A coach who was fired inside hours of pulling a participant’s ponytail after a loss in a New York ladies basketball state championship sport issued an apology Sunday, saying his actions had been unacceptable.
Jim Zullo, previously the coach of the ladies crew at Northville Central, was dismissed by the college within the Adirondacks after video footage confirmed him pulling the hair of participant Hailey Monroe moments after their crew misplaced the Class D state ultimate to La Fargeville, 43-37 on Friday evening.
“I deeply remorse my conduct following the loss to La Fargeville Friday evening within the Class D state championship sport,” Zullo said in the statement, which was first obtained by Albany-area television station WNYT. “I need to supply my sincerest apologies to Hailey and her household, our crew, the great people at Northville Central Faculties and our group.
“As a coach, under no circumstance is it acceptable to put my hands on a player, and I am truly sorry. I wish I could have those moments back.”
The incident occurred because the groups had been lining up for the postgame ceremony, which included handshakes between the groups and the presentation of awards following the title sport at Hudson Valley Neighborhood Faculty in Troy.
Zullo, 81, coached at Northville for the previous two seasons and took the crew to the state ultimate in every of these years. He was a extremely profitable boys coach within the state for many years, profitable a state championship with Shenendehowa Excessive in 1987, earlier than starting to educate ladies in Northville in 2023.
He took the Northville job, partially, at his spouse’s urging whereas she was dying of most cancers. His spouse died in the course of the 2023-24 season.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have coached girls basketball at Northville the past two years, especially last season, which was a difficult time for our family,” Zullo mentioned. “I’m tremendous pleased with each one among these younger girls and what they achieved. I do know every of them will go on to do nice issues and I want them nicely.”
The Northville faculty district mentioned Friday evening within the assertion asserting that Zullo would now not be teaching on the faculty that it desires to “assure the public that this matter is being taken extremely seriously, and the District is actively addressing it.”
___
