Kevin Siple is an extremely good football coach. He loves coaching football. He loves coaching kids. He is a good person.

I try to follow this rule too. Problem is, I'll say it to their face as well. :lol2:

 

 

Great post and exactly my Achilles heel as well...

I thought having red hair would have made you tougher ! :laugh:

Any administrators who would believe rumors about their current coaches or coaching candidates without investigating them would not be administrators that I would want to deal with anyway.

 

We had a wood stove when I was a kid and I can tell you from experience...sometimes it's just smoke.

I would love to hear your opinion on the theory, “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire”, when it comes to what is written on social media, message boards, blogs, etc.

 

The reason I bring up this point: As a long time high school football coach, I’ve experienced “the good, the bad, and the ugly” when it comes to social media. It sure is nice when you receive praise on a blog, or a message board for a job well done. We all want to be affirmed and love the attention when we are appreciated. That’s just human nature. However, if you are coach who has been praised on social media, it is safe to say that you are also a coach who has been criticized and chastised for a bad loss on a Friday night. I have learned to handle the public criticism. My skin has definitely thickened over the years. Whether I agree or disagree, I can accept the constructive criticism and the opinions. It’s humbling and often hard to read sometimes, but I believe that part of it comes with the job. Where I have had a really hard time, is when people post something that is blatantly, not true. Maybe its rumor, maybe it’s just fabricated, or maybe the person just wants to make a personal attack.

 

For example, this past week, someone posted that he/she was surprised that I was still coaching high school football because I’ve been fired by so many schools. So, against my better judgement, I responded, professionally I think, that this statement was just not true. I also asked the person to justify what they posted regarding specifics of what schools had, supposedly, fired me. His response was that he/she really didn’t know for sure, but “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” So, my question to all of you is, If you read something in social media, do you consider it to be true? Or is it just reading for entertainment value? Or do you read it and believe there is probably some degree of truth to it, because of the theory, “where there’s smoke there’s fire?”

 

Let me give you another example.....While I was a Head Football Coach in Cincinnati, It was written on a message board that I was fired from my teaching/coaching job because I was leaving school during the day to go gambling at Belterra Casino. What? I guess I’m just not sure where the line is anymore. How that story got started is really kind of funny. Since we had such great players and coaches, I was invited to speak at a Nike Clinic at Belterra Casino. Therefore, I was, indeed, at Belterra on a Friday to be a clinic speaker. So, from that, someone wrote that I was “let go” because I had a gambling problem and was leaving my job during the school day to go to the Casino. Did that rumor have an impact on my reputation and keep me from being hired for other teaching/coaching jobs? I don’t know. Probably. In education, your reputation means everything. So, is it really okay to repeat something, or write something that you’re not 100% sure is true?

 

Do you all believe that people posting on message boards or blogs have a responsibility to be honest and report accurate information? Where do personal ethics and honesty fit in when it comes to social media?

 

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Kevin Siple

 

Yes, there is some responsibility for truth. I'm not from a football school and I know nothing about you. What they're doing just isn't right. I think your situation can be applied and discussed anywhere. It's sad enough that they take a little bit of smoke and thru their own embellishment get a real bonfire blazing. That is impossible to address, maybe don't dignify it with a response.

However, the flat out lies are a defamation of character and that person is trying to deny you the right to earn a living for you and your family. And that is so wrong. I don't know if you can prove they made those statements, but if you can I would seek some form of restitution. Even if it's the satisfaction of a formal apology.

UCRN....the red hair gets my blood pressure up and my temper flaring, but I have never been the toughest guy in the room. Especially at Dixie Chili at 2:00AM after a night at Burgandy’s In Clifton.

UCRN....the red hair gets my blood pressure up and my temper flaring, but I have never been the toughest guy in the room. Especially at Dixie Chili at 2:00AM after a night at Burgandy’s In Clifton.

 

The always appreciated Burgundy's reference. You just went up a couple of notches in my estimation...

UCRN....the red hair gets my blood pressure up and my temper flaring, but I have never been the toughest guy in the room. Especially at Dixie Chili at 2:00AM after a night at Burgandy’s In Clifton.

 

I know right, you were too busy ordering up a 3 way.

Colonel-fan...I even spent some time at Burgandy’s when it was called the Lighthouse. Had a few Tom Collins there back in the day.

GF...You didn’t use a certain 6’1 180lb red hair. Blue eye draft card at Burgandy’s did you? I thought it only worked at Alexander’s or Denny Dase’s Place. :ylsuper:

GF...You didn’t use a certain 6’1 180lb red hair. Blue eye draft card at Burgandy’s did you? I thought it only worked at Alexander’s or Denny Dase’s Place. :ylsuper:

 

Every time you post I think of @Birdsfan

i my self on these forums tend to look for the truth somewhere between all the talk. i tend to not believe everything i see in forums as you have blow hards that can go to extreme in each way. If i see something here i tend to ask people i know who do know the truth.

UCRN... I did indeed have a good friend who was a red haired, 6’1 180 lb. free safety on the Bluebirds 1975 State Championship. He may, or may not, have let me use his ID to get in those places. Great times were had by all.

I always consider the source. Like Deuce I have many contacts throughout the state and more often than not I can get right to the truth in a matter of minutes through a text message. My first instinct regardless of what I may see on social media is that whatever I saw is false until proven otherwise. The truth or something close to the truth is easy to find out if you know the right people and they also happen to trust you. I’ll never reveal a source and I’ll never put out information that I haven’t personally verified. More often than not I sit on information that I know is legit and sit back and watch people dance. Social media has proven to be a powerful resource incapable of being tamed. It’s like a rogue wave. If you are going to be a coach in this day and age then you better learn how to surf.

As the person who made the “smoke....fire” comment let me say nothing I was referring to came from social media.