Coaches vs. Disgruntled Parents in High School Athletics

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In a growing trend that reaches to all corners of the athletic world, coaches are being forced to cope with the added stress of disgruntled parents. More and more they are required to defend personal coaching styles and philosophies, uphold team decisions and go head to head with angry, and sometimes violent parents. The pressure has gotten to the point where coaches all over the country are quitting or being forced out of their jobs by groups of parents. High school athletics should be about learning and having fun, and when parents cross the line between cheerleader and ringleader everyone suffers.

In just two years as head coach of Eastlake High School in Seattle, WA, Jan Nicholas took a mediocre team and coached them into the state playoffs. After coaching NCAA Division I basketball at Cal State Northridge, Nicholas was more than qualified for her position and had obviously done a phenomenal job turning around a less than spectacular team. However, some parents did not see it that way, and after the '95 season Nicholas resigned due to parental pressure.

Nicholas says, "you make enough sacrifices as it is to be a high school coach, and when you start talking about some of the extra sacrifices in dealing with parents, you ask yourself, 'Why?'"(Wittenmyer C4).

At the time of Nicholas' resignation she was the third coach within two months to resign from coaching girls basketball in the King Co Conference alone. Both of the other coaches cited parents as their main reason for leaving.

Midway through the '98-'99 boys basketball season, Jerry Morris resigned as head coach at Kamiak high school in Mukilteo, WA. At the time of the incident Morris cited only personal reasons for his resignation. However...

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Steinberg, Laurence, B. Bradford Brown, and Sanford M. Dornbusch. Beyond the Classroom. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Stewart, D.L. "Life is Not Always a Fair Game." Tribune Media Service. 16 Oct. 1999. <http://www.danceadts.com/fairgame.htm>.

Wilde, Jason. "On The Field and Off, High School Coaches Are Under Pressure - Parent Involvement Can Make the Hot Seat Even Hotter." 11 Oct. 1999. <http://www.elibrary.com/s/edumark>.

Wittenmeyer, Gordon. "Coach: Parental Pressure Final Straw--Eastlake's Nicholas Leaving Despite Team's Success." Seattle Times. 11 Apr. 1995

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