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Post by dvo45 on Oct 12, 2010 12:29:28 GMT -6
I didn't read all the responses so please forgive me if someone already said this: Your coaches will work harder and be more dedicated if they have some ownership. When a coach comes to me with an idea I always listen, and I take the approach of "Ok, sell me on this idea. Why is it better than what we are doing now? How does it better suit our kids? Is it cost(time) effective?" If it's his idea that we're implementing, I guarantee you he will work his @ss off to make it successful. Quite often, I will go along with things that I don't really believe in just so the guys under me will have that feeling of ownership and make that commitment. Example - three years ago I let my DC talk me into going to the 3-5. I've always been a 4-3 guy and that's what I believed in. But he was passionate and made good arguments so I let him take the reigns and he has done a fantastic job. This year, so far, we have set a school record with 5 shutouts and only given up 21 points in 7 games. Would we be enjoying the same level of success if I had overruled him three years ago? Would he have put his heart and soul in it for three years like he has? You looking for any more ast. coaches? Any time I bring something "fresh" I get the "I've been doing this longer than you" speach...
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Post by phantom on Oct 12, 2010 12:32:29 GMT -6
I've been a DC for a long time and I can tell you that I'd quit before I'd run a defense that was forced on me by the HC. Understandable phantom but I'm betting you were never in a situation where new header came in (school you were already at) to rebuild a losing program. Which is why you need to look at the situation before you make a hard and fast rule about something like this. If your DC is an inexperienced guy then he may need the header to be more controlling until the guy learns his trade. If you have a DC who knows what he's doing, though, let him work.
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Post by coachorr on Oct 12, 2010 12:39:09 GMT -6
What do you treat better? A rental car or a car you bought? So, if all the ideas are someone else's there may not be as much enthusiasm for that idea.
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Post by coachcb on Oct 12, 2010 15:06:41 GMT -6
In my current HC position, I run the systems that I want to run. BUT, that is because I don't have assistants with experience; they honestly wouldn't know where to begin if it came to installing an offense or a defense.
If I were in a situation where I had assistants with experience, I would have to decide what the coordinators brought to the table. I'm a 4-3 guy, but if a DC showed me a simple and sound 3-4/3-3 (whatever) and had solid examples of practice plans to install it, I'd go with it. Offensively, I will run some sort of option or misdirection offense; if an OC can present a good scheme (and installation plan) within these parameters, then I would go with it.
BUT, in my experience, guys are real quick to put up all of the Xs and Os, but don't have a very good idea how to coach the scheme. I need to see good practice plans, detailing how the scheme will be put into place. And, I want to know the details of each positions' skills.
If a guy can do this, then their stuff is fine by me. If they can't, then we're running a 4-3 Over and SBV. I want them to have ownership within the program, but we've got to be simple and sound and do the right things.
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Post by davishfc on Oct 12, 2010 18:13:03 GMT -6
I'm not sure I can answer like most other head coaches on this board because I didn't have the liberty to go out and find the assistants I wanted to bring in. In particular, I did not interview another coordinator on offense or defense. I advised the Superintendent back in 2007 after the conclusion of my first season as Head Coach that we were not going to get the program moving in the right direction with the people that were in place. I told the sup that I needed more committed, loyal, and knowledgeable coaches on staff because two of four assistants (which were both my varsity assistants) did not have any football coaching experience. One didn't even have any high school playing experience. After the season, my Head JV coach (the only other coach with experience resigned citing the time commitment which created personal/family issues). He ended up coming back to coach the junior high which was much less of a time commitment. One Varsity assistant and one JV assistant didn't get retained due to attendance and philosophical reasons respectively. The JV assistant not retained due to philosophical reasons were not scheme related at all. He still wanted to teach and coach techniques that are now illegal like butt blocking, head slaps, etc. So basically I was in a situation where I could hire 3 assistants after the 2007 season but the district was going to make teaching the #1 priority obviously. The sup was taking a class with another sup that had a student teacher in math and we needed a math teacher. This math teacher also coached the OL/DL at lower levels, primarily freshman, for a great small-school program. He ended up getting hired to teach math and I had a varsity assistant OL/DL coach. Then I found out that a first year teacher on staff had high school playing experience and wanted to coach. Now I had a JV Head Coach. I also brought on another assistant just last year that again didn't have any experience but was loyal and could get taught what needed to be coached to the kids. Long story short, I am the OC, DC, and STC. It would take some expert offensively to come in for me to be willing to relinquish those duties on a Friday night. There is entirely too many decisions and adjustments to make as an OC and giving up the opportunity to make those decisions every Friday night with the amount of work I put in is not something I would consider. There is too much at stake. If you feel like you are the one that can lead the team to wins as a coordinator then you need to be the one doing it even if it's all three phases. Again, if an expert walks in the door, maybe I consider delegating the OC responsibilities but otherwise absolutely not. A DC also needs to be organized and he needs to be a complete film grunt. They need to be willing to break down the tapes which takes hours to do over a weekend which is already short. The DC needs to have a game plan by Sunday based off of not just watching the film as it runs through but through actual breakdown. The assistants can then make suggestions but the overall plan is basically there because you have thought it through. DCs must truly understand what the opponent's offense is trying to do to in order to stop them. I don't know that I'll have someone on staff willing to put in the hours on Saturday breaking down film which for me is about 8 hours worth of work. Then developing a game plan takes an additional hour and half or so. Our staff makes an 8 hour commitment on Sunday already, 5 together as a staff for the upcoming week's game plan/practice organization and 3 hours with the players watching the previous Friday night's game. I feel fortunate to even have that time with the staff to get organized so venturing past that, I believe is not a realistic possibility. The STC needs to understand and be able to coach the techniques of each of the different special teams units and the specialty skills involved. Right now, I still have assistants trying to come into their own as position coaches. They are not ready to take the leap into the coordinating realm yet. They have to begin to understand the process, particularly the organization and preparation, that it takes to coordinate any phase of the game. The level of organization a coordinator must have for all the pieces come together is very high. There is a time commitment associated with that organization out of season and especially during the season over the weekends that I don't think my staff wants to take on. Therefore, this is ultimately why I do all three. If I had someone who was willing to make the time commitment that I already make or do it with me most likely, there would be another level of trust established among that assistant that could potentially lead to him coordinating the defense or special teams. Also, the schemes that we run were unfamiliar to any of the coaches when they started but they are getting better. Having them install their own schemes they had experience with was not an option or anything I had to worry about. When these coaches were being considered for the assistant jobs back in 2007, they had zero experience as an OC, DC, or STC. The challenge of doing all three (OC, DC, STC) is not as bad as some people make it out to be. It's a time commitment, no doubt, but if you're willing to make it...it's possible to do and your team can compete with the right person performing those roles. However, if you have the option to go out and hire an OC or DC, be open to what they bring to the table. If he's good and you can visualize the team running what he wants to and the team being successful doing it...tell him to have at it. Give him the keys and tell him not to wreck it. Very well stated and thought out post. I might add to your comments, I believe an HC begins to trust his assistants in the off season. It amazes me, that guys who show up on August 12th all of the sudden think they should have the keys to the car. I think vision is the key to this post, however, delegation and teaching is paramount. Coach, with all due respect, you are a great leader, but the best leaders are the ones who surround themselves with good people. You are going to wear yourself out. Back on point, I would have a hard time coaching at a place where I wasn't allowed to do some coaching, but I would not want to coach at a place where there was no "vision". "This is what we do, because it is what we do". I can get on board with that. There are many ways to skin a cat, pick one and tell me what you want to do next and then look at the results. If the results aren't there then let's adjust. Great points Coach. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to surround myself with great people. I am put in a position where individuals were hired, by district administration, for teaching jobs and then they applied for coaching jobs. I am thankful to have the guys on staff that I do. They're good people and coaches but none of us are the coaches we'll be 10 or 20 years from now. I need to allow these coaches to go through a natural development process, with some sense of urgency for the sake of the players we have in the mean time, before they are prepared to be a coordinator. How long that takes is dependent upon a number of factors including: experience, work ethic being the top two. If they have experience to build upon and have the work ethic to reach their greatest potential as a coach, then they'll be ready for more responsibilities sooner like a coordinator position. Bottom line is I have the responsibility, as Head Coach, to help them become the great people I need to be surrounded by to be successful. I need to coach my coaches. I need to help them learn, get better, and allow them to develop as coaches. This process needs to occur without putting too much on their plate too soon and then holding them accountable for the offense, defense, or special teams because that is "their responsibility." Everyone always talks about not giving coaches enough responsibility and running them off as a result. I am a firm believer that the inverse can be done as well. If you load a coach's plate before they are ready to eat it and if do that enough, they will quit, and then where are you? You are down a coach or coaches because they don't want that much responsibility or to put in that much time. When it comes down to it, people are not exactly banging the doors down wanting to coach with our program. It's not because we're not heading in a positive direction because we are. Our town is small, we are not even hiring teachers let alone coaches, the athletic budget is basically non-existent, and I'm asking coaches to give so much time over the course of the off-season and season to get the program where I believe it can be. Special people have committed to coaching here. So we work with who we have. I am trying to help the coaches I'm working with become the coaches they and I want them to be. We'll all get there someday just not today and I'm okay with that. In the mean time, I will do what is necessary for our program to thrive and be successful. If that means being the HC, OC, DC, STC, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Film Exchange Runner, Recruiting Coordinator, and the list goes on...I don't care! Whatever needs to be done, will be done. This program can succeed and I will see to it that it does. Coach you are also correct. I had a coach come on as a volunteer assistant in July, so not quite August like you stated but basically the same thing in my eyes. This coach was not retained following a regime change at a neighboring school. He wanted to come in and wholesale change the defensive scheme to what he had done in the past. I was like no way. We have been running this defense the past three years and we've concluded as a staff any shortcomings we had were us needing to coach it better or the players simply needing to execute. So I thought no...I'm not abandoning this. We are going to do what we do better. As for my coaches...they COACH. They are growing into outstanding position coaches that are doing an outstanding job of teaching the techniques the players need to be able to properly execute the scheme as a whole. Every assistant has position group responsibilities on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. So they are busy and they are COACHING. I know you understand this...just because you are not a coordinator doesn't mean that you are not a coach. Sometimes the position group coaches do more coaching than the coordinators do. That's not entirely true for me. My assistants get their individual and group time with the positions they are responsible for. But during the team segment, I am coaching where I think things need to be coached. There will be times that I'll say "Coach we need to get that fixed..." and that will be our guard or slot receiver and the respective coach will be on that if he isn't already. Sometimes they'll get it handled. But you know how it is. There is alot going and only so many eyes so you coach during team to avoid letting players develop and reinforce bad habits during that time. So it's not micromanaging in my eyes. My assistants have a responsibility and occasionally I will coach players in their position group during team but never in an undermining type fashion. You don't do that to assistant coaches.
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