As crazy coaching moments go, Gunnar Prokop tries to give his best Woody Hayes effort and ends up slightly less infamous, but no better than the disgraced THE Ohio State University coach.
When Hayes punched Clemson defender Charlie Bauman in the 1978 Gator Bowl after a game-sealing interception, he put himself on a one-way express train to loserville, being fired the next day never to coach again.
For his part, Prokop, coach of Austrian handball team Hypo Niederoesterreich, one-upped Hayes in that he hip-checked an opposing player in the women’s Champions League game. But he doesn’t rise to the level of incredulity since nobody outside the rabid Austrian women’s handball fan base noticed.
Still, it’s another coach gone after a crazy moment, though Prokop fell on his own sword without being pushed to make amends. Thankfully, he’s already in the city Sigmund Freud made famous for psychoanalysis, so he’ll be able to spend his newly acquired free time figuring out why he just had to hit a girl.
I will go through this with a psychiatrist. … I still can’t understand why I’ve done this.
The match ended in a 27-27 draw. Handball’s European governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against Prokop. A ruling is expected before his team’s match against Krim Ljubljana on Sunday.
We will, of course, be waiting to see justice done here.
