Coach Gets Fired - What Do You Think?

[willyrover]

Seems to me there must be more to the story.

 

[Andyman]

The student (and the school) should be in tune with what's best for the student. I would have to think that the opportunities presented to the student at the showcase would far outweigh the results of a, dare I say it, meaningless, HS football game.

FWIW, I never played sports at any level, so I'm certain my viewpoints may be counter to many here, but I think one needs to step back and see which event may be the more fruitful in the long run, and I'd favor the career opportunity vs. a single game between 16 and 17 year olds...

And apparently at least 11 other players feel the same way...

 

[usedto]

But exactly the same in that the math teacher's job is to help prepare the student for college, so refusing to allow him to attend a college interview is at cross-purposes with his primary goal.

If the kid skips class and fails, he affects no one but himself.

If the quarterback skips a game, the rest of the team is most likely screwed.

If you see those as exactly the same, then so be it. Our views are just different.:thmbsp:

 

[jsisk]

If the kid skips class and fails, he affects no one but himself.

If the quarterback skips a game, the rest of the team is most likely screwed.

If you see those as exactly the same, then so be it. Our views are just different.:thmbsp:

The key word here is GAME.

To put more importance on a game than on a student's future, is wrong any way you put it.

 

[Andyman]

If the quarterback skips a game, the rest of the team is most likely screwed.

Sounds to me like they're already screwed if losing a single HS football game is such a huge affair in their lives.

 

[usedto]

The key word here is GAME.

To put more importance on a game than on a student's future, is wrong any way you put it.

The student in question is skipping one game to attend another, sort of. Nothing to do with school.

Sounds to me like they're already screwed if losing a single HS football game is such a huge affair in their lives.

The football player who skipped the game to go to the baseball tryout seems to think it's a "huge affair", as do the school faculty.

I could easily argue both sides of the issue. I still have mixed emotions about it. That's why I posed the question(s). My biggest issue is this: rules are put in place for a reason, and some just so happen to be unfair in unusual situations. But if you keep making exceptions to the rules, soon they're all exceptions and no rules. I'm not saying what the coach did was right, nor do I condone the way it was handled. I also don't believe the board had the right to fire the coach for enforcing the rules that were in place. The whole thing is a comedy of errors.

 

[JohnVF]

There's probably a back story we don't know. Most people I know who've gotten fired weren't actually fired for the incident given as the excuse to get rid of them.

 

[usedto]

There's probably a back story we don't know. Most people I know who've gotten fired weren't actually fired for the incident given as the excuse to get rid of them.

I shouldn't have used that term, because today I heard something that led me to believe they may not have actually been fired.

Too many unknowns right now.

 

[Andyman]

I could easily argue both sides of the issue. I still have mixed emotions about it. That's why I posed the question(s). My biggest issue is this: rules are put in place for a reason, and some just so happen to be unfair in unusual situations. But if you keep making exceptions to the rules, soon they're all exceptions and no rules. I'm not saying what the coach did was right, nor do I condone the way it was handled. I also don't believe the board had the right to fire the coach for enforcing the rules that were in place. The whole thing is a comedy of errors.

But isn't some of that really back on the BoE or School Board for allowing students to participate in more than one sport knowing that a conflict may occur. Granted, this wasn't a conflict of two sanctioned events, but it still seems like they want it both ways and student athletes can't be in two places at once.

I'm pretty much with John on this, in that there's a lot more to it than we know and this was just the last straw or a convenient reason for them to dump the guy.

 

[dosmalo]

Solidarity.

 

[Andyman]

I shouldn't have used that term, because today I heard something that led me to believe they may not have actually been fired.

Too many unknowns right now.

Yep...

"Coach Christian Mahaffey came to an agreement Tuesday, a district spokesman told FOX40. Neither he nor his two assistant coaches will return to the team."

The coach was 7-15 in his career up to this year and 2-3 this year. He also apparently wasn't aware the student was in 2 other sports.

http://www.maxpreps.com/blogs/maxwi...cano-football-team-in-support-of-teammate.htm

""I love Guillermo," Mahaffey told KCRA 3. "He's a great kid. He's one heckuva player. But I can't have one of my players playing another sport."

And isn't this PC timely...Bullies????

“I felt I was painted into a corner,” said Mahaffey, an off-campus coach who teaches special education in the San Juan Unified School District. “I tried to stand up for the right thing and still think I have. … I couldn’t coach a group of kids who bullied their way back on the football team.”

 

[jntit]

The coach admitted he did not tell his players about his rule. I find it hard to believe he did not know that the kid was playing other sports & apparently said nothing to him. When he asked permission to miss a game, he was given a choice, and made his decision, the right one I believe. Good for the other players for supporting him, that's a team, loyalty to each other, not to a coach who could not be bothered to explain his rules.

 

[eljr]

I am shocked at the responses here.

You could not have a high school team if players were allowed to come and go as they please.

This all seems pretty straight forward to me.

The kid joined the football team without working out what would happen if a conflict arose and frankly he had to know it would be a conflict because these "showcases" are scheduled the same time each year and his baseball team would have had to of committed to attend before football ever started.

Here is the bottom line. Everyone involved is wrong.

1) the kid never worked this out
2) the coach should have benched the kid the following game not throw him off the team.
3) the students that quit should have been dealt with by the school not the coach
4) the school board should have backed the coach. No team can be run by the players. the kids learned a terrible lesson that will hurt them later in life.

 

[eljr]

The coach admitted he did not tell his players about his rule. I find it hard to believe he did not know that the kid was playing other sports & apparently said nothing to him. When he asked permission to miss a game, he was given a choice, and made his decision, the right one I believe. Good for the other players for supporting him, that's a team, loyalty to each other, not to a coach who could not be bothered to explain his rules.

I think if you join a team it's implied that you will be at all games and practices. If the young man joined the team it was he who had the obligation to let the coach know of any conflicts in advance so this would not have occurred.

 

[eljr]

But isn't some of that really back on the BoE or School Board for allowing students to participate in more than one sport knowing that a conflict may occur. Granted, this wasn't a conflict of two sanctioned events, but it still seems like they want it both ways and student athletes can't be in two places at once.

I'm pretty much with John on this, in that there's a lot more to it than we know and this was just the last straw or a convenient reason for them to dump the guy.

I doubt there is any more to it than the coach was likely not a likable guy.

I can't imagine an athletic director not standing behind a coach. It's crazy in fact.

 

[Tom Brennan]

You could not have a high school team if players were allowed to come and go as they please.

Sure you could. It might not be as efficient but so what? The kids aren't making a living at it, it's supposed to be a game, a past time, a diversion, some recreation. Disciplined recreation doesn't seem so recreational. Trouble with organized sports is the adults involved get WAY too serious about it. Were I dictator of The United States I'd outlaw all adult involvement with children's and adolescent's sports. Besides...

(Note the proper use of an ellipsis.)

 

[JohnVF]

I skipped a championship game in 2nd grade little-league baseball to go to Disneyworld with my family.

The effect of me skipping that game has exactly the same consequences as this kid skipping a high-school game. Which is...it has no consequences to anybody's life that will mean a thing after the passing of a few weeks. Everything prior to high-school graduation in your life is little-league. It is preparation for what comes after. And that kid was preparing for what comes next. It's a high school football game! Who really cares?

 

[Andyman]

I doubt there is any more to it than the coach was likely not a likable guy.

I can't imagine an athletic director not standing behind a coach. It's crazy in fact.

7-15 and 2-3 might have something to do with it...

Maybe they had enough and this provided an easy out? :scratch2:

 

[eljr]

I skipped a championship game in 2nd grade little-league baseball to go to Disneyworld with my family.

The effect of me skipping that game has exactly the same consequences as this kid skipping a high-school game. Which is...it has no consequences to anybody's life that will mean a thing after the passing of a few weeks. Everything prior to high-school graduation in your life is little-league. It is preparation for what comes after. And that kid was preparing for what comes next. It's a high school football game! Who really cares?

How does doing whatever you please prepare you for what comes after?:scratch2:

Guys honest, this is crazy talk. There could be no sport if everyone did whatever and whenever they pleased.

 

[eljr]

7-15 and 2-3 might have something to do with it...

Maybe they had enough and this provided an easy out? :scratch2:

Not likely and I'll tell you why. If they were upset with his record it meant they wanted to win. If they wanted to win they take sport seriously. If they took sport seriously they would never go against the coach.

I bet you anything the guy was simply not liked independent of his coaching.