Coach nominates himself for coach of the year

So, for those of us in business of high school coverage, it's that time of year -- we're taking nominations for our fall sports all-area teams. We've got a pretty big coverage area for a community paper -- almost 30 schools. But we get woefully little response when we send nominating information to the coaches, especially once you get past football and basketball.

Over the weekend, a message popped up in my e-mail from a coach who made a case for himself as coach of the year. When you strip away his spin, basically he took a team from pathetic to merely bad. But whatever the merits of his case, I can't believe anyone is arrogant enough to do this. But I guess I shouldn't be.

You have to wonder whether people who do stuff like this put any thought into how it's going to come across. He only nominated one player from his team. Provided no stats for that player, just his opinion. He didn't nominate anyone from any other teams, which we invite coaches to do. He spent most of his e-mail making his case for himself.

I'm sure lots of you have had this happen, but it's the first time I've ever seen it, so I thought it was pretty funny. And sad.

 

that's a new one to me. what a douche.

 

douche of the year?

 

Only if your company gives out a Windbag of the Year award.

 

Would rather have him nominate himself, than have his wife do it for him as is the case in most seasons in a mid-size town in a state shaped like a mitten on a lake sharing the same name. Oh, did I mention that his wife is the sports editor of the local mid-size daily?
It's happened for years and I've always felt it unethical as hell.

 

It think this is pretty funny, actually.

 

Yikes. I'm sure the husband is very honored by the prestigious award.

 

We had a coach nominate himself for All-District coach of the year a few years ago. It was pretty funny. He contacted everyone who was on the panel, and I have no idea how he figured that out because it was an informal panel.

This coach submitted an e-mail to everyone. In it, he stated that his team went 18-5 with hardly any talent at all. Then, he nominated one player for district player of the year and another for all-district first team. No talent, huh? Needless to say, his players got their just awards but he did not. The coach's last name was Schmook, which made it a little more hilarious.

I am not making this up.

 

AP All-State coach of the year in his class, several times over...

 

Many years ago, we chose our all-county basketball team, and the player of the year was a guard who led his team to a subregion title. The kid went on to become a pretty good ACC player, BTW.

His coach, who also happened to be the guard's older brother, was an arrogant little snot who made it quite clear that he figured because he had the best team in the area, he should be coach of the year. We wound up choosing a coach who had turned a team that was horrendous the previous year into a contender.

So I call the arrogant coach to let him know his brother was our player of the year and told him we needed the guard for our all-county team picture at such-and-such time and such-and-such place. There's a brief silence, then the coach asks, in a pitiful little voice, ``Do you need me?''

I had to work to keep from breaking out laughing when I told him, ``No, Dave. Just Cal.''

One of the standout moments of my career.

 

Great job da man. Only thing better would have been to say "only if your brother needs a ride."

 

... which is why we shun coaches for any "awards."