One coach’s hotheaded actions have given him a lifelong consequence, and rallied the country in support of a member of his former team.

On Friday, March 21, Jim Zullo, 81, the head basketball coach of Northville High School in Northville, New York, was seen on video yanking the hair of one of his players, Hailey Monroe.

The video, posted to Instagram Reels and TikTok, has been viewed more than four million times.

During the game, Northville was losing in the championship when Hailey is having a conversation with the coach. He begins to walk away, and then turns around and pulls Monroe’s hair.

Shortly after, her teammate, number 24 Ahmya Tompkins, steps in to help support Hailey. She then begins to argue with the coach to defend her teammate. Even after grabbing the hair, the coach even yells at #24 and sticks a finger in her face in anger.

Jayme Cerasuolo, a junior, watched the video on Instagram Reels and thought the action of pulling the girl’s hair was not right.

“No coach should be treating a player like that no matter what age or gender they are,” Jayme said.

Coach Zullo spoke out following the incident.

“I deeply regret my behavior following the loss to La Fargeville Friday night in the Class D state championship game. I want to offer my sincerest apologies to Hailey and her family, our team, the good folks at Northville Central Schools and our community.”

“As a coach, under no circumstance is it acceptable to put my hands on a player, and I am truly sorry. I wish I could have those moments back,” Zullo added.

Zullo has been fired by the Northville Central School District, according to Albany, N.Y.’s News 10, and also charged with second-degree harassment.

A posting on the Northville Central School District’s website on March 23 formally addresses the issue.

“The Northville Central School District is aware of, and deeply disturbed by, the conduct of the Coach of the Girls’ Varsity basketball team during the Class D New York State championship game. We hold our coaches to the highest standards of professionalism, sportsmanship, and respect for our student-athletes, and this behavior is completely unacceptable.

The District is committed to ensuring that this type of behavior has no place within our programs, and we will continue to uphold the values of respect and integrity that our athletes, families and community expect and deserve. This individual will no longer be coaching for the Northville Central School District.

We assure the public that this matter is being taken extremely seriously, and the District is actively addressing it. The District will be following up with the affected players and their families to provide support and outline the actions we are taking in response to this incident.”

Dean Ruksnaitis, who recently watched the video, said that he liked how Monroe’s teammate stood up for her.

“I think that the teammate who stood up for Monroe shows a connection between the two because I know if a player or coach hit one of my teammates, I would say something about it,” Dean said.