Youth basketball coach fired after grabbing referee’s neck during game

A youth basketball coach overseeing a team full of kids 10 and under was fired over the weekend after he grabbed a referee’s neck during a game.

Youth basketball coach fired after grabbing referee’s neck during game

The wild scene broke out Saturday at the Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, Calif. when the coach of the Cavs Youth Basketball 10U team appeared to criticize a referee after a controversial call.

Cavs org. founder Darryl Mcdonald tells TMZ Sports that his coach received two technical fouls … and then a verbal altercation ensued.

McDonald, who was not on the scene at the time of the incident but says he initiated a thorough investigation into everything, tells us after a back-and-forth between the coach and the refs … his coach put his hands around the ref’s neck. .

Video of the scene shows the man was locked on the referee for several seconds … before another referee entered and appeared to hit the coach to get him to let go.

McDonald says the fight broke up moments later.

McDonald tells us he immediately suspended the head coach, and after an investigation into the incident, finally fired him on Sunday.

“It was unfortunate,” McDonald said. “Our program has been around for over 30 years and before it went viral, the coach was no longer part of our program. It’s completely unacceptable to behave that way in front of our youth. There is no excuse, I don’t care what anyone tells you. You have to find a better way to handle that particular situation.”

McDonald says it doesn’t appear that anyone was seriously injured in the incident. He did not know if criminal charges were being pursued.