Bad sports, good sports: Holy Family coach’s macho crap costs him his job
Holy Family University, a small Catholic college in Philadelphia, is an unknown in the world of major college athletics. It competes in Division II in most sports, including basketball. Rarely does the school’s name come up when it comes to sports news, but that changed this week. Head basketball coach John O’Connor resigned Thursday after a controversy stemming from his treatment of one of his players that became public the way so many things do these days: Youtube.
The incident actually happened back in January during a team practice. While demonstrating rebounding technique, O’Connor hit Matt Kravchuk, one of his players, with an elbow, knocking him to the ground. When Kravchuk didn’t immediately get up, O’Connor screamed profanities at him and shoved at him with his foot. As the player walked away bleeding, O’Connor continued to yell at him, kicking him out of practice. Kravchuk complained to the school and was told the coach would be disciplined. When no discipline occurred, Kravchuk filed a police report, stating he had been assaulted. Video of the incident hit the internet and spread quickly. Early last week, the school finally suspended the coach, seemingly due to the negative attention the viral video was bringing to the school. In a misguided attempt to save face, I guess, O’Connor appeared along with Kravchuk on Good Morning America on Thursday, where he gave what I assume he intended to be an apology. It was a very qualified apology, though, as O’Connor clearly thought he had really done nothing wrong. The apology was rejected.
As far as the incident itself, what O’Connor did was wrong but his real error was in how he handled it. He is clearly a passionate coach, and I am sure he is nowhere near as nutty as many coaches out there, as far as the techniques they use to teach players. He was overly rough, but could have made the entire thing a non-issue by immediately telling the kid that he had screwed up, helping him up, and calling for a trainer to assist with the injury. He had not intended to hurt Kravchuk, and any kid playing college basketball at any level knows that worse things might happen at any time in practice or in a game. Yes, Kravchuk hurt his nose and his wrist, but what he mostly hurt was his pride. Why O’Connor decided to embarrass the kid after his own mistake is a total mystery. It is one thing to toughen up your players, and another thing to humiliate and abuse them. O’Connor no longer has a job because he lost sight of what it means to coach.
I’m not sure that I would have filed a police report if I had been in Kravchuk’s place. That seems a bit extreme. I am sure that I would not have appeared on Good Morning America. Like Kravchuk, though, I would have stood up for myself, and if that meant essentially getting a popular coach removed from his job, so be it.
Bad sports, continued:
2) Talk about your red flags. Before ever playing a down on the NFL, and even before being drafted by a professional team, former Auburn quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton stated last week that he sees himself “not only as a football player, but an entertainer and icon.” Awesome.
3) In a major blow to the World Series aspirations of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, star pitcher Adam Wainwright will miss the entire season with an elbow injury that will require ligament replacement surgery.
4) Jake Nickle, a 22-year-old volunteer assistant coach with the Ohio State Buckeyes strength and conditioning program, died on Friday after collapsing during a pickup basketball game.
5) I can never pass up a story that involves a sports figure flashing his genitals at a police officer. Luke Driscoll, a scout with the St. Louis Rams, did exactly that in Indianapolis Thursday night, where he was attending the NFL Scouting Combine. Not shockingly, there was a public intoxication charge as well.
6) One of the things I don’t like about soccer is the fact that the players seem to take dives constantly, faking injuries to a degree that would put players in other sports to shame for their mild attempts at drama. This dude, though, takes it to a whole new level. Ridiculous.
Good sports:
1) Marshon Brooks, a swingman for the Providence Friars, scored 52 points in a loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday. The total, scored on 20 of 28 shooting, was a record for the Big East conference.
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I have (had) no idea who this coach was before this, though, admittedly, I would have had no idea anyway as I don’t spend much time watching this stuff.
However, what I think was particularly awesome was a clip from a show where the coach was sitting with the player at a table, and the player didn’t accept the apology. That’s some good TV.
Whoops – I didn’t realize it was actually GMA. Yikes.