Steve Kemp quits as high school track coach: Parents are a pill
Steve Kemp
After posting this originally, Steve wrote me:
I entered Lahti but did not go. I have been away from competition since the Oshkosh Nationals in ’09. Was entered in Australia in Oct. 2009 but had an accident in training that may or may not end up to be a permanent end to my competing. (partial quad tendon tear that I had surgery on). It is the mobility of the knee (doesn’t bend all the way anymore) that is the issue to ever competing at a high level again. So, 2 yrs. later, still improving slowly but not quite there yet.
20 Responses
Having known Steve well for many, many years, I know Steve wouldn’t have taken this course of action without honest and righteous deliberation. All in all, it’s too bad. I guess this reflects not only on cutbacks on PE programs on public schools across the USA these days, but also on the influence parents (at least the affluent ones) of students can have. Different times than when I was in high school, for sure (sigh).
Anyway, Steve, hope to see you at a meet this year (Seattle Deca’s in July, maybe?) -Grant Lamothe
As a HS track coach in the mid ’70s, I had a runner who didn’t attend training but he wanted to compete. I sat him for the meets and his parents complained to the prince. I was told to let him compete. I had a different mind set(read that ‘stubborn’)and I resigned the post. Smartty
There must be something more to this story. First you say parent’s coaches are interfering and then the article says he was overworked, running from event to event, kids just standing around until he could get to them.
The last thing I’d refuse as head coach would be help with all the specialties. Track practice isn’t meant to be punishment, so I wonder what’s with the ‘special treatment’ charge, as well.
I coach pole vaulters and have always been a volunteer. The first thing I do is meet the kid’s coach and ask he/she what and when we can and can’t do certain things. Team responsibilties come first.
In the mid 90s I coached NCAA All American (2nd & 3rd both to Toby Stevenson) and Olympic Trials qualifier, Borya Celentano (18′ 10 1/2″). I got him as a 13′ kid in high school. I was the vault coach at UC Irvine for 14 years and he went to Long Beach State.
CSULB coach, Andy Sythe, and UCI’s Vince O’Boyle, allowed Borya to train at UCI on his vault days but had to be with the team on all ther training days.
Here’s why this is special. LB and UCI were in the same conference. Borya transferred from UCI to LB when their scholarship program was dropped.
Those two coaches made the most amazing compromise I have ever seen for the good of the athlete.
Bottom line is that if a kid is on a team those rules come first. If he/she nees specialty training needs then sometimes those allowances can be made. It is not the right of the parent or the private coach to demand it of the team coach.
I had the opposite experience in HS, a coach who did not know what he was doing, basically skated by on the success of the cross country program and the sheer volume of athletes/students(over 3600 for a 3 yr school)He was belligerent to my parents, tried to punish me through excessive workouts. He once told me “You can’t beat me, you will throw up before you graduate” I did every workout even though they were totally arbritrary
“give me 5×880 in 2:05 with a 4 minutes rest”
“what splits? ”
“doesn’t matter, 2:05, go”
In addition the team policy was if u did a TT on Wednesday and qualified a time you got to run the event. So before Districts i qualified my mile and told him i wanted to drop the 440 and go 880, mile, mile relay(anchor). There were 4 guys 2 seconds faster in the 44o in the area and i was the fastest miler.
He told me it was not a democracy and he could do whatever he wanted and he refused to enter me in the mile. 4:12 miler who was not allowed to run.
When i got to college my coach could not believe what i went through.
My freshman year in college i was running PR’s in practice, and was on a record setting relay.
Basically HS career sabotaged by a coach who hated my father.
Sometimes parental interference is not the problem.
Sometimes coaches have an ego
this might not be as cut & dried as it appears
I began to comment about this and found I was typing for days! I don’t want to start a big discussion on this subject, which is close to my heart, as I am a private track and field coach (sprints & hurdles). What I can say is, there is probable MORE to this story on both sides. I’ve been on both sides of the field as a high school coach who has dealt with these same issues and now a private coach… I’m so glad to be a “highly qualified” private coach!
This is what I do…
http://www.academyofspeed.org
http://www.holmeshurdletech.com
I agree with Richard that there is probably more to this story. I am more familiar with the sport of cycling in which almost every athlete has a private coach. So for me its hard to imagine this being an issue at all. Seems like a real Lose-Lose for the coach and the team. Sorry to see it.
Just wanted to clarify a few points that are being discussed about the article. Regarding the parent who was putting herself in charge of the training of her child…She called a meeting about a month before the start of track last year with me to discuss how we were going to go about the training of her daughter (800/1600 runner). It was a great meeting. We agreed on a lot and I shared my training ideas and philosophies about how to get her to the next level. Unfortunately, I did not know what was really going on behind the scenes with the other trainer until her daughter was missing a lot of practices (with excuses) and then I saw the trainer (who I actually know a bit and like as a person) at our meets sitting with the parents with clipboard, etc.
Where it gets complex is, as a coach, you don’t want to penalize the kid, no matter how a parent represents themself. And this athlete was shooting for a scholarship. So I wasn’t going to suspend her from meets plus she is a great kid.
I did not think there was any need for the specifics that played out here to be printed in the newspaper. There is even more history to this with the previous head coach at this school quitting and the sports writer who wrote the article knew this and alluded to it a bit in the article.
I also am a personal trainer, private track coach with a few athletes so of course, I am very supportive of coaching at all levels. The couple times that a parent asked me to coach their high school athlete during the season, the first thing I did was call the head coach at that school and find out if they would approve it. That’s the difference.
The part about conducting practices where one person needs to be 3-4 places at once…this was my comment in the meeting with the athletic director where he said I need to be forming “more relationships” with the kids. I just wanted him to come out to the track for one day, do what I do and then ask him how he was doing, “forming more relationships” with the 110 kids I am in charge of plus just silly things like going around the track after every practice and picking up all the adhesive tape. Kind of the plight of the vested worker who cannot be fired in charge of the freelance worker, working their butt off.
Yes, times are quite different now. My H.S. track experience was one of the most fun times of my life so I wanted to share all I learned from that with kids I coached at Mountain View. And the feedback from the parents and kids there were very, very supportive and I will miss athletes I worked with. But when I weigh everything out, with the AD and the parent and the 4 1/2 months of your life you fully invest, I chose to hang it up there.
Great for you Steve!! Totally understandable. Enjoy your freedom to help those who really want to be helped.
WOW!!! As a HS and AAU/USATF youth coach this is deja vus. I too have had to deal with parental interference/oversight and personal trainers outside of the team environment. Kids missing practice, doing double workouts, or not working hard with the team to save their legs for personal workout. We basically told athletes and parents that everyone will be allowed to participate in meets based on their work ethic at “practice”. No exceptions. Kids that had personal trainers/coaches many times ended up getting hurt from doing dual workouts or not running in meets for dogging it at practice. When kids of lesser ability moved into their position, attitudes quickly changed. One kid placed 2nd at the state championships as a freshman in the 400m so his parents decided he needed a personal coach. 2nd and 3rd year he ran maybe 3 meets total for not showing up at practice or lack of effort. Parents became irrate but “team” rules are “team” rules and fortunately admnistration was on our side. I’m sure basketball and football coaches dont deal with this crap so why should T&F coaches have to deal with it? If the workouts that a school coach provides isnt good enough, dont run for the school. Train with the personal coach and run AAU/USATF but dont ruin the team dynamics because of selfish behaviour. The beauty of T&F is that a fast time is a fast time. If a HS aged kid runs 45.9 400m being trained by a personal coach at an open meet with FAT he will get a scholarship. If he wants to be part of a school team then participate as a team member, do the team workouts and enjoy the benefits of being on a team.
Steve, Im sure it was a tough decision because you were doing it for the kids. We all know a HS T&F coach doesnt do it for the money or glory. I applaude you for your efforts and hope you will resurface as a coach in a better environment.
Sounds like you gave it your all, Steve, for two years and made a perfectly understandable decision.
Hope the AD gets a coach who can improve on your meager 24-0 record.
Plenty of other HS and college programs in the area if you still have the itch.
my hs coach pulled me off the mile relay as a senior (a tight knit group of seniors who trained on our own for indoor, and won our conference champs against some great comp ) in our st outdoor championship meet, and put me in the 100 yd dash, which is back to back to the high hurdles, my specialty… after my first long jump,…i ran over to the trials of the hurdles, then ran back to the start for 100 trials…i repeated this a few times…then when i went back for my remaining 5 jumps..i was told my coach passed me…i was done…here at the state finals where i wanted to win three golds and set new meet records..then i watched my teamates win their mile relay gold without me…i never understood the reasoning..my coach went on to other schools and then to the nfl… as for parents…i saw some horror stories of dads that were downright mean to their children, and embarrassing them at length…some kids were permanently damaged by it…best wishes to steve…!!! im a fan…!!!
I’m an assistant track coach with one of Mt. View’s rival school. Last year was my first season and after 6 weeks, I told the head coach that I will finish the season but will probably not return in 2012. Things have changed too much since my high school days. Kids used to go out for track because they wanted to and not as a PE substitute. There were way too many kids (we had 200) early in the season and many of them tried to get away with practicing as little as possible before getting caught. I felt like a volunteer substitute teacher as opposed to a coach which was not what I signed up for. This is the stuff the AD obviously had no idea about when he talked about “not building enough relationship with the kids and parents” BS. Things eventually worked itself out and I’m returning this year but I totally understand what Steve went through and I’m disappointed in the way the school treated Steve. Most high school programs are lucky to have someone show up and hold a clip board and getting someone with actual knowledge, experience and passion for the sport is a huge plus. I think people who are well qualified will think twice before before sacrificing their time and energy to coach HS sports after reading this story which is really unfortunate.
After reading Steve’s article and his response (#9), I feel for him and his predicament. But what I see as being a failure in this are individual States H.S. governing bodies and thier rules pertaining to H.S. athletes having personal coaches during the active H.S. season. In Colorado it’s pretty much a no go for coaching H.S. athletes during the season and is understandable. I also understand the parents predicament as well, as I also personally coach H.S. athletes that have been ruined by any Tom, Dick or Harry that gets hired because they once threw the shot or discus in middle school or high school thirty years ago, or just happen to teach at the school and need a few extra bucks. In Colorado, as long as the coach passes a CHSAA certification online test that mainly deals with athlete contact rules, behavior, protests during a competition, and all the restrictions that the athletes have to abide by, there are no tests in place to check the experience and competency of coaches to effectively teach an event. I coached a young thrower in the Fall of 2010, until prior to his 2011 outdoor season. In the fall of 2010 he went from 90′ in the discus , to 124′ and 30′ in the shot put to 38′ in a matter of two and a half months. When he went back to his inexperienced and somewhat incompetant throws coach at his H.S. for his 2011 season his P.R. in the discus ended up being only 109′ and bottomed out at 94′, while his shot put went from 38′ to 36′ the rest of the season. When his coach became frustrated with all the throwers because he had nothing left to teach them, or had no other coaching advice other than “Throw farther”, he told them they were weak in mind and body and during that practice had them all run four 100m sprints, three 200m sprints, one 400m. run and finished with an 800m run, then had them come back to the ring to see if his training method worked. As you can imagine they all failed miserably and they threw much worse from exaustion. When parents complained after hearing of this, it fell upon deaf ears by the Head coach ( who was a distance coach) and athletic director. After my H.S. throwers season ended, I immediately resumed coaching him for his Summer USATF season. He went from 36′ to 42′ in the shot and upped his discus to 119′ in one and a half months. So in the end H.S. athletes , at least here in Colorado are held to a much higher standard than coaches that train them. So how can you blame some parents for wanting better for their children. It’s also sad that it hurts many talented and legitimate H.S. coaches as Steve seems to be. What’s coincidental about this article is the school district Steve coached at and my own experience there. I coached at Los Altos H.S. as a throws coach back in 2004, which is a rival to Mountain View. When hired, I asked why such a prominant throws coach at Los Altos had retired from coaching throws. He said there was no talent to coach. That season I took a one of his so-called no=talent throwers who started the season at 44′ and had him finish the year at 51′ he was only a junior. That next fall, I was informed by the Los Altos athletic director while sitting in the schools bleachers and watching my younger Brother play basketball for Los Altos, that I would not be returning next season as the throws coach, because the retired throws coach was all of a sudden interest in coaching again because of my work with the teams now much improved thrower. I was also informed that I couldn’t protest the decision because he was a teacher at the Los Altos, and I wasn’t, and teachers always had first dibs on coaching jobs, period. He even had the sack to shoot me a smile during that game after I was informed. H.S.’s do little dirty deals like this all the time, which are usually not for the betterment of the athlete but to massage school staffs ego’s and pad their pocket books a little. I say Steve should join the ranks of personal coaches. At least there is less head aches involved with it… Best of luck Steve!!
…There’s a typo in my previous response, I coached at Los altos in 1994, not 2004…
Steve,
Times sure are different and the A.D. should have come to your support and create a manageable situation that balanced both sides. He should had opened a dialogue and ultimately supported you. FYI, I know the parents in question and they are great but they also are somewhat driven when it comes to their daughters.
I had a similar situation with the same A.D. over a lack of institutional support but it also extended into not doing minor things (eligibility issues) to support MVHS student athletes.
Policies created 20 years ago by the old A.D. (which made no sense) were dictating how things were run.
It is sad that someone who is hired to run an athletic program can create (or allow to be created) problems because he is either too new or thinks that the best solution is dictated by “how we have always done it” or because he doesn’t want to make waves.
Hopefully, he will (soon) learn that if he is fortunate enough to have a knowledgeable coach (like yourself) who is passionate about his/her sport, that it might be better to have a dialogue with the coach and the parents to find a solution. Otherwise he is going to continue his pattern of looking for new coaches each season.
Steve,
I commend you on your decision to leave the high school. Sounds like you were in a situation in which it would not get any better. High school athletics is about the whole high school experience in which an athlete gets to be involved with a team. Team dynamics is an essential part of any xc or track program. If athletes are allowed to have private coaches during the season what does it do to the team dynamics? It explodes and team mates end up resenting the special priveldges of the “off campus athlete” and this comprimises the WHOLE team. I too have been in simular situations. Over involved parents who believe that getting a private coach will miraculously make the child faster. What are these parents teaching their children? That it is acceptable not to follow team rules, to lie to a coach about training with another team or coach. Team dynamics often suffer when athletes don’t follow the rules because they believe they are entitled to a different set of rules. Fortunatly, my administration has always supported our track/xc programs. In our programs we have a policy of no outside coaching during the season, that you must attend practice during the practice time. Well for some sneaking off to do another workout or making excuses not to attend workouts would occur. These athletes either stayed with the program and followed the rules or transferred to a different school in which the coach allowed private coaching. Under your situation I too would have resigned. All the best to you in the future.
solution:
Teach/coach in a public school where kids can’t afford private coaching and transport ALL athletes even if it takes 2-3 busses. You’ll be more satisfied and the student/athletes will appreciate your efforts years after they compete/graduate.
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