Post by ojowens411 on Mar 29, 2010 10:54:24 GMT -6
Maybe I don’t understand the politics of the youth game.
I believe that I am going through a real-life situation that is really starting to sour me on the youth football.
I will attempt to keep this post as short as possible, but please bear with me…because I need the feedback.
In a sense I was being “recruited” by a program president for the last couple of years to be a head coach in his organization.
After speaking with my son a few times about it (he would be playing there), we decided to make the jump for the all of the right reasons. It was a tougher league, closer to home, and a lot of the kids he went to school with played there.
(I live 90 seconds from the park)
I do want to be clear in saying that the move was not to become a head coach; I was already one at my old organization. I strictly based the decision to move on my son, and where he wanted to be.
With that being said, I came to the organization last season (2009), and brought some assets with me. I brought 2 really good coaches and 3 really great kids who would be able to compete for starting skill position spots.
The team I took over didn’t really have that good of a season the year before. They went 4-6. One win was by forfeit and the other 3 were over the lesser teams in the league. The 6 losses were all lopsided. They even lost one game 63-0.
I was hesitant to even want to coach them, but I loved the challenge. I was reassured that the talent was there, but the coaching was sub-par.
I had open try-outs for all 6 skill positions. Every kid went through a qb, rb, and receiver station on 2 separate practices.
The coaches and I then evaluated all of the kids after our first scrimmage, and decided offensively if a child was playing a skill position or the line. We then divided the kids up as the ones that would be playing in the competitive or instructional division.
There were some kids who played rb on the competitive team the year before that were now selected to play on the instructional and some were selected for the line. This immediately upset some parents who accused me of not knowing how to recognize talent.
Anyway, we ended up 11-1 (9-0 regular season) that year with our only loss (12-7) coming in the Conference Finals to a team we beat earlier that year.
We then went 6-1 in a Turkey Bowl to win the championship. We finished the year 17-2 overall. Even though we didn’t win our league championship, I’d say that we had a great season.
There was a coach from another program that may have the best player of our age group in our entire area.
This kid is truly gifted.
He wanted to come be a part of what we were trying to build last year, and I welcomed him. He wanted to be the offensive coordinator. I explained that I had a system that I wanted to run, but I’d be willing to share the duties with him. That may have been my first mistake.
At the 8U level in our league you can have 1 coach on the field, so we split time during the season right down the middle. I’d call 2 quarters and he’d call 2.
After every game this year, I’d have a line of parents and coaches in my face asking me why I’m letting this guy call plays. I’d always defend him because he was part of my staff, but deep down, I knew what they were saying was true. He was over matched out there. Sometimes it just the small things, like he honestly didn’t know that you HAVE to have 7 on the los for the play to be legal. Four games into the season he’s calling a play out of a double wing set and sent our TE in motion across the formation. The flag was through immediately when the ball snapped and I knew what it was. The line judge was trying to explain to me, but I told him that I already knew. He just chuckled and walked away. That was utterly embarrassing, because we talked about it at the beginning of the season when showed me a play that he wanted to put it. I looked at the paper and noticed that there were only 6 on the line and told him it wouldn’t work and why. So it’s not like I didn’t try to correct this before. I went through a whole season of little things that told me he wasn’t ready to have the responsibility fulltime.
Now we are coming into this season and he applies for the head coaching spot for our boys this year, but after a vote of the board, I was unanimously chosen. So now I have some decisions to make as to where to put this guy.
As of right now our coaching staff has been reduced to just him and I. (long story)
I ask him to meet me at a local restaurant to discuss the upcoming season. I explain that so far it’s just me and him. Based on that, I asked him to have full control over the defense with minimal oversight from me, and I would coach the offense. I know that it wasn’t what he wanted to do, so I gave him 4 days to think about it. He seemed as though he was fine when we left. Well I get a call from our program president on Saturday afternoon wanting to know what happened in our conversation. I explained to him how the conversation went, and he tells me that he got a call from the coach stating that 5-6 parents want to know why he’s not calling the plays and if he isn’t then none of them are coming back to the park.
I immediately felt betrayed because he never once told me that he wasn’t with my plan. I then told our president that it’s not a popularity contest and I could get 8-10 parents that say he shouldn’t even be allowed to coach on our team.
We talked a little more and I just stood firm in my decision.
Our board already voted that the head coach is allowed to make all decision in regards to staffing and assignments.
It just seems that though he spent those couple of days speaking with parents, making back room deals to get him what he wants.
My biggest problem is that I have my president trying to lean on me about changing my mind, and I’m wondering if it’s because of his son.
I spoke with the parents of the kids I brought with me, and they are ready to leave if I am. I told them that I wasn’t leaving because my son stated that he wanted to stay in the organization, so I’m here. I just don’t know if I’m going to coach. I told the president that if this was going to be that much of a problem, then I would just go the stands. This is a volunteer position, and as much as I LOVE coaching, I will not put up with this much mess this year. I would just prefer to be taken out of the controversy all together.
If I don’t have a president that’s willing to back me, when I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong, then I don’t want to be a part of that organization.
I believe that this is little league politics at its finest, but I could be wrong. I need opinions of other youth coaches that took the time to read this lengthy post. I shortened it as much as possible; the story is actually bigger than this.
Am I wrong for standing my ground? I am willing to take all criticism. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply, if you do.
I believe that I am going through a real-life situation that is really starting to sour me on the youth football.
I will attempt to keep this post as short as possible, but please bear with me…because I need the feedback.
In a sense I was being “recruited” by a program president for the last couple of years to be a head coach in his organization.
After speaking with my son a few times about it (he would be playing there), we decided to make the jump for the all of the right reasons. It was a tougher league, closer to home, and a lot of the kids he went to school with played there.
(I live 90 seconds from the park)
I do want to be clear in saying that the move was not to become a head coach; I was already one at my old organization. I strictly based the decision to move on my son, and where he wanted to be.
With that being said, I came to the organization last season (2009), and brought some assets with me. I brought 2 really good coaches and 3 really great kids who would be able to compete for starting skill position spots.
The team I took over didn’t really have that good of a season the year before. They went 4-6. One win was by forfeit and the other 3 were over the lesser teams in the league. The 6 losses were all lopsided. They even lost one game 63-0.
I was hesitant to even want to coach them, but I loved the challenge. I was reassured that the talent was there, but the coaching was sub-par.
I had open try-outs for all 6 skill positions. Every kid went through a qb, rb, and receiver station on 2 separate practices.
The coaches and I then evaluated all of the kids after our first scrimmage, and decided offensively if a child was playing a skill position or the line. We then divided the kids up as the ones that would be playing in the competitive or instructional division.
There were some kids who played rb on the competitive team the year before that were now selected to play on the instructional and some were selected for the line. This immediately upset some parents who accused me of not knowing how to recognize talent.
Anyway, we ended up 11-1 (9-0 regular season) that year with our only loss (12-7) coming in the Conference Finals to a team we beat earlier that year.
We then went 6-1 in a Turkey Bowl to win the championship. We finished the year 17-2 overall. Even though we didn’t win our league championship, I’d say that we had a great season.
There was a coach from another program that may have the best player of our age group in our entire area.
This kid is truly gifted.
He wanted to come be a part of what we were trying to build last year, and I welcomed him. He wanted to be the offensive coordinator. I explained that I had a system that I wanted to run, but I’d be willing to share the duties with him. That may have been my first mistake.
At the 8U level in our league you can have 1 coach on the field, so we split time during the season right down the middle. I’d call 2 quarters and he’d call 2.
After every game this year, I’d have a line of parents and coaches in my face asking me why I’m letting this guy call plays. I’d always defend him because he was part of my staff, but deep down, I knew what they were saying was true. He was over matched out there. Sometimes it just the small things, like he honestly didn’t know that you HAVE to have 7 on the los for the play to be legal. Four games into the season he’s calling a play out of a double wing set and sent our TE in motion across the formation. The flag was through immediately when the ball snapped and I knew what it was. The line judge was trying to explain to me, but I told him that I already knew. He just chuckled and walked away. That was utterly embarrassing, because we talked about it at the beginning of the season when showed me a play that he wanted to put it. I looked at the paper and noticed that there were only 6 on the line and told him it wouldn’t work and why. So it’s not like I didn’t try to correct this before. I went through a whole season of little things that told me he wasn’t ready to have the responsibility fulltime.
Now we are coming into this season and he applies for the head coaching spot for our boys this year, but after a vote of the board, I was unanimously chosen. So now I have some decisions to make as to where to put this guy.
As of right now our coaching staff has been reduced to just him and I. (long story)
I ask him to meet me at a local restaurant to discuss the upcoming season. I explain that so far it’s just me and him. Based on that, I asked him to have full control over the defense with minimal oversight from me, and I would coach the offense. I know that it wasn’t what he wanted to do, so I gave him 4 days to think about it. He seemed as though he was fine when we left. Well I get a call from our program president on Saturday afternoon wanting to know what happened in our conversation. I explained to him how the conversation went, and he tells me that he got a call from the coach stating that 5-6 parents want to know why he’s not calling the plays and if he isn’t then none of them are coming back to the park.
I immediately felt betrayed because he never once told me that he wasn’t with my plan. I then told our president that it’s not a popularity contest and I could get 8-10 parents that say he shouldn’t even be allowed to coach on our team.
We talked a little more and I just stood firm in my decision.
Our board already voted that the head coach is allowed to make all decision in regards to staffing and assignments.
It just seems that though he spent those couple of days speaking with parents, making back room deals to get him what he wants.
My biggest problem is that I have my president trying to lean on me about changing my mind, and I’m wondering if it’s because of his son.
I spoke with the parents of the kids I brought with me, and they are ready to leave if I am. I told them that I wasn’t leaving because my son stated that he wanted to stay in the organization, so I’m here. I just don’t know if I’m going to coach. I told the president that if this was going to be that much of a problem, then I would just go the stands. This is a volunteer position, and as much as I LOVE coaching, I will not put up with this much mess this year. I would just prefer to be taken out of the controversy all together.
If I don’t have a president that’s willing to back me, when I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong, then I don’t want to be a part of that organization.
I believe that this is little league politics at its finest, but I could be wrong. I need opinions of other youth coaches that took the time to read this lengthy post. I shortened it as much as possible; the story is actually bigger than this.
Am I wrong for standing my ground? I am willing to take all criticism. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply, if you do.
