Overbearing parents make life tough for high school coaches
before the season.
It’s enough to make me wonder why anyone wants to coach anymore in high school.
Itcan’t be about the money.Most coaches don’t makemuch, at least not consideringthe hours they work. It can’t be about the fame, either.Render, Hamilton and Zmijanacare giants in their community,but few reach thatlevel. Most coaches coachbecause they love their sportand love working with youngathletes.
Leave it to a few adults to spoil that.
It’snormal for parents to careabout their kids and want thebest for them. If they see abusefrom a coach, they shouldreport it and make suresteps are taken so it doesn’thappen again. But that’snot what we’re talking abouthere. Most coaches are goodpeople. Too many parentsbelieve their son or daughtershould be the star of theteam. Kids know who the betterplayers are and who shouldbe playing, but parents oftenare blinded by the irrationalthought of their child gettinga college scholarship. Theyare the ones who hold a grudge.They make life miserablefor a coach.
Maybe one of those parents is on the school board. Or maybe they know a school board member who is sympathetic to their situation. It only takes a one or two with an agenda to bring down a coach. They might not have driven out Render and Zmijanac — at least not yet — but how many coaches are that strong?
“The new guys on the block can’t take the pressure from school boards, booster clubs, parents and even players,” former Aliquippa coaching great Don Yannessa told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike White last month. “They can’t tell anyone any longer, ‘Look, you’re full of baloney. We’re going to do things like this and, if you don’t like it, tough. Here’s the door.’ ”
Not even winning gets a coach a pass.
“Themore success you have,you will accumulate enemies,”Yannessa told author S.L. Price for Price’s fabulousbook, “Playing ThroughThe Whistle,” about thesignificance of high schoolfootball in Aliquippa. “They’ll be the silent minority,but they’ll be there. We usedto say they’re like wolvesin the forest: If you look,you can see the moon reflecting off their teeth. Becausethey’re gnashing their teethand looking for a vulnerablemoment. Somewherethey can attack you.”
I don’t know what the solution is other than adults looking in the mirror and seeing their meddling for what it really is.
Ido know that we aren’t goingto see today’s coaches lastas long as Render, Hamiltonand Zmijanac. WPIAL footballwill be weaker becauseof it. Kids will be worse off.We’ve already seen it happenwith the retirements in thepast half-dozen years of Hamilton,Springdale’s ChuckWagner, North Hills’ JackMcCurry, Bishop Canevin’sBob Jacoby and WoodlandHills’ George Novak. Render,Zmijanac and West Allegheny’sBob Palko will followsoon. Once Thomas Jefferson’sBill Cherpak is gone,there won’t be any coaching legends left.
“There’s not going to be a generation like this again,” Render told the Post-Gazette’s White. “Coaches don’t last nowadays.”
Certain parents and school board members are the reason. You know who you are. Look in the mirror. Please.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.