Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 10:11 pm
StumpHunter wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 11:05 am
Having coached youth and HS sports for years, I don't believe a thing a parent of an athlete says about why their son has a bad reputation. 99 out of 100 times if a player has a reputation, they have earned that reputation, and 99 out of 100 times their Dad will have some excuse for their kid.
Couldn’t agree more stump. Here’s a few good ones. Listen to this stump (and others), I’ve coached varsity lacrosse and modified football for 6 years. I no longer coach either because of the parents. I removed myself from it because it was no longer enjoyable for me. And I don’t miss it one bit. My father was my coach until the day I graduated high school and all I wanted to do was be like him when I got older. I quickly took over the varsity lacrosse program at the school I teach at and I resigned from both lacrosse and football within 6 years. I’m coaching my step sons kindergarten lacrosse team now but that will be the extent of it. We have a boy on the way so maybe I’ll get back into it down the road but I’ve never been so bitter about something in my life.
My father became my assistant when I took over the varsity program which was awesome. I took our schools lacrosse program from the gutter (consistent 2-15 seasons before I got there) and completely turned them around within 2 years and got them to the sectional playoffs for the first time in 14 years with a 9-8 record. The following few years I went through hell and back.
I had a parent attempting to file a lawsuit against my father and I for “bullying and targeting” their son because we kicked him off the team for multiple run-ins with coaches, players, suspensions, etc. Now granted both my father and I are old school coaches but never was it even close to what they were claiming. It was simply discipline and we handled it exactly how anyone else would have. Long story short, the kid was so disrespectful that one day after offseason workouts (it was the Friday before spring break), I told the kids practice was done and they could head out. He stayed behind. I told him he was free to head home and he said no I’m staying to play basketball in the gym. I said, no you’re not. There is no supervision and everything is locked up. He got ticked off and went outside and did donuts around my vehicle in the parking lot and smiling out his window at me while he’s doing it.....yeah. No less his father was the varsity baseball coach at our school. However, you wanna know why he never followed through with his lawsuit against us?
He was arrested for choking out one of his baseball players before a game. No this is not a joke. He was obviously fired after that as well. ........But I was the one “bullying” kids
It was all over the news and even landed on deadspin. Check it out.....
https://www.google.com/amp/s/deadspin.c ... 277205/amp
As you can tell, this father was exactly what his mugshot portrayed. Arrogant, thought he was a tough guy, did no wrong, kids did no wrong, etc. I legit couldn’t stand the guy
I also received threats on Facebook from a different father a year later because I kicked his kid off the team for a slew of valid reasons. The state troopers ended up getting involved with these social media threats. I didn’t bother pressing charges because the guy was an idiot but it was a big deal at our school. He said that he had 3000 rounds of armor piercing ammunition ready to go and that “it was on”. Along with plenty of other stuff. I still have the screen shots on my phone. It was absolutely out of control.
And these were just a few of many ridiculous stories that I have from coaching. And I’ve coached some unbelievable kids with unbelievable parents. I still communicate with a lot of the kids 3+ years later. The same with some of the parents. But now do you see why I have no desire to coach? Because that’s what I’ve had to deal with during my time. It was no longer enjoyable for me anymore and it makes me sick. I’ve always wanted to coach my whole life and was obsessed with it when I first started because of who my father was around here, the connection I developed with players, getting kids into college for lacrosse, etc. Now, I could give 2 craps if I ever coached again. It’s really sad how these kids and parents are these days. It’s a fricken joke if you ask me. Never will I ever be that type of parent. And I’ll make damn sure my step son and soon to be born son will never act like some of these kids do now or be like some of these parents later in life.
Sorry for the long post, just figured from a coach to coach standpoint you’d enjoy the read
With all due respect, is that any reason to not take a man at his word?
I don't think we should automatically dismiss the father's claims simply because it was a "sports dad" who made them. You seem to be making that assertion based on your own experiences as a coach. Logically, that's flawed. It's an egocentric fallacy; that is, applying your own experiences to everyone else. In analytics, it would be like taking a sample size of one and calling the outcome probable for every other instance.
I'm not discounting your experiences, PHP. I believe every word you've said, and you know I respect your opinion. But aren't there also GOOD parents? How do you know Mitchell's dad is a bad dude or an unruly parent?
I was a good parent. At least I always thought so. My son was a really good baseball player, ranked in the top 50 in South Carolina when he was a freshman in high school. When he was 12, I was approached after an all-star tournament game by coaches from Clemson, South Carolina and the College of Charleston. He was TWELVE! Then we moved to Iowa, and I enrolled him at my alma mater. Crazy enough, his high-school coach wouldn't even look at him for varsity as a sophomore, even though he had lettered and excelled as a freshman in SC against far stiffer competition. Then, as if that weren't bad enough, he was left off varsity after spring practice in his JUNIOR year, even though he had hit .450 for the sophomore team. The truly wild thing was that the varsity needed bats. They had finished in last place and averaged about 2 runs per game the previous season.
So after practice one day, I stopped the coach in the parking lot and had a polite, respectful conversation with him, asking him why he was leaving my son off varsity. He said, "He's not a very good defensive player." I said, "Fair enough. But your team needs hitters, and he's your best. Couldn't you make him the DH?" The coach then gave the most ridiculous answer I'd ever heard: "I don't believe in the DH." Should have known he was a college pitcher who never got to hit. My response was, "Well, the other 17 teams in the league believe in the DH, so maybe that's why we finished in last place." Again, a very calm, measured conversation and tone. Eventually the coach relented and put my son on the varsity, but he gave him very few opportunities. -- just 44 plate appearances in 40 games. Yet he hit .385 and finished 3rd in the league with 7 home runs.
My question is simple: Was I a bad parent because I spoke up?
Apparently the coach thought so. A couple years later, a friend of mine at church (the coach attended that church, too) told me that he had overheard the coach speaking of me in the same way you speak of the unruly parent. And he did this even though I never said another word to the coach about my son's playing time.
Again, I believe you completely, PHP. Every word. But we all view things through the lens of our own lives.
With that in mind, it seems appropriate to let the facts come to light. We shouldn't just take Mitchell's dad at his word, but we also shouldn't just take the critics at theirs. None of us knows whether Mitchell's reputation is deserved. Maybe we ought to let the facts play out, as well as the young man's career. And heck, even if his reputation was deserved, a certain Hall-of-Famer who wore 84 for the Vikings also had a troubled history as a collegian. People can change, especially if they get in the right situation and rub shoulders with good people.
that’s a monster game