11/05/24
January 15, 2003
Kansas high school coach paddles his players.: Raytown South basketball coach Bud Lathrop has employed a wooden paddle to punish players during practice since the 1960s. This week he got a five-day suspension after he used the paddle on players in the presence of a newspaper reporter. Corporal punishment is outlawed by the school district. Six former players told the Kansas City Star that "the paddlings sometimes left red marks on their rears, but those went away after a few hours. Nobody reported knowing of anyone seriously hurt from the spankings."
posted by thescoop to basketball at 09:41 AM - 10 comments
I wonder why nobody commented on that bulge in the coaches crotch he got whenever he started paddling.
posted by monkeyman at 10:22 AM on January 15, 2003
This is disgusting. Paddling should only be used to discipline women's tennis players. Dirty, dirty women's tennis players.
posted by Samsonov14 at 10:27 AM on January 15, 2003
This is a tough one for me. Coach Lathrop is obviously pretty successful — four state championships prove that. And his players don't condemn him for the paddlings. In fact, they seem to appreciate it. But isn't high school a little old for pulling out the paddle? And doesn't a good coach have other methods (playing time, benching, extra practice work) to motivate his kids? As a coach myself, I know dealing with teens can be difficult, but I would never think to beat one of them as punishment for practice habits.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:43 AM on January 15, 2003
I wonder how uncommon paddling is among some of the old fogeys coaching school ball. When I was playing junior high basketball in Burleson, Texas, in the '80s, the coaches would occasionally break out the paddle to dish out some creepy homoerotic whup-ass. I avoided that fate, thankfully. But I must've been sentenced to running lines as punishment about 1,000 times.
posted by rcade at 10:48 AM on January 15, 2003
rcade - at your school...did the coach make you lie over his lap? Just trying to get a picture, here...
posted by vito90 at 11:03 AM on January 15, 2003
I'm guessing that he did, but I never actually saw it. The paddler and paddlee were on the other side of the lockers, which were in the same room, putting us in earshot of the screams of the damned.
posted by rcade at 11:13 AM on January 15, 2003
That's bullshit. My high school basketball coach was one of these types--he used to heave basketballs and smack one of my teammates in the back of the head. I made a vow to myself that if he ever hurled a ball at me I would whip it back--but he never did it to me. Of course, this guy was seventy years old, so it's not like I'd have been going after a Ditka. Or even a Mini-Ditka.
posted by Mookieproof at 11:48 AM on January 15, 2003
FYI -- Raytown South is on the Missouri side of the border. (In reference to the link headline.)
posted by jackhererra at 03:55 PM on January 15, 2003
Can we get back to the important subtopic — spanking female tennis players? C'mon, guys ... focus!
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:13 PM on January 15, 2003
Sounds like some weird fetish to me! His wife, Gay, seems pretty supportive and understanding. My father is a highschool basketball coach. If word got out he used a paddle, he would be lynched. Some parents and kids have a hard enough time when he raises his voice.