Top 10 Rookie Coaching Mistakes

Judging from the number of new posters I've seen recently, and based on the fact that it is currently spring ball season, and that many programs (like mine) will be starting in 3 short months, I thought it would be appropriate to offer some words of advice to any new coaches that my be lurking here. Now, I am hardly an expert on these things, but in 15 years, I've picked up a few things, so here is my list of the top 10 mistakes that rookie coaches make (almost of which I've made myself), so that all you new coaches out there can learn from those of us that came before you:

1. Schemes Too Complex. This is probably the single most common mistake I've seen. Guys watch TV, or remember their playing days in college or even HS and want to implement multiple sets, complex reads, zone blitzes, disguise coverages, etc. and just leave their team of 8 yr-olds scratching their heads. If ever there was a time and place to put the K.I.S.S. principle to use, it is in coaching youth sports. Keep it simple and add on very slowly only after you are 100% sure your players are 100% on board with whatever they already have. 5-10 plays on offense and 1-2 fronts and coverages on defense is all most youth teams need (less for the younger ages).

2. Failure to Manage the Minimum Play Rule (MPR). Not all leagues have an MPR, so if yours doesn't, skip this one. For everyone else, almost all new coaches don't get how important this is. 6-10 plays per player doesn't seem like a lot, but in the heat of battle it is very easy to not get it taken care of, then the 4th quarter starts and you have to put in 5 Minimum Play Players (MPPs) at the same time and the other team scores twice in 5 plays and you lose. You have to sub from the 2nd play of the game and continue subbing every play until all your MPR plays are done, regardless of the situation. I can't tell you how many times I've heard rookie coaches say, "No, we can't put him here - you don't understand how important this drive is - we'll get him in later." That kind of thinking will kill you. Similarly, you have to balance how much you work with your weakest players - most rookies coaches just ignore their weakest players and they really hurt them when they get into games. I erred in the other direction - I thought that if I just worked hard enough with my weakest players, I could make them substantially better. It didn't work - all I did was prove to them that they couldn't play. Weak players generally know they are weak - if you can hide them and protect them so that the whole world can't see that they aren't ready yet, you can keep their confidence up until they improve. This subject is more complex than this, but to grossly over-simplify the situation, just don't ask marginal players to do things that they can't do or are not ready to do yet, especially in games in front of all their family and friends.

3. Failure to Balance Winning vs. Fun. Okay, this is probably the single biggest challenge facing any youth coach, rookie or not. Far too many coaches subscribe to the "win at all costs" approach - they run off marginal players, sweat down overweight kids, break rules to gain an advantage, and never play MPPs beyond what they have to. Don't be like these poor confused souls - make a positive difference in your players lives in a way far more meaningful than wins and losses. Teach values like sportsmanship, discipline, hard work, teamwork, perseverance, honesty, integrity, and the will to win - if you take care of those meaningful things, insignificant things like wins and loses will take care of themselves. OTOH, do not focus solely on "having fun" either. While this problem is less prevalent, it is actually worse - I've seen over-exuberant coaches learn to tone it down over time, but coaches that don't care about being competitive and only worry about fun almost never survive to see a second season, which doesn't do themselves, or their players any good. "Fun-only" coaches don't enforce discipline, don't stress fundamentals, try to have every player get a turn at QB or running back, give all players equal playing time and spend all of practice scrimmaging or doing fun, full-contact drills. These coaches not only rarely win, they almost always lose by mercy rule scores; their players get hurt; their good, hard-working players lose interest because they see no reward for their work ethic and no punishment for other players that goof-off or skip practice, so they don't come back - and neither does their coach. Finding the right mix is extremely difficult, but it is worth the effort.

4. Too Much Practice Time Spent Scrimmaging. I frequently hear new coaches talking about how the old coach spent too much time on non-game situations and how the team really needs to practice game situations, so he wants to spend half or three quarters of practice scrimmaging. Big mistake. It is almost impossible for coaches to watch 22 players at once, and even if you can, you don't want to stop the entire team to correct one player's mistake. The best coached youth teams spend the vast majority of practice in groups or indy skills sessions (like broken out into linemen, backs, and receivers; or line, linebackers, and secondary). The closer you can come to one-on-one time with your players, the more effective you'll be. If you're spending more than 10-15 minutes of practice time in full 11-on-11 scrimmages, it's too much.

5. Failure to Manage Your Coaching Staff. This should probably be higher on the list. At least, this is the single biggest problem I've had in my coaching career. If you're the head coach - you need to make it clear that it's not a democracy and your assistants need to follow your program or get out of the way. It is far better to have a second-best scheme with the entire staff on board 100% than to have the absolute best scheme with a divided staff. I guess because when I've been an assistant my attitude was always to tell the head coach if I disagreed with him and why, but if he heard me and still wanted to go in a different direction, then I got on board with his system 100%, that I expected my assistants to be the same way. Sadly, this is simply just not the case. If you don't know if your assistants understand your system 100% and will teach it the way you want it taught, you're better off to get rid of them and do it all yourself. If you don't already know your assistants and trust them 100% to run your system, you should probably start off giving them no more responsibility than holding bags and setting up drills & cones until you're comfortable that they are on the same page as you. Trust me on this - once you've give your assistants more responsibility than they've earned, it's really hard to take it back without getting rid of them completely - and that can cause a whole other set of problems. DO NOT GIVE AUTHORITY TO YOUR ASSISTANTS until you are 100% certain that they know your system inside and out and will teach it the way you want. I cannot stress this enough.

6. Failure to Communicate With Parents. I've been doing this for 15 years, and about 2 years ago, I thought because I had mostly returning players and I had sent several emails to all the parents explaining my philosophy and how we run things, that I could skip my annual parent's meeting to go over all that stuff. BIG MISTAKE. I had huge, huge problems with the parents that year. If the parents don't know exactly what's going on, they will assume the worst. Even worse, they'll talk to each other, get the rumor mill going and then all the parents will believe the worst and you'll have a mutiny on your hands. Make it a point to meet with all the parents the first week of practice (or before) and clearly spell out your philosophy, your goals, your approach to playing time, your approach to winning vs. fun, and the chain of command that the parents should follow when they have questions or complaints. If possible, have something written up that you require them all to sign - this will cut down on a lot of arguments later during the season. Then, make sure you regularly update them on how you and the team are doing vis-a-vis all the goals and objectives you stated during your initial parents meeting. After practice discussions are good (not all parents come to practice or leave their cars, though); after game discussions are better; and email newsletters to the team are good supplements.

7. Failure to Properly Plan Practices. Create a practice plan and go over it with your assistants before each practice. You do not want your players standing around twiddling their thumbs while you and your staff set up cones & bags and explain the drill. Get organized and maximize your players reps. I tell my assistants that I expect the same level of effort from them during practice that I expect from the players. If they want to chat on the sideline with other coaches about work or their wives or the NFL or anything other than what's happening in practice right then, they shouldn't coach. At least one coach on this forum says he and all his coaches are drenched in sweat at the end of each practice - that's how it should be. A corollary to this is that you should make sure you know why you are running every drill you do. Too often new coaches just run whatever drills they remember from college or high school without any regard for whether it makes sense for the scheme they are running or for the level they're at. I certainly did this - hey, I had to fill up the time with something, so I ran what I knew. Don't waste your time or your player's time - think about each drill and make sure it fits into your overall scheme. If you don't have enough to fill out your practice plan, ask some questions on this forum (or others like it) - you'll get plenty of ideas to fill up your practice time.

8. Not Enough Time Spent on Fundamentals. This ties in with #4 and #7 (even #3 to some extent). Focusing on assignments may be easier or get faster on-field results, but properly teaching blocking, tackling, footwork, executing fakes, mechanics, etc. will mean much more to your players in the long run. Likewise, scrimmaging or doing full-contact, big-hitting drills may be more immediate fun for the players, but you're selling them short if you don't focus on really teaching them sound fundamentals.

9. Too Much of an "Old School" Approach Regarding Toughness & Conditioning. I'm a big Vince Lombardi fan, so I was very guilty of this one. Full-contact, big-hitting drills and heaving conditioning designed to get the kids tough sounds great if you come from that school of thought, but it really is best left back in the 60s or 70s. Yelling at the kids and focusing on drills to make the kids "tough" is just a waste of time. If you run a well-organized, up-tempo practice conditioning will take care of itself, so time spent on up-downs and other conditioning-only exercises not only turn off the players, but are largely a waste of time. Same thing goes for stretching - most kids don't really need much, they're naturally loose at that age. I remember my first few years coaching, we would spend 20+ minutes per 2-hour practice stretching. Are you kidding? A 5-minute dynamic warm-up is all you need. BTW, I didn't come around on this issue because I became PC or got soft or any other nonsense, I changed my mind because being positive and focusing on skills rather than toughness simply works better.

10. Throwing Too Much on Offense. Don't get me wrong - I firmly believe that youth offenses can throw the ball effectively. However, many rookie coaches come in thinking that what they've seen on TV in the pro or college game will work at the youth level. Setting up in the pocket on a 5-step drop with various reads depending coverages and blitzes is a recipe for sacks and INTs at the youth level. If you know how to coach the passing game at the youth level, go for it. But if you're not sure, focus on the run game first until you really know how the passing game works at this level.

Well, that's my take on it - again, I'm no expert, so take it with a grain of salt. Sorry this was so long, but I hope that is helpful to any of the new coaches out there. Please chime in with your opinions if you have other items to add to the list or disagree with anything I have on my list.