A Brownwood News column is urging parents to take a more constructive approach to youth and school athletics: trust coaches to work in athletes’ best interests, raise legitimate concerns privately and support the program at home.
The column, published Aug. 31, 2026, was written by Todd Howey as part of his recurring “Five Things Coaches Want Parents to Know” series. Its central message is that coaches are responsible for more than game results. They are also trying to help young athletes develop character, confidence, resilience, commitment, teamwork and sportsmanship.
What coaches are trying to build
Howey writes that coaches spend substantial time improving their craft. They study through clinics, videos, magazines, college visits and conversations with other coaches. Some advance from junior-high coaching to pursue the long-term goal of becoming a head coach.
The column says coaches should be viewed as professionals, much like people working in fields such as accounting, mechanics, dentistry, entrepreneurship and engineering. Watching a sport or playing it does not by itself make someone an expert, Howey argues; coaching requires ongoing study and learning.
That perspective is presented against familiar parental concerns, including playing time, perceived favoritism, returning players making a team again and questions about where an athlete is positioned. Howey says parents should encourage their children to perform their assigned role as well as possible, regardless of what that role is.
How family conversations affect athletes
The column also focuses on what young athletes hear at home. Howey says parents who spend mealtimes criticizing coaches or other players may pass a negative attitude to their children. Supportive conversations, by contrast, can help athletes approach practices and games with more trust, confidence and respect.
Parents are specifically advised not to criticize a coach in front of their child. If a concern is legitimate, the recommended approach is to follow the school’s established procedure and arrange a private meeting during the coach’s office hours.
Howey cautions against approaching a coach immediately before, during or after a practice or game, when emotions are likely to be elevated. He also advises parents not to use social media to attack coaches, schools or athletic programs, describing that conduct as harassment that should not be tolerated by a school district.
The author says he once suspended parents from attending games after critical or hateful social-media posts about his coaches. He writes that the expectations had been explained before the school year, included in the handbook and acknowledged by parents.
What parents should—and should not—discuss
The column recommends that parents ask about their child’s interaction with a coach, ways to improve athletic skills and the coach’s interactions with athletes. It says parents should not approach coaches about playing time, play calling, team strategy or other students and athletes.
Howey also warns parents not to bypass the normal chain of communication by taking a campus-level issue directly to a superintendent’s office. In his view, school administrators should generally send those concerns back to the campus unless higher-level involvement is genuinely necessary.
For a parent worried about how a child is being treated, Howey recommends beginning with a cooperative conversation focused on the relationship between the coach and athlete and asking what the parent can do to help.
He identifies playing time as the concern most likely to become personal and emotional. Parents, he says, should separate frustration from facts and speak calmly. He also writes that, during more than two decades as an athletic director, he never witnessed or heard of a coach punishing an athlete because of the parent’s conduct.
The column acknowledges that coaches can make mistakes, including failing to communicate effectively or clearly explain expectations. It argues that strong coaches recognize those mistakes, accept responsibility and put the athlete’s needs ahead of ego. For parents, the advice is to begin with patience, perspective and grace rather than assuming the worst.
Howey is identified as a BrownwoodNews.com columnist. His “Five Things Coaches Want Parents to Know” articles appear on Mondays, and the column lists an email address for comments.