Our whole staff disagrees with our Head Coach

I can tell you from my situation. If you are unhappy move on, The feeling will go with you at home and at work making life miserable. I stepped down from a position I wanted and now am back doing what i love coaching the kids. make sure the misery is worth it for you and your family man..
my two cents
Tom

Yeah the guy I replaced, everybody hated, not just the coaching staff

Honestly in which case I'd expect it, and expect to move on.

I respect and admire your HC's decision to put the offense in the hands of someone he thinks will be an improvement based on that person's experience and knowledge base, rather than just play the good ol' boys network and keep all his buddies in place.

I coach with some of my best friends in the world, but if a guy came along who was just plain better and knew more, I'd hope they'd put him in charge where his skills would be maximized. And, if I'm a coordinator and someone comes in that knows more than me, I'd completely understand if they handed the responsibilities over...I may not be HAPPY, but I'd understand.

It's not show-friends, it's show-business. The HC's job is to put the best people in the positions to give the team the best chance of winning...that goes for players AND coaches.

If you don't like it, you know where the door is. That's life.

Amen brother. Lead on!

As assistants your jobs are to support the HC. This isn't about a moral or ethical decision. If it was I think your post would get a lot more attention.

Because he has 51% of the say in your organization you must jump on with both feet or jump off. There's no in between.

It's times like the one you describe where the strength of your staff's commitment to the program and the players is being tested. If the kids sense (and they will) that the staff is not cohesive, they will never play to their potential.

So Loch, Let me get this straight. I work for you for say three years , bust my a$$ do a good job and someone comes by that you feel has more experience and a knowlegde base... you will demote me? Football is alot more than X's and O's as you know. It's about building teams and doing things together. now this person just might be a better coach than me, but now you are this new person and if someone comes along you'll preplace him too. not my best arguement for creating staff loyalty. Now if you had communicated your unhappiness clearly to me beforehand then I could understand a change.

Bottom line is we only know part of the story and there is always another side to every situation. The HC has his name on the shingle so it's his right to do what he thinks is best- either support him 100% or coach elsewhere,

I'd look at it this way. When Bill Cowher left the Steelers, they had a couple of coaches who seemed in line for the head job -- Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm. The Steelers really believed in Mike Tomlin. It was understandable that the other two were disappointed, so they left, landed in Arizona and everyone ended up doing a good job.
The head coach is head coach for a reason. So either go with the head coach's decision 100 percent or go somewhere else and forge your own way.

I've left a lot of facts out, but I think loch made some good points. The experienced coach brings a lot to the table, but I feel like we had something good going already. Why mess it up? Ya know? But at the same time I can see WHY he would do this.

SOME of the position coaches are being bumped. The new OC also wants to coach OL so the O-Line is being bumped. The old OC is now coaching TE's. Also the QBs coach situation is in question.

I saw some posts about making decisions on "buddies" and "friends." In a sense, it's more about the bond between coaches. I really feel we are a stronger staff because of it. And like I said, the head coach is a great leader. Not many teams (Ditka and Ryan) can afford to have problems within a staff.

That is a telling statement. If the new guy is in control of the offense, being certain of what is going on with the o-line is a strong indicator that he knows what he is doing. This isn't a slap at the previous guy, rather it indicates that the new guy takes his responsibilities very seriously and wants to make darn sure that the most important part of any offensive scheme is done the way he wants it done.

As goes the offensive line, so goes the offense....

On the other hand in defense of the assistants how about a HC coming in to the program and doing all he can to help make his assistants the best they can be. How about getting them on board, valuing them, encouraging them. For a head coach to expect to be respected by his assistants and have his assistants loyal to him just because he's the HC is egotistical, arrogant and causes me to question this persons motives for coaching. Obviously then it's all about him.

I know this may not sit well with some here, but we've just gone through a similar situation this season, and it was a crappy experience, even though we won state in our division. Now the new HC after one season, not even been here 12 months, has moved on to a bigger salary, which just confirms what most of us suspected, it was all about the HC. He did nothing to get assistants on board, but expected complete loyalty. Now after two coaches have moved on because of this tension, he up and leaves. Makes the players and remaining coaches feel really valued (sarcasm), more like betrayed. He expects commitment from everyone, but he himself can't fulfill even his teaching commitment.

That's exactly right. If I'm a HC, my first obligation is to the team, not to any one individual. If I'm an HC I want my best people in positions to make the program better. I'm loyal to the program first. That's my job, and that's what makes being a HC tough. You have to make those tough calls. What you'd term a "demotion" I'd term a "reorganization..." but you can look at it whatever way you want.

Now, make no mistake, there are a lot more vaiables than just saying the guy "has more experience" or "knows his x's and o's better"....but bottom line is that if someone comes in and is clearly a good fit and a superior coach, I'm putting him in a leadership position.

Now, where you really make your money is communicating the reasons for the change to the guy who held the position before hand. You'd have to make sure he understands.

"Staff Loyalty" is a LOT different than "good ole boys network" and I want guys on my staff that are there for the kids and the program, not because they "busted their a$$ for 3 years" and feel like they deserve a title. Also, as you should know, it's not about how much a$$ you have to bust, it's about who gets the job done the best. You appreciate the a$$ busting, but at the end of the day, you want the guy who can produce results. I can run around like a frigging mad man for 16 hours a day, but if I'm not effective (or less effective than someone else who can do the job in 8 hours) what good am I? I would say that if "staff loyalty" is dependant upon me "taking care of my guys" rather than making tough calls that may not be popular to better our program, then I'd rather those coaches leave the program.

I'd expect "loyalty" to be built around the fact that I make sound, difficult decisions for the overall well-being and health of the program. "Loyalty" is built upon respect, and respect is earned through doing things like this coach had to do. The decision may not be popular, but it is the right call...and THAT is true courage and is worthy of respect and loyalty from those who understand these things.

I can't even believe I'm justifying this to someone....

Again, there are a million variables that go into a situation like this. I'd say that this is a circumstance where, if any assistants find this situation to be unacceptable, they should be moving on to other assignments.

I've been there, and I myself have left is a case like the one you are describing. Fortunately, that guy was fired in the off-season and I was able to withdraw my resignation before the next season began.