Former college American football coach denies ordering flagrant foul

He said she said. I tend to believe the player because the old fart has a lot more to lose

To at least, the kid himself is a hell of a lot more believable than either of these coaches, and they only had a press conference BECAUSE the player who caused all this decided to get out in front and tell his story first and put it in the open.

These coaches are the problem, there was even video shot of the coach talking to the player before the incident and then giving him a congratulatory slap on the helmet after the play as well. (On the news last night at 9PM NHK)

Yeah, the coach seems to have been in on it.

Of course this was dictated by the coach and is a reflection of the win at all costs approach that leads to player assault. The coach made it clear that unless Miyagawa hurt the quarterback he would not play in the next game. There is no uncertainty there.

Nihon University should be banned from football for five years. The school needs to send a message to its staff and to Japan as a whole for that matter.

I saw the clip of the hit and It is clear to me it looks intentional. When I was playing in high school and Pop Warner the coaches always told us to "get after it", "crush the guy in front of you", "don't let him beat you", and always with the treat of losing playing time. I, we (the players) never took it as intentionally going and hurting a player on the other team.

This is going to be another watershed moment for the nation and culture. The difference between the interview with the student who was obviously speaking the heartfelt truth, and the cover your own base at all cost gibberish and awkward backtracking that came out of the coaching staff was so stark that it has ignited a whole nation to talk about what true leadership is. Do those in power truly have their underlings best interest at heart? How does the nation overcome these toxic abuses of power by weak minded people who are supposed to be leaders? What would a hierarchy of competence look like?

Its all out there on show and the instant firestorm reaction from twitter and social media showed how much of a nerve this has really hit. A horrible situation to deal with for the young lads in the team , but these sort of happenings are a chance for the whole nation to do some soul searching and ask themselves what sort of country they want to become. In that sense its a real chance. That's of course if those in positions of power choose to hear the music of course. A big IF.

I saw the clip of the hit and It is clear to me it looks intentional.

Nobody is questioning this... The question is whether the coach gave instructions to injure the player. And some evidence seems to be pointing in that direction. Either way, the attitude of the coaches and the Nihon University spokesman have pretty much made up the minds of almost everyone in Japan, including the injured player's father.

"I never instructed him that the purpose was to injure someone."

 the player would receive playing time if he "crushed" the quarterback.

The coach is to blame, pure and simple, regardless of the so-called "miscommunication." Crushing a quarterback is basically saying take him out of the game by hurting him. The instruction was more than the typical instruction on a play. For example, it would have been understood that the player should tackle the quarterback, and it should have been known he should do so fairly within the rules.

Sportsmanship is a key first lesson that should have been taught to kids who are playing a physically aggressive game. In the U.S., we are taught sportsmanship as kids, don't mock the losing team, don't try to hurt someone, shake hands after the game, etc. Obviously, the coach failed to teach sportsmanship.

Still, this is all overblown. The player should have been suspended for a couple of games, and the coaching team should have been fired by the school.

In every day Japanese communication unfortunately there's alot of vagueness, inferring and implicit messages which can cause miscommunication. I'm on the players side though. These old croonies can be ruthless with lying. Just look at the finance ministry!

In the US, the sidelines would have cleared and the offending player would have got a rightly deserved beating. I can't believe the QB's team mates did nothing.

The discussion is another Abe Moritomo Kakegakuen type but whether or not there is instruction from above does not absolve the bureaucrats or the player of the crime. In the end the player lacked judgement and any “he told me to do it” would be a weak defense in any court.

Punishmemt starts with the player.

Quesrcetom* Come on man, you are expecting a young man to think for himself and go against orders even though he has been raised to NOT do exactly that? Bit of a stretch. He would have been the exception rather than the norm if he had. Blame those pulling the strings, then judge accordingly.

I don't have a problem with a coach telling players to "rough them up a bit" or whatever, it's going to be common in a lot of sports, but watching a player take it to that blatant extreme and then seemingly congratulate him is incriminating. The whole thing was either planned, or might as well have been given it was so well received by the offending coaches. They were clearly happy with what happened.

As the other posters rightly indicate, we are once again in the realm of "sontaku", the ability of superiors to give illegal orders in an indirect yet clearly understood manner and then squirm out of responsibility when called up on what people under their command have done on those orders. For that reason, I hope the story continues to run and that people do make the connection. This is a systematic problem.

Cracaphat@ The hard fall that awaits those that try to deceive others and even worse themselves.

Collateral damage.

The switchboard at the Japan Rugby Football Association has been jammed with complaints by indignant and furious people, who seemingly cannot tell them apart from the Japan American Football Association, apparently!

In Japanese, but you get the drift... https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180524-00000024-nkgendai-spo