I am the head coach of a middle school basketball program that has 28 boys playing on the two teams. Last week, I had several $100 bills stolen from my wallet in the coach's office while I was conducting practice in the gym. I had already decided that there would be lifetime expulsions for the thieves if it was someone from our program that did it. It turned out to be three boys on the wrestling team that entered a closed door, removed my wallet from my briefcase and then took the money. The administration suspended them for three days and the wrestling coach immediately welcomed them back onto his team.
The extremely light punishment disgusts me. Kids that are given no negative consequences for their awful behavior are given the wrong message about life. Very few coaches hold their athletes to a higher standard than the ones that the school, or court of law create. I'm not sure how Solich will handle this internally, but people that use illegal drugs and commit violent crimes are not the ones I get excited about supporting with my Ohio Bobcat Club checks.
Did you consider either of these two things: 1) resigning the basketball position or 2) pressing charges?
1.) I never considered resigning the basketball position. I accepted the job and plan to finish it. We have a team code of conduct that is more honorable than the school's. I was willing to enforce that if one of my players was involved, yet thankful nobody broke our internal rules.
2.) I did press charges. Forcing the offenders to face the consequences will have one of two results: It will either scare them straight, or the next time they do something it won't be counted as a 1st offense.