Dave Zirin: Why Did Steubenville Renew the Football Coach’s Contract?

Dave Zirin: Why Did Steubenville Renew the Football Coach’s Contract?

Dave Zirin: Why Did Steubenville Renew the Football Coach’s Contract?

The high school football coach is on board for two more years—despite the jock-turned-rape culture in his locker room.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Despite sexism in the ranks of the Steubenville, Ohio, football team—and the rape committed by two of its players—the school signed Coach Reno Saccoccia to a new two-year contract. “What we know in terms of what players said about, oh, Coach Sac thinks it’s a big joke…. the fact that he was caught on camera threatening a female reporter,” Nation sports editor Dave Zirin says, “Things like that make you think, this is the person who’s going to mold the minds of young children?” Zirin joins a panel on The Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss the aftermath of Steubenville and the crisis young women face in schools across the country.

James Cersonsky

Read more about how you can support the national “Know Your IX” campaign at StudentNation.

Time is running out to have your gift matched 

In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you. 

So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.

And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States. 

At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society. 

We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.

Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away. 

Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year. 

Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!

Love and Solidarity,

John Nichols 

Executive Editor, The Nation

Ad Policy
x