Kansas City, Mo. ? A debate coach for Fort Hays State University traded profanity-laced barbs with another coach from the University of Pittsburgh during a tournament and at one point during the argument pulled down his shorts, exposing his underwear.

An eight-minute segment of the teachers’ tirades, during which they hurled the F-word several times and one student near the camera can be heard crying, is posted on YouTube and has garnered more than 100,000 hits.

“In 18 years of taking part in debates, I have never seen an incident like this one,” said Gordon Stables, first vice president of the Cross Examination Debate Association, which sponsored the tournament in March where the argument took place.

The exchange took place in March at the CEDA quarterfinals in Wichita, Kan., Stables said.

Stables, who is also director of the University of Southern California’s debate squad, said CEDA was investigating the incident.

In the video, which was posted on YouTube on Aug. 2, Fort Hays debate coach William Shanahan is shown arguing with Shanara Reid-Brinkley, debate coach at the University of Pittsburgh.

The video begins with Shanahan, who has a long beard and is barefoot in the video, and Reid-Brinkley screaming criticisms about one another’s body language during students’ debates.

The argument, which appears to be at least in part about race, and the fact that Fort Hays students excluded Reid-Brinkley as a judge because she gave them low scores, is punctuated with frequent cussing and name-calling.

“You’re an (expletive). … Get the (expletive) out of my face,” Reid-Brinkley, who is black, screams to Shanahan, who is white. “You (expletive) walk around and act like you do (expletive).”

Shanahan responds with more profanity.

“I am an (expletive),” he screams as he jumps up and yanks his khaki shorts down to his knees. “I embrace my being an (expletive).”

Phone messages left for Reid-Brinkley and Shanahan were not returned Thursday.

Larry Gould, provost of Fort Hays State, a four-year university of about 9,000 students in western Kansas, said the university was investigating.

But he had not yet talked to Shanahan, who was returning from the East Coast. Shanahan has taught at Fort Hays State since 1999 and led its debate team to a national championship in 1999.

Shanahan told university officials after the March tournament that he had been involved in an “intense incident” but he did not portray it as explicitly as the video, Gould said.

“Bill is a non-conformist,” Gould said. “He’s very much a provocateur when it comes to learning experiences. … He’s done a really pretty good job in the classroom.

“But the university does not condone the language or the behavior in that video.”

The University of Pittsburgh was also reviewing the matter.

“We’re aware of the situation, and we’re looking into it.” said John Fedele, spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh. He said he could not comment further.

The shouting on the video, which continues for minutes, subsides while another adult tries to calm the situation.

“Sometimes people care so much that it bubbles over. I’m not ashamed of my behavior,” Shanahan says on the video. “I don’t think I’m acting immaturely.

“We don’t come here to just talk,” Shanahan says on the video. “We come here because it’s about competition. … People wouldn’t come to just see four of us talking about race. People come because it’s about competition.”

When Reid-Brinkley complains about Shanahan excluding her as a judge, he tells her she made his team uncomfortable.

“How did I make them uncomfortable? … Your team gave bad speeches,” she screams.

Matt Vega, director of debate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was in the next room when the argument took place. He said it was unfortunate the argument got more attention than the contributions Shanahan and Reid-Brinkley have made to their field.

“Both have worked tirelessly for years to increase participation by previously underrepresented groups in our activity,” Vega said in an e-mail. “I think that these two agree far more than they disagree about issues concerning the community, and this seems to be just a small disagreement about differing strategies to reach the same end.

“Unfortunately, the way that the argument progressed both said and/or did things that offend the taste of some people.”

Gould said Fort Hays State was considering several options, including firing Shanahan, who holds a non-tenured position.

“Bill is very much a social critic, very much a person who believes in righting every injustice he finds,” Gould said. “But in terms of the Bill Shanahan brand, he often forgets he’s part of the Fort Hays State brand as well.”