We love to label people, don’t we?
A coach can’t just be a coach. He has to be a disciplinarian, or old school, or a player’s coach, or a mentor, or a micromanager, or a boor or a cheat.
What if a coach doesn’t fit nicely into a box we can slap with a sticky note and label? What if he’s not much different than you or me, with strengths and weaknesses?
Take Central Florida coach George O’Leary, a born and bred Long Islander with a New York accent so thick he could have been a dialect coach on “The Sopranos.”
O’Leary once benched Brandon Marshall, the best player ever to come through his program, because he didn’t go to class and lied about it. So he’s a disciplinarian, right?
Good, glad we got that sorted out.
“The happiest I am is when players walk in 10 years later and they have their families and they thank you for teaching them things about life they didn’t know about,’’ O’Leary told The Post.
OK, maybe disciplinarian is too strong. Maybe O’Leary, 67, is old school.
But if he’s old school, why does he allow his players to go on Facebook and Twitter when many younger coaches treat social media like a soiled diaper?
“I think it’s part of growing up,’’ O’Leary said. “I think you need to do that as part of the learning experience. How to handle things.’’
OK, O’Leary is a mentor. Got it?
“I teach the kids where to sit in the classroom,’’ he said. “I mean don’t ever get up when a professor’s there speaking and attempt to leave. Don’t do whatever you wouldn’t do in front of me.
“You wouldn’t get up and leave to go to the bathroom when I’m speaking. Don’t do it to a professor. It’s disrespectful.’’
Why, then, did he push running back Ereck Plancher so hard in conditioning drills in March 2008 that the young man collapsed on the field and died an hour later at the hospital? The family is seeking $10 million in damages from UCF.
The Orlando Sentinel, citing interviews with four players, reported at the time O’Leary cursed at Plancher. So he’s a boor, correct? Or at least he’s demanding.
“I don’t demand, I just expect excellence,’’ O’Leary said. when asked if he’s OK with his reputation as being a demanding coach. “Demanding because I think the sport’s demanding.’’
OK, so he’s a straight shooter.
“There is no question the kids today are softer than kids in the past,’’ he said this week.
If he’s so brutally honest, why did he fudge his resume, fabricating a master’s degree from the non-existent NYU-Stony Brook, which was uncovered after landing his dream job — head coach at Notre Dame — in 2001? Five days after being hired, he resigned in shame.