Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt men's head basketball coach) to one of his players: "I'm going to f**king kill you!"
I'm amazed by what Vanderbilt head basketball coach Kevin Stallings yelled at one of his players following the team's 73-65 victory over Tennessee on Thursday night, but am even more amazed by the majority of people's reactions to the situation (commentators on websites anyhow).
As Stallings was shaking hands with his opponent after the game, a Tennessee staff member informed the Vanderbilt head coach about one of his players, Wade Baldwin IV, clapping in the face of Tennessee forward Armani Moore after the Commodores sealed their victory.
Kevin Stallings then went up to his player and angrily yelled, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"
This occurred in front of most everybody holding a camera, so after the inevitable backlash, Stallings told ESPN the following:
"I handled it completely inappropriately and I apologized to Wade -- and I need to apologize to our fans and the Vanderbilt administration. Having said that, and it may seem as though I'm trying to rationalize my behavior, sportsmanship will continue to be a high priority. I did not mean it in the literal sense and I've never touched a player in all my years as a coach. That's not me. I will learn from this and handle this situation differently in the future."
I'll comment on all of that shortly. Before doing so, however, I thought I'd share a few comments I read from members of ESPN.com in response to the article:
- "This is a non-issue. It just shows the pussification of America."
- "This is just emblematic of how soft we've become as a society..."
- "The kid deserved it."
- "Every athlete has been threatened by a coach. Move on..."
- "What's it with the PC police? Are you offended by the 'F' word? Seriously?"
There are times when I seriously wonder why it is I love sports so much. Outside of that and perhaps my love for rock music, I'm the antithesis of the alpha male. Approximately 74% of the comments I read following the article made me shake my head, roll my eyes, and silently mumble to myself, "Really?" and "Steroids and anger management much?"
If the school wants to suspend Wade Baldwin IV for his actions, then so be it. If Kevin Stallings wanted to give him a heated lecture (void of threats) following the game in his office, again, so be it. However, there's absolutely no excuse for the coach to have said, "I'm going to f**ing kill you!" None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. As far as I see it, while it's debatable whether or not the player should receive a 1-game suspension, the coach should, at the very least, be suspended for the rest of the year, if not outright fired. In fact, I personally feel the latter is the more appropriate option.
First off, let's think about the ironic logic Kevin Stallings suggested to ESPN following the incident. The guy talks about how important sportsmanship is, yet how in the world can he expect his team to be good sports when he angrily yells at one of them, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"? "Do as I say, not as I do," right? Ah, gotta love good role models...
Secondly, while the coach may not have meant what he said in the literal sense, it's still a threat to one's life, and in what other profession could someone threaten to kill another, but get away with it by saying, "Oh, but I didn't mean it literally"? What if Baldwin had said that to his coach? He'd be kicked off the team. What if an employee said that to their boss? They'd be fired. What if a boss said that to their employee? With evidence, they'd need to look for a new job. What if someone said that to an individual with a great deal of power, the president in particular? Expect secret service to be at your door and to quite possibly serve time in jail. So why is it Kevin Stallings can say, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of his players and get away with it, without too many people angered by the threat? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Also, especially in college, coaches are typically seen as father-figures to these athletes, these college kids. If an 18-year-old kid's actual father angrily yelled, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to his son in public, what do you think would happen? Yes, chances are he'd be getting a visit from the police. Heck, if any man yelled "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to another in public, the chances are good he would receive some visitors not too long after that. But what would these commentators say if an actual father said "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to his son? Would they say, "Well, was the kid asking for it"? or "He was just showing the kid some discipline! Why's this country so full of pansies nowadays?" If another man approached their son and said, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" but then later said, "Well, I didn't mean it literally," what would their reactions be? I'm guessing far different...
Lastly, if Stallings isn't fired, what's this incident going to do for the team's (school's) image and recruiting? Will parents really want their kids to play for the coach that yelled "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of his players? Survey says? Not likely...
Coaches can yell at their players all they'd like. They can reach into their bag of tricks and try to find ways to motivate their players and improve them both on the basketball court and off of it. However, in the long line of tricks and tools coaches have used to motivate, improve, and discipline their players, there's absolutely no place for the coach to yell, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of them. If Vanderbilt wants to truly get serious about showcasing good sportsmanship, it starts at the top with the head coach, and they can't be expecting 18- to 22-year-old kids to consistently be good sports if their head coach yells out to one of them, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12390602/vanderbilt-head-coach-kevin-stallings-apologizes-berating-player-tennessee-game
As Stallings was shaking hands with his opponent after the game, a Tennessee staff member informed the Vanderbilt head coach about one of his players, Wade Baldwin IV, clapping in the face of Tennessee forward Armani Moore after the Commodores sealed their victory.
Kevin Stallings then went up to his player and angrily yelled, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"
This occurred in front of most everybody holding a camera, so after the inevitable backlash, Stallings told ESPN the following:
"I handled it completely inappropriately and I apologized to Wade -- and I need to apologize to our fans and the Vanderbilt administration. Having said that, and it may seem as though I'm trying to rationalize my behavior, sportsmanship will continue to be a high priority. I did not mean it in the literal sense and I've never touched a player in all my years as a coach. That's not me. I will learn from this and handle this situation differently in the future."
I'll comment on all of that shortly. Before doing so, however, I thought I'd share a few comments I read from members of ESPN.com in response to the article:
- "This is a non-issue. It just shows the pussification of America."
- "This is just emblematic of how soft we've become as a society..."
- "The kid deserved it."
- "Every athlete has been threatened by a coach. Move on..."
- "What's it with the PC police? Are you offended by the 'F' word? Seriously?"
There are times when I seriously wonder why it is I love sports so much. Outside of that and perhaps my love for rock music, I'm the antithesis of the alpha male. Approximately 74% of the comments I read following the article made me shake my head, roll my eyes, and silently mumble to myself, "Really?" and "Steroids and anger management much?"
If the school wants to suspend Wade Baldwin IV for his actions, then so be it. If Kevin Stallings wanted to give him a heated lecture (void of threats) following the game in his office, again, so be it. However, there's absolutely no excuse for the coach to have said, "I'm going to f**ing kill you!" None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. As far as I see it, while it's debatable whether or not the player should receive a 1-game suspension, the coach should, at the very least, be suspended for the rest of the year, if not outright fired. In fact, I personally feel the latter is the more appropriate option.
First off, let's think about the ironic logic Kevin Stallings suggested to ESPN following the incident. The guy talks about how important sportsmanship is, yet how in the world can he expect his team to be good sports when he angrily yells at one of them, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"? "Do as I say, not as I do," right? Ah, gotta love good role models...
Secondly, while the coach may not have meant what he said in the literal sense, it's still a threat to one's life, and in what other profession could someone threaten to kill another, but get away with it by saying, "Oh, but I didn't mean it literally"? What if Baldwin had said that to his coach? He'd be kicked off the team. What if an employee said that to their boss? They'd be fired. What if a boss said that to their employee? With evidence, they'd need to look for a new job. What if someone said that to an individual with a great deal of power, the president in particular? Expect secret service to be at your door and to quite possibly serve time in jail. So why is it Kevin Stallings can say, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of his players and get away with it, without too many people angered by the threat? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Also, especially in college, coaches are typically seen as father-figures to these athletes, these college kids. If an 18-year-old kid's actual father angrily yelled, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to his son in public, what do you think would happen? Yes, chances are he'd be getting a visit from the police. Heck, if any man yelled "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to another in public, the chances are good he would receive some visitors not too long after that. But what would these commentators say if an actual father said "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to his son? Would they say, "Well, was the kid asking for it"? or "He was just showing the kid some discipline! Why's this country so full of pansies nowadays?" If another man approached their son and said, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" but then later said, "Well, I didn't mean it literally," what would their reactions be? I'm guessing far different...
Lastly, if Stallings isn't fired, what's this incident going to do for the team's (school's) image and recruiting? Will parents really want their kids to play for the coach that yelled "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of his players? Survey says? Not likely...
Coaches can yell at their players all they'd like. They can reach into their bag of tricks and try to find ways to motivate their players and improve them both on the basketball court and off of it. However, in the long line of tricks and tools coaches have used to motivate, improve, and discipline their players, there's absolutely no place for the coach to yell, "I'm going to f**king kill you!" to one of them. If Vanderbilt wants to truly get serious about showcasing good sportsmanship, it starts at the top with the head coach, and they can't be expecting 18- to 22-year-old kids to consistently be good sports if their head coach yells out to one of them, "I'm going to f**king kill you!"
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12390602/vanderbilt-head-coach-kevin-stallings-apologizes-berating-player-tennessee-game
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