Normally around this time of the year, I dedicate a column to Little League baseball. Not aimed at the players, mind you, but the parents – reminding them that it is only a game, that it can be a great learning experience for their children, and that the 19-year-old kid umpiring their 6-year-old’s tee-ball game is indeed a 19-year-old kid just trying to earn extra cash for college.

Normally, I would give you numerous examples of how “not” to act, based on horror story from Little League diamonds all across our country.

But not this year.

I am going to skip my speech to baseball and softball parents and go straight to football parents.

In January, not long after Spanish Fort head coach Bryant Vincent decided to leave his state championship Toro team and join Joey Jones’ staff at South Alabama, I wrote an article stating that if “I” was the principal at Spanish Fort and it was my responsibility to replace the coach, I would definitely consider looking south to Coach Mark Freeman. Here is a guy with several years of head coaching experience, who won numerous state championships at the AISA level, and who took Gulf Shores deeper into the playoffs than they had ever been during his first year with the Dolphins.

Although he was told by some “boosters” that during his second year, he would likely not win a game, he found a way to win four, and almost five.

He is the hottest coach in high school football in Alabama, so who wouldn’t want him?

Sure, it was Spanish Fort, a school just a few miles up the road in the same county, and who has already become one of Gulf Shores’ biggest rivals.

Still, the school administration had a job to do and that was to hire the best coach for their school.

I received emails blasting me for even suggesting such a thing. One person wanted to know if I was “helping” Coach Freeman get the job.

Seriously? The NEXT football coach I hire will be my first. I am just a sports writer with an opinion.

Do I think Coach Freeman made the right decision? I think the future will answer that question.

Maybe he should have stayed.

Maybe he should have ignored the money, the prestige of moving into the job at a school that just won a Class 5A state championship in the state with the best high school football programs anywhere, and possibly the future opportunity of moving on to the next level like Coach Vincent.

Who knows the answer to any of those questions? But rather than giving my Little League baseball speech, I am going to give my high school football speech.

People — this is high school football. It’s an elective. Nobody is paid to play (as far as we know). As a matter of fact, in a lot of places the kids pay fees to play. A high school football coach doesn’t “owe” anything to the kids that play. He should be a role model, sure, but that doesn’t mean that he is bound by anything to stay at this school or that school. He hasn’t recruited these kids to move in from out of state. He hasn’t promised them anything.

So when I read on message boards the comments from parents and fans saying how Coach Freeman had “let his players down,” I want to remind you that he didn’t have to come here in the first place. He didn’t have to pack up and move from his home 4 ½ hours away to take over a program whose very own boosters told him “uh, by the way, you probably won’t win a game in year number two.”

Did Coach Vincent let his players down by moving to South Alabama? No, it was a career move.

Did Coach Freeman let his players down by moving to Spanish Fort? No, it was a career move.

Remember this, it is very likely that during the next classification period, Spanish Fort will move up to 6A. Coach Freeman took advantage of an opportunity that probably no other coach would turn down, if offered the same thing.

The bottom line is this — stop wasting your time punching out rude and baseless posts on the Internet, and remember that in the grand scheme of things, this is just high school football.

There is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Ernie Rosado and Gulf Shores High School will hire a quality coach, ready to move the program forward.

If the players do want to send a message to their former coach, they will get their chance during the second game of the season this fall.

Hit ‘em straight.

Dale Jones is a writer for The Islander and a member of the Alabama Sports Writers Association.

Reach him at djones@gulfcoastnewspapers.com