Coach Fines in Ohio

[Rich]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

With all due respect to Mark, I think this is an awful idea.

First, I know of very few ejections in Ohio of coaches. This is overkill. I would like to see how many players and coaches are ejected in Ohio these days. The number is fewer than it used to be. And by putting this kind of power in the hands of officials, you are upsetting the balance between coaches and officials. Right now, the threat of ejection is strong enough to control coaches. Now an incompetent or hot headed official, or worst, one who makes an honest mistake, can cost a coach, money, games, and a significant amount of time. The number of coaches and players ejected used to be published by OHSAA, they are not made public anymore.

In basketball, it can even be worse than baseball since the Head Coach can take be ejected for actions of other people than himself. And while the head Coach is the responsible person for the behavior of the whole team, everyone he coaches are perfect angels every day, and never will do anything wrong in the heat of the moment.

Second, if they are made to take some kind of online course, it will be awful. The online courses I have seen for officials are not very good in my opinion, I doubt if they will be better for coaches. And last time I checked, a lot of coaches have college degrees which include coaching classes, psychology of coaching classes, etc. What they will get is a bunch of PC drivel which is counter-productive.

Third, OHSAA is showing that they are starting to think like a government bureaucracy. Most specifically in this case, what ever happened to local control and discipline of coaches and staff? What do you need an Athletic Director and Principal for if the state body is going to run discipline, and fines for coaches? I'm sorry, but if an ejection happens in Ohio now, you are suspended for a length of time. If it happens twice, the coach and principal see the head of OHSAA. In 30 years of watching OHSAA sports I know of nobody ejected 3 times in a season. That is punishment enough, and the center of punishment was left to the local school district where it belongs. OHSAA is going to far in this case, in my opinion. And the monetary fines are totally wrong in my opinion.

AD's and local school administrators are the people responsible for the actions, and hiring and firing of coaches under the leadership of a local school board. Not the OHSAA. But the OHSAA is becoming just like the Ohio state government: Destroying education in Ohio by ending local control and making every one into a one size fit all school program, OHSAA may well be starting on the same path.

I have more reasons why I don't like this, but that is enough for now.

Don't act like an idiot on the field and you won't get tossed. An "incompetent" official or even one that misses a call doesn't mean a coach gets to be an idiot.

I can honestly say I used to work in a place where the coach got fined for being ejected. I ejected no more or less quickly then than I do now. If you can't do the time or pay the fine, see my first sentence.