In This Day and Age, How is a College Coach Supposed to Act?

This is a very topical subject these days. How are big-time coaches in college athletics supposed to act? Meaning, in this day and age, athletes have to be coddled and not yelled at. Also, don’t forget the parents' involvement and now they have to deal with the transfer portal.

Why am I talking about this? Because last Monday on the Mad Dog Show, national radio host and a friend Scott Ferrell didn’t like how MSU Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo treated his player Gabe Brown during the UCLA game. I couldn’t get a word in.

But Scott doesn’t know Tom Izzo and his relationships with his current and former players. This is the deal: in this day and age young athletes in any revenue generating sports have a problem with discipline.

Get our free mobile app

Izzo is known for being a hard-nosed tough love kind of coach. But, on television, if you yell at a player on a consistent basis or grab an arm or jersey fans and media jump to point out the coach is out of line.

This is how a lot of older coaches roll. This is an era where a lot of people are soft and can’t take tough love. It’s not personal, it’s all business.

I was trying to tell Scott Ferrall that there is no way Izzo would ever strike one of his players like Woody Hayes and Bob Knight did.

I just watched the ESPN 30-30 on Kentucky head coach John Calipari, and he’s a screamer. If you are a coach in any sport, you have to adjust, but you will yell or cuss once in a while.

So you people tell me, how are coaches to relate to players without raising their voices or letting players know who is in charge? It’s pretty easy to judge when you have never been a coach.