Challenge Is to Figure Appropriate Punishment

A senior quarterback is suspended one game because of an alcohol-related incident off campus.

Another senior quarterback is removed from the team and leaves school without athletic privileges after being caught drinking at a school dance.

Three senior football players are dismissed from the team because of a hazing incident.

A water polo player is given a five-day suspension for drinking on campus but is back on the team by season’s end.

There are consequences for high school athletes who break rules, but the type of punishment isn’t consistent from school to school, season to season and sport to sport.

It raises the question: How does someone decide what punishment is appropriate?

Harry Welch, the football coach at Canyon Country Canyon, remembers a simpler time for dealing with an athlete who broke a rule.

It was 1965, and he was a teacher and coach at Encino Crespi. He had a paddle in his room, and students knew if they messed up they’d get the “Welch Whack� in the behind.

Welch doesn’t support a return to corporal punishment.

“I think today, the discipline is every bit as effective as it was back then,� he said.

The problem is figuring out what to do.

In the NFL, there’s much debate about whether Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles deserved a four-game suspension for criticizing quarterback Donovan McNabb, calling the organization “classless� and fighting with a former teammate.

In college football, some have criticized USC Coach Pete Carroll for letting Rey Maualuga play against Stanford the same week the freshman linebacker was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery for allegedly punching a man during a Halloween party. Carroll imposed unspecified punishment other than a suspension.

In dealing with teenagers, coaches agonize over what is appropriate punishment. Is drinking off campus grounds for dismissal? Is losing a starting spot fair to a player who has missed practice to attend his grandmother’s funeral? Are 20 push-ups enough to dissuade a player from using obscenities?

There are no universal guidelines, and coaches must consider the dual message they send the rule violator and the rest of the team.

“We need to come up with punishment that doesn’t cut off their arms and legs and make them bleed, but they have to understand when they act in an inappropriate way there’s going to be consequences,� said Canoga Park High Principal Denny Thompson, a former baseball coach and an educator for 35 years.

Clearly, dismissing an athlete from a team should be the last resort.

“It’s the most difficult to terminate someone from a program because all coaches wish to help their athletes, and once dismissed we can no longer help them,� Welch said.

Sometimes coaches lose their authority to punish because the transgression is so severe it requires intervention by a school administrator or the police.

There are certain acts so serious, such as drinking alcohol or using drugs on campus, that standardized punishments should be considered.

The trend of having students and parents sign contracts promising a specific code of conduct serves as a deterrent and also puts them in immediate jeopardy when there is a violation. Contracts, though, allow for an appeal process, and due process has become a must in dealing with any serious problem.

Privacy requirements force schools to keep quiet about the specific reasons athletes are suspended, dismissed or disciplined, causing outsiders to question whether the punishment was too harsh or too lenient.

In the end, a coach can’t let one player rise above the team, no matter how important he is to the team’s success. And they have to take into account whether a player is remorseful and whether it’s a first-time offense.

At Granada Hills, girls’ golf Coach Steve Thompson did not allow his No. 1 player to return after she quit this season and refused to apologize when she sought reinstatement.

“Her first words were, ‘I’m not going to apologize for what I did,’ � he said. “If you’re co-captain, you’re a leader. That was the minimum she had to do for walking out on her team.�

Granada Hills won the City girls’ championship without her.

“Once she was gone, the girls came together,� Thompson said.

The reason punishment isn’t the same from school to school is because everyone should be judged on an individual basis.

“It’s like being a good father,� Welch said. “You mete out the discipline that’s appropriate for an individual, and I draw upon my own experiences and information I get from people I respect.�

Others have come to favor zero-tolerance policies, in which specific violations are met with immediate suspensions and expulsions, even if there are extenuating circumstances.

But Denny Thompson said that offers an excuse for an administrator to “quickly dismiss a kid because they don’t want to deal with a kid.�

The City Section and Southern Section have embraced the concept of “Pursuing Victory With Honor,� a program that emphasizes sportsmanship and character development. But there’s always going to be someone who messes up, and then it’s up to the coach to figure out a way to change an attitude.

Said Principal Thompson: “At the end of the day, a coach, administrator and a teacher has to be able to look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘I treated that kid like I’d want someone else to treat my kid at another school.’ �

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].