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Throughout the day my husband and I listen to sports radio (ESPN out of St. Louis) for news of the St. Louis Cardinals. Since St. Louis doesn't have a major league football or basketball team, and their soccer team is just in its second year, a lot of the reporting is Cardinals and Blues (hockey). They do some national stuff, but most of it is pretty local.
It is way more amusing than political talk radio. And I have learned a lot about a lot of things. Like hockey players have the best names in sport. And they are rarely spoken of by their last names (Pavel Buchnevich, Jordan Kyrou, and Colton Parayko come to mind). Full names only. And that EB Granite is Bernie Federko's choice for kitchen cabinets. (Whoever on God's green earth Bernie Federko happens to be.) And some of the broadcasters have incredible memories for sports personages and statistics. Holy Moly! Carey Davis (former football player and high school coach) is my favorite of the broadcasters, because he is genuinely outraged when athletes don't give effort in their play. It is truly a fun time, even if you don't really care about the teams.
At any rate, let's come in from left field and get to the point.
The other day a discussion ensued over the fact that eight NHL coaches had lost their jobs in the last couple of months. Eight. Jamie Rivers (former hockey player and broadcaster) posed the question of this being a generational issue. Jamie noted that when he played hockey, if a coach said, go do this, you just went and did it. No questions asked. Now, apparently, the athletes want to know why they need to do this. There appears to be a clash of coach/athlete style that is starting to result in some unemployed coaches. Carey Davis stated that when he was coaching high school football he had a mom come up to him to ask why her son, 'who knows football' was sitting on the bench. (Seriously, moms of high school football players complain to the coach? The horrors for her son!) Davis explained that her son may 'know football' but since he was unwilling to learn our playbook, he was going to sit on the bench.
I really started thinking about this issue. There could be a whole constellation of reasons that athletes are questioning their coaches. I wonder how playing video football (or any other video sport) changes the perspective of an actual athlete. Do they get the impression they 'know the game' even though they have little actual experience? How does the name, image, likeness money train and transfer portal in college sports change the way the athlete relates to his coaches? (See, I told you I learn a lot of things.) Does the ability to make money in college, and transfer when things are not to your liking, provide more of an impetus for the athlete to forge his own path regardless of what he may need to learn to actually be a great player? If a coach demands hard work and effort and you are not in the mood do you just pick up your ball and head to the portal? What about those sideline moms (and dads)? Are the coaches allowed to have the integrity to tell parents that if their son or daughter is not going to work at their craft, they will be sitting on the bench? What if this is college, and the parent is a big alumni or donor? Or is the questioning a part of normal adolescent contrariness when faced with authority? Or has the push for teaching critical thinking actually paid off? Are these athletes asking why because they want to understand the complexity of directing a team effort and how they fit in? I would hope that at the major league level, the questions of why would be the latter. That they continue to explore their sport and how to make themselves and their team better. But it's really hard to say.
Any thoughts?
Discussion (23)
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Not to be flip -but I think the emphasis has been on the criticism part of the activity, with little emphasis on the thinking. Kids are called learners, not students and people in schools don’t think they have a responsibility to teach and transfer knowledge. There seems to be a whole lot of opinion-ing going on, without the accompanying knowledge and work to experience. You don’t get to an NHL team without skill and a lot of hard work for years. They are very young when they get into the juniors, but they’ve already learned that having strongly held opinions often works.
And then there’s the money the owners pay these incredible athletes, hoping for some of the magic dust that makes a team a winning money making team.
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Coach Sabin didn't like his players' reaction to losing:
The game turned out to be the final one of Saban’s career as he shocked the college football world by announcing his retirement less than two weeks later. In a story recounting his decision-making process to retire and Alabama’s ensuing coaching search, Saban told ESPN the way some players on his team acted immediately after the loss and in the ensuing days “contributed” to his decision to hang it up after the 2023 season.
From ESPN:
Saban also talked about how the way the college football landscape is changing influenced his decision. He estimated that "maybe 70 or 80% of the players you talk to" wanted to know about their playing time for the upcoming season and how much they would be making in NIL money.
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NHL coaching jobs seem to turn over faster than any other pro sport. It's rare for coach to last more than 5 years or so.
27 of the 32 current coaches have been in their positions fewer than 4 years. The longest-serving is Jon Cooper of Tampa Bay, who's been there since 2013. Of course he's won two Stanley Cups. Mike Sullivan has been Pittsburgh's since 2015, but he's also won the Cup twice.
Right now, 4 teams have interim coaches because their head coach was fired during this season.
It may be that most NHL owners are impatient and don't wait more than a few seasons to move on from one guy and try someone else. I've been following hockey for 40+ years, and it seems rare for NHL players to openly cause coaches to be fired, other than by their poor play.
The team I follow, the Washington Capitals, has a rookie coach who the youngest in the league at 41. After winning the Cup in 2018, the team is on its 3rd coach. Barry Trotz coached them to the Cup that year but left in a contract dispute after being there 4 years. His successor, Todd Reirden, was "coach-in-waiting" and had been pursued by other teams but didn't do much in 2 seasons and was fired. Peter Laviolette was a veteran coach who lasted 3 years after losing early in two playoff seasons and then missing them in the 3rd year.
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Thank you, EODmom. Well said!
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I don't think athletes going into major college sports are as raw as they once were. Generally kids now participate in their sport year round and often receive specialized training and often compete nationally. Since kids are more polished products they don't have to teach the fundamentals like they used to. I think when kids reach a certain level they think they should be a bigger part of the team. They were always one of the best if not the best athlete in their field. It's always hard for a that kid to accurately assess their own ability. Heck, I was a crappy athlete who played team sports and I was always mad at the kid getting more playing time than me. I was probably delusional. The worst insult I ever got was when a coach pulled me from a basketball game for missing an 18 foot shot. This was before the 3 point shot. I'm that freaking old. I told him I was wide open and had to take the shot. He told me "You were wide open for a reason." Ouch... I probably didn't help my cause with my statuesque defense either.
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