19 Coaches F/High School Football? WTF?

[KittyWampus]

My Dad was a teacher and football/track coach for junior high. He was tough but fair and many, many of his kids wrote to him and visited him telling him what a difference he made in their lives. One of his players even made pro football.

He quit when they started wanting him to pressure players to do summer football camps and for him to scout players. He thought it was too much emphasis on winning and not on being a member of a team & sportsmanship.

At any rate, how in the world can any town need NINETEEN COACHES FOR FOOTBALL?

I can't even imagine what they'd all be doing unless one coach was assigned to each starting player?

What is the point of all this?

Aren't there extracurricular activities that deserve some of the funding that those other extra 18 coaches were getting?

I hope it's okay to bug out over that… I know the rape issue is paramount but damn…. NINETEEN COACHES?

It's hard to wrap ones mind around the depravity involved in the rape culture thriving in that cesspool but the 19 coaches is also beyond comprehension.

Do pro football teams have 19 coaches?

[Incitatus]

1. idk, but this town is starting to sound like the setting of a King novel. nt

[Fumesucker]

19. King writes what he knows, he grew up in a small town and knows the dynamics of them well

I suspect Steubenville is more the rule than the exception judging from my own experiences with small towns.

[exboyfil]

2. Are many of them volunteer?

I would hope so. I think it is a bunch of former jocks who want to relive the glory days.

[Mr.Bill]

6. That's how it works in my small town.

Head coach is a PE teacher that gets some extra pay, everyone else is a volunteer, mostly alumni.

[BainsBane]

3. If half the town's livelihood depends on football

We start to see more reasons why they were so invested in covering up crimes.

Inciatus is right. Steubenville does sound like a Stephen King novel.

[Timbana]

4. And 38 Police Officers

This really puts the values of Steubenville in perspective for me: 19 football coaches for one football team, and 38 police officers for a town of approx. 19,000 people.

You would think that if 38 police officers are expected to police the criminal element of the town (and perform other services) of 19,000 people that 19 coaches could police the criminal element in a group of a few dozen boys/men.

Apparently that job was either too big for the coaches, or they are part of the "rape crew", at least as enablers of a sick, twisted culture.

[lunasun]

5. Welcome Timbana I agree

[Timbana]

8. Thx for the welcome! This case sickens me.

First post here, and I think second post ever . . . . I'm usually a "lurker" . . . but I just have not been able to stop thinking about this case since watching that sickening video a few days ago (took me a couple of attempts to get through it)

I'm a middle aged male who has witnessed the sense of entitlement that results when athletes are placed on a pedestal and given special treatment, i.e. fixed grades, fixed criminal charges, adoration of the community, scholarships, hidden payments to them on the side, women throwing themselves at the athletes regardless of their behavior/character . . . . I don't suppose we should be surprised when athletes (high school, college, pro) behave as if the rules don't apply to them - that's what they have been taught.

I certainly don't think all athletes are sociopaths, and there are absolutely many potential positive benefits to a person's character that result from the teamwork, personal commitment, etc.

However, with the hero-worship and preferential treatment accorded athletes, it's no surprise that many become narcissists and sociopaths. I guess they and their victims are the collateral damage of a society with misplaced values.

Although I don't agree with some of free passes given to athletes, I can wrap my mind around someone fixing a ticket for them, etc. . . . but it is almost unfathomable to me that there could be so many people in a community (Steubenville) who either participated in, covered up, or excused this horrific incident.

[Downwinder]

12. I'm having difficulty balancing Ohio's contraceptive

policies with their sponsorship of rapists.

If a Cheerleader is a representative of the school district (5th Cir.) isn't a football player also a representative of the school district?

[Unknown Beatle]

15. When I read this,

'I don't suppose we should be surprised when athletes (high school, college, pro) behave as if the rules don't apply to them - that's what they have been taught.'

I immediately thought of Tiger Woods. He said he felt entitled to things being easy for him as he was coddled by his father.

[Recursion]

7. That's what a pro team has

I could see a high school team having 1 head coach, 1 assistant, 1 offensive, 1 defensive, 1 special teams, and a conditioning coach. But more than that is ridiculous.

[alp227]

9. Hell, the Pittsburgh Steelers have only 16 assistants under the head coach!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Pittsburgh_Steelers_season#Staff

And my D-1 college football team has only 13 assistants under the head coach.

19? That number is WAY outrageous.

[southerncrone]

10. Probably nepotism & good ole boys living out their unfulfilled dreams.

In many small town schools, that is the case. And also why Johnny & Judy cannot read (or do math). People hired to be teachers because they were once sports prodigies, not because they are good teachers.
Many of us teachers are in favor of getting sports out of schools these days, because of all the focus on TESTING & this type of Neanderthal behavior that is becoming too common place.

[octoberlib]

11. Supposedly the head coach at Steubenville's

motto was "lie until you die" and when the football players had exams they were ushered into a separate room in the school and provided the answers. No good role models here.

[Cobalt Violet]

13. A town with the most fucked up priorities.

Just unreal. I would like to know if they have art and music or extracurricular activities.

[LTG]

14. I was a high school football coach

I coached high school football for 13 years.

First and foremost we would never have permitted any of the kids involved in these kinds of activities anywhere near my team. Honor, integrity and hard work were the basis of our program. First and foremost your are an educator. Everything you do and say around the kids teaches them something. Your every decision informs and influences their future.

My coaches were not permitted to do or say anything on the field or around the players that the boys were prohibited from doing or saying. That included swearing anywhere on the field. More than once I turned to see an assistant drop and do 20 after a inappropriate word slipped out. Discipline includes many elements and the primary teaching tool is by example.

We are raising boys to be honorable, productive citizens, while also providing lots of good memories. Few will go on to play any other level of football, but they will always remember these years.

The behavior of these players, and the coaches that facilitated these crimes, or who turned a blind eye, sickens me. You most often see these kinds of coaches when the coaches egos about the team and its accomplishments outweigh their commitment to the children they coach.

As to the numbers of assistants, I was the head coach in a medium size urban school. I ad a Freshman, JV and Varsity team. There was a total of about 75 players. To adequately coach and prepare all three levels, coach three games a week, breakdown film with position groups, etc. I had 10 assistants, and we were all pretty busy. There were 5 stipends. These I split so that all my assistants received something, even it was only $500 for the season. And that leaves us all doing all the off season work for free. Total of all stipends was less than $15,000.

I know that many places pay their coaches more, but all of our Booster money went through school accounts and payed for team equipment. Some also went to pay for fees and training camp costs of less financially fortunate players. No one in our program missed out on anything because they couldn't afford it.

We didn't have Middle School football programs. But I know that many rural and smaller communities do. Often those middle school coaches are considered part of the Sr High football staff. This is mainly done for continuity of plays, training and style of execution. So 19 coaches may not really be too far out of line.

So, as sickening as the behavior and crimes of these coaches and players, don't use too broad a brush. The majority of coaches I've known have been good men and women, with the best interests of children at heart.

[uponit7771]

17. +1!

[bemildred]

16. A free farm system for the Pros, is what it is. nt

[hobbit709]

18. There are way too many high schools where the coach makes4+ times what a teacher does.

Football is god in too many places.
A few years ago here a school district spent $50 mill on a new stadium with big screen displays, etc., then told the staff and teachers they had no money for raises.