Coaching Problems: Moffett vs. Rice
In order to be an exceptional coach, you must strive to build your team up, not tear them down. You cannot verbally or mentally abuse your team, just because you are unsatisfied your team’s performance. You must work with them to get better. Unfortunately, both coaches did not find that necessary and now they are suffering the consequences for their actions.
Coach Moffett, telling his players to “grow a pair” and criticizing some of their girlfriends by stating, “If she made or wanted you sit with her, then she is a high maintenance, selfish pig and you should dump her now and if you wanted to sit with her and ignore your brethren on the floor, then join [a former Prep student who since has transferred] at mercyworst!” was completely unnecessary. As a coach, his job is to coach his team in the area of his specified sport, not to give dating advice and attack the players personally. Though this coach did use bad judgment, I personally do not think that this is anything to fire him over. He should possibly be given a lecture by his superiors on his roles on being a coach, but considering that he has been a longtime coach, and from the information provided in the articles, has not been in any other serious trouble, I do not believe he should not lose his job.
Mike Rice, the coach who ‘hurled basketballs from close range at his players' heads, legs and feet; shoving and grabbing his players; punching them; kicking them; and shouting obscenities,’ is involved in a completely different situation. This coach physically and verbally attacked his players, many times when they were not even doing anything wrong! His actions were unjustifiable, and definitely should have been fired.
You could make the arguments that the actions of these coaches ‘fire up’ their teams, and that there strong criticism will lead to a better team, but that is simply not true. When you start to get into the personal lives of players, or tear down your team, even resulting to abuse on a regular basis, you are not helping anyone. If anything you are causing more damage.
In conclusion, I think that the end results for these coaches’ inappropriate behavior were fair. Moffett should have been suspended, and Rice should have been fired, as they were. As a coach, you must work to build your team up, destroy them. Maybe one day, both of these coaches will learn the value of that.
