Jim Zullo, a high school basketball coach, was fired from Northville Central School District after footage of him pulling a player’s hair circulated social media and the news. He has since come out and apologized for the act which was labeled by the school district as ‘deeply disturbing’.
The incident took place at the semi-final
The 81-year-old coach pulled senior Hailey Monroe’s hair after she was fouled out in the semi-final match in a game between Northville High School and LaFargeville in New York. Monroe is the school’s basketball program’s all-time leading scorer.
She was crying before he pulled her hair
The player seemed to have already been crying after losing the match. The coach then appeared to come up from behind her and pulled her ponytail.
One of Monroe’s teammates who was standing right next to her intervened, pulling her away from the coach and seemingly exchanging heated words with him about the act. The coach then started yelling at her teammate as well before the two started pointing fingers at each other.
The coach claimed the player had spoken an expletive
Shortly after the incident, Zullo claimed that the player directed an expletive towards him. But the Northville Central School District released a statement on the act and announced he would no longer be working for them.
He has since released an apology for pulling Monroe’s hair.
Zullo said he was ‘truly sorry’
In the apology reported by WNYT, Zullo said, “I deeply regret my behavior following the loss to LaFargeville Friday night in the Class D state championship game.”
“I want to offer my sincerest apologies to Hailey and her family, our team, the good folks at Northville Central Schools and our community. As a coach, under no circumstance is it acceptable to put my hands on a player, and I am truly sorry. I wish I could have those moments back.”
He said he was ‘grateful’ for having coached the team
Zullo continued, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have coached girls basketball at Northville the past two years, especially last season, which was a difficult time for our family.”
“I am super proud of every one of these young women and what they accomplished. I know each of them will go on to do great things and I wish them well.”
The school district had released a statement after the act
As the coach got fired shortly after the incident, the Northville Central School District released a statement where they said, “The Northville Central School District is aware of, and deeply disturbed by, the conduct of the coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team during the Class D New York State championship game.”
“We hold our coaches to the highest standards of professionalism, sportsmanship, and respect for our student-athletes, and this behavior is completely unacceptable.”
They announced he would no longer be coaching for them
The statement continued, “The district is committed to ensuring that this type of behaviour has no place within our programs, and we will continue to uphold the values of respect and integrity that our athletes, families and community expect and deserve. This individual will no longer be coaching for the Northville Central School District.”
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“We assure the public that this matter is being taken extremely seriously, and the district is actively addressing it. The district will be following up with the affected players and their families to provide support and outline the actions we are taking in response to this incident.”