Quote:
Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
You are giving me excuses for why you are not doing your job. An assistant coach is to be seen by and not heard by officials. Now having said that, I have no problem with assistant coaches asking me where the designated spot is for throw-ins and other such information as long as is it is done in a curtious manner.
The fact that he has a great basketball mind and gives his time for free for ten months a year is not a reason for not doing your job. If he cannot control his bench behavior then you have to control it for him. That means that maybe you need to ban him from the bench until he understands what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior for bench personnel. If he is a real advocate for sportsmanship then he has to lead by example, because your players see how he acts on the bench and they see how you accept his bench behavior. An assistant coach who gets a technical foul has real bench behavior problems and the head coach as leadership problems.
|
1) I do not have a job, I am a volunteer. You are paid to do this, you have a job. I spend hundreds of hours a year on kids with no familial relationship to me receiving no remuneration of any kind, while a couple of teenagers that do have a familial relationship are at home with my spouse or going to the movies. Don't take this high road approach with me, Saint Mark.
2) My primary mission in my volunteer effort is to give 15 outstanding players an opportunity to play high level ball and to prepare them for HS and hopefully college. I believe I am on the right track and teaching the right values. My player's parents agree, and most refs have a lot of respect for me, how I conduct myself, and how I control my team.
3) In games, I need an assistant who has the same goals and focus that I have, a good knowledge of the game, and I don't have much to choose from in this regard, espcially in the less highly regarded world of girls ball. If you can't understand that, then you obviously haven't tried running a high level basketball program with high quality volunteer coaches for a sustained period of time.
4) I have a choice - work with a person who is putting forth an honest effort and try to change his habits over time, which I have done quite successfully thus far. Alternatively, I can ban him as you suggest and take the chance that a hardworking, honest individual will be lost as a coach for these girls. I believe that I am refining his bench demeanor just as I am refining the players composure on the floor. Just as I don't bench my point guard for making a mistake, but put her back out to learn, I don't banish my assistant.
I am glad it is so easy to inform me what choices I should make, especially when you know nothing of our individual circumstances or character. Unfortunately, many choices are not as black and white as you would cast them to be. My approach is different than yours - you choose as you must, but please allow me the same freedom. It isn't that I have not done anything to handle this situation, it's just that I haven't done what you would have done.
And whack my assistant if you ref one of our games and think he deserves it - I honestly don't mind. I think it helps to educate him even more than I can! And if he doesn't do anything worth one T in at least the last 60 games we have played (this is a fact), how is it I should ban him? He's gotten maybe 5 warnings in that time. He's received far more correction from me than from your striped shirted brethren, who are doing a JOB. Evidently, it is a bigger issue with me than with them.
