Habitual Program Re-Builders, how and why?

SLAP!

Hey, you just described my coaching career,lol. It all starts with the mindset. Much of it is is psychological. When I go into these programs I do not talk to the kids in vague terms with statements about winning seasons, getting better, blah, blah,blah. I talk to them in terms of winning championships.

How we train in and out of season directly affects the way we play. To me the order of importance in turning around a program, regardless of talent levels when you get there is:

1- Faith in God to give you wisdom
2-Great strength and speed program
3-TEACH your players how to be smart and intelligent about the game
4-Strive for perfection in everything, never compromise even a little bit
5-Demand excellence everyday from yourself, staff and players
6-Put the kids in a system that they can realistically execute
7-Be fundamentally and technically sound at all times and emphasize these aspects daily
8-Be great in preparation for both practice and games
9-Be a master at in-game adjustments. This will give your players confidence in you and the program.
10-Treat the players like your own children. Love them and let them know it, but be tough. They don't need another pal. They need someone to show them how to be a man.

I have yet to win a State Championship but on 2 occasions I have taken teams to the State Semifinals in the first year there. One of those teams won 4 games in the previous 5 years and the other one was 1-29 over the previous three years. On two other occasions I have taken teams to the Semi's within 3 years. I am not saying this to brag, but to say that turning around losing programs is very possible. It is not about the coach being brilliant, it is about the leadership to pull the best out of the players. The players are the ones who do it. There are many other success stories along the way, but the ones I mentioned are the most drastic.

I have been offered some really good jobs where you can just add water and win championships, but that is just not the type of job I want. Maybe at some point I will but for now I like the other underdog challenge.

I simply like giving the underdog a chance for success and I have been blessed in doing so. I have never taken a job or left a job because of the talent there or the lack of talent there. If you know how to get the best out of the kids, wins will come.

I know Dave Cisar was looking for the worst team/program in the country at one point, just for the thrill of turning it around.

Very interesting list Coach. I've seen similar lists and would categorize this within the philosophical realm. I'm most interested in, however, the order of these "program building priorities." Congratulations on all of the success you've had, past and present, building up struggling programs. This is motivating for me because I'm currently building up a struggling program as well. Thanks Coach.

Now I'm no habitual program builder by any means. Matter of fact, this is my first rodeo and I constantly try to assess if we are heading in the right direction and steadily building. Here's some background:

I took over our current program in 2007. In the previous 30 years, it had a cumulative record of 80-193 (.293 win percentage) and only 4 winning seasons. Two of those winning seasons were 5-4 records. The other two winning seasons were the only two post season appearances in school history dating back to 1955. During the 5 years prior to me taking over, the program had a cumulative record of 5-40 (.111 win percentage) under 3 different head coaches.

In 2006, the year before I took over, the varsity football season was cancelled after 4 games due to numbers and safety issues. The team gave up 40+ points per game and got shutout in all four games played. Due to the cancellation, the 2006 season was heavily scrutinized by local, state, and national media coverage the likes of which I have never seen. This program was by no means a storied football program and the town itself presents huge cultural challenges to creating an environment centered on success especially from a football perspective.

As stated earlier, I inherited the program in 2007. Thank goodness we finished the entire season but unfortunately we went 0-9. In 2008, we came very close in two of our games losing by 5 and 8 points. We won our season finale 40-12 against a team that finished 3-6. That win allowed us to finish 1-7 and snapped a 28-game losing streak.

Last season, 2009, we went 4-5 and finished with 4 or more wins for the first time since 2000. The issue with the 2009 season was that in our five losses we were outscored 192-22. In three of those losses we were shutout. The point I'm trying to make is that we weren't even close in the games we lost.

This season, 2010, we finished 4-5 and had consecutive seasons with 4 or more wins for the first time since 2000. This year we lost 3 games by a combined 22 points (one by 2, one by 6, and one by 14). Our record was exactly the same the last two years. The difference is, however, we were much closer to only the 5th winning season for the program since 1977.

We are a small school (420 students) in a small, rural community in a county with 19% unemployment and a state that has the highest unemployment in the nation. 69% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunches which means they live below the poverty line. The community and school environments combined with a football history that consists of 4 winning seasons since 1977 have made this building process extremely challenging.

BOTTOM LINE...We're not even where we want to be yet. But I couldn't imagine, at this point, starting over with a new building project. Like blb said, "If you have a job where you have a chance to compete and be successful year in and year out, keep it." That's the type of situation we're trying to create here.

So, you guys are winning state championships every year?

You make a good point and I agree with you. However, I would like to know how you find out about the administration, the talent available, and the community before you take the job? It seems to me that some of these are things that are tough to know about until you take the job.

Before you interview for a job, you should know as much about it as possible - research it.

Talk to anyone you know who is familiar with the situation. Coaches who have competed against the school. The outgoing coach. Visit the community, stop in a restaurant, gas station, barber shop, and talk to the locals. Drive by the facilities. Read their local paper on line. Ask administrators you know who may be familiar with the school-district what they know about it and its leaders.

I would not accept a positioon without knowing at least as much about it as they know about me.

Now, that said - after I finally get retired for good - the title of the book I'm going to write is The Things They Tell You After You Take the Job.

I can see it all ready Coach...NY Times Bestseller!

not habitual but i did do it this year.

Coached 4 years at alma mater, went 0-10 junior year, 1-9 senior year. Got better every year i coached, finished 5-5 then 6-4 and made playoffs for first time in school history, had everything coming back for a great year but coaching staff was disbanded and left, players, transfered and that place went back to nothing.

When i chose my new school i had plenty of opportunities to go to an established winning place, one place i almost chose actual won it all here, i coulda gotten a ring lol.
But i chose to go to a rebuilding place, best pick for me in the long run and there's something about turning a place around that intrigues me

I think anyone can take over a place that has been rolling, step in and just keep it going more or less.
A really good coach or staff can come in to a crappy place and turn things around.

De La Salle is such a machine now that i think just about anyone (with reasonable knowledge of football) could step in and they would still roll teams, they are just that much better than everyone else. They BLEW OUT the other team in the state championship game who was ranked #4 nationally. BLEW THEM OUT, it was never a game.

I think the DLS staff is good, but i would love to see Lad retire from DLS one day and see if he could go to a crappy school perennial 1-9 school around here and turn it around. Some places are so horribly run, from the admin to the district to the AD to coaches that i do not think anyone or anything can turn things around, short of blowing up the school and starting over

But it was a private school...
Private schools (idk about the whole country but here in CA) have so many more advantages. Unlimited money, recuiting, everything.

I honestly feel CA needs sperate public and private divisions for playoffs, the private schools get awayw ith murder.

Lad himself never recruits, but i swear to god, i have watched DLS booster, and alumni, walk onto the campus i used to coach at (same city as DLS) and pull our 3-4 best freshman players out of class, and try to recruit them to come over to DLS. Ive watched it happen, and it took everything not to start swinging as they attempt to rape our best 9th grade talent.

Ive had friends that i went to middle and elementary school with, guys who are stud athletes, get plucked away by DLS alumni or boosters or parents, and talked into enrolling abandoning their friends, and going to DLS.

Yeah, the Pope is fairly holy, too...

Well all of us have different "callings" in this coaching profession. Some of us love the underdog role, others do not. Personally one of my strengths is building something which is cast aside and looked at as hopeless. There are other coaches like this. It is risky for sure to just pick up and move to a bad situation. But I equate it to people who are missionaries. Not everyone is called to venture to far off places to spread the Good News. Some are called to do it in their backyard.

I once worked at a school where all staff and students had to take a test called the "Strengths Finder". And it was a series of questions which by the end of the test gave you and inventory of what your strengths and personality traits were. It listed 34 diffferent attributes in order according to your results. But long story short, my strengths finder attributes showed that I was the type of person who likes to take something from nothing, and build it up. Thus I have been in my career as a traveling coach who goes to programs that are down, and helps rebuild them. Check out this link to see what i am talking about

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now,_Discover_Your_Strengths

So be proud of what you are and what you were created to be. I envy those coaches who stay at the same job for 30+ years, i really do. But i dont see myself ever settling down in one place too long." I was born a rambler and a wrangler and I guess I always will!"

Coach Gordon makes some good points.

My career reads like his - have been an assistant at two high schools, two colleges (one of them twice), head coach at six HS. So we've moved a lot. But every time we did it was for a good reason, and I have wonderfully supportive wife.

When I was young I felt I would have more sense of accomplishment by taking unsuccessful program(s) and turning it around, which I have been able to do.

Now, from the vantage point of nearing the end of my career, I think I would've been satisfied, maybe even happier, to remain in one place and maintain a winning program.