High school coach taking heat for planning to knock rival quarterback out of game

NORMAN, Okla. — For Friday’s upcoming rivalry game with Southmoore, Moore Lions head coach Paul Hix’s strategy is simple. And, some say, dangerous. 

“We’re going to come after him, and we may have to knock him out of the game to beat them. If he plays four quarters, we may not be able to hang with them,” Hix told the Norman Transcript. “We’re going to try to get after him and be rough with him and see if we can’t frustrate him and rattle him a little bit.

“We’re not looking to just try to bring him to the ground. We’re looking to hit him and rattle him and that will be the emphasis for us, especially early.”

Ten years ago, maybe no one would have noticed. But in a month that has seen the release of a trailer for a movie about brain damage suffered by NFL players, and that’s been dominated by headlines detailing wanton acts of on-the-field violence — some of it coach-ordered — during high school football games, Hix’s comments are raising eyebrows and drawing criticism. 

The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association contacted Moore High School on Wednesday about Hix’s comments and OSSAA Media Relations Director Van Shea Iven said the school is handling the situation internally.

Brian Fitzgerald, athletic director for Moore Public Schools, wouldn’t make a comment on any possible repercussions from the incident, but did confirm the school district is looking into the matter.

“The district does not condone it,” Fitzgerald said. “Safety is our number one (priority) with our students, not just in the school buildings but on the athletic field.”

Southmoore coach Jeremy Stark pointed out coaches have to be careful, not only with what they say to the media, but also what they say to their own teams. He feels Hix’s comments are not a road coaches should be going down. 

“I don’t mind the part about getting after him, trying to put pressure on him and hitting him, trying to rattle him,” Stark said. “But talking about trying to take a guy out and how to get him out of the game, I don’t think that’s very sportsmanlike.”

Stark said he knows Hix personally and knows he can get be passionate about coaching, but when asked whether deliberately trying to bench an opposing team’s quarterback with bodily harm belongs in the high school game, he didn’t mince words.

“No it doesn’t,” Stark said. “Obviously you want to get after the quarterback, you want to put some licks on him, but you don’t ever want to intentionally hurt anybody.”

Hix rephrased his thoughts Tuesday, emphasizing he didn’t intend to be malicious in the comments, but still believes if Thompson plays the entire game, Moore will struggle.

“If we don’t pressure Casey Thompson and tackle him, and force him into making errors or find some way to knock him out of the game, whether because he’s playing poorly or whether we’ve managed to get enough shots on him, I don’t know if we can win,” Hix said. “He’s an exceptional player. I don’t mean any malice by it, that’s what I meant.”

Thompson understands defenses will aim to get pressure on him to try to force some miscues. He’s not worried about a defense trying to “knock him out of the game” because he’s learned how to minimize the chances of injury.

“I’m trying to play smarter this year than I did last year,” Thompson said. “Go to the ground and get out of bounds when I can.”

The Norman Transcript provided details for this story.