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So as a coach you don't want your younger guys practicing scoring? Maybe the other team has a badminton option? My HS FB team got crushed consistently until we were Seniors. No one needed a therapy doll. One game was 67 to zero. What's the difference?
I'm not one for participation trophies and the like, but the issues are that the coach went for two when there was no need to and left his all-star QB in the game. There was no reason to kick them when they were down.
Classless individual.
You can bet the other teams in that league took notice ...
It has always been considered bad sportmanship to do so. The exception is when you have tie breakers or goal differentials like in soccer, there is no reason to run up the score like that in a football game. This has nothing to do with woke, anyone saying otherwise has little to no experience in organized sports.
I guess I would have to watch the game, I coached for many years, I been in situation when I pulled all my best kids and I am telling them the defenders to just clear the ball and dont play it out the backfield, and we are still scoring. I imagine in football you would pull your first stringers and just run the ball and the clock down once you are up 35 points, there are things you can practice without trying to score in every play.
That reminds me of when a lioness catches a baby antelope and instead of killing it, takes it back to her cubs so they can "practice" on it. I doubt the antelope appreciates that.
When you run up the score to that degree ... yeah I think it's a good gesture to apologize. Did they keep their first string in there for the entire game?
Considering the rather cut-throat culture the adults in our society have created I'm surprised people expect "sportsmanship" from our high school kids.
California should institute Mercy Rules for high school football and basketball like 34 other states already have.
Exactly. I've also seen the coaches decide to shorten the quarters in the second half. The article doesn't have enough information to make a judgement about what happened. We don't know if the winning coach played his entire bench and for how long. Once you put players in a football game, you can't tell them to take a knee until the last two minutes of the game. If I'm a 4th string running back, this might be the only opportunity to ever score a touchdown. I don't care what the score is.
If I had been the Inglewood coach, I would not have played my starters after the first quarter. I would have played my 2nd string in the second quarter and not played them in the second half. I would have played the rest of my bench during the second half. This is all assuming your roster is that deep. Many high school football teams have much smaller rosters than they used to have. It is not unusual for a large high school to only have 30 players on the roster. Now your choices are limited.
After reading all the posts in this thread, I get the feeling that most posters have never played a team sport such as football, basketball, or soccer.
Well.............................................. ............... having coached soccer as an adult, I do have a little problem with that beat down. I am a doc and had to re-arrange my schedule during the fall to be able to do so, but it was quite fun.
When you are obviously killing a team, one "clears the bench" and lets every second and third string player play. If they are still killing the opponant, you tell the offense to run their normal plays, but to intentionally shoot over the goal or to the side. In that fashion, you allow the players to try their best without humiliating an opponent. In soccer (I'm sure the same is true in football) sometimes the coach does not know what the hell they are doing. They never played at a collegiate level and have no concept of what to teach. Thus the team, even with decent athletes, will be terrible through no fault of their own. I am shocked to this day that most high school teams do not have set offensive plays called by the center mid for attacking the goal- NO PLAYS! In addition, their defense is not trained to recognize any set plays coming at them and are constantly out of position. We used set play offenses in the 1970s and had the sweeper reading the offenses on our side of the field to call the defense.
It's high school. The importance of high school athletics is building confidence, discipline, and instilling some sense of organization in the kids as well as the importance of hard work and conditioning. Very few kids have the wheels to be able to play in college (got to be fast). NOTHING is gained from a huge beat down- NOTHING. Obviously, the other team realizes they need to work harder. However, there are some circumstances in which NO ATHLETES WORTH A DAMN GO OUT FOR THAT SPORT AT THAT SCHOOL. What are you to do as an opposing coach in their conference?
We had such a school and I invited their coach and players to work out with us in order to get better. It markedly improved their skill set and gave them some sense of accomplishment.
The lesson of losing is far more valuable than the one you receive from winning. Being defeated, beaten and in this case completely humiliated has the effect of making a team or an individual work harder to get better. It motivates practice and hard work. This is how defeat or embarrassment can lead to genuine improvement.
Our snowflake society has just gone too far. Competition is part of life. So is defeat.
I agree. Also in cases like this, if a team starts holding back dont they run the risk of the opponents catching up and even winning themselves? A pattern gets set after and continues and things change, because somone switched the winning plan.
Having a bad defeat can light a fire so as not to repeat it. Ever been in a bad situation in life, gotten angry and decided to break free? And then did so? That can be very valuable in life.
I agree. Also in cases like this, if a team starts holding back dont they run the risk of the opponents catching up and even winning themselves? A pattern gets set after and continues and things change, because somone switched the winning plan.
Having a bad defeat can light a fire so as not to repeat it. Ever been in a bad situation in life, gotten angry and decided to break free? And then did so? That can be very valuable in life.
In such instances there is no way in hell for the opposing team to win and you do not run the risk of losing to them. When it is obvious that a team is over matched, you "clear the bench" and allow everyone to play at full capacity. If you are still slaughtering them, you have your players shoot for another target than the goal itself. You also reduce the number of players who are attacking the goal on offense. The game essentially turns into a "scrimmage" in which you work on specific skills and new plays in which there is an "active" opponent. In football, you could run your normal offense, but have the players intentionally fumble before crossing the goal line. In addition, they could kick field goals every time they crossed the 20 yard line, rather that going in for touchdowns. That way, everyone keeps their "stats" up, but you don't add to the misery.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for such a beat down.
Such a defeat does not "light a fire" under the other team. Believe me................... they have usually been slaughtered by every other team they have faced and are completely demoralized even before the game starts. It is even demoralizing for the team delivering the beat down. Most kids who are competitive at their sport do not enjoy a slaughter- they want a good game.
What IS LEARNED from such a beat down? Poor sportsmanship- which is not the message you want to transmit. Also, you want to teach another lesson- MERCY. I would tell my kids in such a situation that they would be on the receiving end if they were playing a good collegiate team, so they should try to put themselves in a similar situation and see how they would feel.
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For all the people whining about current "snowflakes", you weren't allowed to do that when i was in high school in the late 70's. If your team was winning handily, you pulled out your star players and cleared the bench of all the guys who never get to play.
And even then, you take it easy. Not in a showy way of wasting time, but enough's enough.
The coach should be sanctioned.
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