Mount Union vs. Whitewater

[Suudy]

Originally Posted by ajmc

There is absolutely no doubt, the bad examples displayed routinely at both the collegiate and professional levels filters down and serves as a profound (BAD) example, too often mimicked by interscholastic athletes, where it takes root to poison behavior for those who advance, completing an ugly, stupid pattern of behavior.

This. Absolutely. And they are taught it at the HS level at summer camps. We used to officiate the local college's summer football camp scrimmage, and there are f* bombs dropping constantly from the players and their "mentors." It's part of the football culture it seems.

Originally Posted by JRutledge

It seems like in this case you have classy programs with classy long time coaches that probably do not tolerate that mess, but most coaches do not seem to take that similar stance.

And this, too. Many of the coaches we run into are former college players, and they've never seen the classy coach or program. I was fortunate to have played for one. As a player I got mouthy with an official for what I thought was a crappy holding call, and I sat the rest of the game. My coach has ZERO tolerance of trash talking, chippy behavior, cheap shots, etc. And of the schools we do, we had one like that, who's long since moved on (he's now a principal at another school).

Perhaps the classiest coaches aren't former players. My coach wasn't. The classiest coaches I've worked with as an official weren't (or aren't). Perhaps once you get into that trash talking mentality, it's hard to get out of it.