Blame the Coach

Tomorrow, I’ll head to T-town (Tuscaloosa) to watch the Alabama Crimson Tide play Auburn in a little b-ball action.

For those of you that don’t know- I’m a huge college basketball fan and love the Tide. However, this year has been a little rocky for the Tide with not a single win in the SEC.

I believe it’s only gonna get worse, but most folks in Alabama are only concerned about having an awesome football program (which is why the football coach is paid $4 million a year) and as long as the basketball program has a fair year then it’s ok.

Well, I differ since basketball is my passion. And I know we have better talent than what we’re showing on the basketball court.

Who’s to blame when you have talent yet still show up losing game after game?

The coach? Players? Or The Fans?

In this case, Coach Mark Gottfried is to blame.

We have the talent. But we lack the discipline, the coaching, and the execution of well drawn out offensive and defensive strategies that play to our strengths.

The players are all running around like they’re playing on the blacktop with no TEAM approach. No organization. No execuction of an offense. We have the best post player in the conference in Richard Hendrix and yet our offense rarely gets him the ball in the post. Thank God, Hendrix knows how to rebound!

And all of the fans are praying the opposing team doesn’t use a full court press. We look like a junior high school team that’s never saw a full court press.

And that my friends, fall on the COACHING.

So, what’s Gottfried’s excuse?

That the All American Ronald Steele is hurt. Steele was injured last year and is expected to return next season, but Gottfried continues to blame the struggling team on the injury of Steele.

I’m sorry but I’m not buying it.

Steele was an important part to the team, but you’ve had over a year to prepare, and find the strenghts of the team, yet you still want to make excuses.

Let’s shift gears a little now…

How many times have you hear a kid’s parents blame the coach in high school sports?

Regardless of the situation, parents seem to ALWAYS blame the coach.

You never hear the parents say, “Yeah, my kid is a lazy ass and I need to get him off the couch in the summer.”

Instead, they always blame the coach for their kid’s failure as a player.

“The coach has got it in for my kid”, is a more typical response.

Last year when my oldest son Devin brought home a “C” on his report card - I ask him why?

He proceeded to inform me of everything wrong the teacher had done.

I ask him - so are we gonna play the blame game?

He knew my disgust with the grade on his report card and that I was even more disgusted that he failed to take responsibility.

I was simply testing him.

Which brings me to my point…

Regardless of the situation, most people are into playing the blame game. And only a handful of people take responsibility for their actions whether it be a high paid coach, a parent, or a kid.

And when we blame someone else, we’re completely powerless to make a change.

For real estate sellers - they always have an excuse. They’ll blame their spouse, their job, their kids, their boss - anyone to keep from taking accountability.

This next week, take note of how many people actually take responsibility as opposed to finding someone to blame.

But for you- don’t blame anyone else for your shortcomings in this world. You’re the captain of your own ship and it’s time to start taking some serious action. Remember, the old saying - the captain goes down with the ship. Have the courage and the confidence to say I screwed up.

Embrace the mistakes, learn, and keep plugin’ away.

By the way, if my spelling and grammar is bad in this blog- it’s Ms. Hayes’s fault - that was my 9th grade english teacher…

Derek