Things other coaches have said.....

We had a big, oafy JV a kid a few years ago come out to play QB. By the end of the 2nd practice, we was a TE.  We got this long email that night from his dad...family is all D1 athletes, uncle played D1, cousins all got scholarships, yada yada...crap like that.

The kicker, tho, is part of the email discussed at length about how his son "watched hours of Peyton Manning & Big Ben on youtube, and has worked for months to copy their throwing motion."

I think, or hope, we have that emailed saved somewhere.  Anyway, the kid left for a private school after the season, talked up his QB prowess to us once he left, bragged about being the QB...then mysteriously quit the team before the season.  I'm sure they wouldn't let him play QB either.   It's funny, but also sad that parents put so much pressure on kids to reach a certain goal, so much that the kid would rather quit than be viewed as a disappointment i the eyes of his parents.

That's fantastic!!!

We (I) benched out LT a few years ago. Dad storms in with his own from-the-stands game film, walks us thru it, demands to know why his kid was benched after that performance. 

HC: "Sir, where are the rest of the plays?"

dad: "what do you mean? Did you SEE that? My son needs to start!"

HC: "We ran 54 plays in the game. Your film has 19. Where are the other plays?"

Dad: "no idea what you're talking about..."

My combination of coaching youth, middle school and high school ball over the years has produced some entertaining situations. Particularly at the youth and middle school level.. The coaches and parents at those levels can be real peaches.

I might be dense.  But I don't get any of this. LOL

I worked at a school that was predominantly white, I'm hispanic. Hispanic kid is the backup QB. Dad is a total PITA, constantly saying he's the better QB to anyone that will listen. The next season, backup kid becomes a senior and is tabbed as a starter. Loses his position to a Jr who is just better and the stats back it up. Jr begins to start games and dad screams from the bottom of the bleachers that his kid should be in. 

Next Monday at school, I get called into the principal's office and he shows me an email that was sent by this parent. The email states that Coach 3rdandlong only plays white kids at QB. The parent accused me of being discriminatory against "our own people" and that I was jealous that his son is a better QB than I was in high school (I never once played QB). Principal had a good laugh at that. 

I did tell the principal that I would not meet or speak with this parent without union representation because he was making some very bold claims. The dad kind of disappeared after that. 

The plan should be put in writing ahead of time.

I'm not sure whether our athletics are covered under union representation. But I always ask admin if they would sit in on meetings if I think they may get out of control- for my sake AND the parents' sake (to keep me in check). I know our admin really appreciate this as they have told me directly.

I posted about an issue earlier this season where a parent was getting out of control and accusatory. I asked admin to sit in on the meeting and they did. After reviewing the paper trail my principal told me "With all the BS you have put up with here I applaud your patience- this kid and parent would have already gotten their walking papers.." It was also the first time she had ever heard of a parent/coach meeting where the coach was asking the kid to come back to practice. Basically the parent had pulled the kid and started accusing us of being abusive etc. He never showed for the meeting (2nd time he no-showed) and then transferred his son. Jacka$$!

Playing in a sectional playoff game against Tyler Eifert his senior year. Game plan offensively is easy because we were a DW team. So we get started on the defensive gameplan..One of the head scratchers of my career...

HC: Ok..when they split Mr. Eifert out....what are we thinking about doing?

Assist: Put Junie on him....(emphatically)

HC: What? What do you mean?

Assist: Put Junie on him, he big fast..he made all them tackles on Kickoff last week...put Junie on him!!!

HC: Coach there arent many answers to the question but I assure you Junie is NOT one of them!

Assist: Im telling you Coach Junie ready for him!

For the record Junie was 6'4 older brother of our starting wingback who had exactly 11 games of football experience! lol

I worked a summer after high school for a guy who played on a state championship team, back in the 70's, at the school I had attended in early 2000's.  Had a legendary HC who didn't coach a ton of years, but whose winning percentage is still within the top 5 all time for guys who coached at least however many years.  Can't remember the metric, exactly.  His coaching years came at a school that won like 10-20 percent of games for a decade, he came and they won 80-90 percent for five years.  Then he went to my school and STARTED THE PROGRAM.  I'm talking no school one year, and a school shows up the next year.  In the newspapers, this dude says that the plans for the program are to give the community something to be proud of and hopefully they'll be state champs within five years.  2nd full year of varsity football they go 12-1 -- state runner-up.  4th full year, Undefeated.  Closest game was 20 points if I remember right.  Won state by 30 (at a time when nobody won state by 30 and he played second string the last quarter and a half while accruing penalty yards that still might be the most ever accrued in a state championship game (most say it was because they wanted to keep the game "decent".)  haha.  Guy was flat out great at coaching.  

Anyway, I was talking to my boss, and he said he was playing DE one practice when his coach put on full football gear so that he could run the scout team option QB because he knew how to run it and it was easier to run it himself than try to teach a guy on his team to do it and give the varsity a good look at what they'd be seeing on Friday.  (since hearing this story, I've often daydreamed about putting on pads against my players, haha.  But remember, this was many decades ago, when nobody really got too bent out of shape about such things).  He dropped back for a rare pass to see how his guys would react when it was pass rather than run since the opposing team ran the ball almost every single play the preceding weeks.  My boss said he broke through the line and just tagged the HC who was playing QB.  Apparently, this HC went on a tirade with numerous curse words, talking about how if he wanted the team to win, he better not pull that CHIT of playing weak @$$ tag BullChit on Friday night.  There were F-bombs I'm quite certain, and probably even worse personal name-calling situations in the tirade.  The HC had made it clear that he was free game.  A little later in the scrimmage, either my boss or someone else (can't remember the story) flat out floored the HC when he got the chance.  At this point, from stories I hear, an even longer rant comes, but this time it is profanity that is all about how great it was that this guy was such a damn bas@$$ that he would plant the damn HC and how everyone should be so tough, etc.  haha.  

I had heard stories about this guy ripping facemasks around so that he was screaming in a guy's face while also screaming through the earhole of a helmet -- imagine how that happens.  Funny enough, my Mom had heard these stories before I went to the school and she told me that if the same thing was still going on (in the early 2000's she said this hahahaha) and it happened to me, that I better make it a point to not do whatever it was that caused the coach to rip my head around in a circle.  haha.  She's from the South and at least a few times in my life made me go outside and pick my own switch, haha.  She had heard a lot of stories.  Nothing wrong with acting right, I guess.   

I remember asking the guy (and a couple others who played for him) about guys hating him.  They all told me that nobody really hated him.  Sure, he cussed and screamed and ranted and raved, but he didn't ask anything of anyone that they weren't capable of accomplishing.  They all said he didn't care so much about winning, but he just cared about everyone doing THEIR ABSOLUTE BEST!!!  His theory was that if everyone, in every game, put out a performance that they were totally proud of, they would win every one of those games.  Don't be mistaken, he didn't play no bullchit, but he was very good at being able to look at a play and know whether the player in question was going 100% and he just flat out demanded that 100%.  All the guys I've talked to told me of scenarios where guys who maybe weren't that great at football, but put out a great effort at practice one day, were sent to the showers early before conditioning because they had already earned that day of practice.  

This sort of "style" would never fly these days, but he impacted people in a way that can't be matched by most coaches.  Sure, he could have cursed less, but that doesn't take away from what he imparted on kids.  Anyway, it's just a story.  

More than a few of them ....

We all know that 1 guy on every staff, that tries to show how "nuts" he is by wearing shorts and a T shirt or summer gear into the Winter

about 3 years ago , were playing some team out in the middle of the state in the semis,

I saw a dude put himself into what i can only assume was hypothermia, in an all day driving rain in like 40 degree weather steady wind , in late November

Halftime we tell the dude , man its too cold for shorts , he says "Playoffs baby" and walks to their locker room,

After the game i'm walking to my car , I see them literally helping the dude just to sit in the passenger seat of someones car, hes wrapped in towels and blankets they have the heat on full blast, etc... he looks at one of the assistants and says


"(HC's name) Should let me make the decisions"

When I was in college we still had freshman football. Before one game our coach told us about a game that he played in when he was in the Marines back in the '50's. Before the game against another base, the coach motivated them by saying, "If you guys lose this game every swingin' d-ck on the team is going to Korea".

They won.

When I was playing my junior year, our OL coach was an absolute legend in the area, and being as such, he was old as dirt. Loved him to death. One day after practice, our scout offense did a good job against our starting defense. Coach gives me a five dollar bill and says "Take the scout OL out for milkshakes on me." We ended up sharing that one milkshake lmao.

Had an opposing coach in the booth come over to our side of the booth, scream "Eat it, bitch!" and give us the DX crotch chop once after his team scored on our defense.

That had to be a wild year. The crazy part is that you all weren't that far from having a really good year there too.

That's hysterical 

I remember scouting years ago and seeing guys breaking up a fight in the booth, home team was getting beat pretty bad, I heard one guy from the home team walked over grabbed the opposing guys call sheet, ripped it up and threw it out the booth window or something.