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What would you do if a coach


FightinIllini
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These days the responsiblities of the parents include raising money for these programs, running the concession stand, and working on the field. Coaches roles include making sure some of the wealthy boosters are taken care of. Less time is concentrated on teaching the game and game strategy. Each year I see more and more sacrifice bunts not laid down than ever. Fundamentals of the game are being neglected. Just my opinion! Players are tweeting everything that happens in their lives instead of going outside and working on the game they play. I see coaches more focused on running than working on the skills that make you a better player. It is easy to make Johnny run some poles but it's a lot harder to explain what a "firm front side" means as far as hitting goes.

Very true!!!!

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I agree, if a player cannot stay within the guidelines that the coach has set forth, then the player should be punished. I do feel that those guidelines should be clearly stated so there is no gray area. For instance, there might be a difference in tweeting personal negative comments about another team, or person, as opposed to tweeting about the game or the outcome of the game. how much of the players personal life does the coach control?

 

"In the instance of a parent causing problems, there are many variables to consider such as the players input to the parent, players attitude, ect... but as a final solution, players being benched or even suspended would have to be a viable option to rectify the problem."

 

I could not disagree more and any coach that took this route would be in my opinion abusing his position....As far as parents are concerned, if a parent disrupts games, practices, then the parent is to be dealt with not the player.... Their are AD's and Administartors taht can handle a parent.....as long as the player is doing what is asked of him, he has no control over a parent and should not be used as a bargining chip. Players cannot pick their parents and should not be punished for a parents actions.

 

Can you explain "there are many variables to consider such as the players input to the parent, players attitude, ect... "

 

With all the responses and opinions let's take this further, what are the roles, responsibilites of the parent , player, coach. This seems to be the biggest issue in high school sports today. It seems less time goes into teaching the game and more managing the expectations of parents.

My comments about players input to parents and attitude suggest that the troublesome parent may be reacting from information supplied by the player. If a player has no fault in inciting the parents behavior he/she shouldn't be used as a " bargaining chip"... however if little Johnny isn't cutting it on the field, and is crying to daddy that politics or favoritism is keeping him from starting, or that bad decisions made by the coach is costing the team wins, then it's the responsibility of the coach to put the team ahead of the problem. Kids and parents alike need to realize that the coach has the last word (right or wrong) in the decision making process where the team is concerned, and that the right thing is to follow instruction without criticism and see where it takes them. I never intended to imply that a faultless player should be punished for the behavior of a parent in order to silence them.
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My comments about players input to parents and attitude suggest that the troublesome parent may be reacting from information supplied by the player. If a player has no fault in inciting the parents behavior he/she shouldn't be used as a " bargaining chip"... however if little Johnny isn't cutting it on the field, and is crying to daddy that politics or favoritism is keeping him from starting, or that bad decisions made by the coach is costing the team wins, then it's the responsibility of the coach to put the team ahead of the problem. Kids and parents alike need to realize that the coach has the last word (right or wrong) in the decision making process where the team is concerned, and that the right thing is to follow instruction without criticism and see where it takes them. I never intended to imply that a faultless player should be punished for the behavior of a parent in order to silence them.

 

I agree totally with your statement, often times a player that cannot cut it on the field , makes excuses to the parent, it is easier for the parent to blame the coach. I have also seen coaches make terrible decisions, just as I have seen players make terrible decisions.

 

When I coached, I realized early on , that if we win, the players did a fantasitc job, if we lose, I did a terrible job coaching...

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johnjsmith,

 

You are exactly what I'm talking about. You know way, way, way too much about the goings on of MJ's team. You say these stories are from many players! My goodness, it goes back to everyone on the team getting a trophy. Everyone ain't special, talent usually shows and the cream almost always rises. If you get a bad coach, then get rid of him, but some harsh words that hurt a kid's feelings?! Come on, some times these kids need to sack up.

 

My$.02.

 

Refresh my memory......how many seniors on that team are going to play college baseball? Looks like Carter did the best with what he had.

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Refresh my memory......how many seniors on that team are going to play college baseball? Looks like Carter did the best with what he had.

 

Brandon Smith signed at Chattanooga State...... might be a couple others sign this summer.

 

Hitting was the issue........

Edited by FightinIllini
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Agree 100%. Some of that comes with the expectations of parents wearing rose colored glasses and some of it kind of comes with the territory unfortunately. The kids usually know. If a parent needs to have a conversation about P.T., they might not like the answer. Pull out the book and show them in black and white. Also, it's back to parents pushing for athletic scholarships instead of just letting their kid enjoy the high school experience. Shame on them. The only regret my older son has is not playing 3 sports all 4 years of high school. Some of that is on coaches. They don't share even fair to middlin athletes the way they should. Shame on them too. My best coach anecdote was a time when we had 3 district games in a week and trying to save pitching he bunted a couple of runs in with an 8 run lead. Probably a good move. I told him if I had been pitching it would have been easy because I'd have ear holed every batter that squared until the 10th run crossed the plate if you played small ball up 8 in the 5th.

 

Great points - coaches and atheltics in general today are about moms/dads wanting kids to get scholarships - I always said play to have fun and enjoy HS - PERIOD... I have 2 daughters, one plays Soccer only and the other is playing basketball and soccer.... I was hoping to have a softball player but thats the way it goes - to me I want my kids to have fun, enjoy playing the game(s) and if they are good enough and want to play at the next level then thats great. If not they go to college, get jobs and live life. We put so much effort and money into about 8 years of a kids life at best - most of the time they just play HS though... if we put that effort and financial backing into stuff that really mattered we be much better off as a society.

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It seems like a good idea when you're thinking about what you want to do in college and you're almost removed or just barely removed from your own playing days. Then you get a teaching/coaching job, get married, start a family and grow up. Some of these guys are running a high school program including maintaining the field, running the summer program and fall conditioning. Add those hours up, including the time on the mower, versus the time you're getting to spend with your own boys teaching them baseball. I wouldn't do it. It's basically a minimum wage job at a lot of places for a guy that's putting in the time. Schools need to know when they hire them where they are at with their families and how stable their situation is.

 

If your the head coach you determine the amount of time, when, where, schedule, etc - Before we had kids I didn't really care and was at the park all the time - I can remember being at the field at midnight moving a travelling sprinkler with my wife and newbord coming home from a night out after picking up the child at parents house. I look back now and there's no way I'd ever do that again. The problem is everyone's worried about other teams(schools) some of whom practice illegally during off season and worry what parents would think, etc. As long as you got the backing of your principal a coach is crazy to spend 11 months out of the year coaching while making $1000 or so.... The coaching profession has created a monster all in the name of improving the game and we have coaches getting out of coaching out of 10 years. Something is wrong with that picture. There is more to HS athletics than winning or getting scholarships - Too much importance on stuff that don't last.

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I think all of this ties in to the 'State of Baseball' thread. While I do think the guys have more resources than we ever did back in the day, the parents back in the day didn't push us as hard and they didn't expect a college scholarship in return. I think there's a happy medium from youth leagues on up so that players can develop and have fun at the same time. Being the 8U national champs in coach pitch baseball and playing 100 games a year won't mean anything on your resume and in the big picture, neither will the half scholarship to Jr. College if you don't wrap it up with some sort of degree. I'd like to hear exit interviews from all of the guys that went on past the high school level and see what advice they'd have to offer, cause I hear a lot of stories about guys giving it up after 1 or 2 years of college ball or minor league baseball. What factors into that?

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I think all of this ties in to the 'State of Baseball' thread. While I do think the guys have more resources than we ever did back in the day, the parents back in the day didn't push us as hard and they didn't expect a college scholarship in return. I think there's a happy medium from youth leagues on up so that players can develop and have fun at the same time. Being the 8U national champs in coach pitch baseball and playing 100 games a year won't mean anything on your resume and in the big picture, neither will the half scholarship to Jr. College if you don't wrap it up with some sort of degree. I'd like to hear exit interviews from all of the guys that went on past the high school level and see what advice they'd have to offer, cause I hear a lot of stories about guys giving it up after 1 or 2 years of college ball or minor league baseball. What factors into that?

 

Well lets say a player works hard and gets a scholarship to a JUCO, plays two years and move on to a Mid Level D1 .. plays a couple of more years and gets drafted... goes through the minors and ends up in the MLB ( Stephen Pryor) should he have just enjoyed his HS school days and prepared for life by going to a four year school, forgetting baseball or shoudl he had followed his dream?

 

MOST of all D1 and minor league players are not going to make enough money to live past baseball, but while you are young follow your dream, you have the rest of your life to go to school or work.

 

What about the kid that goes to college gets a business degree, and plays a few years in the minors, meets some people and ends up being a Rawlings saleman? MOST of all the guys I have talked to that played college ball or minor league ball, say they would not trade the exp. for anything

Edited by FightinIllini
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Good article on the Home page about Dr. James Andrews and his views on kids getting Tommy John and ACL surgeries at earlier and earlier ages. His take is that most injuries to youth players are caused by specializing in one sport and playing it year round without giving your body a break and putting teenagers through a 25 year old's workout. There's plenty of guys that parlayed a few years in the minors into a college education or who signed scholarships and got their education. Probably a lot more than made it to the bigs.

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