By Tim Slauter

Tim Slauter, CMAA, is Director of Athletics at McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, Ind. He served as the President of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association during the 2005-06 school year, was a regional finalist for the 2009 NASPE Athletic Director of the Year award, and has been honored with an NIAAA State Award of Merit. He can be reached at: tslauter@tsc.k12.in.us.

With the start of a new school year upon us, now is a great time to take stock of the values, beliefs, and tenets of our athletic departments. If our goal is to steer young people in a direction that will help them build a solid foundation for adulthood, is our athletic philosophy designed to help?

That's the question I am asking myself a lot these days. Looking back on 35 years in education, I am concerned the value structure that communities, families, and organizations once held in high regard for their young people is starting to erode. I see decreased respect for authority, relaxed morals, a loss of commitment, reduced work ethics, and a failure to take responsibility for one's actions.

Is it because parents today have changed more than their children have? A generation ago, parents readily supported the discipline that coaches and teachers handed out. I remember dreading going home after getting in trouble at school because the punishment that I would receive from my parents would be greater than that of the school.

Today's parents tend to automatically challenge any type of discipline or perceived inequity directed toward their child. How many times have you witnessed a parent publicly confront a coach? And how many times have parents agreed that their son or daughter should be disciplined for some violation of your athletic code? I'm guessing the answer to the first question is greater than the second.

Some may call me over-reactive or out of touch with today's young people, but let me assure you I am not. I am seeing a trend that is detrimental to athletics and education. I am also committed to finding remedies for it.

The first solution, I've found, is the creation of a strong philosophy for your athletic department that is clearly supported by standards for behavior. This philosophy must be a dynamic, evolving statement that has the buy-in of coaches and student-athletes. It must also be linked to everything you do.

MAKING A STATEMENT
What should a philosophy statement include? It should sum up what is important in your athletic department and school community in terms of values and ideals. It puts in writing the goals and mission of your program that relate to student-athlete growth.

It should also be the foundation for your policies and codes of conduct. It provides the reasons behind rules and punishments, and it ensures that you are treating all athletes and coaches fairly.

Another important note is that the philosophy must be very solid in its construction so it can stand up to any type of scrutiny. You don't want statements you can't defend or might want to change in six months.

Here at McCutcheon High School, our philosophy statement is 525 words long and includes our beliefs on the value of participation, how athletics ties to education, why we hold coaches and athletes to high standards, and the importance of preparation. It also covers issues of sportsmanship and maintaining high standards. (For a look at the full text, see note at end of article.)

Not every coach and athlete will totally agree with all aspects of your philosophy, but it does need to echo the values and culture at your school. That's why it's critical to get input from everyone affected by the statement.

The first group to include should be members of the coaching staff, especially those coaches who have been with your program for a while and have a great perspective on your school and community expectations. You can get their input during staff meetings or even through an ad hoc committee. I also gathered coaches' insights through everyday discussions with them.

I encourage all my coaches to continually share ideas, thoughts, and suggestions that are important to the image and operation of our department. This allowed us to work collaboratively on creating an overall philosophy.

Because your coaches play important roles in reinforcing department rules and policies, they must be on board with your department's philosophy. If that means more discussions to develop your statement, consider that time well spent. In the long run, coaches and administrators must be on the same page.

Thoughts and suggestions should also be solicited from parents. This can occur formally at meetings or casually at functions or athletic contests. The key here is to find parents you can trust to be objective, unbiased, and without an agenda.

Over the years, I have developed a close rapport with a small group of parents I've come to know as honest and insightful. They are also forthright with me when I ask for their input about fairness, consistency, and expectations. While it does take some time and effort to cultivate such a group, these relationships can be invaluable and are certainly worth the effort.

In many cases, great ideas and suggestions regarding the athletic philosophy can come from the athletes themselves. In our school, we created a group know as the Athletic Leadership Council that is made up of primarily seniors representing each of the 21 varsity teams. The principal and I meet with this group monthly.

At these meetings, representatives from each of the in-season teams report to the rest of the group any positive things that are happening in their sport. The principal and I then use the session to bounce ideas off the student-athletes. We received terrific suggestions from this group when we were first creating our philosophy, and they've helped us revise a number of our policies regarding sportsmanship, school spirit, drug testing, and codes of conduct. We've come to rely heavily on these student-athletes to serve as a sounding board for our department.

The meetings with this group are lively and always informative. We discover a lot about the pulse of our school and what is important to our athletes and students. We've found that most of our athletes are very comfortable with the department's rules and procedures and that they want to represent our school in a positive manner. They also help our administrative team disseminate information back to the members of their various teams.

After getting opinions from coaches, parents, and athletes, the athletic director should be the one to carefully decide what the final philosophy statement will include. Ultimately, the athletic director must be able to defend its ideas to his or her superiors, community, athletes, and staff.

In addition, the athletic director is in the best position to view the philosophy in an objective, non-emotional, and fair manner. We are just far enough removed from the day-to-day contact between coaches and students to be able to evaluate the total program and how rules, departmental values, and mode of operation will affect all of the stakeholders in our system.

It is important to periodically review your department's philosophy statement. If your school board or school changes procedures or policies, you may need to update the wording of the statement. And if ideas and opinions on a topic turn a tide, it may be time to revisit certain philosophies.

ALL IN THE HANDBOOK
The next step is to integrate your philosophy statement into the operations of the athletic department. The best way to accomplish this is through your athletic department handbooks. The rules and policies in these manuals should directly reflect the ideals in your philosophy statement.

The Coaches Handbook should contain all the duties and responsibilities expected of your staff. These should be clearly defined and as detailed as possible. The handbook should contain information about each of the following:

· Attendance
· Award description and eligibility
· Department stance on membership in coaches associations and clinic attendance
· Conduct of coaches
· Dealing with parent complaints
· Preseason, in-season, and postseason responsibilities
· Evaluation process and expectations
· State and school athletic and academic eligibility requirements
· Legal duties of coaches
· Fundraising
· Dealing with injuries
· Required paperwork
· Summer programs and responsibilities
· Team rules and discipline
· Transportation rules

Another portion of the handbook can detail student-athlete standards and discipline. Our handbook contains a section titled, "Expected Standards of Conduct for Athletes." It lists 10 items we want coaches to focus on with their athletes, including teamwork, being a positive influence, and respecting others.

In addition, the Coaches Handbook should contain information about your state athletic association's policies and rules, including rule interpretation meetings, state tournaments, unsportsmanlike penalties, rules for non-staff coaches, and so forth. I recommend that you also include copies and examples of the various forms, award certificates, and phone trees that your department uses.

Most importantly, the Coaches Handbook should include the department's expectations of conduct, appearance, language, sideline behavior, and professional responsibilities. It's a good idea to be specific with these expectations and not leave anything to chance or misinterpretation. Coaches often need to be reminded that, for right or wrong, school employees live in a fishbowl and are therefore charged with the responsibility of being judged by their actions. Everyone who is part of the athletic department must be a positive role model for all to see!

It's also a good idea to include suggestions for coaches on working with athletes and parents. For example, you can offer tips on dealing with unhappy parents and building better lines of communication. You can share ideas on motivating athletes and how to include teachable moments in daily practices.

The content of the Athletic Handbook should be a little different. This manual is designed to inform athletes and their parents of the important rules, procedures, regulations, and policies that members of teams are expected to follow. Start with the code of conduct and also include eligibility rules, procedures to lodge a complaint, awards policies, and anything else that an athlete, parent, administrator, or central office employee needs to know about athletic department policies.

At most schools, the Athletic Handbook will require Board of Education approval. If this is the case, be ready to defend and promote the beliefs and rules in this document. Also understand that some compromise might be required in order to have the document passed by this group--ultimately, it will be the school board that will have final authority over the listed codes and rules.

The Athletic Handbook only works if everyone reads it. Therefore, we require all athletes and their parents to sign a pledge, confirming they have reviewed the document and will abide by its rules. Before the athlete can participate in his or her first contest, the signed pledge must be on file in my office.

We also go over the rules at mandatory preseason meetings. Before the first contest in any sport, coaches have a meeting with players to specifically review the handbook and discuss expectations for behavior. (See "Team Meeting" below.) To support the importance of following our handbook's rules, I make it a point to attend as many of those meetings as my schedule will allow.

Preseason parent meetings are an opportunity to go over rules with parents. To ensure consistency, I give coaches an outline that we review beforehand. Topics include team and department rules regarding conduct, attendance, punctuality, academics, and discipline, as well as logistics. (For a look at the full list, see note at end of article.)

Parents are always welcome to ask questions about our athletic philosophy and share their thoughts about our rules, codes, and expectations. While the preseason meeting is not the best time to get into a lengthy philosophical discussion with a parent, we do offer them the opportunity to meet at a later date to discuss their thoughts in greater detail. One of the goals of this meeting is to establish a framework of trust between the parents and the coaches to make the athletic experience a positive one for the athlete.

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR'S ROLE
I have a small sign on my desk (similar to the one that President Harry S. Truman had on his Oval Office desk) that says, "The Buck Stops Here." It is my feeling that the athletic director must assume all responsibility and accountability for his or her department. We must be willing to take on the challenge of leading our athletes and programs, even when that means making tough decisions.

I have found that the presence of a department philosophy greatly helps with my leadership tasks. It provides me with a guiding document to make decisions and a statement that backs up my actions. It also helps everyone in the athletic department run their programs with long-term learning as a focus.

One story in particular comes to mind when I think about the importance of our philosophy statement and codes of conduct. Not too many years ago, a former student-athlete stopped by to say hello. As we reminisced a little, he specifically mentioned a time when I had disciplined him because of a poor choice he made when he was a junior in high school. The infraction caused him to be suspended from his team for a period of time.

He said that, at the time, he thought the suspension was unfair. He did not understand it and did not agree with it. But as he sat out the requisite number of contests, he began to realize how important participation in athletics was to his life and that he wanted to ensure something like that would never happen to him again.

As he shared his thoughts with me that day, he began to get somewhat emotional. He said it took him a few years to understand that the discipline was in his best interests and helped him both redefine his dedication to his sport and understand that athletes must be held to a higher standard. As he shook my hand to leave, he told me how important that time was to his development and that he was certain he wouldn't have been as successful without the experience.

Often times, we don't know how much we have impacted young people's lives until years later. But we do know that we have the capacity to touch the future. It is our duty to ensure that the young people we deal with daily are given every opportunity to find future success, happiness, and a sense of pride in what they do.

On the Web: You can find a copy of McCutcheon High School's athletic department philosophy statement and a list of coaches' talking points at preseason parent meetings by searching "McCutcheon Philosophy" and "McCutcheon Parents Meeting," respectively, at our home page: www.AthleticManagement.com.

Sidebar: In Focus
The following are some ideas on how to keep values in focus on an everyday basis.

• Formally promote the beliefs in your philosophy statement at coaches meetings, team meetings, and parent gatherings.
• Be consistent with your decisions.
• Be prepared to be strong when parents question your policies and claim unfair treatment.
• Understand that any deviation from your philosophy or previous rulings creates a precedent.
• Don't allow any athlete to be "bigger" than your philosophy.
• Don't bargain with any of your beliefs.
• Don't allow athletes to think it's all right to accept special treatment or favors in the classroom or the community just because they are athletes.
• Don't ever let athletes and coaches forget they are role models.

Sidebar: Team Meeting
To ensure that athletes at McCutcheon High School fully understand our department philosophy, each coach is instructed to hold a team meeting very early in the season to distribute information, answer questions, and clarify team expectations. The following topics must be covered by every coach:

• Pass out the Athletic Handbook and go over important rules, carefully explaining any new ones.
• Review specific team rules not covered in the code of conduct.
• Emphasize Athletic Handbook rules regarding drug and alcohol use.
• Explain the drug testing procedure.
• Explain the rules and procedures for the athletic training room and reporting injuries.
• Describe varsity awards and the lettering policy.
• Review academic eligibility.
• Discuss and distribute (as needed) the school's insurance policy.
• Explain chances of injury and the parental consent form.
• Distribute practice and game schedules, the transportation schedule, and important phone numbers.
• Talk about the proper use and care of equipment.
• Go over guidelines for conduct in practices and games.
• Discuss other items as they pertain to the particular sport.