Hecubus
09-30-2004, 10:32 PM
Top 10 coach-player feuds
Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com
What happens when the time-tested, revered relationship between player and coach goes horribly wrong?
You get something like what happened this past weekend when Angels outfielder Jose Guillen raged against his manager, Mike Scioscia, for getting pulled late in a game. Guillen was incensed as he left the field and wound up throwing his helmet toward Scioscia in the dugout. The tirade helped land the slugger a season-ending suspension — a pretty bold move by a team in the throes of a hotly fought pennant race.
But the Guillen-Scioscia feud is just the latest in a long line of player-coach battles, and it got us thinking about the biggest, most nuclear ones.
Sometimes the battle erupts over a particular play; sometimes it's a personality clash that just boils over. In some cases, the team can keep an internal feud out of the public eye, but often the fireworks become public and make for some great tabloid fodder.
Such as ...
10. Troy Aikman vs. Barry Switzer
Quarterback Troy Aikman and coach Barry Switzer were able to put aside their differences long enough to lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl XXX title, but there was plenty of strife between the two during Switzer's four seasons in Dallas. Aikman loathed Switzer's lax discipline of his players and often walked off the practice field in protest.
"Coach Switzer and I are after just one thing, and that's winning football games. That's about as far as our relationship goes," Aikman said in 1997, Switzer's final year as Cowboys coach.
In response to Aikman's willfulness, Switzer is rumored to have sparked talk that Aikman was a homosexual. A claim Aikman denied many times, but one that still tailed him for the latter part of his career.
9. Patrick Roy vs. Mario Tremblay
Patrick Roy and Mario Tremblay were actually roommates once as Montreal Canadiens teammates, but when Tremblay took over as coach in 1995, there was bad blood between the coach and star goaltender right from the start. As a broadcaster before becoming coach, Tremblay had been very critical of Roy, but their simmering feud boiled over on Dec. 2, 1995 against the Red Wings.
Before the game, Roy reportedly confronted Tremblay about team discipline, saying star players were getting special treatment. Tremblay denied the double standard, but then embarrassed Roy by leaving him in the game while the Red Wings lit him up for nine goals in less than two periods. When Tremblay did finally remove Roy from the game, the two-time winning Stanley Cup goalie skated directly to the bench, stormed past Tremblay, went over to team president Ronald Corey (whose seats were right behind the bench) and told him that he had played his last game as a Canadien. Later in the week, Roy was traded to the Avalanche.
8. June Jones vs. Jeff George
Falcons coach June Jones shows Jeff George where he can take his complaints during this sideline feud in 1996. ( / AP)
At the start of the 1996 season, the Falcons were sputtering along with their quarterback, Jeff George. But George's rough season came to a head when he erupted at coach June Jones after getting pulled in the third game of the season, a nationally televised loss to the Eagles.
Jones yanked George late in the third quarter with Philadelphia leading 23-10. George reacted by trailing Jones and complaining in a loud litany of inflammatory words, several players said. As the situation came to a head, Jones turned to George and pointed for him to leave the area.
George was suspended the next day and never played another down for the Falcons.
7. Carl Everett vs. Jimy Williams
In the middle of the 2000 season, Red Sox outfielder Carl Everett and manager Jimy Williams had a shouting match a few hours before Everett returned to the lineup after having served his 10-game suspension for bumping an umpire.
Everett was heard screaming with Williams behind closed doors of the manager's office. The Boston Herald reported at the time that the subject of the argument was Everett's early departure from Boston's three-game trip to Seattle earlier in the week. The argument was loud enough to be heard outside Williams' office.
"I leave for one game and you're all over my ass," Everett was heard shouting from behind closed doors. "I don't need this (expletive). I miss one day and you're going to give me this (expletive) (expletive)? (Expletive) that." Williams responded with an equally loud and profane comeback. Everett then pulled the door open and walked into the clubhouse. Everett continued to yell as he slowly made his way to the back of the clubhouse, where the trainer's room is located. "(Expletive) that, (expletive) this," he repeated at the top of his voice. Before he disappeared into the back of the clubhouse, he said, "I never liked that guy in the first place."
6. Bill Parcells vs. Terry Glenn
There's actually a pair of feuds here. First, Parcells and Patriots owner Bob Kraft crossed swords over whether or not the Pats would select Glenn with the seventh overall pick of the 1996 draft. Kraft eventually won, and Glenn was chosen by the Pats. It was the beginning of a rift between Kraft and Parcells that would see the Tuna take his coaching act to the Jets.
Back to the matter at hand: Bitter over being trumped by Kraft, Parcells seemed to have it in for Glenn from the get-go. It certainly didn't help matters that Glenn, early in his Patriots career, was variously injured and/or malingering, mercurial and downright weird. The Parcells-Glenn tiff came to a comical head during Glenn's rookie-year training camp when the coach, responding to a reporter's query on the injury status of Glenn, responded, "She's making progress." Glenn went on to catch 90 passes that season for more than 1,100 yards (the best year of his career).
Still and yet, all's well that ends well; Parcells is once again Glenn's coach in Dallas this season, and he's yet to call him a girl in their second stint together.
5. Robert Horry vs. Danny Ainge
In January of '97, Horry, then a Phoenix Sun, was suspended without pay for two games for throwing a towel and cursing at Suns coach Danny Ainge during a game against the Boston Celtics. Horry was displeased at being removed from the game with the contest still hanging in the balance. Such was his tizzy that he had to be restrained by teammates. Four days later, Horry was traded to the Lakers.
4. Bobby Knight vs. Neil Reed
The word "choke" has a sports connotation all its own, but former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight and one of his players, Neil Reed, gave it their own twist. Coach Knight has certainly had his share of disciplinary peccadilloes over the years (the "thrown chair" international incident, the kicking of his son Patrick as he returned to the bench after making a bad pass in 1993, the relentless abuse of media members and tournament staff. ... I could go on), but the worst might have been his encounter with Neil Reed at a Hoosier practice in 1997.
A videotape of the practice in question appeared to show Knight grabbing Reed by the throat. Soon thereafter, Reed transferred and later accused Knight of choking him. Knight denied Reed's claims, and IU even trotted out a number of players to question openly Reed's credibility. Knight was never disciplined for the incident, but IU officials did ramp up their scrutiny of Knight, which would later lead to his firing. Even so, Bloomington's fealty to Knight could never be underestimated, even in the wake of controversy. On the prospect of Knight's dismissal, one Bloomington parent said, "A new coach won't have invested so much in our community as Coach Knight has, and I don't feel we need to bring in anyone new to choke my sons."
3. Reggie Jackson vs. Billy Martin
Given the relative bonhomie of the present Joe Torre administration with the Yankees, it's easy to forget the sturm und drang of the Bronx Zoo when Billy Martin lorded over the dugout. In what's a damning indictment of the concept of "team chemistry," the Yankees of the late '70s won a pair of World Series while giving the media a century's worth of drama and controversy. At the center of it all was slugging outfielder Reggie Jackson (the self-proclaimed "straw that stirs the drink") and hothead skipper Billy Martin.
The two combative and domineering personalities clashed from the start, but the situation reached critical mass one afternoon in Boston (during a televised "Game of the Week" at Fenway Park, no less). From Martin's viewpoint, Jackson wasn't hustling in the outfield on the afternoon of June 18, 1977, and Martin let Reggie know by replacing him mid-inning with the slick-fielding (but light-hitting) Paul Blair. He'd just humiliated Jackson in front of a national-television audience and the largest day-game crowd at Fenway in more than 20 years. Predictably, they clashed back in the dugout. Screams were heard, and the lip-reading was anything but challenging. The Yankee bench had to separate the two improbably matched combatants. They didn't come to blows, but millions of people saw them almost come to blows.
Not long before Martin's managerial term with the Yankees ended, he said of Jackson and his boss George Steinbrenner, "One's a born liar, and the other's convicted." Ah, the good ol' days. ...
2. Lou Piniella vs. Rob Dibble
There's chemistry, and then there's a chemistry set. Piniella and Dibble were the latter. "Sweet Lou" was and is pretty tough as a manager (you'd have to be to manage under the aegis of George Steinbrenner and Marge Schott), but Dibble was no wimp himself. In September of 1992, not even two years after Piniella and his team of so-called "Nasty Boys" swept the heavily favored A's in the World Series, things fell apart for Cincy.
When asked why he hadn't used Dibble in a recent critical situation, Piniella responded that Dibble had complained about having a sore shoulder. Dibble, then the Reds' closer, took exception to his manager's rendering of events, and it all culminated in a clubhouse wrestling match between the two alpha males. Unfortunately for all sides, the cameras were there and rolling. Wait five minutes, and you'll probably see the highlights on some channel or other.
1. Latrell Sprewell vs. P.J. Carlesimo
Latrell Sprewell (foreground left) and coach P.J. Carlesimo seen before the choking incident. Sprewell never played another game for the Warriors after choking Carlesimo in 1997. ( / GettyImages)
It's Knight-Reed writ opposite. This time player chokes coach, and the fallout is Chernobyl in scale. During a Golden State Warriors practice in 1997, Sprewell attacked his coach, Carlesimo, choked him and threatened his life before being pried away. What's noteworthy (besides a player choking his coach in the first place) is that after "cooling off" for 20 minutes, Sprewell returned to the court and attempted to resume his assault on Carlesimo.
NBA commish David Stern responded to the eye-blackening incident by suspending Sprewell for a full season. Subsequently, an arbitrator reduced the suspension to 68 games, which still cost Spree more than $6 million in salary. Needless to say, he never again played for the Warriors.
Some time later, Sprewell attempted to explain away his assault to 60 Minutes. "I wasn't choking P.J. that hard," he said. "I mean, he could breathe."
Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com
What happens when the time-tested, revered relationship between player and coach goes horribly wrong?
You get something like what happened this past weekend when Angels outfielder Jose Guillen raged against his manager, Mike Scioscia, for getting pulled late in a game. Guillen was incensed as he left the field and wound up throwing his helmet toward Scioscia in the dugout. The tirade helped land the slugger a season-ending suspension — a pretty bold move by a team in the throes of a hotly fought pennant race.
But the Guillen-Scioscia feud is just the latest in a long line of player-coach battles, and it got us thinking about the biggest, most nuclear ones.
Sometimes the battle erupts over a particular play; sometimes it's a personality clash that just boils over. In some cases, the team can keep an internal feud out of the public eye, but often the fireworks become public and make for some great tabloid fodder.
Such as ...
10. Troy Aikman vs. Barry Switzer
Quarterback Troy Aikman and coach Barry Switzer were able to put aside their differences long enough to lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl XXX title, but there was plenty of strife between the two during Switzer's four seasons in Dallas. Aikman loathed Switzer's lax discipline of his players and often walked off the practice field in protest.
"Coach Switzer and I are after just one thing, and that's winning football games. That's about as far as our relationship goes," Aikman said in 1997, Switzer's final year as Cowboys coach.
In response to Aikman's willfulness, Switzer is rumored to have sparked talk that Aikman was a homosexual. A claim Aikman denied many times, but one that still tailed him for the latter part of his career.
9. Patrick Roy vs. Mario Tremblay
Patrick Roy and Mario Tremblay were actually roommates once as Montreal Canadiens teammates, but when Tremblay took over as coach in 1995, there was bad blood between the coach and star goaltender right from the start. As a broadcaster before becoming coach, Tremblay had been very critical of Roy, but their simmering feud boiled over on Dec. 2, 1995 against the Red Wings.
Before the game, Roy reportedly confronted Tremblay about team discipline, saying star players were getting special treatment. Tremblay denied the double standard, but then embarrassed Roy by leaving him in the game while the Red Wings lit him up for nine goals in less than two periods. When Tremblay did finally remove Roy from the game, the two-time winning Stanley Cup goalie skated directly to the bench, stormed past Tremblay, went over to team president Ronald Corey (whose seats were right behind the bench) and told him that he had played his last game as a Canadien. Later in the week, Roy was traded to the Avalanche.
8. June Jones vs. Jeff George
Falcons coach June Jones shows Jeff George where he can take his complaints during this sideline feud in 1996. ( / AP)
At the start of the 1996 season, the Falcons were sputtering along with their quarterback, Jeff George. But George's rough season came to a head when he erupted at coach June Jones after getting pulled in the third game of the season, a nationally televised loss to the Eagles.
Jones yanked George late in the third quarter with Philadelphia leading 23-10. George reacted by trailing Jones and complaining in a loud litany of inflammatory words, several players said. As the situation came to a head, Jones turned to George and pointed for him to leave the area.
George was suspended the next day and never played another down for the Falcons.
7. Carl Everett vs. Jimy Williams
In the middle of the 2000 season, Red Sox outfielder Carl Everett and manager Jimy Williams had a shouting match a few hours before Everett returned to the lineup after having served his 10-game suspension for bumping an umpire.
Everett was heard screaming with Williams behind closed doors of the manager's office. The Boston Herald reported at the time that the subject of the argument was Everett's early departure from Boston's three-game trip to Seattle earlier in the week. The argument was loud enough to be heard outside Williams' office.
"I leave for one game and you're all over my ass," Everett was heard shouting from behind closed doors. "I don't need this (expletive). I miss one day and you're going to give me this (expletive) (expletive)? (Expletive) that." Williams responded with an equally loud and profane comeback. Everett then pulled the door open and walked into the clubhouse. Everett continued to yell as he slowly made his way to the back of the clubhouse, where the trainer's room is located. "(Expletive) that, (expletive) this," he repeated at the top of his voice. Before he disappeared into the back of the clubhouse, he said, "I never liked that guy in the first place."
6. Bill Parcells vs. Terry Glenn
There's actually a pair of feuds here. First, Parcells and Patriots owner Bob Kraft crossed swords over whether or not the Pats would select Glenn with the seventh overall pick of the 1996 draft. Kraft eventually won, and Glenn was chosen by the Pats. It was the beginning of a rift between Kraft and Parcells that would see the Tuna take his coaching act to the Jets.
Back to the matter at hand: Bitter over being trumped by Kraft, Parcells seemed to have it in for Glenn from the get-go. It certainly didn't help matters that Glenn, early in his Patriots career, was variously injured and/or malingering, mercurial and downright weird. The Parcells-Glenn tiff came to a comical head during Glenn's rookie-year training camp when the coach, responding to a reporter's query on the injury status of Glenn, responded, "She's making progress." Glenn went on to catch 90 passes that season for more than 1,100 yards (the best year of his career).
Still and yet, all's well that ends well; Parcells is once again Glenn's coach in Dallas this season, and he's yet to call him a girl in their second stint together.
5. Robert Horry vs. Danny Ainge
In January of '97, Horry, then a Phoenix Sun, was suspended without pay for two games for throwing a towel and cursing at Suns coach Danny Ainge during a game against the Boston Celtics. Horry was displeased at being removed from the game with the contest still hanging in the balance. Such was his tizzy that he had to be restrained by teammates. Four days later, Horry was traded to the Lakers.
4. Bobby Knight vs. Neil Reed
The word "choke" has a sports connotation all its own, but former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight and one of his players, Neil Reed, gave it their own twist. Coach Knight has certainly had his share of disciplinary peccadilloes over the years (the "thrown chair" international incident, the kicking of his son Patrick as he returned to the bench after making a bad pass in 1993, the relentless abuse of media members and tournament staff. ... I could go on), but the worst might have been his encounter with Neil Reed at a Hoosier practice in 1997.
A videotape of the practice in question appeared to show Knight grabbing Reed by the throat. Soon thereafter, Reed transferred and later accused Knight of choking him. Knight denied Reed's claims, and IU even trotted out a number of players to question openly Reed's credibility. Knight was never disciplined for the incident, but IU officials did ramp up their scrutiny of Knight, which would later lead to his firing. Even so, Bloomington's fealty to Knight could never be underestimated, even in the wake of controversy. On the prospect of Knight's dismissal, one Bloomington parent said, "A new coach won't have invested so much in our community as Coach Knight has, and I don't feel we need to bring in anyone new to choke my sons."
3. Reggie Jackson vs. Billy Martin
Given the relative bonhomie of the present Joe Torre administration with the Yankees, it's easy to forget the sturm und drang of the Bronx Zoo when Billy Martin lorded over the dugout. In what's a damning indictment of the concept of "team chemistry," the Yankees of the late '70s won a pair of World Series while giving the media a century's worth of drama and controversy. At the center of it all was slugging outfielder Reggie Jackson (the self-proclaimed "straw that stirs the drink") and hothead skipper Billy Martin.
The two combative and domineering personalities clashed from the start, but the situation reached critical mass one afternoon in Boston (during a televised "Game of the Week" at Fenway Park, no less). From Martin's viewpoint, Jackson wasn't hustling in the outfield on the afternoon of June 18, 1977, and Martin let Reggie know by replacing him mid-inning with the slick-fielding (but light-hitting) Paul Blair. He'd just humiliated Jackson in front of a national-television audience and the largest day-game crowd at Fenway in more than 20 years. Predictably, they clashed back in the dugout. Screams were heard, and the lip-reading was anything but challenging. The Yankee bench had to separate the two improbably matched combatants. They didn't come to blows, but millions of people saw them almost come to blows.
Not long before Martin's managerial term with the Yankees ended, he said of Jackson and his boss George Steinbrenner, "One's a born liar, and the other's convicted." Ah, the good ol' days. ...
2. Lou Piniella vs. Rob Dibble
There's chemistry, and then there's a chemistry set. Piniella and Dibble were the latter. "Sweet Lou" was and is pretty tough as a manager (you'd have to be to manage under the aegis of George Steinbrenner and Marge Schott), but Dibble was no wimp himself. In September of 1992, not even two years after Piniella and his team of so-called "Nasty Boys" swept the heavily favored A's in the World Series, things fell apart for Cincy.
When asked why he hadn't used Dibble in a recent critical situation, Piniella responded that Dibble had complained about having a sore shoulder. Dibble, then the Reds' closer, took exception to his manager's rendering of events, and it all culminated in a clubhouse wrestling match between the two alpha males. Unfortunately for all sides, the cameras were there and rolling. Wait five minutes, and you'll probably see the highlights on some channel or other.
1. Latrell Sprewell vs. P.J. Carlesimo
Latrell Sprewell (foreground left) and coach P.J. Carlesimo seen before the choking incident. Sprewell never played another game for the Warriors after choking Carlesimo in 1997. ( / GettyImages)
It's Knight-Reed writ opposite. This time player chokes coach, and the fallout is Chernobyl in scale. During a Golden State Warriors practice in 1997, Sprewell attacked his coach, Carlesimo, choked him and threatened his life before being pried away. What's noteworthy (besides a player choking his coach in the first place) is that after "cooling off" for 20 minutes, Sprewell returned to the court and attempted to resume his assault on Carlesimo.
NBA commish David Stern responded to the eye-blackening incident by suspending Sprewell for a full season. Subsequently, an arbitrator reduced the suspension to 68 games, which still cost Spree more than $6 million in salary. Needless to say, he never again played for the Warriors.
Some time later, Sprewell attempted to explain away his assault to 60 Minutes. "I wasn't choking P.J. that hard," he said. "I mean, he could breathe."