OT - Former Maryland S&C Coach hired at Greenville, MI School
Rick Court, former Maryland S&C coach who was the first person to be let go following the death of Jordan McNair has been hired by a high school in Greenville MI to a similar role.
I’m all for personal growth and redemption so hopefully he’s changed his ways and is sincere about that as is mentioned in the piece, but it’s also understandable that some parents in Greenville are being a bit hesitant about this one.
That article is a festival of great quotes. Samples:
"During workouts, Court threw weights, food and, in one instance, a trash can full of vomit, according to the report." (He must be plenty strong.)
"If Mr. Court felt this behavior was in the best interest of student athletes, I am concerned about his ability to discern what is best for our students."
Aside: Is it mandatory that all S&C coaches cut their hair to 1 mm (or less)?
Is it mandatory that all S&C coaches cut their hair to 1 mm (or less)?
If I recall Mike Gittleson rocked a full-fledged mullet
Aside: Is it mandatory that all S&C coaches cut their hair to 1 mm (or less)?
I've heard this many times. The typical S&C coach is a bald guy with facial hair, used to be a goatee and now is a beard. I think this has more to do with ethnicity than anything else. The vast majority of college S&C coaches are middle aged white guys. They are also the most likely ethnicity to be bald or have diffuse thinning of their hair. FWIW I also have thinning hair and cut it quite short and am a 42 year old white guy who is a former college S&C coach and am now a HS PE teacher and HS S&C coach.
Also steroids = hair loss
Also steroids = hair loss
On the one hand I can see why someone might think an S&C coach who likely enjoys weight lifting would be more likely to take AAS than your run of the mill fella. However, in my experience that is not that wide spread at the college S&C level. There are a few reasons for this.
One, most S&C folks have a formal education in exercise science, often even a graduate degree. They understand how to read the literature and evaluate evidence. They generally are less likely to take things that have a higher degree of health risk. Most folks that at least abuse AAS tend to be uneducated in my experience.
Another reason is the job is simply too time consuming. In fact, the lack of free time to spend on my own training and lifestyle is the primary reason I left the profession to be a HS teacher (and HS S&C coach) because I didn't want to spend all day every day, early mornings, late nights, weekends, etc. at work.
Most people that are into AAS tend to fall into one of two camps. One is the 20s & 30s crew who tends to be into bodybuilding and are taking doses that are putting them into the supraphysiological ranges because they want to look like a bodybuilder and/or are competing in bbing. These guys are abusing AAS and likely taking them illegally. The other is the 40s and 50s crew who tends to be into the HRT. These guys have a low or below normal test levels and are taking legal prescription AAS to get them into the normal or high end of the normal test ranges to feel good and feel younger.
Both groups they tend much more akin to bodybuilding and looks rather than strength and performance, which the S&C folks are more in line with. There are guys too that are strength athletes or competitive athletes that also use AAS, but they are in the minority compared to these other two groups. S&C folks from what I've experienced don't have the time or left over energy to spend a lot of time on their own training, diet, lifestyle, etc. to be taking AAS because they spend all their time training their athletes. People that tend to be into AAS are guys that have a lot of time on their hands and spend a lot of time at the gym. Head to a major commercial gym at 5pm on a Monday afternoon and you'll likely find a lot more guys taking AAS than walking into a college S&C staff meeting.
+1 informative.
Somewhat on-topic: I've met a few guys over the years with decent coverage who cut it really short because their wife / girlfriend preferred the look.
Greenville High School alum here. This is a terrible idea, but the AD is good at making bad hires.
Must have been the only football program in the country willing to hire him, right? Otherwise, Greenville, MI seems like a totally random place to end up. Unless there is some connection I am missing...
He might be from there.
He’s not.
His wife is from Greenville is the connection. Greenville sports are in the toilet. I only lost 13 games in 4 years on the basketball team. I believe they were 1-19 last year. Which I didn't even think was possible.
We (Ludington) played against Greenville back when it was the Seaway conference in the early 90’s. Purple and yellow uni’s?
Ah yes. As a senior at Greenville, we got our butts kicked up and down the lakeshore. Worst team in school history.
Must have been 1995.
Yep. It was brutal. 78-0 loss to Belding.
Tbf Belding was a juggernaut in the 90's. I remember being a small kid and thinking Brent Cummings was the real deal.
Greenville football in the 90s was awful. Yeah purple and gold but they’ve worn lots of black lately as well.
Fellow alum here also of Greenville. Class of 01. Haven't been following athletics of Greenville since I graduated since I moved out of town right after school and only really go back to visit family. But never felt Greenville did anything really well athletics wise. And damn I felt not renovating black field was a bad choice. That place had character.
Loved games at Black Field. It definitely needed a lot of work.
I feel like Greenville was only ever good at wrestling and women’s golf. Oh and men’s track & field was decent too.
Cannot disagree.
As someone who has worked out over the course of a week with Rick Court, I have not observed any of the negative behaviors. This was while he was a baseball player (senior year) at MSU and he is physically unrecognizable since then. He seems to have lost all of his hair and completely reshaped his body. Perhaps he’s changed a lot. There are way too many incidents reported.
I don’t know that McNair’s death can be solely placed on Court. Durkin was the man in charge of that team. Seems like he should share more of the blame then a S&C coach. Durkin was the one pushing these kids and should have been aware of the conditions of his players and allowed more rest and water breaks. It’s not military boot camp. It’s just football. No kid should be pushed until they die. Especially doing something he loved. It’s just a sport and it’s not like Maryland was going to win the B1G and go to a national championship. No need to push these kids that hard just so Durkin can prolong his job just to go to some meaningless bowl like the Jimmy Kimmel bowl or some shit like that. In the end it just made him look like an asshole and cost the university a lot of money and tarnished the entire staffs careers.
That is a great argument against durkin.
That totally ignores the role of the s and c coach. As a high school coach, AD, admin, or board member, how do you allow the hire of a person who was the direct supervisor when an athlete died?
As a HS coach, I would resign immediately with this hire.
You can make a pretty good case that Rick Court's role should have been to stop Durkin from doing dangerous shit. If Durkin did not realize that this was potentially dangerous, Court sure as hell should have.
(And I don't mean to imply that I'm giving Durkin a pass. Durkin should have known better *and* Court should have stopped him. Neither of those guys should be working around athletes any more.)
Durkin is not allowed to attend S&C workouts. That makes them football practice and countable hours. There have never been any claims that at the workout in question the S&C coaches were pushing them to hard or being assholes. There is a medical staff that is allowed to attend all workouts and who did nothing for the hour after the workouts in which this kid reportedly was in a terrible place.
i get it, Durkin is the head coach and has ultimate responsibility. He was clearly running a program that needed to be a bit more user friendly. But in the scope of what actually happen to this kid, the medical staff seems to have been far more negligent than the coaching staff.
Without comment on what happened at Maryland, having been a D1 college S&C coach and a HS one as well I can give you some first hand perspective comparing the two. The dynamics of being a strength coach in college are completely different than in HS as is the culture of the two various athletics programs. In college, particularly at a P5 football program, the pressure to win is very high, as are the stakes for the coaches as salaries can grow very high very quickly. However, the you can also lose your job in a heartbeat. You're unlikely to get fired in HS for poor performance at most places. Also, there are no parents or administrators around in college. The culture of football coaches tends to be aggressive, tough, hard nosed, etc. They push you and expect you to work hard. They'll kick you out of practice or even completely off the team if you fail to meet expectations. There also is not a lot of oversight outside of other football coaches, who follow the same ethos you do.
HS however, is comparatively calmer and more supportive. Athletes are more entitled. Athletes are less invested. Athletes are less competitive. Athletes are not as good. Athletes are not as mature. Athletes are not given scholarships and don't have as much to lose. Parents and other school administrators offer a lot more supervision and oversight. You can't get away with yelling, swearing, and challenging a kid in HS the same way you can in college, even if you're doing so with the athlete's best interest in mind. It just doesn't fly at the HS level unless you've been there a long time and have proven your methods over time. But, it's significantly more toned down. HS athletes are not accustomed to being overly challenged, yelled at, or threatened. It's not unusual to get email complaints from parents in a HS setting for even run of the mill conditioning or excuses for why their son can't participate. In my years working in college I never once was contacted by a parent or administrator for anything other than recruiting. The only person you ever hear from as far as oversight goes is the HC and that's usually more about why they need an athlete to improve more, not about why you're working them too hard. It would be hard to get away with the stuff you heard about at Maryland in a HS setting.
Second chances are great. But when you’re a trainer who basically killed a kid and brutalized others, I think maybe find another line of work.
What’s the pay cut this dude has to take? A major D1 strength and conditioning coach can make upwards of $300,000 to $400,000 typically. Some are getting up there between $500,000 to 1,000,000 a year. What could Greenville high school possibly pay this guy? 30,000 a year?? Unless he’s a physical education teacher also, then he might get the bump up to 50 grand
probably better than selling anabolic steroids at his local planet fitness tho.
On the one hand - wow, surprised he got another S&C job anywhere. One the other hand, Greenville HS isn't Maryland so he will have to start at the bottom and may never get higher than this.