United Group Insurance

Iowa AD: Coach’s Chair Slamming Crossed the Line

Sports

January 16th, 2012 by Jim Field

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s athletic director says coach Fran McCaffery went too far when he slammed a chair during last week’s 95-61 loss at Michigan State.

Gary Barta said Monday he supports the second-year coach and loves his passion for the game. But he said it’s important that “his passion doesn’t cross a line that distracts from our greater goals” and that’s what happened last week.

Barta said he’s spoken with the Big Ten Conference and McCaffery and “from all three perspectives, last week’s incident is done.”

The outburst started when McCaffery was whistled for a technical foul. During the break, he picked up the chair and slammed it to the court while yelling at his players. Video of his actions spread.

McCaffery said last week he had no regrets or apologies.