Dealing with a delusional Parent

If you sat down with dad and explained him the situation and still doesn't get it- let the kid go.

What is the kid like? If he's a jerk like his dad I'm all for wishing them well somewhere else. If he isn't a grade, attitude, or behavior problem I would try my best to tolerate the ignorant dad and keep the kid around. If the kid is a good student/teammate, just not the most outstanding player, I would schedule a meeting for the dad with the A.D., HC, OC, and QB coach (maybe the principal too, according to how involved they expect to be). Lay down the law, tell him where the kid stands, and let him know how much you like the kid and want him to be with the team.

IMO, the Dad is bluffing, set your limits and stick to them........don't let him get in your ear---let him know this is unacceptable.


Then, let him make the decision about if they leave or not.


You can be firm and not compromise yourself, without having to punish the kid

Don't even deal with the parent; go straight to the kid.

My policy is simple, I WILL NOT talk to a parent about a player conflict until I talk to that player first. See how the kids feels about the whole thing; his playing time, his knee, etc... Explain you're thoughts to him and go from there. You're relationship needs to be with the player; as such you need to make an effort with him. If you and the player come to an understanding and dad is still being a jackass, then let the dad do whatever he wants.

if by "might help" you mean financially....cut bait now. Don't let him "buy" the program

Coach, videotape is a very powerfull thing. We tape all of our practices. Drills, 7 on 7, inside, team, everything. Every time a parent has a problem with Johnny not playing we roll tape. Once you show it to them and break it down in an objective way they tend to see the light.

Sounds to me like the dad is testing the new staff to see how much pull he can get with you guys. I would just like to reiterate what everyone else has said about sitting the dad down and talking to him. If I were a head coach, I would NEVER sell out my program with hopes of someone "helping" me out down the road. The thing I don't like about guys like that is that parents like him don't realize that this is our profession. Never in my wildest dreams would I go to his or her place of work and try to tell them how to do their jobs, but I guess delusional parents come hand in hand with coaching.
Good luck, I hope everything works out.

I feel your pain. I have a Dad with the threats of moving his kid, because he don't like that we run the veer. We should run what he thinks is best. Parent issues have been popping up left & right, and this is only my 2nd year as head coach. They ran out the last coach, and I feel I'm the next victim!! I lay down my rules, and they don't like them. Kids are great. Parents, something else!!! This from a team that lost 48 in a row, before we won last year!!!

I agree with showing the parent film, but it's a LAST RESORT for me... We had the same type of situation a few years back; dad thought that his kid was the next Brett Favre. The kid was athletic, but he was kind of slow and thick, so we started him at TE. We gave him two weeks at QB and it just didn't pan out; mainly because he COULDN'T REMEMBER THE D@MN PLAYS. We were running veer and the was just not QB material for us.

I laid out my policy with the dad straight off the bat and talked to the kid about the whole thing a few times. The kid was pretty sold on playing QB, but he understood where we were coming from.

It all came to a head and we had to sit down in a meeting with the AD, the dad, and the player. The dad demanded that we let the kid sit in on it; against my better judgement. But the AD said it wouldn't be fair to talk about the kid w/o him there.

We brought some film from a scrimmage where we had played the kid at QB for a few series. Blown read after blown read, incorrect footwork, blown meshes, bad pitches; all stuff that we had been repping day in and day out. He had 12 plays in; 5 resulted in turnovers.

It was terrible, in hind sight, I should have put my foot down and kept the kid out of the meeting. I should have show the video to the AD and completely removed the parent from it. Having to sit there and point out everything that went wrong for those 12 plays was miserable. The kid was almost in tears.

This is also why I REFUSE to talk to parents about this kind of crap. Nothing good ever comes out of it; waste of time and a unnecessarily hard lesson for the kid to learn. But, when parents force their hand about this stuff; having a video of the kid screwing everything up does come in handy.

The past few years, I have flat out refused to talk about positions or Xs and Os with anybody but my staff.

here is my 2 cents to the discussion.

Sometimes it is nice to know you aren't alone

coachhuey.proboards42.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1126014993&page=1

Sorry I haven't responded sooner...it's not an open enrollment district, but it sure seems that way. No, he won't have to buy a house somewhere else. It seems usually what happens is an address happens to appear in the school's area and viola, he's in! Also, some of the schools have special programs that are open to anyone in the district so a kid/parent can say my son is going to _____ HS to attend the _____ program. Again, viola, he's in!

So, are there any rules stating that if he did move his kid to another school, he would be ineligible for a given number of days?

Case in point...at the beginning of my senior year, my family moved to a different town. A town that had several high schools. When we got there, our address put us in High School A's "territory." But since my mom worked at High School B, I open enrolled to that high school. There must be a state rule, a community school district rule, or something along those lines that says if you open enroll in a school within the same district you are athletically ineligible for 90 days following the transfer date. So I couldn't participate in fall sports, and I decided against winter sports as well, since I wouldn't have joined the team until late Dec/early Jan.

Getting to my point, if there is something like this in your area, would this father be ready to cost his son a year of football just to give you an "I'll show you!"?

If there isn't something like this, I would echo what everyone else is saying and stick to your guns regardless.

There is a rule like that here (I think it's a semester sit out), but no one seems to inforce it. Like I said, if the address is right, you're in. If you sign up for the educational program offered, you're in. No waiting. You only have to sit out if an AD or Administrator fights the transfer and that doesnt' seem to happen.