To a growing clamour of critics, Coach Bryan MacKenzie is a crusty, bad-tempered relic from a less tolerant era, banning some poor kid from his baseball team all because the teen’s hair is too long.

MacKenzie sees it differently.

For the 45-year-old Pincher Creek man, this isn’t about hair, long or short.

It’s about rules and respect, and more importantly, teaching young people to respect themselves.

“I have a rule on my baseball team, and I’ve had the same rule for the past six or seven years — I tell the kids, have your hair at respectable length, and look like ball players,” said MacKenzie.

MacKenzie doesn’t have shares in the local barber shop, and the coach of the Pincher Creek Dust Devils isn’t especially humourless — in fact, he laughs about his newfound notoriety, via an online video secretly filmed by the kid’s outraged mom.

“I stick by my words,” he said.

MacKenzie admits that he believes in a time when rules meant something, and kids weren’t all treated as precious individuals with a right to question every order.

“I guess I’m old school, you bet. Why does it matter? Because I’m trying to teach these kids about some character, and some life skills,” said MacKenzie.

“This isn’t about catching a ball — it’s about getting along on a team, and about being respectable young people, and to be able to cope in life, because you’re always going to be dealing with rules and people.”

He says for the past seven seasons, every kid on his team has agreed to a haircut, to show team spirt, and to look sharp on the field.

“Now, most of them just show up with their hair already cut, because they know what to expect, and no one has ever complained,” said MacKenzie.

“It’s my team, and my rule.”

Liam Nazarek wants to be the exception.

The 16-year-old high schooler with a mane of red hair says he’s growing his locks so he can eventually cut it all off and donate the tresses to cancer wigs. The coach claims Nazarek failed to mention that when first told to visit a barber.

The battle of the bouffant is quickly becoming the talk of southern Alberta, after Liam’s mom, Kimberley Jorgenson, recorded the debate between parent and coach, later posting it to social media.

“We have come to a decision Kim, that he is not going to be playing for me unless he cuts his hair,” MacKenzie tells the mom, as the video begins.

When Jorgenson argues, saying hair length is “not part of baseball,” the coach counters, “it’s part of my baseball, and if you want to coach, there’s the team.”

The thing is, Jorgenson does run a team — she’s president of the Dolphins Swim Club — and in her organization, there are no such rules.

“I do accept children no matter what they are — I’ve been running a club for years, and you don’t put demands on you have to have a suit, you have to have a cap,” mom tells the coach.

When the subject of the cancer charity comes up, MacKenzie still won’t budge.

“I’ve said it’s an admirable cause, okay? You could have mentioned that to me last Thursday night, that it was the reason. I’m not going to say that it was going to make any difference, but if that was the reason last night, it should have been then too,” says the coach.

Jorgenson posted the encounter to Facebook, and from there, the video moved with home run speed, leaving outrage in its wake.

“That coach is a disgrace to coaching & sport,” wrote one supporter, in a typical response.

Jorgenson further explained her position, via a Facebook post.

“What that coach did tonight and has been trying to this past week is discrimination,” she wrote.

“This is youth baseball. We should be encouraging kids to participate not turning them away because they of how they look. I am proud of Liam for standing up for what he believes in. He is a great leader and role model.”

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Liam’s take

Liam Nazarek told The Echo his hair, currently 10 inches long, had to be 12 inches in length before he could donate it to an organization who will in turn make wigs for cancer patients.

"I tried tying it back, or even putting it in a braid so it was out of the way, but it never really crossed my mind to actually cut it," he said.

Nazarek has already paid the league and equipment fees to play for the Dust Devils. He plans to still attend practices.

"I’m going to put in the effort and show him I want to play," he said.

Coach MacKenize realizes the Dust Devils are not the New York Yankees, but said kids have to learn to follow the rules sometime . . . why not start in little league?

"That was my argument," said Nazarek. "This is a public league and anyone should be allowed to play regardless of their race or the length of their hair."

Files from Greg Cowan