Doug Parrish calls himself an "old-school'' coach with a tinge of pride.

You don't coach a sport like baseball for 32 years like Parrish has at Ravenswood without doing things your way.

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Longtime Capital boys basketball coach Carl Clark said he has had to change his ways to keep up with today’s athletes.

"It's tough coaching anymore,'' said Parrish, who led the Red Devils to the 1977 Class AAA championship game and the 1999 AA title. "These kids ... I don't know. It's nuts anymore. I've lost a lot of kids the last few years for a multitude of reasons.

"I even had one kid quit the team because he couldn't get the uniform number he wanted. I tell them I played in sweats my senior year in high school, and was glad that we had the chance to play. But they're too spoiled, they've got too much to do and too many people babying them.''

Parrish isn't alone among the coaching fraternity. All across the state, coaches used to running their programs "the right way'' - with rigid, inflexible rules - are being worn to a frazzle dealing with today's players.

Much, of course, has changed in the last couple generations. Athletes have all sorts of potential distractions - cell phones, cars, computers, video games. Even allegiance to their school is tested by dealings with AAU/travel teams and "friends'' who encourage them to transfer to another school.

"I think it's the age we're in,'' said longtime Kanawha Valley basketball coach Tex Williams. "We came up in a different time - shooting marbles, throwing snowballs, playing Indian trapper. Simple games that led into the sport for what we do. Now a kid in the seventh grade can post something on the Internet to find out where he ranks in the country on his athletic skills. I really believe that they're growing up too fast.''

Carl Clark, Capital's veteran basketball coach, thinks all of today's distractions serve to "pull kids away'' from athletics.

"It used to be kids got into athletics to keep them out of trouble,'' said Clark, who took the Cougars to consecutive AAA titles in 2000-01. "A lot of them had goals to go to college and to be better people because of athletics.

"I don't think that's a draw anymore. I think they have [a different] attitude. One that says it's not what they can do for the team, but what can being involved in athletics do for them. It used to be more team-oriented, and now it's more personally pointed to their individual goals. A lot of that has to do with parenting, and also AAU. Kids think they get more exposure by getting involved with AAU, but that doesn't do a lot for their team.''

Jimmy Tribble, who won state baseball titles with Winfield in 1985 and Buffalo in 2006, said players' work ethics have changed since he began coaching in 1982.

"When I first started, it was serious, like football,'' Tribble said, "trying to win a state championship and being as good as you can be. If kids didn't come out and work hard at it, somebody's gonna outwork them and, next year, they don't make the team.

"Today, there's always exceptions to the rule, but for the majority of kids today - from what I've seen the last five years - baseball's something to do in the spring when they have nothing else to do. That mentality transcends over the level of play throughout the state. Coaches want it more now than the kids. We want to be successful and be good more than the kids do. I don't know if that's the case everywhere, but for a whole lot of schools, that's been the case.''

Downsizing appears to be the norm for most veteran coaches - reduced commitment leads to smaller rosters and even fewer fans.

"I know back in 1973 when I first started coaching at East Bank, we had great big crowds,'' said Ralph Hensley, now the coach at Riverside. "It was something. Even when we dropped to double-A, the crowds were still large. But people don't seem to like sports as much as they once did, because they have so many other things.''

Hensley said his AA East Bank teams in the early 1990s used to sport between 55-60 players. Now, he said, a good-sized roster at AAA Riverside is 45-50.

"It seems like they don't take it quite as serious,'' said Hensley, 56, who won four state championships at East Bank. "We kind of preach, and they know that if they're going to win, they have to be at practice and have to do the things you need to do. But sometimes people can't come to weightlifting because they have to work or some other activity. It seems like we have a lot of people working. It's kind of frustrating, but you can't say anything because if they have to work, they have to work.''

Hensley also sighed when talking about another situation at Riverside.

Doug Parrish calls himself an "old-school'' coach with a tinge of pride.

You don't coach a sport like baseball for 32 years like Parrish has at Ravenswood without doing things your way.

But there's also a tinge of bitterness to Parrish's voice these days.

"It's tough coaching anymore,'' said Parrish, who led the Red Devils to the 1977 Class AAA championship game and the 1999 AA title. "These kids ... I don't know. It's nuts anymore. I've lost a lot of kids the last few years for a multitude of reasons.

"I even had one kid quit the team because he couldn't get the uniform number he wanted. I tell them I played in sweats my senior year in high school, and was glad that we had the chance to play. But they're too spoiled, they've got too much to do and too many people babying them.''

Parrish isn't alone among the coaching fraternity. All across the state, coaches used to running their programs "the right way'' - with rigid, inflexible rules - are being worn to a frazzle dealing with today's players.

Much, of course, has changed in the last couple generations. Athletes have all sorts of potential distractions - cell phones, cars, computers, video games. Even allegiance to their school is tested by dealings with AAU/travel teams and "friends'' who encourage them to transfer to another school.

"I think it's the age we're in,'' said longtime Kanawha Valley basketball coach Tex Williams. "We came up in a different time - shooting marbles, throwing snowballs, playing Indian trapper. Simple games that led into the sport for what we do. Now a kid in the seventh grade can post something on the Internet to find out where he ranks in the country on his athletic skills. I really believe that they're growing up too fast.''

Carl Clark, Capital's veteran basketball coach, thinks all of today's distractions serve to "pull kids away'' from athletics.

"It used to be kids got into athletics to keep them out of trouble,'' said Clark, who took the Cougars to consecutive AAA titles in 2000-01. "A lot of them had goals to go to college and to be better people because of athletics.

"I don't think that's a draw anymore. I think they have [a different] attitude. One that says it's not what they can do for the team, but what can being involved in athletics do for them. It used to be more team-oriented, and now it's more personally pointed to their individual goals. A lot of that has to do with parenting, and also AAU. Kids think they get more exposure by getting involved with AAU, but that doesn't do a lot for their team.''

Jimmy Tribble, who won state baseball titles with Winfield in 1985 and Buffalo in 2006, said players' work ethics have changed since he began coaching in 1982.

"When I first started, it was serious, like football,'' Tribble said, "trying to win a state championship and being as good as you can be. If kids didn't come out and work hard at it, somebody's gonna outwork them and, next year, they don't make the team.

"Today, there's always exceptions to the rule, but for the majority of kids today - from what I've seen the last five years - baseball's something to do in the spring when they have nothing else to do. That mentality transcends over the level of play throughout the state. Coaches want it more now than the kids. We want to be successful and be good more than the kids do. I don't know if that's the case everywhere, but for a whole lot of schools, that's been the case.''

Downsizing appears to be the norm for most veteran coaches - reduced commitment leads to smaller rosters and even fewer fans.

"I know back in 1973 when I first started coaching at East Bank, we had great big crowds,'' said Ralph Hensley, now the coach at Riverside. "It was something. Even when we dropped to double-A, the crowds were still large. But people don't seem to like sports as much as they once did, because they have so many other things.''

Hensley said his AA East Bank teams in the early 1990s used to sport between 55-60 players. Now, he said, a good-sized roster at AAA Riverside is 45-50.

"It seems like they don't take it quite as serious,'' said Hensley, 56, who won four state championships at East Bank. "We kind of preach, and they know that if they're going to win, they have to be at practice and have to do the things you need to do. But sometimes people can't come to weightlifting because they have to work or some other activity. It seems like we have a lot of people working. It's kind of frustrating, but you can't say anything because if they have to work, they have to work.''

Hensley also sighed when talking about another situation at Riverside.

There are more assistant coaches from other schools working in the building [four] than assistants from his own Warriors staff [three].

"It's kind of disheartening because you don't have coaches you can talk to or talk with,'' Hensley said. "It used to be that all the coaches were in the school, and that made it a lot easier to communicate. Everybody knew you were the coach, and they kind of respected that and you got done what needed to be done. So things have changed, and you kind of have to roll with the punches and do the best you can.''

Older coaches find they have to change with the times, and give the players a little more leash than they might have in years past.

"You have to change,'' said Clark, 61. "Personally, I've changed some of my ways. I'm definitely from the old school and how we used to coach the kids. But you have to change your style with the type of kids you have nowadays. If you come down hard on them, they just walk away from it, or go somewhere else. The big thing today is kids go where they get the best shot for themselves personally.''

Players bounce from one school system to another so frequently now that most people have stopped paying attention. But for coaches used to building from within the system, it can be a nightmare.

"It used to be that you'd come from your junior high all into the community and the high school,'' Clark said. "They looked forward to playing at the high school level in their particular community. That's not the issue anymore. They're looking where they can best go to enhance their athletic careers. That's what it's all about now. There are a lot of schools offering kids different things and they know they're willing to go to the highest bidder.

"So you never know from year to year who you're going to have. You don't know if the kids who are at the junior highs are going to be there next year or the following year. You used to kind of plan your program around that, but you can't do that anymore. You take what you can get and do the best you can with it.''

Even with the myriad obstacles they face in dealing with today's athletes, coaches know all the blame doesn't lie elsewhere. They have to avoid the distractions, too.

"It's not just the athletes,'' Hensley said. "It's the coaches, too. Just because you're a coach, you've still got to put the time in. And kids know when you don't put your time in. If you're there for a short amount of time, the kids will see that. The coaches should work hard for the athletes. It's not about coaches getting the glory - and I know we don't do it for the money, that's for sure. It's all about the athletes. We do it because of the athletes. We want them to do well and we respect them.''

Tribble also sympathizes with his players to a degree.

"To be fair to the kids, when we were growing up, there wasn't an Internet,'' he said. "If you had to get in touch with somebody, there wasn't a cell phone. You called from home, or somebody ran down and gave you a message. Now there are iPhones, cell phones, video games, video movies - so many things are going on today that kids didn't have when I was growing up. All we had was getting out and playing baseball or playing football. Society is just different.''

Tribble, however, also understands how coaches like Parrish, a longtime friend, have trouble adjusting.

"He's a great baseball man,'' Tribble said. "He knows how the game is supposed to be played, and he's had the opportunity to coach some great players. I know he's very frustrated right now. I can see it in his face. Guys coach now for the love of the game, and to see kids get out there and excel. To see a kid improve over the course of a season.

"It's much, much tougher to coach high school baseball, and a lot of times, I don't think the parents understand. They think their sons ought to be all-state. Well, your son didn't play summer baseball, he didn't lift, he didn't get stronger. He just comes out in March. So it's like starting over every March.''

Confrontations (and caring for his 92-year-old mother) also cut short the coaching career of the 66-year-old Williams, who was lured out of retirement last winter by Nitro after coaching for 26 seasons at St. Albans. He stepped down after six games.

"When you come from the old school, you'd rather just move on without fighting the issues,'' Williams said. "You see a young man, with his ability, with no reason not to participate. These issues and human relations are not solid. I don't want to go in every day and be miserable. Everything has a cause and effect, and I think that's what a lot of coaches are facing. It used to be your dad and your coach's word was No. 1.

"If all athletes had the attitude of the '50s when I came through, I would have lasted. That, combined with other situations you tolerate today in teaching, it takes its toll. All of it's not the kids. I think parents need to evaluate what their goals are, too. You're going to find a lot of coaches - especially these coaches from the old school - [doing the same] when people find these little minute situations and make a mountain out of it. A lot of them would just rather switch than fight.''

Reach Rick Ryan at 348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com