Pay-to-Play Sport at Private HS employing club coach - what's normal?
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Anonymous
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My son plays a HS fall sport at a DC private. It's a team sport. The school does well athletically but had not recently in this sport.
The school decided to bring in a new coach a couple years ago who also runs his own club team. He’s not a coach at large local club, but he has his own company running his own club. After joining the school, the coach set up his own club to basically operate out of the school, with camps, practices, games, and even cook outs held at the school. Just about every photo on his company’s website is clearly taken at the school’s facilities. As time has progressed, more and more players from his club team have enrolled in the HS, usually as freshman. Every year a new crop of freshman show up (about 4), and they are placed on the Varsity team and given starting roles. The coach uses the school team communication system to constantly advertise his camps and club, and the message to everyone seems to be if you want to play on the school's team, you need to be a paying customer of his club team. The problem is – probably two thirds of the players don’t have an association with his club. Which leaves 2/3 of the boys riding the bench while his club players take most of the game time. (Some of his club players are good and should be on the field. Some are no better or worse than the Juniors and Seniors his players are bumping off the field.) The coach also seems to actively segregate his club players from the rest of the team – scrimmaging them against each other, talking to them separately, giving their parents special attention, etc. I’ve also heard about the coach soliciting players from opposing schools to join his club team after games. All of this has led players to quit the team, and even to a couple of transfers out of the school. On the sidelines, the parents have segregated themselves as well, between families associated with his club team and those that are not. My question is this – is this common? Am I naïve in expecting a school to not allow a circumstance like this to develop or persist? Is this just the way it is, and I should just deal with it, or is it worth raising as an issue? This has been going on long enough that I know that other parents have complained, but nothing has changed over the last couple of years. |
Anonymous
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I hate that adults ruin childhood with these corrupt shenanigans. The school is teaching horrible ethical lessons to the children.
However, there is definitely quid pro quo at play between the coach and the school, as he's recruiting athletes to become new tuition-paying students. How much is he charging outside of school? |
Anonymous
The camps were $300/week and were run just about every week of the summer. For the school year, if it's comparable to other local clubs, maybe $3K. So all in, the coach is probably getting $4 - $5K in revenue per player for those that are in his club. I'm not so sure about the quid pro quo with the school - it's not the very most competitive, but it turns away a lot of students. I doubt this is to get more tuition paying students. |
Anonymous
| Is this Bishop O'Connell and baseball? |
Anonymous
| It's probably the reverse - he gets the lower paying school gig and that feeds students to his club team, where he earns thousands. It's a racket and I would definitely complain - his paying students get all the playing time at school - so now parents will "need" to pay 4K for the club team to get on the coaches good side. That's awful and I would tell the school its a conflict of interest. |
Anonymous
Bishop O'Connell is not a DC private and baseball is not a Fall sport. |
Anonymous
| I'm a NP, and can guess which school and sport this is. I've also heard complaints that more and more kids from his club are getting spots on varsity as Freshman. I have been considering moving my '06 kid to his club to ensure a spot on the team. I think it is worth complaining about. I'm a current parent in the school too and am not sure who to complain to. |
Anonymous
OP here. Wow, I hadn't thought of that angle. That parents who want a spot on the team would go to his club before applying to the school, say in 7th or 8th grade. I was curious on how he could convince so many kids to go to this private school, but maybe it's the other way around. That word on the street is that if you want to play in HS, join his club. That would explain a lot. |
Anonymous
| Yes this is common. These low salaried and sometimes volunteer coaches are contacts with the school. However, from what I’ve seen the kid has to be able to play. I haven’t seen any kids who couldn’t play pay for spots as is being insinuated here. |
Anonymous
At Bullis this is common. The coaches get paid by the school and bonuses for the recruited athletes that end up accepting. They also set up "shop" on campus to run their training programs. It is shenanigans for real. I would report it to the Board of Directors. The head of school knows what is going on so you have to go over his/her head. This is dangerous and could set the school up to lawsuits. |
Anonymous
| I haven't heard anybody complain that his club players are not worthy of being on the team skill-wise, it is just that they are getting a lot of playing time that could be spread around to other equally skilled players. Especially if they are freshman on varsity. |
Anonymous
So, all things being equal skill-wise, I'll play the kid whose parents are sticking an extra $4K a year in my pocket. And, I'll make the senior ride the bench while I play a freshman. That's wrong on a lot of levels. |
Anonymous
| Please say the school. |
Anonymous
I would bet SJC. |
Anonymous
Could be any school because it’s very common. Visitation and Bullis are two that come to mind. |