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old goalie85 wrote:Job is open.

http://forestlaketimes.com/2014/04/30/s ... y-program/

Careful what you wish for.

Will the pattern of behavior ever change from these disgruntled/disillusioned parents?! This seems to be happening more and more often!

So I read the story. Here's a quote: "Some parents warned their daughters would leave the program if Sauter remained the head coach."

That's the exact moment when the AD, Joel Olson, and the Principal, Steve Massey, needed to say to those parents, "Don't let the door hit you, or your daughter, in the ass on your way out."

Instead, the two were chickenbleep, again, like most school administrators.

Otter wrote:So I read the story. Here's a quote: "Some parents warned their daughters would leave the program if Sauter remained the head coach."

That's the exact moment when the AD, Joel Olson, and the Principal, Steve Massey, needed to say to those parents, "Don't let the door hit you, or your daughter, in the ass on your way out."

Instead, the two were chickenbleep, again, like most school administrators.

Yes, however in a time when families are shopping for the best school to attend, some admin ppl see each family as potential $$$'s, and therefore cater to their every whim. The funny part that EVERY QUALITY COACH knows is that you are only as good of a coach as your administrative staff allows you to be. Meaning no matter how good you are, there will be some people who aren't happy, and if the admin folds to a small group of unhappy people you have no chance to be successful, and while parents think they have some power getting a coach removed, what they fail to see is that no QUALITY COACH is going to step into a situation where the voice of a few drive decisions. Hence the statement above "be careful what you wish for" you may be successful driving out one coach, but chances of someone better taking a position where they saw their counterpart get railroaded by a group of parents is very slim. The other part that isn't often talked about is that there are very few applicants for the majority of these HC positions. Outside a handful of programs who get a number of quality applicants there isn't a line of people waiting to make pennies on the hour to take the grief that most coaches have to take.

My question would be what are we teaching our children with this behavior? You don't like something/someone we get them fired or leave? Seems like we are missing some teachable moments, and that somehow Parents, Coaches, and Schools need to work together ( I know sappy, but the whole it takes a village philosophy) to raise our next generation, unfortunately I don't see that, I see a lot of "what's in it for me", and " I deserve this" or "I'm entitled to that". In all I don't have the answers, but HS sports is heading in a bad direction, and if we don't change it I'm afraid schools will decide that it isn't worth the time, money, and hassle, especially a sport like Hockey which costs schools an enormous amount of money to run.

Excellent post, allhoc11. Couldn't agree more.

The question which needs to be answered is this: why are the players threatening to quit? If it boils down to playing-time issues, then shame on the administration for bowing to the pressure. But if the issues are in regard to abusive coaching behavior, then the Administration owes it to the kids to investigate and take appropriate action based on their findings. In those instances you can't shake a finger at parents and say "shame on you!" just because they raised a red flag. No one should make blanket statements about the appropriateness of parent complaints. Sometimes they are warranted, and sometimes they are not.

Not sure about the FL case but parents are not always wrong and can have points that can be addressed in the proper way. Parents and boosters are relied on heavily to support programs financially and both sides need each other.

In all these situations, there is a process to follow. These situations should never begin with anything other than a meeting between the player and the coach. The only exception is when there is physical abuse involved. Coaches and administrators should very, very, rarely meet with parents without the player and coach present, and then, only when there have been meeting with the coach/player, coach/player/parent (s) and they have left things unresolved.

The issue many administrators have is they fail to follow their own policies and procedures. When they do, the real answers pretty much always come out, and things pretty much always get worked out, and everyone is a bit better from it. Isn't that the real objective?

MNHockeyFan wrote:Excellent post, allhoc11. Couldn't agree more.

Ditto

Just to make things clear here...It was the assist coach that was not asked back. Sauter resigned. Was the article in the Forest Lake Times one sided and misleading, Yes.