Do parents of High School Athletes belong as Varsity Coaches?

[BigVMan23]

Onceuponatime...you were allowed to post.

 

Anyway, this is absurd. You want coaches to step down when their kids get to varsity? I'll wait...

 

I know of at least one coach that did this. College buddy of mine, head coach at a couple of different schools, is now an AD. Told me he didn't want to coach his son for a couple of reasons, one of them being he was afraid he wouldn't be fair to him (be too hard on him). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is what varsity coaches should do when faced with this decision, just that it's the decision my buddy made and thought it was best for his son.

 

I don't think this is near the issue at the varsity level as it is or can be in the lower levels of sports. Most...and I say most varsity coaches are smart enough to realize what their son can do and play him accordingly.

 

With that said, no matter the circumstances, it's usually a no-win situation for the coach, particularly if his son plays many minutes at all. Even if the kid is very talented, some people, maybe even a lot of people are always going to think the son plays too much...the coach isn't developing the kids behind his son, etc. Look at Tubby and Saul Smith as a famous example. And I know there are a couple of varsity coaches with sons on teams right now that get a lot of flack about how much their sons play. And their sons are pretty good ball players too. Tough situation for a coach to be in.

[Mustang75]

Hope this doesn't come across the wrong way, but maybe the coach was wrong or maybe your kid wasn't very good in middle school and is better now. Just because a kid ends up being better in high school, doesn't mean he should have made the team in middle school. Not making the team could have been the best thing to happen to him if it made him work harder and develop.

Good coaches play the best kids, bad coaches play favorites. That is the bottom line.

In fact I think that coach everyday. Put a fire in my son to work harder.

[Plato]

It is hard for even the most experienced coach. I think back to when Coach Hicks was coaching Tyler. Tyler worked harder than anyone. Day in and day out he was a fierce competitor. But no matter how good he was or how hard he played, there were some idiot parents who went to great lengths to cause problems for them. In my opinion it isn't usually the coach who can't be objective... It's the parents of other kids on the team who are often most bias.