Coach: 'Two-a-days' needed despite deaths

ATLANTA, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Twice-daily football practices, which have come under scrutiny as high school players have died of heatstroke, are necessary to win, one football coach says.

Bill Curry, who played football for 20 years and is now Georgia State University's first football head coach, says he endured "two-a-days" while playing for the Green Bay Packers under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, and that the practices are needed to whip players into competitive form, CNN reported Saturday.

"We wore pads for both practices," Curry told the U.S. broadcaster. "It was 100 degrees and no one died. We won virtually every game. The smartest coaches are the ones who knew how to push, but also knew when to back off. That's the difference."

Curry's comments come as a Kentucky judge ruled this week that a former Louisville high school football coach must stand trial on charges of wanton endangerment and reckless homicide in the death of a 15-year-old player who collapsed during practice and died last year.

Four U.S. high school football players died of heatstroke last year, the Annual Survey of Football Injury Research report indicates, CNN said.