Why Don’t NFL Coaches Receive Penalties?
In sports, rules don’t just apply to players that are carrying out the game, but also any other person involved in the team’s play and success, like coaches. In most sports, whenever coaches are acting out or behaving in a disrespectful manner, they are usually penalized in some form, just like it would happen to a player. However, it’s not the same in the NFL. Why don’t NFL coaches receive penalties?
One such example of a feisty and hot-headed coach is current Michigan and former San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh. Back when he was in the NFL, the coach was the poster child of tempered, misbehaving coaches who always found fault with referees. Other coaches’ professional conduct isn’t the best either.
Bruce Arians 😅😂@Buccaneers #Buccaneers
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Despite all that, NFL coaches don’t really get penalized. Managers and coaches in other top American sports leagues, like the MLB and the NBA, are commonly disciplined for disrespectful behavior toward game officials. Baseball managers are routinely ejected, and basketball coaches are called for technical fouls before ultimately being ejected as well. However, while other sports leagues may receive upwards of 100 ejections in a season (partially due to the greater number of games), the NFL has yet to see a coach ejection. In fact, it was only made possible starting from 2017.
While the intensity level of professional football might dictate animated levels of communication toward players, staff and referees, it most certainly shouldn’t translate to the unprofessional abuse many NFL referees appear to absorb on a fairly regular basis. Accountability for a person’s actions and conduct shouldn’t be required for only those representatives of the NFL that assume the field. Nor should it be applicable to coaches in some sports leagues and not others. Intensity and positive energy are one thing—disrespectful and abusive behavior are quite another.
The NFL is now enforcing a new type of face mask penalty: Three coaches were each fined $100,000, with an additional $250,000 to be paid by their respective teams, for not wearing masks on the sidelines. https://t.co/dL4qHEqtAG pic.twitter.com/UgZjCLSFHp
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 22, 2020
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