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Post by kidkash65 on Jun 11, 2011 18:48:37 GMT -6
Hey have any of you guy have ever experienced a situation similar to the Tony Franklin/Auburn disaster a few years ago where either a new coordinator or in some cases a new head coach was brought in to install a new system and there was tension between him and the rest of the staff who were holdovers. Explain the situation and was the end result of what happened.
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Post by the1mitch on Jun 11, 2011 19:18:16 GMT -6
Ha does this bring back memories, all bad. Hired as HC in a small, one school town that had had some success ( made 2nd round) for a year or two when some talent came thru and then lapsed back to 5-4. My predecessor had resigned in a snit and then tried to apologize and was not allowed to do so. In comes the new kid. Staff is half holdovers and half guys who wanted a local favorite son to get the job. I unknowingly walk into a S%?>!@# storm. My DC hates the 3-4 and talks me into sticking with his old 44. I think OK, teach one new thing at a time, that way I don't have to coach the coaches. WELL, showing that one sign of weakness was like blood in the water. The sharks began circling and one guy wanted to run the run and shoot, my JV coach trots out the wishbone, and the principal has to come in to a coaches meeting to tell them they gotta buy in or quit. I thank him for his support, (which was unsolicited) and my staff and I hammer it out. We end up going 5-4 and 5-4 and then, I resign after seeing why the old guy had got pissed and resigned. In the 4 years after I left they one one game total. Looking back I made several errors, tactical and strategic.
1st I didn't bring in a buddy to have my back.
2nd I didn't trust my gut and can the two troublemakers first thing.
3rd I took a job without getting the real lowdown on what was up.
Bottom line? Trust your instincts, and have a brother or two you can count on.
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Post by outlawjoseywales on Jun 28, 2011 21:26:53 GMT -6
Good read mitch,
this one should be posted "to all new HC's and become required reading.
The good thing is that NOW you have experience in this and are a better man for it.
Your 3 points are excellent.
Bringing in at least 1 of your friends to cover your back is a great point. You have someone to talk things through with and believe you me, having a guy on your side really DOES present a much different dynamic.
This too, if you fired everybody else, you two guys could possibly coach the whole thing.
Tough, but do-able. However, just you-no can't be done.
Again, thanks for posting, and hope alot of young guys read this.
OJW
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Post by hamerhead on Jun 28, 2011 22:09:43 GMT -6
Unfortunately, I'm becoming convinced that stories like this are far more common than some realize. In many parts of the country, head coaches may not have the power to hire/fire as they might like. Small schools, small communities, limited jobs. If we fire jimmy the dc, who teaches freshman science? What if we can't find a qualified freshman science teacher who also happens to coach football...AND do it better than jimmy? I work in a rural community in a high school of 350 kids. Our four man football staff (9-12) has one high school teacher on it. Two others teach written the middle school, and one at the elementary.
And if you think there are a bunch of qualified non-teacher folks running around willing to do it for peanuts, you'd be wrong.
Fact is, in a lot of places managing assistants who may/may not be quality coaches, much less loyal and open minded, is a HUGE part of the job.
I'm convinced the most successfull small school programs are the ones that have somehow stock piled quality, selfless coaches who are committed to each other and the programs success.
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Post by pvogel on Jun 28, 2011 23:55:28 GMT -6
definitely. great lessons to be learned from these trials.
worked for an HC that walked into an unfortunate situation like that. people wanted a local. he wasnt. He'll admit the same mistake- not getting rid of the people on the staff who would go behind his back and didnt buy into his ideas. also didnt have admin support. thats another story though. Great guy who did not deserve the treatment he got. unfortunate. certainly a learning experience for a couple of us on that staff though.
great points all around though.
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Post by captainpp on Jun 29, 2011 1:58:26 GMT -6
This is a good post and great answers... Keep it rolling ... Personally I never looked into much of this stuff... Now being in H/S Varsity Ball, (as a volunteer) I do sense this... H/C here, had many such things to overcome when he came in... Grade on him as I here through the grapevine is all good... Different than here on this site, I'm a coaches, coach... I just keep my trap shut on things that involve this kind of stuff, and teach the players the best I can, the way that the H/C ask of me ... But this is a good subject for me, as a learning tool ... Thanks
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Post by windigo on Jun 29, 2011 11:45:28 GMT -6
I already gave mine in another thread. Ours was the fundamental problem that many coaches face when coming to a winning program instead of a losing one. And yes he brought in a new staff. It didn't make a lick of difference. Most of the time you come into a program the reason you were brought in was because the team was losing and it was time for a change. In this situation its easy to get your players to buy into a new system because they want a new identity. Coaches who have a history of comming into losing programs get set in their ways of how they approach a new job. The problem is that not all new coaching jobs and programs have that atmosphere around them.
Its is not always taht the team was losing that required a new coahc. Sometimes you are brought in because the team was doing so well that the head coach or OC/DC got snapped up by a bigger program offering more money. Or said person was winning but had personal conflict with the admin. In this situation adopting a new system will most always be a disaster because the players aren't looking for a new identity. They are looking to get better at what they do. While your freshmen may not care your upper classmen already know that they have only a short time left and they are not interested in learning a new way to skin a cat when the one they know works just fine. If you try and force a new system on them you will lose them and with them the entire team. Once more you might not have the skill set on the team to play at the same level that the team was previously playing at if you switch. This is a sure fire recipe to have a short stay at your new job.
So we need to fundamentally recognize the situation we are coming into. You can’t force the players into accepting change. The environment needs to be there for them to be ready to accept change. If we misjudge the situation or are just down right suborn and obstinate about our system we stand a good chance of getting fired in short order. You can bring in a whole new staff of people who will back your play 110% of the time. It wont make a lick of difference if you cant win over the players that are already there.
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Post by mwpilots on Jun 30, 2011 9:53:43 GMT -6
Last season I took over a HS team in June. They hired a new coach in March and he resigned after 3 months. The kids were looking at their 3rd coach in a year. The first thing that I noticed was the culture of losing among the kids and at the school. We started 2-a-days with 14 players. There was an article in the paper as to whether or not we would have a season. My coaches and I stuck to the message and we instilled discipline. We had some players transfer to other schools at the end of the summer but, we added some more players after the season started and got up to 24 players. We had to play a lot of freshmen. Our school has not had a freshman or JV since 2005. I set team rules and I had to enforce them. I had to kick a couple of players off the team despite our low numbers. Rules are rules and they must be followed. I had to suspend a few players for various things. My staff and I stood on principle. We required study table twice a week as well as in-season lifting. We also required a shirt and tie on game day. I had players that tried to say "the offense doesn't work". I showed them a film of me coaching a team in 2004 with the same offense and defense and guess what, "it does work". After winning 1 game, but being competitive in all the games despite low numbers, the players started to buy in at the end of the season. We almost beat our rival in the last game of the season(we have not beat them since 1994). The Seniors cried and instructed the young kids to listen to the coaches. This is where the buy-in really started. My Juniors came to me a week after the season and said they wanted to start lifting now. That was the first week of November. We are still lifting into the summer and our number has grown to 44 players as of yesterday. We are beginning our dead week now and my captains(those same Juniors) are leading their own workouts based on the phone list that I gave the team. I talked to them constantly about leadership. I told them that I was proud of them for showing the willingness to lead. I told them that I don't how many games we will win this year, but you will remember this time when you all stood up and decided that enough was enough. I am looking forward to this season because I have only been here 1 year and the culture has started to change and the kids are starting to imagine what could be the first winning season for the school since 1997. As a coach, who has taken over 2 "grease fires"(the first school closed after my second season) I would tell all coaches in situations like mine to stand on principle and be consistent with team rules. Also keep in mind that they are kids that you did not raise and they come with baggage and bad habits that you can help to change. This program will only be as good as I am as a MAN.
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Post by blb on Jun 30, 2011 10:08:32 GMT -6
It is more difficult to change system(s) if you're going into a successful program but can be problematic taking over one that has been losing, too.
The ones that have the most to lose and will be hardest to get "buy-in" from are the Seniors. Regardless of W-L record some of them will still have a relationship with your predecessor, who frequently is still in the school and/or community.
They will have been used to doing things (for better or worse) a certain way for at least three years. Like all human beings, they will be resistant to change to one degree or another.
A kid has been a WR and you tell him, "I run Double Wing - we don't have WRs."
Or a kid has played MG all his life and you tell him, "We're running 4-4 - we don't have a Nose."
What kind of reaction, at least internally, do you think a kid in either scenario will have?
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Post by samadams on Jun 30, 2011 21:54:22 GMT -6
I already gave mine in another thread. Ours was the fundamental problem that many coaches face when coming to a winning program instead of a losing one. And yes he brought in a new staff. It didn't make a lick of difference. Most of the time you come into a program the reason you were brought in was because the team was losing and it was time for a change. In this situation its easy to get your players to buy into a new system because they want a new identity. Coaches who have a history of comming into losing programs get set in their ways of how they approach a new job. The problem is that not all new coaching jobs and programs have that atmosphere around them. Its is not always taht the team was losing that required a new coahc. Sometimes you are brought in because the team was doing so well that the head coach or OC/DC got snapped up by a bigger program offering more money. Or said person was winning but had personal conflict with the admin. In this situation adopting a new system will most always be a disaster because the players aren't looking for a new identity. They are looking to get better at what they do. While your freshmen may not care your upper classmen already know that they have only a short time left and they are not interested in learning a new way to skin a cat when the one they know works just fine. If you try and force a new system on them you will lose them and with them the entire team. Once more you might not have the skill set on the team to play at the same level that the team was previously playing at if you switch. This is a sure fire recipe to have a short stay at your new job. So we need to fundamentally recognize the situation we are coming into. You can’t force the players into accepting change. The environment needs to be there for them to be ready to accept change. If we misjudge the situation or are just down right suborn and obstinate about our system we stand a good chance of getting fired in short order. You can bring in a whole new staff of people who will back your play 110% of the time. It wont make a lick of difference if you cant win over the players that are already there. Excellent post. Most of the time this scenario isn't really discussed, but I think you hit the nail on the head. |
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burn
Sophomore Member
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Post by burn on Jun 30, 2011 23:51:04 GMT -6
I am the head football coach and athletic director of a school of 1700 students. When I was hired the administration allowed me to fire all of my football coaches and rehire. Some of the old coaches were retained but they had to interview and I was the one who hired them. I have been able to set this precedent with every sport every time we hire a new head coach in any sport. It makes a huge difference for all of these head coaches to hire their staffs. The teachers that are coaches also have to reapply and it lets everyone know who is running the show. Some of these teachers have not been rehired and I have to deal with the union but it has truly benefited our athletic program.
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Post by windigo on Jul 1, 2011 9:48:49 GMT -6
Excellent post. Most of the time this scenario isn't really discussed, but I think you hit the nail on the head. I believe that when coming into a situation like this you need to recognize your biggest asset and use it. Your biggest asset when coming into a winning program is the graduated players who still live in the area or in the case of college are still on campus. Once again this is where experience can trip up coaches who are use to coming into losing programs. When you come into a losing program those graduated players are usually poison. You don’t want them anywhere near your team. If keeping those guys away from the program has become your modus operandi over the years then when you come into a winning program you are denying yourself a great asset. Those guys not only have the right attitude and the respect of the upperclassmen who’s respect you are going to have to earn, they also know the previous system better than you do and they can help you transition the team over time instead of trying to do everything in one massive fell swoop. In my case we had about a half dozen players who had used up their eligibility still living on campus, two of them All-Americans. When the new HC came in he didn't approach any of them to come help because his experience taking over losing teams had conditioned him not too. That was a big mistake. Those guys would have really helped. Imagine the effect it had on the upperclassmen when we found out that our All-American was coaching at one of our rivals while still living on campus because the HC didn't want him on his staff or even around the program. For us upperclassmen to hear that from our friend and captain was like a punch to the gut. |
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