Thu Feb 9, 2012 2:24 PM

Basketball coach fired for using expletive against player

Keene (N.H.) High basketball coach Bill Johnston was relieved of his duties after using improper language with one of his players.

According to nhsportspage.com, Johnston called a player a "lazy piece of s---." The accusation was made to athletic director Leslie Farmer anonymously and Johnston said he used the statement while joking around.

Farmer told Johnston that since he did not work in the school system, anonymous comments by a parent could lead to a dismissal.

Writes Dave Haley at nhsportspage.com:

"… In his 15 months on the job he started three AAU programs for youths including coaching the boys 10 & under team. He worked with Keene State College head coach Rob Colbert on a 'Guard and wing' camp over the summer, started a big-man camp with his former high school coach (Johnston is a 1988 graduate of Keene High school) and enrolled, drove and put his own money towards expenses to get the Blackbirds into the BST summer league in Nashua (the premiere summer league in the state) and the UNH team weekend. He was then fired immediately for jokingly describing a player with an expletive. 'I would think some sort of warning and/or reprimand may have been in order and I would have been willing and anxious to apologize to the offended player and the entire team. I would much rather have used this situation as a "Life Lesson", then corrected the situation and moved on with the balance of the season,' said Johnston. 'I wasn't given that chance.' "