Two high school football stories caught my eye this week – one in Des Moines, Iowa and the other in Tampa, Florida. While happening in two divergent geographies, the result was the same – a coach coming to the aid of a player only to be slapped with heavy repercussions for doing so.
These two situations tell me that if teaching our children is the most thankless job in America, coaching our little ballers might be second.
#1: Corn-Fed Concussion Confrontation – Des Moines, Iowa
During the second quarter of last week’s game against Dowling Catholic, Lincoln High’s quarterback was pummeled by a questionably elevated hit near the sideline. John Storm, a Lincoln assistant coach and father of the quarterback laying on the adjacent ground, went berserk.
A video depicts Coach Storm aggressively moving onto the field toward the game officials, exchanging words and being restrained by other coaches.
Earlier this week, Storm publicly acknowledged losing his cool and, subsequently, resigned from this coaching duties. For his involvement, the coach risks a $6,000 fine if authorities move forward with formal assault charges.
First things first – the hit was illegal. Coaches, though, must channel their initial disgust and anger differently. The fact that the quarterback was the coach’s son, makes my assessment murkier.
Coach Storm did a lot wrong, but so much to cost him a job and a two-year jail sentence? No way.
#2: Florida Football Fostering – Plant City, Florida
Just short of their contest with cross-town (and undefeated) rival, Steinbrenner High, the lowly (0-5 record) Plant City Panthers Head Coach, Robert Weiner, was suspended for six weeks and fined $5,000 for nothing short of locating a foster home for a suddenly-homeless student-athlete.
I immediately was skeptical of Coach Weiner’s side of the story, thinking – this seems like a shady way to recruit a ringer from out-of-state, right?
My skepticism went right out the window when I learned of two facts: (1) the school self-reported the student and coach’s involvement in locating a foster family, and, (2) the student was already ineligible given the inability for a guardian to sign-off on their participation on the football team.
So, Coach Weiner, for the servitude leadership of finding a homeless minor a host family pays a large sum of money and is barred from leading his team onto the field for the rest of their season.
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Black and White Rules vs. Safety in Shades of Grey
Reserving any judgement for the relative valor (or not) of the tolls levied on Coach Weiner and Storm, these two situations bring up a point that I’ve argued regarding kids sports for awhile – protection always trumps rules. Always.
I respect rules as the governance for making sure the playing field is level. Rules keep the peace and prescribe standards that should be followed – except when the rules penalize an attempt at defending a young person.
This struggle will persist because are clear and the concept of safety is foggy (at best).
Coaches are asked to protect their athletes more and more – via frequent water breaks, less physically cumbersome drills in practice, elevated certification requirements and ensuring all players have a way home before leaving for home themselves.
At times, a coach is a pseudo-parent or, at minimum, an extension of us on the field. They are never a drone-like protector of the rule book.
So how, I ask, is what either coach did commendable?
Alright, I’ll admit that Coach Storm did a lot wrong in approaching the refs and carrying on. He’s admitted so. For that, he should be reprimanded – relegated to a seat off the sidelines or so. But, to lose his job after an emotionally-fueled situation where he felt thought his son was knocked out a few feet away? That is harsh.
Teachers, coaches, parents, officials and spectators should always protect the kids on the field. We should protect all of the kids – those that we drive home after the game and the ones we boo of the other sidelines.
If rules prevent that, or impose steep penalties that make us think twice before instinctively acting to protect them, the rules need to change or, at least, be open to exception.
