# I pit the McKinley High School football coaches of Canton, Ohio **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 2, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507 "2021-06-02T22:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/21 "2021-06-03T01:42:24Z")
A bit more of a complete story: > **[Canton City Schools to consider more discipline for football coaches involved...](https://fox8.com/news/canton-city-schools-to-consider-more-discipline-for-football-coaches-involved-in-pizza-incident/)** > > The Canton City School District completed its investigation after a family says their teen was forced to eat a pizza despite religious objections. Looks like he was allowed to pick off the pepperoni but still forced to eat pizza with pork grease still on it. I’m sure these bigots thought themselves incredibly tolerant for the gesture. Also, the article says he’s a tackle, so not exactly a critical position, but at the high school level, you don’t want to lose any starter. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/22 "2021-06-03T02:54:56Z")
Why would a high school need 8 football coaches? ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/23 "2021-06-03T03:06:02Z")
To have enough inches for one big prick. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/24 "2021-06-03T03:06:28Z")
Head coach, o coordinator, d coordinator, o line, d line, linebackers, dbs, running back, and receivers. Actually that’s 9 so the head coach is probably the o coordinator too. Our staff in high school was probably closer to 20 at a small private but athletically successful school, a lot of those coaches were volunteers though. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/25 "2021-06-03T03:08:01Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why would a high school need 8 football coaches? As Oredigger said, it’s normal for a team to have one head coach but numerous assistant coaches with sub-specialties. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/26 "2021-06-03T03:11:45Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Along with the “football coach is higher than God” attitude Well, I mean, at least we know football coaches are real and actually do have a relationship with some people. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/27 "2021-06-03T03:13:50Z")
BTW, that article describes the kid as “of the Hebrew Israeli faith”, which might mean [Black Hebrew Israelite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites), which doesn’t seem to be the same as Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/28 "2021-06-03T03:14:56Z")
Just by the way, from the linked articles, it appears that the player is [a Hebrew Israelite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites), which isn’t quite the same as being Jewish. I don’t think any mainstream Jewish organizations consider them to be Jewish, and many Hebrew Israelites apparently don’t identify as Jewish. And they’re African American. So, there _probably_ wasn’t any anti-Semitism involved (although there may well have been some religious bigotry). None of that, of course, in any way excuses or diminishes what these coaches did. \*ETA: partially ninja’d by @Dewey_Finn. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/29 "2021-06-03T03:19:39Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > So, there _probably_ wasn’t any anti-Semitism involved Then why this weird “You gotta eat the pepperoni pizza to stay on the team” crap? They were trying to punish him because of his stated faith, whether they knew any details about it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/30 "2021-06-03T03:22:35Z")
If he said _anything_ like this is against my religion/diet/whatever, they’re assholes. Well, they’re probably assholes anyhow, but that would have made it certain. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/31 "2021-06-03T03:24:03Z")
Out of curiosity, I’m trying to figure out how many football coaches my old HS had/has. [Looks like maybe three](https://www.independentmail.com/story/sports/2020/05/12/palmetto-high-sc-making-changes-coaching-staffs-during-coronavirus-pandemic/3080648001/)? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/32 "2021-06-03T03:42:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Then why this weird “You gotta eat the pepperoni pizza to stay on the team” crap? They were trying to punish him because of his stated faith, whether they knew any details about it or not. You snipped out the rest of that sentence, as well as the following sentence. > [@gdave](#): > > (although there may well have been some religious bigotry). > > None of that, of course, in any way excuses or diminishes what these coaches did. I very explicitly (and I thought clearly) stated that religious bigotry may well have been involved, just _probably_ not anti-Semitism per se. As well, we only have second hand reports from one side on what actually happened. We don’t actually know _anything_ about what the coaches knew about the player’s religion, much less what they think about it. Again, I am NOT excusing what the adults did. If they knew that his religion forbade the consumption of pork, their behavior is inexcusable. (For that matter, Hebrew Isrealites are apparently also supposed to be vegan, which would make eating the cheese on the pizza forbidden as well, so what they made him do might be even worse). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/33 "2021-06-03T04:05:57Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > If they knew that his religion forbade the consumption of pork, their behavior is inexcusable. But if they _didn’t_ know, their behavior makes no sense at all. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/34 "2021-06-03T04:18:54Z")
What are they going to do next, make a peanut-allergic kid eat a Butterfinger? This is wrong on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/35 "2021-06-03T04:26:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But if they _didn’t_ know, their behavior makes no sense at all. Look, this story is weird no matter how you slice it. But, again, we only have second hand accounts from one side (really, third hand accounts by news services). And even those accounts don’t claim, as far as I’ve seen, that the coaches made him eat a pepperoni pizza _because_ his religion forbade pork, just that they made him eat it _despite_ his religion. Having a teenage boy, especially one big enough a star football tackle, eat a whole pizza sounds less like a punishment and more like an early dinner. But maybe the idea was to have him eat greasy food and then run laps until he puked it all back up. Which would still be abusive, but not bigoted. Or, of course, maybe the idea was to force him to violate the tenets of his religion. But then why let him pick off the pepperoni? They wanted to force him to eat pork - but then let him not eat the pork, and just made him eat the greasy residue? That doesn’t really make much sense, either. Or maybe something else entirely was going on. None of which excuses what the coaches apparently did. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/36 "2021-06-03T04:41:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why would a high school need 8 football coaches? - To go with the [137 million dollar stadium.](https://www.maxpreps.com/news/H5aXer-VEEOHqBkWfn76dQ/ohios-canton-mckinley-high-school-to-play-home-games-at-$137-million-tom-benson-stadium.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/37 "2021-06-03T04:43:45Z")
Well, nice to know that there’s an asset for the judgment lien. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/38 "2021-06-03T06:05:37Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Look, this story is weird no matter how you slice it. Those coaches are real pieces of work, I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/39 "2021-06-03T13:00:01Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@HelenGawn](#): > > > > That explains it. **He’s their star player.** They’d rather violate his constitutional rights than **lose a game by benching him.** - > > I haven’t seen any mention of his position. Some positions are far more central to winning than others Not to mention that they’re still three months away from football season. It still wouldn’t be an acceptable excuse, of course, even if they were in the middle of a playoff run. > [@gdave](#): > > (snip) > Having a teenage boy, especially one big enough a star football tackle, eat a whole pizza sounds less like a punishment and more like an early dinner. But maybe the idea was to have him eat greasy food and then run laps until he puked it all back up. Which would still be abusive, but not bigoted. > > Or, of course, maybe the idea was to force him to violate the tenets of his religion. But then why let him pick off the pepperoni? They wanted to force him to eat pork - but then let him not eat the pork, and just made him eat the greasy residue? That doesn’t really make much sense, either. Just guessing, but it sounds like the idea was to humiliate him in front of his teammates, to create peer pressure. The articles said the coaches told the young man that if he didn’t finish the entire pizza, the whole squad would have to run punishment drills. That sounds like his squad - probably, the other offensive linemen on the team - were present to watch the punishment. “Young Mr. X here is going to eat an entire pizza, while the rest of you watch. If he doesn’t finish every bite, all of you will be punished.” ETA: according to an updated story, the player’s teammates participated in the punishment: > [@](#): > > The player’s father, Kenny Walker, said his son, who is undergoing psychological counseling, expressed anger, frustration, hurt and felt ostracized after the incident, **which included his son’s teammates and coaches yelling at his son while he ate.** Walker said his family hasn’t eaten pork since 2013. Religious bigotry could have played a part as well; if the coach were an evangelical Christian, as many are, he might not have taken the player’s non-mainstream religion seriously. > **[Canton McKinley High School football coaches to face further discipline,...](https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/2021/06/02/canton-superintendent-mckinley-hs-football-coaches-disciplined/7511977002/)** > > The coaches also could face criminal hazing charges after Canton police open an investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507/40 "2021-06-03T13:08:13Z")
Our high school has a difficult time getting enough students who want to play football (I believe they’ve dropped JV because they only have enough interest to field one team). Eight coaches would be overkill for “yeah, I think we have a football team.” (It isn’t a small school either - about 2000 students). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-mckinley-high-school-football-coaches-of-canton-ohio/943507.md?page=3)