DaLawn Parrish The Man Who Became a WISE Coach by Dalawn Parrish
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My daughter is a proud alum of Wise High School. Coach DaLawn Parrish and the football team were legends on campus, and she loved her English classes with Mr. Hughes so when I heard they had written a book I was interested to pick it up.
The book details Coach P’s early life and football career and then follows him into his role as head football coach at Wise High School.
There is a lot of football in this book. I am always fascinated by athletes who remember every detail of their games many years later. In this story you get that both with the games Coach P was in as a player and those he was involved in as the coach.
If you are not a football fan, then this one may be difficult to get into. As a fan myself and the mom of a kid at the school during the heyday of the program I was interested in hearing the recounts of how the program was built from a brand-new school to a sports powerhouse within a relatively short period of time.
There are a lot of students referenced in the book. Coach P highlights his standout players and where many of them went on to play football in college and even in the NFL. In light of a recent tragedy involving some of these former players it was sobering to see their names alongside the things they accomplished for their high school. I am saddened by their loss but happy to see that their contributions will forever be remembered and celebrated.
Coach P does not mince his words when discussing his thoughts on the Prince George’s public school system approach to athletics. He highlights under funding, poor conditions, poor oversight, poor facilities, lack of support and a myriad of other issues. He further highlights the ways this disadvantages the athletes within the public school system. As a mom not only of my daughter who went to Wise but a son who went to Flowers (a neighboring rival high school) and played soccer and baseball I can say that I think a lot of what he said rang true from my observation. There was an incident where the Flowers baseball team booster club fundraised to purchase a new batting cage. It took months before the county came out to install the cage therefore depriving their athletes of access to this important training equipment until the last few weeks of the season.
In his discussing the changing rules of high school sports Coach P highlights how the rules which are made by sometimes well-meaning folk do not translate into being what’s best for children. For example, during the recent pandemic PG County did not allow any Fall 2020 football nor replace it with a spring 2021 football season meaning many athletes lost their hopes for scholarships or college offers, etc. In addition, other jurisdictions did not have the same rules and private schools have a different set of standards therefore further disadvantaging these public-school athletes who work hard for opportunities beyond high school.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting timeline of the Wise football program. Some of Coach DaLawn Parrish’s observations and opinions are bound to ruffle feathers within the county school administration. If you like football and especially if you are local to the area I think you’ll find this a quick, interesting read. Bonus points since it counted as a book set in Maryland for my summer reading challenge.
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