After NXN, someone started a thread complaining that the coach of the winning boys team went up on the awards stand with the team. They claimed he was the only coach to do so and ripped him for holding the team trophy which was labelled as "overall a very selfish and obnoxious move. [He} seems to enjoy living vicariously through his team's success, as if he ran the race himself."
I thought the thread was going off the rails and needlessly turning into a personal attack so I deleted it. However, as a former college coach who noticed a long time ago that some coaches do go up on the award stand and some don't, I think the topic of "Should the coach go up on the award stand?" is an interesting one. Sadly, we never won anything big in cross country so I had never had the opportunity to actually figure out whether I'd go or not but here are my thoughts on the matter.
I've got zero problem with a coach being on the awards stand. Yes, it should primarily be about the athletes but think many of the coaches who don't go up on the award stand are doing it purposely to project a sense of false modesty.
If they want to be modest and not go up there (Mark Wetmore never goes up for example (but I'm not saynig it's false modesty with him)), then that's fine but I'd think if the kids on the team had any self-awareness at all they'd invite the coaches up with them.
When a major league baseball team wins a title, the manager certainly is allowed to celebrate although he doesn't actually play in the game either.
How come I didn't see the original poster also ripping Ed Eyestone or Diljeet Taylor of BYU? They both most definitely went up there. Do they not realized it's common at the NCAA level for the coach to go up on the awards stand?
Overall at NCAAs, 3 of 4 men's coaches went up on award stands. Everyone but Wetmore. For the women, I think it was 2 of 4. Eveyone but UNM (not sure about them) and Stanford.
It's interesting to hear at NXN that allegedly only 1 coach did it. What explains the difference between the HS and college norms? Is it just because everyone else doesn't do it in HS? Or maybe because you are dealing with kids/young adults.
Personally, I still have a photo from my HS xc days with the trophy at what was the equivalent of the state meet for us - we most definitely took it with out coach who was a beloved figure for us. That photo wouldn't mean nearly as much to me now 25+ years later if he wasn't in it as he was a big guy in our lives.
Thoughts?
