Tirade by Indiana softball coach forces university to investigate line between motiva

[02Crush]

In the real world people who scream at you are still considered jerks and you can still choose to leave. I am not saying yelling is wrong. I am saying singling out a players as SUCKING or COSTING US the game is WRONG. Anyone can slam the Wooden reference, fine maybe it was not the best. However in the end players remember him most for being even keeled with them and yet still tough. Others involved in this thread have listed coaches very relevant to Fastpitch who did not spend a ton of time yelling profanities at their players and calling them out as horrible in front of their peers. When you reach this point as a coach....You, the coach, has the problem. Not a 20 year old player much less a younger one.

Yes, there are life lessons in sports. But in the end, sports is not what most of us will go PRO in. (A bad reference I know.) We need to teach ourselves that others take more of what we DO than what we SAY as reality. Words mean little, Actions speak volumes.

 

[02Crush]

Patty Gasso, Mike Candrea, Sue Enquist, Ralph & Karen Weekly, and Patrick Murphy (to name a few) would disagree that treating players appropriately doesn't equate to having poor-performing players. Again, it doesn't mean they aren't demanding and don't expect full effort. It means they've treated players in such a way that the players are willing to work hard enough to reward them with meeting their high expectations of them. That's part of their winning formula.

I get tired of hearing about how treating players with class equates to "dumbing down" the game. Give me a break.

Could not have stated it better for those of us on this side of the debate.

 

[flipper14]

John Wooded did not yell at his players and he WON. It does not mean he was not TOUGH. He just did not need to throw tantrums. There are many others who have done the same. Singling out players in public and negative forms by yelling and cursing are not called for. I grew up on the old school way of coaching like this. Fear does not motivate properly. Letting someone down whom you trust and respect....Well that is a better way. As a coach we have to earn respect not expect it just because we are the coach. I think this was handled properly. She was not fired. Reprimanded; Sure. I think she is allowed to be human and make a mistake. Had she thrown things at them or this was a pattern of behavior discovered then I would feel differently.

Of course John Wooden was one of the great cheaters in NCAA history.

 

[Easton33]

Check out what Candrea said after HE went on a tirade. Careful the glass bubble you live in may break. Welcome to the real world where most of us live.Most Coaches yell at players, period. Does not make them a bad coach. For every successful coach that you think doesn't yell, I can show you 10 successful that do. Not to mention that so far two of your examples are completely bunk. Below is a quote about when he threatened to quit coaching while going on a tirade to his team. Let your young adults be young ADULTS and let them deal with it. Prepare your child for the real world, not the one you hope they find.

Noting “the mentality of this team has changed tremendously” since the tirade, Candrea told reporters, “I should have done it a long time ago. I was just tippy-toeing around.”

 

[Easton33]

I do have an interesting question for those of you that feel so strongly about a coach yelling at players. If your daughter gets offered only one scholarship and it is to a school that has coach known to yell at his/her players. Will you let her go?

 

[MountieSB]

Check out what Candrea said after HE went on a tirade. Careful the glass bubble you live in may break. Welcome to the real world where most of us live.Most Coaches yell at players, period. Does not make them a bad coach. For every successful coach that you think doesn't yell, I can show you 10 successful that do. Not to mention that so far two of your examples are completely bunk. Below is a quote about when he threatened to quit coaching while going on a tirade to his team. Let your young adults be young ADULTS and let them deal with it. Prepare your child for the real world, not the one you hope they find.

Noting “the mentality of this team has changed tremendously” since the tirade, Candrea told reporters, “I should have done it a long time ago. I was just tippy-toeing around.”

If Mike Candrea's tirade was one that 'players and assistant coaches described the postgame talk as “scary,” “out-of-line” and “demeaning"', and that he 'pointed fingers and berated certain players, one “crying and shaking” as [he] told her she “sucked,”' then he was wrong, too. Again, making players afraid is wrong. This went beyond a dressing-down (which IS necessary every once in a while).

You seem really adamant about taking a hard line with players and wanting affirmation that it's okay every once in a while to humiliate them. You won't get me, and most quality coaches, to agree that freaking out on players, making them shake and cry, is a necessary practice every once in a while. Trying to justify it is wrong. I'm sorry the world you live in requires this. I wish it were better for you.

 

[MountieSB]

I do have an interesting question for those of you that feel so strongly about a coach yelling at players. If your daughter gets offered only one scholarship and it is to a school that has coach known to yell at his/her players. Will you let her go?

Remember, this IU coach and her over-the-top behavior is what we're talking about. Not a coach who raises her/his voice. If my child's only scholarship offer is to a school whose coach makes her/his players afraid (ala this situation with IU), I'm fairly certain she'd turn it down, and I would support it. She's my daughter and I love her. Why would I knowingly encourage her to to play for a team whose coach makes a practice of humiliating women? Our priorities aren't this skewed. Money ain't everything.

 

[Easton33]

If Mike Candrea's tirade was one that 'players and assistant coaches described the postgame talk as “scary,” “out-of-line” and “demeaning"', and that he 'pointed fingers and berated certain players, one “crying and shaking” as [he] told her she “sucked,”' then he was wrong, too. Again, making players afraid is wrong. This went beyond a dressing-down (which IS necessary every once in a while).

You seem really adamant about taking a hard line with players and wanting affirmation that it's okay every once in a while to humiliate them. You won't get me, and most quality coaches, to agree that freaking out on players, making them shake and cry, is a necessary practice every once in a while. Trying to justify it is wrong. I'm sorry the world you live in requires this. I wish it were better for you.

Stick with softball, your psychologist skills are lacking. Now you guys are making a distinction between yelling and what is being said. I do not support over the top behavior but I do not consider telling a 19 y/o ballplayer that they sucked as "over the top". This conversation on my part is about a coach yelling at their players. The content should follow all the appropriate guidelines you use in speaking with people. So let's not frame the conversation in that way. If a young adult is frightened by a person raising their voice then they need to work on their security issues. Raise confident kids. I am adamant about a coach having an out of character outburst that really wasn't that bad being skewered in public. It was a team meeting not public. I suspect what scared the kid was seeing a normally well balanced coach get pissed off. BTW, I am still not sure what she was mad at, sounded like their bats weren't working.

 

[Easton33]

The tirade says more about the coach's shortcomings than anything about the players'. We really don't train coaches in this country or executives or managers for that matter. So if you just want to imitate what's always been done (in your own mind because you really don't know), that's the easy way. Learning how to control yourself and react to adversity while keeping a lid on your own personal outbursts, that's the hard way and the right way.

The hard way is a having a bit of understanding and not judging from the outside. You don't even know what was said. Tell Candrea about his shortcomings, I am sure he will listen. Here's the thing, I don't know where you guys are but I find it hard to believe your children have not come across a good coach that yells. Personally, I have played a ton of ball up to college, my eldest child has played to college, and other children are playing still and they only 2 situations I have seen where an opposing coach doesn't yell is a) the team and/or the coach isn't that good or b) the opposing team jumps out in front on the first inning and the game is no real competition. Pretty much all coaches yell at their kids from time to time in a competitive game. Doesn't make them a bad coach. Yes, I do realize I will have Mr. Little League respond, " I have never", refer to reason a for my rebuttal.

 

[MountieSB]

Stick with softball, your psychologist skills are lacking. Now you guys are making a distinction between yelling and what is being said. I do not support over the top behavior but I do not consider telling a 19 y/o ballplayer that they sucked as "over the top". This conversation on my part is about a coach yelling at their players. The content should follow all the appropriate guidelines you use in speaking with people. So let's not frame the conversation in that way. If a young adult is frightened by a person raising their voice then they need to work on their security issues. Raise confident kids. I am adamant about a coach having an out of character outburst that really wasn't that bad being skewered in public. It was a team meeting not public. I suspect what scared the kid was seeing a normally well balanced coach get pissed off. BTW, I am still not sure what she was mad at, sounded like their bats weren't working.

We'll skip the psychology comment and stick to the topic. You suspect what scared the kid was seeing the coach get pissed off. I disagree. I suspect what scared the kid was the coach said things that were inappropriate and said them inappropriately and that's what brought it to the public. We'll never actually know what was said other than what's being reported in the article. From what I read in the article, it looks like she was inappropriate. I don't support that, whether it was public or at a team meeting. Different strokes.