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I. Role Models, Anyone?
That the sports world overlaps with the real world is no surprise anymore.
Why, just this week, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, perhaps the greatest pivot player in NBA history, was found to be in possession of six grams of marijuana while trying to pass through customs at Toronto's airport.
No big deal.
Just pay a small fine and go on your way, big fella.
But relatively few sports fans have actually met Abdul-Jabbar, which is why I generally shrug my shoulders a bit at all of this role model stuff.
At least as far as superstar, seen-only-on-TV athletes are concerned.
That's because it always seemed to me that, for most teen-aged athletes, the most likely place to find their athletic role model was in the local high school coach's office.
Yeah, that's right. No one has more influence on a high school athlete than his or her coach.
Heck, not just influence.
How about control, too.
Total control.
Which makes the character and personality of high school coaches of paramount importance...especially in the current climate of single-parent homes.
But who serves as role models for high school coaches...and high school boys basketball coaches in particular?
II. High School Players
Until a few months ago, it has been over twenty years since I had attended a high school basketball game.
But a part-time radio gig necessitated that I familiarize myself with some of the area's teams.
What I observed was always interesting and sometimes even eye-opening.
For one thing, the raw talent and polished skills displayed by boys as young as 14 years of age is simply astounding. It is hard not to get the impression that a lot of basketballs are being dribbled on a lot of courts, twelve months a year.
One hopes that basketball-playing young men are half as familiar with their algebra textbooks and composition notebooks as they apparently are with the crossover dribble, the pick-and-roll and the alley-oop.
(Another observation: most southern Illinois high school basketball players do not shower after their games, home or away. They're out on the court, talking with family and friends, within minutes of the final buzzer, wearing overcoats on top of their sweats!)
III. High School Coaches: The Good
But varsity high school basketball coaches are often just as interesting as their players.
No one would ever accuse your run-of-the-mill boys high school basketball coach of doing it for the money: the pay is low, the hours are long, and the aggravation is high.
Clearly, most of the men coaching basketball in southern Illinois love their work.
And it shows.
On the basis of watching a dozen or so games this winter, and observing the on-court interactions between players and coaches, there seems to be a mutual respect between most high school players and their coaches. Which is good.
In other words, many high school coaches are cut from the same cloth as widely-respected Illini head coach Lon Kruger.
Earlier this season, Kruger's squad lost to both St. Louis U. and Mizzou.
The SLU-Illini game was played at the TWA Dome, and was a rather ugly basketball game...a game that neither team deserved to win.
Kruger's post-game comments to the gathered media were appropriately graceful and cliched, but it was the post-game comments of the three Illini upperclassmen who accompanied him to the conference that stuck with me.
The three players spoke clearly and concisely about their own views of the game...and, while aware of Kruger's presence, didn't shy away from speaking their minds about the goings-on that resulted in a tough loss.
It was obvious that they respected Kruger, and that Kruger respected them.
No doubt Kruger's calm on-court demeanor...lack of on-court histrionics...and refraining from one-on-one confrontations with his own players, all contributed to the positive atmosphere that appeared to exist between the second-year Illini coach and his senior players.
So, in a perfect world, who should high school basketball coaches choose to emulate?
Lon Kruger for one.
IV. High School Coaches: The Bad
But once in a while...and in some cases, more than once in a while, it looks as though some high school coaches have chosen to emulate one of Kruger's Big 10 coaching rivals.
You know the guy.
He tussled with Kruger's predecessor, Lou Henson, for what seemed like an eternity.
He has three National Championship rings.
He wears red sweaters big enough for...Dolly Parton? Rick Majerus?
He throws chairs.
He has advice for women who are being sexually assaulted ("sit back and enjoy it".)
He leaves a tampon in the locker of a player that he believes is playing without courage.
He faces criminal charges in Puerto Rico.
And he is the coach who, unless dozens of television clips over the past 25 or so years are misleading, appears to relish going nose-to-nose with his basketball players on a regular basis, in front of (a) thousands of people in arenas all over the United States...and (b) cameras that beam his actions to millions of people all over the world.
So, in addition to Lon Kruger, who else can high school coaches emulate?
What major coaching figure, by sheer force of personality and a heavy dose of longevity, has undoubtedly influenced the techniques and strategies used by those lower on the coaching totem pole?
Sad to say, it looks to me like Bob Knight serves as a role model for some high school basketball coaches.
After all, Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers have won three national championships.
That's three more than Kruger and Henson--combined.
What kind of message does that send? That life's not fair? That nice guys finish last?
Puhleez. Not at the high school level.
V. High School Coaches: The Ugly
Finally, then, there's the matter of a coach's private life.
Just last week, Purdue University's head baseball coach struck one of his own players.
In the wake of that incident, the coach in question decided to resign.
The proper outcome, and, kind of clear-cut, in a way, because the violence took place in the course of the man's employment.
But what should happen if the head boys high school basketball coach pleads guilty to battery, in an incident involving his wife...the mother of their children?
Suppose that coach refuses to resign, saying that it's a private matter?
And suppose that the athletic director and school administration refuse to take (public) action against the coach?
What kind of message does that send--to the coach, to his players, to the community?
Stay tuned.
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