Saturday, November 8, 2014

Even top coaches say that dealing with today's athetes is hard

College coaches at all levels have commented, over the last 5-7 years, that coaching today's athletes is much different - and a lot harder - than it used to be. I remember reading a comment from Pat Summitt, before she retired, to that effect. Now UConn coach Geno Auriemma says the same thing, and he nails the problem on the head quite well:

"Most of it is the players who are coming out of high school now, they're not as well-prepared to play college basketball. What you're dealing with is a certain level of expectation that they have vs. the reality of what they can and cannot do."

"Kids get in there and the minute they struggle, which they are supposed to, they want to find somebody who is at fault for it. 'You told me in recruiting this.' Or their AAU coach says you don't know how to use them. Coaches are dealing with the expectations these kids have, that it takes a while to reach those expectations, and we're in a society that everything has to happen quickly or it's somebody's fault."


Yes indeed. I see the same thing at the high school level. It all results in circumstances like this.

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