Andy Rants: From high school to college to pro, football coaches must win or else

Recent allegations against St. John Bosco (California) beg the question: At what price is it too much when it comes to winning?

St. John Bosco football team runs out on the field against Mater Dei in 2023. /

Let's face it, football fans at all levels want to watch a winner take the field and do what they do: Win.

What about when you're just between being top-tier and middle of the road? Or when you're around the average or just below that? Then there's just flat-out not getting it done in the win column.

At any level of football, head coaches in that position are likely to find themselves out of a job, and fast.

From high school to college to the pros, expectations are to put fans in the seats and come away victorious.

In some cases, there's no other path than up or you're finished as a head football coach.

When it comes to the recent allegations brought up against national power St. John Bosco (California), in a report by the Los Angeles Times, it paints a picture of the pressure high school football coaches face to win.

Let's not take this as some isolated incident in Southern California. There are plenty of examples, across the board, when it comes to the pressure of football and winning.

Look at the NFL and college football. Vicious cycles occur annually as new coaches are awarded handsomely with new contracts of four or five years, sometimes more.

Expectations for new head coaches at both levels taking over a downtrodden franchise/program are pretty simple: Hurry up and win or else.

We see instances almost every year that a head coach, at either the pro or college level, gets just one or two years to turn things around before the "or else" part comes in, and they are quickly ousted with hefty buyouts in leftover salary.

At the high school football level, winning programs stay that way by having top-notch facilities, the best coaching staffs, nice-looking uniforms and community support.

That doesn't mean there isn't another program around you, or not far from you, trying to take your pedestal. That's where, seemingly, the will to do anything to win comes into play.

Forfeits in 2024 became the indicator of that, as high school football programs throughout the United States were found guilty of not following the rules in place in their respective states and paying the price for it. What many don't understand is that some coaches are doing the most when it comes to remaining at the top of the mountain.

We saw the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) lower the boom on multiple small private schools and ban them from the 2024 postseason, plus levy fines, because of ineligible players.

AHSAA lowers the boom on three Alabama high school football teams

Marlboro County banned from football state playoffs by South Carolina High School League

In South Carolina, the SCHSL hit Marlboro County with sanctions stemming from the use of ineligible players, resulting in the Bulldogs being banned from the 2024 postseason and hit with a $4,000 fine.

In Georgia, Stockbridge, which competed for the 4A state championship last season, had to vacate its nine wins for using an ineligible player this past season.

Stockbridge (Georgia) forced to forfeit all nine wins by GHSA due to use of ineligible player

South Florida saw many top-level programs get hit with sanctions, with Miami Central and Orlando's The First Academy taking the biggest hits and both having to forfeit all of their 2024 victories. Both missed the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) state playoffs altogether.

The problem has escalated badly enough to where Miami Northwestern head coach Teddy Bridgewater, a former NFL quarterback himself, vented on social media during the 2024 season about his frustrations with high school football in Broward-Dade.  

“This high school crap has become the new lil league,” wrote Bridgewater, who led Miami Northwestern to the 2024 Class 3A state championship in Florida.

Top-ranked The First Academy (Orlando) football team found guilty of rules violations

FHSAA slaps Miami Central with 8 forfeits; multiple sanctions

Teddy Bridgewater unloads on the state of high school football

We can go on and on about the similar cases that spread to other states around the country, but at what point does winning become too much?

The stresses involved with football and winning are just different compared to other sports.

Yes, winning is still important in high school basketball, baseball, softball and other sports, but the pressure from the outside isn't anything like football.

People within the community or at higher-up positions want to see and feel like they're part of a winning program.

Or else people are not coming to your games.

That means less money coming back to your school/program.

The head football coach is just trying to keep the program at the top, and will likely be out of a job if he can't.

That's the pressure of heading up a football program, and it happens at all levels of the game.

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi