What started as a concerning e-mail escalated into an extremely heated meeting and has become a full-blown fiasco.
Walworth Big Foot head football coach Rodney Wedig couldn’t believe what happened Monday at Big Foot High School, and he isn’t sure if it’s going away anytime soon.
The highly-respected Wedig, whose Chiefs are currently 6-0 and have advanced to the state final three of the last five seasons and won it all in 2009, along with the school’s principal and athletic director, met with three people at the school, one of which is an angry parent concerned about his son’s playing time with the varsity football team this season.
The parent sent Wedig an email last weekend and said if Wedig didn’t call him back, he would show up at the school on Monday.
“I tried calling and left a message, but when they did not return the call I forwarded the e-mail to the administration because I felt the meeting could be a little heated due to the nature of the e-mail,” Wedig said via e-mail Wednesday.
The parent, a relative and a family friend actually showed up, and they weren’t there to praise the coach’s football expertise.
In fact, it was a blatant attempt at intimidation.
“You will play my son or else,” the parent barked at Wedig.
Absolutely shocked and speechless, Wedig said he was so taken aback that he couldn’t even concentrate on what the man said next.
He added he has “connections,” he would “go to the papers” and that he “knows people.” Wedig, normally a stoic, confident presence, was shaken to his core.
“This entire meeting was way out of control,” he said. “I have had some pretty heated discussions with parents before but nothing like this. In today’s world, you never know (if the threat was real).”
Trying to forget what had just occurred, Wedig walked to football practice. He began questioning his very existence as a head coach, one that probably includes a future induction into the state coaching Hall of Fame.
“I began coaching middle school girls basketball when I was still in college,” said the 46-year-old. “So I have been coaching at some capacity for over 25 years. As I was walking out to practice after the meeting, for the first time in all those years a thought crept over me about whether this is really worth it.”
Wedig said it’s too early to tell what will happen with this. He has no problem openly discussing players’ roles with parents, as long as it is done with class and dignity. This particular instance was the complete opposite of the ideal discussion.
“I believe parents have the right to understand what their son’s role is with the team,” Wedig said. “I have no problem discussing that as long as it is done professionally and I am treated with the respect I feel I have earned as a coach.”
Respect is an understatement. Wedig has built an undisputed reputation for winning at Big Foot. In seven-plus seasons as head coach, Big Foot has made the playoffs every year, and the school hoisted the ultimate prize in 2009, the Division 4 state championship.
Alumni like Travis Frederick (Dallas Cowboys), Mike Walker (starter, St. Cloud State), Carter Hehr (University of Arizona), Garett Cary (North Dakota) and Mason Dixon (Beloit College, former state player of the year) have graced the football field and helped turn a once-struggling program into a perennial state title contender.
Moments after Wedig’s Facebook post Tuesday night about the ordeal, the community and friends showed their support. With 21 comments including one that stated “The community has got your back,” it’s easy to see why this man is so loved and hard to see why someone would show him such unabashed hatred.
“From my experience, it seems like when teams are losing, parents want a winner, and when they have a winner they want their sons to be the stars,” Wedig said. “As a parent, I understand the passion they have for their sons but they have to understand that coaches at the varsity level are paid to win. If they don’t win, they get fired.”
A proud father, Wedig praised his kids on Facebook just one day before the meeting. He has coached his sons and daughters in football and basketball.
“Hard to believe I have gone full circle from watching my kids play to watching them play and coach. Truly enjoy watching Jake and Gus coach. They teach, they encourage and they have fun and make it fun for the kids,” he said.
At the end of the day, Wedig loves coaching and enjoys the people in the community. One bad apple won’t change that.
“The vast majority of the parents in the communities of Big Foot are great, supportive people,” he said. “I don’t think this incident takes anything away from that, and I am very proud of all my former players. I am glad most of them stay in touch.”
This is a column of personal opinion.
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Is this journalism? This article only shows the coach’s point of view. Why did the parent think his child should play? Seems like there is maybe more to this story or it’s insignificant. Yes, this happens every day in our tight knit communities where it’s about how you are connected to the coach, the teachers, etc. Either the story needs to be told from the middle or the paper should find something more worthy to be written.
It’s a blog post — a column of personal opinion. I don’t think it’s meant to be a straight news article that attempts to fully explore all sides. Opinions are rarely expressed from the middle.
If you actually read through the entire article it even says at the end “This is a column of personal opinion.”
Go cry about the “liberal media” else where. I would recommend visiting “reason.com” if you want to go cry about how Ron Paul was never elected president.
keep on coaching coach. This sounds like a jealous parent. I feel badly for the child. How embarrassing. What a joke. Keep up the good work Rodney.
Media Bias – This piece is a sports opinion piece, as noted at the bottom of the article. However, as a previous sports editor who has seen situations like these develop more and more frequently over the past 5-10 years, I would like to offer my support for Rodney Wedig and have no trouble at all believing a situation like this happened.
Parents need to step back and let coaches be coaches. Threats and poor behavior have no place between two adults who should understand the consequences of their actions.
Mediabias:
You are correct but completely misplaced in your thought process. Look at the response above. The woman doesn’t even understand your simple point and has such a lack of self-control she confirms it with her own outburst.
Media has gone from a profession with standards to a narrowcasted sales pitch with no standards. This discussion is what gets page hits. They now rely on emotion not actual standardized reporting or integrity you can trust to sell their product.
The following replies will be of similar nonsensical outbursts unknowingly flashing “thou doth protest too much.” They again won’t understand the point or target of this writing. The writing is only to you “Media Bias” – don’t waste your time anymore on this – it’s not worth it.
Great, this greedy parent just took the wide end of a rake and shoved it up their kid’s you know what. How was crying to a coach “but mah sun done play da fotbal” suppose to solve any problems? All it does is set up the kid for failure. Now, he knows his dad is a whiny little girl and he will never be able to look at him and see any masculinity, let’s hope his mom has some left. Plus, now all the kids on the team are going to ridicule him and I’d be surprised he doesn’t come out of practice with a concussion in the next week.
Sorry parents, the coaches no better than you if your kid sucks at sports or not. I recommend you ask the coach that, and if he says yes, the Home Ec Club is always accepting more students.
Unfortunately, this is the result of kids not having to “Earn” their spot on the field. Daddy will strong arm it for them. This is a classic case of spoiled, self gratifying parents needing to have their kids make them feel better about themselves. They can go to work, or wherever and brag about their kids accomplishments, probably because they failed miserably at with their own. If you want you child to be better, in sports, put down the ipad, come home from work, and work WITH your child to make him better! Then if there is an issue, his talent will speak for itself!
It’s unfortunate that something like this has to become “news.” A gentle answer turns away wrath. Sometimes it takes a bigger man to become someone’s punching bag so a person (albeit unhinged) can vent. If things are really how the parent says they are, that’s unfortunate as well. Life isn’t fair, just look at all the pro players batting .150 in the majors, trying to force someone to see things your way is not the answer.
This was obviously the wrong way to go approach this for this parent. On the other hand, if anyone thinks there is not preferential treatment to some kids as opposed to others is blind. Its been happening forever and always will. One kid might be an equal or better athlete but maybe not as social. Unfortunately As_kis_ing works in many aspects of life, no more than high school sports. Its a fact for good coaches and bad.
Ever heard of a star athlete that couldn’t talk? Thats why. They were left in the shadows and then became mimes.