Golfman25,
I am curious if you keep going back to your "friend" for amplifying information or if he gave you the entire set of facts up front and you only dribble out additional information as needed to stoke the fires of resentment against the coach (such as the confidential business information that shouldn't be known either to your friend or yourself that the ringers didn't pay anything. How exactly do you know that to be true?).
From my point of view, the rightness of the coach's action still hinges on what, if any, promises he made about roster size and playing time at the time the original parents signed up.
When I first raised this question, you said the parents relied on what is "generally understood" about how teams in your area are run, which is another way of saying they failed to verify the accuracy of their optimistic assumptions.
Now, four pages of controversy later, despite all the loaded assumptions made by sympathetic readers about how the benched players were hard working ball players with good attitudes who were unjustly benched by a trophy-crazed coach, I still haven't seen any information to overturn the impression formed by your initial explanation: namely, that the parents were careless consumers who hoped for the best and are now disappointed that their boys got benched for the last quarter of the season.
On another note, I must commend you for being one of the most loyal and patient friends I have ever observed. It is quite a testament to your loyalty that you have advocated so vigorously for your "friend's" case even though you have no personal interest in the matter. Perhaps it is time for your "friend" to join the discussion, fill in the missing information, and maybe upload a redacted version of the agreement so we can see what promises were made.
Until credible information is presented, none of us know what the heck really went on with this travel team and it would be prudent to refrain from condemning the coach.
Respectfully, that is a load of BS. I gave you the basic facts of the situation. I responded as asked to issues people felt were relevant, such as payment (FYI, there is no confidential business information -- budgets are made available to every team member). You brought up a legitimate issue concerning what "promises" where made about rosters, etc. I answered it. You don't like the answer. That's fine. There are no written contracts to post. And no coach in their right mind says, come with us, pay $xxxx, but beware I'll bring in ringers and your kid should expect to sit.
Look, you have your point of view that in certain circumstances, ie; full disclosure, bringing in ringers is ok. I, and others, have the point of view that it isn't. I also don't think you will truly get "full disclosure" of such intent. It is not really about condemning a specific coach (as names have been withheld). It is about having a general discussion of the practice of bringing in ringers and some good points have been made, yours included about what was promised.