Georgia High School Football Coach Arrested After Allegedly Punching Opposing Player During Game

A Therrell High School football coach was arrested during a Sept. 11 game at Temple High School after police say he joined an on-field altercation and assaulted two Temple players.

WSB-TV identified the coach as Emardre Brown, Therrell's linebackers coach. Atlanta Public Schools described the individual involved as a volunteer, or “lay coach.”

Temple police say the incident began early in the game when a facemask penalty led to a fight between Therrell and Temple players. Players and coaches then came onto the field as the altercation grew.

Police allege Brown shoved one Temple player and punched another through the opening in his helmet. The player who was struck was later taken by his parents to an urgent care facility for evaluation.

Brown was booked into the Carroll County Jail on charges of felony first-degree cruelty to children, battery and simple assault, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. WSB-TV reported that Brown was released Sept. 14 on $2,500 bond. Police said additional charges are possible as the investigation continues.

Police Are Reviewing Video of the Fight

Temple police said investigators are reviewing cellphone and fan-recorded video from the game while gathering additional evidence.

Atlanta Public Schools said Thursday that the volunteer coach involved in the incident is no longer serving as a coach for the district.

“The safety and security of our students, staff, coaches, and school communities will remain our top priority and violence or aggressive behavior of any kind by adults who interact with any students will not be tolerated,” the district said in a statement.

Carroll County Schools said neither Temple High School nor the district is involved in the law enforcement action, but both are cooperating with investigators.

Is This a Symptom of a Larger Problem?

Fights happen at every level of sports.

College football has seen bench-clearing confrontations and students storming fields after emotional wins. Professional athletes occasionally turn disagreements into scrums requiring teammates, coaches and security personnel to separate them.

What makes an incident like the one alleged at Temple different is who is supposed to be doing the separating.

Coaches are the adults in the equation. At the high school level especially, they are entrusted with teenagers and expected to lower the temperature when competition gets heated. Police in this case allege the opposite happened: An adult coach entered an altercation between students and physically engaged opposing players.

The incident raises a larger question about adult behavior around youth and high school sports.

There is evidence that sportsmanship has become a significant concern. In a 2023 National Association of Sports Officials survey of 35,813 officials cited by the National Federation of State High School Associations, 68.81% of respondents said sportsmanship was getting worse. Among officials who worked at the high school level, 69.48% said it was getting worse.

More than half of respondents said they had feared for their safety at some point in their officiating careers because of the behavior of an administrator, coach, player or spectator.

A separate NFHS discussion of the survey noted that approximately 40% of sportsmanship problems were attributed to parents and 25% to coaches.

Those numbers do not prove that physical assaults by adults are increasing, nor do they establish that violence is more common in high school sports than at the college or professional level. But they demonstrate why sportsmanship and adult behavior remain significant concerns for organizations overseeing high school athletics.

The distinction matters. In professional sports, virtually everyone between the lines is an adult. High school sports place adults in positions of authority over teenagers. Coaches aren't simply competitors. They are also supposed to provide the guardrails when emotions start pushing a game somewhere it shouldn't go.

The NFHS has emphasized that responsibility. In discussing the 2023 survey, the organization said coaches “set the stage” for sportsmanship in high school athletics and that their behavior can send a message to players and spectators about what is acceptable.

That is what makes the allegations from the Therrell-Temple game more significant than just another fight on a Friday night.

The adults are supposed to stop those moments from escalating.

On this night, police allege one of them became part of it instead.

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