Profanity-Laced Tirade By Coach Secretly Recorded And Shared; Coach Resigns

Memphis Commercial-Appeal, John Varlas
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/oct/26/former-coach-regrets-tirade/

One day after resigning in the wake of a profanity-filled tirade that was posted on YouTube, former Collierville High football coach Shawn Abel said Tuesday he is hoping to still make a positive impact.

“I am trying to find out what’s going on with my teaching job,” said Abel, who is on paid administrative leave from his position as an Advanced Placement calculus teacher. “I think by shifting gears and going to a strictly teaching position … I can still do some good.”

Abel, who was nearing the end of his second season as Collierville’s head coach, resigned Monday after an audio recording surfaced of him yelling at his team before last Thursday’s game against Wooddale. Dragons athletic director Roy Kirkland said assistant Mike O’Neill would coach the team in Friday’s regular-season finale at home against Ridgeway, which Collierville (4-5) must win if it has any hopes of making the playoffs.

Abel said the decision to resign was his call.

“(Collierville principal) Dr. (Tim) Setterlund did not (ask for my resignation). That was my doing,” he said. “My superiors have been very fair in dealing with everything.”

Abel said he was visiting with Setterlund on a different matter when the news about the audio tape came to light. The audio had been taken down Monday but was back on YouTube on Tuesday.

“My initial thought was, ’I can’t believe the sanctity of the locker room has been violated,’” he said. “But I have to be the grown-up in this situation. I have to be smarter. It was a lapse in judgment and I didn’t use good judgment.”

In a statement released to media outlets Tuesday, Abel said, “My intent in that meeting was to motivate, and my methods were grossly out of line. I offer no excuses for what transpired, only apologies and regret.”

Abel added that he was “humbled and thankful” by the encouragement he had gotten, and he had gotten plenty of that as of Tuesday.

Josh Stovall, who graduated from Collierville in 2009, was a defensive end for the Dragons while Abel was the defensive coordinator.

Now a student at the University of Tennessee, Stovall started a Facebook page supporting Abel, which as of Tuesday night had more than 600 members.

“Coach Abel is a great man,” said Stovall. “You can talk to him inside or outside of football. Whether it’s football or life, he’s the first one to take time out to help.”

Stovall called Abel’s rant “out of character” and focused more of the blame on the player who made the recording.

“The problem is he obviously doesn’t have a passion for the game,” he said. “If you have a passion for the game, you’d know that it wasn’t personal thing.”

Mitch Bledsoe, a 2011 Collierville graduate now playing at Ouachita Baptist in Arkansas, called it a “big loss” for the school and agreed with Stovall that it was an untypical reaction.

“That’s probably the maddest I’ve ever seen him,” he said. “But that’s what football coaches do — they yell. They yell here. There was nothing over the top in my opinion.”

Bledsoe earned all-metro honors as an offensive lineman last year and was headed for Tennessee-Martin before the Skyhawks opted to go in another direction. He said Abel was instrumental in helping him land on his feet.

“He honestly got me to where I am today,” said Bledsoe. “After I lost my scholarship to UT-Martin, my stepdad called coach Abel to see if he could help. Next thing I know, Ouachita was calling me telling me that coach Abel had told them about me. He went over and above to help.”