Current and former area basketball coaches weigh in on parents, fans impact on the game

A growing national phenomenon of high school coaches calling it quits in the middle of the season has reached Wilmington.

Former Laney girls basketball coach Chinyere Bell resigned last week, citing a chaotic environment due to parents overstepping.

In the past month, at least 10 high school basketball coaches nationwide have resigned, including an entire coaching staff in Illinois.

The StarNews reached out to Wilmington basketball coaching legends Sheila Boles, Vertha Dixon Wright, and Sherri Tynes to get their take on how they handled conflicts with fans and parents.

Current Hoggard girls basketball coach Boubacar Aw also shared his thoughts.

Here are stances on dealing with conflicts off the court, fans, and more from some of Wilmington's most beloved basketball coaches.

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Vertha Dixon-Wright, former New Hanover girls basketball coach

Former New Hanover girls basketball coach Vertha Dixon-Wright, who led the team for 31 years and is one of the state's winningest coaches, says parents often don't see the full picture.

"If you're taking a position in high school athletics, you've got to expect to have some issues with parents," Dixon said. "They always think their little darling should be playing more or starting.

"I don't think things have changed much, but I do think more parents are not willing to have an actual talk with their own child to find out what's going on. They want to sit in the stands on game day and complain about what they see. They don't come to practice; your child was last in sprints. They don't come to practice; your child missed eight out of 10 free throws. We try to put our best out on game day, but I think parents sometimes forget that practice is where it's all determined."

Sheila Boles, former Hoggard boys basketball coach

Wilmington and UNCW legend Sheila Boles was the first woman in North Carolina to coach a boys high school basketball team. She spent 11 seasons as Hoggard's head coach before serving as the school's athletic director from 2000-2008.

"I feel very fortunate to coach when I coached," Boles said. "It's a different world now. It used to be a matter of chemistry and everybody playing their role, and I think that's something we've lost in our society."

While Boles said she had the support of parents during her time at Hoggard, she says today's game can create different situations.

"I do think that parents have to let you coach their kid," she said. "Parents, in my day, really trusted me to discipline their child. What child does not have to be disciplined? I know I sure did. It just seems like we have a me society instead of a we society nowadays. That can be very complicated when it comes to building a team."

Sherri Tynes, former Laney girls basketball coach

Sherri Tynes spent 23 years as the girls basketball coach at Laney and resigned in 2016 after leading the Bucs to a 423-189 overall record.

Despite her nearly 70% winning record, Tynes says criticism during her time at Laney wasn't absent.

"We never had a losing season while I was coaching basketball at Laney, and we still had people questioning what we did as a coaching staff," she said. "I think as a coach, you have to expect that you're not going to make everyone happy. You have to be confident in your coaching abilities and fight through that. You have to communicate and have thick skin because people are going to question what you do."

Boubacar Aw, current Hoggard girls basketball coach

Current Hoggard girls basketball coach Boubacar Aw says he's been lucky to have positive relationships with parents but notes that's not the case for all coaches.

"It's sad because I've seen a lot of good coaches step away from the game, people with a lot of knowledge, because of hostile environments," Aw said. "I'm a parent myself, and you always want to advocate for your kids, but when it gets to a point where a coach is very nervous about doing their job ... I would find it extremely hard to be effective doing my job if I saw that every move I made was being questioned."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: After Laney's Bell resigns, Wilmington coaches weigh in on state of game