Coaches face suspension for wins of 50-plus points

ESPN ^ | June 8, 2006 | AP

[texianyankee]

HARTFORD, Conn. -- High school football coaches in Connecticut will have to be good sports this fall -- or risk a suspension.

The football committee of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports, is adopting a "score management" policy that will suspend coaches whose teams win by more than 50 points.

A rout is considered an unsportsmanlike infraction and the coach of the offending team will be disqualified from coaching the next game, said Tony Mosa, assistant executive director of the Cheshire, Conn.-based conference.

"We were concerned with any coach running up the game. There's no need for it," Mosa said. "This is something that we really have been discussing for the last couple of years. There were a number of games that were played where the difference of scores were 60 points or more. It's not focused on any one particular person."

Some have dubbed it the "Jack Cochran rule," after the New London High football coach, who logged four wins of more than 50 points last year. In New London's 60-0 rout of Tourtelotte/Ellis Tech, Cochran enraged the Tourtelotte bench by calling a timeout just before halftime. Tourtelotte's coach was arrested on breach of peace charges after police say he struck a security guard and an assistant New London coach.

Leo Facchini, New London's athletic director, called it unfair to single out his coach.

Facchini said he and Cochran tried to pull in the reins during New London's 90-0 drubbing of Griswold last season by trying to get both sides and the timekeeper to agree to run a continuous clock.

Some states, including Iowa, continuously run the game clock in the second half if a team has a 35-point lead. The Connecticut committee rejected a similar proposal because members thought it would unfairly cut into backups' playing time.

[texianyankee]

Half the high school football coaches in Texas would be suspended if this rule was ever instituted.

[Paisan]

Why stop there? Let's incarcerate any student who consistently gets straight A's on their report card too...

[Recon Dad]

Just skip the score and give each player a star for their helmets. It's about self esteem anyway.

[SIDENET]

Let's just get rid of game scoring all together. We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt feelings.

[DB]

Just call the game when one side is ahead by 40+ points...

How about we start firing CEO who's companies are too successful... Lame...

[texianyankee]

Excellent point....self esteem issues here....

[caver]

The feminization of America continues.....

[texianyankee]

I can see it now...the coach has to tell his QB to take sacks as soon as the team approaches the 42 point margin.....

[joebuck]

OK, lets say a team gets up by 53 points in a game. How embarrassing is it going to be for the other team on the ensuing kickoff when the winning team just stands there and lets the losing team run back the kickoff, unmolested, for a TD just to narrow the score?

[Nextrush]

Political correctness run amok.

Here in PA we have a rule that when one team is 35 points ahead the clock runs continuously to end the game quickly.

[varyouga]

Every day I think the world is going more insane. Then I come to FR and calm down.

[Flavius]

i think they should also stop the fastest runners from beating others by more then 3 steps

its just humiliating to see that on tv, poor slow fat kids

[Kakaze]

Why not just say at 60 points, every successive touchdown is scored in the negative.

It will redistribute the points to balance the game. All the while teaching those who aren't succeding that the "officials" ( read gov't ) will help you by redistributing "the wealth of points"

As for those who are so evil to excell, the negative point rule could be viewed as a tax, thus preparing them for real life.

Yeah a lesson in life, as our current system works.

[CT-Freeper]

ESPN is just reporting this now?

It was big news here in Connecticut like two or three weeks ago - there were even some posts here on FR, if I remember correctly.

[texianyankee]

LOL!

[texianyankee]

Sorry, I missed it. I heard it being reported on the radio this morning. Thought it was a new story.

[texianyankee]

Yeah - I just noticed the article was originally dated May 25th. However, I heard it being reported on the radio news this morning like it was new.....

[SC DOC]

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier often was accused of running up the score during his tenure at Florida.

Florida 59, Akron 0 (1990)

Florida 58, LSU 3 (1993)

Florida 52, Vanderbilt 0 (1993)

Florida 73, Kentucky 7 (1994)

Florida 63, South Carolina 7 (1995)

Florida 65, Kentucky 0 (1996)

Florida 82, Central Michigan 6 (1997)

Florida 55, Middle Tennessee 0 (2000)

Florida 71, Vanderbilt 13 (2001)

OTHER TRIVIA:

HIGH SCHOOL

HAVEN 256, SYLVIA 0

WHEN: Nov. 16, 1927

COLLEGE

GEORGIA TECH 222, CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY (Lebanon, Tenn.) 0

WHEN: Oct. 7, 1917


NFL

CHICAGO 73, WASHINGTON 0

WHEN: Dec. 8, 1940

[CT-Freeper]

I'm not criticizing or complaining to you or anything - I just thought it was odd that ESPN would have had this as "new" news.

But anyways - I think most of the people here in CT think it's a bad ruling anyways. True, some coaches can be jerks at times and purposely run-up the scores to make himself look good.

I've heard that the coach mentioned in this instance, Cochran, manipulated the classes & divisions so that he could purposely get into a division with somewhat weaker teams, again probably to make himself look good.

[upier]

Let's just score like a graduated tax. After 20 points TDs will only be worth 5 points, after 30 only 4 points etc. Eventually a team would get nothing for a score. </sarcasm> This is the biggest bunch of BS I've heard today. But then again it is early and Congress is in session.