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I hate it when parents get hostile about their kid's playing time!
I have had one parent who made it a point to jab me in the chest and tell me how poorly we had played in an overtime loss (as if I hadn't noticed!). Luckily he was not the gun toting type, but it was not a pleasant situation. I just let him say his two cents and walk away, called him the next day to deal with it after he cooled down. My getting hostile with an out-of-control person when I am already in a terrible mood is a bad mix, and not something I need to do in front of my team. I actually (believe it or not!) allowed his daughter to stay on the team (she's a good kid - not her fault Dad's an idiot) and calmly explained to him that if he had issues, he better deal with them responsibly or find a new place for his kid to play - LAST WARNING!
On the other side, I have had an opposing parent come out of the stands at me during a game because he thought one of my players was trying to hurt his daughter. My player wasn't and wouldn't - I've coached her for years and know her temperament quite well. We just had two players moving quickly get tangled up, and his tiny daughter ended up on the floor both times. Nothing intentional, and one wasn't even called a foul (and wasn't!). But it was informal preseason scrimmage style tournament with HS players for refs. Refs did well on the floor with the game but weren't prepared to handle this type of sitch. Luckily a parent of one of my former players intervened and got this guy out of the gym, because the other coach did not step in and the a**h*** wasn't going to listen to me. Butthead didn't know this other guy, and he was large enough to be convincing so our instigator left.
Love the kids, can't stand some of the parents! And remember that, as much grief as you guys catch, we hear a lot too, especially at the more competitive level of play when that precious full ride is on the line every game!
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