposing coach rather than manning up for what he himself did poorly.
The coach who really failed his kids was the losing coach.
January 17th, 2015 at 12:33 AM ^
It sounds like the agreement was to only press for one half. The winning coach nominally adhered to this, but his way of "backing off" was to go to a halfcourt trap in the second half. That appears to be what bothered the losing coach.
As for the losing coach "failing" his team, I think we can safely assume they don't have have too much talent. When you lose by 150, you probably don't have a bunch of budding superstars who just need the right system.
January 17th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
from running a full court press? The winning coach made some self-serving statements. I wouldn't give them any weight. That his own school suspended him for two games shows that people that know him didn't either.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:37 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^
Exactly. Don't allow your bench players to play to their potential. They don't deserve to shine.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^
with bench players shooting 3's. But running a full-courrt press up 90-0 is beyond pathetic.
January 17th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
Last year the HS team I coach was up 35 at half. We pulled off our press and the other coach came up and said "Hey, leave it on we need to work on it."
We could have left it on, but the thing is, the parents, the media, the athletic directors wouldn't know (at least at the time) that the other team wanted it on still. We kept it off, won by 40, and we're able to do what others have mentioned: work on our odd-ball defenses we don't rely on, run different plays, get everyone minutes.
That's the way to do it. No matter whatthe circumstances, you don't go out and win by 50+ because there will always be questions and people upset.
January 17th, 2015 at 12:05 AM ^
but showing kids that doing their best for a full 60 min is punishable is a load of crap.
High school games are typically 32 minutes long. In a few states, they're 40 minutes long, but never more than that.
You basically have to go out of your way to be a complete asshole to get your team enough shot attempts (let alone makes) to put up a score like this one in a high school game.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:32 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 8:39 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 8:43 PM ^
Funny - when Dantonio scored to close out the game vs UM (before we knew about the stake) that was not the view even at major division 1 football. Some were calling for his head. To be fair some were not but the fact that a good portion of the fanbase was incensed about that score in a relatively close game (it wasn't 72-0) says a lot of people disagree with that view.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^
I think the coach here was wrong but I had no problem with what Dantonio did. I hope we would have done the same to him.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:29 PM ^
a big lowpoint in a season full of them. There was a lot of butthurt after that score, but it wasn't like MSU was doing anything special, just running power and Michigan couldn't stop it. Of course if it was Michigan scoring the touchdown we would have loved it. That moment really showed how far the team had fallen, and honestly a lot of the fanbase as well.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:42 PM ^
My 12 and under AAU team got beat 108-15 by a Detroit team and today I am a well adjusted adult with a funny story. Why is the world getting so soft? It's a game fergodsakes.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:56 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 8:43 PM ^
These guys are highschoolers not professionals or college players. As a coach you can tell your players we run our offense for 40 seconds every time and you won't run it up similar to Beilen when we're playing IUPUI with 3 minutes left. I don't believe he should have been suspended though.
January 16th, 2015 at 8:48 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 9:31 PM ^
The loser coach should have 1)Prepared the team better 2) forefeited the game at the half. What kind of idiot allows their team to keep taking a pounding like that?
Stop the scoring you say? Why do you believe the winning coach's responsibility to tell his players to quit? Better question, why don't you believe it is the losing coach's responsibilty to throw in the towel? Why don't you believe it the losing coach's responsibility to do their job better?
January 16th, 2015 at 8:50 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 8:51 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 8:51 PM ^
Don't high school sports have mercy rules? Take it out of the hands of the coach/players.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 9:08 PM ^
I remember in high school we were playing a lousy team and were up 72-20 at halftime. Needless to say the starters did not see the court in the second half and i remember our coach at halftime saying we were going to play a 2-3 zone in the second half (we never played zone, we were always a man to man defensive team) and work on our rebounding if they miss the shots. It was our shortest halftime speech ever and he even jokingly told our team manager to find a uniform to play in the second half. Long story short, The subs got quality playing time in the second half, allowed the other team to get some shots off and still won 122-40.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:37 PM ^
handled it exactly right, unlike this douchebag that had his team still full-court pressing and half-court trapping as if they were trying to set some all-time scoring record.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:12 PM ^
This is ridiculous and a product of the blue ribbons for all entitlement garbage. If you can't handle losing, don't play. If the league has no mercy rule, then nobody has to show any mercy. If its embarrasing to lose by 159, its equally embarrasing to have the game called at half and its equally embarrasing to play the second half against a team that doesnt even try. Just absolutely ridiculous.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
While the mercy rule hopefully never happens for the spirit of competition, it's saved a lot of teams from ridicule and torment, especially at the HS level.
Think about it: If your softball team gets mercy ruled at 15-0 or your basketball team by 70-2 or 80-2 and they call the game, is it embarrassing? Sure. But you'll never have to wonder how much more worse it could've been. People actually forget mercy ruled games over the years. Nobody ever forgets losing 161-2.
Trust me, as a Lions fan, I'll never forget going 0-16. 1-15 is horrible but 0-16 in unforgettable.
January 16th, 2015 at 11:38 PM ^
we have yet another member of Cobra Kai here.
January 17th, 2015 at 5:45 PM ^
We all know Johnny was the true protagonist.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
the coach of the team who only scored one bucket...........
January 16th, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^
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January 16th, 2015 at 9:23 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 9:31 PM ^
The original link not working wasn't the issue, linking to Bleacher Report was the issue. No Bleacher Report on MGoBoard, that's always been the case.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:35 PM ^
January 16th, 2015 at 9:40 PM ^
The school probably has like 50 students that got beat. Please explain why this is their fault again for not keeping it competitive. JB is a class act who puts in his subs with 7 minutes to play earlier this year against Wayne State. I'd argue you aren't really getting better if you just press the whole game to score moar points. What's wrong with running your offense for 40 seconds to work out some things in the half court game?