No, I don’t think a single mistake should cost a man his livelihood. He’ll probably lose a bit of a cash contract when he loses the coaching position, but this incident has nothing to do with his knowledge of history/math/science or whatever it is he teaches.
It is not a legal/ethical issue (theft, sex with students, etc.) It is confined to a lesson about when to be merciful, and therefore, there are no legal aspects involved.
The reason he was fired was because the school was embarrassed by the humiliation of the other school and issued a public apology and even offered to forfeit the game and the coach went public with a statement that there was nothing to apologize for. IOW he made two very huge errors in judgment.
FWIW, He was NOT a teacher, he was only a coach. I'm not even sure it was a paid position.
xzins wrote: “It is confined to a lesson about when to be merciful, and therefore, there are no legal aspects involved.”
Now that’s one helluva statement. So much for the common law, I guess. But regulatory administrative bureaucrats everywhere applaud you.