High School Coach Problems

First, where do you live where you have a chance to race 10 times during Indoors? Nice problem to have!

Second, if you thought it was too much, why not just bail on a few of those meets? Family event, pulled muscle, illness.. blah blah blah.. there's a passive aggressive way to avoid over racing, you just need to talk it over with parents first.

Well, start with the AD

Max number of regular season meets is a pretty standard rule.

What did you qualify for, where you were not allowed to compete?

Sounds like you had 10 chances to compete.

Alabama. The coach ran Varsity in JV meets which were during the week and also the regular varsity meets on the weekends. We should have bailed on some but most parents were new to track and since the coach had been coaching for so long they thought the coach would know the rules.

Apparently the rule is 5 varsity meets, 3 middle school. We had no idea and neither did our parents.

the parents of the kids who couldn't advance to state write the AD and principal and explain what happened. "coach x entered the y HS team in 10 regular season HS indoor track meets this season. state rule is the limit is 8. as a result no one from this HS can advance towards state. that includes my son, johnny, who was ranked 10th in the state in the 800m, and was qualified to advance. etc. etc."

stick to the facts. keep it tight on this objective mistake. don't wander onto other complaints . limit the emotional crap. you want it where the coach has zero excuse and the mistake doesn't disappear into a bunch of emotional bs that's more debatable. or worse, allows the coach to chat up how in the abstract, "they would have qualified 10 kids to advance." you want the focus on the reality that none of them can go anywhere.

make your point, get in, get out quickly. save the broader critique for when some other objective mistakes pile up. and by objective mistakes, no doubters like this, as opposed to debatable ones like "she has an ego" or "we don't like her training methods." she has an ego and doesn't admit her mistakes, goes better when she makes a mistake. we don't like her training methods, goes better if half the team is on crutches or can show they are running slower not faster.

protect the kids best you can by leaving the kids out of it. parents make the complaints. if the coach takes it out on the kids, voila, that's a new objective beef.

numbers show it's not just one parent with issues or a vendetta, but something affecting the team. so if you do an email approach, have 10 parents do them. if you have a meeting with someone, 10 parents show up.

i live in texas these days. you get 8 outdoor meets before the state progression. you do 9 meets you can't do district, area, regionals, or state. i think even an ordinary kid would be upset he can't even do the first round of state progression, and the good kids just got denied progression they would have done.

are you really suggesting some triangular or 5 team meet, that the coach overdid, is as meaningful to the team and kids as the state progression part?

What issues or vendettas do the parents have?

First talk to the coach. Then the AD. Then whoever is in charge of the AD. often this is not the principal.

Of you go over the head of the coach directly to the school board you are not helping your situation.

Try to get why you want without being confrontational. This will be a good lesson for you. Most go right to attack mode. That doesn’t work for anyone.

Good advice about staying cool. One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is to accept it (not agree with it...but accept yhat it happened and move on)when you are treated unfairly. That's not step 1 for you here because there me be some hope for it to be changed...but it might be step 4 if things stand as they are.

Maximize and use the races as an opportunity to get better and cut back on workouts a little going in. There’s way this can help you. Practice sit and kicking, not going all out in some races, controlling a race , etc.

immaterial. you just ended their season even if they'd qualified to advance.

you're trying to engage in character assassination but if you keep it tight -- nothing but this one mistake -- the kids and parents have a right to be angry, and their broader "issues or vendettas" would come off as a failed attempt to distract. no principal or AD would be like, let's ignore you "knocked our HS out of the playoffs with your mistake" because some of the parents have existing issues.

as i was saying, if you bury the lede in a bunch of other complaints, only then can the AD miss the forest for the trees or the coach come back and say "disgruntled parents."

are you seriously suggesting existing parental complains excuse an error this bad? to me you want to roll with this core complaint, and only pile on with other issues, eg., refusal to admit other mistakes, if invited to do so.

2 anti-troll comments

how have you run 10 indoor meets already?

do the kids and parents not know the rules?

like one year my select soccer team made dallas cup which was during HS soccer playoffs and TF season. cleared it with TF coach, sometimes i had soccer/track schedule conflicts. but there was a potential eligibility issue if the HS team advanced deep. we lost early in the playoffs and the conflict evaporated.

but my point is, we checked it.

and, like, in TX where i live now (a) you can't do 2 meets in a week and (b) can't do more than 8 total. can't do more than 2 distance events. can't do more than x events total.

or HS/college soccer was played by different rules than select/international. subs could re-enter. subbing was less limited. countdown clock.

know your rules. protect your athlete.

My parents and I*

Why are so many trying to defend the coach....The coach has the responsibility to know the rules and accept the consequences if rules are broken. I'd be willing to be the coach would be equally mad/frustrated if her student athletes broke rules that the athletes were responsible for knowing and understanding.

Sounds like this coach is a problem! As others have suggested I'd start with the AD/Principal or both. Express the concern and how it impacted X number of runners, the impact it had on the scoring at the state meet. Missed opportunities for seniors (if it occurred) etc.

Unfortunately, for you and your team, there are not alot of very qualified and passionate coaches that will take on the responsibility of coaching a high school team. The great ones are hard to come by and are typically loyal to their school or they are helping because they have kids that compete.

Please explain the problem. I am confused.

In this kid's state you are only allowed to participate in X number of meets before the State Meet. The coach signed some of the kids up for too many meets, making the kids ineligible for the state meet.

Athletes and parents are furious, as they should be.

I would start with the AD. If that doesn't work then Principal. If the coach isn't willing to own up to their mistakes then you need to go beyond them.

The problem is there is no solution even if the coach "owns up to it". The damage is done and kids missed an opportunity to run at the state meet because of her.