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Coaching Your Own Kid At The High School Level

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

Updated: 10/09/2007 12:45 am

TAMPA - One of the toughest decisions Mitchell High football coach Scott Schmitz made had nothing to do with converting on fourth-and-inches or who to start at quarterback. Nor was it the personnel to add to his coaching staff in 2000.

It was about leaving his youngest son, Tanner, behind at River Ridge that year to open Mitchell's program.

'It was the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my coaching career. The toughest,' Schmitz said. 'Then you put in the fact I'm leaving my son his senior year and I coached his older brother his senior year, but I'm leaving. It was very hard.

'Tanner came to me and said 'Dad, if this is an opportunity that you feel like you want, you've got to do it.' He says, 'Dad, I'm only going to be there one more year.' For a 17-year-old kid, I thought that was a pretty mature thing to say. That made my decision easier.'

That's one of the problems you face when you coach your kids.
Building A Bridge
During the time teenagers begin to pull away and build the proverbial wall between themselves and their parents, some mothers and fathers get lucky. Instead of fighting to bore through that wall, they're on the same side of that emotional barrier - as their child's coach.
Schmitz coached his older son Andy, who is now his offensive coordinator, from 1995-1997 while at River Ridge.

'The one thing is we always had something to talk about,' Andy Schmitz said. 'I know that some father-son relationships when a kid gets to be a teenager, sometimes you don't feel like you can relate to your son or your kid doesn't feel he can relate to his dad. Some of that's true, but when you've got something so closely in common, it's obviously going to give you a stronger relationship.'

There are stipulations that come with coaching your child. Rule No. 1: There are no favorites.

'That's very, very, very, very important,' said Armwood coach Sean Callahan, who coached his older son Kirk from 1998-2002 and now coaches his son Casey, a junior linebacker. 'I don't go out of my way to ride my kid any harder than anyone else, but our kids know that if he makes the wrong read, he gets chewed and he's going to get chewed good.

'It is very important that the whole team sees that my kids are not a factor with me.'

Rule No. 2: No running drills in the back yard.

That's something Hillsborough coach Earl Garcia did well, according to former Terriers tight end/defensive end and first-year King coach Earl Garcia III.

'He's won a whole bunch of games and he's been successful, but he's not like a football coach like you think of in the movies,' Garcia III said. 'He didn't come home and I didn't run sprints in the back yard, watch film. There were no protein shakes. When he came home, he used to tell me he didn't want to talk about football because that was the way he got his mind off of it.'

Always A Parent

Earl Garcia received the scare of his life two weeks prior to his son's senior season. On the first day of two-a-days, entering the 1998 season, Garcia III suffered a Grade 1 ACL sprain. His father didn't see what happened, but he heard it.

'Every parent knows his child's scream when he's in pain and I didn't see the play happen, but I heard him and I knew that was mine immediately,' said Garcia, who watched as his son was loaded into his truck while he stayed behind to conduct practice. 'That was a tough thing, but the good Lord was looking out for him and it was just a Grade 1 sprain, so he did not have to have surgery.'

Seeing names on the roster that match the head coach's name isn't a rarity, especially today.

River Ridge volleyball coach Heidi Castelamare is in her second stint coaching one of her two daughters in volleyball. She coached Brittany Castelamare, a USF setter, from 2002-2005 in high school and is currently coaching her youngest daughter, Brooke Castelamare, who is a senior. Heidi Castelamare also coached the two during the club volleyball season.

Sickles junior quarterback Cullen O'Brien is the son of Gryphons coach Pat O'Brien; Riverview coach Dan O'Regan's son is junior quarterback Alex O'Regan; Cambridge Christian coach Rick Shears guides his son, senior linebacker Erik Shears; Hudson assistant Keith Newton is the father of Cobras running back/linebacker Hunter Newton.

Rule No. 3: Remember the good times.

Sean Callahan recalls the time when the Hawks collected the first of back-to-back Class 4A state titles in 2003. Kirk drove over from Orlando after football practice at UCF to watch the game, while Kristin Callahan, who graduated in 2006, was a cheerleader and Casey was a water boy.

'I had them all with me then,' Sean Callahan said with a tinge of nostalgia.

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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