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Post by lucassean2 on Oct 21, 2008 18:14:12 GMT -6
Coaches
We often discuss team building amongst our players, but do any of you take part in any activities that help strengthen staff cohesion. If you are on a staff that does this, what types of activities are done?
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Post by goldenbear76 on Oct 21, 2008 20:08:01 GMT -6
Sunday night, meet at the HC's house for some chips and beer. Watch a little bit of the Sunday night football game..then we get into watching our game from the friday before..then we watch some film of our opponent the next week.
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Post by touchdownmaker on Oct 22, 2008 7:34:36 GMT -6
I think its starts by hiring good guys to begin with, no egomaniacs.
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Post by coachbw on Oct 22, 2008 7:55:04 GMT -6
We are not the model of staff cohesion as we do have a few outsiders, but we have the majority of our coaches who are very closely knit. One of the things that I think really helps us is the time we spend together outside of football. We spend time together at clinics, meeting with colleges, etc., but I think it is the time we spend together with our wives at dinners as a group, or with coaches and their kids at the state fair etc. that really bring us together. The outsiders in our group are aligned with what our expectations are from meetings, handbooks, etc., but there is a connection between about 7 of us that the others don't have because they spend less time around the group.
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Post by calicoachh on Oct 23, 2008 10:14:33 GMT -6
we hired a few new coaches on the staff this year, so this summer, we all signed up and played in our city league's slow pitch softball. it was alot of fun, but it did run long. i think this summer we might join a bowling league. we also do a post season night on the town with all of the wives and girlfriends.
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Post by coachsky on Oct 23, 2008 10:44:27 GMT -6
We fight like cat's and dog's! We are far from perfect. I thought it was going to lead to a real long and screwed up season.
I was wrong.
It's actually a good kind of fighting. It get settled quickly. We normally say stuff to each other face. We respect each others roles but are not afraid of challenging someone if we think they are doing something stupid. We have one vetran guy who is a real contrarian and is always bumping heads with someone. But he's learned that eveyone's going to challenge him and he needs to listen and cooperate. It was ugly early, but he's smiling and more open lately.
We cook a meal together and game plan every Sunday Night. We normally go for a beer every Friday Night.
It helps that we are winning and we have a lot of talent.
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Post by strongdog09 on Oct 24, 2008 7:40:46 GMT -6
Defensive coaches hang out together and offensive coaches hang out together. We all get along but we do have our little cliques(sp). We get together as a group after friday home games. Defensive coaches also get together after saturdays film session for refreshments.
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Post by coachcb on Oct 24, 2008 7:56:22 GMT -6
I agree that it starts with the hiring process. I think half of the interview questions need to be centered around personality issues. I mean, by asking the right questions, you can determine a lot about someone's character and whether they will be a good fit for the program.
Four years ago, I worked with a guy who could talk about nothing but himself. EVERY conversation revolved right back to WHY HE WAS SO GREAT. By the end of the season, he had told me over a dozen times about how he was a Golden Grape Teacher of the Year, or some darn thing....He was the worst guy I have ever worked with; ego driven, angry and spiteful (coupled with stupid).
In the interview process, I known that no one asked this cat what he felt his greatest weakness was. Because if they had, they never would have hired him because his response would have been "I have to be humble because I know I am so much better than everyone else". Friggin idiot.
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Post by intelloff on Oct 27, 2008 9:03:49 GMT -6
Cohesion begins with proper communication and listening to your staff. Additionally, I think a non-coersive leadership and empowering style of leadership goes a lone way.
In brief, I can say that I am amazed at some of the bravado of some of the coaches on this board with the "My way or the highway" approach. I will qualify this "shock" by stating, as a field grade officer in the USMC, I do have great understanding about leadership styles since I have had to lead and ask men and women to risk their lives for the sake of a cause. To me, the coersive style of the "my way or the highway" style does more to destroy cohesion than anything else; it is a style, in this age of proliferated football-related (among others) information has long since seen its time pass.
Further, staff cohesion begins with 100% collaboration. The only way this can be qualified is by an inexperienced staff.
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Post by jgordon1 on Oct 28, 2008 13:28:47 GMT -6
In brief, I can say that I am amazed at some of the bravado of some of the coaches on this board with the "My way or the highway" approach. I will qualify this "shock" by stating, as a field grade officer in the USMC, I do have great understanding about leadership styles since I have had to lead and ask men and women to risk their lives for the sake of a cause. To me, the coersive style of the "my way or the highway" style does more to destroy cohesion than anything else; it is a style, in this age of proliferated football-related (among others) information has long since seen its time pass.
Thank you. However, I do think some of the coaches "bluster" under the cover of their pen name and are not really like that w/ their football team
Further, staff cohesion begins with 100% collaboration. The only way this can be qualified is by an inexperienced staff.
I agree here but to a point, we collaborate but we also have our roles, that we "fall" into or are defined by the HC. what do you mean by "this can only be qualified by an inexperienced staff"
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wccoach
Sophomore Member
Posts: 159
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Post by wccoach on Oct 28, 2008 16:17:47 GMT -6
Staff cohesion is a very complicated issue. My experiences with a staff that did not get along centered around how everybody understood or misunderstood their roles within the staff. I have been coaching HS football since the early eighties and have been a member of several coaching staffs. I have been lucky to only be on two staffs that struggled with cohesion. Both of these staffs had issues with how the coaches handled their roles within the program. We had problems with younger coaches that over stepped their responsibilities and veteran coaches that did not step up and take on a larger role when it was overwhelmingly obvious that they needed to get more involved. I love to work with the younger coaches because I find their enthusiasm contagious and I get to see how they react to situations when our team is struggling with an aspect of the game. I can see how some veteran coaches can be a little short with the younger guys, but if the roles of each staff member is clearly defined and managed correctly, most issues can be resolved without dividing the staff cohesion.
Some of the larger staffs I worked on where guided by the coordinators. In these programs, the HC was truly a manager of the program and did not have the time to get into all the details of how the coaches worked within the staff. It was very clear what role each coach was responsible to perform and it was more of a business like atmosphere than that of a smaller staff. I enjoyed both the larger and smaller staffs, but the emotional satisfaction of a small staff that has good coaches that are good friends is a very special experience.
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Post by 19delta on Oct 28, 2008 16:36:54 GMT -6
Team I worked for this year had a head coach who was very stubborn, wouldn't listen to ideas that didn't originate with him, and basically wanted his coaches to be "yes" men.
I basically shut down around week 6 when I realized that my contributions really weren't going to be valued at all. And, the rest of the season, at 6:30 when practice was over, I was out of there as soon as possible. No sense in sticking around after practice when the head coach already has his mind made up.
Cohesion starts with the head coach...he has a responsibility to ensure that each assistant feels like a valuable part of the staff. If the head coach doesn't do that, there won't be much cohesion.
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Post by brophy on Oct 31, 2008 7:41:03 GMT -6
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Post by dacoordinator on Nov 2, 2008 13:01:17 GMT -6
i agree staff cohesion is a key element to a winning program.. I mean everybody isn't going to agree with everything everybody does or suggest but for the most part the staff from top to bottom has to get along with each other.
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Post by wonderingcoach on Nov 2, 2008 20:39:15 GMT -6
When it comes down to it, Coaching staffs need to follow the same paradigm that the team follows. Keep everyone involved. The HC, OC, DC are leaders, but its not thier team. It's the kids and the school's team. We are just the shepards of the flock. Now in college or pro's the rules change. But in High School where no one gets adequatly paid for thier time. I don't care how much one coach knows (or thinks he knows) everyone must feel like they are part of the team. Otherwise; cancer.
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