How many is too many??? (Coaches on your staff)

Great post Joe. Imo 4 is pretty good and 5 is just about right. But that's assuming equal attitudes. I'd rather have 2 guys that are on the same page and working together than 4-5 guys where 2-3 of them are ego tripping or otherwise detrimental to the program.

A lot of this has to do with how you structure your practices, and that's going to depend partly on whether you have enough players to break practice into offense & defense, line & backfield, possibly some specialty groupings. Also it has to do with how good your coaches' attendance is; on our team this year the ACs acted as understudies for when the HC wasn't there, and for each other, as much as assistants.

Suppose you wanted to put your players thru a drill and watch their form. If you have extra eyes attached to extra heads who know what form to look for, you can run the drills more in parallel while catching mistakes and giving pointers, and less serially. That means you can get more done in the same amount of time, and there's less standing around and more incidental endurance conditioning for your players. As long as you have several people who know the purpose of a particular drill, they can do that. And if you have several people who don't all know the drill's purpose or what form to look for, if they're patient they can learn at the same time the players do, so that after a while they can help and in the meantime they're not in the way. That's assuming they're not stopping you to ask Qs.

If you had enough help, you could spare some as scouts. In a club that fields more than one team playing extramurally, you can have some coaches float between teams according to momentary need. So I don't really see a problem with 10 coaches for even a short roster children's team, if they're organized. If they're not organized, 2 is too many!

I never thought about sending extra coaches out for scouting. That's a very nice tip there. I had a parent go out and get film for scouting. (I also had my best friend who's a HC scout with me as well. Not everyone know how to scout so I tend to try and do most of it myself. Some nice points being made on this post thanks coaches.

I think as many coaches who will listen, attend all practices, and as you can manage properly is the best amount.

I echo what many have said here in regards to quality versus quantity.

If you have 8 guys but 6 of them are basically fans with a whistle, then having that many coaches is actually counterproductive.

I'm taking over a program next year (6/7 grade team and an 8th grade team).

We are going to have a coach's clinic as soon as basketball is over so everyone is on the same page in regards to scheme and techniques.

One of the potentially good things about the NBYSA was that they had almost weekly staff meetings. Much of the time it was an excuse to eat pizza, and some of it was administrative details which were sometimes good to know, and sometimes venting of grievances, but you could also hash out questions of technique.

4 assistants is what I try to go with. Usually one of those is your "go to" "right hand man" sorta guy (who runs the offense or defense). The others usually will miss a practice or two here and there. But they need to be on the same page with you, run and teach things the way you want it done, not throw you under the bus ever and not argue with you in the public eye. These guys I make sure they know how we teach blocking and tackling to the smallest detail and have a game day assignment for them, that's about all you can get out of or want out of some of them (which is generally very helpful).

Auburn

We have rules that pretty much clear everything up. First, no Daddy is ever allowed to coach his son. Son = Lineman Dad has to coach backs. Second only one coach other then the position coach can correct a player, & that is me(HC). Third, there is no such thing as Def Asst helper. He needs a position. Even the worst coach on the staff needs an area of responsibility. Don't get me wrong I have had a few clip board holders over the years, usually someone who couldn't follow directions & gave little effort. Anyone who seriously gives time deserves to be listened to. The key is directing the coaches & leading them.

What can be really scary is the "know it all coach who played college or in the pro's" this guy will kill you every time. He will jump in drills he shouldn't, tell kids something off the wall, all the while thinking he knows how to coach. Again this is where the HC needs to step in.

Joe

Bob

Rule 2 is vital to maintaining order on a staff. First you need to look at how practice is organized. We don't scrimage as much as most teams. If a coach interupts Indie time then something is way wrong. Second when we are in Scrimage time each coach had better be focused on the area he coaches. This all goes back to how well the HC controls the situation. I want my drills to be run a very specific way, & will work with my coaches untill they show me they can do this. I never just send a unit to the far end of the field just to get them out of the way. Practice planning is probably the most difficult thing in youth ball, there is always issues dealing with who is late & who can't practice. Communication is paramount, I speak to my coaches everyday so when they get to field they know exactly what to expect. I also give them input to what we are going to do(Pasco Paul is always lobbying for more time). The big key is we are united as a staff what we are going to do.

Many youth teams don't have practice plans, or do the usual run for 15 minutes then scrimage. That is where failure begins. We plan out every minute, & try to squeeze in the most effective drills we can. We work on specific techniques, most importantly blocking & tackling. That is the real key to our success.

Joe

Bob

That really varies depending on the drill & what we are working on. Some drills maybe 1/2 the team at a time, some maybe 1 player at a time. Wasted motion & players standing around are worse then a disease to me. Here is how I heard it described at a clinic & what I attempt to do every practice. It's important to get the maximum number of prefect reps per drill. As far as coaches go we work hard on teaching a coach to coach on the fly. It's an art, correcting a player without stopping practice, using choice words & phrases to communicate.

When we break into Indie time there maybe 3-4 groups of players at a single time, each group is working on whatever we have planned. That means at any one time most players are in motion. Using a rapid pace practice we don't have to worry about conditioning, our players are being conditioned in drills. Ideally we are getting a rep every 15-20 seconds.

Hope that helps.

Joe

Agree on the "played college ball" daddy.

In my league, daddy coaches get preference. They are usually Headers, and have way too much say. One program in our league the MAIN qualification to be HC is that you have a son on the team. In fact, you CAN'T be HC if you're not a daddy coach. How fugged up is that?

If 2 coaches at a station each see things wrong, are they supposed to confer before one of them talks to the player(s)?

Preachin' to the choir bud! But, where I coach...where I have the opportunity to coach, Daddy ball coaches rule. The only team not headed by a daddy ball coach is my team, and my header runs the league. And he once had kids playing, and just stayed on. I'm pretty sure I'm the only non daddy coach.

Coach,

We had one last year. Actually a grandfather of a player. He was a TE/DE. He and my RT made our offense go. The kid wasn't what you'd call athletic, but he had some size, AND he'd do exactly as he was coached, and he had some football smarts. My RT was a good Tackle...great size, good attitude, and moved ok. He was a classic "teddy bear OL", but he was coachable. Very stiff, but could move well enough. He could block most anybody he encountered one on one. Our GOD scheme lead to a lot of double teams with him and this TE who could also block very well, BUT I could change the blocking scheme between the RT and TE in a game if need be, and both could handle it on the fly. We made a living running off their blocking. Grandaddy coach never interfered on offense, or with his grandson. Grandaddy ran the defense, and it worked well. Very intense guy that kept his emotions in check, did what the header said, but you could tell when he was thinking "the old man doesn't have a clue" when the HC gave him orders...but he did it as ordered.