A legendary Columbia High School basketball coach lost his job after a parent shared video showing him hitting players with his shoe during a team trip.
📱 What’s Happening: DeKalb County Schools fired Dr. Phillip McCrary on Monday after reviewing footage from a November team trip to the Bahamas.
• The video shows McCrary telling a player to lower his pants before hitting him multiple times with a shoe.
• A second player was also struck, according to the parent who shared the footage.
• The player was struck for sneaking a girl into his room, according to the video.
🎯 Between the Lines: The parent who came forward no longer has a child at the school and asked to remain anonymous out of fear.
• Her son witnessed the incident and suffered mental health effects afterward
• She only felt safe speaking up after her child transferred away from Columbia High
🏀 Why It Matters: Parents trust coaches to mentor their children safely. When that trust breaks down, it affects entire school communities and raises questions about supervision during school trips.
🏆 The Big Picture: McCrary built a legendary career at Columbia High, winning hundreds of games and earning the honor of having the school gym named after him.
How to Read and Understand the News
Truth doesn’t bend because we dislike it.
Facts don’t vanish when they make us uncomfortable.
Events happen whether we accept them or not.
Good reporting challenges us. The press isn’t choosing sides — it’s relaying what official, verified sources say. Blaming reporters for bad news is like blaming a thermometer for a fever.
Americans have a history of misunderstanding simple things. In the 1980s, A&W rolled out a 1/3-pound burger to compete with McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It failed because too many people thought 1/3 was smaller than 1/4. If we can botch basic math, we can certainly misread the news.
Before dismissing a story, ask yourself:
- What evidence backs this?
- Am I reacting to facts or feelings?
- What would change my mind?
- Am I just shooting the messenger?
And one more: Am I assuming bias just because I don’t like the story?
Smart news consumers seek truth, not comfort.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
