I was a sub-varsity basketball coach sitting in the bleachers at a rival school gym. A coach from the other school came and sat with me. We didn’t know each other well, but we had competed against each other many times and had a cordial relationship. He said, as kindly as he could, that our varsity team had the “worst sportsmanship” he had seen. He was not completely wrong. I loved our kids, but we had some turds (technical term for rascals). I diplomatically told him we were working on it. What I did not tell him was the second worst sportsmanship belonged to his team. This conversation has stuck with me and made me wonder what reputations our teams had with opponents and officials.

I coached 4 sports, head coach and assistant, over 19 years and have seen all level of sportsmanship. It took me a while to learn that our reputation was influenced by every person involvedin the program and the overall reputation was the ultimate responsibility of the head coach. Only through experience did I become a “steward of the game” and teach teams about competing with honor.I decided to give back after retirement and become an official and have learned a great deal more about teams (and schools) and their reputations.

Before each game an official will ask the head coach if his team has been coached in sportsmanship. Without fail, the answer is yes. Then the game starts and that “yes” is suspect. Coaches often will say, “Oh you won’t hear anything from my assistant coaches,” or, “Please let me know if any of my players say anything unsportsmanlike.” More often than not, this is a red flag. It is painfully easy for coaches to turn their attention to the officials or make comments about how “dirty” the opposing team is. As an objective observer, most teams are about the same; kids are kids and coaches are coaches. But there are some glaring differences in programs. Head coaches should reflect on their teams reputation, they might be surprised.

As an official, I can easily name the New Mexico program with the worst sportsmanship reputation. I wonder if those within that program know or care. Those in sports often claim things to be the “worst” or the “greatest.” We often proclaim, “That’s the worst call I’ve ever seen!” or, “That was the greatest catch I’ve ever seen.” So the worst program is really not that far from the rest of the programs. Still, what if the coaches of this school were to search outside of their bubble and see where they stand? It may not do any good, because we are all so mired in our ways. But it would not take much to change reputation. It may take a few years, but the initial steps are simple.

First: Talk to your fellow coaches, your staff will have some insight.

Second: Talk to your rivals and get an honest assessment.

Third: Talk to your local officials group.

Fourth: Talk with your AD, he/she gets the complaints.

Fifth: Implement character teaching in everything you do. This is an everyday thing.

There will be times when someone makes a false claim about your team. They may see your team as the bad guys. There is not much you can do about that. But if you can look yourself in the mirror and say you are teaching character every day, you are teaching young athletes how to be good adults, and you are creating a model of sportsmanship, you will be on your way to gaining respect throughout the state. Perception is a key component of building a solid reputation, but it is not the main thing. We canall post about sportsmanship on X or Facebook, but more importantly everyone involved with the program must walk the walk.

Coaches may have the attitude of, “I don’t care what anybody else says about us.” This is an easy cop-out because they don’t want to do the hard work of creating a stellar program. The stellar program wins and has a great reputation. The culture of winning and the culture of character are one in the same.

Sometimes poor sportsmanship or poor character has to be pointed out by someone outside the program. It may be helpful for athletic directors, coaches, and officials of individual sports to create a blind survey of the schools/programs with the best reputations ranked from top to bottom. Once a school recognizes a problem they can work to fix it.

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