MovieChat Forums > For My Daughter's Honor (1996) Discussion > he's supposed to be in love with her? **...

he's supposed to be in love with her? **SPOILERS**


I think it's kind of weird how he ends up supposedly "loving" Amy to the point that he becomes careless in getting caught. I think it would have made more sense for him to just move on to some other girl and that Amy's coming forward could actually be seen as more significant (meaning preventing him from preying on another girl as he had done before Amy.) It's kind of icky that they made Coach Nash into this lovesick moron toward the end. On top of that, he only gets 5 months in prison and not showing any remorse for his crime because he feels justified by his "love" for Amy. This guy never suffered the way Amy did... I felt so bad for her.

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Yeah, I found it weird that Coach Nash would be so lovelorn for Amy. All the rumors surrounding him seem to indicate that he's not one to stick with the same girl for long. I guess it's for the audience's interpretation as to whether he really was in love with Amy as he had professed. At the beginning of the relationship when he says things like, "I want to be with you forever," or "I've never done this anyone else before" you figure that it's just part of his seducing her and that he doesn't really mean it. However, when he keeps pursuing Amy even after the town puts their relationship under such scrutiny (with Coach Nash continually saying "I don't care" and "so what?") and after Amy tries to end it, it seems that he really does want to be with her and that he believes he "loves" her. I don't condone an older man seducing a young girl as depicted in the movie, but I think Coach Nash was deluded enough to think he could have an actual relationship with her. Because Gary Cole is sooo hot in this movie, I guess that's why I don't mind watching it...which is terrible of me, I know. But you're right, Amy had it pretty rough in this movie, and it's too bad she couldn't stand up for herself when he seduced her.

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The guy was a sexual predator. Most such people are not in love with their victims but want to control them and have them in their power. The coach "groomed" Amy for quite some time, sending her cards, notes, telling her she was pretty and sexy. Typical predator behavior.

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Perfect comment, taylorje.

Also, he very well could have thought he "loved" the girl. Loved, owned, controlled, created - all synonomous with this creepy type of guy.

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Exactly! He just wanted to control her and have her to himself. Now i see people on this board saying that Amy should have stuck up for herself and fought back when he was seducing her...my question is, Have u ever been in that situation before? I have, and believe me, it's a hell of alot EASIER SAID than DONE! She was afraid of him. Especially when he takes her away from the festival and out in the woods, what could she have done? Sure, she could have ran, then he would only catch her-then hurt and rape her anyway. He was a master manipulater, that's for sure. And it sure didn't help when people stood around and watched and the school failed to help until they were backed against the wall. They should have protected her, not that creep!
"I believe that which does not kill you simply makes you...stranger."

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He didn't love her, he was manipulating her into loving him.

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Trust me, I'm a doctor.

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I think it started off like his other seductions of young girls did, but he became obsessed with Amy, and he may have even thought that he loved her. But, if Nash really loved her, he would have maintained his distance, and did what was best for her rather than pursuing her. He didn't care at all the position that he put Amy in, taking her virginity and preying on her, and how it caused fractures in her relationship with her parents, or how people in the community treated her because of what he did. What makes it even creepier is that he had children his own, and a daughter the same age as Amy. Somehow I don't think he would have appreciated it if someone seduced and took advantage of his daughter. Not to mention his jealousy over Amy's interest in boys her own age. It seems like he pretty much ignored his wife (why she stood by him, I don't know). His suicide threat I think was a combination of desperation on his part and manipulation to keep her by him. And he had no remorse for what he did - his attempt to get a note passed to Amy via prison proved that.

What about Amy's so-called "friends"? They acted as if they were concerned about her and were upset that she didn't trust them to talk to them about what was going on with Coach Nash and then they turned on her at the end after she came forward. I hated the way that Amy was treated, and the fact that the principal was willing to look the other way for so long because of Nash's position as the school's football coach. Nash as the adult, was the one who committed the crime yet he never got the animosity that Amy, who was the victim, did. It's ironic that it was his obsession that lead to his arrest, because he just couldn't let it go.

Having said that, this is a pretty decent Lifetime TV flick and Gary Cole is a fantastic actor.

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Actually, this is based on a true story that was featured in an article written by Skip Hollandsworth. The movie stayed true to the article based on Brooke Graham, the real Amy, and her freshman biology teacher Coach Jesse Lynn Stroud. Coach Stroud did pursue Amy during her freshman year, and did try to keep Amy during her sophmore year. In fact, the day Amy and her lawyers reported the relationship to the school system, another girl had come forward saying Coach Stroud had made advances on her by rubbing her bottom. Maybe he was keeping Amy until he could find her replacement, or maybe he was going to juggle two high schoolers and his wife. Who knows since he got caught.

Then- a place in time.
Than- preference between one or the other.

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