Cosgriff: Rough Coaching Climate Makes it Hard for Coaches to Stick Around

The Minnesota Legislature is considering a change to state law that would bar school districts from using parent complaints as the sole reason for letting a coach go.

The proposal would add the following sentence to the omnibus policy and finance bill:

The existence of parent complaints must not be the sole reason for a board to not renew a coaching contract.

The legislation is in response to increasing non-renewals of coaches' contracts, with as many as 35 percent in one sport (boys' hockey) involving parent complaints, according to a Star Tribune report.

Hopkins girls’ basketball coach Brian Cosgriff was one of 11 coaches and activity directors who sat down with KARE 11 for a panel discussion about the climate of coaching. He said the current atmosphere can make it hard for coaches to stick around.

“I think someone like Faith (Johnson Patterson, the DeLaSalle girls’ basketball coach) and myself, who’ve been doing this for 20-some years, we’re dinosaurs,” Cosgriff said. “And I think because of the climate that we’re in you’re going to see people go in this for six, eight 10 years and say, ‘You know what? I think I’ve had enough.”

Click here to watch the full video and then share your thoughts on the coaches’ opinions in the comments section below.