To the editor:
I only recently became a part of
the Hopkins Community, so I know very little about the dynamics of the Hopkins basketball program, but I can give you some perspective from someone who was a former three-sport high school athlete and the son of the community services director, who served Lansing Waverly School District, Lansing Township, Delta Township and was a high school football coach as well.
Growing up in the Capital Area Conference with schools like Lansing Everett, Lansing Eastern and Lansing Sexton (amongst others) was definitely a challenge for not only me as an athlete, but also a huge challenge for us as a school.
We were very similar to Hopkins when it came to our overall record and the number of athletes available for each sport. In addition, we didn’t have travel teams or other programs where we could participate or focus on one sport like these kids have today. However, we always played with our classmates and very rarely did anyone get moved up to another team, unless they were exceptional athletes who would make an immediate impact or major contribution to the team. Of these few athletes, each one went on to play high level, Division I, college ball.
After the Hopkins basketball tryouts and the subsequent cuts, many parents began talking about the same problems brought up last year regarding coach Darrin Smith, (who I have never met personally), his alleged bullying of past and current players, and the nepotism toward his son(s) and close friends’ son(s).
Apparently, his coaching style and moving up players to take spots away from juniors and seniors has been a bone of contention for several years. For example, this year he kept only 10 players, including two freshmen and two sophomores. One happens to be his own kid, who is a sophomore and started as a freshman last year and the other is a friend’s kid, who is a freshman this year.
There are additional stories I’ve heard from parents about many other ancillary issues including Mr. Smith taking his youngest son and his friend’s son to a summer basketball camp at the expense of sophomores, juniors and seniors who were not invited, but wanted to go. This is only one incident, but the bottom line is that many parents are upset and that kids are not going to have the opportunity to play basketball and not because they are not good and capable athletes, but because they don’t want to play for coach Smith.
The claim of nepotism is common among many people in the community, because his son, who saw substantial playing time last year as a freshman, averaged fewer than 3 points per game. There is a place for an athlete like that and it is on the junior varsity, not on the varsity team where he is going up against more mature athletes.
What this type of thing does is send a negative message to the other student athletes, whose parents pay to give their kids the same opportunities, but get discouraged because they don’t like the coach they play for, which has been happening for the last several years. It also puts kids and their parents in a very bad position, because they want to say something, but they are afraid to because it will affect their kid’s playing time.
So, what can they do to get something done about the way the program is being run and about the number of kids being affected by one individual?
During the entire time that I played, only one player was moved up to varsity his sophomore year and he was one of the leading scorers. He went on to be an All-American linebacker at Saginaw Valley. Moving students up to the varsity should be the exception, for very talented players, not just for the coach’s son.
The thing that is disturbing is that high school years are extremely important for the development of young men and women. They need coaches who are supportive, caring and approachable, not someone they fear. They need coaches who promote a complete team environment and who set the standard in pride for playing for your school and your community, regardless of your team record.
There are many area schools that have great programs, but I can guarantee you that none are run in the same fashion as Hopkins boys basketball. I would urge you to investigate this issue further and maybe talk to an athlete who left Hopkins last year to play at Wayland, because of coach Smith.
David DeLaat, Hopkins
Some of your information is wrong. Seniors and Juniors were invited to go to the summer camp that decided not to go. No upper classman’s spot was taken by an underclassman at summer camp. The coach’s son and the coach’s son’s friend’s belong to be on the team. They are good athletes, great students who have exemplary characters. Just because juniors got cut from the team doesn’t mean they can bully the underclassman who did make the team. One junior and his family has spewed so much hate all over social media. Cuts are life. Spewing hate will not get any problems solved. The team is divided because of all this hate. And the kids that got brought up just want to be part of the team and play. Not fair and so wrong that these bullies are tearing apart a community. Please get all the facts before you spew hate as well. Darrin Smith is a fair and caring coach. He has put the best players on the team to win. That is his job. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean you can act like a spoiled brat who bullies others. Deciding not to play because an athlete doesn’t like the coach speaks volumes about their character. There are going to be plenty of people in life you don’t like. What if you don’t like your boss? Are you going to start a campaign to get him fired? Spew hate about your boss all over social media?
Then why didn’t other under class men in Darrin’s younger son’s grade get the invitation to go to the summer camp?
Can your kid compete at that level? Thought so….
From the opening line of your paragraph, it sounds like you have no true insight to be writing this article about someone you have never met or interacted with. A varsity coaches job is to put the best team on the floor to win.
The author of this article contradicts his own story. He says during his high school time that very few underclassmen were moved up – “Of these few athletes, each one went on to play high level, Division I, college ball”. Later in the article he says “During the entire time that I played, only one player was moved up to varsity his sophomore year and he was one of the leading scorers. He went on to be an All-American linebacker at Saginaw Valley.” So it went from a few athletes who went on to play high level Division 1 college ball to 1 player who moved up and went to a Division 2 school. Also stating that the coaches son started on varsity is not completely accurate – he was not on the varsity to start the year. You would have to look into the reason why he was moved up during the year. The games I attended he came off the bench and played less minutes – all contributing to scoring 3pts per game. To state the freshman and sophomores are not mature enough to play varsity ball I ask the author – have you watched them play travel ball, court house, etc. With my eyes I witnessed that the underclassmen are at the very least as physically mature if not more so than some of the upperclassmen and their level of basketball maturity & IQ is higher – these kids have put in the time since a very young age and have continued to improve. Rather than nepotism much of this is based on jealousy. I do agree that playing Middle School kids at a High School camp is not the right thing to do but it is not a reason to fire someone. How can someone guarantee that other area programs are run different unless you are actively part of those programs.