Cutting someone from the team (firing him or her) is never a good idea when there is a better solution.

If I said SUM IT UP, PAT SUMMITT was the best book on coaching ever written, would people believe me? Probably they would because of the cool capitalization of a book's title learned from Eric Chinski, the editor of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inc. Also, thanks to a course in graduate school, I might know the difference between criticism and review.

I point to the great story of Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt and Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma arriving on the basketball sideline at the same referee at once to complain about lousiness of calls and Geno making the mistake of speaking first with the result that he got the technical foul, two points to Pat, Geno later recalled. When she saw he was the one filing the complaint she just walked away.

I also point to mutual contention by Geno and Pat on the book's page 425 on the value of shaming one individual before the team. The whole book is great but this one section is worth the whole book.

An old saying recounted by Pat Head (Summitt): "You don't cut what you can untie."

Team shaming is something most sport coaches think they should never do.  For it to work correctly, the individual must already know in her or his heart that what is being said is true.