Holy Family University coach attacks player

If the coach is fired, at least he'll be free to resume his recurring role on "Beavis and Butt-head."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/us-complaint-basketball-idUSTRE71N7S220110224

The DA cleared the coach.

 

http://www.comcast.net/articles/sports-cbk/20110225/Holy.Family-Coach/

The coach has resigned.

 

As per that philly.com story, the kid, Kravchuk, has a 3.8 GPA in criminal justice and is pursuing a career either as a state trooper or in the military.

That doesn't strike me so much as a whiny person looking for a payday as it does a responsible adult recognizing an inappropriate act that crossed the line.

The kid is the only one who did the right thing here, but due to some silly, macho culture that ignores reason and celebrates egomaniac control-freaks, he'll be labeled by some as soft, weak or an ambulance chaser.

Watch the video again.

It wasn't a tap. It wasn't a momentary glimpse of aggression in the middle of a heated moment.

He blindsided the kid. Who had been hustling for rebounds during the drill.

Maybe in this coach's warped world, he would have respected him if Kravchuk popped him in the mouth he kept running by saying "Good!" when the kid told him he was bleeding. Maybe Kravchuk's world isn't limited to the gym.

Just a few weeks ago, they celebrated DeSean Jackson in Philly for coming to the aid of a bullied kid. Maybe Kravchuk wants to be one of the people to help stop that type of behavior as a state trooper one day.

So instead of shrugging it off and ignoring his instinct, the kid showed strength by tuning out the culture around him and recognizing the difference between training players and goons. As a sophomore, he prepared to take on his coach and his team. That's not soft. Especially since he persisted when the AD nodded along to his concerns and did nothing -- and his teammates supported the coach by saying the contact was "accidental" -- a move that was misguided at best, cowardly at worst.

The coach was out of line and he couldn't genuinely admit that despite his apologies. Kravchuk recognized it and was strong enough to take all the garbage he will get from this. He's right not to respect the coach in this case because the man didn't offer an apology without an excuse.

Kravchuk wasn't the problem here. The coach was. I wouldn't want that coach at a school in my area. But I would welcome Officer Kravchuk patrolling it if that's the career he chooses.

 

Hmmm, looking at the stats this season. This kid has played in 11 games out of 27 and averages six minutes a game.
Although...I'm sure NONE of that has anything to do with this...

http://web3.holyfamily.edu/mbb/2010-11/teamcume.htm

 

The little angel likes beer a bit too much:

http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/local/article/826562--matt-kravchuk-controversy-again-for-b-ball-player

 

Maybe if more coaches hit him and treated him like shit this wouldn't have happened.

 

Actually, it's the opposite -- it's players like this that are a trap for coaches, who might push them to do things they wouldn't normally do. I know I've coached teams with real head cases (often with head-case parents to boot), and I have to remind myself to not get sucked into "correcting" the situation in a way that will only make it worse. Coaches think they somehow can magically turn a head case into a model citizen, but the vast, vast majority of evidence argues to the contrary.

 

Actually, I was being sarcastic. One thing that drove me nuts during the years when Pete Carroll coached the Patriots was how some local columnists always seemed to trot out some ex-lineman who had his share of off-field issues (like the former NFL long-snapper who was caught smoking a joint in an airport) to talk about how a "player's coach" can't get the job done and how you need a coach who's going to treat the players like crap.
What kind of credibility does an ex-player who's had his share of discpline problems have when it comes to this subject?

 

That guy was not just any long snapper. It was Steve Deossie who played for Parcells when the Giants won the Super Bowl. He certainly had a reference point.

 

He pulled a Vrabel.