UNCG Coach Parker in the Penalty Box

Posted on by Andy Durham

UNCG men’s soccer coach Michael Parker to serve one-game suspension Tuesday evening‏

GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNC Greensboro director of athletics Kim Record
announced this afternoon (Tuesday) that men’s soccer coach Michael Parker has been suspended from coaching in tonight’s match at Duke.

Assistant coach Justin Maullin will run the team in Parker’s absence this evening against the Blue Devils. Maullin is in his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Spartans.

Parker will return to his head coaching duties when the team practices on Wednesday. UNCG’s next match after this evening will be Saturday against Gardner-Webb.

Because the suspension involves a personnel matter, no further comment will be made by university officials.

9 thoughts on “UNCG Coach Parker in the Penalty Box”

  2. Thanks Keith, this one always gets me and I got to Mr. Webster’s just in time to make the change while the coast was clear. In Webster’s it was penalty box and that was the listing.

    I keep thinking of penal colony and that make me think of jail, but I guess the penalty box would be like a short stay in a self-imposed jail.

    Again, good job Keith and keep on the fly…..

  3. we all do it and it is good to have other bloggers point out things that don’t look right. It is hard being your own copy editor and also editor and everything else that goes into this . Take care.

  4. Michael Parker was suspended from attending the Duke / UNCG match tonight for an altercation after Saturday night’s game at the G. Michael verbally abused a player of the team kicking him off the team and dismissing from the team one of the assistant coaches, all of this while the home crowd and the visiting team looked on.

  5. Heard the same thing that Steve posted above.

    At UNC-G, the team benches are in a dug-out section underneath the stands. The first row of stands is thus directly over the benches, and fans are but a few feet away from the action, with the coaches often pacing out in front of the benches in clear view of everyone. Great for viewing purposes, but you can also hear far more than you’d like to, especially with young kids around.

    The coach went into a profanity-laced tirade in this same general area after losing to College of Charleston 2-0. He was then questioned by one of his players with a “Really, Coach?” — as in “Grow up, coach!” — and then the player was dismissed from the next day’s training (the coach apparently said, “If you say another word, you are off this team” and then added to it, saying at this point that the player should not come to the next day’s training — the player was an upperclassman who has been a team leader).

    This happened in front of everyone. Apparently at one point — possibly after this verbal exchange with the player — the coach had to be restrained by one of his assistants. Don’t know which assistant it was, but it was also suggested that an assistant had been fired by the coach after the game. Understand that the assistant has been reinstated by the University.

    What has been happening at UNC-G over the last few seasons has led to this. The team has talent, for sure, but probably not at the levels of 2002-2005, and this has led to tension.

  6. There seems to be much stress and tension that has built up with the UNCG men’s soccer program. A short while back they struggled during the season, but closed strong and made a dent in the NCAA playoffs.

    Has the talent level begun to drop off?

    I do beleive when Darren Powell was there as the assistant that he was a force in the recruiting process and now he’s at Elon as the head coach going after the same players.

    Eddie Radwanski seems to have been quietly been able to go about his business with the UNCG women’s team and they have had a real nice run in the SocCon.

    Coach Parker has done the job for many years, is he getting close to the end of his rope?

    There is a new leader in the house now that Nelson Bobb is gone as the AD, and you have to wonder if there might be some new tension building within the system as the new leadership seizes control.

  7. So much for the new AD taking strong action — from another website forum — description of events:

    “Verbal abuse is an understatement. I was at the UNCG soccer game Saturday night and I witnessed event, which appeared to be a coach who completely lost it. This was not what comes to mind when we think of a coach cursing at a player in a talk in the locker room. This was a coach who called a player a f…ing Censored , a cancer to the team yelling numerous times that he was f…ing done, and when another player told him to calm down, as the entire team had their backs turned to him walking off the field to the locker room and to see their family, friends and fans who were waiting all of 10-20 yards away, the coach looked as if he had lost it even more so and ran toward the player yelling f off. This was only until the assistant coach ran up and restrained him pulling Michael Parker away from the players. After this, he ran up to the other assistant coach and told him to get out his resume because he was f…ing fired. This all happened with fans, friends, family, young children, members of the College of Charleston team, and a large number of recruits present. And yes he only received a one game suspension even after he had parents of his players on the side lines in tears because they did not know prior to allowing their sons to come to this school that they would be subjected to this inexcusable behavior. If the players are treated like this in such a public manner then you have to wonder, what it is like behind the scenes on a daily basis? I know for a fact numerous emails have been composed with specific details of the event as well as previous ones, with the outcome of only a one-day suspension. What are the repercussions going to be for this group of players now that the Head coach is returning to practice today, because witnesses complained about the way they were treated? If you ask me a one- game suspension just states that this kind of behavior is acceptable and will continue to happen. That is a great way to lose good recruits and cause great players to transfer, as well as losing major supports of the school and the team.”

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