Arcadia all over again... PLEASE give advice

Don't listen to her? It shouldn't be too much of a problem to rebel against her orders and do your own workouts as a team, or at least meet outside of practice time to get your workouts in. This is assuming that you and your teammates actually know what you're doing?

This sounds absurd, almost surreal. Much worst than Arcadia IMO. At least Arcadia has a suitable replacement and O'Brien was given many many years to change (but didn't). I understand you not wanting to say your school's name, but I am curious for more details. Is this a coed program or girls only? What was the reasoning for letting the first (good) coach go? Does that good coach teach at the school? Was your now coach any good at all? You said she was but started WALKING as a senior? Who walks (besides newbies maybe)? IDK about making her life hell like the last poster suggested. That would make your season hell as a result. I guess all I can suggest is make the best of a bad situation. Who knows maybe she will be better than you expect. I mean I would think she would try to do a good job since this will be on her resume and won't look good if it's a disaster season. Coaching is a hard thing to do and be great but it's also hard to be terrible. If you just do what others do chances are you will be mediocre so maybe she will aspire to be a mediocre coach. Athletes can have great seasons with mediocre coaches. good luck.

Transferring is your only option. Pack it up.

Sorry, it is not appropriate for a high school coach to yell 'intimidating' things at athletes who might be as young as 14.

moron wrote:

Sorry, it is not appropriate for a high school coach to yell 'intimidating' things at athletes who might be as young as 14.

Ya I agree, that part of her story got my attention as well. Intimidating is just wrong. Period. Yelling in general as motivation is pretty lame IMO. I mean if your team is so lame that yelling is the only way to get their attention I would coach at another school. And if yelling was the only way for me as a coach to get their attention I would conclude I was not cut up to be a coach.

Kurious wrote:

moron wrote:

Sorry, it is not appropriate for a high school coach to yell 'intimidating' things at athletes who might be as young as 14.

Ya I agree, that part of her story got my attention as well. Intimidating is just wrong. Period. Yelling in general as motivation is pretty lame IMO. I mean if your team is so lame that yelling is the only way to get their attention I would coach at another school. And if yelling was the only way for me as a coach to get their attention I would conclude I was not cut up to be a coach.

Yelling to motivate is lame?! Tell that to Joe Newton at York or Dan Green at The Woodlands. Yelling works. And I for one would rather be yelled at and win state titles than have some coach who pu$$y foots around issues and wants everyone to like him/her.

To the OP, you sound like a smart kid. First, take this as a life lesson. Unfortunately, a lot of times it's about who you know in this world. Since your parents probably aren't going to pack up and move so you can run for another school I would say listen to the coach, be respectful, but so your own workouts (get guidance if you don't know what you are doing) and encourage any promising athletes that take the sport seriously to do the same.

Wow, some of you are ridiculously coddled. Sometimes yelling is part of coaching. Quit being such a wuss and learn to deal with some tough love. You probably never played football.

Future and current coaches beware: you have to play the game of politics to win at coaching. Especially in an ancillary sport like running, results don't mean squat—politics do! Both the arcadia story and this one are great examples of that.

As a first year coach, my first question to the AD was, "Who should I not piss off?"

You said you and your team collected signatures for a petition, but this makes me wonder if your former coach is still interested in coaching. It has been three years. Is he coaching somewhere else? Does he even want to deal with the B.S. at this school again?

I hadn't posted back because I wanted to give it time and see how the situation may play out... it didn't get any better, to say the least.

First, to answer the questions - No, the previous good coach has no interest in returning. I also think people may have misinterpreted what I meant when I said, "yelling." It definitely wasn't angry yelling, or harassment, rather the type of yelling you would see when doing intervals or other hard workouts. Regardless, I see nothing wrong with yelling. Some people really want to win.

Tonight there was a meeting among 2 of the Assistant Principals, several parents, the coach, her mom, and myself. The newest issue is one that I've seen cropped up on this board a number of times. A problem which I believe may one day result in changes to the interscholastic federation rules (I HOPE). It's the opportunity of attending a prestigious invitational, with several of the top athletes wanting to go (and the door's open - we have a slot reserved for our team, the coach wouldn't even have to go, all that we need is her permission, a simple yes), yet the coach says no. Her reason? Here are the two reasons she offered for not attending the meet

1- She ran the particular race in high school, finished 2nd to last, was embarrassed and wouldn't want our team to be, "embarrassed." (They would NOT finish near last, by the way).

2- Several of the parents "went behind her back" by registering a SPOT for the team (not signing up, not paying or officially entering, just reserving a spot for us).

By the way you can't run unattached in this meet, and it's one of two invitationals in our state that garner considerable attention from college coaches - another big reason to go, especially for our senior.

Yet she still says no. When I tried to talk to her mom (VERY politely and kindly, I might add, and this was my first time talking to her mom in two years) she brushed me away, told me she's an adult and that it's none of my business (IT DEFINITELY IS) and literally walked away from me. This was right before the meeting. Halfway through the meeting, a parent brought up college opportunities, and the coach said, "I'm sorry if this affects his college opportunities." Some people got upset over that (the parents, well actually everyone) and the coach and her mom LITERALLY stood up, said, "We're done! We've had enough." and stormed out. It resembled a kid having a temper tantrum, and frankly was embarrassing. Anyway, one of the assistant principals (who we talked to in the past years) didn't even seem to care, but luckily the other AP did and hopefully that can give us some leverage.

At this point, it's a MORAL issue.

I just felt like writing this because my blood is boiling and I am PISSED OFF. This is pretty much a rant, but thanks for listening. I hope the season may still be able to be salvaged.

It's definitely an unfortunate situation. I am not going to ask, but it sounds like a situation similar to a school I know of in my state.(Im not asking you to reveal your school, but I have heard from a friend of a 3A VA School dealing with a tough coaching situation). It is unfortunate to have young coaches who demonstrate that they are not necessarily qualified to deal with the demands of the sport.

One question I would ask, regarding the meeting is this: Why was the coach's mother present? She may be young, but I know that as a coach, you are expected to be the adult, and having your mother come with you to a meeting does not indicate a high sense of maturity on her part.

I have learned over the course of my career that you cannot depend on school support all of the time, and when you make decisions, sometimes you have to make them in a way that can easily and accurately be justified. Saying that you don't want to go to a meet because you once got whupped doesn't cut it, if you have athletes who have demonstrated that they can be competitive. Just curious, but is your team competing somewhere else on that weekend?

When is the next school board election? If nothing else you could tell school board members without action you are going to organize against them to elect new people. No one really votes in that stuff anyway it's not that hard get people voted off if you have areal reason that they shouldn't be in that job. This is America after all.

From the original post, the new coach's mother is on the school board. (The new coach is the girl who originally complained, resulting in the good coach being fired.)

"This girl complained to her mom, who had a high status among the school board, and the coach was fired."

This has to be a troll, right? Why was the coach's mother allowed to attend the meeting and contribute? Am I missing something here?

What about, as has been said, just ignoring her prescribed workout routine, but also emailing your old coach for a schedule? I'm sure that if she is coaching at a new school, she will be using a similar program as she was with you. Maybe she will be willing to email you a copy of it weekly?

You could write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper letting them know what's happening, or contacting whoever it is that covers local sports to put a spotlight on the issue.

You could try to find someone who knows about coaching to perhaps offer to "help" out the new coach...but in reality you would all just follow the volunteer. I'd try to talk with the AD and Principal about the situation separately. Finally, I'd go back to the Board and point out how unprofessional it is that the mother was at the meeting and how she needs to recuse herself from any Board action that deals with a family member.

Kurious wrote:

moron wrote:

Sorry, it is not appropriate for a high school coach to yell 'intimidating' things at athletes who might be as young as 14.

Ya I agree, that part of her story got my attention as well. Intimidating is just wrong. Period. Yelling in general as motivation is pretty lame IMO. I mean if your team is so lame that yelling is the only way to get their attention I would coach at another school. And if yelling was the only way for me as a coach to get their attention I would conclude I was not cut up to be a coach.

Tell that to Joe Newton.

Basil wrote:

This has to be a troll, right? Why was the coach's mother allowed to attend the meeting and contribute? Am I missing something here?

I'm tending to agree with Basil's troll alert. It's pretty well written for a high-schooler and why was he at the meeting? Is the OP the captain of the team and thus invited to the meeting? Seems like the stud senior would be the captain. Interesting tale though, hopefully some updates soon.