My coach definitely threw footballs and called us some pretty nasty stuff. One of his assistants actually got fired for choking some kid out a few years back.
So, your coach threw footballs at your head from 10 feet away as hard as he could at players w/o pads on? Maybe shins? Man parts? Back? Still think its an overreaction. Personally, if my coach ever threw a basketball at me I'd kick his ass.