Hiring a new coach often seems to take precedence over ethics

Maybe “ethics” is too strong a word, but it has always been a concern to me when sports organizations fire a head coach and immediately—on the very same day— turn around and announce his or her replacement.

My concern? 

Well, since, especially in this day and age of lawyers, agents, advisors and such realities, hiring a new coach takes a long time. Given the complexities of finalizing contractual arrangements, one thing is clear:  while the now former coach was still very much on the job and trying to do that job to the best of their ability, the organization was interviewing and negotiating with their replacement.

Recent examples?  In the National Hockey League, three teams have recently made changes this season—the St. Louis Blues, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington capitals.  In each instance, the “new” coaches (Ken Hitchcock, Kirk Muller and Dale Hunter) clearly “knew” they were getting the jobs while the previous coach was still coaching games and running practices.

It just seems to be a deceitful way to run a business, though not uncommon in the world of high-level, “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” professional sports.  There was a similar situation that cropped up in the English soccer Premier League within the last year or so.  The incoming coach was signed, sealed and delivered when the outgoing guy was still on the sidelines.

Not classy—and not right.

A glaring example, of course, is what has just happened at Ohio State with their football program.  So apparently desperate was the school to hire another big-game (after they pretty much had to let Jim Tressel go this past off-season), they obviously had negotiated with Urban Meyer to be their new coach, even though the incumbent, Luke Fickell, was preparing his team for their biggest game of the season, against arch-rival Michigan.

While Meyer was denying a deal was done, it is now clear that he will, in fact (and of course) be the new coach.  (Interestingly, when Meyer stepped down from his last job not even a year ago, citing health factors and claiming he needed to spend more time with family.)

Too often college coaches, for example, leave a team or program and jump ship to another, because the timing suits them, even if it leaves their former employer, players or school in the lurch.  Bobby Petrino and Nick Saban are two names that pop to mind in this regard.

And, as recently as the end of the just-concluded Major-League baseball season, long-time Chicago White Sox manager was so anxious to take on his new job in Miami, that he left the White Sox on the final weekend of the season, not even fulfilling his existing contract to the end of the season.  He could not wait  two more days to make it "official".

So yes, sadly, it works for ways.

Is it just the way things have to be?  Absolutely not.  But it seems to be the way some organizations –and even institutions of “higher learning”—have to do business.

And it’s a shame.

Penn State allegations yet another wake-up call

The legal charges and sexual abuse allegations against a former Penn State assistant football coach  suggest, at least on the surface, a kind of classic “cover-up” on the school's part an effort to conceal the institution’s reputation and perceived integrity.

That it has taken this long for charges to be laid, again, is a concerning tale, to be sure.  Many stories about the allegations are available, including this one by Michael Rosenberg at Sport's Illustrated.

It’s difficult for someone on the outside to write about this, because while there are many allegations, how does anyone on the outside truly know the “facts”.

What those of us interested in youth sports (and the lessons that adults "teach" and model) can do, though, is wonder why Penn State officials seemed so lackluster in handling the seriousness of the allegations that were apparently made many years ago.

Institutions seem to have a propensity for keeping things “in house”.  And the school is not the first and likely won’t be the last institution or organization that handles things like this very poorly.  But that is no excuse for inaction or looking the other way.

An accusation does not always mean that something terrible happened, of course.  But my sense is, the more that is uncovered in the weeks to come, it will become clear that Penn State, as an institution of higher learning, likely failed to meet even minimum reporting standards for a case such as this and as importantly, failed miserably on ethical grounds.

We can’t always protect young people or young athletes.  But surely those entrusted with caring for young students and young student-athletes on campus have a serious obligation to do their best.  And if and when they can’t protect everyone, they certainly have an obligation to respond and investigate when serious questions are raised.

If this did not happen at Penn State, then many should indeed fall on their proverbial sword.  Many people in Canada and the United States enjoy and support college athletics in one way or another.  This kind of story, however, is a discouraging one and yet again suggests the undue emphasis on sports (and protecting those in and around big-time sports like football) too often outweighs almost everything else—including a sense of common decency.

Young athletes: never give up is still an important approach to live by

After a recent NCAA football game between Notre Dame and Southern Cal, players from the winning team said after the game that Notre Dame players had essentially quit toward the end of the game.  They stopped playing hard because they knew they were going to lose anyway.

In other words, they quit.

I have no idea if this is true, or not.  Here is a link to one of the articles in that spoke to the allegations of Notre Dame “giving up” and how their coach responded:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7163847/brian-kelly-notre-dame-fighting-irish-offends-players-apologizes-report-says

I do know that it seems to be a natural human tendency in sports, at all levels, to kind of “throw in the towel” when things don't go well, to not play as hard because the cause on that given day seems lost.  Athletes won’t usually admit it, but observers can sense and see less intensity, a loss of intensity that seems to go with knowing you are “out of it”.  It's probably natural to want to take the easier way out.

That said, one thing I’ve often tried to remind young athletes that I work with professionally is simply this:  while it’s not easy, it is indeed important to work your tail off until the game is over, whether the “win-loss” outcome has long since been determined our not.

There are many important reasons to adopt this approach, but here are a few to consider:

• Any sport you play, at whatever level, presumably you do it because you love to play.  The “score” in a particular game may be discouraging, of course.  But that reality doesn’t have to hinder your joy in competing, of being on the field of play, of giving your all, your personal “best”.

• Sometimes, miracles do happen.   When you keep fighting, breaks come often your way.  What appears to be a certain loss every once in a while turns into a remarkable come-from-behind victory.  It happens in life, and certainly happens in sports.

• You owe it to yourself to be proud of what you do, to feel that, when you leave the field of play, you have done everything you can do play your best on that day.  Even if teammates are downhearted or they may seem to be “giving up”, stay positive and encourage them.  Be a true leader yourself.

• In everything that you do, you represent not only your team but your Club or school, as well as your family and yourself.  Playing hard and to the best of your ability to the end of a game or event does justice to the legacy that you represent and are a part of.

• On a very practical level, picture this.  You are playing in a game for your Club or school.  Your team is getting hammered.  But you continue to play hard, make plays, right to the end of the game.  What you did not know is that there is a scout, a coach, a college recruiter in the stands that day.  They were looking at another player, but they could not help but notice a player on the losing side, the one who simply refused to give in, to quit, despite the score, despite the lack of enthusiasm from teammates.  That scout/coach/recruiter makes a note that “we need to find out more about the kid with character” on the “losing” team.  That kid was you.

 Again, there are all kinds of reasons to live by one of the old-fashioned mottos:  never give up.  I could list many more.  Readers can add their own thoughts.

But for the young, aspiring athlete, you just need to pick one.  And then just do it, as the expression goes.  Maybe your reason is simply this:  because it’s the right thing to do.

Never give up.

Hazing a sad throwback to thoughtless times

There are many positive, supportive and intelligent ways in which to bring a “team” together at any level, including in youth sports.  In fact, the notion of helping teammates bond together can be a very good thing indeed, in sports, in the workplace- and in life.  Specifically in the sporting realm, to be successful at the elite, competitive levels, it surely helps to  have a group of teammates who truly respect one another, work hard for one another and support one another—especially when things go off the rails.

That’s where true character and leadership often show themselves, by how individuals behave toward one another when things are difficult on a team.

But one part of what some people still (for some reason) see as an acceptable form of bonding is something that would never be accepted in any other setting—a type of cruel initiation commonly referred to as “hazing”.

That this still occurs in certain college, high school or youth sports settings is disturbing in itself. Surely we have reached a point where this kind of approach to creating "acceptance" or “team harmony” should be recognized as not only absurd but harmful and potentially emotionally damaging.

But every once in a while, stories surface which remind us more yet needs to be done to educate—and if that fails—simply enforce a zero tolerance policy, with strong consequences, to end this senseless behavior.

The latest incident along these lines allegedly took place in northern Manitoba.  The story link can be found here:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111026/hazing-hockey-manitoba-111026/

Thankfully, authorities in question have apparently acted quickly.

Sadly, some still think that, as part of some old-fashioned and ridiculous team thing, youngsters shouldn’t reveal when this type of thing occurs. But silence, under the ridiculous guise team-building and a "what happens in the clubhouse should stay in the clubhouse" philosophy, only allows the cruelty to continue.

And that kind of team-building is nonsense—and nothing else.

NFL coaches handshake tussle sets another poor example for kids

We all understand that professional sports are not only “big business” but its games are played at a fever pitch by the best athletes in the world in their field.  Emotions run more than a little high, and it’s hard not to be over-exuberant when one has success, or downtrodden when things don’t go a player’s way in the midst of a close game.

So it was somewhat understandable that two National Football League coaches—at the helm of franchises that been both been struggling now for many years—would be as excited as their players for the big game this past weekend in Detroit involving the Lions and the visiting San Francisco 49ers.

Former NFL quarterback (and highly successful NCAA coach) Jim Harbaugh coaches the 49ers; Jim Schwartz coaches the Lions.  Both had their teams off to fantastic starts in the 2011 NFL season.

When the final whistle was blown, San Francisco emerged the victor with a narrow, hard-fought win.  At the end of the game, Harbaugh raced across the field for the customary post-game handshake.  His glee was evidently a little too apparent for Schwartz when they shook hands (Harbaugh gave a very animated "shake") and after the two men separated, Schwartz proceeded to run after the 49er coach, trying to catch his attention.  For a few moments, it looked as though there might be an altercation, but the two were ultimately separated.

Nothing really “happened” but it was a bizarre situation.  (Some may recall that, some years ago, there was an actual shoving incident in the Canadian Football League between coaches for the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.)  The traditional post-game handshake may sometimes be less than heartfelt (witness when Eric Mangini coached in New York and Cleveland and met with his former, somewhat estranged boss Bill Belichek after games between their two clubs) but generally speaking, both coaches do the right thing:  they congratulate the coach of the other team, win or lose, and leave the field with their dignity intact.

In this instance, that did not happen.  Afterwards, Harbaugh sounded remorseful for being too exuberant with his “handshake” but nothing more.  Schwartz seemed to lay the blame on Harbaugh.

Regardless, it was indeed an unfortunate incident, one that sets another poor example for coaches at all levels—and for young athletes as well.

If the most “professional” coaches, supposed “leaders” in the sport cannot conduct themselves properly after a game—win or lose—no matter how intense the competition was, it doesn’t speak well about their perspective and values.

Perhaps the lesson for youth and amateur coaches must be:  be humble and gracious in victory and take the high road in defeat, as well.  It’s not always easy, but it’s still the right thing to do.

Can we ever truly move past “winning” in youth sports?

We have written many original articles over the years (including posts on this site) on the value and importance of some old-fashioned but still relevant values in youth sports:  a) sportsmanship b) what it means to be a real team player and c) why communication, attitude and behavior is important when it comes to coaching youth sports, and how it can help build confidence and character in young people.

But sometimes we wonder if people will ever be truly able to move past the absolute over-emphasis on winning at the youth level.

We still celebrate winning on a regular basis.  Look at the Little League baseball World Series every August.  This is not to say there is something wrong with that longstanding tradition, but it’s hard not to wonder if we haven’t left behind a trail of disillusioned youngsters who weren’t the "winners"—but were subjected to mental and verbal abuse from those closest to them in the name of trying to “win a championship”. 

Name a city. Name a sport.  It’s the same everywhere.

To be clear, as we often stress in the seminars we do for youth sports organizations and coaches, as parents, we've made plenty of “mistakes” ourselves.  To this day (even with our four sons now adults) it’s sometimes hard to shed the competitiveness that too many of us carry as parents and/or as coaches.

Thankfully, we are seeing in some countries and in many youth sports, a renewed focus on fun and player development rather than “winning” at young ages in sports. The intent is that, even for elite players, they should enjoy their sport but also spend more time trying to improve their skills rather than playing 100 games a year and playing in as many tournaments as possible to get more “medals”.

Does that mean everything we do know is wrong?  That it’s wrong to try to "win" and earn “medals”.

We don’t think so, but hopefully a new emphasis will translate into new attitudes around kids in sport.  But the reality is, these things take time.

When you are a Mom or Dad (maybe not all Moms' and Dads', but an awful lot!) and you’re watching your 12 year-old daughter compete in a baseball or soccer game, for example, what are your natural instincts?  In most cases, it is of course to hope that your daughter plays well, has personal “success” and that their team “wins”.

While that might well be a natural instinct, and “healthy” on one level, something else seems to have arisen through the years.  That is, that generations-worth of emphasis on exactly that last objective, winning, has seemingly made it difficult to model and teach those other values and objectives we spoke of above—and are supposed to be teaching every day in every aspect of our lives:  sportsmanship and the importance of acting appropriately when you are part of a “team”.

These things may sound simple, but they must not be, or there would not be so many instances, large and small, of parents going over the top, or coaches doing the same.

But it’s not always the big “incidents” that get media play or are nowadays captured on You Tube.  It is the little lessons (many bad) that we model and reflect in our attitude:  the comments that we as adults and supposed role-models make about kids, coaches, administrators, umpires and referees.

When we yell at a teenage referee at a soccer game for 10 year-olds, it reveals something about us and diminishes us.  That is not the best “us”, and not what we strive to show our own kids, or any youngster.

And it may just send the message to kids that this kind of behaviour is OK, because it’s "sports", and competing is about trying to get an edge, to “win”.

Whenever we criticize a player on another team, it’s the same thing.  Or talk about our child’s coach to other parents, it has the same effect.

Eventually the toxicity spreads—most importantly, to the kids themselves.

If you’re interested, check out some of our original articles on this site by clicking on posts of interest on the right-hand of this space.

We don’t have all the answers.  No one does.  But many people seem to care about this subject, and if more and more people—parents, coaches and all those involved in youth sports—can genuinely try to fight their “natural” inclinations and step beyond our own self (and sometimes selfish) interests, maybe we can slowly help change attitudes- starting with our own.

Involvement in sports can help students, but balance is key

Here is a post Mary-Louise developed originally for Suite 101.  It has been one of her most viewed articles on that site.

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There is no question that trying to balance high school academic requirements and playing sports can be a tricky – and sometimes unsuccessful – balancing act.

Whether a young person plays for a local “Club” team or for a school team, it means time, extra practice and attention diverted away from the primary purpose of high school – learning and achieving a strong academic performance to prepare for a successful future.

At times, when a student struggles in school, one of the first things parents do is prohibit their son or daughter from playing sports. Those parents make a link between poor academic results and too much time and attention paid to participating in sports. That may well be a legitimate connection to make, in some cases. Parents generally “know their child best” and obviously seek the very best for their children as they help guide them through the often difficult teenage years.

Nevertheless, sports involvement, properly managed, can also bring many positives to their life. Importantly, that extra-curricular commitment may in fact bring tangible academic rewards as well.

How Sports Can Prepare Students for Academic Success

The following are just a few ways a student may see increased school performance as a result, at least in part, of involvement in competitive athletics. (For more in depth research read the "Relationship Between Athletic and Academic success: A Pilot Study", by Danielle Tower of the University of Connecticut.)

Youth Sports as a Confidence Builder and a Positive Social Activity

In the right environment (e.g. playing for a youth sports coach with the right values) a boy or girl can really come out of their “shell” and express themself through sport. Their confidence builds and that can be taken directly into the classroom.

There are obviously no guarantees, but when a young person is busy with stimulating (and hopefully enjoyable!) involvements like sports, there is less time to be tempted to fall off the path into relationships and activities that may lead to problems. There can be a tendency for a student who is busy through positive pursuits to be engaged, focused and self-disciplined. These student-athletes learn that they need to focus and recognize that they must lead disciplined lives. They can still enjoy themselves and take advantage of “being young”, but they will also understand that discipline can help lead to achievement and success.

Students Who Learn to Manage Time and Prioritize Will Succeed

Time management became a buzzword over the past twenty years, but there is no question it is important for young people to understand this concept as they prepare for life after school and in the so-called “real world”. Learning to balance one’s time between community involvements, school demands, social interests and proper rest and athletic pursuits pushes a young person to recognize the value of “planned time” – creating a schedule and sticking to it.

This leads to the important notion of prioritizing. A busy young person, occupied in creative and healthy activities, will need to make decisions about not only time management but will need to prioritize what is most important—and what needs to be done to complete particular tasks in order of importance.

Focus and Concentration Contribute to Being a Good Athlete and a Good Student

Competitive sports demand a high level of concentration. If an athlete can “focus” on the playing field, this may well help them understand the need to focus on school-related tasks.

Involvement and success breeds more involvement and more success. A student who gets involved in healthy pursuits will often be energized by those commitments. Success does not mean “winning” games. Success means being involved, training, working hard, being disciplined, and developing leadership skills. When a young person shows these traits in sports, this attitude and skill set are transferrable to the classroom

Athletes need to make instantaneous, quick decisions on the field of play. Sometimes they make mistakes but that only helps the learning process. How does a young person learn, if they never have the opportunity to try, make errors, and try again? In school, in business and in life in general, everyone has to become a decision-maker and sports can sometimes help youngsters develop this important trait.

Supportive and Realistic Parents Can Help their Child to Achieve Success

Parents, of course, need to understand their own child – their passions, interests and limitations. What good ever comes from forcing unnecessary demands or expectations?

In the same breath, most children need to be – and in fact want to be – stimulated, nudged, encouraged and challenged. Sports can be part of that challenge.

Parents obviously should not push their children unrealistically or make unreasonable demands. A youngster who struggles academically may still benefit from being active in sports but it may not be realistic to expect a 4.0 GPA.

To succeed in sports, most young people have to work hard. Not everyone is a naturally gifted athlete, just as most people aren’t naturally gifted students. However, the lessons learned from the gym, track, and hockey rink or playing field often provide lessons for school – and beyond.