OH, that Coach

RZ,
I think the term, out of line, is pretty ambiguous. Out of line because he said little johnny sux or out of line because he pitched little jimmy 165 pitches, or out of line because he makes players run sprints after losses?

The answer for me would be case by case, I'm not sure I could generalize. There's a big difference between risking a players health and upsetting his delicate nature.

If you got a coach who has issues and possibly needs needs to be removed or hav e some sort of action taken against him, then then all players, parents and the AD are on board together. If anyone of the three factions aren't on board, then it won't work and the players will have to deal with it internally.

It is really a shame that you have to get the parents and AD involved---no wonder good coaches are tough to find and why coaches are always looking over their shoulder---

rz1, what happens when the parents watch too much ESPN and think their kids are the next _____________, whose job is it to put them in their place? When they feel like they know more than the coaches, more than other parents, and more than anybody?

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
It is really a shame that you have to get the parents and AD involved---no wonder good coaches are tough to find and why coaches are always looking over their shoulder---

If the parents and the AD are involved, it usually would indicate that there's something very wrong with a coach that goes beyond a kid getting yelled at for screwing up or Little Jonny not getting playing time or some players can't speak up for themselves when they have an issue they need to address with a coach.

A good coach doing his job will have nothing to worry about whether he wins or loses because teams HS rosters change over year-to-year. If he's running a good program, he should never have to look over his shoulder.

quote:

It is really a shame that you have to get the parents and AD involved---no wonder good coaches are tough to find and why coaches are always looking over their shoulder---

TR...how is that any different than a manager out in the business world? We all have bosses (like ADs), customers, employees and stakeholders (like parents and players) looking over our shoulders at work. Good managers are hard to find just like good coaches are hard to find. But, good managers..and I suspect good coaches..are not that worried about looking over their shoulders because they are confident. Bad ones, that's another matter and they do need a bit more "supervision". I don't think anyone gets a free pass now-a-days (except congress...and that's starting to change too!).

And then again the wrong doing is in the minds of the parents who feel their kids should be starting

Best quote I ever heard from a kid regarding parents--"Wouldn't be great if we could play in a bubble and not have the parents involved!!"

I think that says it all

TX Husker

Answere me this---if the problem of parents were not so prevalent why don't we have more solid coaches at the HS level?---the answer is very simple--for the pittance they get to coach they do not need the aggravation

Parents don't inflitrate the business world for their kids--at least not yet

It's the same problem in the business world because those kids become employees and they do stick up for themselves.

I don't see a quality coaching problem in baseball any more than football and basketball (probably other sports too but I have not been exposed as much to others). It's more pay than anything. Why don't we have better teachers in the classrooms...same problem. We have better coaches in the summer than the school year because we pay them more and they don't have to put up with school rules/administration...the kids are the same kids, parents are the same parents.

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Parents don't inflitrate the business world for their kids--at least not yet

Hey TRhit..You'll love this

Helicopter Parents on the Job

To me that is very sad---no wonder we have a country that is in trouble

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"pittance"

The varsity head coaches in our district receive around $8200/season.

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TR,
A little bias there. How about "stuff" rolls downhill as the reason? The reality is what O44 posted in another thread. The vast majority of HS coaches are good guys doing their best for the kids. Some are better at it than others. There are also a few HS coaches out there who are just plain bad apples. The vast majority of parents are good people doing their best for the kids. There are also a few out there who are just plain bad apples and that includes the complainers as well as the just plain suck-ups who manage to screw other kids so their own can get ahead. There are a lot more parents than there are coaches so the sheer number of bad parents who will show up is going to be bigger.

How do you deal with a bad coach? It has to be done on a case by case basis. 99.9% of the time the best thing to do is deal with it and go on. That doesn't mean there aren't instances where one needs to transfer, have the player stick up for himself, have the parents intervene or have the player head off to college early to get away from a bad situation. Those situations do exist, but they are very rare and should be considered a last resort. Parents should always take a good long look at themselves to see if they are over reacting before they take any action with regard to a coach. I tend to back up parents on here just because there's a knee-jerk tendency to back up coaches regardless, but far more often than not it is the parents at fault more so than the coaches. That's just the way it is. Parents should also get outside opinions to make sure they aren't acting from bias or lack of knowledge. If after all that there's still clearly a problem then they may have to take the appropriate action. That action can only be determined on a case by case basis.

Simple statistics tell us that there are about 15 to 20 times as many sets of parents as there are head coaches so the probability of bad parents is going to be 15 to 20 times as high or more given that some of the really bad coaches will be weeded out.

Agree there, CADad. One other thing I would add is bad parents and bad coaches have the same tendency...they will hang themselves, just give them time.

quote:

Originally posted by gotwood4sale:
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"pittance"

The varsity head coaches in our district receive around $8200/season.

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The head coaches in our area are well compensated. They're not doing it for charity, that's for sure.

Coaching a HS baseball team and doing it right is close to a full time job. Other than a few private school situations I don't imagine any coaches in our area could be considered "well compensated".

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
To me that is very sad---no wonder we have a country that is in trouble

It blew me away when some time back I heard that helicopter parenting was going on with their adult children in the workplace.

Not sure if I have an answer to the original question. But here’s my opinion… Solving a problem, if one truly exists, needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. The same solution won’t work in every case with every person.

Regarding parents…

It’s probably nothing to brag about, but I would guess that we deal with more parents than almost anyone on earth. I could write a book, several books, on the topic and it would be full of amazing stories, some comical, some down right scary and some very nice stories.

After all of this, the only thing I’ve been able to figure out is that you can’t put a label on parents. They’re just like umpires, coaches, players and all others… Some are better than others!

Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, believe it or not, were actually parents of baseball players! Some of the most dislikable people I’ve ever met were also parents of baseball players!

I know that, for the most part, parents tend to see their child a bit differently than many others do. But I’m not sure that baseball really changes a good person into some evil being. I think the bad ones are not just bad when it comes to baseball, but are bad in many other ways. The good ones are good ones with or without baseball!

quote:

by PGStaff: I know that, for the most part, parents tend to see their child a bit differently than many others do. But I’m not sure that baseball really changes a good person into some evil being. I think the bad ones are not just bad when it comes to baseball, but are bad in many other ways. The good ones are good ones with or without baseball!

quote:

CPLZ quote:
RZ,
I think the term, out of line, is pretty ambiguous.

An ambiguous phrase in an ambiguous poll, looks like a fit to me

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:
rz1, what happens when the parents watch too much ESPN and think their kids are the next _____________, whose job is it to put them in their place? When they feel like they know more than the coaches, more than other parents, and more than anybody?

Dog, that is probably more the case than the "coach look". One thing about a parents rose colored glasses is that they become clear very soon after the boy fails to produce. However, some coaches will turn and point their failures being the result of poor talent, uncoachable kids, or parent issues before looking in the mirror at their own inadequacies .

I guess the real question is...

What is the best way to escalate issues for a problem coach?

1. Player to coach
2. Parent to coach?
3. Parent to AD?
4. Go stark raving mad?