Rennie Rebe is “seeking legal advice” to weigh in on why she was removed as coach of the Katy Jordan High School girls’ soccer team but is allowed to continue teaching her graduate course in political science at the same school.

Some of the details of this situation are unique, but the general concept is so common that most youth sports coaches in America can relate to their problem. American youth sports have a language barrier, and it is neither NIL nor a transfer portal.

It is about language and behavior that is today referred to as verbal abuse, bullying, intimidation, or what used to be referred to as “coaching.”

One of the many problems in education is that at some point over the years parents have lost their trust in the coach or teacher and all too often their relationship with them is characterized by hostility.

Before I served as an adjunct professor at TCU and SMU, the best advice I received was from an assistant dean who warned me, “All they care about is the grade, and they lie about everything.”

Of course they will. They are children.

Somewhere here, we collectively believe the child who says, “My teacher is mean to me” or “The coach doesn’t like me.”

Siiiiiel, that’s it; here’s an idea: put down your phone, try harder, and figure it out.

I proudly tell my teenage daughter, “You will always be my favorite player, but that doesn’t mean you’re the best player. The game will tell you that.” (This concludes my acceptance speech for the Parent of the Year award).

“With the kid, you hear (from parents), ‘My kid is a senior, so he should play.’ There’s no sense of earning it, so the coach becomes the villain,” Rebe said in a phone interview this week. “Districts aren’t going to fight over playing time, so they (parents or the student) say, ‘The coach is affecting my mental health.'”

The term “mental health” is now used as widely as the Atlantic and encompasses everything, including the question of why a child doesn’t clean his room.

No one should advocate a Bob Knight method of “teaching.” A teacher or trainer must have the opportunity to teach. To coach. To tell a young person without fear, “That’s not good enough.”

The easier way is to appease the sulking parents and get rid of the coach.

Katy ISD did not give a reason for firing Rebe as football coach; it said it had filed a record-keeping request for details.

Rebe has been the head coach of a program since the school opened in August 2020. During her tenure, the team achieved a record of 39-17-7, including one playoff win. Before her “transition,” the team had a record of 12-2-3 and was in first place in District 19-6A. In district play, the team achieved a record of 9-0-2.

It must be reiterated that she is still teaching her class at the same school.

In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, she said, “Lack of backbone, entitled parents and entitled players influenced the decision to allow me to continue helping lead my team to its first district title and beyond.”

Katy ISD officials did not respond to a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Somehow this makes no sense at all, but in youth sports it makes perfect sense.

“It only takes one person with a vendetta and the (teacher/coach) has no leverage anymore,” said Rebe, who has been involved in soccer since she was a child and played on the first team at Texas A&M.

She has coached at Franklin, Round Rock Stony Point, Kingwood, Austin Westlake and Pflugerville Hendrickson. As a head coach, she won more than 400 games in high school and won a state title with Hendrickson in 2017.

“Districts are ‘investigating,’ but they want to avoid the hassle. I’ve been doing this for 25 years with great pride,” she said. “I’ve worked hard at it, and that’s the part that’s so frustrating. You need an advocate because you’re working for a school district that has its own interests.”

Typically, the primary interest of 109.99% of school districts in all sports except football is finding a path that is a pebble-free sandy beach.

From Rebe’s account of events, it sounds like a parent was upset. That’s typical. Neither is the next part.

“In a community (like Katy), the unhappy parents find each other; the parents of children who don’t play enough,” said Rebe. “It’s not just soccer.”

No.

“That’s one of the reasons why so many teachers and coaches leave the profession,” she said. “The burden of ‘Why is my child not passing, why is my child not playing?’ is a real problem and it falls on the educator or the coach.”

This is how the term “grade inflation” became a common phrase in high schools and universities. What used to be a “C” on a report card is now a “B.”

The pressure to pass. The pressure to play. The pressure to improve the grades so that the student can get into the “big name” college. All of this is passed on to the teacher and the coach.

“I have so many friends who quit because they felt like they could never win. I stuck with it because I want to keep training, but (parents) make it difficult,” Rebe said. “Nobody wants a squeaky wheel. Educators care about the kids; we want them to succeed.”

She wants to become a coach, be it in Katy or another district.

Before that, she is waiting to find out why she was stripped of her coaching role at a first-place team, but was allowed to continue teaching at the same school.