High School Basketball Coach Fired After 100-0 Victory
The New York Daily News
Texas high school basketball coach fired after beating opponent 100-0
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Monday, January 26th 2009, 4:12 PM
For one Texas high school basketball coach even when you win, you lose.
Micah Grimes, who made national headlines when his team beat up an undermanned opponent 100-0, was fired on Sunday.
The firing of the girls varsity basketball coach comes after the CovenantSchool issued an official apology on its Web site following the Jan. 13 blowout of fellow Dallas-area private school, DallasAcademy.
Grimes, who was in his fourth season at the school, disagreed with the school's apology and said his team played with "honor."
"I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the CovenantSchool girls basketball team should feel 'embarrassed' or 'ashamed,'" Grimes wrote in an e-mail posted on a youth basketball Web site on Sunday and published in The Dallas Morning News.
"We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to DallasAcademy."
Kyle Queal, Covenant's headmaster, confirmed the firing to the Dallas Morning News, but said he could not say if the dismissal was a direct result of Grimes' disagreeing with the school.
Queal signed the original statement along with board chair Todd Doshier.
"The CovenantSchool, its board and administrators, regrets the incident of January 13 and the outcome of the game with the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team. It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition."
The Christian school also sought to forfeit the game saying "a victory without honor is a great loss."
Covenant, a contender for the state championship last year, held a 59-0 lead at the half in the mid-January game. According to reports, Covenant continued to shoot 3-pointers and employ a full-court press defense into the fourth quarter.
DallasAcademy, a school that specializes in teaching students with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia, has only eight players on its varsity squad and is winless over the last four seasons.
Assignment:
Read the following questions and think about their answers. After you have done this, write a letter to the editor either in support of the firing of the coach or against the firing of the coach.. Make sure you have a strong thesis statement and organize your letter correctly.
1. Why does the CovenantSchool regret the outcome of its January 13 girls basketball game with DallasAcademy? Should the Covenant team feel embarrassed or ashamed? Explain.
2. Was it right for the CovenantSchool administration to try to forfeit the game? Was it right to publicly rebuke and then fire their coach? Why/why not?
3. What is sportsmanship? Does the fact that DallasAcademy failed to score indicate poor sportsmanship on the part of the other team? Explain.
4. Why does Coach Grimes make a distinction between respect and compassion? What is the difference? Does sportsmanship require both? Explain.
5. What is "running up the score"? Is a 100-point margin of victory excessive? What about 80? 60? Explain.
6. Would such a large margin be OK if the other team had scored some points? Would this story have received national attention if the score had been slightly different?
7. Would Coach Grimes have received as much criticism if this had been a boys basketball game? Why/why not? Do women need to be kindler and gentler than men when it comes to sports?
8. In light of DallasAcademy's special circumstances and win-loss record over the past four years, does it make sense for the school to try to compete in the same league with schools like Covenant, a state-championship contender? Why/why not?
"According to reports, Covenant continued to shoot 3-pointers and employ a full-court press defense into the fourth quarter."
9. Other accounts of the game differ. But if true, does this mean that the Covenant coach did not play with honor and integrity?
10. At what point should Covenant have refrained from shooting 3-pointers? When should they have dropped their full-court press?
11. Which is worse -- piling on the points or easing up out of pity for the other team?
12. If you had been on the DallasAcademy team, would you have wanted Covenant to let your team score a few points? Why/why not?
13. When should a team not play its hardest?
14. When should competition take a back seat to compassion?