The coach caught on camera reportedly attacking a student is speaking out.
Coach John O’Connor allegedly approached sophomore Matt Kravchuk, hit him in the face, and kicked him while he was on the ground. O’Connor was suspended by Holy Family University pending an investigation into the incident.
Kravchuk allegedy reported the attack to the university that same day—Jan. 25—but filed a complaint with police Feb. 11 after he didn’t receive the expected reaction from Holy Family University, according to the Daily News.
Wednesday, O’Connor spoke to radio host Michael Smerconish on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT in the presence of O’Connor’s lawyer, John J. Gallagher.
O'Connor told the host, "I said to my team, ‘Was I wrong? And did I make a mistake? No question about it’.”
The coach said that the recording was “his tape”—recorded by his manager—and that he didn’t delete it because that would be like admitting he “did something wrong.”
He admitted, “Did I push the line a little bit? No question. And that’s what we talked about as a team.”
O’Connor is amazed at how his 25-year reputation “vanished up in smoke in 30 seconds.”
Gallagher imagined that if O’Connor did that during a game, he would have received a technical foul.
“Would he be thrown out of the game? Perhaps. Maybe. I don’t think so. But he could have been thrown out of the game. Executed the way he has been? I don’t think so.”
