text: Story about yet another "great" high school football coach
  Thread: Story about yet another "great" high school football coach
  10-25-2006, 01:19 PM #1
  http://www.click2houston.com/news/10144744/detail.html
  WILLIS, Texas -- Six players kicked off the Willis High School varsity football team after giving blood have been reinstated, but they lost their starting positions, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.
  The football players said head coach Mack Malone kicked them off the team after he saw them giving blood at a school blood drive right before practice on Monday.
  "The first thing (the coach) said was, 'You're off the team. Your career at Willis High School is over,'" football player Phillip McKenna said.
  The players said they went to their lockers to get ready for practice, but they were told to leave.
  "We were all ready for practice," player Jeff Chachem said. "We were going out to practice and all of our stuff was taken out of our lockers and we were told to go home, that we were done playing football."
  Malone, who has refused to comment, apologized to the players and their parents on Tuesday but issued a punishment to the players for missing Monday's practice.
  "Everybody makes mistakes and he certainly has had to apologize for things. We've had to apologize for things. I think we can take it one day at a time from here," mother Alice Hill said.
  The school district said it was a lack of communication.
  "He overreacted. He wasn't using the thought process that he tries to teach his kids and thinking things through. It never was about giving blood. It was about coming to practice a little bit late," said Brian Zemlick, the Willis Independent School District superintendent.
  "We did lose our starting positions," Chachem said. "We do have to work and run to get them back, so it's still showing that we're being punished."
  The players will also not be allowed to participate in the team's next game on Friday.
  Parents said their children should not be punished for giving the gift of life.
  "I don't think they should have to earn their positions back," parent Theresa Scott said. "They worked all year to get that position and now they're going to take it away. I feel like they're still being punished."
  The players said they are happy to be back on the team but wish things could return to normal.
  "I'm not going to be able to look at him the same way," player Garrett Scott said. "The way he treated all six of us wasn't fair at all."
  Some of the players are seniors, and the final three games of the season were their last chance to try to secure a college scholarship.
  "I haven't missed one practice," player Jason Olner said. "Even when I was injured, I was out there trying to get better. It's been my life."
  Football is not just another sport in Willis. Parents said the games are the highlight of their week and their children's dreams.
  "I just want to play my last three high school games as a senior," Olner said.
  10-25-2006, 01:25 PM #2
  Re: Story about yet another "great" high school football coach
  Over reacted? Sure. But you don't give blood right before a football practice. It's good the players wanted to donate. But other arrangements should have been made to accomodate.
  Just read a story here in the paper where a Dad pulled a gun and threatened a coach at a game because he said his son wasn't getting enough playing time.
  Well... someone is gonna get some time.
  Last edited by GAC; 10-25-2006 at 01:27 PM.
  10-25-2006, 05:06 PM #3
  Either my junior or senior year, about half the guys on our baseball team (myself included) donated blood during the day at school. We then all went to baseball practice and explained to the coach how we weren't supposed to do physical activity for the day. He basically let the entire team take some BP and fielding drills and leave for the day. Obviously quite the opposite reaction and the one all of us were looking for.