School District Ends Season for 0-4 Team

[Chavez]

I frequent a Michigan HS football message board (ya got me, I'm trollin' for young ass) and the response is much the same as here - their take it "the town quit on the team"

 

Though it's a tough call - I will give the coach the benefit of the doubt as far as the team being a danger to itself, but exactly what conference are they competing in? It's small-school HS football, they can't be THAT outclassed.

[ebartender]

Hey kids, here is a life lesson - If things get too hard just quit. Way to teach the kids.

 

[Chavez]

Hey kids, here is a life lesson - If things get too hard just quit.

 

That lesson has done well by me so far.

[The Vatican Hitsquad]

Hey kids, here is a life lesson - If things get too hard just quit. Way to teach the kids.

 

 

 

"You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try'"

 

Homer Simpson

[Gunther]

 

Let them play !!!

 

Agreed! The HS football team where my son goes to school usually gets trounced every game (although they manage to win at least one per year) for the past four years I've been around, but the kids continue to play hard and enjoy it for the most part.

[Coyote]

Nebraska could probably use another home game...

 

 

Hey now........we traveled to USC in between the games with Multi Directional Tech, Payday University, and the Traveling Mercenaries. Come correct.

[McBoog]

Kids can learn a lot from a good a$$ whoopin'. Some of the most valuable lessons I've learnt in life have been the direct result of losing, not winning. Like they say, you gotta lose to know how to win. Very lame that they would deprive these kids the opportunity to play the sport. What ever happend to "It's not whether you win or lose....?"

 

 

 

I was the head coach of a pee wee "B" team in my local Pop Warner league. The only reason we were in the Pee Wees and not junior pee wees is because there were THREE kids too big for junior pee wees but the rest of my team qualified to be a junior pee wee team. To accomodate (and get the extra entry money ) I got a team of overflow kids that was too small and had too little experience. There was no interest in mixing returning kids in with my team to add some size and balance. It was starting from scratch, at the most basic level I had ever been involved in since my first year playing as a child myself!

 

To this day, I LOVE those kids. We were shut out of every game, the ENTIRE season except the last game. My wife would laugh about it when I came home with my weekly "bad news" until she came to the sixth game and saw how small my team was compared to the other teams. Then it wasn't funny to her anymore!

 

The last game of the season, my O-coordinator didn't even show up. He and I were at odds all year anyway, so I did a few things (I taught them a basic veer option offense during warm-ups ) and we scored a couple of TDs. It was my first season, and for those who know, Pop Warner Head Coaches are relentlessly messed with by so many off-field issues it is hard to stay on the field with your kids. If I had a better handle on some of that admin stuff, I would have run the dude and taken the O myself. Sould have anyway in retrospect.

 

Anyway, my focus really changed from winning, to teaching, preparation and attitude. Our team theme was, I would yell, "Never give up!" and they would yell back as a team, "Never Surrender!" Teaching technique, strategy and the game was more important. Going out and trying to do what we learned was more important than actual on-field/scoreboard success.

 

This team, that NEVER gave up or surrendered despite being unfairly over-matched due to the greed of a few goofball league coordinators, turned out to be one of the greatest football experiences of my life. They held their heads high, walked proud and were much better young gentlemen than the A team that was doing pretty well on the field. Those two TDs in the last game were as good as any victory I have ever had! Not one kid on that team left the team all year.

 

Why this long dissertation? I moved to a different town, but always kept in touch. The parents and the league coordinators always appreciated what I did with those little dudes! I received appreciation from the kids and their parents at a level that wins and losses would never match!

 

Three years later, that group of kids went onto win a regional chamionship, and they made and sent me a trophy as part of their grattitude.

 

The coach in this article is a yumping bulloh poopy va-jay-jay! He has lost the reality of what it is to coach kids and what you are supposed to teach them through their sports experience. Things that go beyond the field. Words such as honor, dignity, perservierance, dedication, commitment, dogged focus and a unsatiable desire to overcome in the face of adversity.

 

 

yump him and the school district for giving up on those kids! What kind of message is that?

 

 

P.S.

 

My cheeleading squad was awesome, though I had little to do with them. They went to the regional finals in Hawaii that year, and as the head coach of the team, got a free trip out of it

[Ol' Gil]

I frequent a Michigan HS football message board (ya got me, I'm trollin' for young ass) and the response is much the same as here - their take it "the town quit on the team"

 

Though it's a tough call - I will give the coach the benefit of the doubt as far as the team being a danger to itself, but exactly what conference are they competing in? It's small-school HS football, they can't be THAT outclassed.

 

 

Oscoda is B or BB and they don't play in a loaded league...although they have some tough teams on the schedule. My question is this: How big is his roster? If the coach only has 20 guys I can almost see his point. If he has a full roster then I think he is really sending a bad message.

[Ol' Gil]

Link to Article

[Atlas]

I just gave up my seat on the local BOE after six years (and coaching a few years) and it seems to me that there must be something missing here. Hell, we have teams that play with just eleven or twelve kids and hope that no one gets sick or hurt.

Additionally, (I might have missed it) how long has this program been in effect? We have local teams that may step down from fielding a varsity program and just put a JV program out until they can rebuild (Its a pain-in-the-a$$ for the conference coaches, but it beats the alternative)

It can't be a cost issue since they will probably have to pay the coaches for the season.

There's usually more to the story that doesn't always get told when something like this happens.

[Deacon]

I couldn't disagree more with most of the comments here. Without having all the details, I would say that this coach (who I understand is a veteran coach) may have had the best interests of the students in mind. If it was basketball or swimming, or cross country, I'd probably agree with you and Jim Valvano (Never Give Up). But in high school football, it can get to the point where it is "unsafe." Are they dropping the varsity program in order to avoid playing undersized and immature frosh and sophs against competition that makes it "unsafe"? Again, I don't know for sure, not being in that community. But, I would definitely stop short of condemning the coach and school for "quitting." Maybe a better spin on it would be "regrouping."

[Jimmy Neutron]

Well, we do promote teams sports to teach important life skills.

 

This decision teaches these kids that when the going gets tough, a government agency will step in and prevent your from working yourself out of a hole.

[Chavez]

Oscoda is B or BB and they don't play in a loaded league...although they have some tough teams on the schedule. My question is this: How big is his roster? If the coach only has 20 guys I can almost see his point. If he has a full roster then I think he is really sending a bad message.

 

My hometown HS has ~1100 students and regularly gets its ass handed to it by Menominee and Kingsford, with enrollments of about 600. Men and King usually have rosters well into the 40s, with full freshman and JV teams.

 

The problem with Oscoda should have had NOTHING to do with enrollment.

 

And this coach has pulled this before:

 

Kyle Tobin did the same thing in 1991, when he was head coach at Whittemore-Prescott — after the Cardinals dropped to 0-4 for the season.

 

Tobin said, in his 28 years of coaching, he has only seen a similar situation once, that of course being at Whittemore, and he stressed several times that this was a situation he inherited.

 

The basic problem is one of player safety, Tobin said, and this team can not physically compete without the risk of serious injury.

 

He said he took over in May and met with parents in June, explaining to them the importance of the summer training program.

 

Summer sessions are important because the success and safety of the players is directly tied to the player level of involvement and dedication, he added.

 

A minimum of 75 percent participation was expected, according to the coach, but the player response was far below that.

 

He also said three starters came to him in the week previous to the Tawas game and told him they wanted to quit. According to Tobin he counseled them that if they wanted to quit that had to be an individual decision.

 

He said, when he met with the players on Sept. 18 he told them he was not going to quit. The next day only nine or 10 players came dressed for practice and, according to Tobin, he spent 2-1/2 hours trying to get equipment together for players who came without gear so they could have a half-line practice.

 

Tobin said the only question in his mind was player safety. Only two of the entire team met the weight training standards (the amount of weight a player should be able to lift based upon his own weight, size and age) and, he continued, the team is far below power weight standards.

 

He alleged that the Oscoda players do not play hard and are weak, and said that puts them at risk.

 

It was also the total opinion of the coaching staff that the situation was unsafe, he contended.

 

“We really tried to work around the issues that have plagued this team for a while now, but we cannot ignore the risk that we put the students, ourselves, and the district into if we continue in this mode,” Beardsley advised staff.

 

“Once again, we could not field a team for practice today with students opting to do other things or not bringing their gear to safely participate. Several have indicated they just don’t want to continue on. This sentiment was consistent with some of the parents of these students who also advised that they did not want this season to continue at a meeting we held with parents last week.”

 

According to the district press release, the number of serious physical injuries has taken its toll on the athletes. The release also gave this as the reason for the one-day delay in playing the Tawas game.

 

The press release implies that participation has been a problem since the first official day of practice on Aug. 7 when “only 22 players showed up for the varsity team. The decision was made to bring up three sophomore players in the hopes it would help us to consistently field a varsity team. One sophomore was seriously injured in the first quarter of the first game. During the next few games several juniors and seniors suffered similar injuries and it became evident that the safety of these sophomore players was in jeopardy. After the third game, it was decided that these 10th graders should be returned to the junior varsity where they could further their development and training without the same risk of injury. Ultimately it would be a mistake to bring up any sophomore players to complete a varsity roster.”

 

The final paragraph states: “This is definitely a tremendous disappointment for everyone involved, but we know it is the right thing to do. Parents and students trust us to use our formal training and experience to make informed and courageous decisions. We would hate to have someone irreparably hurt because we lacked the integrity, the morals or the strength of character to do the right thing for our young men who have their whole lives ahead of them!”

 

These statements were expounded upon Friday morning during an interview set up by Beardsley and attended by herself, Allen, and Oscoda High School Principal Rex Hart. They said, before the Tawas game, parents demanded the season be terminated because they feared for the welfare of their sons.

 

Allen said part of the issue goes back to the off-season when varsity players allegedly did not participate in pre-season conditioning. He said only 29 percent of the varsity players participated in a weight training program.

 

The concern, as explained by Allen, who also worked at Whittemore-Prescott, was that improperly trained players would present a risk for other players because of their inability to perform basic functions of the game, like blocking.

 

The majority of the players and their parents contend much of Beardsley’s memo and the press release are untrue.

 

During a meeting held in the home of one of the parents’ on Thursday evening, more than 30 parents expressed outrage at what has happened and the manner in which things are allegedly being distorted by the school administration.

 

Players present at the meeting said that 15 team members were at Tuesday’s practice session, but Tobin threw one of the players off the team for missing practice for a dental appointment. According to the players, he then walked out of practice early, sending the them home. Tobin is also accused by the players of saying to them: “Why don’t you save us the embarrassment and quit.” Several of the players verified the integrity of the claim.

 

As for weight training, the players contend there were regularly 15 players and more at training sessions and that it was Tobin, not the players, who was seldom present.

 

Parents, to a person, denied that any of them had ever suggested to Tobin that the season be terminated and termed the statement “a lie.”

 

Randy Patterson, the father of one of the athletes, said he did, however, suggest to Tobin that he step down.

 

Players admitted last week that they don’t like the coach, alleging Tobin to be verbally abusive and demeaning. They accuse Tobin of making belittling and insulting remarks to them as individuals, as well as derogatory comments to the team as a whole. On more than one occasion, they said, he screamed that the players were a bunch of quitters.

 

Interviews with previous players and coaches who worked with Tobin indicate this may be a continuing pattern that has gone on for considerable time.

 

As for injuries, the parents and players say Oscoda has had very few injuries of consequence during the season, with only one which sidelined a player. The other injury cited by the administration was a hernia that may or may not have been football related, according to them.

 

An opposing coach whose team played Oscoda earlier this season said he saw nothing in the Owl players that would have given him that feeling that they were an injured team, and several of those who watched the Tawas-Oscoda game noted that the Owls gave it everything they had.

 

The assertion that this decision was made for the safety of the players is being called ludicrous by seven coaches and four school administrators interviewed for this story.

 

One coach, who knows Tobin well, said: “No coach I know of would ever do that to his senior players as long as there was any other option available. But I wasn’t there, so I don’t know for certain what was going on.”

 

“The only thing wrong with the varsity football program is the head coach,” one parent said. “He does not want to continue losing and tarnish his sterling record. That’s the whole story in a nutshell.”

 

“It’s not about injuries or numbers, or any of that stuff. It’s all about Tobin’s ego,” said a disappointed player, fighting back tears of anger and resentment.

 

As the team, their parents and others stress, this is not the first time Tobin has cancelled a varsity football season after four losses.

 

As reported in the Iosco County News-Herald on Oct. 9, 1991, Tobin did the same thing when he was Whittemore-Prescott’s athletic director and head football coach, telling a reporter that a number of factors led to the decision.

 

There are many similarities in what Tobin said then and what Beardsley and other Oscoda administrators say now. At times, the wording used is identical.

 

Tobin is quoted in 1991 as saying, “On Tuesday I was told by most of the players, not all of them, that they did not want to continue the season. It hurts, I don’t like it, and it’s embarrassing.” He also said that a low turnout for varsity football combined with injuries were key elements that led to the forfeiture of the five remaining games. He said that he had few experienced players, and only seven or eight were what he considered to be of varsity caliber.

 

In 1991, Tobin stressed that low numbers of players gave him no alternative but to terminate the season, yet people at Whittemore-Prescott High School who were there at the time refute this.

 

“To Kyle Tobin winning is everything,” one said bluntly. “If he can’t at least make a respectable showing, he isn’t going to play. You have to understand Tobin’s ego.”

 

Teachers and coaches have contacted this writer to complain about and try to explain what they term the “Whittemore Connection”, referring to the prior employment of both Tobin and Allen. They allege that Tobin holds a demeaning attitude toward all sports other than football, and that the administration also considers football as a privileged sport.

 

 

 

“I was born and raised here, I live here now, and I’ll live here ten years from now,” another parent said. “Tobin is near retirement, and already has significant accomplishments to hang his hat on. He will walk away from this, probably soon, without having fixed the problem (a losing tradition) and the people and the kids of Oscoda, who don’t have a lot to be proud of athletically anyway, will forever be known as quitters. It’s a sad happening that will definitely ripple into the future.”

 

Contacted for its position on the cancellation of the 2006 Oscoda football season, John Johnson, communications director for the Michigan High School Athletic Association, said that while situations like this are very uncommon, they do happen when a team cannot put enough players on the field to make a team. He said that in many instances teams will play with as few as 12 members, and that it is common practice for coaches to bring players up from the JV team to fill a roster.

 

http://www.oscodapress.com/articles/2006/0...news/news01.txt