After seven years leading the team, Brainerd (Minn.) High School head boys' basketball coach Scott Stanfield has announced his intent to resign the post at the end of the current season due to excessive pressure from community parents over playing time.
Stanfield, who was a police officer for 30 years prior to joining the Brainerd basketball team, told kare11.com on Thursday that being a coach is the more mentally exhausting of the two careers. āThe basketball emotional stress was way worse than being a cop. I feel defenseless as a coach,ā he said.
Stanfield claims that during his seven years with the team he was continuously confronted by parents after and during practices and after games, and that the confrontations grew heated and were affecting his ability to coach. āThat is the number one reason without question that coaches are leaving,ā he said.
Following his announcement of impending retirement, wherein it was made known that Stanfieldās staff will also be leaving the team at the end of the season, the worn-down coach says he was contacted by hundreds of coaches in Minnesota and throughout the country with messages of support.
Brainerd High School athletic director Charlie Campbell also sympathizes with Stanfieldās position, telling kare11.com that many parents have lost sight of the purpose of high school sports for the majority of student-athletes.
āOur programs are not about developing a player for a scholarship, they are not about padding stats and stroking the ego of a kid or their families,ā said Campbell. āWe are about trying to teach a kid regardless of playing time, regardless of what it says on the scoreboard.ā
