I enjoyed reading your thoughts on coaching philosophy and abusive coaches. Every coach, from day 1 establishes what they will accept, and what they won’t- players read the coach much the same as you read your parents when they said be home by midnight. You knew whether that meant midnight or
1:00 am. and whether the consequences were severe enough not to take the chance of making the wrong choice. There are different types of mistakes in basketball- physical mistakes which every player makes (missing shots, bad passes, etc.) which are part of the game, and most coaches, Geno included, don’t sub players out for unless they are repetitive. The other mistakes are mental mistakes or “heart”mistakes, which are not part of the game and will usually land you a spot on the “motivator” (bench) in a rapid fashion. For most players one or two applications of that is enough to clearly know where the line is, and decide it’s not worth crossing, since these mistakes are within their control.
You asked if “suicides” might be considered abusive. Had an athlete once show up late to practice because of a disciplinary issue- when the assistants explained why (a definite heart mistake) we sat them on a chair in the center circle, gave them a water, and let all their teammates exercise with sprints. That player faced a great deal of peer pressure to never let it happen again, & it didn’t. Haven’t had to use that since, and maybe that would be considered abuse now. Maybe your world is different, but the biggest factors changing coaching in my world are social media, AAU basketball, and just the changes in overall society you referenced. I’m probably not entitled to my opinion either, and it’s only worth what it’s costing you to get it.
