Politics in High School Baseball

My dad's situation is a little similar to the one of Coach McConnell and his son from what it sounds like.

My dad helped my uncle coach Garner Post 232 for a few years, including the year they won the State Title in '99. We live in Cary however, so when I started playing for Cary Post 67, my dad took time off from the Garner team, so he could watch me play. My uncle is the head coach for Garner, and it's always a fun time when Cary plays Garner in legion ball... the whole family comes out. When I finish my time with Cary, I hope my uncle can get my dad back on his side

 

This is a very intriguing conversation. A good coach (which I believe most of you are) who knows talent (which I believe most of you do) will inevitably know what their son's role on the team should be. Unfortunately, the poor kid has to be better than perfect to get any kind of approval from mouthy parents who have no concept of TEAM. Even then, there will be some who just have to express an opinion - even if it's wrong. I don't think a kid should have to play at another school to satisfy a bunch of "showbiz" moms and dads. This is probably the first time in the kid's life that their dad can actually participate in their baseball "career" because they've been busy coaching other kids while their sons were younger. If a parent must interfere with a coach, tell them to bring their son's jersey when they come to talk!

 

dittto.......

perfect observation 'observer".........

 

Observer - that is a great response. Especially in the rural areas where it is not feasible to just enroll in another school across town. Up in the mountains that next school might be an hour away and several tough miles of driving.

Parent involvement in the HS programs at smaller schools is critical. Without the money for field maintainence, etc that larger school systems can provide, the parents do a lot of construction projects and maintainence duties. But I don't know of a HS coach that has provided playing time as a result of this. Might get the parent a new ball cap though, lol.

 

I am not a coach, but I do firmly beileve that there is a line that you DO NOT CROSS with your high school coach. The high school coach has a team full of players to coach -not just one player, has to deal with the administration of his school, has to maintain the field, and somehow generate enough money to get the needed extra things for the season,and has to do what he feels is in the best interest of the TEAM, not just one particuliar player. This is not to say that the school, does not support the baseball program, but any of us that are involved or have been involved in high school baseball as a coach, parent, or player, know that baseball is not the revenue-generating sport that football or basketball is, and a lot of the "extras" come from fund raisers of one sort or another. In the high school that I am associated with, the high school coach never knows who donates what. The bottom line... I would not want to be in a high school baseall coach's shoes come the spring. He will never please everyone -but pleasing everyone is not what I would expect to find in his job description either! For the players - do your best in practices and in games, treat your coaches and your teammates with the utmost of respect, and the rest will take care of itself. And for the parents, let your coach(s) do their jobs!

 

It depends.......

on the quality and support of your administartion as well!!!!!! In at many schools YOU are the coach and YOU coach YET at many a school u r just a pawn as they the principal and AD may wabt to dictate IT IS CLOSER than you think right here in Charlotte in several places I suspect!

 

prepster-

Sorry if I misread your original post, I agree that playing time is between the caoch and player.

There are some very good posts here, excellent thought going on...

I personally know of a situation where the son of a coach was really placed under a microscope more than other players, and that was obvious to me as a player on this particular team. It drove him away from the game. There is a frne line to be crossed between high expectations and unfair treatment, which is what the rest of the team saw, but we never questioned the coach, not back then anyway. I have also seen a step dad, who was coaching an opposing team t omine several yars ago cuss his step-son out for missing a ground ball, which almost resulted in a brawl in the dugout between the coach and the parent of his step-son's best friend.

So I see two sodes to this... all I can say is Thank God for Daughters!!!!!! (from a baseball coaching standpoint, anyway...)

BTW I will be cleaning my shotgun when my players come asking her for a date!!

 

Mudcat has 3 daughters and fires his once daily and leaves by the front door. Wants them to be able to smell the gunpowder and know it gets used.

 

Mudcat-

I with ya all the way, brother!

 

Coachevens, here is my $.02. I started coaching when my son was 5. I coached or help coach until he started high school (and still helped with some AAU and showcase stuff). His high school coach and I became pretty good friends, mostly because I hung around the ballfield as much as the boys did. I was the local handy man, fixing things, cleaning and setting up the concession stand, keeping score and stats, and announcing. I never pressed the coaches for playing time for my son. I did have "backdoor" conversations about my son and his playing time, so I would be able to help steer him in the right direction. He was never one to talk to the coaches as men, he would just come home and talk about stuff. So I used this as a learning tool for me, so I could help teach my son about some of these things. As he progressed in high school, he became a solid contributor and starter on his high school team. After a time, a couple of the parents whose boys were not playing as much as they thought they should would make the occasional comment to me like, "maybe I need to work around here like you do, so the coach will like my son too". So many parents now are out to protect their children, so it always has to be someone else's fault. At work, we call it blame sharing.

I do believe there are politics in baseball. I believe there are politics in high school baseball. But mostly the politics are between the parents and the coaches, and mostly the parents. A high school baseball coach (or any other sport) who does not play the best players does not win as much as the coach who does. In todays "win at all cost" world, coaches who do not win are many times replaced with someone who can get the job done. Where does that leave a coach who plays buddy ball?
Sorry for rambling.