Watch: HS Football Coach Snaps, Shoves His Own Player After Victory Ice Bath
Maybe it’s time to retire the “Gatorade bath.”
This phenomenon was popularized in the mid-1980s by the New York Giants’ Jim Burt and Harry Carson, who took to dumping a cooler of Gatorade on coach Bill Parcells after big wins.
It’s been done ever since at all levels of football and even, inexplicably, inside a gym.
Coaches usually shrug it off, even though they are miserable and cold when they have to go shake the opposing coach’s hand.
But one high school coach from Kansas said enough is enough.
After St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park won its first state football title Saturday, the players went to give coach Randy Dreiling the ceremonial Gatorade — or in this case, ice water — bath.
But Dreiling wasn’t having it.
Looks like he overracted pic.twitter.com/hs6F8NW5Fh
— Matt Scott (@KUTheShiver) November 25, 2018
He immediately tore after his players with a few choice words and pushed one of them away.
Dreiling then pointed and appeared to have a stern warning for someone trying to film it on his phone.
To say @STAsaints coach Randy Dreiling isn’t a fan of the ice bath would be putting it mildly. Have shot high school football for 20 years and have never seen anything like this. Saints win their first state title over Wichita Northwest 49-28. #vkscores. @HK_Barber pic.twitter.com/ZduYx0CVgD
— Travis Heying (@travisheying) November 24, 2018
An overreaction? Perhaps. But some also say it’s about time a coach resisted the postgame bath.
“Worst tradition ever..” -every coach when Gatorade is poured on his head
— Ashley Ritchie (@ashleymritchie) February 8, 2016
After the game, Dreiling was asked by a reporter about the ice bath, according to USA Today.
“No, not a fan of the ice bath,” he said. “No, nobody ever gives me ice baths. That was a bad deal.”
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