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Post by davecisar on Jul 5, 2010 13:32:14 GMT -6
From my blog today:
Daddy favortism is one the the most common team killers in youth football. Almost all of us have seen it, the average player who is put into a no-win situation by a well meaning but selfish or delusional father. The average baseball player who would make a pretty good outfielder is made the starting short stop or ace pitcher by his dad and he’s batting fourth. Or in football, the average player who would make a real good Tight End, who dad has named as the starting Quarterback or Linebacker. Nothing tears a team apart quicker than this type of favoritism. The parents and kids quickly lose respect for the coach and when there is no respect, there is no trust and without trust, forget about having a team that is “all in.”
How do you make sure this ugly problem doesn’t rear its ugly head in your organization? It starts first in the coaching interview process. Some organizations don’t allow dads to coach on the same teams their sons are on. Others will let them coach Jr’s team, but won’t allow dad to coach the position his son plays. You can often find out where a dads coaching motivation is by asking him a simple question like; “We have a policy against dads coaching their own sons directly, how do you feel about that?” It depends how many quality coaches you have in your organization as to what type of policy you can live with.
No matter which direction you go, you have to set expectations with your coaching staff. Have EXPLICIT written out position descriptions for each and every position on your youth football team, so EVERYONE is on the same page as to what “flavor" of player you are looking for at each position. List the requirements for each position; list the type of speed, quickness, body control, strength, aggressiveness and smarts needed to effectively play it. Then map your requirements into your evaluation drills and games. Next, make sure you accurately grade those evaluations.
If the top requirement for position “A” is that the player be able to run through traffic, if little Johnny wasn’t one of the top three players on the Gauntlet Drill, he shouldn’t be considered for that position. The simplest way to figure some of these positions out is to make the drills competitive and group the players based on results. Let’s say you are evaluating players for Linebacker and the position requirement said the player must be one of the best athletes who plays aggressively and can tackle consistently in space. You could figure out who the best choices would be by running the Three Slot Challenge tackling drill in 3 groups. You line up 3 groups all doing the drill, if a player wins (ball carrier doesn’t cross the line of scrimmage) he goes to the group on the right, if he loses he goes to the group on the left. At the end of 15 minutes all your best in space tacklers are going to be in group 3. If you want to make it very interesting just have the remaining kids in group 3 fight it out. The winners get to stay in, the losers are out. If dads budding little Linebacker is in group 1, forgetaboutit, he isn’t a Linebacker candidate. Look to the Evaluating Players thread in this blog for more ideas.
Make sure to have a coaches clinic and emphasize that the goal is to maximize the team dynamic which means you have to have the kids playing in positions that are appropriate for their skill set. Let all the coaches know that there can not be any favoritism whatsoever towards their own children. It’s best to be stern and upfront so you don’t have to deal with the problem later on.
Just remember when you are faced with this situation that it isn’t the poor kids fault, most of them know where they stand in when it comes to their peers- they know. In fact it’s been my experience that most of these kids would prefer, enjoy and even excel at a position or role that was more in sync with their skills. Too many of these poor kids get turned off of the game because of a few dads that are delusional about their own kids skills.
If you're lucky like me, you will run into coaches that error on the other side of the equation. I had one head coach who had a son with great hands but he rarely threw to him. I ended up having his boy play for me one season, he caught 11 touchdown passes that year. When I asked the dad why he didn’t throw to his very talented son more often, he replied he didn’t want to appear like he was playing favorites. Doing competitive evaluation drills saves you when your son is a stud player- those drills will show everyone what is what and who is who. As a dad you have to be fair, I’ve coached my own kids a handful of years and there was never any controversy. I made sure they never got issued a new helmet or new pants, put them at the back of every line to the point no one knew I had a kid playing on the team until they saw the roster in print or saw me drive home with the boy in the front seat of my truck.
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Post by jhanawa on Jul 5, 2010 18:38:28 GMT -6
I coached my son two years ago when he was 9. Now some might call it favoritism, but he touched the ball every single play on offense because we needed him to. Yep, he snapped the ball every down, shotgun snaps to the QB....He'll end up playing another position in the future, but he sure did snap the ball nice...
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Post by td4tc on Jul 5, 2010 19:58:11 GMT -6
good one JIM ..you have a fumbleruskie?
really its up to the other coaches to set the old man straight...nice when the kid is clearly in the right position and is the best at that position..makes it easier..but can certainly work.
agree that the kids always seem to know...tried phantom's spring camp method where i started out first practice (after we lost a lot to graduation) and said "OK number#1's on offense" without telling them who should be in....Phantom said the kids will step up and almost always be right.He was right!
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Post by jhanawa on Jul 6, 2010 11:10:32 GMT -6
fumblerooskie is illegal in US football now....
We ran our normal offense with the 9-10yr olds, we had a QB that could do it. He ran & read GT option and veer pretty dang good.
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Post by Chris Clement on Jul 6, 2010 11:20:34 GMT -6
I`ve been on many teams with good dad coaches. Around here it`s very hard to get coaches without sons on the team, it`s a trickle-down from hockey, where it`s simply a given that you coach your son`s team. Conversely, I was on a team Where it got so bad the dad started putting Jr`s friends in where they didn`t belong on both sides of the ball and dictating the offense on how to maximize their son`s exposure, not talent. Eventually we had 9 kids playing both ways on a roster of 45 and we were losing games because of it, some of the kids were not in the appropriate shape to play both ways. We won the championship by virtue of drawing from a talent pool 5 times the size of every other team in the league, but then the team imploded. I never went back to the organization.
Now that I coach, it`s a priority of mine to honestly evaluate every kid and make him as useful as I can to the team. To wit, one of my best players this year was a 115-lb 11 yr old girl who hit like a man (her 98lb boyfriend was my second best hitter. Tackling drills were hilarious to watch and the whole team had quick comments to make)
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Post by Chris Clement on Jul 6, 2010 11:23:57 GMT -6
One more thing: Dave, you often open up threads with lengthy monologues on a subject that you take from your blog. These would make great additions to the articles section to help centralize or spread the library of knowledge available in one location. I dream of a day when CoachHuey is the font of all football knowledge. Ever considered thatÉ (sorry, int`l keyboard with no question mark)
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Post by davecisar on Jul 7, 2010 15:39:37 GMT -6
Coach,
Thanks, but there really isnt a youth section in the articles section and I dont really write that well. Of the 425 articles posted on my blog, there might be just a dozen worthy of publishing here. This is primarily a HS Football Coaching Board for HS coaches and my stuff really doesnt fit that equation very well. I dont try and give advice in areas I dont have any experience in- which includes coaching HS football. Thanks just the same, kind of you to say.
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shawnm
Freshmen Member
Posts: 99
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Post by shawnm on Jul 9, 2010 16:53:50 GMT -6
Last year I had a really hard time with finding a decent center for our single wing (partly because I didn't know how to teach the technique properly)
My kid (base upon our evaluations) played CB for 1/2 the season he was one of the smallest players on the team. I went through 3 centers and was struggling on who to turn to. So one weekend after one of those bad snap games, and some advice from Dave, I coached up my kid to play center.
It was the best coaching decision I have ever made. My boy was about 55 lbs in an 8-9 year league going against 70-90 lb nose guards. He was also the fastest player on the team but didn't have the body control and cutting ability of some of the other boys who were running backs and linebackers. Center helped him help the team more than at corner. It is all about putting the players where they can help the TEAM the most.
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spurred
Sophomore Member
Posts: 101
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Post by spurred on Jul 10, 2010 8:50:50 GMT -6
this year for our 6th grade team will be interesting, I recruited three of my fellow high school teammates to help me coach....the thing that excites me about them is that they just want to give back to the sport that helped make them who they are today. The whole reason I am the HC is because we had problem with lineman being in the backfield because of some dad coaches......
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 10, 2010 9:09:26 GMT -6
DC
Once again you touch on one of my pet peeves. Your post is excellent & well written(no matter what you say). Here in lies the problem as I see it. Most origination's can't find quality coaches, therefore they must draw from the pool they have. Usually this consists of Daddy Ballers. Most of the time these men are successful in life & the league believes they will be successful for them. Aside from being delusion about Jr's abilities or lack of, they also do not understand what it takes to be a football coach.
Someone like you who spends every waking hour thinking about, learning, or doing, what it takes to be a coach, finds this hard to understand. As do I.What I think upsets me the most is hearing, "Well it's only youth football". I find that extremely demeaning. The excuse for not learning anything is, "Our kids are too young to do that". No age is too young to learn the fundamentals.
IMHO most "Daddy Ballers" start out with good intentions, something happens along the way that transforms those intentions into disaster. I know we have all seen both sides of the coin. Neither one is a healthy situation, either the team gets affected or the son does. I think no father of a player should ever be the Head Coach, unless he has been the Head Coach of that team previously without his son. Last season I had a 6 man staff, 3 Coaches had sons who played on the team. I made sure no father coached his son. This season we have 5 coaches, none have sons on the team.
I realize this is an ideal situation, in places where that isn't possible I think every effort should be made not to have fathers coach their sons.
Joe
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spurred
Sophomore Member
Posts: 101
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Post by spurred on Jul 10, 2010 10:00:07 GMT -6
Joe I like your thoughts but like you said, some leagues can't pull from outside the parents......or you have some resentment from coaches, when the board tries to make the hc someone who doesn't have a kid. Granted this coach is a great coach, but overall I feel if you have someone that can step back and say, "I coach because I want to positively impact these kids' lives, not because I have a child" I will say that there are parent's out there that understand how to handle situations like that, but the argument that "I'm harder on my kid, so I'm not treating him better is wrong" If someones kid has an extra 3 hours of mental practice, I.E. watching gametapes with the parent coach, or going over gameplans, that is a huge advantage for the player.
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 10, 2010 11:29:36 GMT -6
Spurred
I understand exactly what you are saying, however more often then not these situations work out horribly. I have seen good coaches & good people who when in the position of coaching their son it becomes a disaster. This doesn't mean every father who coaches his son's team is a problem. I really do understand that there aren't a lot coaches out there who only coach because they love it. If you look around this board you will see several, DC, Coach Doug, Jhanawa, & several others. This often places the league in a quandary. Leagues in large metropolitan areas, who have a successfully history, can usually pull from a larger pool of qualified coaches. So often other leagues have to have fathers coach their son. The key here is not to be a Daddy Baller. That can be accomplished by trying to have the father not directly coach his son, sometimes that too is impossible. Can it be accomplished? Of course it can, but it's not easy.
If a father is tougher on his son then another coach would be, that is just as bad as being a Daddy Baller. The one most damaged by this is the player.
Joe
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spurred
Sophomore Member
Posts: 101
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Post by spurred on Jul 10, 2010 11:48:39 GMT -6
yeah joe, it seems the ones that are problems aren't very humble......I honeslty don't know if I will want to coach once I have kids.
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 10, 2010 12:16:35 GMT -6
Spurred
Lol.... I hear ya!
One of my worst coaching experiences was coaching my Nephew back in 1986. I pushed him way harder then any other player. The situation was compounded by the fact that his position coach was his other Uncle. Lil Jimmy never stood a chance with us 2 constantly expecting him to be perfect. Looking back & reflecting on the season I have often asked his forgiveness. He went on to be an All City player, & played 4 years of college ball. He often will say his toughest season in football was the year we coached him. We made him earn everything, I often wish it was today when I am wiser.
The simple fact you are here on this board shows your coaching heart is in the right place. I'm sure when you have children you will be to do a better job then I did.
Joe
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Post by gameface on Jul 10, 2010 16:40:26 GMT -6
" If someones kid has an extra 3 hours of mental practice, I.E. watching game tapes with the parent coach, or going over game plans, that is a huge advantage for the player"
Spurred,
I don't understand how breaking down film with one of my son's is favoritism? I break down film with my sons if I am coaching them or not, I have two at different levels. I will break down film and help them to get better. That isn't me showing favoritism it is me trying to be a good dad. Why would you not work with your son to help him get better? I would love for there to be enough coaches with out kids coaching. That way I can be that rah rah guy on the sideline.
A daddy baller is unfortunately how I got into coaching my oldest son was coached by one of those baller daddy's that his kid did no wrong give his kid the ball every time. I can handle that, there will always be those coaches out there. what I couldn't handle is him grabbing 8 year olds by the face mask and screaming at them.
I have a tendency to be harder on my kids only because I expect a lot out of them. The first thing I have told my assistant that if he see's me being unfair to my kid either way to let me know if I am out of line. I don't coach my kid. I won't let any of my coaches coach there own kid. They have to coach a different position than what there kid plays. I know we can't eliminate baller daddy coaches out there but we will have to have some help from parents depending on your league or organization. Smaller leagues might be able to do this but last year in out 8-9 year old league we had 12 teams of 20-22 kids each. I don't know how you would get that many coaches with out kids to volunteer. Our district had 54 teams total.
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spurred
Sophomore Member
Posts: 101
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Post by spurred on Jul 10, 2010 18:39:32 GMT -6
gameface, I said it gave them an unfair advantage.......against the other kids that they compete against in their positions. Not everyone has a parent that wants to be that involved or can be. I don't want to sound like I was calling you out, because when you say you break down game film I'm sure if your sons wanted to leave at any point they could. The coach that I know is not that way, it is not voluntary for him, to listen on the whole car ride home about things he did and didn't do right.
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Post by gameface on Jul 11, 2010 11:15:10 GMT -6
Spurred,
I don't feel like you called me out. I just don't think you can lump all daddy ballers in one category. I know what it is like to be a coaches son. My father coached HS ball for 35 years. Yes it can be difficult to be a coaches son but there are also the rewards. I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Was he hard on me yes was he overboard no. I have tried to take what I have learned from my own situation and apply it to my boys and kids on my team. The main point is daddy baller or just a volunteer coach with out a kid on the team you have to-- love the boys and coach em up! that is what it is all about. I usually have a couple of goals with my team 1-make sure the boys have fun 2- make sure each boy improves 3-remember they are boys or young men, 4- repeat number 1 and I guess you could add a 5th that is more for me and the coaching staff, that we improve as coaches. I am guessing you have had a bad experience with a daddy baller. I have coached with them and had my boys play play for them, I know they are out there and it is unfortunate.
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Post by daveinsarasota on Jul 12, 2010 8:25:55 GMT -6
The reason daddy ballers get a bad wrap is because the wide vast majority of those situations are bad. I have coached for years, and I can comfortabley say that 90% or more of the teams coached by a daddy will contain some form of favoritism, be it subtle or overt.
It is rare that this is not the case. I am also of the mindset that when a coach says he is harder on his son than anyone else...that is another form of favoritism.
The first thing I do after each weigh in when we exchange rosters, is look at the coaches names, and then go down the list of players, looking at their jersey numbers to get an idea. MOST of the time, the numbers are 1, 7, 12, or 32...etc. Rarely do you see a 62, 71, etc. I know that may seem petty, but once the game stats...you will see quickly see that their positions reflect their jersey numbers.
Rarely is this NOT the case. You play against a team, and all of the sudden you see a shrimp at QB...then look at the roster...there you have it. I have seen it too many times for it to be coincidence, and I will see it in at least half of the games I coach this year.
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 12, 2010 8:35:40 GMT -6
Game Face
Very true, all "Daddy Ballers" are not created equally, just as all Football Coaches are not. Here's where the line gets blurry, many men who coach their son"s team are not "Daddy Ballers". IMHO, "Daddy Baller" is truly a negative conontation. Usually these guys have little actual football knowledge & are only concerned with their son. They make little effort to learn how to coach. It's all about their personal agenda for their son. If you are spending time working on the team usually that means you aren't a "Daddy Baller". Of course there are times that doesn't work either.
I think sometimes because the term is so negative every man that coaches his son feels like he has to defend what he is doing. The easiest way to avoid this,( again for me it really works) is to not have a father coach his son. It's easy enough if there are enough quality coaches on the staff. Unfortunately, many teams & leagues are so thin on quality coaches this becomes impossible. Last season at the Nationals I noticed most teams that won, the HC didn't have a son on the team. Not that they didn't have assit's that did. Having grown up in a coaching family I beleive you can see the difference.
Joe
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Post by davecisar on Jul 12, 2010 8:50:58 GMT -6
I coached my son two years ago when he was 9. Now some might call it favoritism, but he touched the ball every single play on offense because we needed him to. Yep, he snapped the ball every down, shotgun snaps to the QB....He'll end up playing another position in the future, but he sure did snap the ball nice... Coach, We have that in common My step son is a center- he started one season out of the 5 he played for me and had a great time. He and everyone else knew we werent playing favorites. As to numbers we dont care a rats rear end about numbers. The kids pick their numbers out on their own at a function we do. You pick based on seniority, years with the program then by age. Yes my step son wore #7 as a center, his favorite player was Eric Crouch and one of my top running backs was #74, he was a rookie player  Another of my backs was #50, his dads number in college ;D |
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 12, 2010 9:52:04 GMT -6
lol..... 90% of the time my QB wears #7, it's one thing I am fussy about(ok there are many). This goes back 1979 Pete Tipaldo was my QB, & best player. I have had some real studs wear #7. Riley was #4 for Bret Farve, last year Bull was #5. I think every year during the 80's my starter was #7.
Joe
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Post by daveinsarasota on Jul 12, 2010 10:47:26 GMT -6
I coached my son two years ago when he was 9. Now some might call it favoritism, but he touched the ball every single play on offense because we needed him to. Yep, he snapped the ball every down, shotgun snaps to the QB....He'll end up playing another position in the future, but he sure did snap the ball nice... Coach, We have that in common My step son is a center- he started one season out of the 5 he played for me and had a great time. He and everyone else knew we werent playing favorites. As to numbers we dont care a rats rear end about numbers. The kids pick their numbers out on their own at a function we do. You pick based on seniority, years with the program then by age. Yes my step son wore #7 as a center, his favorite player was Eric Crouch and one of my top running backs was #74, he was a rookie player Another of my backs was #50, his dads number in college ;D The point I was making about the jersey numbers, is that their number normally reflects the position they normally play. If a QB normally wore number 74, you would see a lot of coaches sons wearing number 74 to match their comp'd position. I understand that not eveyrone does this. But the vast majority do. If not QB, then some other high profile position, and if not on offense, they are rewarded on defense. That would explain why there have been two lengthy and active threads on this forum, regarding this topic. It is a real problem in youth football. |
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Post by mhcoach on Jul 12, 2010 11:14:00 GMT -6
D I S
I got what you ment. I am an old school guy so most of teams conform to the offensive numbering systems. Most youth leagues don't adhere to that. Heck the last few seasons I make my team bring both jerseys to the game, because you can't relie on what your opposition will wear. Our first game last season we had to lend our opposition out practice jerseys to play in because their jersey order didn't come in.
Joe
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Another of my backs was #50, his dads number in college ;D