Idaho HS team quitting because they don’t like the coach

GophersInIowa

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Came across this story out of Idaho. A HS team has decided to stop playing until their coach is fired. Not because he’s abusive or anything like that. Because they don’t like some of the decisions he makes. I can’t fathom doing something like this no matter how much I dislike the coach. I’m embarrassed for these kids.

 



Hey, if they don't want to play for their coach, then they don't need to be on the team. That seems like a pretty simple and logical equation.

The article mentioned that the coach held a practice after his varsity players demanded his dismissal, and not a single member of the varsity bothered to show up, only the JV players did. Again, that presents a pretty straightforward solution to finishing out the season. The JV kids are ready and willing to play, so elevate them to the varsity squad for the last two games and let the entitled varsity kids sit home and pout or do whatever, just don't let the door hit ya...
 

Good grief, let these kids leave and allow the JV kids to play, this is ridiculous:

“Sometimes when our plays will be working, and we’ll be scoring off them,” junior Jayden Wright added, “and sometimes Ty will go away from them and call a different play and try to switch it up. We just want consistency calling plays and in-game situations. I know it’s hard, but we need a coach that’s good in that type of situation. Games really do come down to that.”

Players also shared that they felt like Pearson made incorrect decisions in close games, like in a loss to Century on Saturday, when Highland held a 3-point lead in the final seconds. In those types of situations, some coaches opt to intentionally foul the other team, sending them to the free throw line for two shots, stopping them from trying a game-tying 3-pointer. Wright says he brought that idea up. Pearson, he says, decided against it. Moments later, Century freshman Isiah Harwell made a game-tying triple, sending the game into overtime, where the Diamondbacks prevailed.

It’s those types of decisions, the varsity players said, that stop them from playing like they did earlier this season in a win over Rigby, one of the state’s best teams.

Go Gophers!!
 



Holy shit one of the players went on record with a quote:
“He has these practice plans that we go through, and they’re never followed,” senior Bradeon Kelley said. “He’s very disorganized. But at the same time, he’s the most organized person outside of it. So it’s kinda weird. I just feel like he goes too far ahead of himself before can do what he’s doing in the present. He gets kinda ahead of himself, and we never follow our practice plan.”
Later in the article one of them mentions they have classes with the coach! And they are dictating terms of who they want their coach to be. That is chutzpah. God I feel like a boomer when I am shaking my head at the kids these days.

My favorite part, though, is there is an article from last season titled Resilient Highland Boys Basketball Upsets Century. There is even a quote from the same Jayden Wright who had sour grapes that coach didn't follow his advice with 5 seconds left.

He’s a great guy and he’s always pushing us to be better and always lifting us up,” sophomore Jayden Wright said of Pearson.
Guess they aren't resilient anymore, and he doesn't feel that way this year.

This is embarrassing behavior for these kids to publicly air their dirty laundry this way.
 

I'm sure when these guys are 30 and working 9 hours every single day they're going to be glad they skipped out on their basketball season because the coach wasn't organized. For the parents, I'm sure knowing their sons didn't have to play with such a disorganized coach really will be a much more cherished memory than watching their sons play varsity basketball.
 

Guess they aren't resilient anymore, and he doesn't feel that way this year.

This is embarrassing behavior for these kids to publicly air their dirty laundry this way.
Wow.

What gets me is that they all profess to like their coach on a personal level, and yet they orchestrate this highly public walkout with two games left in the season in order to try and get him fired? If they really had issues with his coaching (whether those concerns are legitimate or not) did they not realize that there are actual upstanding ways to go about approaching an issue like that, such as quietly going to the school's AD and expressing their viewpoints to him?

Did they not understand (or are they too selfish or stupid to care) that what they did here, making a public spectacle of throwing their coach under the bus might embarrass him, hurt him, humiliate him...and this is someone they claim to LIKE?

God help those kids in the future, man. Seriously...
 



I'm sure when these guys are 30 and working 9 hours every single day they're going to be glad they skipped out on their basketball season because the coach wasn't organized. For the parents, I'm sure knowing their sons didn't have to play with such a disorganized coach really will be a much more cherished memory than watching their sons play varsity basketball.
I’m sure when they are thirty they’ll be asking management to fire their boss. Don’t know if I can blame this on social media but society is really messed up right now.
 

Lots of people quit jobs due to not liking their bosses. This isn’t new behavior or specific to these kids—as dumb as their decisions and reasoning may be.
 

Lots of people quit jobs due to not liking their bosses. This isn’t new behavior or specific to these kids—as dumb as their decisions and reasoning may be.
Difference here is that person would just find another job. These kids can't just find another team to play for. Like already mentioned, this is almost certainly driven by the parents. And there is good chance there are a few guys that still want to play but it's extremely hard to not go along with the group. I feel bad for those guys.
 
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This is a massive overreaction from the holier than thou folks. Kids do stupid things. They are supposed to do stupid things, that's how they learn and grow. You hope these stupid things don't lead to lasting harm to themselves or others and you hope they aren't aided and abetted by parents (as it appears to be the case in this situation).

What should happen, as someone suggested, is JV gets elevated to varsity for the last two games. The coach is hired back for at least two more years. Any varsity player who isn't graduating and wants to play next year has to personally apologize to the coach to become eligible. A letter goes out to the parents from the school saying this stuff will no longer be tolerated. Done and done.
 



Lol practice structure and play calling? Man they must have a bunch of future Mark Fews over there. Certainly parent driven, but this also isn't new with kids. Most times they just quit then if it's that miserable. I'd just play the JV kids then. At some point, you gotta move on and play who wants to be there.
 

It took them until the last two games of the year to come to this break through decision? WTF is wrong with them? Let the JV players take their spots.
The kid thought they should foul in the last seconds of the game and the coach decided to not. Rather than blame the decision, why not blame the defense for allowing the 3 and then your poor play in OT? I'm guessing the players would say the coach didn't call the right plays for us to stay in rhythm during OT.
The seniors on the team shouldn't get to play in the last two games nor any playoff games. Underclassman same thing and if they want to play next year, they should have to go to center court one at a time at halftime and publicly apologize for their actions.

They need a Jimmy Chitwood or the dad who hauled his kid back to practice after he walked out.


That writer is now on the Strib radar for a promotion.
 

Those saying the parents need to teach their kids character never had a sh*tty coach. I should have quit in HS but didn’t because I liked basketball and doing something with friends rather than just going home and doing both.
 

Those saying the parents need to teach their kids character never had a sh*tty coach. I should have quit in HS but didn’t because I liked basketball and doing something with friends rather than just going home and doing both.
Ding Ding Ding. Rarely in life will everything be exactly like you want. You have to weigh pros and cons of a situation/event and decide whether it's worth your time. I highly down you regret playing basketball since you got to play a sport you loved and be with your friends. That's the character issue. They are whining about practice plans and plays being called. I'd like to know how much scouting and film they watch. The character issue is about having a little resilience or just quitting and moving on to things that are more valuable with their time.
 

What should happen, as someone suggested, is JV gets elevated to varsity for the last two games. The coach is hired back for at least two more years. Any varsity player who isn't graduating and wants to play next year has to personally apologize to the coach to become eligible. A letter goes out to the parents from the school saying this stuff will no longer be tolerated. Done and done.
Well written. Use it for growth. I really wish and hope parents learn how many opportunities get lost for kids. There is so much value to being a part of a team no matter what your role is.
 

This is a massive overreaction from the holier than thou folks. Kids do stupid things. They are supposed to do stupid things, that's how they learn and grow. You hope these stupid things don't lead to lasting harm to themselves or others and you hope they aren't aided and abetted by parents (as it appears to be the case in this situation).

What should happen, as someone suggested, is JV gets elevated to varsity for the last two games. The coach is hired back for at least two more years. Any varsity player who isn't graduating and wants to play next year has to personally apologize to the coach to become eligible. A letter goes out to the parents from the school saying this stuff will no longer be tolerated. Done and done.
So it's a massive overreaction by people who are calling for the exact same thing that you're calling for? I think you're looking for a fight with people you are agreeing with.
 

This is a massive overreaction from the holier than thou folks. Kids do stupid things. They are supposed to do stupid things, that's how they learn and grow. You hope these stupid things don't lead to lasting harm to themselves or others and you hope they aren't aided and abetted by parents (as it appears to be the case in this situation).

What should happen, as someone suggested, is JV gets elevated to varsity for the last two games. The coach is hired back for at least two more years. Any varsity player who isn't graduating and wants to play next year has to personally apologize to the coach to become eligible. A letter goes out to the parents from the school saying this stuff will no longer be tolerated. Done and done.
Elevate the JV to finish the year, that's the short term solution, but any AD worth his salt knows that there isn't a long term option that involves the current coach. There's clearly an issue if the whole team is willing to walk out, this isn't just one or two kids throwing a hissy fit, it's the whole team. Fairly or un fairly this coach has completely lost the room, he's never going to get it back. As a coach this is an absolute worse case scenario, there's no coming from a complete mutiny
 

I'm sure when these guys are 30 and working 9 hours every single day they're going to be glad they skipped out on their basketball season because the coach wasn't organized. For the parents, I'm sure knowing their sons didn't have to play with such a disorganized coach really will be a much more cherished memory than watching their sons play varsity basketball.
Seriously, I'd give anything to be playing HS sports again, and I wasn't even talented.
 


Ding Ding Ding. Rarely in life will everything be exactly like you want. You have to weigh pros and cons of a situation/event and decide whether it's worth your time. I highly down you regret playing basketball since you got to play a sport you loved and be with your friends. That's the character issue. They are whining about practice plans and plays being called. I'd like to know how much scouting and film they watch. The character issue is about having a little resilience or just quitting and moving on to things that are more valuable with their time.
For me it wasn’t about whether or not I had character to stick it out. In reality I was just to plain dumb to quit even though I wouldn’t get more than 30 seconds of game time being down by 40 points. He just rode the starters every single game and didn’t develop depth.
 


Elevate the JV to finish the year, that's the short term solution, but any AD worth his salt knows that there isn't a long term option that involves the current coach. There's clearly an issue if the whole team is willing to walk out, this isn't just one or two kids throwing a hissy fit, it's the whole team. Fairly or un fairly this coach has completely lost the room, he's never going to get it back. As a coach this is an absolute worse case scenario, there's no coming from a complete mutiny
I agree but I think there could be a deeper problem here. This could be just as much of an issue with the parents. There's no saying that they'll be happy with the new coach either.

Happened at my former HS a little while back. Some parents were just constantly complaining about the football coach, he got fired after the season and then they were in the same boat the next year with the new coach. Some parents didn't like him either. Everything was the coach's fault. And that trickled down to the kids. After the first year with the new coach, probably the most vocal and disruptive family moved to a neighboring town so their two boys could play under a different coach. The next year my HS football team had it's best season in at least 10 years. I don't think it was just coincidence.
 

Elevate the JV to finish the year, that's the short term solution, but any AD worth his salt knows that there isn't a long term option that involves the current coach. There's clearly an issue if the whole team is willing to walk out, this isn't just one or two kids throwing a hissy fit, it's the whole team. Fairly or un fairly this coach has completely lost the room, he's never going to get it back. As a coach this is an absolute worse case scenario, there's no coming from a complete mutiny
As the AD, I would implement the same rules regardless of who the new coach is. Those returning players insulted the entire school and athletic department. Their apology is less to the coach and more to the greater community.

As to your point about the coach, I think that's possible and I'd guess you're probably right. I also don't think the AD should give into this kind behavior. We live in a world where disproportioned displays of protest are really cool. It probably only took a few players to get this ball rolling.
 

Kids have been quitting high school teams forever because they don't like a coach.
Kids transfer to play with other coaches.

Chances are this coach gets paid a few grand to deal with coaching these kids.
The system in imperfect, and if your high school coach is a history teach for most of his career, and never played basketball beyond 9th grade, you're only going to get so much.
 

Elevate the JV to finish the year, that's the short term solution, but any AD worth his salt knows that there isn't a long term option that involves the current coach. There's clearly an issue if the whole team is willing to walk out, this isn't just one or two kids throwing a hissy fit, it's the whole team. Fairly or un fairly this coach has completely lost the room, he's never going to get it back. As a coach this is an absolute worse case scenario, there's no coming from a complete mutiny
Any AD worth his salt also knows he needs to back his coach to get a quality replacement otherwise many will not touch the job.
What we don't know is if the whole team voted yes or no. It could easily be one or two kids who are leading the whole group. If you elevate the JV and move on, you may see that many are bluffing. It could truly be the coach is incompetent too. We don't know the whole story as the coach is being an adult and not throwing kids or anyone under the bus. As far as a culture shift, sometimes cleaning house (not right or fair for kids) is actually how you switch and change the culture. Maybe the dude is awful, but he seems to treat kids well. That's gotta count for something in this day and age when you can't find anyone willing to do it anymore
 

For me it wasn’t about whether or not I had character to stick it out. In reality I was just to plain dumb to quit even though I wouldn’t get more than 30 seconds of game time being down by 40 points. He just rode the starters every single game and didn’t develop depth.
It's more than fair to dislike or not think your coach was good and you can certainly consider it a waste of time. I'm just saying there is value to playing a sport with your buddies even if your minutes were not fair or high. You made a choice at the time that it was still worth it. Looking back at a choice you made during your childhood and wishing you made a different choice is a good reflective practice.
 

I agree but I think there could be a deeper problem here. This could be just as much of an issue with the parents. There's no saying that they'll be happy with the new coach either.

Happened at my former HS a little while back. Some parents were just constantly complaining about the football coach, he got fired after the season and then they were in the same boat the next year with the new coach. Some parents didn't like him either. Everything was the coach's fault. And that trickled down to the kids. After the first year with the new coach, probably the most vocal and disruptive family moved to a neighboring town so their two boys could play under a different coach. The next year my HS football team had it's best season in at least 10 years. I don't think it was just coincidence.
So it did work to switch coaches.
 




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