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Post by hsrose on Jan 16, 2020 17:09:56 GMT -6
As a sign to coaches checking on whether to apply to a school to coach or not, here's something that I missed and would have been a big, big tell about the school culture.
I'm cruising Twitter earlier this week and see a post from a local newsie about a small school football team in the area that won state this year. Picture of the seniors or something, maybe at the awards night or something, players all happy. I got to looking at it and realized that all of the players were wearing lettermen jackets. All embroidered, letters, all kinds of good stuff. Didn't really think anything of it until I thought about the school that I was most recently at. They don't even hand out the school letters anymore. If you earned a letter, and you want it, go see the AD, they'll give you the letter. And the captains stars, letter bars, whatever.
But, they don't hand them out. Know why? Nobody wears the jackets. Not the boys, not the girls. Nobody. So they decided like 8-9 years ago to stop handing them out automatically, instead it was a cost savings. In my 6+ years there, coaching football, I remember seeing 3 players that had jackets. But other than those 3 I never remember seeing anyone around the school or at basketball games or anything.
And the school does not have a good athletic reputation at all. In any team sport. Individuals, yeah, but nothing in the team side. So I don't know how it is at your school but here, nobody does the jackets. Stores don't even carry them, no market.
Looking back that should have been a big tell for me that athletics were not going to be a priority.
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Post by veerfan on Jan 16, 2020 17:25:38 GMT -6
Our school hands out the letters and the bars, etc, but I can't think of one of our current students who wears a jacket. Our district is very competitive in the sports department (football just won a state championship). Hell, kids don't wear coats to school anymore! At least not here very much. So, IMO that has led to more of a decline in kids wanting them. When I was in school, it was a big deal. The more you had on there, the bigger of an athlete you were and that was a "badge of honor" so-to-speak. I'm sure it is still in some areas tho.
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Post by bluboy on Jan 16, 2020 18:40:30 GMT -6
Our school hands out letters, bars, pins, captain pins, etc.For the most part, the only kids I see wearing this stuff is the football players. They don't wear it on a letter-man's jacket. Kids who have been fortunate enough to win a state championship wear their letter and hardware on some kind of state championship jacket. Other will wear this stuff on a school jacket/windbreaker.
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Post by larrymoe on Jan 16, 2020 20:51:24 GMT -6
Idk that I've seen a kid wear a letter jacket in 10 years. Good school or bad.
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Post by agap on Jan 17, 2020 0:33:38 GMT -6
Everybody wore one when I was in high school, but I never did. I figured I never needed to wear a jacket to prove that I was an athlete. I would prove that on the field/mat.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 17, 2020 6:34:18 GMT -6
Idk that I've seen a kid wear a letter jacket in 10 years. Good school or bad. They seem to be making a comeback. I was having a conversation with a woman who runs an embroidery shop and she said there were years in which she wouldn't sell a single jacket. In fact, she stopped carrying them in inventory. They were a special order item. But, over the last couple years, they have become much more popular and she is back to carrying them in the store I'm glad to see kids wearing them again. |
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Post by 19delta on Jan 17, 2020 6:35:55 GMT -6
Everybody wore one when I was in high school, but I never did. I figured I never needed to wear a jacket to prove that I was an athlete. I would prove that on the field/mat. Not me. My letterman's jacket was like a body tattoo. It would be 80 degrees out and I would be wearing it! 😆 |
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Post by MICoach on Jan 17, 2020 7:44:35 GMT -6
I graduated high school 15 years ago, and maybe four kids in my entire high school wore them.
I'd say of the schools I've taught and coached at, maybe a handful of kids at each school have them, even fewer actually wear them regularly.
We still give out numbers as well as a knit class year and I think a mascot logo, but I don't think the kids do anything with them.
This may be anecdotal but around here they seem to be more common (still relatively low) at rural high schools.
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klaby
Junior Member
Posts: 389
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Post by klaby on Jan 17, 2020 10:36:27 GMT -6
My son doesnt want a jacket either. Says nobody except the scrubenies wear them... So he has the letter, the stripes and all that but no jacket.
The school I coach at still hands out the letter and everything as well, but I rarely see a jacket in the stands...
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Post by cpcollet on Jan 17, 2020 12:14:24 GMT -6
When I coached in Phoenix I rarely saw them. Who needs a jacket in Phoenix. Now that I am in Northern Arizona our guys all get them and are jacked when they can put playoff patches on the jacket.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 18, 2020 8:56:25 GMT -6
I believe a lot of this has to do with where you live and the size of the school. Many of my colleagues in small schools in cold weather states say they still see a lot of kids wear letter jackets (for obvious reasons). In the warmer weather states there isn't as much of a need so the number of kids wearing them is diminished. However...I must say...with the advent of the PC culture in many schools they have gone the way of promoting an all-around school "lettermen awards jacket" which includes Music, Theater, Robotics, and such. Not that those kids aren't deserving of recognition, BUT, because the requirements for those awards don't measure up to what the requirements may be for athletes (especially in TEAM sports), the accomplishments the athletes have made over the years has now been watered down. As a result many of the athletes in larger schools who only participate in sports don't feel the need to have a jacket anymore because in their world "anybody" can get one. In the last school where I worked (a small private school of 400 students) our athletes were involved in many other school activities so for them the purchase of a jacket was still a big deal. Just my take, and I've been involved in education/coaching for over 40 years.
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Post by groundchuck on Jan 18, 2020 9:34:35 GMT -6
Everybody wore one when I was in high school, but I never did. I figured I never needed to wear a jacket to prove that I was an athlete. I would prove that on the field/mat. Not me. My letterman's jacket was like a body tattoo. It would be 80 degrees out and I would be wearing it! 😆 I am like Delta. I wore my jacket like a tatoo. I still have it (and would wear it but it would be weird to now). I coach at school with a huge tradition in football and girls swimming. I see kids wearing letterman jackets but not in huge numbers. I think it went a way for a while but like another post said they are making a comeback. |
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Post by chi5hi on Jan 18, 2020 16:16:46 GMT -6
In my day it was a Letterman's sweater. Stripes on the sleeve...source of pride and school spirit.
We had a basement in the old gym which was the Letterman's club...ping pong table...Coke machine...refrigerator, etc.
If you Lettered you could hang out...bring your girlfriend. If you weren't a Letterman and were caught near the clubhouse...you were shoved into a gym locker.
I guess this was before jackets were invented.
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Post by Defcord on Jan 18, 2020 17:09:11 GMT -6
My high school girlfriend has mine...I called her two years after graduation to see if I could have it back cause my mom wanted it. Her new “fiancé” got on the line and cussed me out. I always figured he wears it when she is grocery shopping.
In all seriousness, we got ours and wore them with pride or gave them to our girls. Class of 2000 rules...I think
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Post by bucksweepdotcom on Jan 18, 2020 17:50:38 GMT -6
When I coached in Phoenix I rarely saw them. Who needs a jacket in Phoenix. Now that I am in Northern Arizona our guys all get them and are jacked when they can put playoff patches on the jacket. Can you describe the playoff patch? |
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 18, 2020 22:49:56 GMT -6
When I coached in Phoenix I rarely saw them. Who needs a jacket in Phoenix. Now that I am in Northern Arizona our guys all get them and are jacked when they can put playoff patches on the jacket. Can you describe the playoff patch? The ones I have seen are simply a patch in the shape of the state, with the accomplishments stitched (embroidered, I don't know) on the patch, such as "2019 District champs" or "2019 quarterfinalist" etc. Sidenote, wearing a letterman's jacket/sweater during high school is about as cool as wearing HS memorabilia in college. |
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Post by cpcollet on Jan 18, 2020 22:51:00 GMT -6
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Post by 19delta on Jan 19, 2020 6:54:23 GMT -6
Not me. My letterman's jacket was like a body tattoo. It would be 80 degrees out and I would be wearing it! 😆 I am like Delta. I wore my jacket like a tatoo. I still have it (and would wear it but it would be weird to now). I coach at school with a huge tradition in football and girls swimming. I see kids wearing letterman jackets but not in huge numbers. I think it went a way for a while but like another post said they are making a comeback. In hindsight, the saddest day of my life was probably in early April of 1992 when I wore my letterman's jacket for the last time. It's been all downhill since then!  |
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Post by bucksweepdotcom on Jan 19, 2020 7:14:45 GMT -6
Do kids get them if the team just makes the playoffs? |
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Post by 19delta on Jan 19, 2020 7:15:58 GMT -6
When I coached in Phoenix I rarely saw them. Who needs a jacket in Phoenix. Now that I am in Northern Arizona our guys all get them and are jacked when they can put playoff patches on the jacket. Can you describe the playoff patch? What I find interesting is that the standards for getting a patch differ from school to school. For example, when I was in high school, you got a playoff patch if the team advanced to the quarterfinals. At my current school, you don't get a playoff patch unless the team advances to the semifinals. We do give out a patch for winning a conference championship. Some schools give out a patch for just making the playoffs. I have seen other schools award patches for individual awards like all-conference or all-state, or sectional qualifier in wrestling but our school does not do that. The only "individual" awards our kids get are a patch for a 3.0 GPA and 3.75 GPA and maybe fine arts individual distinctions. The other thing that a lot of our kids do is "customize" their jackets. When I was in high school, there was pretty much just one standard jacket type. Our kids have a lot more options. For example, most of our kids get a jacket with a royal blue shell and orange sleeve. My kid didn't like the orange sleeves so he got white sleeves. We also have several co-op teams at our school (football, track, and wrestling). So, my kid has 3 different varsity letters on his jacket. He has an orange "E" for playing on the school baseball team, a green "W" for wrestling on the co-op wrestling team, and a red "P" for playing on the co-op football team. He started a mini-trend with that. There is another boy who is getting his letter jacket done in the football team's co-op colors (black and blue) instead of the school colors (orange and blue). One thing we do that I find odd is the kids get a sport pin for each year they play a sport. So, for example, they get a JV letter their freshman year and a pin. When they finally get a varsity letter, they have a pin for each year they played. So, when you see our senior football players, for example, they all have a varsity letter and 4 football pins. It appears that they are all 4-year varsity letterman but they aren't. I have never seen it done that way before. Usually, the number of pins on the letter shows how many varsity letters in that sport they have won, not how many years they have played the sport. |
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Post by CS on Jan 19, 2020 8:24:47 GMT -6
In my day it was a Letterman's sweater. Stripes on the sleeve...source of pride and school spirit. We had a basement in the old gym which was the Letterman's club...ping pong table...Coke machine...refrigerator, etc. If you Lettered you could hang out...bring your girlfriend. If you weren't a Letterman and were caught near the clubhouse...you were shoved into a gym locker. I guess this was before jackets were invented. What was pinky tuscadero like in real life? |
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Post by blb on Jan 19, 2020 8:30:37 GMT -6
In my day it was a Letterman's sweater. Stripes on the sleeve...source of pride and school spirit. We had a basement in the old gym which was the Letterman's club...ping pong table...Coke machine...refrigerator, etc. If you Lettered you could hang out...bring your girlfriend. If you weren't a Letterman and were caught near the clubhouse...you were shoved into a gym locker. I guess this was before jackets were invented. What was pinky tuscadero like in real life?
Can't answer that but can confirm that Lincoln really was a good president.
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Post by 19delta on Jan 19, 2020 9:30:56 GMT -6
In my day it was a Letterman's sweater. Stripes on the sleeve...source of pride and school spirit. We had a basement in the old gym which was the Letterman's club...ping pong table...Coke machine...refrigerator, etc. If you Lettered you could hang out...bring your girlfriend. If you weren't a Letterman and were caught near the clubhouse...you were shoved into a gym locker. I guess this was before jackets were invented. What was pinky tuscadero like in real life? Those short shorts and the tied-up blouse... |
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Post by cpcollet on Jan 19, 2020 17:06:38 GMT -6
From what I understand the AIA makes those patches available to all schools that make the playoffs. The kids choose to buy their own, the school didn't provide them.
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Post by carookie on Jan 21, 2020 9:39:02 GMT -6
I played & coached my entire career in or near the desert (So Cal & Arizona) so that variable is somewhat isolated, but I have seen a decline in kids wearing letterman's jackets from when I played (20+ years ago) to now. Though I still see them around campus.
I will say that at the more affluent schools I have been at they tend to be worn more often, so maybe it has to do with their cost or possibly that culture.
I kinda thought one of the big reasons they are worn less is that the letter is given out more often now. 25 years ago you earned one by playing a varsity sport. Now, you can get one for various arts (drama, band, etc) for earning over a specific GPA (I've been at places where a 3.0 for a semester gets one), heck I've seen it given for different clubs (science club, improv club). Not trying to perpetuate the 'jock' stereotype, but I think for some the letter used to be worn as a way to signify a certain pride in being an athlete. But just like participation trophies, if everyone gets one it means a little less.
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Post by bulldogsdc on Jan 21, 2020 9:58:55 GMT -6
I wanted one so bad when I was in High School. My mom sewed my letter on this weird jacket made out of sweatshirt material. Christmas has just gone down hill from there regarding my presents...............
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Post by bleefb on Jan 21, 2020 10:17:18 GMT -6
I think cost is also a factor. Those things are crazy expensive.
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Post by coachtua on Jan 28, 2020 6:55:28 GMT -6
I actually saw a kid wearing a Letterman's sweater once. Odd kid, but a hell of an athlete.
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Post by coachdawhip on Feb 23, 2020 17:41:59 GMT -6
At my current school they are making a comeback. Our girls BB team has letterman sweaters which are cool.
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Post by coachdawhip on Feb 23, 2020 17:42:32 GMT -6
Do kids get them if the team just makes the playoffs? Yes, I got mine bigger or different the further we went or if we won Region. |
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