If you have kids and they've participated in sports, you might know that coaching can be a thankless job, especially when its on a volunteer basis.
Parents whine about everything -- playing time for their kids, coaching techniques, game strategy.
Of course, these same know-it-all moms and dads aren't willing to volunteer their time to serve as coaches. They just have time to bitch and moan.
But I digress.
Parents of kids on the Cudahy Middle School football team have reason to be concerned about assistant coach Michael Crawley.
From CudahyNow:
A Cudahy Middle School assistant football coach was suspended from attending games or practices for allegedly assaulting a 12-year-old player Oct. 24. Police are investigating the incident.
According to a police report, Michael Crawley, 39, grabbed the boy by his facemask and threw him to the ground, yelling profanities and threatening to kill him, after the boy performed a two-person block during practice, knocking over Crawley's son, who plays on the team. Crawley told police, he "lost his cool," and that the boy performed an illegal chop block, which injured his son.
"I'll (expletive) kill you, you son of a (expletive)," Crawley said, according to the report.
Brain Molar, a CMS assistant coach, witnessed the incident, and told authorities it was the most frightening experience he has encountered, the report said.
Molar then described the assault as a "WWF body slam," and that he heard Crawley swear numerous times to the boy.
Jack Littman, director of the Bulldog Football Program, also witnessed the assault, and said Crawley should be charged with a crime, the report said.
"Our coach went nuts, he picked up the kid and threw him to the ground and said 'I'll (expletive) kill you, you son of a (expletive),'" he said to police.
Crawley's son was taken to St. Luke's South Shore Hospital and was treated for a deep thigh bruise, and was scheduled for a magnetic resonance imaging exam at a later date.
The other boy's shoulder was bruised and was put in a sling.
No, it's not good for a coach to grab a kid by his facemask, body slam him, and threaten to kill him.
That's definitely not good.
I understand that Crawley would be upset about a player doing an illegal chop block on his son.
That boy should have been reprimanded, or suspended, or even thrown off the team.
I don't consider physical violence and death threats by the coach an appropriate reprimand.
Crawley will no doubt apologize for the incident at some point, as he should.
In this case, however, I don't think that he should be welcomed back as a coach.
His behavior was so out of line that this should be a "ONE strike and you're out" matter.
I've seen middle school coaches lose control, but I've never witnessed anything like this.
I agree that Crawley should be charged for the assault.
And to all those whiny parents with kids in sports--
Thank the coach. For all your complaining, you should be thankful that your child wasn't coached by Crawley.
4 comments:
Okay....so if Pewaukee Coach Grochowski can draw a two game suspension for what he did, basically defending himself, then this nut should basically draw a season ending, maybe even a career ending suspension.
I'm just sayin'
Exactly.
Yeah, I don't think Grochowski screamed that he was going to KILL the head-butter.
Calling the police over that incident certainly seems like a huge overreaction compared to this matter.
People need to hear BOTH SIDES of the story. For every ONE person that is spouting off with HALF the facts there are ten people who know what REALLY happened. I can personally say that when it came to coaching my children in several different sports, they had nothing BUT positive experiences with Coach Crawley. He DID teach them discipline, integrity and respect along with kindness, patience and pure love of the game. He has helped my children in numerous ways and always went above and beyond what should be expected of a coach. The accusing child has changed his story and the media just chooses to report the new version and never acknowledge that it is different from what they reported in the past. I didn't hear the "body slam" version today.... because it is UNTRUE! Unless you were at the scene you need to be informed of the facts. The way I see it, he is a great coach and I would be sorry if I heard he was giving it up because of all of this, and I know my children would miss him terribly.
Thanks for giving another perspective.
If Michael Crawley is being treated unfairly by the media and it's determined that he is a good coach and should continue working with kids, I will certainly note that here.
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