In December, Jerry Wilcox, a fine and well-respected basketball coach for more than three decades in the Syracuse area, was fired at Liverpool, a single bad incident in a game at West Genesee cited as the reason.

Move to January, and in Jamestown, girls basketball coach Ken Ricker pushes a player away from further trouble after she drew a technical foul. Days later, Ricker is forced to resign, this after leading Jamestown to a 141-31 record and three Section VI titles in his tenure.

Closer to home, Phil Reed’s tenure as the girls basketball coach in Oswego, which has included all kinds of winning seasons and two trips to the sectional Class AA finals, may be over. Reed was suspended late in January by the school, parents complaining that his practices had become too harsh and critical.

Just recently, at Union Springs another boys basketball coach, Kevin Daly, stepped down, just after an incident in a game at Moravia. It may have involved a confrontation with parents, although all the details are not yet known.

There you have it – four instances of basketball coaches in Upstate New York forced from their positions in the middle of the season. In 15 years spent covering high school sports, I’ve never seen such upheaval.

It also raises inevitable questions. Who holds the real power in high school sports? Can coaches really assert authority? When is it okay to be tough, and when is it not? Where do athletic directors fit into all this?

No one, of course, would condone abusive coaches. Where the line blurs, though, is what constitutes abuse. The simple matter of a coach yelling at a kid, for whatever reason, can be interpreted as tough love, or as constructive criticism, or as outright destruction, depending on where you stand.

When he appeared on our “Inside High School Sports Show” on ESPN Radio (Saturday mornings, 9 to 11 a.m.), Bishop Ludden coach Pat Donnelly had a unique take. Donnelly, who had coached Ludden for 25 years, played under Wilcox, and learned plenty.

Among other things, Donnelly said that, as compared to when he started, parents are a lot more involved, so a coach has to be more careful on all fronts. He does yell at players from time to time, but only to make a point, and never to excess.

More importantly, though, Donnelly pointed out that a coach cannot afford to screw up these days, not with 24/7 news coverage and social media that can turn any small incident into a large scandal.

Consequently, athletic directors are on a higher alert than ever before. They’re caught in a constant bind, perhaps wanting to stand up for successful coaches, whatever their methods, and yet worried that parents rubbed the wrong way might resort to other methods if they are not satisfied with how their kids are treated.

Some of that vigilance is understandable. In the wake of scandals and controversies at college institutions (think Penn State), there’s an innate worry that athletic departments and/or coaches can garner too much power and control at any school, leaving them immune to checks and balances from other parts of school administrations.

Yet that vigilance can carry unintended consequences. The best coaches are teachers, but their ability to teach may be compromised by the worry that any method they apply can be interpreted the wrong way, even if it’s parents that are angry, and not their kids.

What is safe to say is that the days are gone where coaches have total autonomy over their programs, at the high school or college level. To that degree, they have to make all kinds of compromises, whether they want to or not. Sure, they can be tough, but must be willing to accept serious consequences if that toughness crosses over into something worse.

Parents cannot escape responsibility, either. The best thing they can do is apply discipline at home, so that coaches don’t have to do it all themselves. Many have pointed out that the spoiling of kids can lead to unnecessary rebellion, both at home and at school.

We’re navigating through uncharted seas. Coaches, parents and school administrators are trying to figure out this new and nervous time in high school sports. As seen so many times this winter, it doesn’t always end in a pleasant manner.