Coaches and admin are often a clash in styles

Sometimes you write or talk about one topic and it triggers interrelated topics.

Once upon a time, OK about five weeks ago, I wrote about how cynical I become
when I hear of high school coaches resigning to spend more time with their family,
when often times it is a smokescreen for something else that happened beneath
the surface, such as conflict between coaches and administration:

http://vincedadamo.blogspot.com/2018/07/reading-between-lines-on-coaches.html

While such conflict can happen pertaining to any sport, the most volatile by my
observation happens among football coaches with the administration.

The coaches’ job, whether on campus or off campus, is to make sure
student-athletes are making grades and having a pleasurable experience, dealing
with parental and administrative concerns, being well-versed in safety issues and
while we’re at it teaching the fundamentals of their sport to give the team the best
chance to win games.

Administrators are dealing with district and state bigwigs, parents, teachers, kids,
staff members and coaches. To make an analogy, in corporate America, your
on-site bosses are like administrators, they deal with employees, foremen,
corporate bosses in all pockets of the United States. Also, let’s be brutally honest,
we think of the world as it pertains to us. We are all myopic whether we admit it
or not.

For example, my route with Alhambra Water in California covers parts of Martinez,
Pleasant Hill, Concord, Pittsburg, Antioch and Brentwood. Anything in our
company that is addressed beyond my route is none of my concern. Well, it is to a
certain extent but you get the point.

Coaches are the same way, they care most about what pertains to their team and
their kids, the rest are details. If an administrator deals with a complaint that a
coach is too difficult on the student-athletes, the administrator’s job is to reach out
to the coach to address the problem. Subsequently, the coach goes into the
“cornered animal” mode and pushes back. Some will do it more forcefully than
others but, again, you get the point.

The analogies I give are explanations more than justifications. The disconnect is
easy to understand, even though we may not like it.

As a for instance, football coaches are a different breed, most that I have known
are Type A personalities. Different variations of Type A? Yes, but Type A
nonetheless. After all, football is an emotion based sport. Other sports can be to
a certain extent such as basketball and soccer to name a few.

As a broad generalization, the only administrators that can relate to football
coaches, or any other emotion based sport, are those that played in high school
or coached that particular sport. If you took a snapshot of practice it would not
play well in the administration weekly staff meeting. I’m not suggesting that’s good
or bad but that’s no different than a construction site work environment is not the
same as a Microsoft office culture.

I have worked in both blue and white collar environments. I understand the locker
room culture of the former but I can also comprehend being more polished around
mixed company that the latter involves.

I had the pleasure of covering the Oakland Raiders in Jon Gruden’s first stint
from 1998-2001. I saw more than a few instances of him peppering players with
four-letter words.

On the high school side, I would occasionally catch glimpses of a coach chirping
in profanity. Without mentioning names, I heard a coach say to a kid, “I’ll (blank)
your (blank) up!”. I heard another say, "Get moving or I'll put a boot in your ass
until you taste what I stepped in two weeks ago.” People that have been around
sports understand the verbiage and in general the kids understand it. The
coaches are not so inhumane that they are literally going to stick their size
whatever Nikes up a kids’ rearend. They are simply doing it as a motivational
tool. Kids know it’s not realistic yet they respect the fear of letting their coach
down. The right kids bust their tail to please coaches, themselves, their team
and school.

Having transitioned into being a sports parent, I hope my kid gets a coach or
teammate that is a not easy to deal with, not because being that way is right,
but it’s reality. You deal with that element in life, sometimes more so than others.

Adding to the clash in styles is the exceedingly political correctness and litigious

society. I am the first to rail against that mentality, which is an entirely different

conversation for another day.