57special posted:Coaches are not above criticism, but playing time would not be my main focus as a parent. I am hyper aware, as a coach(and Dad) myself, how impossible it is for a parent to accurately judge their own child's talent.
As one VERY experienced coach in my district tells his parents at the start of every year, " My door is always open if you want to talk about your son's schooling, or other problems he is having. Just don't talk to me about hockey."
He is a great guy, and most players and parents respect him, but there are occasional malcontents. They usually end up gone, one way or another, no matter how talented they are.
The use of the internet has had many negative effects as is pointed out here, but positive as well. When used by a parent to push a personal agenda (e.g. this coach is screwing my kid) that is bad, but the use of social media and town message boards can be a driver to address actual coaching issues. Issues that were / are harder to deal with unless you have a easy access to reach many people. Prior to tools like these a parent or group of parents could maybe speak to an athletic director about a problem coach but it was quite difficult to illustrate the issue is felt by many or widespread. Or can be more easily dismissed.
With town Facebook pages and message boards school management can see first hand many people discussing in a free dialog and gain a broader understanding. Easy to get information communicated and it is up to athletic directors and schools to weed out the disgruntled parents with personal agendas from actual constructive criticism.
Many coaches are great, many coaches are fine, some are bad. If these tools help weed those out...all the better.