|
Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Baldwin coach
an ‘alleged’ scapegoatI'M still thinking about the latest update in the case of the Baldwin soccer coach who has been effectively drummed out of the business after one of his players (and people smarter than me inserted the word "allegedly" here last time, even though we'd all watched it on videotape) attacked a game official in the state tournament.
On Friday, the Maui Interscholastic League decided to follow an earlier Hawaii High School Athletic Association ruling, banning the guy from coaching in any MIL sport for five years, and placing Baldwin soccer on a one-year conduct probation.
This is even harsher than the state ruling, which only took the coach out of state tournament play. The Maui schools blacklisted him altogether.
And Baldwin High decided not to renew the coach's contract -- which, since he'd previously said he wanted to stay, means that he was fired. Ruling out any attempt to appeal.
Now, this ugly incident demanded a strong statement. You can't have players (allegedly! allegedly!) attacking game officials. And coaches are responsible for their teams' actions, right or wrong.
(And a reader wrote in wanting to know, if this coach's career is ended because one of his kids had a meltdown, what of the state championship football game, in which too many kids to count lost it, in a bench-clearing free-for-all?)
The magnitude of the crime called for the punishment. But the curious thing is the reaction of the MIL and of Baldwin itself. After all, the HHSAA made its original ruling not just on the basis of the single incident, but for a pattern of behavior over a period of time, an atmosphere that allowed something this shocking to actually happen. "A lack of discipline and control," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said then, also citing "poor sportsmanship," "excessive trash-talking," "yelling of obscenities," and "obscene gestures to opposing fans."
Fine. Bad stuff. Good ruling.
But the ones piling on now are the ones who should have seen it coming.
If Baldwin's program was that bad, its league opponents would have seen it best, but the MIL took no official steps. For years, the coach had at least the tacit approval of the league that would ban him.
And Baldwin, the school that employed the coach and gave him the authority to carry out the job, kept rehiring the guy for more than a decade.
But you'd never know any of that now.
They sent a message, all right.
The coach should have taken the blame for such a disgraceful incident.
Baldwin and the MIL just made sure he took all of it.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com