HS FOOT: Burbank assistant fired after sideline scuffle

Gerry, this sounds like total BS to be honest. Why wasn't the assistant coach who in my opinion appears to have been 'thrown under the bus' contacted for a comment on what happened? Why wasn't the Burbank player who walked off that field with 'only' a black eye contacted for a comment?

"obviously that's inappropriate" Hector Valencia? Just what we need, a hind sight 'woulda coulda shouda' comment. Did you actually see this even go down or are you just spouting that copy & paste crap from some manual of terms?

What it really sounds like, from the very limited information presented in this article, is that a fight broke out and Coach Wall did what he had to do to break it up right away which ended up being pushing the opposing player off of his player. What if that Arcadia player was on top of the Burbank player giving Wall no choice BUT to remove the Arcadia player? We don't know because it doesn't seem that anyone who actually saw the fight or was involved with it was contacted.

In this day and age when dealing with children its like the Salem Witch Trials all over again where all you really need is an accusation and no proof to tie someone to a stake and set them on fire. Was Wall given a chance to explain the situation to the people in charge after everything had calmed down? No of course not becasue by the time that came around he was already terminated.

"He's very passionate about the kids and being a coach" and yet thrown to the curb in what is obviously another spineless attempt to 'save face' to avoid further news story about an investigation into the conduct of a Burbank football coach's conduct on the field. What are they afraid they are going to loose kids? That prospective students will search that article out and say 'Oh no way we aren't going to that school". What if the outcome of the investigation was that Wall acted in a split second to protect one of his players from being seriosuly injured, without causing any harm what-so-ever to the players invovled? We will never know will we? No, its just easier to throw him under the bus and wash their hands of it. Shame on everyone invovled in that.

I have known Coach Wall for 5 years. He has coached my kids in baseball as well as football. I have personally seen his passion and commitment for the game as well as the players.

When I read this article, I noticed that not only was Coach Wall NOT interviewed for this "hit piece", but there was no mention of the fact that the Burbank player was UNDERNEATH the Arcadia player - preventing Coach Wall from removing his player (as the above suggested should have happened).

If my child was punched in the face by another player, I would HOPE and EXPECT any Coach to do exactly what Coach Wall did.

This sounds like a political move on the part of those higher up. And this type of "story-telling" has the potential to ruin lives, careers, reputations as well as team morale.

Seems like the Arcadia player is extremely violent and should be removed from the team permanently, as he is obviously a physical threat to other players.

As a mother of four and Burbank resident for 30+ years, I am very disappointed to see not only Burbank High School football but also Burbank Vikings League not supporting Coach Wall when he did what any other adult would have done in this circumstance.

Im sitting here reading this article and I have to say I am shocked. He was fired for breaking up a fight? and how it looked??... I dont understand.. I am a parent and my son does play football, and if my son was in a altercation like that, I really hope that, a coach would react and remove the child that was beating my son.I mean is he supposed to sit there and think to himself (as the child is getting beat up.). what should I do? he reacted in a manner that was very approperate in my opinion, he didnt BEAT the other football player, he REMOVED the player, and as for that coach saying that he should have removed HIS player, I mean how is that even possible, when the other player from Arcadia was on top of the Burbank player BEATING THE CRAP OUT OF HIM!!!!!! Coach Wall did the right thing,he was saving a child from being seriously injured.The fact that he was fired for this makes me sick. Im scared to know that there are coaches there that would just let a child get beat up, in fear of how it looks... I think Burbank High needs to reconsider this.. if I was coach Wall I would be calling a lawyer!!Kuddos to you coach Wall.. you did the right thing!! Sorry they fired you.. it seems like you are the only one that has any compassion for these children.. How sad to loose a coach like you.

maybe burbank would have been pleased to read "burbank high teenager beaten to death on football feild as coaches sit by and do nothing"

What's sad about this story is that a person's coaching career is being destroyed by hearsay. I don't think that Coach Wall has been given a chance to tell his side of the story. Why wasn't he interviewed for this article? We're only getting one side of the story. Coach Wall is my son's favorite coach and he's terribly dissapointed that he was fired. We have a lost a coach that truly loved the sport as well as the kids. It's a shame!!

Sounds like all of you are arm chair fans and QB's. A bunch of know it alls. If you knew one thing about anything, all coaches take a class from the CIF on how to handle these types of things. Yes, Coach Wall was and did defending one of our players, but he handled it the wrong way. If you were there, all the other coaches handled it the way it was to be handled. They seperated the 2 teams and stopped anything else from happening. How would you feel if it was your son on the top and he did that to your son???? Put the shoe on the other foot, but first remove it from your mouth. I have been a part of BHS for over 30 years and the coaches handled themselves in a professional manner, day in and out. What about the thug from the other team? What about the other coaches wanting to fight the Burbank coaches and kids? Not one of you mention that at all. If you want to talk about something then talk about that.

for you morons accusing the Arcadia Player of being violent you are way off base. Lagace is an outstanding young man who is a leader in the on campus Christian group Fellowship of Christian Athletes. His life goal is serve Jesus Christ and he lives his life by the book. All he was doing was playing football but your player couldn't handle getting blocked by an outstanding D1 athlete. I've seen the game film and it clearly shows your player pulling on Lagace's facemask and refusing to let go when your coach comes out of no where and slams Lagace. He was completely defenseless against your player and coach. Your guy might be a good coach and very passionate about his job but he screwed up big time. He picked on the wrong Arcadia kid to pick on.

he slammed him? nooo he didn..get your eyes checked, and DO NOT BRING GOD INTO THIS!!!

film doesn't lie my friend yes he did!!! FYI I didn't bring God into the equation, he plays a big role in Taylor's life. Get over it, the fact is Burbank players and coach screwed up and need to pay for it. They created this mess not Arcadia. Watch the film then shut up.

footballfan23 - Clearly a family member of the player, I am guessing mother or father. I doubt very much you saw a single second of video. Wouldn't a god fearing Jesus loving Christian leader walk away from a confrontation instead of engaging in it? Yeah, thought so. Leave all that crap out of it and stick to the facts (which are sorely lacking in this entire situation, mostly just hersay BS from people like you).

Michael91505 - sounds like you are the armchair fan here. Since we don't have both sides of the story we really have no idea what training was, or wasn't provided to some of the coaches on this team. Don't tell me you are so naieve as to believe that corners aren't cut in the school system. I will put the shoe on the other foot for you too. From what I have learned the Arcadia player ended up on top of the Burbank player scratching at his face as if it was some sweet 16 birthday party gone bad - if that were my kid acting that way and a coach pushed him off - good job. I don't want to see my kid on the field acting like that and I certainly dont want to see coaches afraid to break it up because it might 'look bad'.

Very well said Michael91505 and Ecroft82.. very well said!!!

I'm definitely not a family member of this young man however, I do know him very well and Yes I did see the film, it clearly shows the Burbank player pulling on Lagace's face mask and pulling him to the ground and not letting go, thus resulting in Lagace on top of him. As for the scratching at the face, Lagace was attempting to get off the kid when the coach came and knocked him over. Taylor fought back any athlete would it's a natural instinct and he knows it was a poor decision.

You people are hilarious if your coach had any guts he'd show you the film which clearly vindicates lagace. I'm sure the reason he hasn't is the fact it shows the Burbank player and coach guilty. I have many friends in Burbank including one of your athletic coaches so I do know the facts.

debating you with people is like trying to catch water with a screen. All I can state is I have seen the film, the facts are there, your assistant coach messed up, your player messed up, Taylor messed up and your head coach could have handled the situation better. You AD Fred Cook did an excellent job and he's a great guy whom I've known for years. You have some outstanding assistant coaches and people need to accept facts and move on..

So your stance has gone from Taylor being a total victim bystander who did nothing and was savagely attacked by a Burbank coach out of the blue, to saying that he messed up and did actually fight. You are also asking people to accept the "facts" which there is only 1 of - some fictitious tape - that a dozen people CLAIM to have seen that CLEARLY shows Coach wall assaulting Taylor (a few even claim he was kicking and punching him). Yet in the same thread another dozen people say they saw the same tape which CLEARLY shows coach Wall NOT assaulting the player at all, merely pushing him away from the Burbank player. Since this 'video' isn't in the public domain referencing it as some end-all-be-all statement of guilt or innocence it stupid, because no one can watch it for themselves and see if the claims are validated or not.

Until this film is made available for people to see, and groups of people stop claiming it shows two opposite events take place, no one in their right mind will take the claim of it vindicating or exonerating anyone seriously. Of course if you look at the other posting of this article on the Pasadena page, I'd say maybe 1 in 20 of those posts is from someone in their right mind. The rest is all 'my opinion = fact' lunatics.

And sorry but clawing someones face doesn't help you stand up. In fact, it would hinder it. So from what was posted in this article and what you have said (claiming to have witnessed this) the Burbank player and the Arcadia player fought and own equal parts of that act. Burbank may have grabbed the face mask first, but you don't know what was said to incite such a reaction - only they do.

If coach Wall was attacking this kid as some claim, how is it the kids father didn't march onto the field and attack coach Wall? If he is this saint of a kid I don't see how his father could have stopped himself. I know I wouldn't. I'd be down on that field and the cops would have to pull me off. But that didn't happen.

As I said in my first post, this whole event is another spineless act of the higher-ups acting with extreme punishment without any investigation into what really happened. As a result, someone who may eventually be proven to have acted in the right, has been tossed to the curb and had their name drug through the mud based on theories and conjecture without an ounce of real, actual, tangible, fact.

I don't see how this is so hard.

Coach and player(s) team up on a member of the other team. It was 100% the wrong decision, and even he knows it. Coaches, teachers, and crossing guards get fired every week for less. The only smarter move would have been to can him quicker. Wall has probably stopped crying by now. Maybe you should too.

Ecroft82, really? The right fatherhood call would be to roll 'em up and throw down, especially with the cops watching? C'mon man. If you're really a father, your kids need you to bring more to the table than that. Hey, I bet you want to fight me too now.

For the record, not an alum of either school or a big fan of either program.

And now, let the macho, lexically overelaborate and grammatically challenged shrieking begin...

@seventh

You immidately lost any credibility in your comment when you decided to elevate what happened from 2 football players fighiting each other being split up by a coach, into a coach and his football player teaming up on an opposing teammate (point out in the article where that stated, oh you can't find it?). Congradulations, you did that in your first sentence. Go back to class little kid and if there is a debate team at your school you might want to join it in order to learn how to carry on a conversation without looking like an un-informed idiot trying to chide someone into a rage of hollow threats. "I bet you want to fight me too now." Get over yourself, no one is impressed. If you aren't a highschooler, then your post is even more sad than at first glance.

And yes. if I saw -as you describe- my son being 'teamed up on' by an opposing player and his coach you are damn right I'd be down there evening the odds. I feel sorry for any kid with a parent who wouldn't. Of course, I bet you are the type of person who would incite someone into hitting you and then cry about it to a lawyer like you are the victim.