TexasTruBlu's Blog

When coaches are treated like rock stars, they start acting like it. Parents make ridiculous decisions for their family like move to a particular school district just so their kids can play for a coach or worse, hold their kids back for extra size and maturity.

I came to Texas in 1980 before my junior year, the first thing we learned was the head coach, with his 3-7 record, was paid more than the principal. He was a terrible coach and a bad guy. My previous school had great coaches who really cared about us. And guess what? that school had more players make it to D1 schools than the school I went to in Texas.

Coaching is a noble profession with a great deal of responsibility. The good ones (and I don't mean those who win) should be praised and the bad ones should go live under a bridge.

Keller, my earliest interaction with a coach was when I played my first year of pee wee football. I got discouraged and had my mom take me to practice with the full intention of quitting. The coach talked me out of it, saying I should finish out the season and if it still wasn't fun then I should just not play again. He gave me a lecture about quitting, being a man etc. I'll bet he forgot about it as soon as it ended and has no idea how important it was for me and how I still remember that conversation to this day.

My dad was in Southeast Asia at the time or he would have been the one to deliver that message. Just goes to show you how important a good coach CAN be.

I told that story on another post somewhere but thought it worth repeating given the subject.

Anyone who wants to better understand why America is so messed up should read the book "Friday Night Lights." (Do not think that the show has even an inkling of similarity. They didn't even shoot it in Odessa-hence the presence of things like actual trees and lawns.)It's not just about football, it's about messed up priorities, people who are elevated beyond their abilities to handle and parents who seem to think the end justifies the means. Last year the Dallas Morning News did a story comparing football coaches salaries. Success didn't seem to be much of a factor, but many got two times over or more what a teacher with comparable experience in the classroom makes. And only due to law that principals make more that head coaches. On some campuses, the head coach does nothing except coach football. I am not saying it's not stressful or that they don't work extra hours, but something is terribly wrong when our testing is based on academics but our extracurricular teachers get the highest pay.

Tell me if this sounds familiar: "...coaches deserve it. Whether they win or not, they bring a lot of revenue to the school..."

There's your problem.

I think that is why so many districts have fought transparency in school budgets. The myth was that the football teams revenues "paid for everything". That simply isn't true. Factor in maintenance, light bills, facility bills, even the referees' pay and football is not a money maker except on the surface.