Parents have a bigger problem with hard coaching than kids

It’s amazing how recent events can revisit debates.

While some people watch their NCAA tournament brackets get blown
to hell in a handbag (raising hand), a “What is the right coaching
approach” debate broke out. During a timeout of an East Regional
matchup between No. 2 Michigan State and No. 15 Bradley, which the
former won 76-65, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo verbally berated
freshman Aaron Henry for what he believed was a lack of effort. Izzo’s
facial expressions looked closer to Friday the 13th than March Madness.
Henry’s teammates tried to diffuse the situation by getting Izzo to call
the next play.

Since we live in an outrage culture, the reactions ranged from “How
could Izzo do this?” to “C’mon, kids are soft, don’t contribute to the
wussification of American.”

The 64-year old Izzo, who has been the Spartans head coach since
1995-1996, has 606 career wins as of this writing. In his tenure, Michigan
State has one NCAA Tournament championship (2000), seven Final Four
appearances, nine Big Ten regular season titles and six Big Ten
Tournament championships. In 2016, Izzo was enshrined to the Naismith
Basketball Hall of Fame.

There are a few things to unpack. For openers, youngsters know what they
are signing up for when Izzo recruits them. They are getting a coach that
preaches strong guard play, defensive tenacity and rebounding. Izzo is
famous for his war rebounding drill in which players wear football helmets
and shoulder pads. He is also famous for lines like “Tough players win”
and “I don’t determine playing time, players do” and “A player coached
team is better than a coach-coached team.”

The generational stereotypes are many whether you are a baby boomer,
Generation X or millennial. The common narrative is how technology
has taken over society that today’s youngsters have a sense of entitlement.
As a result, the belief is that youngsters today do not receive hard-edged
coaching well.

Relative to the generational stereotypes, I’m as guilty as anyone as a
Generation Xer but when I was a kid, I heard plenty of complaints about
my generation. Chances are, my parents heard plenty of complaints about
their generation from their parents.

Another common belief is how kids have changed. I disagree with that
notion entirely. The more accurate assessment is that adults’ expectations
of youngsters has changed.

The reason why Izzo’s tirade on Henry became such a talking point is
because a) Welcome to 2019 where becoming offended is en vogue,
and b) It is a microcosm of the belief that you cannot hold people
accountable.

The belief also lies that with Izzo’s tirade that went viral will steer
youngsters away from that coaching style whether an incoming freshman
or leading a kid currently in the program to transfer. I find that theory to
be the biggest load of utter nonsense. For openers, kids that are good at
their sport of choice know that criticism comes with the territory. As long
as the kid gets praised for his or her good points, they can deal with
criticism just fine. If a coach only tells them their faults and is verbally
or even physically abusive, that’s a different story altogether.

When a kid gets to college, they know full well that coaches will tell
them things they don’t want to hear. Of all the reasons why a college kid
will leave a program, being coached hard is very low on the list. They are
far more likely to leave a program because they are a) Buried on the
depth chart or b) Do not like their role in the program.

So often you hear coaches tell youngsters that sports are life lessons that
prepare you for the personal and professional world. Translation, you do
not prepare the road for the youngster. You prepare the youngster for the
road.

Contrary to popular belief, kids don’t have a problem with being coached
hard. The parents, however, are another story entirely.