Love that movie…..but when I think of the relationships between Parents and Coaches, I definitely don’t think of them as going together like ‘Peas and Carrots’. In fact, that conflict has driven many out of the profession. The conflict is an un-winnable battle for coaches….you’re not going to change a parent’s perspective.  Because, you cannot have rational discussions with irrational people….and many, many, many parents are completely irrational when it comes to their children.  Below is a transcript of a conference I had several years ago.  It is not verbatim, but pretty dang close, and it is absolutely without embellishments: …

I need a headline writer….I had no idea what to title this post. Maybe ‘Grumpy Old Man Rant’ would’ve been better? But, that would probably fit many of my posts…. As I said in the original post of winningainteasy, I write this blog from the perspective of someone that was in public education for 29 years.  I think that coaching (and teaching) in public education is a different existence than coaching in AAU (‘select’ ball) or big time college ball.  And it’s certainly different than coaching on the professional level.  I believe that the profession of teaching and coaching in …

It is human nature to want answers to questions, or solutions to life‘s many complications. Unfortunately, it is also human nature to quickly and blindly accept the simplest of those answers or solutions without deeper thought or further investigation. This is a trap we ALL fall into, usually on a daily basis. I want to take a look at a specific example in the world of athletics to point out that an obvious answer is not always obvious. We use athletics as an escape from daily life, because life in general is incredibly complicated at times. We want our escape …

No, this is not an article on any kind of media bias…but it is an article on a bias currently taking place in Texas High School athletics that Im not sure many people outside of Texas High School coaches have paid much attention to. Prior to 1989, the governing body of Texas High School athletics (UIL) divided schools into 6 classifications for football and basketball competition (6-man thru 5A). Using the enrollment numbers of each school in the state, UIL officials would start with the smallest schools and start filling the smallest classification with enough schools to fill out all …

Alabama has been the dominant team in college football for the past 6-8 years, New England has been the dominant team in the NFL for the past 10-12 years, Golden State has dominated the NBA for the past 3-4 years, UConn has dominated womens basketball for the past 15 years or so. But, history has shown that over time, within the world of athletics, things change…numbers tend to eventually even out…dominance ends. Here is a little story of an unprecedented 40 years of dominance within the athletic world. First, a little background on the structure of high school athletic competition …

I love old sayings.,…mostly because there is so much truth in them. According to Wikipedia, The Devil Is In The Details originated from God Is In The Details. Not sure how God morphed into the devil….but none the less, here is Wikipedias definition: “The devil is in the detail” is an idiom that refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details,[1] meaning that something might seem simple at a first look but will take more time and effort to complete than expected [2] and derives from the earlier phrase, “God is in the detail” expressing the idea …