Coaching : a Tough Job, Whether College or Pro

Fireworks might take place on the Fourth of July, but there's one type of interaction that sometimes makes sparks fly throughout the year.

You see, if there's one constantly uttered phrase in the world of sports, it's "being on the same page."

It bears mentioning, however, that such a scenario probably does not take place as frequently as one might believe. The truth of that matter is that if you get enough people on a team, regardless of sport, there will be clashes. Those involved could range from, but are not limited to, players, administrators, owners, front office personnel, coaches and parents.

The fact of the matter is that there are many instances where the aforementioned parties do not share the same goals. For example, some administrators might not be in favor of a coach who challenges the players to perform better. Of course, the root of this issue is often times parents.

The coaches' biggest challenge is to take a team with differing abilities and personality traits and form them into a team.

One of the biggest mistakes some coaches make is they take the approach of "treat every player the same." When it comes to discipline and accountability, absolutely every player should be held to the same standard if, let's say, kids blow off practice for an unexcused reason.

From a motivation perspective, however, that approach doesn't work because a talented player with a less-than-good work ethic needs to be pushed because he or she can be better.

On the other hand, if a player has marginal talent but is constantly giving maximum effort, yelling and screaming at them won't make them any better, especially if that player is the best you have for his or her position.

Parents certainly are in the right to wish for their son's or daughter's athletic experience to be a positive one. The fact of the matter is many people by nature are self-absorbed.

Heck, their kid's team could be 12-3, but often times the root of their satisfaction is their kid. If the kid's happy, the parents are happy. If the kid's not happy for whatever reason, the parent's not happy.

That mentality is not right or wrong, it's just the way people work. That idea also stems from the fact that parents are instinctively protective because if they think their kid is not getting a fair shake, they react.

The problem is that not only do parents react based on emotion, but they sometimes might go over the coaches' heads to address a problem (i.e. principal or athletic director) instead of going straight to the coach first.

As sports followers, second-guessing is part of the game. Again, it's not necessarily right, but we do it.

Why take this pitcher out of the game? Or why leave this pitcher in the game?

Why is the coach's play calling so conservative?

Why did we stop with our pressing man-to-man defense in the second half when it worked so well in the first half?

I guess what I'm getting at is that whether we care to admit or not, we all have an amateur John Wooden, Sparky Anderson or Bill Walsh in us.

When I was watching the College World Series on TV between Oregon State and North Carolina just last summer, then-ESPN commentator Harold Reynolds was talking about a coaching decision and said something to the effect of, "The coaches know the players better than we do."

Say a football coach goes for it on fourth and 1 from the opponents' 29-yard-line and doesn't make it. The point is that the outcome of a decision does not make it good or bad. It's the reasoning behind the decision that makes it good or bad. What Reynolds said has a lot of truth to it because, after all, the coaches work with the players every day in practice.

Again, parents are in the right to seek out their kid's best interest. The problem is too many do not do so with the understanding that the coach is dealing with anywhere from six to about 30 players.

After all, if there's one constant in every walk of life, it's that you can't please everyone.