Modeling Sportsmanship from the Sidelines

Today's blog post was written by Tony Kim.  Tony is an intern with Play Like a Champion Today and a senior at Purdue North Central majoring in psychology. 

In the midst of a Cincinnati 51-45 loss to UConn this weekend, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin went into a frenzy after an out of bounds call in which he thought, “the ball was out on them,” went the other way. Even though the call was not one that decisively influenced game’s outcome in which both teams had (frankly) atrocious offensive showings—it was enough to poke and burst the bubble of frustration inflated within Cronin.

As Cronin ran rampant along the sideline, Referee Ted Valentine met face to face with him as the two confronted one another about the call. Even after Valentine walked away to carry on with the game, Cronin incessantly verbally berated Valentine.  Cronin’s continual conduct caused coaches and players alike restrain him and get him away from Valentine to get the game back on track.

Ironically, UConn Coach Kevin Ollie was on the other end of the sideline, watching as the incident occurred. As some may recall, Ollie was involved in a similar incident where a call made by the referee was angrily contested—resulting in him receiving a technical foul, charging towards the referee for receiving the technical foul, another technical issued for his confrontational actions, and finally his ejection from the game.

Unfortunately, these incidents involving these two coaches are not isolated. Outbursts by basketball coaches have been happening even with prominent names such as Jim Boeheim.  As those who follow Collegiate Men’s Basketball saw in the news late this past February, the typically stoic and silent Boeheim furiously erupted after a call that he thought was a blocking foul was called as a charge.  The game against Duke went on to be a the second straight loss of the season for the, then, ranked #1 Syracuse Orange, as they went on to suffer a double technical foul on Coach Boeheim. 

With all of these recent outbursts by coaches toward the officiating staff, we have to wonder: if the coaching staff can’t set the example for sportsmanship for their players, who will?  Thankfully, Cronin's own players were aware enough to prevent their coach's actions from escalating further, but they likely still had an impact on the team.  From Cronin, to Ollie, and even Boeheim, we’ve seen outbursts that not only cost the team and its players points on the board—but also negatively taxes the programs which they represent. It distracts from the intrinsic joy that comes from playing the game and the spirit of competition between teams. Hopefully, this trend in outright shameful behavior by coaches is one that buzzes out.