US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Conflicts! When HS Coaches Incorporate Summer Tournament Teams in Town

Dont hold back, tell us how you really feel

Complete conflict of interest.

Coercion :

is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way. Coercion may involve the actual infliction of physical pain/injury or psychological harm in order to enhance the credibility of a threat. The threat of further harm may lead to the cooperation or obedience of the person being coerced

Common sense:

Do the right thing.

it is out of control in our district.

GC?

Bad there too.

Based on what? Please enlighten us.

let's create a hypothetical situation in HS Girls lacrosse on LI:

*the head coach of the HS varsity girls team is the owner of her own club team
*the head coach is NOT a teacher in the school district.
*the head coach hired an assistant coach for the varsity who is also a full time employee of her club
*a large majority of the HS players play on her club team
*a family member plays on her club team and the varsity HS team. Her mother is also a coach for the club team
*the varsity head coach did NOT take 2 freshman girls on the varsity team despite being receiving a commitment from DIV 1 programs. The 3-4 other freshman taken on varsity are on her club team (uncommitted). The 2 girls on JV do NOT play on her club team.


how would you feel if this was your school district? Note - this is not hypothetical. It currently exists.

Sounds like DG to me....

Work it out with your AD it should be a school thing, NOT like what they did in CT where they made it impossible for a school coach to coach club with their school's players on the team.

If a family is paying a coach directly either through summer club or privates, that coach should be disqualified from coaching for the school. A coach should have to choose club or school to draw money from. It is a classic pay to play. We have a YJ coach at our HS that coaches a bunch of our girls in the summer (like many other schools) and its [ChillLaxin] for girls playing for other club teams or not playing club at all.

Still a good coach but the situation just smells. In our school the math teacher can't tutor their kids for cash but can supply free extra help.If a student needs a tutor they need to choose another teacher. Why? because if you paid the teacher it could look like you were getting more favorable grades. If you pay a coach it could look like you are getting more favorable minutes and positions

I would feel completely unsurprised, because if it is the town I think it is, everyone and their mother knows exactly how things work there, and could have predicted exactly how it was going to go down way before it actually happened.

= poor job by the AD. That's on of the things they get paid decent or better money to do! The amounts schools pay coaches makes it so that if it were school versus club, the school's will lose out on a lot of coaches who will choose club and the tangential moneys that go with it! Good luck with that.

Quite frankly the two freshman you're saying were slighted just aren't that good, committing to the first school that pays attention to you doesn't make you a player, it makes you a marketing [ChillLaxin] for CR and the YJ's

[ChillLaxin] wasn't meant to be a pejorative, but I guess that's the world we live in now

If it is a Private School I see no problem (If you do not like their policies you do not have to send your child there) but if it is a public school.... there is a problem.

Good luck going to the AD, most are spineless political types who are way overpaid and will do nothing.

It is a conflict. The very fact that the situation gives the appearance of impropriety is enough to show that it should not be permitted. One parent pays the coach, the other parent does not... child of the parent who pays gets to play the other does not .... just eliminate the situation (I will never happen).

Know this, the majority of HS coaches suck. There will be problems no matter what... family, friends, teachers kids, coaches kids, booster clubs etc... The political parents who make it their business to be up the coaches [ChillLaxin] all play a role in most districts and it sucks.

The good news is... High School Lacrosse and 99% of the HS Coaches are irrelevant. The majority of teams are not competitive and it is very rare to see a college coach at a game. Although it sucks to have to deal with incompetent and corrupt HS coaches it can have less of a negative impact than you might think.

Most of the college coaches know that most of the HS suck and they don't pay any attention to HS Lacrosse.

Good luck.

I think you are missing the point on this - it not a commentary on the skills of the players not taken on her varsity team. It's reflective of the inability of the head coach to be fair and unbiased in her decision making. The head coach and the assistant coach full time jobs are with the club team. Look at it this way - who would you take on the varsity team? someone that is paying you or one that isn't? its obvious what this coach has done. I find it amusing that teachers cannot tutor their own students due to conflicts about grading and fairness yet the varsity head coach can accept money from players and their families. Something seems inherently wrong here and the policy of the school district is inconsistent. Obviously, grades have a direct effect of the college application and evaluation process. However, sports have an effect as well in the process, especially if you are being recruited. Colleges ask how many years played on varsity on their questionnaires. So, its obvious the college cares and it could impact their decision. The policy from the school district needs to be consistent - if a teacher cannot tutor (and get paid) by their own students then a coach cannot accept receive funds either. Both could have an impact on the college application process. The process NEEDS to be be fair and equitable for ALL not just a select few. If you really think about it, the process to choose which students take an AP or honors class is chosen based on performance. The same decision process should be used to choose which girls are selected for a varsity team by the school district. Owning the club and being the varsity head coach inherently results in relationships with those club players - real and monetarily. The process is egregious, unfair, biased and conflicted.

If these girls are already committed to a Division 1 school then why does it matter if they are on varsity or not? They are already committed as freshmen and you have gotten what you wanted out of your club choice. I would much rather have my daughter on JV playing as a freshmen than riding the bench just to say she is on Varsity. In many of the better lacrosse programs it is rare for freshmen to be pulled up and to get significant playing time because the talent pool is very large. Also being committed does not automatically mean that they are better than girls who aren't committed, just means they jumped at an opportunity.
No HS coach whether they run a club or not would purposely leave a player on JV bc of club allegiance if those girls would help the varsity team. It may seem like that is the case because you're directly affected by it and its an easy scapegoat, but if you think your daughter should be on the varsity team, maybe you should talk to the coach about it before bashing them on these message boards, I'm sure they have a plan in place.

some posts are missing the point. it has nothing to do with individual players. It's just a huge conflict of interest. Here's another one - play for me at club ABC we are the best yada yada yada. Now how does it look if the kid joins club ABC but kids from the competing club XYZ are actually better for the school team? Coach has to take the ABC players to save face and protect her club. And since we know evaluations are subjective, ABC wins every time.

In our town the YJ's are always the first kids called up even if they don't play on the blue team

it seems like you are completely missing the point - its not about what team the kid plays on. Rather, it seems to be concerned with the decision making process which is flawed. Decisions as to who plays on the varsity team are pre-determined due to club choice. How would you feel if a college made an admittance decision based on that criteria? Prob not so great.

This HS coach also selected her own niece to play on the varsity as a freshman and she was completely undeserving of that spot on the team - another demonstration of her inability to be impartial. the list could go on and on....bottom line - nothing will change unless the school district and board change it. The coach and her assistants continue to make money off the public school program since kinds are expected to play on her club team if the want to lay for the HS team. one hand feeds the other. Hard to believe the AD has not addressed this.

I guess the AD will have to address the issue with the boys team as well as it will be exactly the same situation in coming years. Varsity coach is a director of a club program and not affiliated with the school other than as the head coach of the boys team.

This sounds like Elevate and DK. He owns a club team. He is not a teacher in the district, his assistant coach works for Elevate they have a bunch of girls at Trinity that play on Elevate...... hmmmmmm Interesting. Did I get the question correct?

You're delusional if you don't think being a legacy has an advantage in the college recruiting process and for that matter the regular admissions process as well

Gibberish

No - Manhasset

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Your kid doesn’t get picked, typical millennial attitude! Blame everyone else and go to social media to whine about the made up injustice!

There is a clear conflict of interest.

Take all the players out of it. The problem is very real and is really indefensible.

Human nature says if I pay someone lots of cash year round over many many years for club lax and privates that there would be a conflict if that person was also my high school coach. No family should feel pressure to pay and play for certain summer clubs. That is absolute bullcrap. School coaches should not be coaching any of their school players with outside organiszations

Get ready to lose any quality coaching at the school level then . . .

Lets stop saying that these are all quality coaches just because they played in college. Most of these summer coaches are average at best but they all have ties of paying in to the directors club for 10 years as former club players, then worked cheap as asst coaches while they were in college and now are underwhelming coaches after graduation. I would rather have a teacher that played in HS with ties to no one than the political [ChillLaxin] that comes with having a YJ coach.

The next thing they will whine about is that the girls that did make it are older and were probably holdbacks.

no. Its Manhasset and the Liberty program. DG

It has nothing to do with that at all. there are multiple examples of favoritism with the prime example being her own niece. watch her play and you will understand. another is when the coach did not take a former UA all american and Team USA player on the team so she left to go play at a power house catholic school. guess what club she played on? wasn't Liberty.

Give me a break with the quality coaching...how good was the quality coaching last year? uh, not so good. The Manhasset school district would receive a number of qualified applicants and the program would continue. It is a real problem as was mentioned in an earlier post. Either coach the HS team or coach the club team - not both. pathetic.

EVERY club business model is predicated on having as many HS coaches as possible in an effort to subtly or not so subtly coerce kids into playing for a particular club - YJ, Liberty, TG, etc ALL do it fully knowing what they're doing and also knowing that to a great degree it works very well for them

Best part is seeing all the Manhasset kiss-arse partents suck up to DG thru Liberty and then either don't get light on HS Varsity or get cut all together....very enjoyable

—Why is it pathetic? First off, Coaching jobs open up every year and no one wants them because of parents like you. Nothing worse than a Whiney parent who’s kid isn’t allowed to have some conflict in their life. Why not coach both? Try out different drills, develop kids, and make some extra money? How about parents and kids just get on board with it, and remember that YOU chose to play lacrosse, the coaches aren’t making you. If you aren’t on Varsity, dominate on JV. If you made varsity, get some lessons and play club and dominate on that too. Otherwise, just go with the flow, enjoy high school and Be happy that you’ll get the chance to get away from your psycho mom and dad when you graduate.

I don't care about the CLUB, that's the problem with lacrosse in general and US lacrosse, everything revolves around the clubs! CR is more powerful than most college D1 coaches. This is a school district issue. My job says I cant have another job that might be viewed as a conflict of interest. Same should go for coaching HS. Coaching a club team for cash should eliminate you from coaching in HS if you have any players that play for the club you coach in