The message below was sent to us from one of the ESC Tigers' coaches. I thought it should have a permanent home.
Why we left
the Tigers,
T and I have been a part of the Tiger’s organization
for many years. In fact, T first met Coach Joe 7 years ago when he was in Little
League and I have been a coach or assistant coach for 4 years. You would think
that after so much time, leaving would be a difficult decision. It
wasn’t.
From experience I know that when someone leaves the
organization (regardless of the circumstances), Coach Joe brands them with
“traitor” or “quitter” – that’s just what he does. I quit coaching because I
believed that Coach Joe was violating the integrity of the organization and that
it was hurting the team. Specifically, we added 3 players to the team just after
the season had started. During the training season, Coach Joe stated on multiple
occasions that the original players were the core of the team. New players were
filler that would only be used when needed. After all, we had all trained hard
through the off season – it wouldn’t be right to displace core players with
players that had joined the team after all the training was done. Obviously this
philosophy didn’t last. Note that at this point in time, the new players had not
even paid up. I don’t fault these players since they were asked to join the team
and they certainly have no control of their playing time, but it’s a little like
having guest players that show up, take spots, and never leave.
I
challenged Coach Joe in a phone call 6/23. His response was to become very angry
and hang up on me. He would not return phone calls or emails. It was not open
for discussion. On 6/25 we had a game with the Cannons. I asked Coach Joe again
to change his policy and he refused. Consequently I resigned. Coach Joe’s
response was to bench T for the game. After the game he even told T that the
reason he benched him was because of my phone call. T knew nothing about the
phone call. This was supposed to be between me and Coach Joe. Since that game, T
rarely saw the field and was relegated to EH or the bench.
The
final straw: on 7/11, Coach Joe told the team that only players who were on time
would start the game on 7/12. Despite terrible traffic, T was on time for the
game but did not make the starting lineup. When he asked Coach Joe why, Coach
Joe said he didn’t want to hear it. T insisted and Coach Joe threw him out of
the dugout. To quote one of the players, “Wow Coach, way to keep your word”.
This was T’s last game.
On the way home, T said, “I’ve known
Coach Joe for 7 years – it shouldn’t end this way.”
My advice to
the current parents, players, and coaches – find another team. Hopefully with a
coach that doesn’t suck all the fun out of playing the game. Consistency and
integrity are two of the most important traits of a leader. If he would do this
to a player he has coached for 6 years, he will do it to your son too. However,
if you decide to stay with the Tigers, here is the best strategy: Don’t join the
team until just before the season starts. You can avoid all the costs of the
off-season training and still play as much as anyone – maybe more.
