Just a few random thoughts:
High school sports are for the kids, not the coaches. The head coach seems to not understand that.
Being from an older generation and playing sports, such as football which usually places a high value on discipline, I can appreciate the value of punishment for infractions of not putting the team goals first. However, the punishment clearly does not fit the infraction. (That's with the assumption an infraction was committed.)
Along with the punishment line of thinking, taking a strict hard line with a senior in his last weeks of his last season serves no purpose other than showing you're petty, self centered and not that bright.
The runner is moving on, looks like he is heading to Butler and will continue to run in college. Best of luck to him. I'm pretty sure he'll be moving on to bigger and better things. Unfortunately, his distance coach will be stuck working alongside the head coach. My condolences to her.
By not winning, the 800 the runner cost his team 7 points. (Because he had teammates who scored.) By scratching him out of the 1600, the coach cost the team 7 points. (Of course, it could be debated if he won the 800, he might not of been able to win the 1600) If 7 points were so important, why did the coach give away 7 points himself.
Scratching the runner in the 1600 punishes the rest of the team, not just the runner. Why would a coach do that?
And as much as I hate to think it, would it have played out different if the races and the sexes of the parties were different. Would the coach acted different if the runner was black, listened to the assistant coach if she was black and/or male?
And lastly, there may be more the the story than what we know and/or assume, and the coach may not be really as bad as I think he is now.