MSD basketball coach pushes player
We were informed from a concerned person that the head coach of Maryland School for the Deaf’s boys basketball team, James DeStefano, was seen on a video pushing one of his players during a game on Friday night against Shalom Christian Academy.
The game was live-streamed on Shalom’s YouTube account and you can see the push at the 2:31 minute mark during the first period. Here is the clip.
[Video clip of MSD head coach pushing a player in the back on a sideline. The video is played back two more times and in slow motion]
Video description: Coach DeStefano was trying to get the player sitting on the bench to enter the game as a substitute. The player was trying to remove his warm-up outer shirt when DeStefano pushed his back, apparently hurrying him up. The player stumbled a couple of steps but was able to get on the court and play.]
That’s the push. Again, this was in the first period. The rest of the game went on as normal with MSD losing 42-59.
I reached out to MSD and DeStefano about the video. The Athletic Director Andy Bonheyo responded that MSD is “presently investigating this matter” and couldn’t provide any further comment due to it being an “personnel issue.”
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I reached out to a basketball coach who works for another program about the video. The coach said DeStefano definitely should not have done that because times have changed on what is appropriate and acceptable.
DeStefano is a veteran basketball head coach who used to coach the Gallaudet men’s basketball and the U.S. Deaflympics men’s basketball teams.
About two years ago, a MSSD wrestling coach was terminated after he was seen on a video pushing a player who refused to shake hands with the opposing team’s head coach.
https://youtu.be/gR1gIyVwjPk
https://www.gallaudetathletics.com/hof/bios/destefano_james?view=bio
https://www.facebook.com/247882748746966/videos/223875548564724
https://www.msdathletics.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=974639&type=d&pREC_ID=1294476