Okay, they're not exactly "kids" and his job description isn't limited to just screaming. I'm writing about Keith Brown, the head coach of the Georgetown women's basketball program, who according to the Washington Post was suspended (along with an assistant) for:
"unprofessional conduct and the use of inappropriate language in coaching the Georgetown University women’s basketball team"
This is more interesting for what it doesn't say that what it does say. What sort of conduct? What kind of language? The reader is left to guess. What type of language does the Georgetown athletic department not consider appropriate? This is written in admin speak.
In June, 2013 the Georgetown University Athletics Department adopted a new policy, “Maintaining a Respectful and Professional Relationships with Student Athletes. In addition, members of the Georgetown Athletics Department attended mandatory training sessions led by University leadership and outside counsel to ensure understanding of the new policy and to discuss issues relating to appropriate behavior between coaches, trainers and student athletes.
Note the lack of closed quotes, and the disagreement between plural and singular. Someone's asleep on the job either at Georgetown or the Washington Post. You can try to find this policy somewhere on the web, but you won't have any luck.
Georgetown is a Catholic school - nominally, anyway - and I don't think a "shit" or a "fuck" tossed out a few times would get someone canned. (Unlike that coach at Ave Maria who probably got fired for that very reason - as someone put in the comments thread, "I know of NO sports activity in which profanity is NOT used including high school athletics....What happens when their opponents use such language in their gym? Is the game stopped and forfeited?")
It gets weirder:
ABC7 News has learned from multiple sources that a member of the women’s team attempted to take her own life a few days prior to the coaches being suspended. And while there is nothing to indicate a connection between the two events, the news is startling to those on campus.
...
Five players on the team - for of whom were freshmen - came to ABC7 news and stated that:
...they admit he swears at them when they make a mistake and that he is very demanding – but they say they don’t take it personally.
...
“I think a lot of this is blown out of proportion. It’s unnecessary, to be honest,” said McCormick. “We just want to play. That is all we want to do and we want our coach back."
Sports Illustrated goes into even more detail:
According to a report from WJLA in Washington, D.C-Maryland-Virginia, several players on the team said Brown’s treatment left them “broken and demoralized.” The report goes on to say that Brown used “swearing, demeaning, and humiliating tactics” with his players. Two of the players who had been on the team while Brown was on staff reportedly left the Hoyas because of “run-ins” with the coach, according to the report.
(* * *)
No matter how this plays out, it's going to end badly.
Brown loses job/guilty of charges - coach screwed up and lost his job.
Brown loses job/not guilty of charges - coach was run out on a rail by a clique of players with an axe to grind. Not good for the program.
Brown doesn't lose job/not guilty of charges - coach now has to deal with a divided squad one month before the women's BB season starts.
Brown doesn't lose job/guilty of charges - Brown now has an axe to grind with certain players.
I wonder (without any evidence) if this is just a bad hire. I've had a suspicion that Georgetown really didn't give much of a damn about women's basketball - Terri Williams-Flournoy fled to Auburn when she got the chance. He was an easy hire as Williams-Flournoy's assistant (translation: they didn't look very hard). Brown's background is in AAU basketball, more recruiting/evaluation than coaching. Maybe he just wasn't prepared and crossed a line that he didn't know he shouldn't cross.
I guess we'll either know more, or we won't. I think I've covered all of my bases here.
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