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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Sean- well said in regards to parents. I agree the parents of today are not preparing their children to face the inevitable fact that there will be failure in their lives. So instead of having to learn how to function in the face of failure, our kids are learning to blame someone else. In todays world of anonymous complaints coming from emails and/or phone calls it seems easier for people to complain without any consequence. By the way, I hate the new online format for Ct Post.
Comment by swoboda — February 3rd, 2010 @ 7:24 am
Kudos to Shuler for showing up to the game the day he was fired. That just proves that he truly cares about the girls on his team and wants to see them succeed in spite of these seemingly unfair circumstances. It is tough enough to coach at a regular high school and to try to balance winning with playing time, feelings and character building, but it must be a nightmare at a place like LH where parents pay good money to send their daughters. I’m sure they are all convinced that their daughter is better than Keylantra Langley and should be going to St. John’s next year instead of her. This sense of entitlement that people have nowadays is deplorable. It used to mean something to earn a varsity letter, now it seems that every senior feels like they should get one regardless of whether they are All State or 12th man. When you don’t get playing time, that should force you to re-evaluate yourself and figure out why the coach isn’t playing you, not go home and cry to mommy and daddy and tell them to call the principal. Life isn’t fair folks. Some people are more talented than others. Good luck Coach Shuler, I hope you get a job at a place that cares more about winning than it does about the parents’ bank accounts.
Comment by Spurrier's Visor — February 3rd, 2010 @ 11:37 am
here we go again!! parents running the show. maybe we should change all high school sports to little league. everyone gets a trophy, everyone get at least 1 qrt of playing time. this is whats wrong with the world today. you think its hard to find quality people to coach. once the word hits the street good luck finding someone…oh yeah…LH nice job backing your faculty/staff…cave in for the almight $
Comment by JOHNNY BALLGAME — February 3rd, 2010 @ 11:46 am
SPB……..Great article! You could not said it any better. You hit every tee and dot, so to speak. Just like my comment about LH, under Connecticut McDonald’s All American Basketball Team Nominess. At the time I wrote it, you did not have this article posted. Everything you said in this article is on the money. Once again, great job!
Comment by Donald C — February 3rd, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
I have attached the article below(which was in the CT Post) to identify a parent who was the ring leader at Fairfield Warde to get an assistant coach to resign. Called him an abusive coach. To me looks like people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Disorderly woman charged, released
Published: 11:22 p.m., Monday, January 11, 2010
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FAIRFIELD — A Park Avenue woman was arrested early Saturday morning after she allegedly broke several windows at a friend’s home using a shovel when he wouldn’t have sex with her.
Isobel Hyman, 51, went to her friend’s home around 3 a.m., according to the police report. The 52-year-old man who lived there told police Hyman has been his girlfriend on and off for several years and also described her as a “friend with benefits.” He said when Hyman arrived she wanted to have sex, but he was unable to perform and suggested she go see his friend who was staying at the house, according to the report. She apparently did approach his friend, who also rebuffed Hyman, who became angry, police said.
The boyfriend said he escorted Hyman downstairs to the kitchen in an effort to calm her down, but she began throwing things and knocking items off shelves. He said he told her she had to leave and she threatened to get him in trouble. Once outside the house, Hyman allegedly picked up a snow shovel and broke a window on a storm door, several smaller windows on the exterior wooden door and a bay window.
She also tried to reach inside and open the door as the boyfriend and his visitor tried to keep the door shut until police arrived.
Hyman was charged with disorderly conduct and released to a friend’s custody.
During the investigation, police said Hyman was yelling at one of the officers that he had a Napoleanic complex and that she would get a lawyer and sue. She also claimed to have been pushed down the stairs of the home by her friend, but police could find no evidence to support her allegation.
Comment by Coach10 — February 3rd, 2010 @ 4:06 pm
coaching basketball is a very underrated and stress full job.a basketball team will win strictly by having more talent than its opponent.good coaches can make a good team —–very good.i dont know this fella but it seems like hes a genuine coach.too bad——-there are some boys programs in the valley that could actually use a legitimate basketball coach
Comment by ray brown — February 3rd, 2010 @ 5:16 pm
Agree that many parents are psychos reliving their own athletic failures or prematurely counting their kids’ D1 scholarship money. However, there are just as many psycho coaches out there who think they’re the next Gino Auriemma or Jim Calhoun and that the only things standing in the way of their coaching greatness are their mediocre athletes or the previously mentioned pyscho parents. The quality of high school coaching in this area leaves a lot to be desired and private schools are no exception. Maybe this reporter can keep digging and find out what really happened.
Comment by Larry Fine — February 3rd, 2010 @ 7:09 pm
athletic directors and administration in this area should be ashamed for being so scared of parents.
Comment by wrong — February 4th, 2010 @ 7:58 am
What really happend has been stated by Schuler…Why wouldn’t Lauralton speak out and say their part? It is because Schuler threatened law suit and now they will keep their mouth’s shut…A parent of on of the senior girls did not play in the Immaculate game(coach’s decision)…They girl was upset and stormed off crying…Her father then waited for Schuler and had to be physically restrained from going after him…He was fired a few days later…Bottom line is there are 2 seniors on the team that don’t play much…their parents don’t like it so they threw a fit and complained until the pricipal would rather fire him than deal with the constant complaints…The AD wasn’t even involved in the decision…Wow! Lauralton Hall has become a joke
Comment by Casual_Observer — February 5th, 2010 @ 11:46 am
SPB,
I happen to see a friend of mine today. He is a ref in girls basketball in the SWC. He told me that Schuler got a raw deal. He said that Schuler knows the game inside out and he treated his players good. My friend felt it was the parents who had the say in Schuler getting the boot at LH.
Comment by Donald C — February 6th, 2010 @ 7:23 pm
If your boss treated you like he treated his players, you’d go over his head to get him fired also. Did the parents complain about playing time, yes. Is that why he was fired, no.
Comment by catholickid — February 8th, 2010 @ 11:46 am
catholickid,
he was 13-1!! the parents had nothing to do with it?? i wasn’t from playing time??? so your saying he was yelling at his players??? was he swearing?? tell us all why the firing took place. you MUST know the truth!!
Comment by JOHNNY BALLGAME — February 11th, 2010 @ 6:04 am
Seems to me that most of you have no children that are athletes or pay taxes to outfit your schools athletic dept or pay a huge sum for tuition. also seems to me that you dont have to look your kids in the eyes and help soothe the heartache even if you know that your kid is not the best athlete in the world. you are right, us parents can be a big pain but someday you will know the feeling watching your kid from the sidelines. with a record like 13-1 the coach could have gotten more playing time for the kids i would think, or, was he just being a jerk and trying to show them who’s boss with the big ego. ive been on both sides of the fence and now being a parent think the coaches need to make a little effort to reward the kids that show up day after day and bust their butts in an effort to keep a coach happy. it aint easy being a coach and it aint easy being a parent. maybe some of you should try both sometime.
Comment by both sides of the fence — February 11th, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
Both sides – “also seems to me that you dont have to look your kids in the eyes and help soothe the heartache even if you know that your kid is not the best athlete in the world”
Sounds to me like your kid is going to grow up and not be ready for the real world. This isn’t little league. It’s High School. It is why they make cuts.
Grow up.
Comment by johnny ribbs — February 18th, 2010 @ 5:52 pm
The guy had little class. Flipping the bird at fans in Pomperaug. Pressing teams up by 30. I have to admit he does a good job recruiting, oh by the way that is supposed to by against CIAC rules. Funny how he started getting players from all over. He Freshman and JV teams are average at best but, those kids never had a chance at varsity becuase he would bring players in.
Comment by Please — February 18th, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
both sides,
i’m both and you can’t be more off base. when do we stop protecting and have our children understand that life is not always gooing to be a bed of roses. later in life are we going to call their boss’s boss because they are not getting enough overtime??? even though they do a less of a job then the employee that gets the overtime??
what does paying taxes have to do about playing time?? you pay to play all youth sports and you only have to play a small amount. this is high school sports, the best players play. how do you know there was achance for him to get the girls in the games?? did you go to the games? did you watch every min. this is the problem with us as a country we are just too soft!!!!!!!
Comment by I'M BOTH — February 19th, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
the team will now suffer due to their parents selfishness, and child like complaints. with a successful season so far, they will now have difficulty maintaining their position, and i definitely feel bad for the student whose parent’s complained, she is probably going to have to deal with a terrible rest of the season. if your child can not handle the pressure of the sport then they shouldn’t be playing the sport, COMPETITION has meaning, and yes he will put the best players on the court, this isn’t preschool anymore. each player has the chance to prove themselves and if their skills do not meet quota then why would they be put on the court, the parents of these players should be embarrassed for subjecting their child to this public humility. don’t be so sensitive it’s a sport and sports are not for the weak.
Comment by Team — February 22nd, 2010 @ 5:40 pm