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High school teacher fired for yanking girl’s ponytail speaks out for first time: ‘I want to…’
Jim Zullo, former Northville High School basketball coach, was fired after he was caught on camera pulling a player’s ponytail after a championship loss.
Basketball coach Jim Zullo, who was fired after a viral video showed him pulling the ponytail of one of his players, has shared a statement for the first time since the incident. In an apology statement, he claimed that he regretted losing his cool after the team’s championship loss.
What did the viral video show?
The video captured an incident after Zullo’s team lost a match at Hudson Valley Community College match. According to WNYT, the upset girls, who had lost the championship for a second straight year, were watching their opponents celebrate when Zullo yanked Hailey Monroe’s ponytail.
Instantly, another student stepped in as Zullo verbally confronted Monroe. The other student, Ahmya Tompkins, is identified as the teacher’s niece, reported the outlet.
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After the video of his behaviour went viral, the coach issued an apology via WNYT. He said he “deeply regrets his behaviour" and apologised to the student and her family. He further said he was proud of his players.
Read the full statement here:
“I deeply regret my behavior following the loss to La Fargeville Friday night in the Class D state championship game. I want to offer my sincerest apologies to Hailey and her family, our team, the good folks at Northville Central Schools and our community. 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. 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. I am super proud of every one of these young women and what they accomplished. I know each of them will go on to do great things and I wish them well.”
School issues statement:
Following the outage after the viral video, the Northville Central School District released a statement titled “A Letter to Our Athletes, Families, and Community.”
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“The Northville Central School District is aware of, and deeply disturbed by, the conduct of the Coach of the Girls’ Varsity basketball team during the Class D New York State championship game. We hold our coaches to the highest standards of professionalism, sportsmanship, and respect for our student-athletes, and this behavior is completely unacceptable,” the school said.
“The District is committed to ensuring that this type of behavior has no place within our programs, and we will continue to uphold the values of respect and integrity that our athletes, families and community expect and deserve. This individual will no longer be coaching for the Northville Central School District,” it continued.
“We assure the public that this matter is being taken extremely seriously, and the District is actively addressing it. The District will be following up with the affected players and their families to provide support and outline the actions we are taking in response to this incident,” the school added.
