Wrestling coach gets lifetime ban for interfering during match

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

A Rocky Mountain High coach received a lifetime ban from coaching Idaho high school sports after striking a wrestler from an opposing school last weekend.

A video of the incident shared with the Idaho Statesman shows Russell Brunson entering the ring and hitting a freshman from Nyssa, Oregon, at least three times during a match against Brunson’s son at the Skyview Duals on Saturday in Nampa.

Officials had to stop the match to clear the Rocky Mountain assistant coach from the mat. He was not ejected from the tournament, West Ada spokesperson Niki Scheppers told the Statesman.

 

Brunson explained in a letter Monday to the District Three Board of Control that he thought his son was put into an illegal choke hold and feared he was about to pass out. The board serves as the local arm of the Idaho High School Activities Association, the state governing body.

“As a coach, the normal reaction would be to yell and point it out to the ref, but my reaction as a dad took it one step too far,” Brunson wrote. “What would you do if your kid was getting choked out, just 2 feet in front of your face?

 

https://news.yahoo.com/idaho-wrestling-coach-hits-student-230904199.html?

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

I saw this the other day on Reddit and I really do feel for the coach. He should have consequences but to be unable to watch Idaho HS events for 2 years and to never be able to coach at a Hs again is harsh. 
 

he ***ducked** up for sure, but he wasn’t dropping hammer fists, he was freaking out about his kid. 

[Quaker118]

I had thought about starting a thread. What was the craziest thing you ever saw during a wrestling match? I think I’ve got a good one that somewhat relates to this. My junior year in high school at Farmingdale we were wrestling Herricks high school. Our 157 pounder, who was heavily favored was  winning by a lot when suddenly he got thrown to his back. It was a packed gym as there was a basketball game right after, and we were stunned, thinking that we were going to lose the match and lose the division championship which we were in the middle of a 10 year winning streak. Our assistant coach, who knew very little about wrestling, ran out onto the mat and pulled the other kid off of our guy. Our guy was lying there unconscious. No one saw that except for this assistant coach. Back then it was three minutes of injury time.  Our kid who was tough as nails and became an all Ivy linebacker for  Dartmouth somehow recovered and held on to win the match. We ended up winning the dual by a point, and I will never forget that crazy situation. Anyone ever see anything similar to that? 

Edited January 26 by Quaker118
Duplicated sentences

[Idaho]

1 hour ago, FanOfPurdueWrestling said:

I saw this the other day on Reddit and I really do feel for the coach. He should have consequences but to be unable to watch Idaho HS events for 2 years and to never be able to coach at a Hs again is harsh. 
 

he ***ducked** up for sure, but he wasn’t dropping hammer fists, he was freaking out about his kid. 

 

You should look him up.... you may be surprised at who he is....

 

From his explanation.... as a coach he knows not to be 2 feet from the action as he says. Second, his kid tries to hip over his opponent right before dad jumps in....obviously not about to pass out if the kid is actually trying to hip over. After everything happens, kid seems fine. 

 

 

Edited January 26 by Idaho

[KCMO2]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

“As a coach, the normal reaction would be to yell and point it out to the ref, but my reaction as a dad took it one step too far,” Brunson wrote. “What would you do if your kid was getting choked out, just 2 feet in front of your face?

 

The no-brainer response would be to start punching the 14 year old kid.  Simply trying to pull him off may have been too late to have save your kid's life.

[AgaveMaria]

His punishment is light. They went too easy on him.

There is a reason we have refs at the match.

He should have criminal charges filed as well.

[Jason Bryant]

There is another video showing a view of the kid on top sinking in a choke and quickly pulling an arm under an arm, but I can’t seem to post it here from my phone. It was quick and the ref was on top of the position, before Brunson jumped in. So the discussion calling it a merkle isn’t fully accurate but no way do you put your hands on another kid. here’s the FB link to that post though … He shouldn’t be allowed to coach anyone’s kid, let alone his own if this is how he reacts to that quick of a position.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/gqjhkSUU2iHXkEL5/?mibextid=K8Wfd2

[feet2back]

1 hour ago, Quaker118 said:

I had thought about starting a thread. What was the craziest thing you ever saw during a wrestling match? I think I’ve got a good one that somewhat relates to this. My junior year in high school at Farmingdale we were wrestling Herricks high school. Our 157 pounder, who was heavily favored was  winning by a lot when suddenly he got thrown to his back. It was a packed gym as there was a basketball game right after, and we were stunned, thinking that we were going to lose the match and lose the division championship which we were in the middle of a 10 year winning streak. Our assistant coach, who knew very little about wrestling, ran out onto the mat and pulled the other kid off of our guy. Our guy was lying there unconscious. No one saw that except for this assistant coach. Back then it was three minutes of injury time.  Our kid who was tough as nails and became an all Ivy linebacker for  Dartmouth somehow recovered and held on to win the match. We ended up winning the dual by a point, and I will never forget that crazy situation. Anyone ever see anything similar to that? 

looks like he wasn't "Unconscious"!

[jchapman]

He didn’t pull the guy off, he threw multiple punches at his head.

Edited January 27 by jchapman

[Lipdrag]

Dads should not be in the corner or anywhere near a mat when their kids are wrestling.  I have seen too many assistant coach dads who do a fine job for every wrestler but then lose their minds when their own kid is on the mat.  A parent is certifiably insane when his/her kid is on the mat and must be protected from his own actions.  I was.  My dad was. The dads should be in the stands, preferably near the top of the stands to get a big buffer between themselves and the mat when their own sons are on the mat.  We had a dad, an assistant coach on the team, lose a team point at the county tournament because he could not contain his mouth during his son's match.  

Old story: A friend of mine was sitting in the front row of the bleachers when his kid was wrestling an intense high level HS match.  His emotions overcame him and he jumped forward and ran onto the mat.  Two steps onto the mat he realized what he had done and made an immediate right hand turn and ran out of the gym.  His kid was winning and won the match but the intensity and emotion overtook the dad.  The next match when his kid walked on the mat to wrestle I eased next to the dad in the front row, hooked my leg over his, grabbed his belt, and then told him to let'r'rip.  He was going to see the whole match or be dragging me onto the mat with him and we'd both get kicked out.  He looked at me with manic eyes, said a very intense "Thank you!!", and proceeded to lean, wiggle, thrust, skooch, slide, and perform every other bleacher wrestling move in tandem with his son.  But he did not leave the bleachers and was back to his calm self 15 seconds after the match ended.  I had 2 bruises

[Tripnsweep]

28 minutes ago, Lipdrag said:

Dads should not be in the corner or anywhere near a mat when their kids are wrestling.  I have seen too many assistant coach dads who do a fine job for every wrestler but then lose their minds when their own kid is on the mat.  A parent is certifiably insane when his/her kid is on the mat and must be protected from his own actions.  I was.  My dad was. The dads should be in the stands, preferably near the top of the stands to get a big buffer between themselves and the mat when their own sons are on the mat.  We had a dad, an assistant coach on the team, lose a team point at the county tournament because he could not contain his mouth during his son's match.  

Old story: A friend of mine was sitting in the front row of the bleachers when his kid was wrestling an intense high level HS match.  His emotions overcame him and he jumped forward and ran onto the mat.  Two steps onto the mat he realized what he had done and made an immediate right hand turn and ran out of the gym.  His kid was winning and won the match but the intensity and emotion overtook the dad.  The next match when his kid walked on the mat to wrestle I eased next to the dad in the front row, hooked my leg over his, grabbed his belt, and then told him to let'r'rip.  He was going to see the whole match or be dragging me onto the mat with him and we'd both get kicked out.  He looked at me with manic eyes, said a very intense "Thank you!!", and proceeded to lean, wiggle, thrust, skooch, slide, and perform every other bleacher wrestling move in tandem with his son.  But he did not leave the bleachers and was back to his calm self 15 seconds after the match ended.  I had 2 bruises

There was a local high school coach, since retired, who had his sons wrestle for him. Each year he would get his team deducted a few points for yelling at refs or doing something else. Because of that he missed one of his sons winning a state championship as a senior since he had been ejected from the building. 

[Idaho]

17 hours ago, Jason Bryant said:

There is another video showing a view of the kid on top sinking in a choke and quickly pulling an arm under an arm, but I can’t seem to post it here from my phone. It was quick and the ref was on top of the position, before Brunson jumped in. So the discussion calling it a merkle isn’t fully accurate but no way do you put your hands on another kid. here’s the FB link to that post though … He shouldn’t be allowed to coach anyone’s kid, let alone his own if this is how he reacts to that quick of a position.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/gqjhkSUU2iHXkEL5/?mibextid=K8Wfd2

I agree... it was quick and the ref was right there....I keep going back to the fact that his kid is not phased by it... he is already in the process of trying to hip over the kid when his dad comes in. 

[Idaho]

18 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

His punishment is light. They went too easy on him.

There is a reason we have refs at the match.

He should have criminal charges filed as well.

There is an investigation according to several articles. 

[Bardamu911]

22 hours ago, Quaker118 said:

Our assistant coach, who knew very little about wrestling

huh?

[Lipdrag]

4 hours ago, Bardamu911 said:

On 1/26/2024 at 3:27 PM, Quaker118 said:

Our assistant coach, who knew very little about wrestling

huh?

Hey!  Some of us assistants are there merely for crowd control, morale support, yelling "SQUEEZE" at random times during a match, and keeping the snack table clean and orderly.  Technique?!?  Rules!?!  Those things are for the young kids like the head coach and recent graduates lurking around the room.

[Rassling]

Parents misbehaving at sports events seems to be happening a lot with each passing year but this is ridiculous.

[Fadzaev2]

Jimmy Cinnabon  

Posted Friday at 02:09 PM

A Rocky Mountain High coach received a lifetime ban from coaching Idaho high school sports after striking a wrestler from an opposing school last weekend.

A video of the incident shared with the Idaho Statesman shows Russell Brunson entering the ring and hitting a freshman from Nyssa, Oregon, at least three times during a match against Brunson’s son at the Skyview Duals on Saturday in Nampa.

 

entering the ring?????  didn't know this was "big time"

[jackwebster]

On 1/26/2024 at 8:33 PM, jchapman said:

He didn’t pull the guy off, he threw multiple punches at his head.

This is the 2nd/3rd time in the past couple weeks that __________ have been called punches. I fall for it every time. I see -- x "punches" y -- and I click the link.

Ejections / suspensions / bans are warranted in every case, but I don't see punches.

[Idaho]

35 minutes ago, jackwebster said:

This is the 2nd/3rd time in the past couple weeks that __________ have been called punches. I fall for it every time. I see -- x "punches" y -- and I click the link.

Ejections / suspensions / bans are warranted in every case, but I don't see punches.

Not. a closed fist punch - I would call it an open hand slap... watch both videos from both angles.... it's undeniable. 

[H82Lose]

Braden Thompson's mom has a good one floating around...I was present during her storming the mat incident...WOWZERS