OLIVER, Pa. (KDKA) — A Fayette County Little League coach fighting with an opposing team’s dad was caught on camera as he shouted profanities and threw equipment.
One mom said she feels this man should never be allowed to coach kids again.
“My son had tears in his eyes and he was scared. And that lit a fire inside of me.”
It happened at Eberly Park Wednesday night during a Little League game with 8- and 9-year-olds. The game between the gray and green teams at Eberly Field was nearing the end when mom Kaitlyn Craft says chaos erupted.
Craft says the coach from the gray team, Jason Nichols, was upset with a call the umpire made and started screaming profanities at him. A dad from the opposing team went onto the field to try and calm Nichols down, and that’s when Craft says he lost it.
“He started like literally screaming the f-word, (expletive), just acting completely irate, like, he snapped,” Craft said.
At one point during Nichols’ tirade, Craft says Nichols is even seen throwing a bat toward his own players. Fearing for the kids’ safety, they were rushed off the field and into the dugouts.
Craft says this isn’t the first time Nichols, who happens to be the husband of the league’s president, has “lost it” during a game either, but adds this time it escalated to an unsafe level.
When Craft saw tears in her son’s eyes, she says she knew his violent behavior had to be stopped.
“That type of behavior should not be accepted, no matter what age, and these are 8- and 9-year-olds. They’re kids. They’re kids,” she said.
“All the kids deserve a safe place to play and a mentor that they can look up to and that they can feel safe and not intimidated by. Sports don’t need to be like that,” she added.
Craft decided to post her videos to social media in the hopes they would grab the right person’s attention and something would be done.
Within an hour, the RW Clark Youth Baseball and Softball League responded to the incident, stating Nichols is banned for life from Eberly Field and that “there is absolutely no excuse for what occurred and the children should not have witnessed any of this.”
“The fact that they did handle things so quickly, that says a lot to me. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who you are or who you know, wrong is wrong,” Craft said.
KDKA-TV talked to the North Union Township solicitor Thursday afternoon who says he will be sending Nichols a letter alerting him of his eviction as a coach and a parent. If he violates that, the solicitor says he can be criminally charged.
