I'm surprised that I didn't see this topic brought up. IMO these two players should face charges and be banned from football. An example needs to be made out of these punks, and if coaches were involved with any of that... oh boy.
Also from what I've heard regarding the story, evidently that team has some major discipline issues.
Here is the story from CNN.
Couldn't agree more. I have been involved with the game for about 30 years. I have never seen a call so egregious by a ref/s that a players/coach/es even remotely considers doing this. If I had to guess without knowing a whole lot but what has been said over the last few days I'd say there was a coach involved in this situation. I could be wrong, hope I am, just a gut feeling.
Terrible.
Agree with you guys.
The video was awful. Certainly a planned "hit."
The players and coaches involved should be banned.
I would almost say remove the team for the rest of the season, but that would penalize players who had no part in the action. The only reason that I say that is because I seem to recall hearing about the same team in the same game being penalized for a late hit on the QB when he was taking a knee. I really do think that there are some serious issues with that team/coaching staff.
Disgusting, cowardly act by the players. If you disagree with a ref's call, you take it up after the game with the association/conference/district. Deliberately targeting an official like that, in an attack that looks like it was almost designed to do spinal damage, is nothing short of assault.
I highly doubt that two players cooked up that idea on their own in the huddle. I also highly doubt that a coach specifically told them to take out the ref, but all a fired-up coach would have to say to a couple of kids to make that happen was, "Somebody should teach that ref a lesson." IMO, there should be a full investigation by the district and by law enforcement. The two players involved should be charged with assault and banned from playing high school football in the state of Texas. I'm not sure if a court could legally order that they not play college ball there, but I doubt that will be an issue. If any coaches were involved, even just by making an off-hand comment that "inspired" the players to attack, they should be banned from coaching at any level in the state of Texas and charged with any crimes they committed. The school's head coach should also be suspended for lack of institutional control. Ultimately, the captain bears at least partial blame for the conduct of his crew, right?
I agree with JIB on not suspending the entire team, out of consideration for the kids who weren't involved in the attack. If the school's football team is removed from competition for the rest of the year, players on the team that weren't part of the incident should be allowed to transfer to other schools where they can play, but then you're displacing kids on other teams, and the odds of transfer students becoming starters after the season has started are pretty long, even in high school. If nothing else, the school should be required to vacate that victory (if they won the game, I have no idea). If there is a broader, institutionalized problem with that team, then perhaps a ban on postseason play and vacating all wins this year would be an appropriate punishment, with probation stipulations that if there are any similar incidents within X years, the school loses its team for a season. By vacating all wins this year and being removed from postseason eligibility, the school is appropriately punished, and even though the players really have nothing to play for, they're still able to get game tape for college recruiters.
If it's true that the coaches have created a "culture" as it's been suggested, then certainly.
I feel bad for the kids caught up in this who just want to play football and weren't involved.
I've experienced a bad league culture while helping coach my son in baseball, so I can hope the parents who don't want their kids around that culture are able to steer them to another team.
It's sad, but it almost takes this kind of incident to clean something up by exposing it. If complaints fail to change a bad situation, parents can sometimes be powerless other than to steer their kids away from a particular school or league. Then, a bad incident or attrition (low participation) may spark change. These kids should be taught love for the game, sportsmanship, and most of all to have fun learning the game. This kind of incident doesn't happen if you're teaching those things, and teaching them the right way (creating the right culture.)
Quote:Agree with you guys.
The video was awful. Certainly a planned "hit."
The players and coaches involved should be banned.
And arrested
Quote:If it's true that the coaches have created a "culture" as it's been suggested, then certainly.
I feel bad for the kids caught up in this who just want to play football and weren't involved.
I've experienced a bad league culture while helping coach my son in baseball, so I can hope the parents who don't want their kids around that culture are able to steer them to another team.
It's sad, but it almost takes this kind of incident to clean something up by exposing it. If complaints fail to change a bad situation, parents can sometimes be powerless other than to steer their kids away from a particular school or league. Then, a bad incident or attrition (low participation) may spark change. These kids should be taught love for the game, sportsmanship, and most of all to have fun learning the game. This kind of incident doesn't happen if you're teaching those things, and teaching them the right way (creating the right culture.)
Absolutely what the sport should be about at that age.
For me personally, I loved the NFL and the game from a very early age. I played on my first YAFL team (Pop Warner) in the 6th grade and played every season up to and through High School. It was all about not only sportsmanship, but competition overall. In my personal opinion, one important lesson isn't being taught at a young age, that being that there are winners and losers not only in sports, but in life. That's being taken away in today's PC society and I believe that this incident is a direct result of that. Unfortunately a couple of young people (the suspended players) are going to learn that lesson the hard way if they are charged with a crime.
It was a criminal act, and the players involved should be charged. The official could have been paralyzed.
If any or all of the coaches had any role in instigating the incident, or created a culture which fostered such behavior, they should lose their jobs, at the very least.
While I agree about the hit being very wrong, I would want to see what stemmed from it. Like did the coach say to do it? DI'd they talk one another into doing it? And is arrest and jail time really the answer? Too many a time that becomes a quick fix. I think the kids need to really learn some discipline, and a legit [BLEEP] Whooping.
Supposedly an assistant coach made a comment just prior to the hit(s), potentially prompting them. He has since been placed on leave, so there must be some validity to it.
Except from article - "An assistant coach for John Jay High in San Antonio is alleged to have said, “this guy needs to pay for cheating us” before two John players appeared to target and intentionally hit a football official during Friday’s game."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-spo...ar-AAe4uBm
Quote:Supposedly an assistant coach made a comment just prior to the hit(s), potentially prompting them. He has since been placed on leave, so there must be some validity to it.
Except from article - "An assistant coach for John Jay High in San Antonio is alleged to have said, “this guy needs to pay for cheating us” before two John players appeared to target and intentionally hit a football official during Friday’s game."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-spo...ar-AAe4uBm
Kind of what I figured. Not exactly prosecutable, but that comment should cost him his job and a lengthy suspension from coaching football in Texas again, at least a year.
Quote:And arrested
Yup. That was an assault caught on camera. They should be arrested, and the team should be banned from further participation. This is not their first incident. The coaches are fostering this culture, and the only way to deal with it is to ban them all from being involved in any way.
This popped up in a Football Coaching Forum that I visit. Almost universally the opinions there are that this is a coaching issue and it was pointed out that this town is where the deplorable TV Show "Friday Night Tykes" was filmed. There is a feeling at that other forum that there is a strong correlation between those two things. Regardless, this is seen as a problem that can be resolved via the Coaching Staff, and it's one that I agree with.
You want to fix employees? Then go after the ones who are in the best possible position to instigate change, i.e. the people in management. You want to fix players? Go after the coaches, the Athletic Directors, the Principals, etc. If you really want change, start penalizing the people who develop the undesired culture.
Quote:I would almost say remove the team for the rest of the season, but that would penalize players who had no part in the action. The only reason that I say that is because I seem to recall hearing about the same team in the same game being penalized for a late hit on the QB when he was taking a knee. I really do think that there are some serious issues with that team/coaching staff.
I believe one of the sports channel said the 2nd player to hit the ref was the player that hit the QB late on the kneel down. They said he wasn't removed because the refs couldn't get his jersey number. They also said that the team's coaches should have removed him from the game when the ref was hit.
I thought you only saw nonsense like this in the movies...
Well, sounds like a coach ordered them to "collide" with the ref.
Quote:Well, sounds like a coach ordered them to "collide" with the ref.
So the coach should face the same penalties, if any, that the players do.
On a side note, their insistence that the ref used racial epithets toward the players is awfully convenient justification.
Quote:Well, sounds like a coach ordered them to "collide" with the ref.
Bring him up on charges and ban him from coaching in Texas for life.
Quote:On a side note, their insistence that the ref used racial epithets toward the players is awfully convenient justification.
It most certainly is. Even if it's true, calling someone a name does not justify an attack that could have paralyzed them.
Quote:Well, sounds like a coach ordered them to "collide" with the ref.
Source? I didn't see that. If it's true, then the coach certainly should be not only fired/banned from coaching high school football, he should also be brought up on charges.