Blame game

[oregonfp]

This question is for the higher level TB coaches out there, is it acceptable or common for coaches to blame individuals for the loss after a big game? I have seen this happen time and again where an individual makes a mistake in a championship game and then coach blames them for the loss.

 

[JAD]

Softball is a team game and we win or lose as a team.....

 

[Amy in AZ.]

No. That is not something that would even cross my mind. About the time I would have blamed an individual, I would have made a big coaching mistake.

 

[oregonfp]

When I was playing ball growing up all my coaches said "We win as a team and lose as a team". Although we may have got our butts chewed out for making a mistake we were never blamed for a loss. Of course I never played on a team that cost thousands of dollars to play for also. I just wanted to know if elite high level TB coaches were more this way. I have seen this happen on more than one team in the last few years and it hasn't made me happy.

 

[marriard]

This question is for the higher level TB coaches out there, is it acceptable or common for coaches to blame individuals for the loss after a big game? I have seen this happen time and again where an individual makes a mistake in a championship game and then coach blames them for the loss.

Nope. Not acceptable. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen and there isn't coaches (and players) who think it is quite acceptable to do this. Some idiots justify it by claiming it "makes them tough' or 'hardening them up' or 'making them be responsible for their personal errors'. Like they didn't know they had made an error and it was probably already eating away at them. Saw it happen last week in a rec baseball game actually.

Wont happen for any team my DD is on. Not a chance. We'd walk away in a second. I don't care how 'good' the coach is or how 'prestigious the program' or any of that garbage (justifications I hear all the time for why someone is staying with the team) - you can coach without being a --insert bad word here --

 

[CoogansBluff]

This question is for the higher level TB coaches out there, is it acceptable or common for coaches to blame individuals for the loss after a big game? I have seen this happen time and again where an individual makes a mistake in a championship game and then coach blames them for the loss.

What constitutes blaming? What are the circumstances that prompted you to ask the question? ...

It is not OK for a coach to blame a player for a loss. That's a slam dunk. But if we're not in agreement about what ''blaming'' means, then our advice is worthless. A coach might say, "It's the little things that beat us today. We didn't get a bunt down, we made an error that would've been the third out, we ran ourselves out of an inning with a base-running mistake.'' Is that blaming somebody for losing? Three girls might think so. Depends on their relationship with the coach. It's not always black and white.

 

[oregonfp]

What constitutes blaming? What are the circumstances that prompted you to ask the question? ...

I have seen this done a few different times but under similar circumstances. My definition of blaming is calling out a single girl or a couple of girls and saying your error on this play caused us to lose the game. Then telling other girls on the team they did good but their teammate let them down.

 

[SBFAMILY]

It would appear you coach lack's people skills. Been around travel ball for 12 plus years and seen all kind of coaches. This kind doesn't last long in travel ball, because they won't get players to play for them. The best teams have kids that love to play for a coach. They don't even have tryouts. You can even read posts on this site and know who coaches and who doesn't! But I have found out parents are the worse not coaches on how they treat kids and talk about other kids.

 

[PA SB Dad]

I just wanted to know if elite high level TB coaches were more this way.

Certainly good college coaches are not like this, so why would it be acceptable for a "high level" TB coach to do this? Coaches make far more bad decisions that cost a team a game than good decisions that win the game for the team. Those good decisions still require the players to execute in order to win. It is about the team, not the coaches ego.

 

[SoCalASABlue]

I believe in the words of Bear Bryant:

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it.