<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Conn. prep football adopts score control policy HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - 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-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's 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.</div> Connecticut is the first to jump, but many others are discussing following their lead. Personally, I like Iowa's decision much better. The fact that the Connecticut committee rejected the proposal for the reasons they gave is laughable. The good news is that they will get more playing time. The bad news is that all they will be able to do is take a knee? The main reason that I don't like this is because I have been involved in games where the second string is still scoring. While the coaches are to blame at times, there are other situations where it isn't all their fault. I see a lot of grey areas that should be address. If a team is up 45-0 and their player intercepts a pass, do they need to take a knee? When Iowa was reviewing the rules, I put in a recommendation to go into a mode where the clock would not only run continuously, but other things as well (such as time outs would be eliminated for the lead team, etc) It just doesn't seem right that unsportsmanlike actions by a few big egos should cause a rule change that will basically make part of a football game fiction. Allowing an offense to score is just as big of a slap-in-the-face. This could also hinder great athletes from achieving statistical records that may benefit their exposure to scholarships and inhibits second and third-string players from not competing at the highest level possible, thus hindering their development.
They should just leave the system the way it is. I, personally, hate running up the score in High School or College, but it's part of the game. Especially when you're a small school playing a bigger, non-conference opponent. Losing is as much a part of the game as winning...and if you lose by 1 point or 100 points, a loss is a loss. People need to grow thicker skins, apparently.
This is stupid. First, running up the score is something that happens - its a part of sports. I think a coach who puts in his/her second string for the sake of giving their second (or even third) string some playing time is doing the right thing - but I don't think we should ever force the coach to stop trying in a game. We need to stop getting these weenie ruels that protect players feelings. I think that getting crushed by an opponent can teach you just as much about teamwork, competitiveness, etc. as losing or winning by a close margin.
i cant belive this was accepted! instead of suspending them, if they dont like someone winning by that much, just make it a mercy rule and end the game
I thought there was a system in place to stop the other team from running up the score. I thought it was called DEFENSE.
it needs to be given to Noel devine, scorched us for 400 yards and like 5 Touchdowns . JK lol this is rediculous i mean you really think your gonna be able to stop a high school kid from returning an INT or Kick off if there gonna score 50 poitns heck no!
This sort of thinking is part of the american epidemic.....Let me explain, wait, there is no time, let me sum up: This type of rule is designed to "spare" the feelings of the kids that are getting beaten....the one thing we cant have is for a teenagers self-esteem to be trampled in an athletic event, especially one sanctioned by the government right?....but I ask you this, what kind of person has thier self-esteem rooted in something as shallow as a game? whos ego is so weak that they cant take it? Im glad you asked and I'll tell you....non-believers, thats who....non-believers you say? Yep, Im mean non-christians that do not believe in God, Jesus, and the word found in the bible....but what does this have to do with anything? Im glad you asked....a practicing biblical christian has read the word....he or she knows that God created the heavens and the earth and yet with all that power, he stoped to create them....when such a powerful intelligent being takes his time to create you, you must be pretty special....you walk around armed with that knowledge and your self-esteem problems are over....if your not a practicing biblical christian, you may have one of a million theories on where you or people came from, the most popular of which is from monkeys....its hard to love yourself if you think you spontaneously evolved from a primate....and thus, you build your self-esteem and your childrens around accomplishments like performances in a high school athletic event, and when you get your butt handed to you, its hard to take.... My issues with the rule, besides the reasoning behind it: 1.Mercy in an athletic event is more embarrasing to the losing team than it is helpful....when I was coaching 5-7 year olds a few years back, a team was taking us "behind the woodshed" so to speak....with a few minutes left in the game, and us down by several scores, we started to move to the ball....we went from our 20 to thiers in a couple of plays and as we were aproaching the red-zone, the opposing coach screams out "Let them score!"....with 3 words, he destroyed all the progress my boys had made on thier own...they had picked themselves up and they were proving to themselves that they could take a beating and keep coming back and this guy let the wind right out of our sails with 3 irresposible words...."Let them score!"....I even suspect he did it to prop up his own ego....he couldnt believe we were moving the ball against his defense so he thought he would reduce our honest effort to a lvl of them being charitable....Im still mad about that.... 2.In this world, you must learn to fail....there is no slaughter rule in the real world and people do pile it on when they can....if you never learn to fail, then you will be lost when it happens....taking a 50+ point beating is a great lesson for kids....it teaches them that failure, even spectacular failure, is an isolated event....everyone fails, but successful people understand that failure is the prelude to success....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mercy in an athletic event is more embarrasing to the losing team than it is helpful</div> This is an excellent point. I was actually going to make it in my original post, but it slipped my mind. For me, personally, if I'm competing against someone in anything, I tell them to do their best. If I get the feeling they're "letting me win" or "keeping it close," I get waaaaaay more upset than I do if they kick the crap out of me in whatever it is we're doing. I'm always clear up front... Do your best. If I find out that you're taking it easy, you're liable to get a boot to the head. They way they're proposing to "fix" the problem will only lead to situations like the "let them score" debacle that Beef described. Excellent post, Beef.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pack Attack)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Mercy in an athletic event is more embarrasing to the losing team than it is helpful</div> This is an excellent point. I was actually going to make it in my original post, but it slipped my mind.</div> I too had it in my original and edited it out evidently. Thanks Beef. Not to sound hypocritical, I gave my two cents after Iowa already decided it was going to change the rules. They asked for input from ADs, so I gave my two cents to our AD. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheBeef)</div><div class='quotemain'>This sort of thinking is part of the american epidemic.....Let me explain, wait, there is no time, let me sum up:</div> Thanks Inigo (in case you thought no one caught it).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cowboy71)</div><div class='quotemain'>Thanks Inigo (in case you thought no one caught it).</div> I was wondering if anyone would catch it....
