Just heard an amazing story - a little old but too good of a story to not post.

In June an Andromeda boys team was adding lots of players (more than 10 new). On signing day in early July, all the parents were required to show up in the pouring rain at ATF to sign the docs. All signed in about 20 minutes. As soon as the last signature hit the pages, Andro announced that the coach that picked the team was quitting coaching and introduced the new coach.

Seriously guys - is open and honest so difficult in NTX soccer?

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That attitude trickles down from the top. NTX Board. Need I say more?

Why must you guys make me address this ... stuff.

A 97 team had a coach forming a new Andro team, he had just come over over from Solar. Not sure what team at Solar, and I'm not going to go into his personal details other than to say he'd been out of full time employment for some time (he some how is not able to support his family from a single team salary). He was able to secure a full time position that was not going to allow him to keep the team, so after 10+ years of coaching competitive soccer he had to give it up.

Could the situation has been handled better by the coach, yes. In the end Andro was able to secure a well qualified coach for the position and life moves on. It was a new team, and now has a brand new coach. Fascinating stuff ain't it.

BTW it is my 97's team, and yes I am very happy with the new coach.

I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Heard about that but what are the new fees?

Who was the coach who left?

My son is also a part of this team. While the situation could have been handled differently, the original coach was not offered full time employment with a goverment agency until that day. And while we could have gotten stuck with a coach that was not a good fit, we really lucked out and now have an outstanding young coach. As for the fees, there was no change from the orignal club fact sheet.

go99 wrote:I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Ahh yes, the point of the post. Glad someone out there has my back.

Is it EJJ that left?

whyme wrote:Is it EJJ that left?

We got a winner

Yak Attack wrote:

go99 wrote:I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Ahh yes, the point of the post. Glad someone out there has my back.

I am not a lawyer or anything , but you might check the contract. It normally has the name of the coach on the contract and that can be disputed if the new coach is not listed. Might look at North Texas 2001 (Ferrar vs. His club).Player won!

prohibit wrote:

Yak Attack wrote:

go99 wrote:I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Ahh yes, the point of the post. Glad someone out there has my back.

I am not a lawyer or anything , but you might check the contract. It normally has the name of the coach on the contract and that can be disputed if the new coach is not listed. Might look at North Texas 2001 (Ferrar vs. His club).Player won!

Over the years, I have been involved with four different clubs and none of them ever mentioned the coach of the team in the contract.

dreambig wrote:

prohibit wrote:

Yak Attack wrote:

go99 wrote:I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Ahh yes, the point of the post. Glad someone out there has my back.

I am not a lawyer or anything , but you might check the contract. It normally has the name of the coach on the contract and that can be disputed if the new coach is not listed. Might look at North Texas 2001 (Ferrar vs. His club).Player won!

Over the years, I have been involved with four different clubs and none of them ever mentioned the coach of the team in the contract.

LOL- Maybe many of clubs learned from previous issues.

dreambig wrote:

prohibit wrote:

Yak Attack wrote:

go99 wrote:I think the point was about transparency. They should have told them before they signed. A coach that you are happy with and like could have just as easily been one you hate. The point being you were stuck in a contract either way. That being said, if I was andromeda I would have done the exact same thing. Lock the contracts down first.

Ahh yes, the point of the post. Glad someone out there has my back.

I am not a lawyer or anything , but you might check the contract. It normally has the name of the coach on the contract and that can be disputed if the new coach is not listed. Might look at North Texas 2001 (Ferrar vs. His club).Player won!

Over the years, I have been involved with four different clubs and none of them ever mentioned the coach of the team in the contract.

Right but it is on the team fact sheet the the team is obligated to provide at signing.

I would check out Andro's reputation, it is rampant with theft and switching coaches with out notice, and financial trouble and you will get no support from the club. Be very careful if you work for AAC, as is stated that you should on your contract, that money disappears also and again the club does nothing to get it back.

What's AAC?

American Airlines Center

soccer_08 wrote:I would check out Andro's reputation, it is rampant with theft and switching coaches with out notice, and financial trouble and you will get no support from the club. Be very careful if you work for AAC, as is stated that you should on your contract, that money disappears also and again the club does nothing to get it back.

Should I even ... nahhh better to let this one slide all way way down the pipe.

prohibit wrote:I am not a lawyer or anything , but you might check the contract. It normally has the name of the coach on the contract and that can be disputed if the new coach is not listed. Might look at North Texas 2001 (Ferrar vs. His club).Player won!

The current version of the fact sheet says on page one, bullet 2, "If this fact sheet says that the Club hires the coach, the club can change your coach at any time they desire, without notice to you."

It also says the same thing on page two.

This isn't about contract law. If you get into battles over the contract, you have already lost in the relationship. For your kid to grow you need a good coach/player relationship and Andro choose to look at a single season instead of a long-term relationship with the player and the parents. Wrong way to handle it. Not unusual for club soccer in NTX, but still wrong.

Its been done for years. Both boys and girls side by all club. Nothing new

homer999 wrote:This isn't about contract law. If you get into battles over the contract, you have already lost in the relationship. For your kid to grow you need a good coach/player relationship and Andro choose to look at a single season instead of a long-term relationship with the player and the parents. Wrong way to handle it. Not unusual for club soccer in NTX, but still wrong.

Again thanks so much for the concern, our team is feeling the love.

While we can close this chapter of the saga, I can speak for most of the team and we feel Andro did a good job in an unfortunate situation. Truth is EJ is much better off with his employment status, Andro stepped up and put a qualified coach that brings enthusiasm to each practice/match, and in the words of Roger; The Kids are Alright.

Congrats to the team and the former coach, but this isn't about you.
The reason I didn't use your team but left the post as generic is that this is an example of deceptive practices employed by NTX clubs in general that should be highlighted as inappropriate whenever seen. Andro's dealing with the parents in this case looks similiar to thier financial handlings. For us to pay some of the highest prices per kid in the world for youth soccer, we should hold the clubs to a higher standard.

homer999 wrote:Congrats to the team and the former coach, but this isn't about you.
The reason I didn't use your team but left the post as generic is that this is an example of deceptive practices employed by NTX clubs in general that should be highlighted as inappropriate whenever seen. Andro's dealing with the parents in this case looks similiar to thier financial handlings. For us to pay some of the highest prices per kid in the world for youth soccer, we should hold the clubs to a higher standard.

I agree, too often you (the parents) feel like you still owe something to the clubs and to the coaches. Darn, We fork $25k a year ! I think THEY need to feel THEY owe us and THEY need to make sure they are providing good services (indeed this is all what our soccer business is about : we are paying for a service). These clubs are not doing us a favor; we are the ones allowing them to prosper (or survive)...

We can cry and whine about this issue all we want to but these clubs are not going to change it . They don't want to lose our money so this type shady practice is everywhere and not just Andro. With the field issue, Andro just happened to be in the spotlight for now.

Coaches come and go from clubs all the time. I don't know why we are having all of this venom directed towards Andromeda, they are hardly the only offender. This summer we had several big names move to other clubs and I didn't see any long dramatic threads about that?

The timing of this particular one was unfortunate, as stated many times.

And it's a little unbelievable too that yall are critiquing this poor man for giving up something that he loved doing, in order to take a real job to feed his family.

I don't anyone was blaming the coach in that particular instance...

Let me ask a question, however...

How many other sports play this "club" system? I've been around select sports all my life. I've seen it, been a member, been a parent, officiated, etc. You know what I notice? That soccer is the only sport that the CLUB matters.

Most other sports have some sort of a core of player personnel (put together in whatever way) and then make sure they have a coach that is compatible with their team. This happens in baseball, in basketball, in football... So as we moan and groan about the fees, the service and the deceptive practices, be sure to look around and see how other sports function. Something tells me there is no shortage of baseball and basketball select players out there...and they all play for a TEAM...not a club.

OnTheSurface wrote:Coaches come and go from clubs all the time. I don't know why we are having all of this venom directed towards Andromeda, they are hardly the only offender. This summer we had several big names move to other clubs and I didn't see any long dramatic threads about that?

The timing of this particular one was unfortunate, as stated many times.

And it's a little unbelievable too that yall are critiquing this poor man for giving up something that he loved doing, in order to take a real job to feed his family.

What does feeding his family have to do with anything? He's going to quit anyway, why not come clean to the families before signing day? Was it a requirement for his new job that he withhold this information from the families on his team? Was the club going to withhold his last paycheck if he didn't play along? Regardless of whether the team is fine with it now or whether everything has turned out alright, it still shows deception by the club and coach - if it happened this way.