Saugus HS coach blows up team in newspaper

He was very honest, too honest...to the newspaper. Keep things "in house." I tell the newspaper & tell all my runners when they talk to the newspaper to "keep it vanilla": it was a good day for racing, the competition was tough, the course was good.

He might have been too honest with the kids as well. Say, "We didn't race very well today. But, we made it. We live to fight another day. We'll regroup & go after our competition next week."

Meanwhile, the journalist could have NOT printed the "rawness of the heart" after their poor performance. He is writing, after all, about kids.

Our local sports beat reporter does a really good job about keeping the article grounded.

So I see the headline for the thread and decide I want to read the article . I don't follow the HS scene that closely.

I read the article. The coach did the exact opposite of blowing up the team.

Instead, he fell on the sword for the team.

“We’ve never run that poorly before,” Paragas said. “When seven girls run that poorly, that is the coach’s fault. I take full responsibility.”

Now the second poster thinks he was too honest for saying he's not sure they can run that poorly and turn it around for state and wants the coach to be vanilla.

Admittedly I'm a journalist so I'm a bit biased, but what's wrong with speaking honestly with the press. How does it hurt an athlete for the coach to be honest?

I just don't get it. "Saying the right PR friendly" BS statements doesn't get you in better shape.

I appreciate the honesty.

I thought it was a good article and way better than what I normally read in the paper because the quotes had some substance to them.

I've put this post up on the front page with the title, "Saugus Girls HS coach takes blame in newspaper for loss at CIF finals" as I disagree with the OP's sensationalist headline.

[quote]rojo wrote:[/b

Admittedly I'm a journalist so I'm a bit biased,

I appreciate the honesty.

Thanks you Rojo, great start to the day. Almost spit my coffee out from laughing so hard.

rojo wrote:

I've put this post up on the front page with the title, "Saugus Girls HS coach takes blame in newspaper for loss at CIF finals" as I disagree with the OP's sensationalist headline.

I'm with you until you get the quote from the coach about not being able to come back from this. I would never say that out loud to a reporter or the team. We have a saying on our team, "there are fluke bad performances," (the second half of that is "there are no fluke good performances"). High school kids thrive on confidence. If anyone on the team reads that quote (which they all will), they are likely shot for the state meet. I like the coach calling himself out (I did it last year both to the paper and the team), but to then essentially give up any hope for the next week is a bad move.

I didn't read the article...just looked at the pictures.

I hate crappy, jpeg, low res, washed out pictures. Find a shaded spot on the course, take a RAW image, post-process it, and put up a decent image.

great point, kids in general thrive on confidence. No need to be negative.

We live in a world where honesty is "too harsh."

Reading the articles, the coach said all the right things. He took the blame, first and foremost, then he stated the truth. I'm sure his team will bounce back.

The Saugus coach, Rene Paragas, is one of the top coaches in California. He has won State Championships and taken teams to NXN with some success. He has accomplished far more during his high school coaching years than most coaches could ever hope for.

I know nothing about the team dynamics of the Saugus girls in 2016, but I suspect Coach Paragas does. Perhaps this is a last ditch effort to light-a-fire under a talented, but under-achieving team.

It's nice that the coach takes the blame, but I've been around enough teams to know that the coach is not always the sole person to blame. Sometimes the athletes need to take some responsibility.

Saugus, Great Oak, Dana Hills, Arcadia and other California schools have high profile programs and gather a decent amount of scrutiny from the media and fans. The athletes are aware of this and must accept both the cheers and criticism. This is case where criticism may be appropriate for both the coach and the athletes, and the athletes should be included.

High school and college coaches love to take the credit when things are great. It's refreshing to see a coach take the blame at a low point. But athletes who chose this endeavor can not be exempt just because they are youngsters.

I agree with all that's said here. And when 100% goes wrong as a coach you look at what happened and accept the blame. But saying you are and actually accepting the blame are two different things. The tone after was not of humility but of placing blame on the kids.

My first reaction was that kids need to hear the bad with the good. Then, maybe he's trying to fire them up. But the reality is this is a girls team... The drama that ensues from someone posting a negative social media post grows into WWIII. What is this going to do?

I agree with you all and it is refreshing and honest. But is this not "blowing up" a HS girls team?

The coach wasn't talking about not being able to rebound from this poor performance in the next race. The coach said that his team dug too deep a hole by going out too slow.

coach wrote:

great point, kids in general thrive on confidence. No need to be negative.

What?

Building another generation of failed millennials?

Truth never hurt an athlete. Its how milestones and targets are set and exceeded.

Sport is about prepping yourself for life. Learning your abilities and desires. Its not about trying to send you through life with an inflated view of your abilities.

Its why we need these safe places now. Cos you have wrapped them in tissue paper and stuck a fragile sticker on them.

Pilar wrote:

The coach wasn't talking about not being able to rebound from this poor performance in the next race. The coach said that his team dug too deep a hole by going out too slow.

actually, he said both, discussing his team's overall ability to "bounce back" for next week, and his team's inability to recover from a slow start.

i know we live in a "what have you done for me lately" world where you're only as good as your last race, but it would be inane to second-guess one of the premiere h.s. coaches in the country. yeah, even belichick gets monday-morning-quarterbacked after winning 6 superbowls, and even wooden was roundly criticized after not calling timeouts in his team's loss to notre dame after 88 consecutive wins (instead of sticking with what won his team 88 games!), but i figure if honesty during good and bad times has gotten your team 9 state titles, then i would stick with honesty...

"When you run as poor as we did in not sure we can bounce back". Not the most encouraging words. Why not we ran poorly but I believe we're tough enough and smart enough to come back and run well in our next meet.

Criticism and negativity are different, no need for negativity. But then he knows what motivates his athletes.

Paragas is one of the best high school coaches in the country. He knows his team, he knows his athletes. Trust the process.

Someone has selective vision, and didn't read the whole article. After saying when everyone runs badly it's the coaches fault, he went on to blame the girls.

That's blaming the girls, not himself. And then:

If I was on that team, I would end the season right there.

He's not taking any responsibility for the girl's performances, but instead blaming them, for doing their best.

Saugus comes back for a second place finish at the state meet, loses by 40, after getting blown out of the water by 123 points last week. Impressive!

Saugus comes back for a second place finish at the state meet, loses by 40, after getting blown out of the water by 123 points last week. Impressive!