Almost every year we hear about a coach resigning or a player being cut from a sports team because “it was all politics.” Maybe it’s time to put these practices to an end.

Politics have widely been accepted as the inescapable reality of playing high school sports, or even sports in general.  It starts at a young age and carries forward into high school.

Often, these politics are created by parents trying to influence coaches’ opinions about their sons and daughters. Plain and simple, some parents have too much say when it comes to high school athletics.

Unfortunately, this is what happened to former Cal High men’s basketball coach Bob Donovan, who was forced to resign by the school district earlier this school year as a result of parent complaints.

Some parents’ powerful say in high school sports is disgraceful. But when those parents send anonymous letters to the district trying to tarnish a coaches reputation, as some did in Donovan’s case, it’s absurd.

What’s even  worse is to see the district not only listen to these anonymous parents – who don’t have the guts to sign their names to potentially libelous letters – but also see them force out the coach.

That is inexcusable and unforgivable. By responding in such a way, the district shows parents they can continue to behave like spoiled children in order to get what they want.

This is one of the main reasons parents continue to poke their noses into high school sports, but it’s not the only reason.  Recent budget cuts to school districts have parents donating more money than ever to keep athletic programs at a competitive level.

Though this does not give parents a say in how teams are run, some overbearing parents believe it entitles them to a say in who is on the team and how much they should play.

This problem wasn’t as prominent in the past because schools and the district were more willing to back coaches whom parents were attacking, giving parent complaints little weight.  But now that our district has started giving in to the demands of parents, no matter how ridiculous, coaches are left unprotected.

This is not just morally wrong, but it also hurts student athletes. Coaches are put in a position of trust to determine what is best for the team and all of the athletes they instruct.

Most coaches want to not only make their players good athletes but also good people. When outside forces try to interfere with this it ends up being bad for everyone involved.