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Last season, I overheard some parents complaining that a high school double-header scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning in early April had been postponed because the coach “couldn’t get his butt out of bed early enough to get the field ready." Heavy rain the day before and a severe drop in temperature during the night froze the turf and glazed over the infield and the standing puddles with a thin sheet of ice. Although it was a clear morning, the temperature stayed in the thirties and the grounds crew and the athletic director decided that several hours of sun would be needed to thaw the field and drain the water. Notifying the opponents before they set out on a long bus ride meant calling the game at about 6:30 a.m.
I was the coach who couldn’t get his butt out of bed to work on the field that morning. Actually, I’m not responsible for field prep, but the truth was that I was up well before dawn putting the finishing touches on my line-up and game plan and working through several “what-if" scenarios with my pitching staff. At about 6:00 a.m., I got into my car to buy bagels and orange juice for my players who boarded at the school where I teach and coach. The dining hall wouldn’t be open before 8:00 when batting practice was scheduled to start. I also had to put in an order for sandwiches to be delivered to the field between games. After I got the bad news about the frozen field, I had to call the opposing coach and my own staff and players, post the schedule change on the school’s website, cancel the sandwich order, and figure out what to do with three dozen fresh bagels.
Many parents of high school baseball players and many players themselves fail to understand the job of the high school coach. High schools, especially private high schools, require coaches and teachers to perform many additional behind-the-scenes duties. Athletes expect to show up on a Saturday to a prepared facility, eat a light breakfast, play the first game, eat a light lunch, and then play the second game. Parents expect to show up, relax in the bleachers, and spectate. Some even wander over to the dugout looking for a leftover bagel! Who makes all this possible? Who gets everything ready?
Schools tend to hire teacher-coaches, most of them former high school and college athletes, people who can perform well in academics, athletics, and other extra-curricular areas as teachers, coaches, and administrators. Not only does this save the school money, but it also allows the teacher-coach to develop stronger mentoring relationships by working with students in several different arenas. In boarding schools, the teacher-coach usually lives in a dormitory apartment or a campus house and monitors students twenty-four hours a day. Private schools use this philosophy as a marketing tool. It makes the private boarding school unique.
In such schools, faculty are available to provide help to students virtually any time of day (or night, if necessary), including weekends. Boarding students often look for the teacher-coach to provide “a home away from home." That means the teacher literally leaves his apartment door open in the evenings and allows students to wander in with questions about homework or just a desire to talk with an adult. Often, faculty spouses voluntarily recreate a homey atmosphere by hosting birthday parties or baking cookies for the dorm. A career in a boarding school requires significant lifestyle adjustments for both the teacher and his family.
A typical day for the teacher-baseball coach includes arriving about thirty minutes before school starts (around 7:30 in most schools) to get things set up for the day. Then it’s teaching four or five classes, meeting with students for extra help on free periods, attending departmental or committee meetings, performing administrative tasks, supervising the hallways or the cafeteria, returning phone calls and e-mails from parents and textbook salesmen, and trying to catch up on grading, class preparation, or even photocopying. When classes end, athletics begin.
Teachers in public schools and private day schools do not live with students, but they, too, usually go from a full day of teaching and administrative duties to the athletic fields for several hours of coaching. Practices run two to three hours, while after-school contests can require an additional four or five hours of responsibility, even more if it’s an away game. Getting to work before eight in the morning and leaving as late as six in the evening after a practice, or nine or ten after a road trip, makes a long day, especially if you’ve had to drive the bus or school van.
Returning home for the teacher-baseball coach does not necessarily mean relaxing in front of the television. On game days, the scorebook needs to be tallied and results called into local newspapers. The next day’s classes must be prepared and papers graded. Returning home to a boarding school might also mean conducting evening study hall, helping students with homework, managing a crisis, driving a student to the emergency room for stitches, solving a problem between roommates, and taking attendance at lights out.
One might list the plethora of required duties, not all of which are found in the teacher- coach job description. He must be not only a coach, but also a teacher, administrator, psychologist, confidant, academic advisor, social advisor, bus driver, private tutor, disciplinarian, ambassador to the rest of the league, liaison between the athletic department and the parents, fund raiser, college admissions advisor, writer of college recommendations, grounds crew, equipment manager, uniform manager, scorekeeper, statistician, public relations expert, team archivist, team webmaster, dorm parent, baker, athletic trainer, team nurse, dorm nurse, janitor, chauffeur. The list goes on.
Recently, I explained to someone in the business world what I did for a living. He said, “It sounds like a good life." The simplicity of his response made everything clear. It is a good life. Most of us in this profession realize that we perform numerous tasks, some fulfilling, some maddening, but all worthwhile and necessary in helping young men and women develop their character and realize their potential. At the end of that long day, when I put my tired butt into bed, I know that teaching classes and coaching baseball will motivate me to get my butt out of bed early enough the next morning to do some good, even if it’s buying bagels for some hungry ballplayers.
about the author
WBP High School Baseball and Academic Mid West Rep / Consultant
25 yr Head Coach for Lake Forest Academy, Illinios
Chairs the Department of Clasical and Modern Laguages
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