$1.5 million verdict against abusive coach

robertclasalle · #1 (**permalink**) Fri Mar 26, 2004, 07:12am

Yesterday, a Trenton, NJ jury awarded a 16 year old female high school varsity basketball player $1.5 million for a coach's extreme verbal abuse which resulted in her developing an eating disorder. You can read the entire story in any of the major NJ newspapers. I saw it in today's edition of the Bergen Record, searchable at http://www.northjersey.com. This coach sounds like he was completely out of control. The verdict is payable by the school district who hired him. Maybe more of us should start teeing up coaches who are vulgar to their players within earshot of spectators.

Hawks Coach · #2 (**permalink**) Fri Mar 26, 2004, 08:30am

I have found three articles on this case. I could not access the one you referenced because the site was not taking the registration properly. Does that article cite any facts or circumstances? The articles that I found say no details on what the coach did or said, other than him admitting he used 4 letter words. Oh, and he once called a pair of refs bums after a game.

Certainly not the best of conduct, but there has to be something more here to get this kind of verdict.

Stan · #3 (**permalink**) Fri Mar 26, 2004, 09:15am

Quote:

Originally posted by Hawks Coach
I could not access the one you referenced because the site was not taking the registration properly.

Hey coach, try again. It just worked for me.

Hawks Coach · #4 (**permalink**) Fri Mar 26, 2004, 01:12pm

I did read some of the "facts" of the case, but it isn't really clear what was said and when. Guy sounds over the edge though - accidentally slammed a girl's hand in a locker (not the girl in the suit) and later admitted he was in a rage when this occurred. Allegedly yelled at the girl in the lawsuit (and smacked the bleachers right above her head to intimidate her) - all because of the people she sat with at a ball game. And that occurred only when she came to appologize for having sat with the wrong crowd.

His contract modified requiring him to cease using 4 letter words, and also providing that an administrator would observe him at games (sounds like an extra burden without any real justification to me!). He was barely voted in to keep his job at a school board meeting (5-4), and one voter had a child on the team and said she voted yes only because she feared her daughter would lose her spot (Be a parent and make the right call - I'm sorry but I have issues with this individual too!)

Other than that, a lot of slamming this object and smacking or breaking that object.