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SoCalHoops High School & Prep News

Summer Parting Shots From Steve Fryer:
In Defense Of High School Coaches--(June 26, 1998)

Many of you who read the Orange County Register are familiar with Steve Fryer, who covers the high school beat behind the Orange Curtain, and frequently writes about prep basketball, teams, players and coaches. He generally has good things to say, and his column is always a treasure of information and opinions about prep athletics in SoCal. Steve's June 23, 1998 column (which can be accessed here, at least for the next several months), was a sort of retrospective on the year, some random thoughts and more, and apparently was his last column for a while, at least until the end of summer "vacation." At least someone gets a vacation. As always, we picked up a few items that we hadn't heard about, or if we had, we'd forgotten them.

Like the fact that Gene Lloyd, Brea-Olinda boys' basketball coach will not be returning next season. Of Lloyd, Fryer writes:

"Few could collect a group of individuals and mold them into a tight team like Lloyd could. Lloyd teams also consistently led the planet in sportsmanship."

Why has Lloyd chosen to call it quits? We don't know since we didn't speak with him, and Fryer doesn't come out directly and say so, but he does allude to one possible reason:

* * * *

"Sometimes they don't come right out and say it, but very often parental meddling/whining/pressure accelerates a coach's resignation. It usually comes from some dad who was an assistant coach on his son's undefeated NJB [National Junior Basketball, a big program in Orange County] team, so he thinks he knows more than his son's high school coach.

"But listen up, Mr. Dad. When you coach, you don't have to deal with something your high school coach has to deal with — you."

* * * *

We also learned that Fryer holds a what seems to be a minority view on transfers:

"There should be minimal restrictions on transfers. Adults can live where they want and work where they want, and kids should be able to go to any school they want. That idea frightens some schools, but perhaps competition might force them to improve — which is the same thing competition does in the real world."

Maybe, maybe not. We know more than a few coaches who, because of the transfer situation, the pressures it creates, and the suspicions it engenders about "recruiting" by other coaches, might be more inclined to accellerate their decision to call it quits.

Whether it's meddling/interfering/whining parents, or a "recruiting" scene with transfers that seem out of control, either way a high school coach doen't have it easy. Think about this the next time you attend a high school game and start to criticize the coach because your son or daughter (or you) aren't getting the PT you think you deserve.

Anyway, it's something to think about.

Thanks for the great teams Gene. Brea-Olinda will miss you. And we will all miss Fryer during the summer. Later.