Coaches Must Set the Example
October 15, 2012
By Scott Westfall
MSU Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
NOTE: This is part one of a two-part viewpoint explaining the importance of coaches and parents setting proper examples for young athletes in their treatment of game officials.
In light of the recent uproar over NFL replacement officials, it seems that never before has it been so common and socially accepted to yell disgust at referees.
While this trend is prevalent in both professional and college football, it has unfortunately trickled down into the high school ranks. What is actually accomplished when a coach or fan yells at an official? Do people really believe that if they become irate, a ‘bad call’ will be erased? In all of my years watching, playing, and coaching athletics, not once have I seen a referee change his or her ruling because a coach or a fan yelled at him or her.
When adults lose control and scream at referees, who does this bad behavior really affect? Since youth learn their emotional control from adult leaders, I believe the true damage is done to the young minds that are witnessing their mentors lose their cool. After their display of anger, how can these same adults hope for kids to stay calm when things do not go their way in life? It is pure hypocrisy to expect otherwise.
Whether we like it or not, referees are the absolute authority in athletic contests; they control the game from start to finish, make the tough calls on the playing surface, and even decide who gets to stay and who is sent to the locker room. Yet, it is baffling how often their authority is disrespected.
It is the coach’s responsibility to establish his or her program as one that respects authority. Since players watch all of the moves their coaches make, it is imperative that coaches respect the officials – especially when the calls do not go their way. If a player sees his or her coach going berserk due to a ‘bad call,’ the same player will think it is OK to act like this down the road when upset or faced with adversity. Even more detrimental to these kids is hearing their coach preach a message but contradict it by not backing it up with actions.
Great high school coaches will use the playing surface as an extension of their classroom. In my years as a head coach, I tried my hardest to set a good example for my players and told them to never question, back-talk, or disrespect an official. However, I made the mistake of breaking my own rule on one occasion by questioning the referee’s judgment.
When I was a younger coach, I may have attributed my actions to the heat of the moment, or defended myself on the criteria that I was trying to stick up for my team. However, being a veteran leader who wanted to practice what I preached, I saw my mistake as a teaching moment.
The next practice, when we conducted team discipline conditioning, “Reminders” (usually reserved for players with unacceptable school behavior or poor grades), I asked my players what I had taught them about respecting authority and if I had broken my own rule. The players agreed that I had broken my rule and had not respected the referee.
I let them know that this rule applied to me as much as them. I then lined-up on the goal line and ran my own set of wind sprints as the players, assistant coaches, and managers watched in disbelief. Afterward, to even my surprise, several players thanked me for holding myself accountable.
One kid even had tears in his eyes, and said that after watching my self-imposed discipline, he wanted more than ever to be a man of his word and do the right thing.
Scott Westfall has spent the last 10 years as a teacher, coach, and athletic director in Fort Collins, Colo. He currently is working on his Doctorate at Michigan State University, with an emphasis in Sport Psychology and Athletic Administration, and assisting the MHSAA with its student leadership programs. Westfall is a former athlete who participated in football, wrestling, tennis and cross country at the high school level, and rugby at the collegiate level. He can be reached at [email protected].
PHOTO: Scott Westfall celebrates with his football team while serving as a coach at Boltz Middle School in Fort Collins, Colo.
Century of School Sports: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 19, 2025
A buck went a lot farther a century ago, and a family of four wishing to watch the MHSAA Class A Boys Basketball Final in 1928 could have done so, at the minimum, for a grand total of $2 – or $6 if they were looking to splurge on the best seats.
Of course, relating the value of money 100 years ago to now is not apples to apples. But for Michigan school sports, a deal like that is meant to last forever.
The MHSAA has made it part of long-standing philosophy to keep ticket prices for its tournament events as low as possible, continuing to provide opportunities for entire families to attend together, and hoping to provide the best bargain as tickets to sporting events at other levels have climbed much more rapidly over the decades.
For the sake of comparison, consider tickets over the years for the Boys Basketball Tournament – the first event hosted by the newly-created MHSAA in 1925.
In 1928 (the first year for which cost of admission could be found), ticket prices for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Olympia in Detroit were listed at 75 cents, $1 and $1.50, and a newspaper report after noted that in fact the cheapest seats were sold for 50 cents apiece instead. One ticket was good for all four games.
Less than 30 years later, $1.50 still got a fan two championship games – reserved seats for 1955 Boys Basketball Finals at Jenison Field House cost $1.50 per session, with Class C and B Finals in the afternoon and Class A and D in the evening. A decade after that, in 1965, tickets still cost $1.50 per session – although sessions were now split into the Class B game in the morning, Class D and C games in the afternoon, and a Class A session that night.
Sixty years later, prices have continued to rise incrementally – but again, while prioritizing keeping them as low as possible.
These days for boys basketball, District tickets cost $7, Regional tickets cost $9, Quarterfinals cost $10, and Semifinals and Finals tickets cost $12 per two-game session.
On its face, that’s quite a jump from the 1960s, much less the 1920s. But consider: Multiple inflation calculators say that $1.50 ticket for two games in 1955 would be worth more than $17 for two games now, meaning MHSAA Finals ticket prices have grown at a much slower rate.
Consider as well MHSAA ticket prices against Consumer Price Index data over the last 20 years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2023 that admission costs to sporting events nationally had doubled over the previous two decades – literally going up 100 percent – yet price increases for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament since 2005-06 have increased just 40 percent at the District level, where 60 percent of our boys basketball tickets are sold. Ticket prices for Regionals and Finals also have grown slower than that national rate.
And it remains tough to argue with what spectators get for their money at the MHSAA Tournament level.
For the 2024-25 school year, tickets for all District and Regional competitions – and some Quarterfinals and Semifinals – remain in the $7-$9 range. Finals tickets cost $10-$12, except for Individual Wrestling Finals ($18) and 11-Player Football Finals ($20) both at Ford Field – and one ticket for those is good to watch championships in five divisions in wrestling and four football championship games over one day, respectively.
In fact, the most recent change to ticketing has had nothing to do with the price – but instead, the move away from the paper tickets you see above. All tournament tickets are now digital, which keeps the MHSAA current with what’s done in college and pro sports and other forms of entertainment and assists in efficiency by taking cash out of the equation.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read