There has to be better way than temper

High school coaches are the clergymen and cops of sports.

You trust them with your children. You expect them to help turn them into adults. You want them to teach right from wrong.

Maybe sportsmanship has to be articulated to athletes and fans, but coaches should have learned it long before they ever were allowed to lead a team of teens.

Ah, but coaches, like clergymen and cops, are people, too.

Some were out of control back in the 1970s when I covered prep sports. Some probably were long before that, too. Some still are.

Let's not generalize here. We're talking about a small percentage. But that is too many and more than enough to taint the profession.

They're yellers and screamers fuming at players, game officials and even school authority figures.

It's too tempting for prep coaches to admire and emulate the Bobby Knights. It's too tempting for college coaches to admire and emulate the Mike Ditkas. It's too tempting for pro coaches to admire and emulate the George Pattons.

Overall too many shrieking voices and clenched fists permeate all levels of sports when the rest of us in other industries are expected to be civil.

This discussion was prompted Tuesday by a Chicago newspaper report on the Chicago Public League. So many incidents of coaches abusing athletes occurred there that guidelines had to be put in writing.

Remarkably among them is prohibiting physical abuse like hitting, slapping, pushing, shaking, twisting, pinching, choking, swatting, headbanging and paddling.

Don't those go without saying? Apparently not. Many think they're OK because they toughen teenagers for a tough world. Going soft on kids, the theory goes, would further wussify America.

I never understood that. High school sports aren't military boot camps preparing youngsters for combat. They're games, for gosh sakes.

The most controversial element of the CPS crackdown calls for coaches to "avoid displays of temper toward students, staff and members of the school community."

"Displays of temper" is open to interpretation, but a good policy would be for a coach to err on the side of composure.

(That's the irony: How can a coach expect players to be composed when he or she is ranting and raving?)

Anyway, high school is for learning, and coaches always like to portray themselves as teachers.

Whenever I hear that I wonder whether English teachers maniacally throw stuff and scream at students, much less grab them by the neck.

The gym or field is just another classroom or laboratory, isn't it? If kids are slow improving, aren't there are other ways to get through to them than berating them?

Tell kids what they did wrong, grade them down, sit them down, take away playing time, let them watch how it's done and hope they learn from their mistakes.

The teachers I had didn't scream much, though I must admit I went to public schools and never experienced some of the nuns I heard about.

But some coaches think it's all right to go off on pupils.

Listen, I know these men and women are under considerable pressure dealing with teens and their parents.

Still, there must be better ways to get through to high school athletes than to be verbally or physically abusive.

mimrem@dailyherald.com