Do High School Basketball Coaches Matter Anymore?

RATED - H for Hoopers, meaning this post is going to be kind of basketball specific.

My biggest pet peeve in basketball right now is the phenomenon of "non-school coaches" that has become so popular. I'm not here to trash these people. I know a lot of them that do a really good job. I just think it's a very interesting topic right now. So follow along...

Let me tell you a story about a guy I know. He was a varsity boys coach in our district. He took over at this school that had been TERRIBLE for years. He worked really hard, building the program from the ground up. His varsity was losing a lot of games, but they were young. His JV and Jr High kids were winning. Better days were ahead. Everybody could see it coming.

The next year his varsity was a little better. They were winning more games, but they were probably a year away from being good. That spring, when it was time to rehire teachers and coaches, the School Board voted to not rehire this coach for his third year. They let him go. Some other guy walked in and did a good job, won 20+ games the next year with the kids this other coach had developed.

If you sign up to coach varsity basketball, this is what you're signing up for. It's why there are fewer and fewer of the "lifelong" coaches, the ones who do it for 25-30 years, guys like Ronnie Cookson and Jim Bidewell and Paul Hale and Greg Hollifield and Danny Farmer and Lennies McFerren.

Now that I'm a school administrator, I've seen the other side of this. I've been in Board rooms where coaches are evaluated. I've seen coaches get ambushed. I've seen guys that nobody would ever hire get an interview just because they know a certain Board member, while other coaches that might do a fantastic job get passed over.

So point number one is, less and less coaches want to be "school coaches" for a long period of time.

Another phenomenon creating a culture for "non-school coaches" are the rules in place both in state athletic associations and the NCAA.

1. MSHSAA, the governing body for basketball in Missouri, says a coach can only practice from the beginning of November until early/mid March. Anything outside of that, he can't really instruct his players. In the summer (about 10 weeks), he gets X number of "contact days." When I was coaching, it was 25 days you could instruct. The point is, if you're a high school coach, you really only get to "coach" your players about half of the year. I know some states, like Arkansas, are a bit more lenient, but it's pretty much the same way everywhere.

2. The college coaches rules and the college basketball schedule make it hard for them to see players during high school basketball season. Think about it, the college games are going on at the same time. Logistically it's just hard for them to get out and recruit players as freely as they do during the summer. So what happens is, during the summer, college coaches can go to one event and see 200 good players at an AAU tournament as opposed to going to one game in December and seeing one or two good players.

So now there is this new phenomenon of "skills coaches" and other coaches outside of the school system (AAU coaches, etc) that are getting more and more of our students time. This also means they are getting extra money, as these skills coaches and AAU coaches have turned this into a big business.

So that leads me to my point: Because of the way rules are now (more in a second), high school basketball coaches matter less in the college recruiting process than they ever have before.

I don't think this is true in football, because of insurance and liablility. It's just hard to play competitive football outside of the structure of a school team. This phenomenon of non-school coaches might hold true in baseball, but because of the cost that goes with traveling teams, that has precluded more and more from playing baseball at a higher level (which is an entirely different but interesting topic altogether).

So (1) we have less coaches that coach for a long time in high school; (2) the high school rules really lock high school coaches out of the summer; and (3) the NCAA rules basically tell college coaches the summer is when they can recruit. The result is you have these major AAU Tournaments where college coaches and good players come together in one huge gathering.

The result is a culture where players are taking the path of least resistance. If a kid is a really, really good player, people are kissing his behind to get him on that first AAU team. Once they have him, they're not going to coach him hard, because they don't want him to go play somewhere else. The kid gets spoiled. When he gets back to school and has to play for the high school coach, and the coach actually tries to "coach" him and correct him, it's "man coach is tripping."

So kids transfer if they don't like their high school coach. They change AAU teams if they don't get enough free gear or if the coach doesn't play them enough minutes. Kids don't want to play for anybody that challenges them. If the team isn't winning, "we need better players, more help." It's not "I need to get better. I need to step up." It's transfer, or go find me more good players to play with.

Sound familiar? Does this sound like something we hear Lebron James or Kevin Durant or John Wall or 100 other NBA players say and do? Wonder why this is happening? Because of the culture being created by the rules in place in most states and the NCAA.

They've made high school coaches, who are THE TEACHERS, irrelevant. I truly believe that right now, high school coaches matter LESS than they ever have before in regards to recruiting and skill development. I think that's sad. These coaches go to college and get a degree and get certified to be able to teach and coach.

How can this trend be reversed? Does it need to be reversed? Is the game just headed in the direction that makes sense? Or do we need to change the rules in a way that puts more power back in high school coaches' hands?

I don't know the answer. I know I played for a coach, Ronnie Cookson, that pushed me and believed in me and paid attention to me. I grew up and became a coach. Five of my former players grew up and became high school coaches. I think high school coaches still matter. That doesn't change the fact that the landscape of coaching has changed a lot in the last 5-10 years.

Thanks for reading. Have an awesome day. Make it a win. #JWT

#AAUBasketball #lenniesmicferren #ronniecookson #greghollifield #jimbidewell #paulhale #skillsdevelopment #collegebasketball #NCAA #NBA