High School coaches

Agree! 100%! Great point [MENTION=10413]riseball[/MENTION]

all of you have made good points about the issue....it's become very interesting as well with their instructors (hitting, pitching, etc) with what they teach and what the coaches teach whether it's HS or TB. My point being I see folks on here bashing HS coaches who might not know it all but are certified and qualified ....and yes, some schools stick a football guy in there to coach SB because they don't have anyone else qualified. Parents are way too involved in many cases whether it's HS or TB

I have a different take because most of the better travel programs here are run by very dedicated HS coaches. It’s funny seeing them coach some of the top travel teams in the country yet their HS parents still complain they don’t know what they’re doing.

IndyHScoach said:

daddy ball and that is...practices are bp and some infield.

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Ugh!

IndyHScoach said:

Another thing that hurts HS coaches is they have to coach to the skill level of all their players and not accommodate daddy's star player. So daddy thinks HS coaches do not know what they are doing.

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For the solid school coaches I have the utmost respect for what they have to deal with. Now I know little of the intricacies of the game, for example, DD1 is teaching me the difference between hitting an inside and outside pitch. So when DD comes home and tells me all the things her coach is doing wrong, it is not me who thinks he does not know what he is doing, it is the TB players on the team that think that.

As lynx said,

lynx said:

some schools stick a football guy in there to coach SB because they don't have anyone else qualified.

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lynx said:

all of you have made good points about the issue....it's become very interesting as well with their instructors (hitting, pitching, etc) with what they teach and what the coaches teach whether it's HS or TB. My point being I see folks on here bashing HS coaches who might not know it all but are certified and qualified ....and yes, some schools stick a football guy in there to coach SB because they don't have anyone else qualified. Parents are way too involved in many cases whether it's HS or TB

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While some parents take their involvement to an extreme, paging Lavar Ball, the bottom line is a lot of HS softball coaches think way to highly of themselves...and since recruiting occurs during TB a player does not need to play HS softball to play in college. I also take issue with HS coaches who try to change a players swing or pitching mechanics when the player has been PAYING for lessons from an instructor. Are there bad instructors, YES, are there bad TB coaches, YES, but those coaches are weeded out over time by FREE MARKET capitalism. No one wants to play for a bad TB coach or pay for a bad private instructor so they change teams or find another instructor, while there is a 98.2% chance a bad high school coach's contract will be renewed and players have NO CHOICE unless they move, or enroll in private school. And THAT is why most people on DFP have a bad opinion of HS coaches...

JAD said:

while there is a 98.2% chance a bad high school coach's contract will be renewed

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So is it just laziness on the part of the athletic department or the administration that there is no accountability for school coaches?

Up until 2 years ago our HS softball coaches were incredible little league baseball coaches from 1976

Bob516 said:

So is it just laziness on the part of the athletic department or the administration that there is no accountability for school coaches?

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It is a combination of things. Most schools require the head coaches to also be teachers. There are not many teachers who have played high level softball, much less coached it. Playing high level softball does not automatically make someone a good coach. Coaching HS softball takes a lot of time and effort for very little money. Most high school administrators are only concerned with football. Coaches who do well usually inherit high level TB players (especially pitchers) into the program.

TB players choose to be on a specific team and are selected by that team based on their abilities. It is a mutually beneficial situation.

HS players are more or less a hostage to a school/program based on their home address. Good or bad HS coaches must play the hand they are dealt. For both it is a situation based on circumstance, not choice.

Comparing the two is apples to oranges.

Agree with JAD, I can vouch for that with teams we sometimes play....you might have ex-college softball players coaching and the teams are not well coached. I think HS coaching for softball has gotten better, at least in Texas because of more people play, watch and understand the game compared to 15 years ago. Being a former college baseball player in California, I played after college and started coaching ASA (back in the 80's) softball and really enjoyed the game and keep learning more about it after many years. Great responses from all...Merry Christmas and Safe travels