This is something that our whole country should be concerned about. Now we have a violation of privacy by kids and others who feel that they can tape people doing things that they feel is wrong. Football is rough sport, physically and mentally. Coaches push their teams and sometimes they yell. Its not like he was beating them or forcing them to do drugs or anything like that. The bottom line is this, if we keep allowing people to video tape and record people just to hurt them and put things in public that shouldnt be then our world will suffer. Freedom of speech is a double edged sword and we hold the power. If your gonna play a rough sport expect to have rough days and stop being a wuss. Theres no crying in sports.

Dear John, Your post is a perfect example of why transparency is important. If you are doing something that will get you fired or make you want to resign, then you probably shouldn't be doing it. There are successful football programs with coaches who don't have to yell.

The bad part isn't that he yelled and it was recorded, it was that he was forced to resign. From listening to it, he sounded right to me. If your team or a large portion of it doesn't care (i.e give a sh**), how would you expect to win or even improve? Is it because he cursed around high school kids? I bet the kids swear a heck of a lot more than the coaches. It's a simple fact of life that some people yell, coaches, bosses, coworkers, etc. The best coach I ever played for, who is in the illinois high school coaches hall of fame, would yell at me worse than this guy. He yelled because he knew I could get better and I was a dumb kid who needed to be yelled at to know that I could do better.

Football coaches swell and yell. They do it in locker rooms and do it in practices. It is to the team and not the world. Having your coach push you is a very personal and private thing.
It is amazing that a student would record and post. Shows you how much he values team or sees himself part of it. That tends to underscore the coaches observation that not everyone is 'we' but some are 'me'.
Lastly, be embarrassed that a private meeting was posted, but don't resign, Coach. No one has asked for it, and everyone understands.

It's not the yelling that is the problem in this situation. Many coaches yell. The problem is the use of profanity in a manner intended to shame young athletes into compliance with coach's expectations. The comments were degrading, personal and profane.

The coach may have been correct about the root issue on his team, individualism vs. focus on team, but his tactics for trying to change the situation were inappropriate. Unfortunately, this kind of language and 'motivational' approach are not limited to sports, but have become commonplace in today's society.

Anyone who has ever coached at the high school level or above can tell you that there is a line between using volume to communicate urgency and intensity and using volume (with or without profanity) to take out your frustrations on your players. It sometimes takes maturing as a coach to get past the need to vent frustrations onto the players.

The athlete who posted this on YouTube should have instead taken the recording to the athletic director and asked for the situation to be looked into and dealt with. That would have been the proper protocol.

The bigger issue involved here is that many coaches have a very difficult time dealing with situations in which they place a far greater importance on winning and being successful than their players do. Most coaches prefer to win and be successful and expect full buy in and complete dedication from their players to make success happen.

Whenever players don't place the same value on winning and choose to have other priorities, coaches who either aren't mature enough or haven't figured out how to cope with that reality often struggle with how to deal with the emotional frustration that creates for them. Their underlying desire is to work at a level where the athletes are just as 'committed to winning' as they are.

The reality is that there are very few levels/places where that perceived expectation is actually present. And since most coaches will never get the opportunity to work at the professional or high major college level where you can recruit/pay players and expect that mentality they are ultimately frustrated at having to work in their present situation.

Coaches who are frustrated like this often have a tendency to try to 'use and abuse' their athletes to attain coaching success so that they can use their successful coaching record to leverage themselves into a 'better' coaching job.

That's not fair to the athletes. It's not the purpose of interscholastic, intercollegiate, or youth athletics. And...it is the responsibility of administrators to mentor and guide their coaching staffs so that they can move past that point in their coaching career. If they can't, then they need to get out of coaching and do something else.

As a coach, it is your job to motivate and improve your team as best as possible, both on and off the field. I have not seen the video, nor will I look at it, but is sounds as if (besides language), there were some personal comments that were made. Coaching is hard enough without having to worry about whether or not someone is videoing your every move. The key to this could be as simple as this: If you wouldn't say it in public, probably you shouldn't say it in the locker room. If you have to address behaviors or the play of a specific player, pull them aside and have a conversation. If you are uncomfortable one on one, then have an assistant coach sit in with you. I'm sorry this coach resigned because it sounded like he has the desire and drive to offer to this team a lot, but needed to use better judgement.

The calculus teacher/football coach failed to calculate and measure the weight of his words and played a game that is not winnable.

Alhtough I don't ask for a resignation, we as coaches are to be role models for these student athletes! We can get the point across, find ways to motivate our players to win without using profanity to do it! They hear it enough with their 'friends', on movies, and sometimes at home--when we curse and act in a undesireable manner we are giving permission to our players to do the same--and their target could be their younger sibling, or girlfriend/boyfriend which can transfer into abuseive! No matter the sport, please find ways to motivate, encourage, even 'yell' in a respectable manner! These kids are our future leaders.
Coach of 23 years, Athletic Director of 5 years

Well as an NCO in the US Army I guess I'll be expected to hold my soldier's hand as I lead him into battle.
Thank, loony left. You've killed this country.

Have you tried to motivate a teen? Motivate not bribe a young person that has a thousand different things going on intheir mind.
Have you tried to encourage them to reach for a goal that appears out of their reach when many ofn their friends are sitting at home, part of the idle youth movement.
What was the coach trying to encoura=ge them to do? Excell.
How dare he ask that young person to try to reach for a goal. How dare he ask that young man to grow up, to assume responsibility, to be part of a team, to take a pride in his accomplishments.
As it has already been said, football is a rough game. Have you noticed that living life is not all peaches and cream?
These types on situations do not speak well for the future of our country or the people in it.

@tim hammond: Name one.

As a coach have been on both levels. It is
hard to motivate a kids these days all there
Want to do is play videos. A lot of it is AdSense
Of belonging what that coach did is probably
wrong but as coaches how many of us probably
Did the same thing? I'm no saint. And we don't
Know the whole situation but maybe lack of
Playing time didn't show up on time for practice
Who knows but probably some jealous parent
I hope he gets to keep his teaching job at least
He can still make a difference

I don't think it was the yelling per se. The article clearly states 'profanity-laced tirade'. To me this sounds like someone out of control using language that isn't necessary. Profanity is so over-rated when used as motivation. Coaches need to be more creative with their words. In what business/line of work do you get to talk like that to your employees (let alone 16-18 year olds) to get them pumped up for their day of work. Can you say self-control?

In addition, you shouldn't worry about whether you are being videotaped or not if you are doing the right thing. Coaches are influencing these young kids by the words they use and their actions...daily.

Coaches, let's clean up our acts and show these young men and women how adults act...(cuz I'm so perfect...LOL)

James Smith-RIGHT ON!

able portends to be one of those 'promise keeper' christian whack jobs--so the hypocrisy is ironic. And any other teacher yelling at a student this way--especially cursing--would be fired.

He's a has been football player reliving his past failures on the backs of these students. Good riddance.

Is it just me? I think a coach who uses his position to yell at High School kids as he did ought to be fired. He isn't in the Army; the kids are not pro athletes being paid for this. Who does he think he is, Hugo Chavez? He is a middle0aged blowhard who would never dare yell at someone his own age or own size. Its pathetic than anyone defends this buffoon. Another thing: he's an AP Calc teacher? You're kidding right? This guy who couldn't get into the Seals, NYPD or Spokane Wash PD, and likes to yell at kids like he's important is an AP Calc teacher? I bet he's a winner as a teacher too. No wonder we're falling behind in math.