Thursday, April 14, 2011

GHS track coach wrecks van, charged with DUI on field trip

10 comments:

Oh..... said...

.....wow

Marty said...

Hopefully, other schools can learn from the multiple mistakes made in this situation - they're incredibly lucky the kids weren't injured or killed. One issue not even mentioned in the article is how he was able to rent the van in the first place. Every rental company I know of prohibits renting a van to transport students to an event, so he must have lied about that. Not only that, how did he rent the van without a valid license?

Memo to school administrators: if you have a job opening for a coach and a resume for an "A. Harrison" shows up in your inbox, you might want to "misplace" it....

Anonymous said...

"Every rental company I know of prohibits renting a van to transport students to an event, so he must have lied about that. Not only that, how did he rent the van without a valid license?"

From a previous article, it stated that the athletic director rented the van. Many schools have agreements with certain rental companies that allow them to transport students (this usually entails the school assuming all liability). That said, if he was to be a driver of the vehicle (note that there was another assistant coach on the trip who may have been the designated driver), both the school and the rental company should have checked for a valid license.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the athletic director did a good job looking the other way just so he can get his Olympian as a coach.

Anonymous said...

Things like this and the tragedy at Mammoth last summer are why I don't like my kid going in the 'team van'. Although there are plenty of bus accidents out there, at least they require a commercial license to operate, and there is (at least the illusion of) some drug testing. Most coaches I've met do not have commercial licenses, nor do they have hundreds or thousands of hours in the vehicle type. Most large passenger vans are big, unwieldy boxes at best, and to someone who logs most of their windshield time in a Camry, uncontrollable in a collision-avoidance maneuver.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the AD is going to be in a little hot water himself. It's interesting how I have to provide a driver's license, proof of insurance, and agree to a background check to drive on a school field trip, but none of this was apparently on the school's checklist for vetting this new coach... Sure, you don't need a driver's license to coach well, but his license was suspended for SOMETHING...

Harrisons are losers said...

Olympic Athlete = Good Coach?

Harrisons were always losers (see positive drug tests). Bad kids at North Salinas. Not smart enough to compete D1 even at sub-45 quarter speed. HOODLUMS with speed!

This is the crap that makes it hard for coaches that care to take their athletes to real races.

Hire people who actually care rather than people who have a supposed "resume". Just because you were fast doesn't make you a good person - it just gives dumb AD's a reason to hire you without checking the kind of person you really are. Lucky Harrison didn't get a chance to be alone with the girls team!!!

Anonymous said...

More accidents occur every year with students driving themselves to practice / trails than in a team van. Unfortunately things like this happen, and it if fortunate no students were in the van.

Anonymous said...

^ That's only because for every team van driving there are more students driving individually. For instance, 25 person team, team van takes 8, let's say 4 students have licenses, so the remaining 17 get into these student's cars. 4 students driving and 1 team van.

Anonymous said...

You don't make any sense.

Student drivers are more likely to do something stupid and are more likely to have an accident. That is why it is more dangerous.

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