USA – No winners in a 100-0 blowout

DALLAS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) – The coach of a high school basketball team in Texas that refused to apologize for his side’s 100-0 win over a tiny private school has lost his job.

The Dallas Academy girls’ team hadn’t won a game in five years but no one batted an eye until their heavy defeat to The Covenant School, whose coach Micah Grimes came in for some fierce criticism.

The Covenant School, following intense media coverage, issued a statement that said the institution "regrets ... the outcome of the game with the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team. It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition."

It was signed by the head of the school and the chairman of the school’s board of trustees.

Grimes felt otherwise.

He wrote in an email to the Dallas Morning News: “In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Website, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed.

“We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.”

Spectators said that The Covenant School, who led 59-0 at half-time, continued to press and play hard until they had scored 100 points.

"I was really frustrated, especially at half-time," Dallas Academy junior Lauren Click said. "I actually did ask my coach, 'Do we have to go back out there?'"

The Dallas Academy is a school for children who have learning disabilities and has an enrolment of only 20 girls.

The Covenant School players and their parents have been forced to re-examine what their mission is.

One player’s mother, Cheryl Bugg, said she and players’ mothers met with school officials.

"We want to represent Christ with the highest respect, we don't want to humiliate anyone ever and we want our students to be enthusiastic in everything they do," she said.

Coaches all over the United States will have heard about 100-0 win and they, too, will be wondering what all the hullabaloo is about.

The lesson may be that it’s okay to be successful, but not too successful.

FIBA