For the second part of the three part blog, I am going to discuss the issue of the young man’s death in Kentucky. Please understand: I believe this event is an absolute tragedy. I doubt that there is anyone who would disagree with that. My sympathy goes to the family of Max Gilpen. I know how bad I would feel if something happened to my daughter. There is no question of the sadness of such an event.
What I do question is whether or not the coach should be charged with a crime, any crime, much less negligent homicide. It seems by all accounts that the coach is taking Max’s death almost as hard as the family of the athlete is. Again, I know I feel bad any time one of my players gets hurt. How many times worse would it be if a player died? It is something that I would wish for no coach. It is something that will stay with that coach for the rest of his life. But was he responsible for the young man’s passing?
As I pointed out in my previous blog, there are many questions surrounding the event. There are accusations that the Dad, who was present when Max collapsed, changed his story about the surrounding events. There were some that said the coaches denied the players water. Others said that was not the case. I do know that we are a most litigious society and that we want somebody, anybody held responsible anytime something bad happens. But I think we need to draw a line. We have a shortage of good coaches today in high school sports. High School coaches, as with almost any segment of youth sports, make very little money for coaching. Some are teachers but the stipends for most coaches are relatively small. As an example, for a softball season (roughly 3 ½ months) the average pay for a walk-on coach is between $2,000 and $3,000. Some pay more. Many schools will allow the booster club if there is one, to contribute money to pay a coach more. But it has to go through the school. Some schools do not allow this. Many schools don’t have or don’t allow booster clubs.
With this in mind, how many people do you know are going to want to take such a job knowing the risks that may hang over you should something happen to one of your players? Furthermore, as the lawsuits continue to mount, it may force schools to cut back on sports programs for the students, citing the increased liability issues. And of course, I am biased. But I constantly wonder about the ever increasing judgments in various liability and wrongful death lawsuits and I ask, how much is enough? No amount of money will bring back a player, a worker, a family member. A person cannot be replaced by money. Some point to the need to “punish” the offending party so “send a message.” But are we sending the right message?
I will be watching the trial of the Kentucky coach as I am sure many in the youth sports world will. This situation could have far reaching ramifications. On the surface I wonder why the coach was charged with a crime. I have heard the same comment from several people already. There are too many potentially contributing factors that were out of the coach’s control. The student had been taking supplements which are known to dehydrate the body. Even if he wasn’t taking them at the time the effects may still have been with him. He was taking a medication that I have been told is basically a strong amphetamine. How might that drug have affected the young man’s body? No autopsy was performed. How do we know if there may have been other factors involved? And why did it take months to decide whether or not to file charges?
The bottom line here is that a student athlete died on the field of sport. That by itself is a tragedy. We should be seeking ways to prevent the occurrence of such events in the future. But to fix this or any other potentially damaging event, we must quit pointing fingers at everyone else, take a step back, and say “what could I have done?” “Could I have done something to impact this situation? Or, was it just the occurrence of life. I believe that when God calls us we go home. There are no appeals. No second guessing. He calls, you go. We as humans don’t understand when such a young life is ended so early. But sometimes it just is. Life just is. We recover. We learn. We move on. Sometimes there’s nobody to blame. And sometimes, that’s the most difficult realization we have to accept.
Please say a prayer for Max Gilpen’s family; for the coaching staff of the school; and for all others involved directly or indirectly in this tragedy. And may we pray that we can learn something that will help us all do what is right in the future for our young athletes.
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