Coaching and motherhood are a lot alike. There are so many things that go on behind the scenes that people don’t know about. The long hours, the stress, the time management, the worry, I could go on and on. There is such a lack of appreciation. In both, there is so much judgment, from people that have no idea what they are talking about. You deal with Facebook / couch coaches that judge you for every decision you make. They’ve never been a coach, some (and by some, I mean most) of them have not even played the game before. Same goes with motherhood, everyone has their opinions (most of which are unsolicited). They sit and watch (judge) from their couch and don’t appreciate the time, effort, and work you’ve put into these decisions. The fair weathered fans … when we’re winning, you’re the best, but when we lose, you have no clue what you’re doing. They don’t understand that these are young boys that you are molding into men by not only teaching them the game of baseball, but more importantly, the game of life.
I’m a big baseball fan and I’ve always taken pride in the caliber of young men that LSU puts on the playing field. Our baseball players are respectful and humble players. They take pride in themselves, their school and their coach. I can only pray, as a mother of two boys, that they will play for a coach like you. One that cares about them, that pushes them, but most of all teaches them the life lessons. You are the epitome of what a LSU Tiger is and you will forever hold a place in LSU history.
From your purple and gold bleeding fans, I say to you —
THANK YOU, COACH! Thank you for giving us fifteen years of your career. Thank you for allowing us to get to know you, to love you (and your family), thank you for the wins, and thank you for being a Tiger, even when you were struggling in your personal life. We’ve celebrated with you and we’ve cried with you. And the last inning of your last game was no different, we cried with you, it was the ending of an era, it was hard and it was sad but you will forever be a Tiger! We wish you the best of luck and hope you enjoy your retirement.
