Club sports coaches face unique situation
In this day and age, coaches can get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to offer their two cents to players.
But when it comes to great coaching, you need to be a lot more than just a “coach.” To be considered great, one must go above and beyond the call of duty to establish themselves as a mentor, friend and — for some — a parental figure.
There are some great coaches at Utah State University that don’t get a ton of plaudits or national recognition. In fact, they don’t even get paid for being coaches of club sports, although it is easy to see how great of coaches they are.
USU plays home to 14 club sports, according to the university website. The list includes more popular traditional sports such as baseball, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, hockey and men’s and women’s rugby. However, the list also has sports like rodeo, cycling and ultimate Frisbee.
Although it seems like a tough job at first glance, most club sport coaches enjoy what they do and don’t have many complaints. Even working for a team that is unpaid, time demanding and doesn’t have a lot of money, coaches don’t have many complaints.
Some coaches stay at the university for a long time, while others move around quickly, donating a year or two to the sports they care about.
Jon Eccles, the USU hockey coach, has been with the team since 2003.
Eccles said he enjoys hockey and has been playing since he was very young. He wants to stay involved with the sport so he chose coaching as the pathway.
Shawn Casey is in his second season as the Aggie men’s soccer coach, and Kevin Mann is coaching his first season of lacrosse.
“I’ve been playing for a long time, and I played four years up here at Utah State,” Mann said. “There was some vacancies in the coaching staff so I’m excited to help out.”
Coach Casey had a different experience than Eccles and Mann.
“I didn’t ever play as a kid,” he said. “I started coaching my kids when they were five years old.”
Travel can be a tough task for a coach who works another job and has a family. None of them are bothered by the travel, though. They almost look forward to it as a bonding experience.
“I don’t mind it,” Eccles said. “If we travel out of town, we go by bus with the team.”
It is easy to see these coaches have a true love for the game that you will not see in coaches being paid millions to be successful. Even the players have to pay in order to play the game.
“Not everyone knows how the athletes pay dues to play hockey,” Eccles said. “They do it without getting the respect they deserve.”
It’s safe to say that both the players and coaches of club sports go without the respect and credit they deserve.
However, they don’t mind it, considering they truly love the game they sacrifice for.
— tparadise@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @tristan0010