Motivation or just, ick....

JV coach suspended for cemetery stop

MARCELLUS, N.Y. -- The coach of a junior varsity football team has been suspended for making his players lie down in a central New York cemetery in an effort to motivate them after a loss.
The superintendent of the Marcellus school district outside Syracuse announced Thursday that coach Jim Marsh has been suspended for two weeks without pay.

Marsh, whose offer to resign was refused, will donate his remaining coaching salary to St. Francis Xavier cemetery, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.


Marsh's team was returning from a loss Sept. 24 when he had the bus pull over at a cemetery and told the players to lie down in between and on the graves. The coach then talked to them about the importance of playing hard.

"(It) caused more confusion than understanding among adolescent players," Marcellus superintendent Craig Tice told the Post-Standard. "The unintended consequences outweighed the intended outcome."

Marsh apologized to his players and their parents during a meeting Thursday night, telling them he was trying to inspire the team by borrowing from a scene in "Remember the Titans."

"He took the responsibility," Tice said, explaining why he did not fire Marsh, the newspaper reported. "You probably could have talked to some who would like his resignation. But you would have found just as many who supported him. I can't make everybody happy. I felt this is an inspired solution that will lead to healing."

In "Remember the Titans," actor Denzel Washington portrays a coach who takes his players on a run through a former Civil War battleground in Gettysburg, Pa.

"Take a lesson from the dead," Washington's character says as the players stop to rest, "that if we don't come together right now in this hallowed ground, we, too, will be destroyed."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

RSoxGuy wrote:http://espn.go.com/high-school/story/_/id/7038739/junior-varsity-football-coach-suspended-taking-players-cemetery

JV coach suspended for cemetery stop

MARCELLUS, N.Y. -- The coach of a junior varsity football team has been suspended for making his players lie down in a central New York cemetery in an effort to motivate them after a loss.
The superintendent of the Marcellus school district outside Syracuse announced Thursday that coach Jim Marsh has been suspended for two weeks without pay.

Marsh, whose offer to resign was refused, will donate his remaining coaching salary to St. Francis Xavier cemetery, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.


Marsh's team was returning from a loss Sept. 24 when he had the bus pull over at a cemetery and told the players to lie down in between and on the graves. The coach then talked to them about the importance of playing hard.

"(It) caused more confusion than understanding among adolescent players," Marcellus superintendent Craig Tice told the Post-Standard. "The unintended consequences outweighed the intended outcome."

Marsh apologized to his players and their parents during a meeting Thursday night, telling them he was trying to inspire the team by borrowing from a scene in "Remember the Titans."

"He took the responsibility," Tice said, explaining why he did not fire Marsh, the newspaper reported. "You probably could have talked to some who would like his resignation. But you would have found just as many who supported him. I can't make everybody happy. I felt this is an inspired solution that will lead to healing."

In "Remember the Titans," actor Denzel Washington portrays a coach who takes his players on a run through a former Civil War battleground in Gettysburg, Pa.

"Take a lesson from the dead," Washington's character says as the players stop to rest, "that if we don't come together right now in this hallowed ground, we, too, will be destroyed."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

I dunno. I dont think it was that bad considering my old HS was built next door to teh town's biggest cemetary. But maybe laying down on graves may have been going to far. I dunno, Ive had much worse emotional and physical abuse from football coaches than lying in a graveyard.

A small deal blown out of proprotion by over protective parents of kids who play JV. Its friggin JV for crying out loud. There are so many things you cant do in practice anymore (Bull in the ring, 6 inch leg lifts) due to parents saying its abusive and torture (of course none of them played a down of football). So the coach goes outside the box to get his kid's head in the game and people cry foul.

Tasteless move? Sure but, different coaches motivate in different ways. The kids were never in any danger in anyway shape or form. I dont think its that big of a deal.