Mack Reed, the assistant coach at John Jay High School, who ordered two of players to

do nothing short of assault an official has resigned and the two players have to go to an

alternative school for 75 days. Enough of a punishment? Not even close.

The two players speared a back judge for what Reed’s attorney said were racial slurs

that the official used. The attorney said that he used the N-word as well as latino slurs at the players.

Let me start with Reed, this guy should not be able to coach football for at least three

years. To encourage two teenage boys, who, let’s face it, can be very impressionable to assault

an official is way over the line. There are several ways of handling this, he could have talked to

the head coach, or the principal. He could have told his players to just keep playing and not

worry about the officials, which, I’ll admit, would be extremely difficult. Or, he could’ve walked

himself and those players off the field and said we aren’t playing with these guys officiating our

game. Any of those solutions would have been better than what transpired.

For the players, I’m a former student-athlete with a father and a step-mother who are

both coaches. I know how influential coaches can be but if a coach ever told me to spear an

official I would sincerely hope that I would not assault an official during a game. It was a

deliberate attempt to hurt another person. These kids shouldn’t be put in an alternative school,

they should be charged with assault and jailed. They aren’t seven, they’re 17 and they should

know better.

As for the official if what has been claimed against him is true. He should no longer be

allowed to officiate. We shouldn’t act like the official is innocent in all of this. A grown man

should never, under any circumstance use hate speech against a kid. Especially one in a position

of power.

No one is innocent here and all parties involved should face severe consequences for

their actions. Hopefully one day, they can all move on but for now, they’ve made their beds and

it’s time to lie in them.