Watch your language, prep football coaches

[miami_fan]

Watch your language, prep football coaches

Mike DePue has spent nearly three decades as a football coach at Robinson High School. He's built a reputation for being among the more volatile coaches in Hillsborough County, he says.

"I wear my passion on my shoulder," said DePue, now in his seventh season as the Knights' head coach.

Occasionally, like a lot of coaches, that passion has led to the use of profanity.

"This is an emotional, violent game," DePue said. "Does it [the use of profane language] happen? Absolutely. Has it happened in the past? Of course it has."

Two Hillsborough County volunteer assistant football coaches are no longer coaching after recent incidents of cursing on the sidelines during games. Now DePue — and every coach who has the occasional slip of the tongue — will be much more cautious.

"If you aren't cognizant and aware of what's going on, you're a fool," DePue said, "because the hammer is coming down."

Alonso High defensive coordinator Dale Rude was fired during halftime of the Ravens' loss to Hillsborough High on Sept. 25. On Monday, Middleton High fired offensive coordinator Dan Mancuso.

Ravens coach Mike Heldt told The Tampa Tribune that Rude "got fired for cursing." Linda Cobbe, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County School District, said Rude quit after he was told to leave during the game because of profanity.

Middleton athletic director Derrick Gaines said Mancuso's termination had nothing to do with profanity but rather "for a difference in offensive philosophy and how to move forward."

Nevertheless, the dismissals have caught the attention of football coaches, including those at private schools.

"Are we perfect? No, we're absolutely not perfect," Jesuit football coach Joe Ross said. "But based on what's been going on around here lately, we certainly will try to be."

Lanness Robinson, Hillsborough County's director of athletics, insists the school district isn't cracking down on coaches using profane language any more than usual. Robinson said coaches in all sports, paid and volunteer, are required to sign a form outlining the district's conduct expectations. He said upholding those expectations always has been a priority, and the district's zero-tolerance policy regarding profanity always has been enforced.

"We don't allow our coaches to curse," Robinson said. "Period."

Profanity is prohibited by the state's athletic governing body, the Florida High School Athletic Association. The FHSAA handbook calls profanity unsporting conduct. FHSAA spokeswoman Cristina Alvarez said unsporting conduct can lead to fines, suspensions or both. The punishment depends on the severity of the incident.

Alvarez said because the FHSAA records infractions by school and not by specific incident, she was unable to provide details on how frequently coaches and student-athletes are reprimanded for profanity. The last reported instance of a Hillsborough head football coach being reprimanded for profanity was in 2007, when Jefferson's Mike Fenton was ejected from a game against Plant. Fenton was fined $250 and given an additional one-game suspension.

No coach interviewed for this story condoned the use of profanity. Nearly all, however, admitted to their language fallibility.

"It's sad to say for the most part, but certain [curse] words in this day and age are commonplace," Riverview High football coach Bruce Gifford said. "It's the everyday language now."

Most coaches said they see a difference in letting a profane word or two slip during a pregame speech to fire up a team, and berating a player with a profanity-laced tirade. But the school district wants the athletic environment to be an extension of the classroom, said Alonso athletic director Kent Glover, and that means coaches need to adhere to those standards.

"Obviously, cursing has been out there since they started playing sports," said Glover, who coached high school basketball in Hillsborough before entering administration. "But if they want to continue coaching, today's coaches need to learn new motivational techniques because it's not acceptable."

However, the use of profanity, particularly in football, seems to be regarded as the norm.

Josh Grady has played football at two Hillsborough County schools, spending his first two seasons at Freedom High before transferring to Armwood High. He's dealt with plenty of coaches, some more animated with their language than others. When Grady hears profanity, he doesn't think any less of the person. He sees the language as a by-product of the game.

"When you're so passionate about something, the true emotion is going to come out," said Grady, the Hawks' starting quarterback. "Even if you don't exactly mean to say it, you're going to say it. It's not that big of a deal to me. It's just the game. A person can curse on the field, but off the field they can be the most quietest and most holiest of persons. On the field, it's just a different thing."

Teryl Aikens has two sons – Austin and Aaron – playing at Tampa Catholic. He doesn't condone the use of profanity, but says football is unique.

"From my perspective, the culture of football is different than just about any other sport. It seems a lot of things are accepted and allowed in football that's not allowed in our daily lives," said Aikens, who played football at Bethune-Cookman College. "For the most part, it [cursing] is part of the history of football, and I understand that. But we live in a politically correct time and when it [cursing] becomes something constant, I can see why someone would take issue with it."

Leto High running back Terik Greensberry isn't bothered when he hears profanity on the field. But he doesn't think everyone in his family would share the sentiment.

"We've grown accustomed to it. You know you're going to hear a bad word every once in a while. We're used to it," Greensberry said. "But if my mom was walking by and heard it, she wouldn't understand. She'd probably run out on the field and start beating a coach with her purse."

Wharton High football coach David Mitchell said coaches shouldn't rely on profanity to get their message across. They are supposed to be shaping the lives of the student-athletes.

"It's [profanity] going to happen. That's just the nature of the game. But you have to have control over it," Strawberry Crest High football coach Todd Donohoe said. "You've got coaches that are slinging that [language] left and right, and they aren't the role models for what we want these kids to turn in to.

"I've been around long enough to know how difficult it is, believe me. But you've got to be able to look in a mirror and ask yourself, 'Is that the direction I want to lead my team?'"

Discuss

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'd say a zero-tolerance for profanity policy is largely unrealistic, and particularly in a football environment. Most of today's teens can likely outcuss me & that ain't easy. My normal vocabulary is quite blue & hits several of the most common words, but not without purpose or unintentional (i.e. it's never "pass the fucking salt" or "hand me a fucking pencil" it's "he's not just an idiot, he's a complete fucking idiot")

That said, I've only come close to letting a word slip once all season working with the webcast crew at the school off-air (caught that one in midair) & never once let a word slip on-air in my whole career, so there is a certain filter that you can create but it probably has to be so ingrained that it becomes automatic. I seriously doubt that I could avoid it with the kids if I didn't have the radio background where I had to really hone the skill.

Noting that 2 of the 4 coaches mentioned in the article being fired were volunteer coaches, all I see this sort of thing doing in diminishing the number of qualified people willing to be involved.

[RainMaker]

I agree, it's rather unrealistic, especially in a sport that elicits strong emotions like football. I can see disciplining a coach if it gets out of hand, but an occasional curse word is not a big deal.

I'll also add that you have to take each situation into context. If you have a coach who literally makes young men better people, is it such a big deal? What if it helps him get his message across better? Do we really want to fire coaches who are helping to mold young men because they said fuck one too many times? I think football is one of the greatest things a child/young man can ever experience. It teaches so much. A coach should be judged on that, not his language (unless it gets way out of hand).

[illinifan999]

My JV coach would never curse. He would say jimminy-christmas, son of a buck, etc. One time during practice, he was so angry you could see a vein ready to burst, and he's standing there yelling at us and says, "You guys are playing like...like....HORSE FEATHERS". We ended up running for a very long time because no one was able to hold their laughter.

[BYU 14]

I would be lying if I said I never cursed and won't say I am proud that I do. I try to be cognizant of what I say but I slip on occasion. I can say I never have directed profanity at an indivdual player in my entire career, that to me is unacceptable.

Here is an example of the context I usually use it in. After beating a team we badly outclassed we started pratice off extremely lethargic and before we went into team Offense I calmly called the squad together. Part of the talk consistented of telling them how much of my free was spent breaking down our next opponent, working on practice plans and scouting reports so they would be ready to play.

I admitted there were times I would rather be doing other things, like spending time with my family, but that I had an obligation to prepare them to the best of my ability and that they should expect that from their coaches, the same way we expected them to work hard every practice.

In closing (and getting a little louder) I referenced the school we had just soundly beaten and let them know that even if I was the coach at that school the players there would still get the same work ethic from me because... "I have fucking pride in what I do and whether we were unbeaten or had not won a game that would not change. You guys better take the same pride in playing for this program because you still have a lot to learn and a lot to prove before you finish here and if you are ready to quit working, you are ready to quit playing."

Could I have left the F Bomb out, sure, but it emphasized a point that whether you are good, average or struggling as a team, there is never an excuse to not work to improve and give full effort everytime you step on the field, game or practice.

Again not that I condone rampant profanity around teenage players, but I feel totally comfortable defending my words in the example above. Now if I ever called a kid a fucking idiot or a shithead, etc for missing a block or fumbling the ball or jumping off sides, then I would have no pausible defense and would expect to punished.