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kermit2112 Wrote:Snoopy,
Please explain why the current head coach IS NOT qualified for this position.
Kermit,
This is not the time or place. I will be at the school board meeting on August 11th at 7PM. I will only have 3 minutes to say what would take hours. Feel free to approach me and talk to me. I have been doing for kids, regardless of the present 167 members of this website that may or may not know in this present demographic. This is a microsm, to say the least, of the lives I have touched over the 10 years I have been involved in an unpaid position. Don't know the present salary for this position, but I suspect it is over 6-8 thousand. To do nothing to build a program is a slap in the face of every volunteer in this community, whether or not they are able to see it.
I am a Waukegan boy, and wish we expect excellance in our educators for every endeavor.
My question to you is, do you know if there is an accountability procedure to our coaching staffs from every sport, one that decides if we will rubber stamp them into the following season?
Shawn White
224-381-2834
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Snoopy,
Just a friendly reminder that you are the one that made this forum the place and time for your "issue" and I use that word lightly due to the fact that you have not stated one. Your credentials are not the ones on trial. You are making it a point to call out someone elses. You say that this head coach has done nothing to build this program, where is your proof? Are you present at every practice, game, double header, tournament, preseason meeting, clinic, camp, post season meeting?
Being from Waukegan is irrelevant to your accusation. I am from Waukegan as well and have seen may volunteers come and go the city needs volunteers as well as Professionals which this head coach is!
You should expect excellence no matter where you are from as I know this to be true from this head coach as well as the many other coaches and teachers in our district.
We have policies in place in this district. Coaches are evaluated and assessed formally (written and observered) by our Administrators. The Athletic Director and Principal are both involved in the evaluations. These policies were put into place by the school board and now they are not being followed. When an evaluation is done and I mean a meeting with the AD, coaches are either re-hired or terminated based on their performance as a professional coach. If coaches are to be re-hired, they are brought to the board under recommendation that the Admistrators who are hired by the board recommend. So what I am saying is, The Waukegan Ad and Principal stand behind this coach and now the board does not agree with their professional opinion (opinions that they get paid to make) because you say he has done nothing. These procedures are put into place so that parents who are upset can not make ridiculous accusations with no proof to back it up.
I ask you again what has he done to warrant destruction of his professioanl career?
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I would like to give a fresh outlook to this issue from someone who experienced it first hand. I was coached by this coach for all four years of my High School career. I have had more than a hand full of coaches through out my 14 years of playing softball and I am going to have to disagree with Shawn White when I say that this man is one of the best coaches I have ever had the pleasure of playing for. He is very dedicated to his team and knows the ins and outs of being a good coach. From my freshman to senior year he helped me develop the skills, knowledge, and passion for the game that landed me on a very successful college softball team along with numerous of my fellow teammates. If anyone would like to argue the fact that he has not been involved with his team during the off season I would also like to correct that because he has in fact been involved for many years. I first played for this coach when I was in 7th grade, he gave me the opportunity to play with the High School softball team during their summer league season (a league that is no longer in place any more due to the overwhelming amount of traveling teams around the area) .He drove us twice a week out to sites such as Glenbrook south, Lakeforest, Stevenson and other field locations. As I recall he also spent a summer in the âunpaidâ position of coaching and helping to launch a local travel team by the name of the Waukegan Dawgs, a team in which I also played on . Bottom line is that it is very rare that you will find a coach in which of whom every parent agrees with every coaching decision made on and off the field but that does not make him in any way shape or form a bad coach nor undeserving of his position leading the Waukegan Softball team. I have no doubt in my mind that he has every bit of knowledge and experience to lead a team to a state championship if the right group of girls come along but state championships are not just handed out they take building a strong program and that it what I believe this coach is doing. You have given no concrete reason as to why he is undeserving of his position the only thing that you have proved here is that you are one of parents who are unable to let a coach do the job that he has been hired to do and is very well qualified for simply because you donât agree with every coaching decision that has been made. This coach respects his girls, is constantly pushing them to new heights, and is more passionate about the game than many coaches I have come by. I think that what are you doing to this coach is far blown out of proportion and very much just plain ridiculous.
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Snoopy,
Very interesting YOU throw the "slander" word around.
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Snoopy,
After reading all of your opinions I feel like you need to be enlightened a bit. I agree with everyone else on the basis that you have failed to give any accusations as to why you think this coach is unqualified.
This is a perfect time and place to express those views in an argument that you have begun by SLANDERING this coach. Please don't pretend to be a saint in all of this "fighting the good fight" when you sit there and try to ruin this mans coaching credibility.
It is obvious that you are an angry parent who doesn't agree with some coaching moves. You are never going to agree with everything a person does. Have to talked to the coach about these? or the AD?
You have mentioned the lack of waukegan girls softball players playing travel ball. I am an athlete at the school and I play both high school and travel sports. It has been my experience that some girls who play high school sports are not as serious about the sport as others. Those players are on the team to wear the jersey, play for their friends and are not interested in playing travel ball. (there is nothing wrong with that) You are highly mistaken to think that all the girls who come out for the team have the heart, dedication, financial means, and parental support to play travel ball. None of these reasons are the coach's fault.
The problem with the adults sometimes is that they act like children. I understand that you are trying to look out for your daughter, but it seems like you are more hurt than the girls were. TEENAGE GIRLS ARE GOING TO CRY. Please tell me you have never thought that Jenny Finch never cried playing sports or after a game, or after a coach came down on her. It is part of a coaches job to be tough. I know I wouldn't be the athlete I am today without the tough coaches I have had, and they were the ones who got me to play to my fullest potential. This was the teams last game, there are always a lot of emotions involved with that. The seniors are leaving, their hard work is over, and they wont be seeing their team everyday anymore, GIRLS ARE GOING TO CRY.
Back in your day I'm sure that Waukegan sports were feared, but Waukegan athletics are slowly building to that status again. For example there is the Boys basketball team that placed second in state, the rifle team that was first in state, the boys soccer team that placed fourth in state, the girls volleyball team that got their first conference win in the 08 season and finished with a winning record last season. You have to be realistic in your statement that every sport has the chance to go to state. Our school simply does not have the feeder programs that other schools in our conference have for every sport. Every other school has travel teams, or country clubs for kids to play tennis and swim, for example, and learn their skills starting in 4th grade.
I have played for this coach and of course there are things that I disagree with, just like every other coach I have had, but that does not mean that they are bad coaches. The man being discussed has been very dedicated to the team I was on and he tries very hard. He has been around Waukegan athletics for as long as I can remember, whether it was with boys basketball, girls basketball, or softball. As a community we need to support our school and the decisions it makes.
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Snoopy,
While I never played softball for Waukegan, I was a three sport athlete while attending the school. Having said that, I can not recall one season going by without seeing this coach participating in some way with all the athletes at Waukegan. The word tirelessly was used earlier, and while that may be a strong word, I find it to be not far from the truth.
To the coach, if you're reading this, keep up the great work. You're job is one of great importance. You've carried the burdens well thus far.
To fellow responders, though I am a young man, I've learned early on that people are going to say what is on their mind. Weather they give it much thought or not can be questioned.
Closing, let's support our city, our schools, our sports, our coaches, and our athletes.
DJ
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The high school used to do travel softball? What happend to that?
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re-usable Wrote:The high school used to do travel softball? What happend to that?
Because of the lack of interest from athletes, there could be no travel team.
Im a former softball player and was under the current coach. The hs travel softball
is during the summer time and many times we would only have 3 or 4 girls, as you might
know we cannot play with those number.
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Itâs really upsetting and surprising to see some of these comments made about him. Iâm a former Waukegan softball athlete (High School and Waukegan travel teams) and was under the current coach and I have nothing but admiration for this man. He not only was a coach and teacher of the game, but was also someone that I knew I could always come to for advice or just someone to listen to me. He was more than just present on the field (practice and playing) but he was also present off field. I donât know what characteristic others look for in a coach but being there in all aspects is something I look for and value.
It seems that every time something is going wrong (a non winning season), the coach is to blame. Athletes are never the ones to blame, and even with some of the blame is given to them the finger is always pointed back to the coach. The coach can only do so much; most of it is has to be left up to the athlete.
Coach is an amazing man and someone who greatly influenced my softball career and life in general. I am currently a college athlete, playing both softball and volleyball. Many of the skills that I have now are a direct result of this coach. What exactly is wrong with Coach? Why such the dislike? I stand by everything that I have previously stated and it is such a shame that people have nothing else to do but try to bring others down. Do something productive with your life!!
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swright11,
Good for you! College athletics is the ultimate achievement after high school if your an athlete. I have many friends who are Waukegan coaches and Mr. Whites (original)email has been forwarded all over the place. One thing I can say is that the coaches and athletes who represent Waukegan do it in the face of many round blocks thoughout their careers. I would hate to think that school board memebers I voted for would turn this disgruntled parent into a mouth piece for one of their sons to coach (as many are elluding to and not yet proven).
This is a slap in the face to the coaches I know who work their a//es off. Tonights meeting will be watched very closely. Can you say girls poms and basketball with the old school board all over again.
And to quote Jeff Bonato the "dysfunctional travel program" is ran by this guy Shawn L White. Maybe he should be let go for losing records up and down the travel program. I hate to sound harsh, but this is a rediculous waste of time, how about the school composite ACT.
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