MizzouSoftball's Ehren Earleywine Relieved of Coaching Duties

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marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
I have written this three or four times now.... I may edit it again....

I am always torn with these cases because I don't know all these details and I don't want to say this particular case meets this issue. But from everything I have heard and the statement he made, it is probably the case.

Coach - it isn't everyone else. It isn't 'soft' coaching or some conspiracy to weaken the youth of today. It is you. It is your issue. It is your unwillingness to look at yourself along with the latest information about the best coaching methodologies and change how you go about things. Just as some people are not willing to change how they teach hitting or pitching or anything else based on new information, things have changed and the methods of coaching have passed you by.

You can be tough on people and lead without demeaning and embarrassing someone and yelling at them constantly isn't leadership or some life lesson. The only lesson you are giving is that you are an a**hole and a bully when coaching. If you behaved this way in 99% of normal workplaces, you would be fired quickly.

I know there is this tradition of the 'tough football coach' in this country For the most part it is bogus and overly dramatized.
 
Dec 12, 2012
1,668
0
On the bucket
You can be tough on people and lead without demeaning and embarrassing someone and yelling at them constantly isn't leadership or some life lesson. The only lesson you are giving is that you are an a**hole and a bully when coaching.

Do we know for sure this is what happened?
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
Do we know for sure this is what happened?

No we don't which is why I tried to make it more general to the type of coach.

On the other habd he used all the code words and justifications that are used when this sort of coach gets called on it. And there have absolutely been talk about it in the community.
 
Oct 2, 2015
615
18
I have written this three or four times now.... I may edit it again....

I am always torn with these cases because I don't know all these details and I don't want to say this particular case meets this issue. But from everything I have heard and the statement he made, it is probably the case.

Coach - it isn't everyone else. It isn't 'soft' coaching or some conspiracy to weaken the youth of today. It is you. It is your issue. It is your unwillingness to look at yourself along with the latest information about the best coaching methodologies and change how you go about things. Just as some people are not willing to change how they teach hitting or pitching or anything else based on new information, things have changed and the methods of coaching have passed you by.

You can be tough on people and lead without demeaning and embarrassing someone and yelling at them constantly isn't leadership or some life lesson. The only lesson you are giving is that you are an a**hole and a bully when coaching. If you behaved this way in 99% of normal workplaces, you would be fired quickly.

I know there is this tradition of the 'tough football coach' in this country For the most part it is bogus and overly dramatized.

OK, so what is worse now...

A hard nosed coach who scares his players, who are much"softer" than they used to be?

Or "soft" players who scare the coaches. Who are fearful of saying, or doing anything, to discipline or coach them... otherwise the player's (or parent's) feelings will get hurt?

We see this at the High School level alot nowadays... that is obviously starting to show up in College Sports as well.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
OK, so what is worse now...

A hard nosed coach who scares his players, who are much"softer" than they used to be?

Or "soft" players who scare the coaches. Who are fearful of saying, or doing anything, to discipline or coach them... otherwise the player's (or parent's) feelings will get hurt?

We see this at the High School level alot nowadays... that is obviously starting to show up in College Sports as well.

As far as I can tell, players are no 'softer' than they used to be. That is often just an excuse and justification to use. "Oh woe is me, the players are softer than back in my day". Garbage. It is what every older generation of people going back to the dawn of time say about the next generation of people. Parents may helicopter more and many go over the top, but since we have been finding more and more about some of the behaviors in sports behind closed doors, for most who are not over the top I can't blame them in the least. But those parents absolutely existed just as much when I was growing up, and the prima donnas existed as well and daddy ball and so on. These characters are not new. We may have forgoten in the passing of time preferring to remember the highlights, but when you think about they were absolutely there.

And there is plenty of ways to discipline players without having to resort to poor coaching. The tools are all there to be used, The research available. The better methods to use. If you don't use them, then it is your issue, not the players. It is not about 'feelings being hurt' - but it is about how you go about communicating it. There is ZERO reason to do it in a way that is demeaning, bulying or embarassing to the player involved. That goes for the work environment as well. We can talk in my office or in private or even if appropriate with my HR person present so we have a witness of what was said. I don't go in and scream and rant at the person in front of all their co-workers.

I am not saying that there isn't BS from parents in all sports. Or that kids don't need to be set expectations or that being tough on them is not necessary. I don't even care about 'hurting their feelings' if I need to - it is that there are now proven better ways to handle these situations and if you are not evolving and researching to take advantage of these, then you are now being passed by those that are. And we are seeing now, that for coaches, it can cost them their job no matter how much they know about the sport.

If you haven't done everything to be on the top of your game, then when you get called on it, it is really, really hard to defend yourself as a coach. How often do we say "find a new pitching coach, because the one you have teaches HE and isn't keeping up" or "squish the bug is gone from hitting instruction". Why should "Coaching is more effective when you don't bully and demean players - find a new coach" be something we also should say.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
I have written this three or four times now.... I may edit it again....

I am always torn with these cases because I don't know all these details and I don't want to say this particular case meets this issue. But from everything I have heard and the statement he made, it is probably the case.

Coach - it isn't everyone else. It isn't 'soft' coaching or some conspiracy to weaken the youth of today. It is you. It is your issue. It is your unwillingness to look at yourself along with the latest information about the best coaching methodologies and change how you go about things. Just as some people are not willing to change how they teach hitting or pitching or anything else based on new information, things have changed and the methods of coaching have passed you by.

You can be tough on people and lead without demeaning and embarrassing someone and yelling at them constantly isn't leadership or some life lesson. The only lesson you are giving is that you are an a**hole and a bully when coaching. If you behaved this way in 99% of normal workplaces, you would be fired quickly.

I know there is this tradition of the 'tough football coach' in this country For the most part it is bogus and overly dramatized.

Or quite possibly he is coaching at Mizzou where the athletic department and school leadership has already shown they will bow to the demands of student athletes. The kids on scholarship there have more power than seasoned coaches and administrators.
 

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