What bothers me about this whole thing is having practice at 2:30 in the afternoon on a 95 degree day, what happened to having early morning practices or late evening or even night practices, doesn't the field have lights. It doesn't get dark in summer until 9, if your gonna have two-a-days,have one at 6 am,start the other at 7pm or later,doesn't take a rocket science to figure this out to help avoid problems,lawsuits,etc. Why don't the KHSAA have a rule about practice times for football?

What bothers me about this whole thing is having practice at 2:30 in the afternoon on a 95 degree day, what happened to having early morning practices or late evening or even night practices, doesn't the field have lights. It doesn't get dark in summer until 9, if your gonna have two-a-days,have one at 6 am,start the other at 7pm or later,doesn't take a rocket science to figure this out to help avoid problems,lawsuits,etc. Why don't the KHSAA have a rule about practice times for football?

 

It was my understanding that the temp that day was 94, and not a Heat alert day. How much needs to be regulated? Sports, well everything keeps getting regulated to the point you won't be able to do anything.

 

Accidents and tragedies do happen, not fault of anyones, they just happen.

What bothers me about this whole thing is having practice at 2:30 in the afternoon on a 95 degree day, what happened to having early morning practices or late evening or even night practices, doesn't the field have lights. It doesn't get dark in summer until 9, if your gonna have two-a-days,have one at 6 am,start the other at 7pm or later,doesn't take a rocket science to figure this out to help avoid problems,lawsuits,etc. Why don't the KHSAA have a rule about practice times for football?

 

That's what the heat index guidelines are for and why the heat index has to be checked every 30 mins. There is no hard and fast time rules that make the heat index predictable. The heat index could possibly be higher at 7:00 pm than at 2:30. How do I know? I have been in charge of heat index readings for a football team for the past 3 years. I'm also a science teacher.

 

Every day is different, due to the humidity levels in the air. Combine that with the temperature and the combined number is what you must look at to determine if there is a plausible risk of heat related illness.

It's very sad and tragic what happened to the young man who lost his life and I feel for his family.

 

With that said I'm very skeptical of the "eyewitness" which says that the coach "denied the players water". It seems that there are some really soft people out there, that can view a coach saying "it's not time for a water break yet, we'll get water when it's time for a break", as "denying the players water". This is not the case, coaches usually have a pretty planned schedule for breaks throughout practices. If our coach let every player get water when we felt that we "needed it" we would've spent the majority of our time drinking water and our conditioning would've been horrible.

 

Again I truely feel awful for the young mans family, hopefully they get the answers they're looking for, maybe the coach did act in a neglegent manner, I hope that's not the case. At this time I am of the opinion that this was nothing more than a very tragic accident, unfortunately sometimes even when following the rules and doing things by the book, these things can still happen.

It was my understanding that the temp that day was 94, and not a Heat alert day. How much needs to be regulated? Sports, well everything keeps getting regulated to the point you won't be able to do anything.

 

Accidents and tragedies do happen, not fault of anyones, they just happen.

 

According to the news article in USA today yesterday, the HEAT INDEX was 94. They didn't say what the actual temperature was.

It's very sad and tragic what happened to the young man who lost his life and I feel for his family.

 

With that said I'm very skeptical of the "eyewitness" which says that the coach "denied the players water". It seems that there are some really soft people out there, that can view a coach saying "it's not time for a water break yet, we'll get water when it's time for a break", as "denying the players water". This is not the case, coaches usually have a pretty planned schedule for breaks throughout practices. If our coach let every player get water when we felt that we "needed it" we would've spent the majority of our time drinking water and our conditioning would've been horrible.

 

Again I truely feel awful for the young mans family, hopefully they get the answers they're looking for, maybe the coach did act in a neglegent manner, I hope that's not the case. At this time I am of the opinion that this was nothing more than a very tragic accident, unfortunately sometimes even when following the rules and doing things by the book, these things can still happen.

 

Some good points here. It is the coach's job to get the players physically ready to compete during the games. You can't drink water at will and do that. I support the KHSAA's guidelines that require mandatory 10 min water breaks every 30 mins when the heat index is above 95.

This still bothers me in so many ways. The loss of a child and the family's torment.

 

Coaches wanting to make their team tough, but not knowing the future.

 

Not knowing if the player had a health problem or if he was taking something to help him become stronger.

 

The future of a honest man who will deal with this daily for the rest of his life.

 

The witness's who were at a soccer game watching their kids but also were watching football practice and could hear conversations between coaches/players.

 

The head coach is in the position of overseeing all aspects of team. There was mistakes, but he didn't want this kind of result.

 

I would have loved to see the parents on TV and hear what they said.

 

Every person that I know who knows the coach speaks very highly of him.

 

It was a tragic accident. The grand jury went too soon.

Some good points here. It is the coach's job to get the players physically ready to compete during the games. You can't drink water at will and do that. I support the KHSAA's guidelines that require mandatory 10 min water breaks every 30 mins when the heat index is above 95.

 

Which according to reports it wasn't. Even if it's close though I'd still say it's best to fly under the radar and just go ahead and act as though it is.

The old standard is that you can indict a ham sandwich ie it doesn't take much to get an indictment.

 

The trial is where the proof will or will not come out.

 

I believe what you are referring to is the adage (not necessarily correct) that a PROSECUTOR could indict a ham sandwich. Which implies 'it doesn't take much."

 

NOt true. Some/many/ most Grand Juries are more sophisticated than that. Additionally, if you were a prosecutor - why would you want to charge in a case with little or no evidence - if your success at trial would be minimal ?

 

Press reports in this case indicate the Prosecutor "made no recomendation" to the Grand Jury -which he clearly has a right to do or not as he sees fit.

I believe what you are referring to is the adage (not necessarily correct) that a PROSECUTOR could indict a ham sandwich. Which implies 'it doesn't take much."

 

NOt true. Some/many/ most Grand Juries are more sophisticated than that. Additionally, if you were a prosecutor - why would you want to charge in a case with little or no evidence - if your success at trial would be minimal ?

 

Press reports in this case indicate the Prosecutor "made no recomendation" to the Grand Jury -which he clearly has a right to do or not as he sees fit.

 

A prosecutor brings a charge for many reasons, not the least of which is political pressure. He is an elected official. And here is a dead kid.

 

An honest prosecutor does not make recommendations and is not supposed to be present during deliberations, so that is no great feat.

 

And I'm not sure where you get your information about the sophistication of grand juries, but I have long experience with them and they are very interested in when they recess for the day.

 

The one telling aspect of this grand jury process is the fact that they chose to NOT hear from the coach. Any defense attorney worth his salt will tell you that it is EXTREMELY rare for a defendant who knows his case is being presented to request to testify, and in most cases we recommend that they do not do so. Here, the defense offered to present the Coach's version of the case. Its a landmark, never-before-been-done-in-this-country indicmtent. Why not hear from him? Because someone, in all likelihood your honest prosecutor, told them they didn't have to and didn't need to, that's why. There is your open and honest grand jury process.

I also saw athe parents on the Today show this morning. They commented that they liked the coach (up until this happened.) They filed a civil suit and then the criminal suit was filed. The mother was asked if she felt the criminal suit was justified and she said "Yes, to make a point."

 

I feel sorry for everyone in this situation, but now more than ever feel for the coach and his family. He is being used to make a point. What point? That football is dangerous? That heat injuries can be life threatening? I think everyone is aware of that point. That is why the schools follow heat index guidelines. The coach will carry the burden of this for the rest of his life, even if he isn't in prison.

 

How will this affect the decision making of other coaches across the country as we head into practice season this summer?

Who in their right mind would want to coach now?

If, as reported, the family just wants the truth, then the civil trial and its pretrial discovery would accomplish that. For a defendant there is obviously a world of difference between having to pay (or having an insurer pay) monetary damages (civil trial) and spending five years of your life in the slammer (criminal proceedings).

The landscape is changing before our very eyes.

I've been thinking about this, let's put this in a different context:

 

You are the manager at a factory. It is your job to get your employees to produce at a high level. You have a specific schedule to follow in terms of lunch, water, and bathroom breaks. You adhere to all company outlines regarding extreme weather scenarios. On a hot day, one of your employees has a heart attack and dies. Are you going to be indicted?

 

It really bothers me that the mother said they made it a criminal case "to make a point." The only point being made here is that you can blatantly disregard normal criminal investigative procedures such as autopsys and pretrial statements from the defense in the name of dragging a man's name through the mud.

 

The really sad part is that there doesn't have to be an ounce of truth in these accusations to have a profound effect on this coach's career. If the information I have read and heard is true, I hope this case is laughed off the docket.

Who in their right mind would want to coach now?

If, as reported, the family just wants the truth, then the civil trial and its pretrial discovery would accomplish that. For a defendant there is obviously a world of difference between having to pay (or having an insurer pay) monetary damages (civil trial) and spending five years of your life in the slammer (criminal proceedings).

The landscape is changing before our very eyes.

 

I can't think of another profession who assigns such a drastic measure of responsiblility to a person for such little money and while paying for such little training.

 

How sad is it that you may ask for volunteers to coach a knothole baseball team and no one will raise their hand for fear of things like this?

Simply a tragic story. I can't imagine what the parents of this young man, have went through or feel. I also can't imagine, how bad the entire team, Coaching Staff and school feel.

 

Regardless of the outcome, no one would intentionally or negligently want this outcome.