College Coaches Consider Parents?

Another good reminder to behave in the stands.  I've been amazed by how many college questionnaire's ask specifics about parents such as education level, employment field, etc.  

Just curious.

Why exactly does the coach need to know so much more about a student's parents than, say, a calculus or physic teacher does? I guess maybe there's just much more opportunity for a parent to cause trouble on the field than in the classroom.   Is that it? At the college level, student medical and academic records are basically off-limits to parents by law.  Maybe athletic records should be the same.   (that's a joke.)

I will give you a good example. When son was in college, there was a dad who sat down in front behind the backstop. It was the players draft year, because the guys with the velo were getting attention, this player who was a very good pitcher was not getting much attention, or as much as the dad would have liked.

He would sit there and tell his son to throw harder,harder, and with that he lost control.

Coach was not happy and he let hinm know it  in the parking lot one day in front of all the other parents, and told the dad if he continued to do it, he would pull his son as he needed wins, not higher velocity he really wasn't capable of having. 

Some coaches will recruit parents as well as players.  While looking for chemistry for the team, he needs chemistry between the parents and he wants parents who generally will learn that once they set foot on his campus, it is time to let go.

For some strange reason, extra curricular activities can bring out the worst in some parents.

One of my good friends is a major D1 pitching coach. He says the role of the parents is incredibly important when gauging signability (are they pushing their kid into pro ball at all costs?) as well as work ethic. It's certainly a big factor for many coaches and recruiting coordinators.

From a coach's perspective, there are a bunch of desirable players whose parents would be neutral-to-positive influences on their son's and the team's environment if they were to be added to the team's roster. Meanwhile, there are a handful of equally desirable players whose parents could be expected to be in the coach's ear (and/or nearby others') about a wide range of on and off-the-field issues.

Let's see...As the coach, do I choose the player whose parents are expected to be positive additions to the team's environment; or, do I choose the player whose parents are viewed as being potentially time-consuming, distracting, and divisive?

Gosh! That's a really tough choice for the coach.

One of the hardest things to watch from a distance when my son was being recruited was to see the capable player who had invested a lot of hard work in improving his game find himself overlooked by recruiters because they considered his parents potentially intrusive and/or detrimental to the culture they were trying to create within their program.

P.S. Great find...as always...JB! Although , you misspelled "s****r." 

They ask those type of questions for obvious reasons. One being the ability to afford tuition the other because college educated parents want their children to be educated and understand how difficult college is to begin with.

As far as what Prepster posted, the coach wants parents in the stands to be supportive of one another and not just sit and bitch and moan.  Can't stress enough how important this is.

Not until a few years ago did I find out how a very talented player was a late sign because the summer coach, when asked, had to tell coaches during recruiting that the dad was too hard on his son during the game and made other parents feel uncomfortable.  When your son gets to HS its time to back off.

....and you may be surprised to find out how well your son responds if you back off several years before high school.  Just my experience.