I swear there was a thread, but man I couldn't find it. Netflix's has put up season three and I thought I would start a thread.
Last Chance U follows basically the dregs of the College Football circuit which is the Junior College Program. Usually these programs are populated by Div 1 castoffs who got thrown out of their programs, and local walk ons and recruits that are looking for one last run of football glory.
In the first two years they followed EMCC, a multi time National Champion coached by Buddy Stephens, besides the players, the other star was academic Advisor Britney Wagner who balanced off Buddy's evil temper with her compassion and desire to help the player athletes reach their goals of returning to Div 1 Football.
At the end of Season two the filmakers decided to move on from Buddy and EMCC because of the volatile nature of the head coach who managed to piss everyone off and chase Britney off as well.
Season 3 goes to a small Kansas Junior Program the ICC Pirates lead by coach Jason Brown, a coach with a track record of turning programs around with his strength in recruiting. Because of the changes in the rules these Junior College Programs are no longer restricted so Jason went out and recruited more then 20 Div 1 players who were on their last chance (See what I did there).
I've gotten to the half way point and thought I would start this thread. The rest of my thoughts are in spoilers.
Spoiler!
While the first two years were fun to watch due to the balance of Buddy's rage problems and Britney's compassion, this year is actually uncomfortable. Jason Brown is a Foul Mouth tough talking white man that talks like a black man who was raised in Compton. Because of that he's got an uncompromising nature when it comes to his relationship with his coaches and his players. While I applaud his message that school comes first, he's a lousy coach, who gets results not because of his coaching but because of the talent that he's gathered.
While Buddy Stephen's was professional in terms of preparation and how he managed his game and was unprofessional in how he dealt with the people around him, Brown has no sense of the game, or what makes his players tick. He calls himself a players coach, but for the most part his players hate him and are extremely vocal about it. He abuses his coaches to the point that one of his own assistants tried to jump him on the sidelines during a game.
Sometimes I wonder if these reality stars regret taking on these roles as there is no way that this documentary will do anything positive for his career.
They also focus on his other coaches including a young kid who is working for free as a QB coach because of his love for the game and his desire to have a career in coaches, but its sad to see Brown constantly abusing this poor kid and not giving any of the mentor ship that a head coach should give.
Its uncomfortable to watch this series, especially with my experience in the coaching field, but Jason Brown really offers nothing that a head coach should be. He's almost like that angry dad that coaches his kids team and treats his kid like garbage.
Don't get me wrong, this series is technically supurb, its filmed beautifully, but the players aren't as sympathetic as the players from ECC, and the coach actually makes you angry that someone like this would ever get hired.
The most clear moment was at the end of the 4th episode when ICC was playing a team in Dodge City. Brown is screaming at his kids, dropping F bombs abusing the refs and abusing a coach to the point that the coach throws his head phones at Jason and tries to jump him and the camera pans to the schools athletic director and the school president and they had actual looks of shame that their school was being exposed for all of the Netflix universe to see.
I would almost recommend this program for parents who's kids are playing at an elite sports level so they can see the warning signs of a bad coach. But it is a uncomfortable often unlikable watch.