What do we really want from our coaches? (June 5)
By Paul Stanford
The Madera Tribune
They become the toast of the town when they win, and are vilified when they lose.
And there is not a single job in which the compensation is lower than when it comes to high school coaches. It works out to around 27 cents per hour.
You could earn more than that selling Girl Scout cookies on the streets of Calcutta.
They don’t get into the profession to make money. It’s a love of the game. The hope to pass on the fun and value of sports to kids: Character, dedication, perseverance, teamwork and responding to challenges and overcoming obstacles.
Traits that will not only serve them on the playing field but also in life.
So how much does winning play into the equation of what makes a coach successful?
It kind of depends on where you coach and what the expectations are. Madera head baseball coach George McWherter was informed this week that his contract was not being renewed after just two seasons.
This is the politically correct way of saying the obvious. He was fired. Let go.
And no matter how you say it, it doesn’t diminish his pain.
I don’t pretend to know what went into the decision, but I am sure there are two sides to the story. And none of us will ever know what the reason really was.
But I am still sad. I grew to know him over the past two years and felt a lot of affection for who he was and what he stood for.
But he went 1-14 in league this year, albeit in a league that is arguably the finest in the state for baseball.
Was this the determining factor? Again, we will never know.
But one thing is certain when making the decision to enter into a profession in which one’s win-loss record and working out your livelihood with 16 and 17-year olds holding your future in their often unsteady hands: You do the best you can, hope to have a positive influence on your players and hope that your talent, leadership and knowledge of the game results in a positive outcome that affords you the opportunity to continue.
Unlike teachers, coaches are at-will employees who work on a year-by-year basis. There is no tenure given for coaches. A couple of good years might get you a couple more, but if the wheels fall off the wagon, especially in revenue-generating sports like football, you have entered a mine field where occupational casualties can be just a step away.
If you coach in the Clovis Unified School District, your bags are always packed.
You rent; don’t buy.
Two years ago, the Buchanan wrestling coach led his team to the No. 2 team in the state, but was not retained.
Clovis West football coach Marty Martin led the Golden Eagles to a 9-4 record in 2007 and came within a field goal of winning the section title. He was released and is now coaching for Kerman.
Golden Eagles baseball coach Tim Thiessen led Clovis West to four straight Valley championship games, but failed to take the top prize. Like the others, gone.
Over the years it seems what is expected from coaches has changed to reflect corporate America, where performance and production are the barometers for longevity.
I know things were much different when I was in high school. I graduated in 1978 from Palma High in Salinas and we had a reputation for sports dominance. But even in the lean years, there was never a shuffling of coaches. The head baseball coach is still there and the team just won it’s first section championship.
Would most high schools allow a coach to take 32 years to accomplish this? Likely not.
Do we expect too much from our coaches?
We want them to be role models, transform the lives of their players, ensure that they are good citizens and achieving success in the classroom.
But even if the players were volunteering at the soup kitchen and making the honor roll, would this be enough to save their coach’s job if they didn’t also perform to expectations on the field?
But just how do you gauge those expectations at the high school level?
Coaches don’t get to recruit or draft players. They have to deal with the cards they are dealt.
Imagine being an English teacher and part of whether you retained your job was based not on whether a kid could pen a haiku or explicate the nuances of an Emily Dickinson poem. What if you were also held responsible for a kid being able to run a skinny post route, drain a 3-pointer with a defender hanging on him or drive an 87-mph fastball to the wall with runners on base?
So why are coaches given the responsibility to make sure their players understand the Pythagorean theorem, the load-bearing capacity of a beam and write a moving sonnet?
With the advent of the single-sport athlete and budget cuts, coaches no longer finish the season and tell their players to “have a great summer and we’ll see you next year.”
Sports are now a year-round exercise. Weight training, summer ball, travel teams. And the coach is responsible for not only the team he fields, but working with the feeder schools to ensure that talent keeps renewing itself. Then if they don’t spend the time fundraising, look out.
All the while having parents second guess every decision they make on the playing field.
And everyone who has ever picked up a ball seems to think they know more than the coach, who has spent his life teaching the game, and sometimes I am included in that group.
Coaching. It’s a tough gig and applaud everyone who has ever entered into this profession because there are much easier ways to earn a living.
Sportwriting for one.
I am writing this letter to express my total dismay with Madera High School and Madera Unified School District for terminating the contract of their head baseball coach, George McWherter. George is one of the most respected baseball coaches in the San Joaquin Valley, and Madera was lucky to have him as a coach.
I am starting to understand why MHS has difficulty building winning sports programs. They have no respect for coaches that teach about character and the integrity of the game, but will keep coaches that are abusive and do not care about the student athletes they are hired to instruct.
Over the past 20 years, MHS has never had a baseball coach like George who was as dedicated to building a program that played and won with dignity. Yes we have had some fine coaches; all who either did not live in our community or were here just long enough to apply for the first opening at Bullard High School or Clovis Unified. George was the only MHS head baseball coach that not only showed up at Little League and Babe Ruth games but took the time to talk to the coaches and players at those lower levels, building the pride at a young age of being a Coyote baseball player. Many times I saw him physically helping rake and prepare the fields at Babe Ruth games.
George organized the Alumni game that brought past Coyote players back to the field where they once put on a Coyote uniform to help demonstrate to the current team members pride in the program. He raised money for the program, got a new scoreboard donated and made sure Kenny Taylor and the Taylor family were properly acknowledged after Kenny’s untimely death.
George is a man of character, why is it MHS and MUSD has such a problem with him is beyond me. Is it because he did not deliver a Valley Championship in only two years? Does the administration have a bad case of Clovis envy or do they just not understand sports?
This year’s baseball team did not have a winning record, but then again I would challenge any coach that has to play nine games a year against teams that are ranked in the top 20 in the entire State of California to prevail in that league. So go hire some other young coach and see how long they stay and what type of dedication they show to MHS Baseball and more importantly the community of Madera.
The Madera Unified School Board of Trustees, the superintendent, the Madera High School principal and especially the MHS athletic director should be ashamed of themselves for this dismissal. It is a slap in the face to the community of Madera and those of us who know and love the game of baseball and respect the integrity of the game. I would challenge any of them to discuss the game of baseball and the MHS program with George in a public forum and see who has the real understanding of a winning program. I am sure I will have no takers because they know they would be embarrassed by a man who knows so much more than they and stands head and shoulders above them when it comes to being a caring human being.
Bobby Kahn,
Madera High School alumnus and retired high school and college umpire,
Madera
I would like to echo the sentiments expressed in the June 12 letter by Bobby Kahn regarding the contract termination of Madera High School head baseball Coach George McWherter.
I was born and reared in Madera and graduated from Madera High School in 1966. Although I have not resided in Madera for over 30 years, I still have friends in Madera with whom I remain in contact, including your own Leon Emo and your next State Assemblyman from the 29th Assembly District, Don McKinney. I am also an on-line subscriber to the Tribune.
When I first learned that George was going to be the head coach of the Madera High baseball team I thought, what a perfect fit. If anything in this world is right, his being the coach certainly is. Then when I recently read that George’s contract was being terminated I was appalled. How could this possible be?
Everything that Bobby Kahn wrote about George is true. It is true because that is exactly how I remember George. He is the way he is because that was the way of his family. I knew his father, George Sr. I knew his mother. I knew his brother Jimmy. I even knew his grandfather, “Boots.” If there was ever a family totally devoted to promoting youth baseball it was the McWherters.
George Sr. was my brother’s coach on the Lions Babe Ruth team back in the late 1950s and early ’60s. George Jr. was also a member of that team. Although I was only a little leaguer at the time, George Sr. always let me practice and shag balls with the big guys.
As I remember, the entire McWherter family was at every Babe Ruth game every night, whether their Lions team was playing or not. No matter who you were, where you came from, what color you were, if you wanted to play baseball the McWherters were going to make it happen, one way or another.
The memories I have of George and his family are vividly clear after all these years, which is a testament to the influence they had on me. They had a genuine love for the game of baseball, and a greater love for the kids they helped along to hit, catch, and field a baseball, and best yet belong on a team that built character. George Mc-Wherter has carried on his family’s legacy in a most honorable manner.
I can write just one more thing, and that is that I feel Madera High School will truly regret the decision.
Steve Chambers,
Roseville
It’s sad that one mother upset that her son didn’t do so well with scholarships can have this much influence over an athletic director. It is even sadder that a school principal and school board would allow such crap to happen in our school.
This is the problem we have when we hire out of Clovis Unified. They don’t respect loyality and don’t understand what it takes to build a winning program after you split the schools.
George McWherter….where does one start when describing this great man? The words Honor, Commitment, Didication. Coach McWherter LOVES baseball. He is one of the winningest coaches in the state of California. To George, it was more important that every kid on the team who gave 100% got to play. He knew that if you believed in the player, that kid will believe in you and play his heart out. George McWherter is a builder of charactor. Being a former policeman as well as a former counselor in juvenile hall, george has the gift.The gift to build young minds and bodies, the gift to instill trust and communication with our youth.He instills confidence in those who are unsure of themselves.He has worked with kids from every possible background , and gained their respect and appreciation.I have seen violent criminals ready to fight, only to bow their heads in shame when confronted my”The Coach “. George McWherter is a builder of men and women. So you folks lost some games.What ever happened to the goal of sports in high school? To build charactor and young minds and bodies? Have you folks lost sight of the goals you are supposed to have for the youth of the community ? I told George years ago he should be coaching at the College level. His reply ? All he would ever say is , ” My kids need me”