Texas high school coach criticized for calling players ‘cowards.’ Cut him some slack.
He could have found a better word, but in the moment of a high school football season that was down to its final seconds, the only description Wichita Falls Rider coach Marc Bindel could think of was “coward.”
Of course, because it’s 2019, the moment was caught on film.
Also because it’s 2019, some parents are irate.
It was a mistake, and, parents, we must lay off these people, or we’re going to run off all of the good, well-meaning teachers and coaches. Stop demanding people to be fired over nothing, and let these people do their jobs.
Private moment goes public in Wichita Falls
On Dec. 6, Rider was in the final minute of its playoff loss to Lubbock Cooper, and Bindel gathered his team on the sideline to say thanks.
A reporter caught the emotional moment on camera as Bindel said: “Those guys that left are cowards. You guys stuck around. That’s how I feel about you guys. Those guys are cowards, and y’all stuck with me. Y’all are loyal as hell. I have your back for life. That’s how much you mean to me.”
When Bindel said “cowards” he was referring to the players who left the team in the offseason.
The video is no longer on the Wichita Falls Times Record News website.
Some of the parents of the players who left the team were furious at Bindel for calling their kids “cowards.” A few want him fired.
Bindel apologized via Twitter, went to houses, etc.
“I feel so bad I said it. I can understand why people felt it was directed at them,” Bindel said. “I need to praise them in a different way. I have to be more cognizant that everything is going to filmed, or heard.”
Soon enough coaches will need malpractice insurance for “Mean Words Uttered.”
Having talked to a few of the parents involved in this “situation,” no one wants their kid to be called a coward. When applied correctly, “coward” is a chainsaw.
Bindel wasn’t swinging a chainsaw.
Coach regretful
This is an emotional moment said by someone overcome by emotion. Bindel’s relationships with those players, many of whom he’s known for five or six years, was about to change forever.
Bindel was expressing gratitude.
“Everyone is crying, and I’m emotional,” Bindel said. “I spend more time with those guys than I do with my own children. I’m not trying to make excuses or talk my out of it. I have to be more aware.”
Bindel is not an example of Bobby Knight putting his hands on a kid. This is not an example of a coach depriving a kid of water or excessive practice tactics.
This is simply not an ideal choice of words.
The hard part for any parent is knowing when it’s the right time to intervene on behalf of your kid. And knowing when the kid has to do it themselves.
And then knowing when the kid has to lose. The kid has to feel disappointment. The kid has to know it’s not always going to work.
I don’t know the answer, but I do know there is a time for both.
I also know that coaches like Bindel, and so many men and women across the country like him, are under attack for doing their job.
For telling a kid they aren’t good enough. For telling a kid their effort stinks. For telling a kid they have to want it more. For telling a kid it’s hard. For telling a kid they’re going to have to work harder. For telling a kid you aren’t a failure, but you are failing.
For telling a kid life is not fair.
And, after all that, telling them you love them and appreciate them. Because it’s all of it.
Sitting at the front of the room, you hold the clipboard and navigate this slalom of distracted, pool of unintentional stupidity and make it work when you yourself are exhausted.
Marc Bindel is no different than the vast majority of coaches and teachers out there who are sincere in their effort to help mold and raise a kid. There are some self-serving zeroes out there, but they are the exception.
Parents, it’s hard, but you have to provide some space and allow for a mistake.
Because, like Marc Bindel, they’re going to say something they wish they could take back.
