I am not sure why everyone has their knickers in a twist over JUST THIS incident, unless it is fueled somewhat by sour grapes about Goddard's success.

No where in the forum has the behavior of the BC wrestler vs Omaha Burke come up. It was a smaller weight, don't remember if it was 103 or 112. OMB beat BC and when they were to shake and get the hand raised, off comes BC's head gear and he doesn't stay to shake and makes a half-baked pass by the OMB coach. The OMB coach, and I was within hearing distance, simply told the BC kid he ought to not leave the ring before the appropriate "niceties" take place, I do believe the OMB coach caught the arm of the BC kid, in an effort to slow his exit, but it was in no way threatening or abusive (tho the OMB coach prob outweighed the lil' feller by a 100 lbs, could have been intimidating), but the BC coach and THEN the wrestler's dad! were over in the face of the OMB coach, MATSIDE!. The ref's were otherwise occupied by then in the next match, but it happened right there, matside. The BC coach AND the dad should have made the kid apologize, but instead, jumped to his defense. I haven't read ONE word about that lovely little dust up.

What about the AC kid that got all in Freeman's face after a tough defeat. Word overheard in the stands was the AC coach even warned the Goddard kid to stick to his folks, cuz the AC kid had a nasty temper. To his credit, he did come and apologize later. Good for him and good for the sport!

The 160 weight class had a loser who didn't even show up for the awards after a hotly contested match where he was visibly dissapointed, he's actually missing from the pix, so there is photo proof.

So, if it is a wrestler's misbehavior, it is a coach's responsibility to correct that behavior, hence the word "coach".

HOWEVER, fan behavior is different. A coach has his hands full at a tourney, he may be able to speak to the wrestlers about passing on to certain parents any corrections he thinks need to be made, but, as was the case last weekend, some of the unruliest fans were not parents of a wrestler. They may have been a team's supporter, but not family. They could have been anybody who paid their $5 to get in. If there was drinking, as had been alleged, then there is security for that purpose. If there were obscenities, there is security for that. Wrestling is supposed to be a family friendly sport and no one needs foul mouths or tipsy fans. If is was simply, as had been posted in another thread, disgruntlement at the decibel level of some team's supporters, how on earth do you suppose to regulate that? There were no airhorns, no cowbells, no shakers, simply voices raised in support. And, as the wrestlers will attest, it did spur on some performances.

There was plenty of misbehavior, and I am not excusing any of it, however, I do notice a bias among those commenting on this thread and a few others, that somehow only Goddard was unruly and somehow that it is a coach's fault. Coach Jilka is one of the finest men I know. He works hard to teach these kids about character, because he, like all coaches, knows that there is very little "career" in this sport, so what you take from it after all this work better be something more valuable. He has been a driving force in encouraging gentlemanly behavior in a rough and tumble sport. He is often the one to signal a kid to "calm down, keep it even tempered" when he sees the adrenaline ratcheting up. So, for people to besmirch his good name anywhere in this forum is incorrect.

It does reflect poorly on any school when a supporter misbehaves, and it makes the rest of us wish they would crawl under a rock, but to put that at a coach's feet is more burden than any coach needs.