My son's HS coach is better than your's....

Nice thread and topic. I wish feel-good threads did better here at the hsbbweb but they don't seem to. It must be natural human nature to gravitate toward the controversial or negative.

The thing I admired about my son's high school coach is that he was hard-nosed, no-nonsense, and best of all - he seemed fair. I remember one year he cut the son's of the booster-club president and vice president and that raised eye-brows in our community because no one thought he would ever have the nerve to do something like that. Of course, they had to hastily find replacements for senior-level executives at the booster club that year

My son's coach was not known for getting kids to the next level but he always let parents know when a college had contacted him. I'll never forget one hot summer afternoon in August of my son's post-junior summer leading up to senior year and he told me this school named Coastal Carolina had inquired about him. I said, "Who the hell are they?" After I looked them up on the Internet that night, I found out who they were and it literally changed our entire family's lives.

I'll never forget how my son's high school career unfolded. He got a late call-up to varisty for a few games as a sophmore as a reward for a fine JV season. He didn't get into a varsity game as a sophmore but I'll never forget the elation when he called me about the promotion. The following year my son made varsity as a junior and finally made the starting lineup about midway through the season on a team that became the greatest in school history. We went to the state championship (first in history of school) and lost 6-2 to a team from Cincinnati who featured a 1st and 3rd round draft choices as their pitchers. My son made two errors in the game (on the same play) and was absolutely inconsolable afterwards. He blamed himself entirely for the loss. I feared his career might be over because it took him months to recover from that game.

We graduated every kid off that team except one. The following year, I told that one kid I was going to judge him on how well his team did and not on individual performences. No one gave that team any chance in hell except one kid and his father who kept it all to themselves. Lo and behold they caught lightning in a jug and came within one game of playing for their second straight state championship with a bunch of kids who were playing varisty for the first (and last) time and one other kid who was devasted from the year before. After the last out of that final game in the state semi-final game, that one kid had tears in his eyes as he always does after each season concludes. His father couldn't have been prouder and told him he had nothing to hang his head for.

You ask this coach to this day what his best coaching job was and he'll tell you it was that team. They were not the most talented, but he got the absolute "most" out of those kids. He got the "group" to play as "one." At the end of the day, that is all you can ask of a coach.

The following year they lost in the district championship. The year after that they returned to the state championship game and lost a heartbreaker 4-3 to another big Catholic school from Cincinnati. There's no question who built that program and why it has continued to have success.

My son's HS coach loves baseball. I mean, really loves it. He is a hard nosed, call it like I see kind of coach. If you mess up, you will be called out. If you do well, that is called doing your job. Don't expect a hug as you come back into the dugout.

If the coach messes up, he will admit it.

My son wants to play for him. That's good enough for me.

Great thread!!!

My son's coach also lives and breathes baseball. He coaches because he loves the game and believes this is an area where he can give back to the community.

He is just as passionate about developing character in his players. He expects the upperclassmen to mentor the younger players and he expects complete commitment from all of them. Academics come first, but you have made a commitment to your team so you had better not let them down with poor grades or detentions.

We all know there is little time for individual development with the high school team. He coaches team play and none of his varsity players had better miss a sign or not understand the defensive setups he has laid out for weeks.

Even in the off season he provides workout routines for the pitchers to use at home, if they are willing. They are.

Same story with us - of course we disagree with a few of his ideas, but our players want to play for him and they don't want to let him down.

I will reserve judgement on my son's head coach but I can say he has a couple of outstanding assistants. While I may not agree with everything they do they take the time to explain why they are making some of the decisions they make. My son will sit with the pitching coach when he is not playing to learn about calling pitches (son is a catcher).
The other is a JV coach who is a volunteer coach who doesn't get paid for coaching the team. He has changed some of the offseason training routines for the better and works well in teaching the players when they need it and encouraging them when they make a mistake.
My son has great respect for both of the coaches and willingly accepts criticism from them and more importantly he learns from them.

bsbl247, I think I know who your coach and school are, and i agree he is a good coach. Did he play at csf and you school is WR. Anyway my son's coach is a great baseball coach/man also. He played at Pepperdine many moons ago, as he has been at our school for 22 years. The lack of parental involvement is what makes the situation so good. We had a parent who went to the principal and complained about his style and eventually left the school and program. It's too bad cause he would have started this year and is splitting time where he went. The kid is a nice young man also, making it even worse that the parent couldn't stay away. I haven't seen a kid transfer to a school and have a better playing experience because of the move. I've had different experiences with my son's and consider the coach to be very fair and a great teacher of the game. 15D1 scholly's in the last 4 years and many D2 D3 and JC players also in that time frame. I'll let that success speak for itself. Thanks Coach.

After watching 4 years of HS baseball now, it is not an accident that the programs that do well year in and year out do it for a reason. The Coach, and the program he puts together. This is particularly true for public schools. Some of the private schools have the ability to attract the best talent, but the public programs that win year in and year out do it for one reason IMO.

My son's coach seems to be a great guy and has both D1 and several years of MiLB experience. The thing that matters most is that my son is happy to be playing for him and respects him immensely. He is having a blast playing for him and I can't ask for more than that.

BOF. are your trying to say that kids don't transfer in from outside a school area. Like the 2 transfers to ECR from Granada this year. No advantage in that way to privates. You can say better funding and pay at some privates, but not all.

There are always exceptions, and Chatsworth is one of them. I am also not picking on the private schools, but they do have a significant advantage as far as recruitment goes - it is just a fact. There are also some very very good private school coaches and the combination makes them be powerhouses year in and year out, and I believe your son played for one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by bsbl247:
That's right, my son's HS Baseball Coach is better than your son's HS baseball coach! Okay, seriously speaking, we really don't hear enough about the coaches that are doing a good job for our kids!

That is a good point. Many coaches at all levels deserve more credit, and typically take the brunt of the criticism.

I therefore want to throw out the name of the coach and the academy he runs for kids between the ages of 3 and 13 years old. His name is Red Berry and he has been running Red Berry's Baseball World for over 45 years. He not only gives the kids great fundamentals in baseball, but emphasizes integrity, sportsmanship and other important life lessons.
Here is a link to his website so you can get a sense of the facility and who this great coach is.

http://www.redberry.net/index.html

Many a college and professional player have come through there, with some even making it to the show. Having spoken to one of them recently, they attribute the lessons learned there with helping them to develop into the player and man they went on to become.

IMO, this is a great thread! I absolutely love it and I've completely enjoyed reading each and every story posted so far. I will be coming back to read more!

I truly do think my son has the best coach in America. I don't mean that in any snobby or arrogant way because I certainly don't know very many coaches in America. Its just that if I got to "design" a coach and his staff, this coach and his staff are exactly what I would design.

First and foremost, our coach is a (math) teacher at the school. I think thats important. Not a requirement, but important. He has the pulse of his players in school, day after day. From homework to girlfriends to bad moods to good moods. He's got that pulse and I think it helps him to mold his team into a "team."

As a teacher, he brings his training and classroom skills to the field where he is a "teacher" as well. The skills of the game are taught at a fine level. Players learn to coach themselves. They literally can run the first half of practice on their own as they get to the field and go straight into their stations without a word being said. Go watch a back-half of a practice and you'd think you were watching a D1 program at work. Everyone is busy and has something to do. Every coach is engaged with something to do. Its a beautiful thing.

The school has a freshman, JV and varsity team. Two fields, side-by-side plus cages past the OF fence. BBQ station in between (often used on game days with both fields in action, parents watching both games...something that subliminally adds to the 'program'). Our son was on the freshman team his first year, then to varsity as a sophomore. But for each player in the program, the player will get coaching by the entire staff (freshmen-JV-varsity) whether he's a freshman or a senior. Thats right, many of the drills are run as one gigantic team. Freshmen with varsity, JV with freshman, varsity with JV. Varsity players 'help' in the mentoring and coaching of younger players. As a player, you are welcome into the entire program from the day you begin tryouts as a freshman. It is a family from day-1. They just happen to split up on game day with two teams heading one way and the other staying at home, or vice versa. I cannot tell you how critical I think that is to the success of this program. There is no segregation of good players and weaker ones. Its one big team effort.

Did I mention they win a lot? Last year's team was ranked #1 in the nation by at least 3 publication (including PG), top-10 in every publication I can find. Now its true they have traditionally had a lot of talent, but our coach is well known for his teams being better at the end of the year than at the beginning and middle. Last year I didn't think that was possible...at midpoint, they were about 17-2, in 1st place in a very tough league and ranked #1 in our area. I thought, "Oh well, that 'improvement' thing can't be done this year." Boy was I wrong! Rolled through league playoffs and won their state section title (thats as high as we go in CA) by nearly no-hitting Barry Bonds' old HS (and defending champs) in the semis and 10-running another traditional powerhouse in the section finals. As a result of this great season, he was selected to be the West coach in the AFLAC game in San Diego in late summer. A well deserved honor and one I am grateful to PG for in recognizing him as a great coach.

He's a great game strategist. Some day I will write a book about this, but there are things inside the game that go on that I doubt more than 2 or 3 people in the park even recognize. I doubt I would recognize some of them if I didn't know about them from my son. Just this past weekend his team beat another traditional power with a total stud pitcher from out of our immediate area that I think was more talented. Difference? Coaching/game strategy...thats what I think (and I'm not cutting down the other coach by saying that)! Our coach gave a lecture/seminar this past January to area coaches about 'how to improve' over the course of a season. I asked him, "Are you out of your mind?" "At least sell the dam* secrets!"

College recruiting? Couldn't ask for anything more. Well connected, honest with the player, perfectly happy eager to help a kid attain the next level. Nearly every coach that recruited our son either talked to or came through our HS coach. He worked with our son, my wife and me to make the decision that was best for our son. We had meetings, exchanged emails and talked about +'s and -'s of each choice put before us. When our son told the coach in one meeting that he would like to know about a school across the country, our coach immediately responded that he would be happy to call them and see if there was any chance (we declined).

And last...good guy? Yes, but I seriously doubt that every family that has played in his program over 25 years saw what I see. I know of a kid or two who didn't make the team or didn't play as much as they wished being less than happy. So perfect? No, but I'm still looking for the imperfections. I think the best thing I can say is that I truly believe that our son, my wife and I will remain 'friends' with our son's HS coach for many years to come. I wouldn't be surprised at all if our son was to go back and help coach someday...if he were so lucky to be asked.

It seems to me to be the nearly-perfect balance. I feel honored to have crossed his path.

babl247,
I agree with those who have already posted: this thread is so welcomed.
Honestly, I don't know if our son's former HS is better than any others.
What I do feel is that he was certainly the best coach for our son, his teammates and many of those who came before and after our son. The love, respect, passion and knowledge of baseball our son absorbed from his HS coach has truly made an impact in his life. His goal and current effort is to get his Masters in Coaching Education, coach baseball, and strive to impact others in ways his HS coach impacted his life within and without baseball.
Would Coach win a popularity contest with parents? Not a chance.
Would he win a popularity contest with everyone who tried to play in his program? Nope, he sure wouldn't. Heck, he coaches at a very small program and isn't even known to so many in our area.
What he does do is set expectations, enforce them across the board from star to last player on the roster, create a situation where the players get the success for wins, and he publicly takes responsibility for any disappointments. He sets expectations for himself and his team and coaches to them in ways that are truly "baseball is life."
It seems particularly timely that this thread was started, since just last week my wife and I wrote a letter of support for a local award for the HS Coach.
Here is a cut and paste of some of our thoughts about him:

"When we were recently perusing the Stanford Baseball website, we found two items of considerable, personal interest.
First, there are currently three players at Stanford who graduated from ***XX School, where they were coached by Coach YYYYYY. Of additional note was the reference to six former ***XX graduates having been successful at Stanford, one of the highest regarded collegiate programs in all of NCAA athletics.
In one sense, we were not surprised. Following their careers playing for Coach ******, YYYYY School baseball players have proliferated throughout many of the most academically challenging Universities, where they have also continued to succeed at the highest levels of baseball. Whether it be at Stanford, the University of California schools, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Pepperdine, or lesser known places like Trinity University in Texas, Pomona-Pitzer, Willamette, and Lewis & Clark, those who compete under the tutelage of Coach ***XX love to play, they love to compete, they love baseball, and they take his teaching and passion about baseball and succeed at much higher levels, including baseball after college and into the Major League draft and Minor League baseball.
As we reminisced against this landscape, there is still a vision of Coach as a truly great High School Coach which is not captured by analyzing the success of his teams, or those who play for him and in his program.
The vision of Coach, in our eyes, is captured by decisions he made in our son’s senior year, which decisions were not unusual for him, but which truly remain remarkable.
In the Spring of 2000, a junior came to tryouts for the YYYYY team. He had not played at YYYYY before, and truly did not have a significant baseball background .
There was a reason: this player had suffered a heart attack early in life which left him significantly impacted through spasticity in one arm and on leg.
Taking an at bat was challenging. The “hard 90” to first base, which Coach requires of every player, produced results more like a quarter mile time. Fielding and throwing with ease: not possible.
It certainly would have been the easy, and perhaps expected, route for “Coach” to cut that young man. He didn’t. Instead, Coach cultivated peer relationships where those with more ability challenged that player to use every bit of his physical and emotional skill and ability at levels he and his family never contemplated, both in baseball and with his peers. Concurrently, Coach challenged those with more ability to motivate themselves, as individuals and teammates, by incorporating talent of the physically challenged player, who was blessed with the most dedicated of work ethics.
Beyond that, he coached his team and season focused on being Champions, while looking and waiting for those opportunities for innings in the field, at bats, and situations where a player with a major physical impairment so critical to success in high school baseball could and would succeed.
Late in a game at YYYYY, Coaches’s talent, ability and vision, and the desire of that player produced a “Texas League” fly ball which dropped into right field. A single for sure? But wait: that 100 meter time it might take to complete the “hard 90” to first was now into the throats and hearts of every player, coach, and fan. When, after a “bang-bang” play at first and a safe sign was given, the player stood on first with his fist pumping, his eyes gleaming, and his ears roaring from the noise and expressions of admiration and respect of those who were now his team and teammates. He made it.
As this happened, our eyes searched for one person: the Coach. As he does so often, he stood by the side, smiled, and let his player and players acknowledge, share, and live into that moment; the long awaited success on that field which his courage in making roster decisions and his ability to create and facilitate within a team environment, most probably created and provided. Coach, as so often happens, let his players celebrate what they accomplished. He had to know his coaching made the difference. He redirected all credit... as great coaches do.
As you are choosing for the Award, we are keenly aware of the remarkable people and coaches you will likely consider. We are so hopeful for your very positive consideration of “Coach” .
Admittedly, we have a bias. Our son is currently seeking his Masters in Coaching Education and he readily admits the his passion for baseball and love of coaching originated with his High School Coach, who provided him the mental stamina to believe, a belief which carried well into Minor League baseball.
Certainly, this Section is populated with wonderful Coaches. It would be hard to imagine any of those might be more deserving than Coach ***XX, who truly produces winners through his ability to coach “baseball is life,” as he did with and for our son’s team, and the young man so physically impacted before Coach YYYYY and baseball made such a difference."

quote:

Originally posted by CELTDAD:
bsbl247, I think I know who your coach and school are, and i agree he is a good coach. Did he play at csf and you school is WR.

CELTDAD,
It's not West Ranch HS. We're on the other side of the section, but the student enrollment is probably quite similar, approximately 3,400 students. My son's coach attended USD (hey, same conference with Pepperdine ).

justbaseball,
Last summer when your son's coach was chosen to head the West team in the AFLAC game, it was apparent that you respected him an awful lot.

My son's coach is also a math teacher at the school. I agree with you, it's certainly not a requirement to teach & coach, but coaches have a much better pulse of their student athletes when they're on the campus.

Last year he started the tradition of practicing as a "Full Squad" (Frosh, JV, & Var) a couple days a week, once a week during the season. This gave the coaching staff an opportunity to see the younger players progress. The older players have learned additional leadership skills, and the Frosh/JV players are able to see what it takes to play at the highest level of HS ball.

Our school also has fields side by side. During league games parents from the Frosh team wander over to our game to see the action, and many of us varsity parents take a peek at the Frosh games as well. In between the baseball fields, our school has two Sand Beach Volleyball courts. When the kids aren't on the field or in the cages, they're playing some beach volleyball.

The Annual Mother/Son Baseball game and Hitathon will be played at the school in less than two weeks. The BBQ will be set up, and Our Baseball Family (Frosh, JV, & V) will spend an entire Saturday together...Good Stuff! Traditions are built one year/season at a time. This program is driving towards good things, with a very good coach/man behind the wheel.

Love that description bsbl247 of the atmosphere around your program!

Thanks guys, those are some great stories about some great coaches. However, using the bell curve logic, most HS coaches are just “average” HS coaches. As an asst. coach, I tip my hat to the “average” HS head coach –


The average HS coach...

gives 5-7 days a week, 3-6 hours a day (often more), for about 6 months of the year for little or no pay or appreciation in an effort to provide a quality athletic and learning experience for the players.

must hire and motivate a qualified staff of assistants to do the same for even less pay and appreciation.

plans and executes practices.

finds the right balance of motivation, discipline, fun and structure to maximize said experience for the players and the program.

makes all of the difficult decisions regarding player positions, playing time, cuts, team designation, etc., knowing full well that those who are not there every day to see the basis of those decisions will be constantly critical and understandably biased.

with little or no budget, tries to provide and/or maintain quality facilities and equipment for said experience.

orders uni’s and spirit packs across all team levels prior to knowing all the rosters so that gear will be there before game 1, all the while knowing that sizing will not be perfect and there will be complaints, but unable to order sufficient extras due to little or no budget.

is involved with coordination and execution of daily field maintenance.

must be tuned in to each player regarding injury, grade eligibility, attendance, behavioral issues, etc.

is involved with fundraisers that will perpetuate the program, yet deals with substantial regulatory limitations regarding such events.

finds a way to have life balance with family at home.

must communicate and coordinate with jv, frosh coaches.

is involved in travel arrangements.

has responsibility for emergency aid of players at practices and games.

must attend league meetings and stay abreast of rules and regulations.

maintains a good working relationship with AD and other school administrators.

is involved in security at the field and running of the snack bar.

is usually instrumental in planning, coordinating and coaching the summer program.

Oh yeah, and then there is... coaching.


THANK YOU all average HS coaches!!!!!!!!!

PS - I didn't feel totally right about being a coach complimenting coaches, but thought the perspective was worth adding. Also, I'm sure there are plenty of things I missed.

cabbage dad that really does describe what an "average" coach does for their program. You did forget one that some areas have but others do not - drive the team bus to and from away games. Mainly due to the fact if you hire a driver then you have to fundraise for it. So it's cheaper / easier to drive yourself.

My son's coach is a baseball junkie. He lives for the game. When he got the varsity job he quit coaching football to give full attention to the program. He had lunch with 8th graders to explain what it takes mentally and physically to rise through the high school program. One time we crossed paths at a baseball game and talked generic baseball and development for two hours.

He's a former collegiate player. He was also groomed as an assistant in a top high school program. I've watched him grow into a very good coach. In the beginning he was leery of parents, and rightfully so given the program's history. He was not very communicative with his players. He had to learn balance in terms of communicating.

His team competed for the conference title in his second year (car accident short circuited a great season) and won it in his third. The team went furthest in school history into the post season. The previous coach had seventeen losing seasons in twenty years. The parents owned him.

My son really likes the coach. His lack of communication and intensity freaked him out a little as a sophomore. He was rough on my son as a soph. One time I was ticked when I thought he publicly humiliated him. Whether it was coincidence or strategy my son started hitting better. After the last game the coach smiled at him and said he expected to see a star next year. Junior year my son figured out the coach, relaxed and saw the humorous side in practice. Games are intense.

Practices are very structured. There's no screwing around. No one is ever standing around. There's a purpose to every minute and every drill. When the team comes out of the locker room or off the bus and takes the field pregame it's obvious it's a very well structured, disciplined team. They don't need to be told what to do.

At the end of tryouts every year the coach tells every player what his expectations are for the year and what they need to improve to get to the next level whether it's a better varsity player or making varsity or jv.

Knowing the better players have showcase coaches working their college baseball prospect situations he asks what he can do to help. I think he would make a good showcase coach.

Thanks coach, I forgot another big one also.. balancing all of these with the responsibilities of their real jobs.

I just knew it!!! There really are some good high school baseball coaches out there.

My sons had an outstanding high school coach.

I love these positive threads!

Well my kids are not in HS yet but I would like to mention my HS coach. He just started coaching when I was in middle school and has been coaching at that school for 25 years now. During that time he has coached Baseball, Softball, Football, and is now the boys basketball coach. In our schools history we have had 1 undefeated team (we have had many undefeated regular seasons but only 1 that won all the way out) and he coached it. He coached the only district champion teams in baseball 4, softball 6. He has taken his basketball teams further in the state tourney than any coach before him.

Now what I consider the most impressive stat about him. There are 23 HS and MS head coaches in 8 different sports in this state that will all tell you they became coaches because of him. To me that says all that you need to know about the man.

You get what you coach.

Coach Henry at Pleasant Grove High School in Utah is an outstanding Baseball coach. Thank you coach Henry for teaching kids not only about the how to's of the game but about leadership on and off the field.

quote:

he seemed fair. I remember one year he cut the son's of the booster-club president and vice president and that raised eye-brows in our community because no one thought he would ever have the nerve to do something like that.

good for him. I am sure he got a lot of grief. Hopefully the school administration backed him up.