My Coach, My Mentor, Where Have You Gone?

 Westchester
 Sunday, May 28, 2006
 By Marek Fuchs

For one of the freshest and most interesting perspectives on youth sports in recent years, consider the observations of Jeff Van Gundy, the former New York Knicks coach.

After resigning from the Knicks and before taking over as head coach of the Houston Rockets in 2003, Mr. Van Gundy, then a Chappaqua resident, could often be found knocking around town; in fact he became a fixture at all levels of local basketball, from varsity boys' games to seventh-grade girls' games.

There was a lot he liked, but there was a lot he didn't. He was particularly critical of the diminished stature suffered by high school coaches, and he unerringly identified its cause: Athletes a generation ago played on just a few teams before reaching the varsity level; varsity players today have already played on many teams and have had dozens of coaches. Quite often, they are playing on club teams while playing varsity sports. If they have divided loyalties, it is no wonder.

Where does this leave that icon of schoolhouse lore, the high school varsity coach? Out in the cold, to Mr. Van Gundy's way of thinking, with sadly little influence on the life of the athlete.

''I think Jeff is on to something,'' said Kevin McGinniss, director of athletics at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry and a former high school and college coach.

According to Dr. McGinniss, this diminished reverence for high school coaches is a major reason for the current difficulty in rounding up suitable candidates for the jobs. Stipends for coaching have never been large; the draw was always the ego boost of being an essential figure in a community and a student's life. The attraction was so powerful that many schools held on to coaches for a generation.

''Now it's the revolving door,'' said Dr. McGinniss, explaining that this only further disjoints the experience of students who miss varsity games so they can play for external teams.

He added that the greater emphasis on pursuing high-level sports outside of school had also endangered the mission of high school sports. Instead of choosing the social studies teacher to impart life lessons while showing how to hit a decent backhand, for instance, schools are being pressed to hire more ''professional'' outside coaches.

In his last high school post, Dr. McGinniss said, he felt pressure to hire the local tennis pro as the varsity coach. He would not do it, he said. Although parents respected the pro's technical knowledge, Dr. McGinniss said, he thought that the pro was not suited for the dual role of coach and educator.

Rob Castagna, director of athletics for the Rye school system, offered a slightly more optimistic picture. He acknowledged that the popularity and involved nature of sports networks outside the schools had led to student-athlete burnout and earlier loss of interest in school sports. But he also said school coaches retained their capacity to exert influence over varsity athletes.

Rye, which is successful in several sports, has a number of coaches who have served for many years. When coaches are coaches for years on end, and have coached siblings and neighbors, they are still revered -- not lost in a life's clutter of coaches.

''I just don't see those coaches questioned or thought of as subpar,'' Mr. Castagna said.

B. J. Greaves, a junior at Manhattanville College in Purchase, grew up in Nipigon, Ontario, playing hockey almost entirely outside of school. Club teams, in fact, would trade him, forcing him into a game of musical chairs.

Here in Westchester, he has played for the same hockey coach for three consecutive seasons.

There were advantages to having so many coaches outside of a school setting, he said, including exposure to different coaching styles and hockey techniques. But nothing could compare to the way a long-term coach in a school setting could get to know your strengths and faults as a hockey player and a person.

''That is just a different sort of relationship,'' Mr. Greaves said. It is the kind of relationship that some in the coaching field are seeing less of.