Too Bad and Very Sad for One Family

Knowing very well that my long time family-veterinarian will be disgusted that my blog today is once again about 'education,' I nevertheless make NO apologies. Word rolled into Decatur yesterday from the West with a 'smell' not unlike the stench on occasion rolling in from the Staley Plant to the South. It seems  that Jacksonville high school did not renew the 'coaching contract' of their veteran baseball mentor. Perhaps there are good reasons for this dismissal; I cannot argue against the decision because I am not familiar or aware of circumstances.

I do know that their was a previous attempt to dismiss this coach and I was very aware of the situation back a few years ago. I would suspect that won-loss record is not the driving reason nor winning or sharing conferences championships; the coach meets those criteria.

Let me speak to a frequent aspect of the issue of which I am well versed and can stand on certainty in my comments. Most high school coaching dismissals (firings) come as the result of one of two reasons; first, lack of winning games or secondly and the most frequent cause by a substantial margin, parents who are mad because they believe their kid (s) have not been treated fairly. Take this to the bank!

During my 39-year coaching tenure, I had a couple of parental vigilante groups, on a mission from hell, orchestrate schemes to get me fired but in both instances, I had strong administrative support that had my back. Personally, I believe that there are two kinds of high school coaches: (1) those who 'want' to coach and those who 'must' coach. I belonged to the latter fraternity. When I felt that my administration was weak, I packed my mule and moseyed on down the road...I was looking for a job when I took THAT one!

I recall vividly that my sophomore year at East St. Louis high school, I was complaining at the supper table about my high school coach. My Dad jumped my crap in a heart beat saying, "Listen, Boy, if you don't like the way things are with your team then YOU do something about it but don't bring your problems to the supper table; your Mom and I don't!"

Thanks Dad!!

Parting thought for the weekend: If you think there is some good in everybody, you obviously haven't met 'everybody.'