Joe Kinsey
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Gary (Ind.) Lighthouse College Prep Academy head coach Nick Moore is out of a job today after an investigation by the Indiana High School Athletic Association revealed the coach threw a chair onto the court during a game Friday night.
Game footage from Region Sports Nation shows Moore lose it after a traveling call midway through the fourth quarter of a game against Bowman Academy. The coach attempts to throw a chair before one of his assistants steps in. Moore makes his way down the bench and finds an unoccupied folding chair that he then immediately tosses onto the court. Moore also tries to throw another chair towards an official who’s at midcourt.
And with that, Moore was assessed two fouls, ejected from the game and then fired.
“I’ve had a chance to reflect,” Moore told the Northwest Indiana Times. “I feel like I could’ve handled things in a better manner. Just looking back on it, we talk to our kids about sportsmanship, and we don’t condone technical fouls and the type of acts that I displayed. I never want any of my players to display that kind of behavior, so I probably could’ve found a better way.”
That wasn’t the end of the chair-throwing, according to the Times. A Lighthouse assistant launched a chair as he and the team exited the court, which is named after Moore’s stepfather. Nick Moore played on a 2010 Bowman state championship team.
The Times reports Bowman athletic director Arthur Haggard tried to calm the coach down, but it didn’t work.
“He summoned for me to come to him, and I told security to stand down,” Haggard told a reporter. ” … When I came over there, he got to ranting and raving about the refs, and I told him, ‘Nick, we share the same referees.’ But then he began saying, ‘I built this (expletive) house.’ I told him to calm down and that we had all kinds of media there, like Region Sports (Network), and the principals.
“He said, and I quote, ‘I don’t give a (expletive) about the principals or Region Sports. I built this (expletive).”
If Moore indeed built it, then the school now wants to keep him from destroying it.
Apparently you need to live in the 1980s, win 3 Natty titles, and shadow run the school before you can do those antics.
Great point, Ray!
I in no way condone what he did. But as a parent who dad coached youth basketball for years and then was involved in high school basketball for a while, there is just something about incompetent basketball refs that bring people to their angry point faster than any other sport
There is already an official shortage throughout the country and it will only get worse if coach and spectator behavior doesn’t improve. It’s better to play a game with incompetent refs than not play at all.
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