should coach play parents or the talent?

[ftballmam]

While your question has an obvious answer, it's not always obvious to everyone.

 

I have seen it many times as I'm sure a lot of people have - even on the HS level.

The kid whose parent is in the quarter back club or runs the chains or does stats or brings kool-aid or even makes a nice $ contribution, gets more playing time or more opportunity that the one whose parents work and can't do those things.

 

Of course an athelete at any level should be made to earn their spot and be made to KEEP thier spot.

On the same hand, every athelete should be given the opportunity to earn a spot no matter who thier mamma and daddy are, but that doesn't always happen either.

[oldsc7]

Coaches should always play talent first always. Parents should not even come into consideration if another kid is more talented and if a coach wants a winning football program. The kids play not the parents, the parents should sit in the stands and not say a word about whether their kid gets to play if someone in front of them is better. They should support the whole team not just their child. That is how I feel about the situation.

[ftballmam]

Coaches should always play talent first always. Parents should not even come into consideration if another kid is more talented and if a coach wants a winning football program. The kids play not the parents, the parents should sit in the stands and not say a word about whether their kid gets to play if someone in front of them is better. They should support the whole team not just their child. That is how I feel about the situation.

 

 

 

I couldn't agree with you more oldsc7. That's absolutely what should happen. But everyone knows it doesn't always happen as it should.

 

As for the person who stated the starters parents have a hard time in the stands, I've been right there with you too. My son started every game his jr./sr. years but he worked hard and earned his spot. He had his time on the bench and as hitting dummy in practice. His best freind never made it and guess who we sat with at every game? yep, his best freinds parents. Not an easy thing to do.

[baseballss1]

parents should have nothin to do with who the coaches play but in no it happens

[volman9]

I don't think that any sincere question is stupid.

I don't know where you live, but politics always

plays a role in sports in some way or another.

It CAN matter who you are, what church you go to,

whether or not a player has a parent that is a teacher,

works in the central office, or is buds with the coach.

Yes, talent matters BIG time, but other things factor in.

Just my opinion....

 

 

You are the one who needs to be asked where you live. I have been around several programs and I know for a fact that a kid has never been played because of their parent. Anyone who thinks this is crazy, they need to go and watch a practice and sees what all goes on. Because there will be a reason why that is kid is starting over someone else. The reason may be the other kid has discipline problems or grades, or maybe that the other kid is just better. So, yes this is a stupid question to be asking. Coaches are competitive and want to win so that they can climb up to better jobs.

[baller193]

You are the one who needs to be asked where you live. I have been around several programs and I know for a fact that a kid has never been played because of their parent. Anyone who thinks this is crazy, they need to go and watch a practice and sees what all goes on. Because there will be a reason why that is kid is starting over someone else. The reason may be the other kid has discipline problems or grades, or maybe that the other kid is just better. So, yes this is a stupid question to be asking. Coaches are competitive and want to win so that they can climb up to better jobs.

 

As a coach of 11 years I believe talent is the only way to pick your starters. I've had parents complain because their child didn't play and use some of the previously mentioned excuses. But the fact of the matter is, their child was just like them, lazy and always had an excuse as to why they weren't playing instead of working their butt off and earning a position.

Edited October 20, 2005 by baller193

[justforfun?]

You are the one who needs to be asked where you live. I have been around several programs and I know for a fact that a kid has never been played because of their parent. Anyone who thinks this is crazy, they need to go and watch a practice and sees what all goes on. Because there will be a reason why that is kid is starting over someone else. The reason may be the other kid has discipline problems or grades, or maybe that the other kid is just better. So, yes this is a stupid question to be asking. Coaches are competitive and want to win so that they can climb up to better jobs.

 

Thank you for your courteous psychoanalysis of my opinion.

You have been very fortunate if you have never seen anyone given preferential treatment because of who they are.

That's great!

[justforfun?]

As a coach of 11 years I believe talent is the only way to pick your starters. I've had parents complain because their child didn't play and use some of the previously mentioned excuses. But the fact of the matter is, their child was just like them, lazy and always had an excuse as to why they weren't playing instead of working their butt off and earning a position.

 

If you are a coach and never let any politics, administration, or nepotism affect your decisions --- That's the way it should be.

Talent, hard work and sportsmanship should determine playing time.

In my opinion....

[CoachTVA]

My advice for you is that if it is taking up so much time to coach your team, spend less time posting on CoachT!! Oh and by the way, a "good" coach would know there are no guarantees in football. What high school is it that you work at anyway?

Well, in this case, there is a guarantee! Don't worry about it taking up too much of my time. It doesn't. It takes time, but with the support I have from my family as I stated in another post, it's not a problem. I spend time on CoachT when I'm at my place of business, because I want to keep up with how teams are doing back home. I'm a network engineer, so if nothing is going wrong, there isn't too much to do. I don't work at any school. I coach at a high school in VA.

[PistolPeteMaravichPERFECTION]

It takes talent, but more often the difference is preparation. I think that the posters who actually believe someone plays a booster's kid or teacher's kid over a more talented, dedicated, prepared player are smokin something. You think if Gerald Riggs is on the bench and Bubba Leroy is starting that fans will tolerate it? Heck no! So now it comes down to who's opinion is used in determining the best players. Parents know about one kid. Coaches see them all every day and make educated decisions with facts that the parents don't have. If you think you kid is getting a raw deal, transfer!

Ole Dad

 

It takes talent and "should coach play parents or the talent?

 

"It takes talent" You can not always say this - if you are playing in a division that has weak teams and your talent is obviously much better than that division, you can slip in a few of the weaker players and still win regardless. This is not true of our football program, but our basketball program has been going through this for the past 4 years. We have been playing against some of the weakest teams in Tennessee during the season and it only comes back to haunt us terribly at the end of the season. Stronger players can carry weaker players and that is a fact. And which weaker players they carry doesn't really matter. This give the coach the option of who to play, and if he doesn't like you then you don't play. I remember only twice that our coach got obviously caught in this and it was with Chester County and Milan - even though we outmatched them with talent, our coach played the weaker talent during the game and the opponents beat us in the tournament when we should have beat them easily if the proper players were in the game. I don't think I will ever forget the expressions on our fans faces as one of the Milan players came over and did a victory dance in front us on our home court. Could the coach lose his job over this by playing the weaker players - obviously yes, but when you are dominating the other weaker teams, you can afford to take chances like these while to hiding your selfish desires. Funny thing about the original question "should coach play parents?", our coach solved this complicated problem for his son - he became the coach and so he gets to play 4 years running without question. The tragic thing about high school (and not college) is that you can have coaches with selfish motives (yes, some coaches (NOT ALL) are human just like many parents they want that all powerful fame and prestige). Actually when both selfish parents and selfish coaches start clashing it gets real ugly, something I have seen and don't want to see for a long time. It would be nice if the real world was just full of "sugar and spice and everything nice", but the real world is full of things that are not nice. It would be nice if winning wasn't everything, there was no score board, no score card to see who was the best. It would be nice if I could go to a pro game without spending $200 to watch professional athletes that are paid millions and tell parents that they don't have to be role models for children. Sad to say there are SOME (they are the exception not the rule) coaches that are Saddam like tyrants that can rule with an iron fist without getting caught for a brief period time, but sooner or later "Humpty Dumpty" has his great fall especially when his schedule gets tougher. I agree with Ole Dad - Transferring is about the only way out, but your child is punished for one year regardless if the coach is right or wrong. Truly it is probably best that your child understands and accepts this adversity he is facing from the coach. Riding the pine and learning how to accept the adversity will make him a stronger person later on in life.

[MeHaveRash]

The question is parents vs talent? Well what about talent vs heart and effort? Many of the kids who have the talent can go slack off at practice and then play on Friday nights when you have a player who isn't as good work his butt off and try to do everything in his power to get better? Then who do you think should play? And as for the topic question politics always play a role cause they also help decide coaching and if you don't have such a great winning season but their kid played alot they would be atleast somewhat happy other then a not so great season and their kid never saw a snap then they would be against a coach and that would then also affect his coaching position. And for all those people correcting others spelling if this was a grammar web site that would be understandable but its not, being 100% correct on how you write is not the reason for this site being here, the reason is to discuss highschool sports in Tennessee even if it means using bad spelling.

[zxcvb]

I think alot of coaches are oblivious to this and don't realize what they are doing. Their relationships with some parents and players outside of the sport tend to sway the coaches decision when making out the depth chart. That's all i can figure because in my experiences some players got more opprotunities than others with about the same ability level. The only possible reason for this would be liking one player more than another. Anyone who says parents don't play a role in this is crazy.