I am writing this letter to voice my opinion on what is going on with the Albert Lea football program. I have been coaching on and off in the Albert Lea program since 1986 so I have been around this program for quite some time now.

A few years ago a group of parents wanted to start a booster club to help support the players. There are a lot of booster clubs that do this and do it well even in our community, but I made the comment back then that this will come back to haunt the program because they will eventually start going after coaches.

Well, my prediction came true this year with the Quarterback Club going after coach Max Jeffrey and making him feel very uncomfortable and making him feel like he had to resign his position because there was no support from them. A few players and parents decided their main objective was to get rid of the head coach even if their complaints were not valid or true. So by doing this, it will make it more difficult to turn this program around because who is going to want to coach knowing that this can happen to them. Max Jeffrey was trying to get this program going in the right direction, but it takes commitment from all involved to make this work.

First of all, it takes players to commit to lifting weights and getting bigger, faster and stronger, and it also takes parents who make sure their athlete is doing this.

Second, it takes players who commit to keeping their grades up so they are eligible to play, and it also takes parents to make sure that their athlete passes all their classes. Remember, student-athlete means student first and athlete second.

Third, it takes players who come to all of the practices and do not miss because parents took them on a vacation or some other family business.

Finally, it takes players and parents who are willing to accept change and maybe play a different position to help the team out and not worry about being the star of the team.

These are all things that the past coaching staff had trouble getting all the players and parents to commit to and some of these are the same ones who succeeded in getting Max to resign. Until these attitudes change and everyone works together, it doesn’t matter who the coach is, the Albert Lea football program will struggle.

 

Bill Webb

Albert Lea