Coach’s Corner

As sportsmanship, class and restraint go, the sucker punch that Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount landed on the face of Boise State’s Byron Hout at the end of the Boise State-Oregon matchup earlier this year left everything to be desired. Granted, there is no question that he was provoked and baited into losing his cool, something that happens all the time in major, and even minor, sports activity. That being said Blount’s lack of control, caught on camera for all to see, demanded swift and meaningful repercussions. And without question, that’s exactly what happened. Oregon suspended the senior running back for the remainder of both the season and his college career.

There was quite a bit of debate at the time as to whether or not the punishment was too harsh. As a coach of young boys and girls, I believe that there was no question an example needed to be made – Blount lost control and acted in a manner that is unacceptable in athletic competition. Oregon acted quickly and decisively, but in my opinion the punishment did not fit the crime, though we can certainly disagree on that.  They have now reversed their decision and reinstated LeGarrette Blount, and the debate will heat back up as to whether this is the right call.

One of the main things that I try to teach the kids that I coach is that you are going to make mistakes, and those mistakes will have consequences. Sometimes there are mistakes in a game that can cost your team a touchdown, a run, a basket. Sometimes the mistake is so large that it costs your team the game. The goal of the athlete is to try to minimize those mistakes through practice and repetition so that they don’t occur when it can hurt your team the most – in a game. The thing that I try to convey to my athletes is that it’s OK to make mistakes, just make sure you are doing your best to learn from them so that you don’t keep making them over and over.

One of the critical components of improvement, not only in an athlete, but in a human being, is making mistakes. Without them, there is limited growth. As Al Franken once said, “Mistakes are a part of being human.  Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way.  Unless it’s a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.” Anyone who knows me knows I take no joy in quoting from Al Franken, but at least this once he is correct.

LeGarrette Blount made a mistake. It wasn’t a fatal one, thankfully. It wasn’t, to my knowledge, the last in a long line of similar mistakes that Blount had made in the past. It was a lapse in judgment that had to have consequences. We have seen too many star athletes with self-control and anger management issues to just give Blount a slap on the wrist. However, to take away his senior year and potentially the ability to find work in his profession struck me then, as it does now, as going overboard. It appears it has finally struck Oregon and the PAC 10 that way as well.

As parents and coaches we are always trying to walk the line between allowing our children the freedom to make mistakes while constantly trying to prevent them from making them. They will stumble. They will fall. In the end, they need to know that their mistakes, even one as egregious as LeGarrette Blount’s, will be met with consequences that are borne out of love, not retribution. With a support system like that, they will always come back stronger and wiser than they were prior to the mistake. Here’s to hoping LeGarrette Blount has grown through this experience and uses it as a springboard to being not just a better athlete, but a better man. He won’t get this chance again…

Coach Potato
Spec-Taters.com

Filed under: Coaching, Parenting on November 11th, 2009