DA: No charges against Holy Family coach

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office will not file criminal charges against suspended Holy Family University basketball coach John O'Connor for an incident in which he roughed up a basketball player.

In a statement released shortly after 11:30 a.m., District Attorney Seth Williams said his office of private criminal complaints reviewed the Jan. 25 incident involving player Matt Kravchuk and determined that "this even does not constitute a prosecutable criminal offense."

The matter came before the city prosecutor's office after Kravchuk filed a private criminal complaint on Feb. 11 alleging that the coach grabbed him and elbowed him in the face, causing a bloody nose and bruised face.

That prosecutor's decision not to adopt the private complaint leaves Kravchuk free to try to pursue his private complaint.

Holy Family officials had no immediate comment on the DA's decision.

The announcement came after the standoff over the knockdown continued on a national stage this morning with O'Connor offering a public apology.

But Kravchuk would not accept it.

They met face to face - with their attorneys - in the studios of ABC's Good Morning America, and O'Connor, at the urging of cohost George Stephanopoulos, looked directly at the student and said: "Matt, this was an accident. I was just trying to make us a better team and make us more competitive. . . . I'm really sorry that it happened. If I could take it back, I would."

"To be honest it's kind of hard to accept your apology," Kravchuk replied. " . . . I can't play for you any more. As your player I'm supposed to respect you, and I can't do that anymore."

O'Connor then explained that he had been proud of Kravchuk's progress as a player. "Matt worked extremely hard. . . . I just feel it's unfortunate that I'll never get the chance to coach him again."

Kravchuk seemed to stand by the criminal complaint he filed with the Philadelphia district attorney's office, explaining that he felt the school was slow to take any disciplinary action.

After the incident, O'Connor apologized in his office to Kravchuk and later apologized to the entire team.

O'Connor denied, however, that he acted out of anger or intent to injure during that early morning practice on Jan. 25.

"I just feel that I was a coach and I was trying to get my team more competitive and in doing so I made a mistake," he told Stephanopoulos.

O'Connor explained he was conducting a "combat rebounding drill" to help the players learn to be tougher. Before the incident, the practice video - a routine taping somehow leaked to Fox29 on Saturday - shows drill Kravchuk and another player repeatedly banging into each other as the coach bounced balls off the rim.

A ball fell between Kravchuk and O'Connor, and the coach moved in, lifting an arm, grabbing the ball, and bumping the player to the ground. To some, the contact looks like an intentional shoving, with the kicking motion seeming to reinforce the appearance of anger.

"I just nudged him with my foot to kind of get him to keep moving in his drill," O'Connor said on GMA.

Kravchuk said previously that he suffered a bloody nose, a hurt wrist and facial cuts during the incident.

The Kravchuk family's attorney, Jack Cohen, has denied any plans to file a civil suit.

On the air, Cohen and O'Connor's attorney, Jack Gallagher squabbled over whether a letter signed by team members showed that all the other players supported the coach.

"It was not the entire team," Cohen said.

Kravchuk said he personally talked with players who can't condone the coach's actions.

Besides, he said of ex-teammates, "it's easier for them to accept the apology. It never happened to them."

O'Connor disputed Kravchuk's impression that his complaint to the athletic director was ignored. She called the coach into her office, O'Conner said, and together they reviewed the tape, discussing what how to better handle that and future coaching sessions.