Published in the Woodford Sun Feb. 5, 2009
The reckless homicide charge filed against Pleasure Ridge Park football coach Jason Stinson in the wake of the death of one of his players last summer has high school coaches across the state, including Woodford County coach Chris Tracy, pondering the potential ramifications of the case.
Sophomore lineman Max Gilpin collapsed and later died from heat related complications during a practice on Aug. 20. The heat index at the beginning of session was 94 degrees. The 220-pound 15-year-old fell to the ground while running “gassers” – sprints up and down the field – at the end of the practice. His core body temperature was reportedly 107 degrees when he reached the hospital.
Some witnesses said the players were not given water breaks, but others dispute that claim, saying the athletes were given water every 10 minutes.
Tracy expressed concern about the case and questioned the criminal charges. He said it appears from all accounts that the coach followed the guidelines set forth by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
“I don’t know – to me when you say criminal, that means intent. I know they can say negligence, but what was he being negligent about if he was following procedures?”
The KHSAA restricts practice when the heat index rises above 95 degrees. Officials ban play and practice when the heat index reaches 105. The KHSAA requires coaches to keep a log of weather and heat indexes and to provide water – “as much as they desire,” in hot weather. Water breaks become mandatory at a 95-degree heat index.
Tracy said he and his coaching staff meticulously follow the KHSAA guidelines and that player safety always takes the forefront. Coaches follow a set schedule for every practice, which includes planned water breaks. They throw in extra water in extreme heat.
Coaches monitor players closely and pull them out of drills if they show signs of heat related trouble.
“If a kid is complaining and saying he can’t breathe, he’s out.”
Tracy said that sometimes other coaches give him a hard time about being too soft on his squad, but he uses his own common sense as a guide.
“If I’m hot, I know they’re hot. If I’m miserable, so are they. I’m not going to have some kid’s death hanging over my head.”
Woodford County athletic trainer Walker Terhune said that he believes the KHSAA guidelines provide adequate guidance to protect athletes in hot conditions.
“I think they are pretty simple. It comes down to having someone check those things and follow them.”
Terhune attends every Yellow Jacket practice. He monitors the heat index and watches players for signs of heat exhaustion. PRP, located in Louisville, only utilizes a part time athletic trainer, and Terhune said that there was apparently no trainer present at the practice when Gilpin collapsed. Kentucky law and KHSAA regulations do not require schools to have an athletic trainer on staff.
“You can never be 100 percent sure, but I say that if they had an athletic trainer, that kid doesn’t die,” Terhune said.
No autopsy was performed, leaving Terhune to wonder if there were some other factors involved.
“My first thought was 94 is not that bad. There’s something else going on here.”
Nathan Cowan, a sports reporter in St. Petersburg, Fla., played high school football in Venice, on the Sunshine State’s southwest coast. During his playing days, he regularly endured practices in extreme heat and humidity.
“When I heard 94 degrees, my first response was, that’s it? I wished it was 94 degrees.”
Cowan wonders whether the players were doing things off the field to cope with the heat. He said that playing in a hot climate, he was taught early on to take care of his own body.
“We were taught to hydrate, eat right and take our vitamins,” he said. “You can’t just hydrate in practice and expect to be OK. You have to hydrate at home.”
One issue raised by witnesses to the practice at PRP was the way Stinson was pushing his players. Bystanders said he told his team he planned to run them until somebody quit. A parent watching a soccer practice on a nearby field sent an e-mail to school officials.
“Those coaches thought that they were training young teenagers for the Navy SEALS team instead of a football team. I never once in the time I was there saw anyone offered a water break,” wrote Brian Bale, a soccer dad. “I did however hear the coach say numerous times that all he needed was one person to say that they quit the team and all of the suffering and running and heat would be over.”
Bale said he was appalled by the conduct of the football coaches.
“That’s why his kid plays soccer,” Tracy said.
Football requires mental and physical toughness, and coaches must prepare their players for the rigors of an often-violent game. Lack of preparation in practice can lead to injuries when the intensity picks up on game day. The Woodford coach said that Stinson’s yelling was typical of many football coaches.
“Is that wrong necessarily? It’s certainly not against the law. Even if he was being a jerk, that’s not against the law.”
Tracy, who practices a relatively low key coaching style, admits to pushing his kids hard.
“I told them I am going to make their off season so difficult, they’ll want to quit. I want kids who are committed.”
He fears a guilty verdict could change the face of high school football.
“You’re giving kids an out. They’ll think they don’t have to listen to us when things get tough.”
Tracy said that the criminal charges definitely caught his attention and he’s had many friends and family members express concern. But the Woodford coach didn’t seem particularly worried about getting caught up in a similar situation.
“It scares me just in the sense that we’re in a litigious society,” he said. “But I know we’re doing things right. If you follow what they lay down, you have yourself covered.”
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