Coaches wonder about job security in an era when successful peers are let go.
Rich Forslund was not retained by the school despite winning five Peninsula Athletic League division championships in seven seasons.
By DARREN SABEDRA
PUBLISHED: May 31, 2017 at 9:44 am | UPDATED: June 1, 2017 at 3:33 am
Rich Forslund won 77 percent of his games in seven seasons as Half Moon Bay’s boys basketball coach, adding to an impeccable reputation among peers across the Bay Area.
Chris Lavdiotis built a similar legacy in 24 years as Piedmont’s boys basketball coach, mostly with the varsity.
They will not be back at their schools next season, joining a growing number of coaches in the Bay Area and beyond who have been shown the door by administrators choosing to move in a different direction.
There are a number of reasons coaches are let go — Lavdiotis says he was told his dismissal was the result of a bad relationship with the school’s athletic director — but there is one that has many coaches feeling as if the ice beneath them is thinner than ever before.
That ice being parents.
Parents upset that their kid does not play enough.
Parents angered that the coach is too demanding.
Parents concerned that the coach is out of touch with this era.
In a clash between modern-day parenting and old-school coaching, the scoreboard is not tilting in the coaches’ direction. Movement has become so common in an industry where contracts are typically renewed or not renewed after each season, coaches believe that it isn’t a matter of if but when the next one will be removed or simply walk away.
“We’re one or two emails from this being over with,” said Moreau Catholic boys basketball coach Frank Knight, who led the Hayward private school to a state championship game in March. “Most coaches understand that.”
Administrators, held back by district or school policy, seldom say why a coach was let go.
Is there a solution?
“The solution is let your kids be coached,” Simos said. “Teach your kids how to be coached and stay back. Obviously you have to be a parent and watch out for any major abuse or anything like that. But the solution is for parents to truly stop trying to control every aspect of their kid’s life. Let them grow up. That’s the solution.”
Read More Here: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/31/high-school-coaching-do-parents-have-too-much-power/
Rich Forslund was not retained by the school despite winning five Peninsula Athletic League division championships in seven seasons.
By DARREN SABEDRA
PUBLISHED: May 31, 2017 at 9:44 am | UPDATED: June 1, 2017 at 3:33 am
Rich Forslund won 77 percent of his games in seven seasons as Half Moon Bay’s boys basketball coach, adding to an impeccable reputation among peers across the Bay Area.
Chris Lavdiotis built a similar legacy in 24 years as Piedmont’s boys basketball coach, mostly with the varsity.
They will not be back at their schools next season, joining a growing number of coaches in the Bay Area and beyond who have been shown the door by administrators choosing to move in a different direction.
There are a number of reasons coaches are let go — Lavdiotis says he was told his dismissal was the result of a bad relationship with the school’s athletic director — but there is one that has many coaches feeling as if the ice beneath them is thinner than ever before.
That ice being parents.
Parents upset that their kid does not play enough.
Parents angered that the coach is too demanding.
Parents concerned that the coach is out of touch with this era.
In a clash between modern-day parenting and old-school coaching, the scoreboard is not tilting in the coaches’ direction. Movement has become so common in an industry where contracts are typically renewed or not renewed after each season, coaches believe that it isn’t a matter of if but when the next one will be removed or simply walk away.
“We’re one or two emails from this being over with,” said Moreau Catholic boys basketball coach Frank Knight, who led the Hayward private school to a state championship game in March. “Most coaches understand that.”
Administrators, held back by district or school policy, seldom say why a coach was let go.
Is there a solution?
“The solution is let your kids be coached,” Simos said. “Teach your kids how to be coached and stay back. Obviously you have to be a parent and watch out for any major abuse or anything like that. But the solution is for parents to truly stop trying to control every aspect of their kid’s life. Let them grow up. That’s the solution.”
Read More Here: http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/31/high-school-coaching-do-parents-have-too-much-power/
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