Coach fired for halftime pep talk

[KFDM COOP]

Coach fired for halftime pep talk

Coach told players to 'check their manhood'

LEEDS, Maine (AP) - A high school basketball coach was fired after telling his players at halftime to reach into their pants to "check their manhood," administrators said.

Leavitt Area High School Principal Patrick Hartnett said coach Mike Remillard told the varsity boys Jan. 23 that "tonight's game was about who had the biggest (male genitalia) in town."

"He then required his players to all stand up and put their hands down their pants and check their manhood," Hartnett said in the statement, which was read to school board members Thursday by Superintendent Thomas J. Hanson a day after the coach was dismissed.

All but one player followed the coach's instructions, Hartnett said. The team won the game.

Remillard, who was in his fourth season as varsity coach, called the pep talk "normal locker room banter from Fort Kent, Maine, to San Diego, California," but said he still should not have done it.

"Was that tactic appropriate? No. And I'm paying the price for it," Remillard said

[SHS_ATW]

thats very wierd

[basketballfan07]

its not weird, with a bunch of men and young men in a competitive atmosphere, manhood gets brought into play, aggressiveness is measured by the intensity and power of the man

[Guest etbu]

What a joke they would have fired all of our Coaches in High School. Wonder what they would have done about Coaches swating in gym shorts for wearing hard sole shoes on the gym floor?

[Guest allsportsfan]

Sick, stupid, and completly uncalled for.

Should have challenged them to check their heart.

Sounds like a dumb jock who doesn't know that is heart that drives the talent to win games.

[Guest tigersvoice]

Should've, could've, would've!  It's great to be able to analyze AND critize AFTER the fact.  This Coach was apparently losing a game that his team should not be losing.  So he asks for a GUT CHECK - well, maybe a little lower - but, the point is, DO YOU WANT IT?  THEN BE MAN ENOUGH TO GO GET IT!  I'm of the opinion that it's like Vegas - what happens in the locker room,

STAYS in the locker room.  But. . .that's probably why I'm not coaching today.

[sportsmom3]

locker room talk is locker room talk......i have heard coaches say way worst things than that

[hdbasketballstar]

your absolutely right but its all about who you say it to now days..

[sportsmom3]

your right.. if coaches talked to kids these days like they talked to us .....there would be no coaches...

[hdbasketballstar]

yeah lol..because if a coach makes a kid mad or something they will try to find a reason to hurt him.

[sportsmom3]

exactly....

[Guest Nederland Bulldogs]

I believe the team actually won the game.

[WOS95]

i understand the coach was trying to get his players fired up.  and yes i've heard coaches use worse language then what was said here, but i think the coach crossed the line when he requested that his players put their hands down their shorts.     

[Guest allsportsfan]

I think you are right WOS95.

I played on an undefeated team and our coach never cursed, and sure never had us do anything like this.

Sad that some people put winning up so high that we accept things like this.

I disagree with everyone who thinks this sort of thing is acceptable, and normally the ones that don't do these things go further.

You are training the men of tomorrow, use INTEGRITY!

[Guest Jags]

Coach is an idiot.

[wos08]

The kids are also idiots for doing it.

[bmtdc1996]

The main thing here is that he did not single out or humilate one or two players in front of the whole team.  I guess we "old school" guys agree on one thing, we wouldn't run home to mom and dad and tell them what the coach said or made us do.  I have heard lots of worse stories in my day.  Some times young men and young women as well just need to take stock of what they are trying to accomplish and they need to look deep inside themselves. 

[Guest D6]

I agree, that I have heard worse when I was playing and would think nothing of it at the time.  However, after hearing Tony Dungy, say that more important than being the first African American Head Coach to win the Super Bowl, was that he and Luvy Smith were Christian Coaches who did it the right way.  I now wonder if we shouldn't be trying it that way.  Just food for thought!