Parent Coaches

[Ed Hickland]

I just love those well meaning Dads who volunteer as coaches without learning the game.

Yesterday I had a classic.

Team on offense lines up eight players on the line with a backfield consisting of a quarterback, halfback and slotback. The player on the line next to the left tackle goes downfield on a pass play and I flag them for ineligible downfield as he was covered by an end.

Now the crack coaching staff says what is wrong with that. I say the player next to your tackle was covered. What do you mean covered, they ask. I tell them that only the players on the end of the line, the ends, can go downfield on a pass.

Then here it comes. They tell me they have the tight end, the slotback and the split end. I respond they can only have one end on each end of the line. They answer, we are only sending the ends downfield, one is the tight end and the other the split end.

I just walked away and enforced the penalty and told them not to do it again.