Parents and fans should leave coaching to the coaches

After South Carolina's loss to Arkansas last week, a few questions popped up from a few guys I felt were wanna-be coaches. Questions such as, "Why can't Spurrier run the ball better? You gotta run it tough to win!"

The Gamecocks ran 25 times for 53 yards.

I also heard, "I woulda, and he shoulda."

It tickles me when people think they can out-coach the Ol' Ball Coach or any other coach.

These people are convinced they know a great deal about college football, but most never played in college. I guess by listening intently to TV analysts, like Lou Holtz and many others, they believe they have all the knowledge needed to be a winning coach.

Wanna-bes only see college football from a seat in the stadium or on a couch in front of the TV. They have no perspectives of the challenges coaches face day after day off the field -- challenges created in the locker room, weight room, training room, dining hall, on campus, occasionally in a court-room, in the media and over the Internet.

I'm sure wanna-bes never have thoughts about the most important and critical challenges essential to developing a winning team. A very important challenge is hiring a staff comprised with coaches who are excellent teachers dedicated to kids, and are 100 percent committed to the head coach's philosophy, and are willing to remain loyal regardless of wins and losses. The staff has to be willing to work 16-18 hours a day, seven days a week from mid-July to mid-December, and then spend another four to six weeks on the road recruiting prior to signing date.

Oh, I almost forgot the willingness to get up at 5 a.m. three or four times a week to run the off-season conditioning program to prepare for spring practice.

Another important challenge that probably doesn't cross their minds is the effort and wisdom it takes to convince 110 young men from a variety of educational, socio-economic, cultural, and competitive backgrounds to be ideal teammates. I doubt if they see problems controlling players with inflated egos who think they are God's gift to football and think the team can't win without them being a star.

Do they see the effort it takes to convince young men to do what's right academically and socially?

I doubt wanna-bes realize the importance of eligibility and what it takes to help a player maintain eligibility. And do they see the challenge of convincing players to attend class, especially the kids who are in college for a shot to play on Sunday or players who are not truly dedicated to earning a degree?

I'm sure the wanna-bes have no idea what an intense challenge it is to motivate players to give 110 percent effort every down in order to have a chance to win a game against a 20-point favorite. For example, how does a coach motivate Coastal Carolina's players to beat Clemson? Coastal lost 49-3. Another challenge wanna-bes probably don't realize is how difficult and stressful it is make halftime Xs and Os adjustments and revitalize the hearts and minds of players when the team is down 20 points. No doubt, they feel it's easy to make 70 or so perfect offensive and 70 defensive calls in a game and decisions to go for a first down on 4th-and-2 instead of punting.

I wonder how wanna-bes would handle wealthy booster's demands on who to hire, who to fire and which players to play. How would they handle being bastardized by the media and fans as their team fell apart?

No doubt, they would provide an ESPN sideline reporter withpre-game, halftime, and post game sound bites to make themselves perfect coaches.

After Beaufort High's loss to Goose Creek last Friday a wanna-be said, "I'd use the spread offense, (Coach Mark) Clifford needs to use it!"

I guess he thinks he'd win the state championship coaching the Eagles with the spread offense. That's like me thinking I could be like Tiger Woods just by using his swing.