A high school football coach in Ohio has resigned after his players repeatedly used the term “Nazi” in play calls against another team Friday night.
According to Cleveland.com, Brooklyn head coach Tim McFarland resigned Monday, effective immediately. Brooklyn, a suburban Cleveland high school, played nearby Beachwood High School, which is located in a community that is an estimated 90% Jewish.
Beachwood Superintendent Robert Hardis said he learned that McFarland’s team had been using the play calls in the first half. McFarland apologized for using the term, and changed the calls in the second half.
Brooklyn schools superintendent Theodore Caleris told Cleveland.com that McFarland’s behavior was “utterly and absolutely wrong.”
“As stated, this hurtful and harmful speech will not be tolerated, in any form, by Brooklyn City Schools leadership,” Caleris said in an email statement. “While to the district’s knowledge the language was not directed to any single individual, the Brooklyn City Schools acknowledges that using such offensive language in the first place was utterly and absolutely wrong.”
Beachwood city officials also called out the terrible incident.
“There is no place for this sort of behavior, and we invite Brooklyn’s city leaders to join us in condemning it,” Mayor Justin Berns said in a joint statement with the city council.
McFarland had been cited for his exemplary behavior and record as coach in the past, earning an honor at the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Clinic earlier this year.
