Earlier this week, long time Temple basketball coach, John Chaney suspended himself for one game and then was suspended for the remainder of the season by Temple's adminstration (an additional two games) as a result of his actions during a game between St. Joseph's and Temple. Chaney admitted sending in seldom used reserve to rough up an opposing teams players to remedy what Chaney perceived to be illegal screens employed by St. Joseph's. As a result, St. Joe's player John Bryant suffered a broken arm.
Chaney's actions were not only deplorable, but possibly criminal. He essentially solicited his player's violent actions against the St. Joseph's player. In Virginia, at least, solicting another to engage in felony criminal activity is also a felony offense. I would be very interested to see this will result in a criminal investigation when this incident followed so closely on the heels of a South Dakota prosecutor's decision to charge a Valley State basketball player with assault after he elbowed a South Dakota School of Mines and Technology player resulting in a concussion and 14 stitches. In addition to soliciting, Chaney could possibly be charged as a accessory before the fact or even a principle in the first degree under the law of aidding and abetting.
We'll just have to wait and see. One way or the other Chaney, also notorious for an encounter with current Memphis coach, John Calipari, during a post game press conference where he threatened to kill Calipari, need to tone his act down. I submit that he is just as responsible for the health of another teams players as he is for his own. Get a technical; get two technicals-but don't ask your players to possibly harm another team's players.
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