how to handle when coach is star player's parent

[Dan Robrish]

Hello, all --

I haven't logged into this forum in a long time, but I could use some advice. I publish a small-town weekly in Pennsylvania and of course I have heavy coverage of high school football at this time of year.

The football team's head coach is the father of one of the quarterbacks. I have consistently mentioned the relationship in stories that mention both of them because I don't want to look like I'm covering something up. This morning, I got an angry e-mail message from the player's mother/coach's wife saying that her son is his own person and that I am being disrespectful by mentioning the relationship.

I'm sure nearly everyone who covers high school sports has encountered this situation. How do you handle this and why?

Regards,

Dan Robrish
Editor and Publisher
The Elizabethtown Advocate

 

[LongTimeListener]

Why do you need to mention it in every story?

 

[CharBroiled]

I would think if it's a blatant disregard for a better or more talented player, the relationship would be newsworthy since it has been established.

Our local high school's basketball coach will be beginning his second year with his sophomore son who starts at point guard. His son also started as a freshman and the talk around the community is the coach only got the job to coach his son in high school. We never make mention of the relationship.

 

[Dan Robrish]

To answer LongTimeListener's question, I've been doing it out of an abundance of caution, though I'm rethinking.

I posted the same question to the listserv of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors and one of the replies was, "When people read the same last name twice in the story, they will wonder if they are related. And, as we all know, some people are reading for the first time."

 

[LongTimeListener]

What are the chances that in your readership a person doesn't know that the coach and player are related?

Also I'm not sure why it matters.

 

[reformedhack]

Mention it if context is important (e.g., the coach benches a better player in favor of his son, the coach chooses his son to try the game-winning play, etc.). Ignore it if it isn't.

The mother probably has a point. Put it in print often enough and readers will wonder what you're implying -- even if you're not implying anything at all. In prep sports, parent-coach/child-player situations occur frequently -- or at least so frequently that they're nothing unusual. Don't go out of your way to belabor this one.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

 

[huntsie]

Agree. Refer to the relationship only if its important in the context of the story. You don't have to write "Quarterback Joe Cleats, son of head coach Tom Cleats" passed for six touchdowns as Hometown High beat the visiting Out of Town Evildoers 66-0..." One has nothing to do with the other

 

[GidalKaiser]

Both Huntsie and Norrin Radd make good points. For the past four seasons, the head football coach's son at Pretty Good High has been the starting QB. I only make mention of it if coach A talks about his son, Player A. I mentioed it once in each season preview I did from 2009 to now about the team, but did it in a casual way. What I like it that Coach A criticizes his own kid when he makes bad decisions on the field.

 

[Boom_70]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

Hit on the mother and come back and tell us how it went. Otherwise it seems like overkill to mention the coach / QB relationship in every story. Since you are a local paper you have to assume that interested readers already know about the relationship.

 

[writingump]

Had this about 15 years ago with a volleyball team. Only this one was easy because the coach, besides her daughter being the team's best player (she went on to play at Furman), also happened to have won three state championships in her career and was widely regarded as being a better person than a coach. So this wasn't nearly as sticky as this situation seems to have become.
As far as the writing part, you mention it only if it's relevant. You don't have to go out of your way to note it every time you write about the team.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The stereotype is that the kid plays only because he has Daddy to give him a spot, but in my experience and observation the kid is usually one of the best players on the team, or at the very least he is deserving of the role he has. It's wildly different in the lower ages especially as travel ball/select teams have grown, and in those areas I usually assume the kid isn't as good as his role on the team would indicate. But a high school coach is not one who is going to tank a season for feelings.

The other stereotype is the little white "coach's kid" type, but there is probably in truth a lot of benefit to that too. Think of how much private coaching the kid has had over the years, at a very high level compared with what the rest of the dads are probably teaching their boys.

 

[Bud_Bundy]

We had that situation for 3 years where the coach moved from one school to another in our league and took his son with him, and made him the starting QB right from the start as a sophomore. We mentioned the relationship a few times, but not in every story or even in every other story. The son was the best QB on a no-talent team that won 7 games in 3 years.

 

[Tarheel316]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

Hit on the mother and come back and tell us how it went. Otherwise it seems like overkill to mention the coach / QB relationship in every story. Since you are a local paper you have to assume that interested readers already know about the relationship.

If the mother is a 6?

 

[cyclingwriter]

Don't need to overkill, but it is an interesting dynamic. I won a feature writing award once for a series on parent-coaching relationships. If you can talk to the wife and see how she feels. Is there more stresses at home. How do they balance the dad/son vs. player/coach relationship.

My hook was the local basketball team was heading for a state title with the star player being the coach's son. Everyone knew it, but I found some interesting things. The dad had won two previous state titles when his son was little and a ball boy. Had his name on the state championship ball in the school gym. He said that was a greater motivation than anything else to him...he wanted to earn his name this time. Dad really didn't know about that motivation and joked "I thought it was because I made him run more laps than anyone else. They ended up losing in the finals in an upset. Gave me a good final piece as the dad kind of pulled his son to the side and said "I know you wanted your own ball, but we still have each other."

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

Hit on the mother and come back and tell us how it went.

Yes, have her channel that anger in a positive direction. The coach works long hours in season, and the poor lady is probably feeling neglected.

 

[slappy4428]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

But as Huntsie said, mention only when necessary and in context

 

[Freuchen Icepick]

sidecar, but... it used to drive me crazy when for years theo epstein was referred to by the boston media dinosaurs as some sort of youngster. it was noteworthy when he was hired as the "youngest GM in baseball," but it persisted it to the point where you could almost picture shaughnessy smirking to himself as he typed out another "young theo" this or "boy wonder" that. it seemed to become this full on passive-aggressive paternalistic vibe and that's when i stopped reading the CHB forever.

 

[Tom Petty]

overkill is overkill. slide it in every now and then from this point forward, but my god, not in every story.

 

[Tom Petty]

Ignore the mother's message.

This is not a big deal.

Hit on the mother and come back and tell us how it went. Otherwise it seems like overkill to mention the coach / QB relationship in every story. Since you are a local paper you have to assume that interested readers already know about the relationship.

i thought you weren't a journalist. if that, in fact, is true, why in the hell are you offering up your opinion?
why would a real journalist give two ****s about a non-journalist's opinion in this matter? i do believe this person came to a journalism board to get journalists' opinions.