UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma thinks lots of coaches in America fear their players.
Auriemma recently told the media the following, according to Yahoo Sports late Tuesday night:
Coaches are afraid of their players. The majority of coaches in America are afraid of their players. The NCAA and the athletic directors and society has made them afraid of their players. Every article you read, this guy is a bully, this woman is a bully, this guy went over the line, this woman was inappropriate. Everything you read … Yet the players get off scot-free and everything. They can do whatever they want. They don’t like something you say to them, they transfer. The NCAA goes, ‘Oh, somebody got mad at you because you didn’t box out, that’s dramatic, you can go to another school.’ Coaches have to coach with one hand behind their back. Why? Because some people have abused the role of a coach.
I have no idea if he’s correct or not, but it’d be sad as hell if he hit the nail on the head on this one. From my own experience in the sports world, I haven’t seen a single high-level coach “afraid” of his players. (RELATED: The March Madness Bracket Has Been Released)
Now, that’s not to say that it doesn’t happen. I’m sure it does, but I’ve never seen it firsthand. I’ve seen some ugly altercations between coaches and players, and the word “afraid” never once has come to mind.
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I just don’t understand how we could have possibly even allowed a situation to come into existence where Auriemma is correct.
Are kids that soft today that they can’t take criticism to the point the coaches fear them? I guess we did just watch Izzo get raked over the coals for yelling at a player. (RELATED: Tom Izzo Goes Ballistic On Aaron Henry, Refuses To Apologize)
Tom Izzo salary: $4,359,979
Aaron Henry salary: oh um nvmpic.twitter.com/Eo4AFLKoWV
— The Rush (@therushyahoo) March 21, 2019
Honestly, if you can’t take criticism from your coach without potentially transferring, then you just need to get the hell out.
You think Coach K is afraid of his players? No shot in hell. If you want to win championships, then you have to have players with a championship mindset.
Anybody so easily offended that they’d leave a program isn’t a person with a championship mind, and coaches should be smarter about recruiting players like that.
I really hope Auriemma might be overestimating the problem. It’d be a really sad sign for America if he was 100 percent correct that the majority of coaches fear their players.