Covenant 100 – Dallas Academy 0; A Game that Should Never Have Been Scheduled

Being a former coach, I have written many times about athletics and the many lessons that children can take from sports. That ongoing interest was tweaked once again this past week with the release of a very troubling story from the world of amateur athletics.

Running Up the Score

It featured the firing of a Texas high school basketball coach after his team defeated another by the robust score of 100-0.

That is correct, Micah Grimes’ Covenant girls basketball team hit triple digits, a rarity for high school ball, while his opponent, Dallas Academy, was held scoreless, an almost unheard of result given it was a basketball game.

Reportedly the coach was fired the same day he had published a letter on the web site FlightBasketball.com indicating he would not apologize for the startling margin of victory.

Kyle Queal, the headmaster for the Covenant School, a private Christian school, reportedly would not publicly state why he had fired the coach. However, the top school administrator had already gone on record as calling the final result “shameful.”

Queal and the board chair for the school, Todd Doshier, had published a strong rebuke of the overall result on the school’s web site.

“It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition.”

Ultimately, Grimes was likely terminated for his failure to acknowledge that he might have done something wrong in running up the score. In writing his online letter to express his public disagreement with the school’s position, Grimes clearly drew a line in the sand.

The coach offered this rebuttal:

“In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Website, I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel ‘embarrassed’ or ‘ashamed.’
We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy.”

He also insisted he had done a number of things to keep the score down including “sub in bench players, play zone defense, and run the clock for the rest of the game.”

What Score Might Have Been Acceptable?
In discussing the incident, Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools acknowledged there was no mercy rule in the game of basketball. That means there are no rules that allow the game to be shortened or to even let the time run continuously.

But Burleson insisted there is “a golden rule” that the coach of Covenant should have applied.

But while it is easy to blame the coach, a comment we read from RedDwarf0510 likely best hits the nail on the head:

“This game should not have been played. Who ever organized it is clearly to blame.”

RedDwarf0510 went on to conclude:

“Competition isn’t nice. It’s not supposed to be.”

When an employee goes to the press to publicly offer his disagreement with the position held by his boss, he does stand a good chance of getting fired. No surprise there.

And we agree with the Headmaster, a score of 100-0 probably does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition.

But given the clear mismatch in skill and athletic prowess, we have to agree with the notion that whoever scheduled the game put a number of people in some very awkward positions, especially the girls playing for each team.

Leaving us to wonder, in a game of such disparity, what would have been deemed an acceptable score?

Flickr photos courtesy of mvongrue and tabrandt.