DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The Columbia High School head basketball coach, who resigned over an incident involving a student, wants his job back.
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Coach Dr. Phillip McCrary is accused of spanking the student, but he said he never hurt the student.
“I love these guys,” a tearful McCrary told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington in an exclusive interview on Monday.
“It’s not right and we need to right the ship,” the former basketball coach at Columbia High School added.
McCrary resigned soon after a video of the incident leaked a few weeks ago.
In the video, filmed during a basketball tournament last November in the Bahamas, McCrary is seen disciplining a student athlete.
McCrary said the boy snuck off the resort property and invited a girl back to his room.
“When I saw the video, I was heartbroken,” a Columbia High School parent told Channel 2 Action News.
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The parent shared the video with Channel 2 Action News and said McCrary spanked the boy on his backside with a shoe several times.
But McCrary disputed that claim and said he was only demonstrating a spanking with no real force.
“As far as putting force behind it, no, it wasn’t force. I went down, I stopped, and we had a conversation about why this is going on,” McCrary explained.
“There was no intention on physically harming the kid, by virtue that he wasn’t using his full bodily strength,” said McCrary’s attorney, James L. Walker Jr.
Basketball player, Chance Reynolds, said he was in the room during the incident.
“He didn’t put any force behind the hits; he was just trying to show him right from wrong,” Reynolds told Washington.
“I think it’s obvious in hindsight, he may have done the demonstration a little differently,” said Walker.
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McCrary said he apologized to the student seen in the video. The student has since transferred schools.
Supporters started a petition to urge the DeKalb County School District to reinstate the legendary coach.
McCrary reapplied for his position.
“I would like to be re-employed with the school district,” McCrary said.
On Monday, Washington contacted the school district about McCrary’s application.
A district spokesperson said they can not speak about personnel matters.
The spokesperson went on to state:
“The DeKalb County School District welcomes all qualified individuals to apply for employment opportunities and become difference makers in the lives of our students.”
McCrary, who has won hundreds of games and whose past players have gone on to Division I schools and the NBA, said he is desperate to get back to coaching.
“I need to get back. That is my ministry,” McCrary said.
McCrary said he is open to speaking with the boy in the video and with his parents to apologize again.
He told Washington that if given the chance, he would do things differently.
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