Durham Middlefield Football Coach Fired over Discipline for Bullying Incident: Report

DURHAM, CT — Todd Kennedy, the former coach of the Durham Middlefield football team, was fired from his position this week over how he disciplined a player whom he says broke his rule about bullying other teammates, reports WTNH-TV.

Kennedy told the team — made up of children in grades four through six — that bullying would not be tolerated, so when he heard about an incident occurring, he made the alleged bully run laps as punishment (the child in question denied bullying a teammate).

That did not sit well with league officials, who chastised Kennedy for taking such action and fired him, even though Kennedy says he was not trained in how the league wanted discipline handled. As a result, his two sons are now off the team, and at least one other parent has pulled her son off the team over how the league — not Kennedy — handled the situation.

Click here to read the full story on the WTNH-TV website.

Photo credit: Bullying, by Flickr user Pimkie, via Creative Commons