The following excerpts are from the LNP editorial: “What ‘new direction’ for baseball, Manheim Township?”
“Bill Sassaman resigned last weekas Manheim Township High School’s head baseball coach after 23 years in that position and 31 years as a coach in the program. Sassaman said he was told May 7 that his contract would not be renewed because the administration wanted a ‘new direction’ for the program, which lost a record 16 games this spring and last made the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association postseason in 2011. Sassaman had an impressive 339 career victories and a winning percentage of .653 as Manheim Township High School’s head coach. His teams won five section titles and one Lancaster-Lebanon League championship; they were 21-13 in 12 district playoff appearances and 5-4 in four state qualifying seasons. He was the District 2 Coach of the Year in 2006 and took his team to the state title game that year.
“Is winning games and making the playoffs the only, or even the key, factor in judging a high school coach?”
Of course making the playoffs each year should not be the “only, or even the key, factor”. Youngsters need to experience losing as well as winning, because it set backs prepares them for the challenges of life.
But equally, youngsters should not be subjected to losing most or all of the time, year after year. They should not develop a self image as losers.
For some reporting lapse, neither the editorial or the news article states how many games the baseball time lost this past year. But we are told they lost 16 games in 2014, which suggests about three out of four.
Early on in our career we were told by a very successful mentor that “All anyone has achieved in the past and a quarter will get a ride on the New York subway.” (Now they need about $2.25 and use a prepaid card.)
We all have to know when it is time to move on to new tasks and challenges, which, while in reasonably good health, should not include sitting in a rocking chair on the porch for more than an hour a day.
That too is a lesson in life.
This article (?) criticizes the paper for not supplying details, and then makes assumptions ( “losing most or all of the time, year after year” ) about Sassaman’s record without doing its own basic research. It look me less than 5 minutes of looking on MaxPreps to find Sassamans record. 14-15 he was 3-16 ( not the 18 you indicate) 13-14 —- 9 and 11 ( a game from .500)
EDITOR: Our mistake for saying he had 18 losses when it was 16 in 2014, according to LNP. We apologize and will change the article.
Our impression from the LNP article was he had had losing seasons in recent years.
I think we may stick with local and national affairs in the future and leave sports to others. We were philosophizing when we should have been researching.