by John Scanlan
Who was the guy who kept saying Andruw Jones wasn’t finished? I’ll give you a hint, his name begins with a “J” and ends with “ohn Scanlan”.
I’m sure Torosian’s stomach would have turned last night when Jones hit his 3 homers, but it was against the Angels, so it all balanced out in the end.
Scott Brummett is one of the good guys in high school sports and it will be a shame for Gabrielino to see him go. I hope he enjoys his much deserved time off.
It also brings into the spotlight how difficult coaching and/or being an athletic director is. With cutbacks, increasing restrictions and a decreasing relevance being placed on extracurricular activities, it is becoming more and more difficult to be a coach or AD. When you start having a family, it becomes tougher and tougher to justify spending the time away from them for what you are getting in return. The money certainly doesn’t make it worthwhile and with an increasingly contentious atmosphere being created by parents and school administrators, it isn’t worth the hassle. On top of all the responsibilities you have athletically, you also have to lesson plan and grade assignments in your most important responsibility: teaching.
Coaches and ADs don’t do it for the money. They do it because they get a certain amount of enjoyment out of working with young athletes and bringing pride to the school. When those things get stymied by internal and external interests and you look at home and see all of what you’re missing out on family-wise, it is no longer worth it.
Even in a perfect scenario where you have the perfect administration and very supportive parents, it takes a huge amount of time away. Those times demands are especially greater now that teams can practice out of season. In an effort to keep up with the other programs, there’s the feeling that programs have to be a 12-month business in order to be viable. So whereas coaches used to be able to rely upon certain times of year being time for their families, this is no longer the case.
Given the climate, there has to be concern about the direction of athletics and who is going to fill the void of these coaches and athletic directors who decide it just isn’t worth it anymore. That point is coming a lot sooner for coaches and ADs who are walking away at a much earlier age than in the past. We’re seeing off-campus coaches fill a lot of these voids and programs declining rapidly as a result, much to the relative indifference of school administrations. The demise of high school athletics as we know it could be a fast one over the next decade or so.
Quick Scans brings good news and cheer every Monday-Thursday at midvalleysports.com.
Leave a Reply