Seeing red, and yellow

Notre Dame's Brad Wittenborn and Central's Tom Doyle would likely be two of the last soccer coaches to be accused of having undisciplined or dirty teams.

Yet due to a new rule instituted this season by the Missouri High School State Activities Association, both coaches have had to sit out varsity games due to their team's conduct. The rule states a coach has to sit out a game once his team gets its 10th yellow card, and every five yellow cards after the 10th.

Wittenborn, who has never been ejected from a game as a coach in a long career which includes state titles in basketball and soccer, has already had to sit out two Notre Dame games this season.

"I think it shows no confidence in the coaches," Wittenborn said. "I think the rule is insulting to coaches. It says, 'if we (MSHSAA) don't change things, you won't get your kids to do the right thing.'"

The rule was instituted to try and curb a disturbing trend around the state. Last year alone there were 192 ejections in varsity boys soccer matches. The number of ejections for soccer exceeded the number of ejections for boys basketball and football combined, while the number of boys soccer programs (200) in the state is far less than either of the two other sports.

"The number of ejections in soccer was probably the biggest concern which prompted a change," MSHSAA communications director Rick Kindhart said.

The Soccer Advisory Committee --a committee of eight coaches from across the state, which includes Wittenborn -- met over the summer to try to find ways to put an emphasis back on sportsmanship. Suspending coaches was a way to make more than just the players accountable.

George Blase, a MSHSAA assistant executive director who oversees soccer, said it is too early to tell if the rule has been affective or will be in place for next season, but the issue of sportsmanship had to be addressed.

"Something needed to be done and this was the first stab at it," he said.

For a coach like Wittenborn, who preaches good sportsmanship and backs it up by disciplining his players, the rule seems unnecessary.

"I'm an ally of the referee," Wittenborn said. "If I see a player doing something they shouldn't be doing, I correct them."

A concern raised about the rule by area coaches concerns the nature of a yellow card. In sports like basketball and football, fouls and penalties are issued commonly, with technical fouls and ejections a rarity. In soccer, a yellow card can be typically issued for violations similar to a foul in basketball or a penalty in football, and two yellow cards equals a red card, or ejection.

Wittenborn said the new rule does not take the nature of a yellow card into account.

"My point is, if you go to a basketball game and a kid commits a hard foul, it's a foul. If you go to a soccer game, you commit a hard foul, it's a yellow card," he said.

With the district playoffs starting next week, area coaches can rest easy knowing their card counts will roll back to zero. But a clean slate probably won't end the debate over the new rule's merit.

"I hope they do away with it, but it's not our call," Central coach Doyle said.