The Never Ending Argument on Running up the Score

At what point should a coach stop scoring on a team if there opponent is obviously no match for them? In my mind that's a trick question because one team should never completely stop scoring. Some people believe that once a team is up by a certain margin they should stop scoring and just waste time. However, my stance on the issue is that a team should never stop scoring completely because that's not the way the game was meant to be played, no matter what sport it is. There are things that can be done to slow down the scoring such as running off thirty seconds before taking a shot in basketball or not throwing the ball in football but the goal of the game is to score and that's what teams should do until the final whistle blows.

The argument on what should a team do when they are ahead by a big margin came to me when I heard the story of Coach Phil Washington, the 8th grade boys basketball coach at Highland Junior High School here in Anderson, Indiana. The 8th grade team is undefeated and heading to the state tournament. During the season they have pounded teams by 30 and 40 points routinely and now Coach Washington's job is being threatened because of it. Apparently he is not allowed to beat teams by that much and he could be fired immediately or at the end of the season. The team has rallied around their coach and many wear t-shirts that read, "I Support Coach Washington" in hopes that school administration will keep him on the bench.

I can speak from both sides of the spectrum. I have been drilled by 40+ points but there have been a number of games that I have won by a wide margin. I know how bad it feels to walk into the locker room after suffering through four quarters of agony, you feel so defeated. At the same time I always was angry with myself and my team for letting that happen to us. Maybe it's because my friends and I had that competitive fire in us but we never wanted to play bad enough to get beat like that and we certainly didn't want the other team to start taking it easy on us because that is the most embarassing thing ever. Imagine how it would feel in front of your home crowd to be down 30 in the fourth quarter and the other team starts playing Four Corners basketball and passing it around while you run around hopelessly trying to intercept a pass. That's no fun at all and I would rather keep playing real basketball.

Jimmie Johnson's Miami Hurricanes teams
frequently won big but Johnson said
he could only control his team.

My buddies and I recently watched "The U," which is about the heyday of Miami Hurricanes football and part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, and in it former coach Jimmie Johnson discusses the allegations the his teams ran up the score on their opponents. He said, "I can only control one team and that's mine. I can control what my team is doing but I can't control what the other team is doing and if they can't stop us then they should get better." He has a valid point, especially at the college level where teams can recruit and bring in decent players. I understand that in junior high whoever lives in that town is who the coach is stuck with and it's much easier to be overmatched but Jimmie Johnson is correct, the coach can only control one team.

I think in today's world we have become a very soft society in the sports world. I'm not trying to be overdramatic but I feel that we live in a time when everyone must be happy and every kid should be an All-Star. Some schools don't cut kids because they don't wanna make them unhappy, Little League has created more All-Star levels so that everyone can be one and parents want teams to take it easy and not score so much because nobody wants to get beat by 30. This is all nice but very few kids have that competitive edge anymore because they have never learned what it means to be competitive. Nobody wants to get beat by a big margin but at the end of the day maybe we should just toughen up a bit. Maybe that's too overdramatic but I've heard it said before that if you don't like it, get better. I believe that 100%.

Should Coach Washington tell his kids to stop scoring? No he shouldn't. When those kids at the end of the bench who never play get in the game what does he tell them? Like I said earlier there are steps that can be taken to slow down the scoring but he should not tell his kids to stand there for the whole fourth quarter and not score. What Highland administration, teachers and fans should really focus on is this special season that they are witnessing instead of worrying about how badly they are beating teams. How often is it that a group of 8th grade boys goes undefeated and is invited to the state tournament? Not often so instead of worrying about the score let them just play ball.