From the outside looking in, I can understand how this looks really bad. I even agree that it isn't the best way to motivate all people, all of the time. For instance, I think the cut-off for this behavior is high school contact sports or older. I don't think younger kids or the chess team should be subjected to this kind of coaching. Again, in this instance, you have to remember that these are physical sports being played at a high level, having the mental and physical toughness to handle being called names, screamed at and hit with a basketball aren't really beyond the realm of reasonableness. In my experience growing up, this type of thing was pretty common. Getting yanked into position or into your coaches face by your face mask or shoved out of the way, along with yelling and name calling. I remember at the time I really didn't appreciate it always but I realize now that it motivated me to do more than I thought I was capable of at the time and I was better for it. Now that I think of it, I can remember one of our coaches was an animal, on good plays he would headbutt our player in the helmet with his bare head for making a good play. Nobody would ever construe that as punishment or maltreatment would they?
Have you even watched the videos? This is an entirely different situation. This is not someone getting so involved in their agonistic desire to see the team they're coaching triumph that they lose their shit. It's not people being pushed around or shoved into position because they're too dim-witted to comprehend where they need to be. Buddy, what we have here is a coward. This is a little, little man. This is someone who's enjoying his position of power over the kids he's coaching (we've already established that yes, a coach at this level is without a doubt in a position of power, for a multitude of reasons) in order to add inches to his clearly microscopic penis. There's nothing constructive about what he's doing. Having a ball spiked at your face for flubbing a play isn't going to do anything to you as an 18-year-old kid beyond make you ashamed and humiliated. To reiterate: As an adult in charge of 18-year-old kids, you have a responsibility that goes beyond that of a mere coach. You're basically a surrogate dad. For some of these players, who might not have had a dad growing up, you're the closest thing to a dad they've had so far. You're a father figure. Above all, you have a wealth of experience compared to these kids that comes from having been above ground for twice their lifetime, if not more. You can reprimand them, you can shout at them, you can scream at them until they're blue in the face but you cannot, CANNOT humiliate them, especially when said humiliation teaches them absolutely no lesson whatsoever.
Maybe its because I did different sports but is that really that bad? When I was in college one of my coaches was a big fan of throwing knees into your ribs until you escaped. It hurt like a fucking son of a bitch. I left practice many times with bruises up and down my ribs from this. However I would have walked through fire for the guy.
I've been thinking about this and wrestling is just a different sport. Pain is just part of the 100% physical combative sports. Likewise our assistant coaches would kick your ass up and down the mat if you were slacking in practice (and you'd get much worse in a real match too), but never with malice. You knew they were trying to help you get better and it worked. The way the basketball coach acted goes way above and beyond teaching and motivation- he's just an angry, abusive asshole.
In High School our Baseball coach used to pitch during practice. If you sent a liner up the middle and if it came withing 15 feet of him, he'd throw at you. He didn't throw extremely hard, but getting an 80mph pitch in the ear hole taught me to go oppo. If I ever made it to the majors, I would have owed him a percentage. The man was awesome.
Senior year of high school, my wrestling coach observed that I was too passive when I wrestled. I'd always been too small for my weight class, so I just didn't have the confidence to control the match. So, he found some ridiculously good just-graduated college wrestler to beat the shit out of me all day, every day at practice. And he made me attack him despite outmatching me every single time... because if I got passive again, he'd beat the shit out of me and call me a bitch. If I made decent shots and moved him around, he'd at least refrain from fucking me up. That was when I started winning. Rob Dobreki, you're an asshole, but you knew how to train people.
I got the flu between freshman basketball tryouts and getting a spot on the team. I was wiped our first practice. Needless to say, Coach made sarcastic comments the entire practice, saying he was glad I could "pull through" for the team. Meanwhile I felt like I was going to pass out during breaks. At one point I had messed up the play so often that he slammed a basketball down and it hit him in square in the face. He added push-ups and other punishments for the whole team, sitting me out since I was "sick". I wish I wouldve had my ass beaten instead of the exile of my teammates. That shit is downright cruel.
There's a local high school hockey coach here who may be getting fired for numerous supposed outbursts. A bunch of parents signed a petition to get him fired, if it doesn't go through they are filing a lawsuit. After reading some excerpts in the paper from former players, about half told stories of things that happened and the other half declined to comment. In one story he kicked a water bottle at a kid. Another time he threw a chair. Whether they said anything or not though most still seemed to support the coach. I think that, especially at the high school level but also college, coaches need to keep cool. They're still just kids that they are dealing with. There's a big difference between getting emotional/fired up and just being a raging asshole. When I played sports I never had to deal with a situation like that but if it did happen and was directed at me I wouldn't put up with it for a second.
Which is why the coach has only former players speaking up? It's group think, no shame in drinking the Kool Aid. I'm sure there are exceptions, but it's pretty easy to call it out when you're not actually in the situation.
This is true. My coaches weren't out of line (unless you're a nancy boy who doesn't realize that water makes you weak and pain is weakness leaving the body), but i definitely saw things that my teammates did to others that were well out of line with the basic social compact. I'm not proud of it, but everyone including myself pretty much turned a blind eye. The same "locker room code" that allows you to push yourself to the limit and achieve a comradery that isn't really available short of joining the military also allows horrible things to happen because people can't bring themselves to hurt the team by speaking out.
I feel like, just because there are a bunch of cowardly, immoral fuckheads that coach sports, people think it's okay.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I've always been fascinated with winning coaches who rarely show emotions, Phil Jackson for instance. You don't have to throw a chair on the court or intimidate thru emotional outbursts to get the best out of your team. Respect is much more motivating, and healthier than intimidation. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to bully than to build a winning group dynamic.
This, a thousand times. I have been in the position where I supervised other people. I never yelled, not once, not ever. Courtesy and respect never go out of style.