Angry Coach at Halftime

[BillyMac]

I'm on the fence on this issue. I might, or might not, give a technical foul here, but at the minimum, I'm letting the site director, athletic director, and possibly the principal, know what transpired in that locker room, probably through my assigner. In any case, the coach is not going to get away with this.

Many years ago, as I was running past the home team's bench, I heard the head coach yell to his point guard, "Get your f***ing head in the game", after she had the ball stolen, leading to an easy score. It was intended for only her to hear, but I heard it, as did a few girls on the bench. On the way out that night, I reported this to the athletic director, telling him that I thought it was inappropriate, particularly on the high school level, especially with female players. He told me that he appreciated the information, and that he would take care of the matter. I guess he did, because I've never heard that coach use a curse word since that night.

A few years ago, one of our best officials heard a coach, outside his dressing room, give a curse-laced halftime speech to fire up his players. None of the curses were directed at the officials. The next day, the official called the high school principal to report the coach's halftime comments to his players. Although the principal thanked the official for the information, we later heard through the grapevine that the athletic department, from the athletic director down, was not pleased that our official went "over their heads". There was also some discussion within our local board whether the official had done the right thing in this case. Many thought that he probably should have made his complaints known through our assigner.