A longtime high school track coach was fired for making a rapist joke to female student-athletes in practice, according to the New York Daily News.

Ken Miller, coach at the Bronx High School of Science, told his team last month to “run like a rapist was chasing them,” during a pep talk.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Miller, who helped start the school’s track program in the 1970s, told the Daily News. “I told them to run like a rapist was chasing them. But I should’ve said to run like a bear was chasing them. It was so stupid.”

Miller said that the real reason he was fired was because he reported abuse by another coach, who was later terminated. However, a spokesperson for the Education Department said that Miller’s dismissal was deserved.

“We take allegations of misconduct seriously,” said spokesperson Michael Aciman. “Mr. Miller’s behavior was inappropriate and offensive, and he was terminated.”