The incident involves a highly accomplished coach and a highly accomplished player. The coach won a state championship in boys basketball in 1987 and was later voted to the hall of fame for coaches in New York. The player is the all-time leading scorer for the program. Today, Coach Zullo issued this statement (
https://www.timesunion.com/news/arti...g-20236765.php). In an earlier report, "Zullo told NEWS10 ABC that Monroe directed an expletive toward Zullo after he instructed her to shake hands with the opposing team, leading to the incident."
https://www.news10.com/sports/northv...t-with-player/
It's also potentially relevant that Monroe had fouled out just before the closing minutes of the game and it was a hard-fought game to decide the state championship. So, if she had in fact said an expletive to the coach, she may have been upset about having been fouled out.
Anyway, I graduated high school in the 1980s and played high school sports. When I played, you could expect far worse from a coach if you cussed at him, especially if in fact you did it in a context that had to do with showing good sportsmanship or some other high-stakes situation. I'm not saying it's excusable what the coach did, but I am saying I damn sure can understand how a coach from a different era would react in a situation like that.