Very intriguing/perplexing news out of Lauralton Hall last night where Steve Schuler is out as girls basketball coach … in midseason… with a 13-1 record.
Needless to say, insanity has ensued.
Here’s the story from today’s Post, which only told one side of the story. As of this afternoon — from my seat at least — we haven’t heard anything from Lauralton Hall.
Schuler says he was forced out because, simply put, parents were not satisfied with how he divvied up playing time for their children — particularly seniors. He says it drew to a boil in the summer, that he was briefly let go for awhile, rehired and suddenly fired again with his team humming along at 13-1.
Schuler said that he didn’t have problems with “95 percent” of the parents and that he had nothing but praise for his players, insinuating that this was a problem he believes was confined to an extremely dissatisfied few.
As of Tuesday afternoon, we have no idea Lauralton Hall’s take on this. Our reporters are working on it, but I suspect it’s going to be zipper city over there. The accusations from Schuler — whether they are fair or unfair — seems to be publicity enough for the all-girls school.
Schuler mentioned that some of these parents took issue with his coaching methods. While Shuler specified playing time was their prime complaint, we do not know what other allegations (if any) may be out there from the other side.
Lauralton Hall fired their head coach in the middle of a highly successful season. The Crusaders were 13-1 and a prime contender for league and maybe even a state championship.
For the administration to let their head coach go almost two-thirds of the way through the season (which is typically unheard of in high school athletics), means Lauralton Hall believes it had a good reason; that firing him wasn’t worth the consequences of keeping him on.
What were those consequences? What don’t we know about this curious case? Schuler, who’s known for his fire and intensity, had already been fired before this past summer, was there some bargain he didn’t live up to? Was there something he said or did that finally caused the school to say ‘enough?’
Or is it exactly how Schuler says? That the lack of playing time of a few players cause so much outrage from their parents (perhaps parents with added clout aside from very active vocal chords) that they gave the school no other option but to get rid of Schuler right in the middle of the season.
Whatever the reason, this is an all-out nightmare. For Schuler, for Lauralton Hall, for all of the players who remain.
Now, I’ve been around a long time. And what I’m seeing here at Lauralton Hall is nothing new here or anywhere. Unfortunately, high school coaches are typically caught between a school’s desire to have a successful program and the school’s personal responsibility to their students and parents. We don’t quite have the full story in this case, but clearly there was a violent clash between these concepts.
I will say this, because I personally know many coaches: Far, far, far too many parents believe it is their kid’s right to play, rather than a privilege that must be earned from the coach — be it through hard work and dedication, or just something as simple as raw talent. The goal is to win games while building character and relationships and working through problems in pursuit of that goal.
In most places, coaches can churn out a league’s worth of academic all-Americans, but aren’t long for their job if they don’t win consistently — especially at a private school like Lauralton Hall where image is everything.
If your senior isn’t as good as a phenom freshman, guess what? The chances are they’re not going to play anywhere near your expectations. And, guess what? I don’t care what you think, your coach knows more about who will give his team a better chance to win than you do.
From my experience, parents, while typically well-intentioned, are about as rational as a raging bull when it comes to their children. I’ve seen intelligent and diplomatic human beings turn into vindictive monsters if they believe their kid has been wronged. Why not? There are reputations and, even more important, college placement and scholarships at stake.
Sorry, mom. Hate to break it to you, dad. Sometimes life isn’t fair.
Most times it has nothing to do with “politics,” or “favoritism,” or whatever excuse you want to throw out there to justify what you’re think you’re seeing. Most times the kid playing over yours is just better or, at the very least, gives the team a better chance to win. This isn’t the old days when, it seems, parents made their children accountable as much as their teachers and coaches. Nowadays, it seems like we coddle our children far too much. We think the world owes them a favor. After all, it’s our children.
The worst part is, when parents start bucking like broncos over issues like these (rather than teaching their children to cope with life’s raw deals) their kids inevitably wind up learning to act this way, too. And it cycles over and over again.
Not that this was the case at Lauralton Hall. But, based on the information we have now, not to information Lauralton Hall hasn’t given out yet, it’s looking like the same thing.
We’ll see how this plays out. Schuler, who can be an intense individual, certainly isn’t take this slight lying down. And we’ll see how this team handles the turmoil from here until the end of the season. Regardless, there has already been some irreparable damage done on both sides.
If this turmoil simply is because a few seniors aren’t playing as much as their parents believe they should, then Lauralton Hall’s administration has issues that go far beyond its athletics program.
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