Another D1 athlete (Entitlement Generation) can't handle being held responsible for their actions.

Kill has a good reputation rebuilding programs as of late.

I, admittedly, went into reading about this topic with a bit of bias in favor of what the OP suggests, hoping to find that confirmation bias I love feeling so much.

After reading into it, I was completely wrong and think the OP is an idiot.

Barker seems to be in the right.

After reading the guys open letter, you can see how the coach might be an ass.

http://ajbarker82.tumblr.com/

"Another D1 athlete (Entitlement Generation) can't handle being held responsible for their actions"

In what way is this REMOTELY accurate about this situation?

The coach may be a jerk but when you accept a job (which a full ride scholarship is no different) you agree to to toe the the line. If you don't like the conditions you can always leave. Its a two way street.

Many runners at my school transferred because they didn't agree with training philosophy. They didn't go on 4000 word Twitter rants because in of course that wasn't available 30 years ago.

hey dummy, the athlete is a walk-on. no scholarship

That I see now. All the easier to get of rid of.

The player as a walk on, has even more right to do whatever he wants. If he doesn't want to play for that coach, then so be it.

What surprises me is after he started playing well, why he wasn't offered a scholarship to entice him to stay. For the coach, that shows incredible lack of committmant to a player.

I can't blame him for leaving for any reason positive or negative, to another program which will financially take care of him.

I can speak from experience here. I actually played D1 football for three years.

What Barker describes in his open letter is very common in the big time programs. He's just stating the obvious. I suspect he really doesn't want even play football anymore. Most athletes are afraid to burn bridges and confront their coaches (that's what keeps them playing - they'll take the abuse to JUST to live the dream).

I'd say that 80% of the football coaches I've met (through the YEARS of playing, attending camps, watching practices post-graduation, and dealing with then in a professional capacity) were insufferable egotistical as*holes. This includes head coaches, assistants, graduate assistants, even the directors of operations.

They do not play in world of PC office politics. The world of football is all they know. They've never had to sit a cubicle and write code, get up at 4am to collect garbage, meet a sales quota, or dabble in a career of customer service.

They play in a cutthroat environment with A LOT of line...and this brings about not only generally hostile nature but a huge sense of entitlement where the coaches (and players) feel they can do and say anything they want.

I feel that the head coach has this god-complex where he feels is untouchable, and if you read the kid's letter, he (the coach) surely has all the characteristics of narcissistic bully.

However, the kid does seem a little soft despite being such a tough and talented athlete. Blowing someone up so publicly is as cowardly as it gets.

He should have worked up the confidence to tear into that coach one-on-one if he planned on quitting anyways.