Bullyboy Coach Needs Refresher

Dallas Coach Refuses to Apologize for Lopsided 100-0 Loss
A Bully to the End Fired for No Remorse - Thus Endeth a Good Life’s Lesson
By Terrance Gavan
I’ve never been a big fan of the bully.
They live in the schoolyard, they prey on the weak, and they are almost inevitably destined to spend the better part of their productive lives wondering why no one much cares for their company.
They live in a cocoon of bubbled frenzy. They remain forlorn antiques. They squint often and question why the real world doesn’t mimic high school, an arena where things were so nicely stacked in their favor. Where the quick fist, blunt threat and blank sociopath’s stare always seemed to turn the trick.
They find life in the real world, cold, hard, complicated and inconsistent. They hate the gray shades, preferring the ersatz reality of the black and the white, sometimes taking that theme to another time-worn and inevitable conclusion. Bullies become racists, Republicans and jackboot control freaks. Once in power they revert to the schoolyard. Sometimes they sashay into politics. Sometimes they become leaders. Sometimes they become Governors of Alaska. Sometimes they shoot their friends in the face with a twelve-gauge shotgun. You know the type.
The bully in charge. He refuses to delegate and he muzzles cabinet ministers. He attempts to mollify the hard edge by donning demure cardigans. He placates his minions with soothing tones, but somewhere behind the grin, the 90-pound weakling and the schoolyard runt will detect that telltale glint in the piercing blue eyes. These leopards might alter cashmere spots but ye shall know them by that frozen grin.
They often seek therapy in their middle age.
Their psychiatrist, collecting $300 per, will tell them things they want to hear.
Things that will shift blame to some manifest destiny.
Their mother failed at nurture. Their dad was demanding. They grew up too fast. They were victimized by a deconstructive family paradigm. They were too good looking. They are Mensa candidates. They were ahead of their time. People didn’t understand them.
These things the Shrink will affirm over 10 years of intense psychotherapy and group-based dynamic sessioning. Anger management will play heavily in the mix. Spooner, Jung, Freud with spates of Dr. Phil will jangle around the loose-fitted neuron’s of the bully’s bulletproof brainpan. Each session will end the same.
“Not your fault. Well, that’s the hour Adolf. I think we’re making progress here. Don’t forget to pay the receptionist on your way out. See you next Thursday.”
In a worse case scenario, the bully may return to that arena where doubt and the harsh world is dispelled by security’s comforting blanket. In the case of bully Micah Grimes, well, he went back to high school. Grimes made headlines all over America and the world when he coached his Covenant High School girl’s team to a 100-0 decision over rival Dallas Academy a few weeks back.
For the record, Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy specializes in teaching students struggling with learning differences, such as short attention spans or dyslexia.
It didn’t take long. Associated Press, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CBS came a calling to Covenant and last week officials from the winning school said they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.
In a statement Thursday on The Covenant School’s Web site, the head of school said, “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened.” He went on to say that Covenant has made “a formal request to forfeit the game recognizing that a victory without honor is a great loss.”
And how did the tyrant coach respond to this wringing of hands and public apology?
In a statement posted last Sunday on www.flightbasketball.com, Grimes offered his first public comment since the story was reported.
“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.”
While a case can be made for the dubious scheduling of this lopsided contest, Grimes is reverting to Vlad the Impaler form when he maintains that there was anything honorable about the win or his part in the reenactment of Little Big Horn.
It was duly noted by observers that his Covenant girls came out with a full court press and they continued to shoot three pointers into the fourth quarter. There was no respect. There were high fives and there was an assistant coach urging the girls to triple digits.
It was a bullyboy job from beginning to end.
Grimes apparently did not consult his shrink or his anger management group before issuing his lamentable screed against his employers.
The school summarily and unceremoniously fired his butt. Grimes will be looking for another job.
If we’re very lucky.
The Dallas school system will make mental note of this incident.
And Micah Grimes will never again have responsibility for the melding and nurture of young minds.
A Texas high school soccer coach Matt Colvin jumped into the Texas-wide debate sparked by the game with some pretty cogent and insightful words.
“Part of the job of coaching is more than the score. We want to teach to these kids that, yeah, winning and losing are important, but there are other values and core values that you can learn and carry throughout your life. Embarrassing somebody doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing your job.”
We can only hope that this sage piece of advice is grist for the mill during Grimes’s next foray to comfy couch