The mother of an Effingham County High School girls basketball player who has accused her coach of choking her wants that coach fired.

Tami Major, mother of Lady Rebels senior forward Shaniqua Goldwire, said she doesn’t believe coach Nate Hayes should keep his job and shouldn’t be coaching.

“This situation has got me so messed up,” Major said. “He put his hands on my child, and I don’t like that at all. He had abused her verbally and now he has abused her physically.

“I want him fired. I really truly do. He’s got my daughter scared. He doesn’t need to be around any kind of kids.”

Major found out about what happened from another teammate. According to Major, ECHS Principal Yancy Ford said he wanted to speak with her and her daughter. Major said Ford told her that her daughter refused to shake hands with the opposing team following the South Effingham game.

“I said, ‘That’s all you got to say to me, when your coach just choked my daughter?’” Major said.

According to an incident report Major filed last Monday with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, Hayes grabbed Goldwire by the arm, slung her against the wall and then pressed his left arm against her neck. Goldwire said

Hayes told her it was her fault the team lost the game and that she needed to display more class.

Goldwire said she sat down and cried after Hayes let her go and she was “shocked and embarrassed” because her teammates and several South Effingham players saw the incident.

Major said Hayes has been abusive toward her daughter in the past.

“She is scared of Coach Hayes,” Major said. “She loves basketball. She was trying to get a scholarship.”

Major said Hayes would be verbally abusive to Shaniqua in practice.

“She would come home from practice upset,” she said. “He’d always belittle my daughter. I took it to Mr. Ford, and he never did anything about it.”

Goldwire will play as long as Hayes is not coaching, Major said. Goldwire played Friday night but did not start, according to her mother.

Major also said other parents have told her that Hayes was verbally abusive to their children.

She said Hayes has not called to offer an apology.

“He could have at least called and apologized for what he did to my daughter,” Major said. He hasn’t apologized to my daughter or me. He is a coward.”

Ford has referred all questions to Superintendent Randy Shearouse. Shearouse has been conducting an investigation into the incident, which is expected to be finished soon. As of Monday morning, Hayes, who has been at ECHS since 1993, had not returned a call seeking comment.

Even if Hayes offered his remorse, Major said she still wants him fired.

“If that had been my daughter hitting a coach, they would have taken her away in handcuffs and she would have been kicked out of school for the rest of the year,” she said.