Seth Vigdor
Last night, we got word of the Neshaminy high school boys’ basketball coach head-butting a referee, and we were one of the first sites to publish the footage locally. The apparent cause of the head-butt was a referee calling an offensive foul on one of Neshaminy’s. Neshaminy head coach, Jerry Devine, wasn’t having any of that and would wind up head-butting one of the referees after the call. We’ve received new footage, courtesy of a Livestream video of the game.
https://youtu.be/z73s0A_0HGY
What’s interesting about this angle is that we can see Devine headbutt the referee, who we’re told didn’t even make the foul call. You can see in the video above that Devine begins yelling at the referee who made the call, then headbutts the other one. And I love the announcer saying, “He didn’t mean to,” as if it was something to sweep under the rug as quickly as possible. Just another crazy day in high school basketball, I guess.
A teacher at Neshaminy High School called into the WIP Morning Show this morning and said that this was a momentary lapse in judgment on Devine’s part, and that his character is nothing like what we see in the video.
According to this report from CBS Philly, Devine has been put on administrative leave from his positions as teacher and coach while the district investigates. He’ll be suspended for at least one game following his ejection due to PIAA rules – that is, if he’s still the coach after this incident. The Middletown Township Police Department is investigating, but charges against Devine have not yet surfaced.
UPDATE: Kevin Cooney provided an update on the Devine situation. He won’t be back at Neshaminy High School as the boys’ basketball coach.
PIAA rules are that if you get ejected from a game, you are suspended for one game, but if you get ejected for striking a ref, player, spectator, you get a minimum 1 year suspension.
see below:
2. A Coach who, immediately prior to, during, or
immediately after a Contest, intentionally strikes, bites, or kicks a contestant, Coach, an official, or any other person
in attendance at the Contest, or who punches a contestant, Coach, an official, or any other person in attendance at
the Contest, shall be disqualified by the Regional Panel or District Committee, within their respective jurisdictions, (or
Board of Directors if the incident occurred at an Inter-District Contest) for a period of not less than one year from the
date of either the incident leading to the suspension or the date of the hearing to consider the matter