By Greg Earhart
CollegeSwimming.com

After a month of waiting, the biggest drama of the college swimming season has finally played itself out. Skip Kenney, after a 60-day unpaid break and weekly anger management sessions, will be back for his 29th season.

This topic has weighed heavily on my mind over the past month, in part because I’ve been on the receiving end of Coach Kenney’s now-famous temper. A couple of years ago, Coach Kenney called me to express his displeasure with our message boards. This isn’t a new criticism, but it was the first time I’d actually been referred to as an absolute “plague to our sport.” For the next twenty-odd minutes he berated me, said I had no integrity, and finally explained to me that, “We’ve got a lot of smart people out here at Stanford” who would, “find a way to shut you down.” Ouch.

I say this in the interest of full disclosure, because I’m glad to see that this incident won’t cost him his job. That’s good for Coach Kenney, for Stanford, our sport and for coaches who have an ever-decreasing margin of success. That margin has been squeezed between departments’ growing demands for athletic performance and decreasing tolerance for anything that might rock the boat.

That doesn’t excuse Coach Kenney’s actions, but it shows how one reprobate can bring out the worst of any coach. Every coach has come across an [expletive] or two who causes them to think, say or do something they’re not proud of, but today’s coaches are increasingly looking over their shoulder, trying to find a way to foster a team identity, maintain a disciplined environment, provide a good experience AND be successful in the pool.

Part of that is because of kids today – or I should say the skills needed to coach kids today. The student athlete of 2007 doesn’t respond to coaching the same way they did twenty (or even ten) years ago. In many ways they’re brighter, more confident, assertive and entitled. Those aren’t bad things in and of themselves – in fact a coach could use those traits to their advantage – but coaches need to recognize that student-athletes’ loyalties, discipline and relationships are vastly different from their own. A recent study of 16,000 freshman found that today’s students are more self-centered, have less of an investment in team success and lash out when rejected or insulted. You can see how coaches sometimes find themselves with a career-threatening (sometimes unsubstantiated) allegation hurled at them.

Another challenge comes from the athletic environment. I regularly ask coaches what types of expectations their department has for them. The answer usually begins with, “Well until a few years ago...” Today’s programs must perform and why not? When institutions build a multi-million dollar facilitie, they should expect success. But what about places where scholarships are reduced or budgets cut? What about programs that are short-staffed or lack comparable facilities? Those can usually be addressed through creativity and hard work, but what about when there’s a lack of administrative support? When it comes to doing the things necessary to be successful – things like addressing athlete’s weight, holding student-athletes accountable for their actions, putting in the time needed to be successful (even if that means more than eight or twenty hours each week) or challenging them to aim higher in ways that make them feel uncomfortable – many coaches find their hands tied.

 Worse, they’re playing to a double standard - “Do whatever it takes to win – but don’t let us catch (or even hear about) you doing whatever it takes to win.” And whatever you do – don’t rock the boat on behalf of your team because we’ve got bigger issues (football and basketball) to take care of.

Coaches, finally, have helped paint themselves into this corner. Many in our profession forget that the world, the university, and the athletic department don’t revolve around them (or their team). Yes there’s inequity among sports, but in spite of everything that we know is good about our sport, when you move outside of our own little swimming world, we’re often far off of society’s (or our athletic department’s) radar. That can insulate coaches from the realities of society, the changing nature of today’s student athletes, and the need to compromise and negotiate. Some kids still need to be admonished regularly (my dad called them “2x4 employees” – people who needed an occasional knock outside the head to get back on track), but some need a gentle push (and vice-versa). Coaches who restrict their skill set in this way limit themselves the same way one might if he or she were to train every swimmer identically. In both cases, its not healthy for our sport, our teams, or our job security.

That’s why I’m glad to see Coach Kenney will stay. He has too much to offer our sport. His legacy of “better athletes, better students, better husbands, better fathers [and] better people," should last longer than the now over-publicized records.

Bob Bowlsby, Stanford’s athletic director said it best – “I think he’ll come back and be a better coach than he was.” I agree. If that temperament has sometimes impeded Coach Kenney's success, imagine what he can do what he can do when given the skills necessary to harness it. If that anger has fueled his success, just imagine what he can do when armed with a broader array of skills to connect with, relate to and motivate today’s student-athletes. Wouldn’t we all benefit if given similar tools and training?