How would you build a staff?

As a head coach I would have my hands all over the S&C program so I don't think that would be my top preference. Depending on the way your school breaks it down, I would probably put the guys I have 100% trust in as the head 9th and 10th grade coaches. The hard part is that a lot of guys don't want to be at that level. After that, I want an offensive line coach that knows what he is doing, and from there, coordinators. I think that in some ways coordinating positions are overrated. They do have influence, but a great offensive or defensive staff can pick up a lot of the slack for an inexperienced coordinator.

From a trust level, I think coordinators are somewhat limited in what they can do to undercut a head coach. I worry more about position coaches in that respect. If a coordinator does a terrible job, it is pretty easy to see the offense isn't being productive, or the defense lacks intensity. It is a lot harder to see the influence of a DB coach or a RB coach on the program.

Could actually be a benefit to have coaches in the building. In my current situation, we have 8 coaches and not one guy in the building. It is a PITA. If we just had ONE guy in the school, it would really help out to facilitate communication between the football program and the school community. I would try and find at least 1 guy who was a holdover whom I could use. Having a guy in the building will save you some headaches later.



This would be a HUGE red flag for me...I wouldn't take a gig at a place where I only had nominal control of the staff, especially at a place that hasn't been successful for a while. Rebuilding is tough enough...why go into it with 1 hand tied behind your back? Chances are really good, if it was anything like the situation I inherited a year ago, that you have some dead weight that needs to be cut loose.



Don't assume anything.

The first thing you will need to assess is which coaches that you inherit can work with minimal supervision. In other words, if you assign the freshmen team to one of the holdovers, is he going to enforce the team rules? Is he going to run the team offense, defesne, and special teams? Or is he going to do his "own" thing?

First thing you will need to do is put someone whom you trust in charge of the lower level programs...those are your most important coaches because the experience kids have on that level will largely determine whether or not those kids will stick it out and become varsity players.



Start with the AD. If the AD is a decent guy, he should be able to give you a fairly honest assessment of the returning coaches.

Past that, I would set up a questionaire. Ask guys how long they have coached, what they have coached in the past, and, most importantly, what their level of committment in the offseason will be. What you will find out is probably half the guys won't even bother filling it out. Those guys have given you their answer.

Before you talk to each guy, make sure that you have your offseason plans and calendar all worked out. That way, the guys can see what you expect in regards to coaching participation in the offseason.



Big thing for me would be the knowledge that these guys are willing to work...are they excuse-makers? Are they the kind of guys who claim that the school never gets any good athletes? That the lack of success has nothing to d with poor coaching practices that need to be addressed?

If you have excuse makers in the group, I wouldn't keep them.



I wouldn't keep someone like that. Far better to have your enemies up in the stands rather than on your own sideline.

I run the Offense and S&C, so that is not a need. Although I am very hands on with the Defense, I want a guy who I can trust to take the vision and get it done.

Prioritizing is as follows:

1. Defensive coordinator
2. O Line Coach
3. Secondary coach
4. QB coach ( Works extensively with WR's as well )
5. LB coach
6. DL coach
7. WR coach
8. RB coach
9. TE coach ( TE will work extensively with OL and also get reps with WR's on fundamentals )

Special Teams is a joint effort. Def. coaches handle def. aspects and off. staff handles off. aspects.

Which BCS school are you head coach at - nine assistants and neither you nor DC coach a position?!

Not criticizing at all here, but I genuinely enjoy reading stuff like this to see "how the other half lives" so to speak.

The staff I'm on had four coaches last year. Period. Grades 9-12. There is no freshmen team or tenth grade team or anything. 400 kids in the school (depending on if rent's cheaper here or in the county next door this month). Last year we had a HC was also the OC and coached OL/LB. I was the DC and coached DL/RB. We had a DB/WR coach and another guy was the QB coach. (He really didn't do much else). On Mondays, we had JV games so myself and the WR/DB coach went to the JV game. Oddly enough, I called offense and he called defense.

The only reason I say all this is to go back to the OP and say that it REALLY depends on the size of the school and community. I'm interviewing for the HC job in a couple weeks (I think? I hope?) and I can't even fathom having any say in the hiring of coaching staff. If people don't teach at the school, they don't coach. In a town of 2,000 people, I just don't see where the coaches would come from, and we certainly wouldn't have the luxury of having more than 5 coaches in any given season, and that's assuming our booster club pays for one. (which they haven't the last two years because honestly, there wasn't a qualified candiate around).

Its just world different when you compare the culture of small school/town vs big school/town.

Just based on what I've read/horror-stories I've heard this isn't a bad scenario. You can add, possibly, 2 teachers and 2 non-faculty coaches and release anybody you want.

I would have as many good coaches as I can. If that means there are only 5 coaches (Myself and the 4 new hires), then we're going to be busy.

The two top needs, to me, are a freshman coach and a varsity assistant. Ideally you can find the freshman coach somehwere in the program (maybe he's a youth coach/middle school coach....maybe there is a young guy.....maybe there is an old guy who just isn't interested in varsity anymore). He needs to be able/willing to coach the fundamentals every day, enforce basic rules/discipline and keep kids in the program. Fill out the rest of this staff before anything else (maybe you need to add another volunteer).

Then, add a varsity assistant (coordinator or not, someone you can count on in case of emergency). Ideally this is a teacher you can bring into the building. His actual job (OC/DC/OL/DB whatever) isn't as important as being someone reliabe to help enforce discipline and do things your way (attitude wise). If you can add two, even better.

If you can't trust any hold-overs to coach the JVs, then keep the JVs and varsity together. Maybe throw in JV playcalling duties to keep them happy.

If you end up with 3 varsity coaches (yourself and two others) and 2 freshman coaches so be it.

I was once the guy that was fired because the new head coach felt I wasn't going to be loyal to him and felt threatened by me. I grew up in this town and had been the top assistant for 20 years. I was honest with him and told him his OC he was bringing in was a bad choice and that he was making mistakes that should be addressed. He fired me 30 minutes before the first meeting. He lasted 2 years and the last person he talked to before he left town was me. I did not say "I told you so" one time. That was seven years ao and I am still here and he has since been many places. He apologized and I accepted it.

Great post!