I see high school JV and V coaches yelling at their players during the game. Sitting close enough, no doubt there is some anger in the emotional response. And it happens in practice too. Yet, if one considers high school athletic fields (courts) extensions of classrooms - I can't find a justification for yelling when it contains anger. No teacher should ever be allowed to yell to convey anger. Not to be confused with a coach yelling to get above the sound of the crowd. Your thoughts on high school coaches yelling at their players?

OK, been there, done that. We played in a field house and believe me IF I didn't yell, they would never hear me, they couldn't hear me in practice if they were on the other end of the floor. So, as for me, the majority of my yelling was for them to hear me. Some thought I was angry, darn right I was.... I was angry because they couldn't hear me! :-)

So for a lot of things we went to hand signs.... for plays/offense and defense - that helped me a lot. Yelling when you are angry is never a good thing no matter how you spin it. Do we lose it sometimes, sure, still doesn't make it right. One principal I had thought I was angry a lot... told him to come into the locker room at half time or after a game... you wont see any anger there. Everything I did at half time was planned.... IF they were asleep on the floor, "fire and brimstone" was the order of the day...... IF they were too excited, strictly Xs and 0s in a calm manner. Thats teaching 101 JMO

I think that a large part of it has to do with your relationship with your players... they know who you are and IF you REALLY care about them.

I'll echo what Coach Sar just said. I, too, need to yell/raise my voice during games. I coach AAU and usually there are 3 to 5 games going on at the same time in these huge cavernous gyms...I need to yell to get my point across.

And yes...I yell at times to show my displeasure..during time-outs, games and at practices. I have a good relationship with my kids. We have a team meeting before our first practice of the season and one of the topics is yelling and reprimanding. I communicate to them that it is because I CARE!!
I would say 90% of what I say to the kids is positive, encouraging, motivating and praising.
Then there might be 10% that is negative or critical.

Another thing I try to do with criticism..I call it a "compliment sandwich".

When you need to mention a negative to a player or team...sandwich it between two slices of positives.

Example:

Good hustle on that last play!!

But you have to remember you need to find your man and box-out!!!

Keep up the good work!! I like the effort!!

The player hears these words...recognizes what he/she did wrong..but also remembers the last words of encouragement.

Coach A