By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:
A WIN OVER ARKANSAS WOULD GREATLY ENHANCE UF’S NCAA CHANCES
Beating 2nd-ranked Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) at the O-Dome Saturday is a rather nice first step toward getting back in the good graces of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee. A win over Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) Tuesday night could be the ticket if the Gators can follow that up with road wins at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC) and Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC).
By knocking off Auburn, 63-62, the Gators made up some ground lost by their 56-55 loss to Texas A&M earlier in the week. The win over Auburn was worth a six-place jump to No. 47 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Arkansas moved up to No. 23 with its win over Alabama so a win over the Hogs would be a third Quad 1 win for the Gators and it would be the eighth SEC win. Wins over Arkansas, Vandy and Georgia would give UF 10 SEC wins and 20 overall in the regular season with Kentucky still to play in the O-Dome. It will be hard to keep the Gators out of the NCAA Tournament if they can win the next three.
Auburn game observations: Tyree Appleby scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half including 15 in the game’s final 10 minutes. Auburn tried four different players on Appleby in the last 10 minutes and none of them could handle him … Colin Castleton’s two games against Auburn and 7-1 Walker Kessler – 41 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, five blocked shots, three steals. Kessler 17 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, three blocked shots and one steal. Kessler didn’t block a shot against the Gators Saturday … The Gators were +12 with Niels Lane on the court and +16 with Anthony Duruji in the win over Auburn.
SEC Men’s Basketball
Sunday’s score: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) 58, Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC) 56
Saturday’s scores: FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 63, No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) 62; No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC) 90, No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 81; No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 58, No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) 48; Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) 85, Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) 68; South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC) 77, LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC) 75; Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8) 72, Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC) 57
Tuesday’s games: No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) at FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC); No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) at Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC); Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC); No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC)
Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) at South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC); Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) at No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC); LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC at No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC)
FREE THROWS KILL UF WOMEN’S CHANCES AT LSU
For the want of a few free throws, second place in the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball race could have belonged to the Florida Gators (20-7, 10-4 SEC). The Gators typically shoot close to 75 percent from the foul line, but Sunday at LSU, they were just 11-22 as they dropped a 66-61 decision to the 11th-ranked Tigers (23-4, 11-3 SEC) before a crowd of 13,620 at the Maravich Assembly Center.
Florida outshot the Tigers from the field and the 3-point line but couldn’t overcome LSU’s 22-32 day at the foul line. Defensively, the Gators held LSU to 33 percent from the field and 0-8 on 3-pointers.
Nina Rickards led the Gators with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Kiki Smith had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Zippy Broughton chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Gators travel to Vanderbilt Thursday before returning home next Sunday for their final regular season game against Missouri. The Gators have a chance to tie or exceed the all-time school record of 11 SEC wins in a season.
SEC Women’s Basketball
Sunday’s scores: No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC) 66, NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) 61; No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) 67, No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 53; Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC) 65, No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) 60; Ole Miss (20-6, 8-6 SEC) 57, Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC) 47; Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC) 76, Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) 66; Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) 78, Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC) 55; Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) 81, Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC) 79
Thursday’s games: NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC); Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) at No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC); Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) at No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC); No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) at Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC); Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) at Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC); Ole Miss (20-8, 8-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC); No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC)
A PAIR OF PERFECT TENS
We got a pair of perfect 10s this weekend and both from expected sources.
The first was Friday night when Trinity Thomas delivered her fourth 10 of this gymnastics season and the 12th of her UF gymnastics career on floor. She followed that up with a near perfect 9.975 on the balance beam as the 2nd-ranked Gators rallied to beat Kentucky 197.575-197.350 in Lexington. Thomas is absolute money when a meet is on the line. She’s had a perfect 10 on floor to seal a win over Alabama, hit a 10 on beam to go with a 9.975 on floor to lift UF over LSU and now has the 10 and 9.975 finale to get the Gators a win over Kentucky.
With the win, the Gators clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference championship, their fourth straight. UF can clinch the SEC outright in two weeks at Auburn. Next week the Gators host 3rd-ranked Oklahoma in what will be the feature gymnastics meet for the entire country.
The second perfect 10 was the Florida men’s swimming team, which won its 10th straight conference championship at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville. Perhaps they should start calling this the Florida Gator Invitational. This was total domination as the Gators had a commanding 478-point advantage of Alabama and Georgia, which tied for second. Florida won five relays and got two gold medal performances from Kieran Smith, one each by Trey Freeman and Adam Chaney. Smith also had a silver medal in the 400 IM and swam on four gold medal relays.
What makes this championship even more spectacular is that it was achieved without two-time Olympic gold medalist and 9-time SEC gold medalist Bobby Finke, who was out because of health protocols. He’s expected to be back in time for 5th-ranked Florida’s NCAA national championship bid.
The Florida women finished fifth with 905 points. Tennessee won, followed by Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia.
UF SOFTBALL WEEKEND: GATORS 30, EVERYBODY ELSE 4
The 4th-ranked Gators ran their record to 10-0 by going 4-0 at the T-Mobile Tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, outscoring No. 14 Duke, Villanova, Louisville and Florida A&M, 30-4. For the season, the Gators have outscored their 10 opponents, 77-6. Florida is hitting .356 as a team and the team ERA is 0.55.
Hitting stars for the weekend were leadoff hitter Kendra Falby who went 8-14 with a double, two triples and three RBI, Hannah Adams, who was 6-12 with three RBI, and Charla Echols, who had a homer and seven RBI. For the season, Falby is hitting .548 with two doubles, two triples, a home run, seven RBI and 10-10 on stolen bases.
Four different pitchers picked up wins: Elizabeth Hightower (4-0, 0.69 ERA), Natalie Lugo (2-0, 0.00 ERA), Lexie Debrey (3-0, 1.09 ERA) and Rylee Trlicek (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
The Gators travel to North Florida on Tuesday and then return home to face North Florida on Wednesday. Next weekend the Gators will be in Orlando for the UCF Knights Classic that will include James Madison, which made it to last year’s Womens College World Series in Oklahoma City.
PEDRO CERRANO DISEASE
“Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.” -- Pedro Cerrano in "Major League"
Obviously, Pedro Cerrano Disease has infected the Florida bats. After opening with a 7-2 win over Liberty Friday night when Sterlin Thompson hit two homers, the second a grand slam, to back the 1-hit, 11-run strikeout pitching of Hunter Barco, Florida’s hitters needed plenty of help. The Gators lost their final two games of the weekend, 6-4 Saturday and 5-3 Sunday, a rather disappointing beginning to the season.
The Gators went 18-97 for the weekend, which is a .186 batting average made worse by 31 strikeouts. You don’t win a lot of ball games when you strike out 31.9 percent of the time.
Other than Barco, who was perfect through five innings and walked only one in his 6-inning outing, the Gator pitchers had problems finding the plate. Florida pitchers not named Barco walked 15 batters, hit seven and uncorked two wild pitches.
Now, one thing to take into account is the number of kids Kevin O’Sullivan is playing. O’Sullivan played five true sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. It showed particularly with the pitching where the Saturday starter was true sophomore Timmy Manning and the Sunday starter was true freshman Pierce Coppola and they were relieved by four redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen.
The Gators will travel to DeLand Tuesday to face Stetson, return home for North Florida on Wednesday and face Georgia State at home for a three-game weekend set.
Other UF sports: Florida’s 5th-ranked men’s tennis team (7-2) won two of three matches at the ITA National Indoor Team Championships in Seattle, falling 4-3 to 14th-ranked Texas and then scoring 4-2 wins over No. 7 Virginia and No. 9 Georgia … Florida’s 7th-ranked lacrosse team (1-1) fell to No. 2 North Carolina 15-11 despite six goals from Danielle Pavinelli … Heading into the final day of the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida’s women’s golfers are in third place, five shots behind first place FSU and two behind second place Virginia.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you’ve watched the replay of the handshake line after Wisconsin’s 77-63 win over Michigan, then you’ve probably seen Michigan coach Juwan Howard lose it completely during the handshake line. Howard got into it verbally with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard over a time out that Gard called with a few seconds remaining. Gard had cleared the bench, had his walk-ons in the game and they were being pressed by Michigan. With only four seconds left to get the ball across midcourt, Gard called time out so he could get a 10-second reset. Obviously, that ticked off Howard who stuck a finger in Gard’s face, then grabbed the Wisconsin coach by the shirt and shoved him. That escalated into both teams pushing and shoving each other. Pushed away from the fray by one of his own players, Howard surged forward, threw a punch and hit a Wisconsin assistant in the face. That created a full-scale brawl.
I’ve watched the video of the end of the game and then the handshake line. I’ve also watched the press conferences of both Howard and Gard. Neither coach thinks he’s to blame, but one thing for certain, Juwan Howard is the one who lost his cool and threw a punch. He’s lost his cool before but this is the first time he’s ever thrown a punch. It should, without question, be the last time he throws a punch and it should be the last time he coaches this season.
Juwan Howard is supposed to be an adult. He should act like one. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren should issue an adult-like punishment that is appropriate for someone who is supposed to be a mentor and role model by suspending him the rest of the season. A two or three-game suspension will not send the right signal. The coach who threw a punch at another coach needs a few months to think things over before he’s allowed to coach again.
A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:
A WIN OVER ARKANSAS WOULD GREATLY ENHANCE UF’S NCAA CHANCES
Beating 2nd-ranked Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) at the O-Dome Saturday is a rather nice first step toward getting back in the good graces of the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee. A win over Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) Tuesday night could be the ticket if the Gators can follow that up with road wins at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC) and Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC).
By knocking off Auburn, 63-62, the Gators made up some ground lost by their 56-55 loss to Texas A&M earlier in the week. The win over Auburn was worth a six-place jump to No. 47 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Arkansas moved up to No. 23 with its win over Alabama so a win over the Hogs would be a third Quad 1 win for the Gators and it would be the eighth SEC win. Wins over Arkansas, Vandy and Georgia would give UF 10 SEC wins and 20 overall in the regular season with Kentucky still to play in the O-Dome. It will be hard to keep the Gators out of the NCAA Tournament if they can win the next three.
Auburn game observations: Tyree Appleby scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half including 15 in the game’s final 10 minutes. Auburn tried four different players on Appleby in the last 10 minutes and none of them could handle him … Colin Castleton’s two games against Auburn and 7-1 Walker Kessler – 41 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, five blocked shots, three steals. Kessler 17 points, 11 rebounds, one assist, three blocked shots and one steal. Kessler didn’t block a shot against the Gators Saturday … The Gators were +12 with Niels Lane on the court and +16 with Anthony Duruji in the win over Auburn.
SEC Men’s Basketball
Sunday’s score: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) 58, Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC) 56
Saturday’s scores: FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 63, No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC) 62; No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC) 90, No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) 81; No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 58, No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) 48; Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) 85, Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) 68; South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC) 77, LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC) 75; Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8) 72, Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC) 57
Tuesday’s games: No. 23 Arkansas (21-6, 10-4 SEC) at FLORIDA (17-10, 7-7 SEC); No. 16 Tennessee (19-7, 10-4 SEC) at Missouri (10-17, 4-10 SEC); Georgia (6-21, 1-13 SEC) at Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC); No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC)
Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) at South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC); Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10 SEC) at No. 2 Auburn (24-3, 12-2 SEC); LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC at No. 4 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC)
FREE THROWS KILL UF WOMEN’S CHANCES AT LSU
For the want of a few free throws, second place in the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball race could have belonged to the Florida Gators (20-7, 10-4 SEC). The Gators typically shoot close to 75 percent from the foul line, but Sunday at LSU, they were just 11-22 as they dropped a 66-61 decision to the 11th-ranked Tigers (23-4, 11-3 SEC) before a crowd of 13,620 at the Maravich Assembly Center.
Florida outshot the Tigers from the field and the 3-point line but couldn’t overcome LSU’s 22-32 day at the foul line. Defensively, the Gators held LSU to 33 percent from the field and 0-8 on 3-pointers.
Nina Rickards led the Gators with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Kiki Smith had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Zippy Broughton chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The Gators travel to Vanderbilt Thursday before returning home next Sunday for their final regular season game against Missouri. The Gators have a chance to tie or exceed the all-time school record of 11 SEC wins in a season.
SEC Women’s Basketball
Sunday’s scores: No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC) 66, NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) 61; No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) 67, No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC) 53; Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC) 65, No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) 60; Ole Miss (20-6, 8-6 SEC) 57, Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC) 47; Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC) 76, Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) 66; Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) 78, Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC) 55; Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) 81, Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC) 79
Thursday’s games: NO. 17 FLORIDA (20-7, 10-4 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-16, 3-11 SEC); Mississippi State (15-11, 6-8 SEC) at No. 12 Tennessee (21-6, 10-4 SEC); Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC) at No. 11 LSU (23-4, 11-3 SEC); No. 21 Georgia (18-8, 7-7 SEC) at Arkansas (16-10, 6-7 SEC); Kentucky (13-11, 6-8 SEC) at Missouri (17-10, 6-8 SEC); Ole Miss (20-8, 8-6 SEC) at Auburn (10-15, 2-12 SEC); No. 1 South Carolina (25-1, 13-1 SEC) at Texas A&M (14-12, 4-10 SEC)
A PAIR OF PERFECT TENS
We got a pair of perfect 10s this weekend and both from expected sources.
The first was Friday night when Trinity Thomas delivered her fourth 10 of this gymnastics season and the 12th of her UF gymnastics career on floor. She followed that up with a near perfect 9.975 on the balance beam as the 2nd-ranked Gators rallied to beat Kentucky 197.575-197.350 in Lexington. Thomas is absolute money when a meet is on the line. She’s had a perfect 10 on floor to seal a win over Alabama, hit a 10 on beam to go with a 9.975 on floor to lift UF over LSU and now has the 10 and 9.975 finale to get the Gators a win over Kentucky.
With the win, the Gators clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference championship, their fourth straight. UF can clinch the SEC outright in two weeks at Auburn. Next week the Gators host 3rd-ranked Oklahoma in what will be the feature gymnastics meet for the entire country.
The second perfect 10 was the Florida men’s swimming team, which won its 10th straight conference championship at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville. Perhaps they should start calling this the Florida Gator Invitational. This was total domination as the Gators had a commanding 478-point advantage of Alabama and Georgia, which tied for second. Florida won five relays and got two gold medal performances from Kieran Smith, one each by Trey Freeman and Adam Chaney. Smith also had a silver medal in the 400 IM and swam on four gold medal relays.
What makes this championship even more spectacular is that it was achieved without two-time Olympic gold medalist and 9-time SEC gold medalist Bobby Finke, who was out because of health protocols. He’s expected to be back in time for 5th-ranked Florida’s NCAA national championship bid.
The Florida women finished fifth with 905 points. Tennessee won, followed by Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia.
UF SOFTBALL WEEKEND: GATORS 30, EVERYBODY ELSE 4
The 4th-ranked Gators ran their record to 10-0 by going 4-0 at the T-Mobile Tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, outscoring No. 14 Duke, Villanova, Louisville and Florida A&M, 30-4. For the season, the Gators have outscored their 10 opponents, 77-6. Florida is hitting .356 as a team and the team ERA is 0.55.
Hitting stars for the weekend were leadoff hitter Kendra Falby who went 8-14 with a double, two triples and three RBI, Hannah Adams, who was 6-12 with three RBI, and Charla Echols, who had a homer and seven RBI. For the season, Falby is hitting .548 with two doubles, two triples, a home run, seven RBI and 10-10 on stolen bases.
Four different pitchers picked up wins: Elizabeth Hightower (4-0, 0.69 ERA), Natalie Lugo (2-0, 0.00 ERA), Lexie Debrey (3-0, 1.09 ERA) and Rylee Trlicek (1-0, 0.00 ERA).
The Gators travel to North Florida on Tuesday and then return home to face North Florida on Wednesday. Next weekend the Gators will be in Orlando for the UCF Knights Classic that will include James Madison, which made it to last year’s Womens College World Series in Oklahoma City.
PEDRO CERRANO DISEASE
“Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.” -- Pedro Cerrano in "Major League"
Obviously, Pedro Cerrano Disease has infected the Florida bats. After opening with a 7-2 win over Liberty Friday night when Sterlin Thompson hit two homers, the second a grand slam, to back the 1-hit, 11-run strikeout pitching of Hunter Barco, Florida’s hitters needed plenty of help. The Gators lost their final two games of the weekend, 6-4 Saturday and 5-3 Sunday, a rather disappointing beginning to the season.
The Gators went 18-97 for the weekend, which is a .186 batting average made worse by 31 strikeouts. You don’t win a lot of ball games when you strike out 31.9 percent of the time.
Other than Barco, who was perfect through five innings and walked only one in his 6-inning outing, the Gator pitchers had problems finding the plate. Florida pitchers not named Barco walked 15 batters, hit seven and uncorked two wild pitches.
Now, one thing to take into account is the number of kids Kevin O’Sullivan is playing. O’Sullivan played five true sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. It showed particularly with the pitching where the Saturday starter was true sophomore Timmy Manning and the Sunday starter was true freshman Pierce Coppola and they were relieved by four redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen.
The Gators will travel to DeLand Tuesday to face Stetson, return home for North Florida on Wednesday and face Georgia State at home for a three-game weekend set.
Other UF sports: Florida’s 5th-ranked men’s tennis team (7-2) won two of three matches at the ITA National Indoor Team Championships in Seattle, falling 4-3 to 14th-ranked Texas and then scoring 4-2 wins over No. 7 Virginia and No. 9 Georgia … Florida’s 7th-ranked lacrosse team (1-1) fell to No. 2 North Carolina 15-11 despite six goals from Danielle Pavinelli … Heading into the final day of the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida’s women’s golfers are in third place, five shots behind first place FSU and two behind second place Virginia.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you’ve watched the replay of the handshake line after Wisconsin’s 77-63 win over Michigan, then you’ve probably seen Michigan coach Juwan Howard lose it completely during the handshake line. Howard got into it verbally with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard over a time out that Gard called with a few seconds remaining. Gard had cleared the bench, had his walk-ons in the game and they were being pressed by Michigan. With only four seconds left to get the ball across midcourt, Gard called time out so he could get a 10-second reset. Obviously, that ticked off Howard who stuck a finger in Gard’s face, then grabbed the Wisconsin coach by the shirt and shoved him. That escalated into both teams pushing and shoving each other. Pushed away from the fray by one of his own players, Howard surged forward, threw a punch and hit a Wisconsin assistant in the face. That created a full-scale brawl.
I’ve watched the video of the end of the game and then the handshake line. I’ve also watched the press conferences of both Howard and Gard. Neither coach thinks he’s to blame, but one thing for certain, Juwan Howard is the one who lost his cool and threw a punch. He’s lost his cool before but this is the first time he’s ever thrown a punch. It should, without question, be the last time he throws a punch and it should be the last time he coaches this season.
Juwan Howard is supposed to be an adult. He should act like one. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren should issue an adult-like punishment that is appropriate for someone who is supposed to be a mentor and role model by suspending him the rest of the season. A two or three-game suspension will not send the right signal. The coach who threw a punch at another coach needs a few months to think things over before he’s allowed to coach again.
