Charges dropped against coach accused of knocking out opposing player

Nathan Harris is a free man. Whether he should or shouldn't be is still a matter of debate among the many thousands of people who saw the video of him hitting and knocking out an opposing player. Nonetheless, a judge dropped child abuse charges against Harris last week.

The 38-year-old was a coach on a Salt Lake City area youth football team last season. An opposing running back seemed to break away from his defense for an easy touchdown when Harris delivered a blow under the boy's chin as he ran along the sidelines.

The story originally broke last October and it was even featured in our Worst Sportsmanship Moments of 2012 list. In case you missed it, here's the video again (email subscribers click here).



How did Harris escape jail time? Well, his defense argued that the boy he hit didn't suffer injuries as great as originally thought. Attorneys were able to produce video of the kid going back in the same game. I'm not going to use this page to argue evidence. However, those of us involved in sports know that athletes go back into games with concussions all the time.

The pros do it and they have doctors on the sidelines. Kids are lucky if someone remembers to bring the first-aid kit. Whether the boy had a concussion or was able to shake it off doesn't matter. A coach hit a kid in an attempt to stop him from scoring.

While the court has made it's decision, the youth football league in this case has one to make as well. Will it let Harris coach again? This is important because Harris seems eager to return to the sidelines. He told the Deseret News, "If they need me to coach, I'd be happy to coach. I don't think people should shy away from coaching just because of this story."

People should not shy away from coaching. People who hit kids should not only shy away from coaching, they should never be allowed near a field, court, track, mat, rink, ring diamond, pool or gym again.