Commentary: Hennesy should resign

By M. Scott Carter
The Moore American

September 19, 2007 12:04 pm

— Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore announced this week that he would fine misdemeanor charges against Muskogee High School’s head football coach Matt Hennesy.
Moore said the charge — which is punishable by a $500 fine or 10 days in jail — is for failing to immediately notify police after a traffic accident.
OK, unless you’ve been hanging out with Sherman and Peabody, you know that Coach Hennesy recently was involved in an accident with seven-year-old Chase Thornton.
It seems that chase had the audacity to accidentally right his bicycle in front of a car driven by Thornton and the two collided.
Now, at this point, there shouldn’t be an issue.
And I shouldn’t be writing his column.
Because Mr. Hennesy, being an adult and a father, himself, should have immediately called 911, the police, and stayed with the child until help arrived.
Instead, the coach said he called the boy’s stepfather and had one of his linemen carry the hurt child to a nearby training room, where the boy was left with an athletic trainer and a nurse. They put ice on his shoulder, put his arm in a makeshift sling and waited for an ambulance.
The coach was at dinner.
Question: So what’s wrong with this picture?
Answer: Coach Hennesy.
I’ve seen some arrogant crapola in my time, but the head coach from Muskogee takes the prize.
Despite having injured a kid, Hennesy said Monday that he didn’t realize he was supposed to call the police but that ignorance is no excuse.
Sorry, I don’t buy that.
Because the facts are pretty simple.
Fact: Chase Thornton is, say, 25 to 35 years younger than you — evidenced by the fact that he’s not a very good driver and he’s riding a bike in a parking lot; but, despite that, he’s still a kid.
Fact: You are a grown adult. You are a teacher. A coach. You are responsible. End of story. There is not escape. You as an adult, involved in a traffic accident, are responsible.
Fact: You were involved in an accident with a kid — whether or not it’s your fault doesn’t matter. You were there. You were involved.
Fact: The coach cut and ran.
Fact: It’s insulting, mean and inexcusable for a man such as yourself to go on to a team dinner while a kid that was injured in an accident that you were involved in hasn’t gotten the proper medical care.
Fact: Granted you did call the kid’s step-dad. So far you’re one for five.
Fact: You deserved to have your butt kicked.
On Tuesday, the good coach continued his whining, saying he guessed he’d “have to live with it.”
“Somebody runs into you and you end up with a $500 fine,” he said. “I hope the little boy is OK. I hope he’s not having to go through a lot of stuff. The whole thing was an unfortunate accident.”
The unfortunate part is the Thornton family ever encountered Coach Hennesy. Because the coach set a new low on the ol’ Decency Standards meter.
Coach Matt Hennesy should be ashamed and he should do Muskogee and the rest of the state a favor and resign.