WELL-RESPECTED HS BASKETBALL COACH QUITS AFTER HAViNG TO DEAL WITH POST-GAME CONFRONTATIONAL PARENTS

We have spent a decent amount of time in recent weeks talking about why the time has come for our schools to really hold “out of control” sports parents accountable for their obnoxious actions and verbal abuse at kids’ games.

This issue -  to me - would be the very first mandate on the docket if we ever had a Commissioner of Youth Sports in this country. But of course, sadly we don’t. Or at least not yet.

And right alongside putting an end to parents attacking and abusing refs and umps, we also need to let Moms and Dads know that if they ever get in the face of their kid’s coach, well, those parents are going to be facing serous reprimands and punishments.

Why? Because just as we continue to see the number of refs and officials continue to dwindle, we also still continue to lose coaches from our kids’ teams. More and more coaches have simply decided to walk away from toxic situations where too many sports parents seem to have developed some sort of sense of entitlement when it comes to the way they treat and interact with their kids’ coaches.

Every week I hear more stories of sports parents who, for whatever reason, turn their frustration onto their kid’s coach.

Fully adult and grown-up parents --  who should know better - can’t seem to hold themselves back when it comes to getting in the face of their kid’s coach.

Now, we know that these parents are, for the most part, are good and decent people. But when it comes to their kid in a sporting event, these good people seem to lose their mind.

What’s the result? Pure ugliness. And it should never, ever happen. I urge you to listen to my guest former Saddlebrook HS varsity boys’ basketball coach Kris DeBlasio on my show this week, and how he details how not one but two sports Dads confronted him on separate occasions during this past varsity basketball season. Kris decided he had had enough, and resigned. Listen: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff