How do you deal with parents that constantly complain and bitch about how you run the team...It's gotten so bad that some parents have called us out on facebook. So far i have not responded.

It basically is about our point guard...he was thrust into a starting position when we threw a kid off for disciplinary actions. He comes from a horrible home background and he is talented, but he wasnt ready for the starting position just yet. Sometimes his attitude is questionable... he gets down on himself when he makes mistakes. Last night he yelled at a teammate on the court. they both started arguing on the court and we yanked them both. we sat them for the rest of the quarter and put them back into the game in the second half.

Parents are blowing us up on FB for putting him back into the game at all. He doesn't have a terrible attitude, but his frustrations sometime are worn on his sleeve. So parents are calling him selfish and saying that we are horrible coaches. We believe in this kid though and are trying to give him something positive in his life...

Were we wrong to put him back in? how do we deal with the parents...so far everyone is talking behind our backs and on FB...we have chosen just to ignore it...

any ideas? This is JV level btw

This is high school JV?

You don't answer to the parents, you answer to the Head Coach... and if he is on board with you... all is well. Have you talked to him about this situation? The Face Book Bashers are probably the parents of the kid you bounced and some of their friends.

You and the player were put in a tough situation by another player and you are doing your best to solve the problem, thats all you can do. Keep working with the kid and hopefully things will work out for you, the kid and the team. You put them both back into the game so as far as I am concerned, you covered that part.

Its pretty sad when parents have to resort to back stabbing and wont even talk to you face to face. You don't tell them how to parent their kids or how to do their jobs.... but its seems like everyone is a coach and knows more than we do. Hang in there, sit down with the head coach and discuss all of this and the AD also. Ignore them as much as you can, keep teaching your kids how to play the game and how to act on and off the floor.

Good luck.

Here's a link with general ideas on dealing with parents:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/dealing-with-parents.html

I only have one rule for players: "Don't do anything detrimental to the team". This can sometimes be applied to the parents too. So if the talking behind your back, is really behind your back and not in front of the kids, then that's fine. They have a right to say what they think, right or wrong. But if it's visible to players on FB or they are saying this stuff in front of players, then there is a problem. Parents need to know that is detrimental to the team and causing doubt. If players don't listen to the coach nothing good can come out of it.

I can't think of any coach that didn't have someone saying something negative behind their back, it doesn't matter how good you are. Someone won't agree with the way you are doing things. So this could be something that just comes with the territory.

Thank you for the responses guys. Jeff, that link will be very useful next year. I appreciate it. Like you said, it wouldn't be a problem if the kids weren't hearing and seeing it on FB...We even had a parent tell us we were ruining his kid's career. He honestly believes his son is a Division 1 prospect. It's just incredible how out of touch parents are becoming.

Coach Sar, the Head Coach is dealing with this as well...some are trying the divide and conquer routine. We are both on the same page and have become good friends so we have each others backs in that respect.

They are all D1 prospects.... even if they are 5 feet nothing..... its amazing. Of course they all know more than we do, it does go with the territory.

I've never lost ONE GAME from the stands! :-) As long as you and the head coach stand firm on this... don't let them divide you... if you have a meeting, you do it together.

Hang in there and do what you know is right.... just try and make sure that the kids understand who the coaches are and who they should be listening to. Tell them that WE ALL have to be on the same page IF we are going to be successful.

Good luck