The recent news that SMU women's basketball coach Rhonda Rompola decided to retire wasn't as startling as one of the reasons the 25-season head coach cited for her departure.

"Kids are not as coachable as they were years ago," Rompola told The Associated Press. "I see kids sometimes talking back to their coaches, and it's like a way of life. I'm just being honest. The rules and everything they get, they haven't taken time to appreciate."

Legendary University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido hit the button during a banquet speech last year when he stated, "The biggest thing wrong with college baseball today is entitlement."

Garrido's resume includes two College World Series trips, three Golden Spikes Award-winners, four national Players of the Year, six CWS MVPs and 53 All-Americans. But during his speech, he looked back fondly to his early days of coaching at Cal State Fullerton, where the players also were the grounds crew and had no locker room.

The aspect of athlete entitlement is not a new phenomenon, and it's not only the coaches who are pointing it out. Desmond Howard, a Heisman Trophy-winning football player at the University of Michigan, in a keynote speech back in 2011 blamed the recruiting process for creating athletes who feel as though "the program can't move forward without them."

When the NCAA in 2015 adopted a rule that allowed some of its Division I athletic programs to offer cost-of-attendance benefits to college athletes, players were able to obtain money beyond the tuition that scholarships provide.

That move, stacked upon decades of intense interest in recruiting — particularly of high school football players — has helped the pendulum swing toward the players' side. The fact that many athletes compete on select or club teams outside of school adds to the disconnect.

While national signing day includes superstar players selecting their chosen school's hat live on television and eighth-graders are receiving DI offers, good intentions are still to be found among young athletes, even if they're overshadowed.

New Jersey high school swimmer Michael Sparks hardly fit the profile of "entitled athlete”" when, after being award first place in his conference's swim meet, he handed the medal to opponent Rich Fortels, who finished first but was disqualified on a technicality for wearing an unapproved club swim team cap.

In Florida, the girls basketball team from Lakeland Northeast threatened to sit out the state final game in support of its coach. Zach Gillion belongs to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and observes the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening. That prevented him from attending the basketball game. In the end, the girls reversed their decision and played, but certainly proved they had the right attitude.

There's no doubt being part of an athletic team is hard work, including long hours of training and workouts in addition to homework and studying. In high school and among nonscholarship college athletes, jobs sometimes are part of the equation, too.

Parents, teachers and coaches all have a role in accountability.

Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald said his recruiting team considers how parents fit with the program as well as the player. Texas' Garrido says he emphasizes core values among his athletes. Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin, in his 37th season, said he considers players' background and upbringing, and stresses an appreciation for the chance to play baseball.

At the high school level, Memphis, Tennessee, high school basketball coach Ted Anderson has compiled more than 500 victories and a state championship in 38 years. He coaches away from the court, though, mandating that his players wear shirts and ties to school on game days and teaching them to speak respectfully, answering "yes, ma'am" and "no, sir."

Coaching today's athletes requires some adaptation to the players — more so than in previous decades — but that adjustment is just another item in a coach's toolbox. As in other aspects of coaching, the best figure out how to use it to their advantage.