Okay, I know Texas is incredibly serious when it comes to football, but this right here is just a tad bit too far if you ask me.
Seriously, why are there so many football coaches like this?
You know the guy — buzzcut, little bit of short man syndrome, played maybe four downs in high school.
These are the kind of guys who go berserk over the tiniest of things. And you know what, it's not hardcore or bad-to-the-bone, or anything like that. It's just kinda dumb and over-the-top.
Anyhow, this is what you get when nutjob coaches like Rockwall-Heath High School Head Football Coach John Harrell are allowed to lead your team.
Several Texas high school football students were hospitalized after they were forced to perform up to 400 push-ups in an hour as punishment by their coach, according to local reports…
The alleged incident happened Friday during an eighth-period athletic class at the elite public school just outside Dallas.
One mother claims her son was forced to do 300 to 400 push-ups with no water breaks, according to the Dallas Morning News, but she did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation.
Her son was hospitalized and diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, which can cause kidney damage or failure, the paper reported.
Rhabdomyolysis: "A breakdown of skeletal muscle due to direct or indirect muscle injury. If not treated immediately, it can lead to kidney damage."
Yeah man, this guy lost his cool for sure.
And when guys like this lose their cool, it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. In this case, it was eight students who were hospitalized.
I'm all for these kinds of punishments if they're warranted. But you gotta know what you're doing. The fact that this man forced the kids to do nearly 400 push-ups in under an hour tells me that he had no idea what he was doing. You just gotta be smarter than this.
And seriously, no water breaks?!?!?
You lost your cool, dude. And you're playing with kids' lives.
The school learned about what happened Monday and took immediate action, officials explained in the letter to parents.
"Please know the district immediately implemented measures to address the situation and provide support for our students.
"The district is also taking interim action, including but not limited to, placing Coach Harrell on administrative leave while the investigation is pending and notifying appropriate outside agencies. District administrators and campus personnel have been in contact with the affected families and student-athletes," the letter read, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Look, if you're coaching football at any level, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to watch some film of the great Tony Dungy and try to bring a little bit of his level-headedness into your coaching game. It'll help, trust me. Because a little bit of humility goes a long way.
And I want you to never, ever lose your cool like this guy did down in Texas.
Or you'll never coach another down in your life.
