How to deal with a political coach

Perhaps the coach sees something in the player that you don't-----

You don't say whether or not you are a player on the team or a parent

Obviously, in looking at the record, there does nto seem to a load of overall talent on the team

TRhit

I agree with TRHIT When you are 4-22 it is time to address more than what you perceive in this situation

eye

With all due respect a 4-22 record tells me the talent is the problem to be addressed before the "coach"

TRhit

TRHits

This is always the difficult decision since it can be viewed as the chicken-or-the-egg problem.

Which comes first the coach who sets the plan and coaching techniques, drills, etc, hires his assistants and set the pace and tempo of the team. He establishes everything associated with the success or failure of the program...

Or the players who are the ones executing those techniques, drills and plans and living under the tempo and pace of the coach's knowledge.

If a coach is blaming his players for a season at 4-22 he is not looking in the mirror.

Players are a direct reflection of what their coach's knowledge is of how to teach, and their response to what they do with it, and how they are taught to implement the lesson plan.

"eye...said it"

I coach makes the decision who plays and that is based on more than just talent. Parents that care about the teams success are and should be concerned. But no parent should go to the coach about a kid other than there own. This is just not right. I as a coach have no problem talking to a parent about their son. But I would have a problem with a parent coming to me about someone elses. Wouldnt you as a parent have a problem with another parent going to the coach about your son?

You cannot complain to a coach about a player on
a team other than your own son.When I first read
this post,I thought I had written it!!We have a
lot of problems with our program,the bottom line
being problems with a coach that only cares about the parents that kiss his ......In our school,the son of the head of the baseball booster club was put on the varsity football team(he hadn't played since 7th grade) and the
son of the head of the football booster club was
put on the baseball varsity,even though he had not played any baseball since he was a freshman,
now a senior.Looking forward to a fun year!!Last
year,there were similar posts about coach problems,parents were wondering what to do.The
advice from the board was that any complaining
to the coach would only make things worse for your son-I believe that they are exactly right.
If the coach is mad at you,he will surely take it out on your son.Bite your tongue and bite the
bullet.

eagledad...have you been snooping around at our school...story sounds too familiar...

Eagle Dad

Coaches that respond to parents kissing up, Booster club activities. Interesting

Funny thing--my son played three years of HS varsity ball on a team that never won more than 6 games in the season--never once did I think about trying to remove the coach or even blame him--the baseball talent in our town was never the strongest--lacrosse was the big sport in the spring and we lost many good athletes to it--keep in mind a public school HS coach gets what he gets from the town in terms of talent. He cannot go pick his players and bring them into town

EYE

As for the egg and the chicken I respectfully offer that you cannot blame the coach for everything as you adn others are trying to do-- there simply may not be any talent in the HS at the present time.

TRhit

TRhit...at our high school our talent pool is shallow to say the least, at least currently..some good ones coming up...

political arena can and does impact the sports at schools...but even at that we must consider all part of this picture to assess ...

My son's team has lost every year...but, it didn't stop him from pursuing his dream...

maybe this year will be the one....we can only go up...

The good thing about baseball is that even though it is a team sport the individual can excel within the team framework regardless of the team winning or losing-- take A-Rod for an example-- the coach, good , bad or indifferent, cannot hit, field or throw for the player.

TRhit

TR makes a superb point. On a team that is 4-22, you have to ask yourself, what did I do to make the team better? Or did I have as much to do with the 4-22 record as everyone else. It is a team game made up of individual's trying to succeed with each at bat, each inning pitched, etc. Go out and do your best to make it better regardless of your record, success is accomplished 1 inning at a time. Sooner or later, with a great attitude from the coaches on down to the stat keeper and parents, and that record will turn around.

I've seen coaches put kids on teams that really don't belong and the kids are not likely to play, but the coach wants the kid on the team to improve the gpa of the baseball team.

Since 99% of AD's don't care about wins and losses, it really doesn't matter who the coach selects to be on the baseball team.

Doesn't matter what the record is, the coach will not be fired, because he is also a teacher at the school and while you might get rid of him as a coach, you can't get rid of him as a teacher. Almost impossible to fire a teacher in Illinois, unless the guy is a *** pervert.

Deleted because it was too inflammatory

Play every game as if it were your last

Wi

I guess we should address those who do not have the )(*& to stand up to those who try to throw their weight around. Can we also add administrators of schools who cave into outside influences. If you do go down the path of fund raising and boosters you have to keep an eye out for those who would try to take advantage of their position.

Will,

First of all I apologize for getting carried away. I deleted my message and was hoping I did so before anyone had a chance to read it.

I agree with you 100% there are those without the guts to stand up to pushy parents and Booster clubs. Even more distrubing are the parents who think they can buy their kids playing time etc. My problem is that you appeared willing to throw the baby out with the bath water and since there are some abuses then all booster clubs are evil.

I would venture to say that MOST booster clubs do it for the program and kids in general and not to control the coaches.

Play every game as if it were your last

eye,
where are you from where the high school coach gets to hire his assistants??? (i need to move there).
usually the parents that complain about politics (not all), are the parents of kids not getting the playing time they think they should. make sure you are not looking through rose colored glasses about your own son's abilities.
i remember as a senior not being slated as a starter for the football team, after starting the previous three years. i went home to complain to my dad. his answer was... well show the coach in practice that he is wrong. things worked out with out any parental involvement.

Coach May and anyone else who would like to chime in. I have stated before that parents should stay out of the coaches ear unless something drastic is taking place(verbal/physical abuse) and should never discuss another player but help me out with this situation. Say some very reliable information has come forth about a few players on the team using drugs or alcohol and
has been verified beyond doubt. Would you want that parent to come to you and let you know? Let's also say that these same boys are influencing other players to partake, would you want the players to come to you?

I know this thread is about playing time and players of lesser ability making the team but it still is about what parents should do with this information.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Moc1

Some posters here are correct. It is truly none of the parents' business who is kept on the roster and who is not. When parents think it is their business, that is when I would recommend them to apply for the coaching position the next time it becomes available. Otherwise, be the supportive parents.

mittman

It's kind of quirky here, some school boards hire the assistant coaches separately from the head coach but most allow the head coach to bring in his own assistants...seems to work out better that way. What a program doesn't need is a mole, or quizzling that is undermining the head coach due to the fact the head coach wasn't able to bring in his guys that he can trust to be loyal to him and the program that he wants to implement.

IMHO the coach is the "skipper", ie., captain of the ship. In a storm, if he is a good skipper he puts out a droog shute and goes with the wind or flounders. In other words he finds a tried and true method of dealing with his problem or he will get fired...its inevitable.

In private industry we require managers who are not meeting their targets to attend adhoc meetings where the issues are identified and solutions provided with a plan of action to remedial correction of the problems. One of his peers needs to talk to him, someone of higher authority in the coaching profession that he respects...type of venue, invite over the house for dinner and a beer.

I'm sorry, but it's up to the coach to find a way to improve his team...there are all manner of avenues available to this coach to take corrective action with a team with this dismal a record.

The fact that he is still at the school says alot about the schools attitude toward the players.

The coach may be a peach of a guy, but that's not what he was hired for...he is a teacher of baseball, first, than a molder of young men, he is getting an "F" as the teacher, don't know his grade as a molder.

"eye...said it"

quote:

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Even more distrubing are the parents who think they can buy their kids playing time

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Is that more disturbing than a coach who thinks he can sell playing time?

http://www.ragincajuns.com/Baseball/baseball.htm

quote:

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Originally posted by GABall:
We have a coach that is allowing a player on the team that is not HS caliber. The problem is that his position is catcher. This kid was brought up as a sophmore to varsity last year and mid season he was the starter.

We are all scratching our heads at trying to figure this out. His through downs are over 2.2 sec.. His 60's are greater than 7.5s and he bats below 200. There are beter players on the team for catcher, but they are kept down on JV.

We went 4-22 last year and the whole team is very discourged about this player on the team. He is a goofoff and does not work hard on the field or in the weight room.

No one wants to confront the coach for fear the coach cutting their kid.

How do you deal with this ?

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I believe the coach has got to given the benefit of any doubt. He was hired to do a job like all the rest of us and must be given the space to do it without being second guessed all the time. At the end of each season he should be reviewed by his AD as to his performance as a coach and mentor. His boss like my boss would decide his future, not a bunch of grumbling parents. JMHO.

Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!

Moc 1 I have had this situation come up. A parent has come to me and said that they had heard that some of the kids are smoking drinking beer and in some cases using marijuana. I ask them what are their sources and they say "I would rather not get into that". I tell them thanks for the information I will handle the situation. What I have done is address the team as a whole and not the individuals that the parent has singled out. I give them the speech about the school policy and the fact that these actions are not acceptable and not good for them period. I take no punitive action based on a rumor. I will administer drug tests for all the team members including the coachs if the rumors persist. I also tell the parent that is telling me this that they need to be very carefull about spreading these rumors because they might have to back it up with sources if need be. I have gone to players individually when I have heard rumors about a specific player from teachers and other coachs. You have to be carefull about ulterior motives from parents and other players. You have to make sure that you give every benefit of the doubt to the accused player before you make accusations.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dad04:

Is that more disturbing than a coach who thinks he can sell playing time?

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No, and it was not my intention to imply that.

Play every game as if it were your last

OUCH !!!!!

TRhit

To go a little further, one of the assistant coaches remarked that he doesn't understant why this player is on the team. The assist. coach just said its the head coaches descion and what a joke.

This player does not impact my son's playing time at all. I just see the impact it has on the team.

We have touched on many interesting topics in this thread.TR Hit is correct in saying if there is not a lot of talent,no one will win.The
biggest problem I have is that I don't think that putting the best team on the field is a priority-all of the off the field nonsense is more important to the coach than actual performance.A good player on this type of team is handicapped by the fact that NO SCOUTS will ever see one his games and the reputation of the
school taints him when trying out for local select teams.As for the drugs and alcohol, my son tells me what goes on-kids that come to practice high,putting tequila in gatorade and drinking it before a game,etc.I have not and will not ever tell the coach about it-he is always preaching to them about it,but is incapable of discovering anything because it might upset some of his favorites.If all of the
kids can figure it out,why can't he?

Everything is wrong with this team, if an assistant coach is talking about the head coach decisions, plus the problems you say, the solution here is to move to other school, other county, or other city, or get together with the other parents and go to the Athletics director. Coach can not do nothing against the whole team.

"Peace is, the respect for the other people's rights".
Benito Juarez

eagledad...this is a serious situation.

I would tell someone...if these kids get in a car after a game under the influence well...

And I do know what you're talking about...during football we had a couple of guys who obviously had coordination issues (be it alcohol or drugs) when allowed to leave campus and return to school for the games...so coaches started having them stay (entire team) and not go home...to help offset this situation...

At your school, with such leadership in place it's a difficult place to be...

I would have do some gathering of facts and ask for help from another staff leader at the school who really might care about these kids...

Gosh, I would think that the coaches who should be a players mentor would be doing something besides keeping them late if they coordination issues. I would think above all, they should look to get these kids some counseling i.e. drug/alcohol rehab. Someone needs to step in and get them help. Baseball or Football should be the least of their concerns at this point. The coaches should be going to their parents and telling them their fears of drug/alcohol abuse. I certainly dont think that a parent should be talking to the coach about another player, but if it was my kid I would hope and pray that the coach would tell me, so I could get him some help. Don't have my kid stay late because he has coordination issues, call me and tell me he does. I will do something.

dadchs24...I totally agree!

this situation runs much deeper than I might want to share on an open forum...but let's just say it's not a good situation to say the least...

Unfortunately, a couple of these boys are in some sad situations and yet, they are great athletes...and have contributed on the field, but will they make it as successful people once they graduate?

Makes me think we're failing them somehow?

Seems like our priorities are out of order...