High School Coaches: Humor Me With Your "Crazy Parent" Stories

Have you been sufficiently humored yet?

Humor me this wrote:

Have you been sufficiently humored yet?

Well I'm not the OP but I'm loving this thread. Keep it up!!!

nope..... wrote:

Humor me this wrote:

Have you been sufficiently humored yet?

Well I'm not the OP but I'm loving this thread. Keep it up!!!

Agreed.

I was always one of the parents running around the course rooting for all the runners on our team. My wife was the 'team Mom' and I'm sure she might have created a headache or 2 for the coaches but overall they used her to organize fundraisers and running camp, freeing them up to coach.

I know they had a parent or 2 that was a pain but nothing compared to some of these stories.

I had a girl on my XC team in 8th position named as an alternate. She was mad that she didn't make the top seven although it was clear she did not.

She didn't show up for the state meet which was required of the athletes named as alternates just in case someone was sick or couldn't make it for some other unforeseen reason. I moved her off the list completely for the next meet.

The dad sets up a meeting with me and the AD. He wants his daughter in at the meeting. I don't allow that to happen. He shows up in his full military outfit with medals and tries to intimidate me at the meeting which was not going to happen given that I grew up in a house with my father who was in Nam during Tet.

He goes off n me for about an hour during which I just stayed cool and calm. The AD backed me up and pretty much told the guy he was nuts.

lol ur lucky you have a good AD, ik lots who would back up the parent in that

anti-tard wrote:

Deep South wrote:

I think a coach is playing with fire if they hold practice and it's over 100 degrees outside. It sounds like everything was fine, but playing with fire nonetheless.

If you're anywhere in the South it's just not something you can avoid. The team I coach now works out at 6 AM, but in my high school experience not being allowed to practice in >100-degree temps would've meant we couldn't start working out until late September.

It is only on rare occasion above 100 degrees before the sun comes up anywhere in the US.

otter wrote:

She didn't show up for the state meet which was required of the athletes named as alternates just in case someone was sick or couldn't make it for some other unforeseen reason. I moved her off the list completely for the next meet.

What meet is after the State meet?

I had a parent make a voodoo doll of the kid right ahead of hers and in the middle of the race she twisted the leg of the doll really hard. Race ends and the kid is nowhere to be seen. Eventually they bring her in on a cart with her leg all twisted up.

This happened week after week until her kid was #1 on the team. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Parent tried to get "student does not need to attend team practices and can train with private coach but still hold spot on varsity team" put into student's IEP.

Humor me this wrote:

Have you been sufficiently humored yet?

Not really. The majority of these that aren't made up aren't that crazy.

MYTHOLOGICAL FALLACIES wrote:

John Clendon wrote:

Southern CA 100F is different from East coast 100F. Dew points.

I didn't coach the team, but in college, a freshman runner's father would attend practices 2-3 times a week. The father lived 6hrs away from the college campus.

Not true. A myth. I've lived in both regions. Check the stats. Don't propagate misinformation.

Well, I've lived in the northeast as well as in various places in southern California. Malibu, CA, which is coastal, will have less extreme temperatures than, for example, Bakersfield, CA, which is interior and at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, where consecutive days with temps at or exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit are common during summer. Heck, even Sacramento, CA, hundreds of miles to the north of Bakersfield, can be like a furnace in summer.

,,mmmxvv wrote:

Bakersfield, CA, which is interior and at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, where consecutive days with temps at or exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit are common during summer. Heck, even Sacramento, CA, hundreds of miles to the north of Bakersfield, can be like a furnace in summer.

yeah, but it's a dry heat.

Yo mileage wrote:

,,mmmxvv wrote:

Bakersfield, CA, which is interior and at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, where consecutive days with temps at or exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit are common during summer. Heck, even Sacramento, CA, hundreds of miles to the north of Bakersfield, can be like a furnace in summer.

yeah, but it's a dry heat.

The throat and lungs are not big fans of dry heat.

Have senior twins on the women's XC team (HS). Neither in the top five. One running varsity in the 6th position in 2140s the other injured more than healthy ( read head case) drops out workouts, typically will train maybe 2-3 days of the six and runs junior varsity in the low to mid 23 range for 5k.

The latter runs the JV race yesterday. Crazy Mommy make a point to search me out and tell me she thinks her daughter ran 2230s and displaced the Varsity 7th runner; therefore her daughter is now entitled to run the regional meet next weekend. Anyway, JV results have not been posted by meet director.

I could put a chihuahua in the 6 or 7 spot and get better results from the 6 / 7 I have now.

I plan to to have current #7 and her daughter compete in the final JV invite this week; fastest of the two runs regional meet with the varsity.

Mother is a real treat, cannot comprehend one daughter is better than the other (marginally) and makes a point to tell me how I'm causing psychological harm to their family because one runs varsity the other does not.

I'll never understand how the parents of these marginally talented kids at best, are convinced it's the coaches fault their kids are not succeeding, yet still think they are the next D1 full scholar athlete.

I had a terrible XC coach in high school. Nice guy but he knew nothing about running and never made much of an effort. After going off for college and working in the city for a few years I moved back to my home town and ran into him at a bar. He said he was still coaching but his heart wasn't in it. Life had really beaten the hell out of this poor guy- nasty divorce, wife took the kids, underwater on his mortgage, and totally burnt out on teaching. XC was no where near the top of his priorities. I had gotten back into running a year or so earlier so I told him that I would be happy to volunteer coach the men's a few days a week. I'm not experienced but at least I had enthusiasm.

Twelve guys came out and a few of them even had some summer mileage which was honestly better than I expected. Four were pretty serious and just needed direction. The others were just there because their parents made them do a sport. That's ok though. I can work with that if they at least keep a good attitude and put in some effort at practice.

Throughout pre-season I worked out with the guys twice a week and had an optional long run on Saturdays that was generally well attended. A few parents got involved in a good way too- they brought donuts for the Saturday long runs and we discussed team and individual goals. After 6 weeks of pre-season training I was very happy and, even though I wasn't a coach, it was pretty clear that I was the one calling the shots. The top three runners were pretty clear and there were another five that were all in contention to be in the top seven. The other four were pretty useless and didn't care. One of these runners, we'll call him 'Bobbie', was really toxic. He was a senior who's parents made him run XC to get in shape for basketball. He was a very good basketball player, I'll grant him that. He would mouth off to me and the coach, conspire with the other runners do dog workouts, and was a bad influence on the other three runners.

Then the first meet came... and that's when the problems started.

I named our top seven runners on Wednesday and I got a call from Bobbie's parents that night. Apparently, Bobbie had been telling his parents that he was working super hard in practice (he wasn't), that he was the third fastest on the team (he certainly had the talent to be good but finished 9th in the time trial), that I was mistreating him (a bit of merit here, I was hard on the guys and especially hard on the ones that dogged the workouts), and had left him off the travel roster due because I had a personal vendetta against him (I didn't, only 7 kids travel due to the van size. I was actually pretty heartbroken that I had to leave the eight guy behind but both he and his parents understood). I explained all this to Bobbie's parents and they threw a shit storm. I don't deal with dramatic bull sh*t very well so I told them to call the AD if they have a problem and hung up.

Bobbie didn't show up for practice the next day and the AD asked to see me and the coach on Friday morning before the meet. The AD said that he had no problem with us leaving him off the team. Whew, that was a relief. Then he dropped the bomb- Bobbie had accused me of being a pedophile and the parents wanted to know why a single guy in his mid 20s would volunteer to work out with high school boys. WHAT?!?! I had a damn fiancé and the only thing that I had ever done that could be construed as inappropriate was run with the guys without a shirt on the Saturday runs. Since my volunteer coaching agreement was strictly informal I never did a background check (don't worry, I have a clean record) or received my CPR and some other certifications. The AD said the parents were going to file a police report (for what I don't know exactly) unless I was 'fired' and that would have put the school in some hot water. So the AD told me to I couldn't be involved with the team anymore.

I understood the AD's position and don't fault him but man... I was crushed. The team was really starting to gel and I was having a great time coaching them. The team took it pretty rough too and a few tried to contact me but I ignored their texts and calls because I was pretty paranoid about the whole pedophile accusation thing. I did follow the team in the newspapers and through the coach who I still provided training plans to and they had a pretty good season which made me feel a bit better.

My oldest daughter is starting to get involved in sports now and my wife wants me to be the soccer coach. Fvck that... I'm never getting involved in coaching again.

i wasn't the coach for either athlete, but a couple years ago there was this parent who had a daughter who was very talented. (Kid is a sweetheart, mom is nut job) During a couple XC meets mom was observed obstructing runners who were close behind her daughter as well as being overheard telling her daughter to "kick that little bitch's ass). The behavior was so blatant and out of line that the high school of one of the girls got a police escort to a large invite and the meet organizers (local college that mom is an alum) were made aware. Mom also moved the daughter between 3 high schools her jr/sr year in an attempt to get her on a team where she could coach her. The original original high school protested the move, as you can't transfer high schools for athletic purposes and the district conducted an investigation. Heading the investigation was an AD who was a family friend and even he saw how blatant they were. When the district ruled that the girl either go back to the original school or sit out a year of varsity completion mom moved her to a private school for that year and then back. Mom is well known on these boards for various misdeeds in this sport.

Coaching at a small D1 program. The coach before me had recruited almost all local kids (not always a bad thing) but certainly no superstars either. I honestly guess he did all his recruiting at one regional meet.

After year one, the father of these freshman girls blessed me out for the lack of progress his daughter had made. (she did put on the freshman 15, do A LOT of partying, and miss many practices) and told me he was going to have her transfer to an SEC school so she could pursue her quest for the Olympics.

I literally laughed at him, and told him good luck.

Bettingfool wrote:

Parent tried to get "student does not need to attend team practices and can train with private coach but still hold spot on varsity team" put into student's IEP.

Did it work? My sons high school coach is terrible. I may try this

Then he dropped the bomb- Bobbie had accused me of being a pedophile and the parents wanted to know why a single guy in his mid 20s would volunteer to work out with high school boys.

That's fvcking awful. But you can take some solace in the fact that if this is how little Bobbie deals with his troubles, it will come back to haunt him big time once he hits the real world...