I'll make you feel better. When a teacher chided my son in front of the 7th grade class for not getting an answer correct by saying something like, "I thought you were smart", my son chose to teach not only that teacher a lesson but all of his teachers. He methodically earned zeros on every assignment, quiz and test while still doing all the work. I didn't find out for weeks until he was failing every class,
It took years to get him to the point where he will embrace academics. He is now a sophomore in college and just beginning to try to do his best,
I think if it were my son, I'd answer his comment about never being good enough with, "maybe so. Who knows. But all that ever matters if we're good enough for ourselves, and sometimes that is hardest of all. What did you expect of yourself?" You may find he was either happy with his performance and mad the coach was too hard or that he was disappointed himself. But at least it will be some insight in going forward,
