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Post by coachmbr on Dec 24, 2011 11:17:16 GMT -6
This my be the best thread on the entire board..I think so many times we get caught up in the x and o part of coaching. Those are things that any jack ass with google can pick up. This topic I think is what sets championship coaches a part from others. Be able to recognize, and rectify your weaknessess is a tough task. Those that are able to do it are the ones that succeed in the long run. I also feel like these can change from year to year..In my case, i think it is communicating affectively. Staff and players, I mean I can stand in front of a room and talk about the zone run game or the Stick conept for hours..But are the getting it? Sometimes I dont know..Again great posts and thread guys!
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Post by jackedup on Dec 24, 2011 18:55:45 GMT -6
I love this topic... I hope it helps each and every one of us improve next year.
With regard to our assistants, I am right there with you. I had a new coach come to us this year with 9 years DIAA experience on the defensive side. Now, I'd played only 2 years of DIII ball and only coached high school ball for 12 years. And his whole thing has been that he's never been "micro-managed" like he has this year. Now, he says it's all good and we actually have a good relationship but it makes me wonder if he's right.
The only thing I can think of is that I have this vision of how I want our defense to be played and therefore, I sometimes (maybe often) don't trust my assistants to execute my vision. Does this sound rational?
So, my objective is work on building trust with my coaches. My thought is to have a clinic within our staff. Have each one develop a set of drills and maybe create their own manual for their position. But it all has to work within my vision of the defense.
Other areas that I feel I'm weak at are being consistent with the players. Holding each one accountable for each other. Apart of that I think deals with motivation.
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Post by RENO6 on Dec 24, 2011 21:07:54 GMT -6
GREAT TOPIC!! I can't wait to hear what other experienced coaches have to add.
My weaknesses:
1) Special Teams: a) I want to do a better job helping our Special Teams coordinator during practice.
b) I could also learn a lot more about every aspect of it.
2) Delegating: a)It is hard because I enjoy doing the things I do and it is difficult to give responsibility to other coaches when I am unsure of their ability or work ethic.
b)It is something I'm testing my assistants with now during the off-season by allowing them to think of new wrinkles, draw up playbooks, break down tendencies, etc...
3) In Game Emotions: a) I've been fortunate enough to be around some great Head Coaches who had a lot of officials on their sides. These coaches never screamed at officials and were kind to them no matter the situation. I have been better at acting like these coaches but I tend to revert back to my old ways of thinking (It's just not fair) and acting (screaming and demonstrating lack of composure). If I want better calls, I have to make them want to give me better calls. b) I need to stick to my script. Most defenses run one defense, so a thought out script should be all that is used vs. these types of defenses. I script against every defense we face but then during games I abandoned many of my thought out plays. This is something I'm delegating more this off-season as well; I am going to let my assistants offer me scripts vs. different defenses. This will let them get involved. It will also be another coach or two holding me to the script during games since they are shared ideas.
ONCE AGAIN, GREAT TOPIC!!
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Post by jgordon1 on Dec 24, 2011 21:44:32 GMT -6
I love this topic... I hope it helps each and every one of us improve next year. With regard to our assistants, I am right there with you. I had a new coach come to us this year with 9 years DIAA experience on the defensive side. Now, I'd played only 2 years of DIII ball and only coached high school ball for 12 years. And his whole thing has been that he's never been "micro-managed" like he has this year. Now, he says it's all good and we actually have a good relationship but it makes me wonder if he's right. The only thing I can think of is that I have this vision of how I want our defense to be played and therefore, I sometimes (maybe often) don't trust my assistants to execute my vision. Does this sound rational? So, my objective is work on building trust with my coaches. My thought is to have a clinic within our staff. Have each one develop a set of drills and maybe create their own manual for their position. But it all has to work within my vision of the defense. Other areas that I feel I'm weak at are being consistent with the players. Holding each one accountable for each other. Apart of that I think deals with motivation. yes, it does sound rational..I think the clinic is a ggod idea..I also think having the coaches develop drills is good because it creates ownership.I think you need to keep in mind that IMO, I am not sure we all ever get our vision of a way the thing is supposed to look, 100% of the time
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Post by rpetrie on Dec 24, 2011 23:06:44 GMT -6
And so here I am...Christmas Eve, and I jump on Huey. Guess I figured out the first thing is give football a rest. I need to do a better job of finding "mental time" away from the game. I can do the emotional & physical aspects for the most part, but I always find a reason to grab a clip-board and start writing something related to football.
Otherwise...I feel like I need to get better at Scripting with a "purpose" and then sticking to that script in both practices & games. I'm the HC & OC and I've always been a coach who works on feel & flow with a decent sense of the game. I've never scripted nor do I carry a call sheet. I sometimes feel after the game that perhaps it might have helped me go in a different direction at a critical moment that might have changed an outcome. I second guess myself when we lose and rarely put it on the kids...although they often deserve it for a lack of general execution. So I guess that leads to a 3rd area of improvement...How to teach kids to become big game performers? I've been an assistant on 2 State Championship Teams, but am 0-3 as a Head Coach in playoffs. Very frustrating.
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Post by Coach.A on Dec 25, 2011 1:26:37 GMT -6
This thread keeps haunting me when I hit the "new topics" button...I agree that it's a great topic and that it's vital for coaches to identify their weaknesses in order to grow and improve. So I'm jumping in.
For me, it's developing leadership qualities in our players. I was blessed earlier in my head coaching career with having great leaders in our program. These were kids that motivated their team mates, got players in the weight room, kept everybody positive on the sidelines, etc. Basically these players made my job a whole lot easier. As with many things, you don't realize how valuable true leaders are until they are missing from your team. This past season I coached a team with no true leaders...a few kids had potential to be great leaders but didn't step up and take charge. Our team was relatively successful despite the lack of player leadership, but I know that it prevented us from reaching our full potential.
I spend a tonne of time in the off-season researching fundamentals and scheme (mostly because it interests me and it doesn't really seem like work), but I know that devoting more time to researching leadership development will have more 'carry-over' to coaching and a greater impact on our program.
I'm hoping to do some more reading on leadership and I'm also going to try to attend a few clinic sessions on program development this off-season. In the past, when I attended coaching clinics with multiple sessions running simultaneously, I would never chose the program development sessions. Last year at the Notre Dame coaching clinics, the keynote speakers (Urban Meyer, Chip Kelly, and Brian Kelly) all spoke about program development and philosophy. All three were excellent and they really made me realize that I need to devote more time to this often underemphasized aspect of coaching.
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Post by airraider on Dec 25, 2011 10:19:26 GMT -6
other things I have thought about...
I need to learn to distance myself from that fine line of coach/friend... some of my players are far too comfortable with me... I hear things that I should not... about other students and such... not that they are talking to me... but talking to each other in ear shot.
I get far too intense at practice... and I tend to say things that I should not..
In the games, I MUST learn to stay off of the reffs... I more or less stay off of them on judgement calls... but when knowledge of rules and such come in, I become a pain.
I need to make SURE we spend more times on special teams... I know this seems obvious... but it never has been obvious enough, because I keep neglecting it.
I have to stop deviating from the plan! This is the first time that we started and finished with the same offensive scheme... but... we did change things up in the middle... the problems we encountered that caused this should be built into our base... if not, then it shouldnt be our base.
My biggest weakness is my thin skin... I actually give a shyte what people say... and I should not... because at the end of the day, you will always have your detractors.... if you go 30-0 with 2 state championships... someone will be pissed because their kid didnt play enough... or that you did this, or didnt do this...
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Post by 4verts on Dec 25, 2011 11:13:25 GMT -6
1) I have to learn to not take it personal when my input is not put into action.
2) Be greatful that I have the job that I've gotten and not worry so much about the next one.
3) Put as much energy in to recruiting as I do in teaching fundamentals and scheme.
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Post by gambler00 on Dec 27, 2011 18:46:29 GMT -6
My weakness as an assistant is getting angry at fellow coaches and players and not handling it very well. Not that I am a raving lunatic but I lose it sometimes to easily. Also as an assistant sometimes I try to do too much.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2011 19:34:25 GMT -6
As a coach and a teacher, discipline is my weakness. Sometimes I'm flat-out too nice and, more importantly, too trusting and I've been burnt by this over the years. It's the main reason I'm trying to get back into teaching/coaching as opposed to having an established career by now. Sub teaching has actually helped me improve immensely in this area, but I won't really know how much I've improved in this area until I get my next job...if I get my next job X's and O's-wise, I need to understand how to "package" my pass game better. I envision my offense being a very multiple I Formation based offense. The run game is fine, but I need to figure out how to package my pass plays within the framework of the multiple formations. Defensively, I'm very weak in DB play, not so much the coverages but in terms of how to coach them to play the coverages.
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flingt
Junior Member
"We don't care how big or strong our opponents are as long as they're human.?
Posts: 311
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Post by flingt on Dec 27, 2011 19:48:44 GMT -6
I did not play college football, even though I had the chance....twice. I always feel like I don't know enough, and therefore don't speak up when I should. I am not from the area where I coach, and yes, that is a weakness as I have found out.
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Post by coachcb on Jan 3, 2012 10:29:53 GMT -6
I have many weaknesses as a coach, many of them described above.
My most serious failing the last two years has been my Jekyll and Hyde impression. I try to stay positive and replace frustration and anger with calm, neutral but brutal honesty. It didn't go well the last two years; I pent up a lot of frustration trying to be positive and ended up coming uncorked a few times. I went from positive and upbeat to a friggin psycho a few times at practice.
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Post by blb on Jan 3, 2012 10:32:50 GMT -6
I don't understand what makes a word a cuss word, I don't understand why it's a cuss word and I don't know who the pompice a$$ was who decided which words were cuss words - I was not consulted. I hear you, man! Signed, George Carlin
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Post by flexoption91 on Jan 3, 2012 11:19:15 GMT -6
As with many that have posted on here I have realized that making the decision at 18 not to play college football has had a dramatic effect on my career coaching opportunities. I have had to work twice as hard to be provided opportunties than I would had I played. But I have learned that the nature of the beast, just wish I would have known that when I made the decision to just be a student in college.
I also need to understand that peoples passion for the game is all relative. I need to get better at remembering just because a player or fellow coach is not on my level of committment does not automatically mean they do not love the game. Too often I find myself cussing and questioning a kid or coach under my breath because they miss one workout, when I need to realize that every persons situation is different.
My other weakness is just what coachcb described, the Jekyll and Hyde problem, or what some people would call bi-polar haha. I need to find a better way of making the highs are not too high and lows are not too low throughout the year. At the same time I have to do so without sacrificing my core principles and values related to football. I guess in way if I can my first weakness it will go a long way to fixing my second one.
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Post by jgordon1 on Jan 3, 2012 12:28:34 GMT -6
I don't understand what makes a word a cuss word, I don't understand why it's a cuss word and I don't know who the pompice a$$ was who decided which words were cuss words - I was not consulted. I hear you, man! Signed, George Carlin I didn't know a$$ was a swear..apparently it is.... otherwise why would we have to spell it a$$
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Post by coachcb on Jan 3, 2012 13:32:38 GMT -6
I have many weaknesses as a coach, many of them described above. My most serious failing the last two years has been my Jekyll and Hyde impression. I try to stay positive and replace frustration and anger with calm, neutral but brutal honesty. It didn't go well the last two years; I pent up a lot of frustration trying to be positive and ended up coming uncorked a few times. I went from positive and upbeat to a friggin psycho a few times at practice. Heck brother that's just coaching. Do what they are suppose to be doing, how they should be doing it - Dr. Jekyll Start slacking off, half-a$$ed effort, apathetic, mental lapse after mental lapse - Mr. Hyde If that's a weakness, then chit I don't know a single coach/competitive person who doesn't have that weakness. this is the exact reason my ex-wife and I could never be Spades or Euchre partners..she plays for fun and can't read a lead back and I think winning is fun. It's something I try and avoid as much as possible, though. I like being consistent with the kids. The players didn't really know what they were going to get from me towards the end of the season. Plus, it didn't get results for me. The kids dial in (and are borderline terrified) when my tone goes flat and the brutal honesty comes out. Hollering just got me tuned out, which p-ssed me off even more.
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Post by coachcb on Jan 4, 2012 10:13:13 GMT -6
My kids asked me if I was bipolar. I told them absolutely. Do things right - good pole, do things half-a$$ed and lazy - bad pole My kids were the same way, as soon as I raised my voice they would shut down. I think that's a stain on them from the previous staff. After they got to know me a little bit they realized that I didn't think they sucked, I didn't hate them and wish they were never born. They eventually realized I'm just an emotional guy and finally some of them realized it was OK for them to be emotional too. My kids in class are the same way. It's weird here. It's like these kids are a bunch of beat dogs. My classes act like that too. I lose it with them, they shut up and sit in silence, sulking. Nothing gets done but it's better than the alternative some days. Our kids come from really bad home lives so they've learned to shut down when someone starts hollering. They just get p-ssed and you turn into white noise. But, it's a Catch-22; some of them view a positive upbeat attitude (in any form) as a license to d-ck around. So, my approach worked pretty well when I wasn't losing it. For example, we would run timed plays against the scout team. They had a certain time frame between snaps. We would schedule 20 of them assuming they met within that time frame. My assistants used to hoop and holler at the kids when they didn't meet the time frame. I put a stop to that. The staff and I would stand there with the only sounds being the OC calling in the play and the line making their calls. I would just look at my stop watch. If they made it in time, I would give them a thumbs up, if not, I would shake my head.
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Post by coachorr on Jan 4, 2012 10:22:26 GMT -6
Taking things personal, especially losing.
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Post by blb on Jan 5, 2012 8:02:01 GMT -6
as I told my girlfriend yesterday - "to be anymore perfect I'd have to be twins but even as great as I am, my only real flaw is that I'm too humble." she rolled her eyes. haha. Tell her not to laugh - small flaw like that could keep you from getting a better girl friend!
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Post by airraider on Jan 5, 2012 8:03:04 GMT -6
After my first year as a HC: I need to communicate things better with my assistants. Since I was the assistant who was always there, helped the HC as much as I could or he would allow I just kind of expected the guys I hired to be the same way. - I seriously misjudged that. This is 100% true with me as well!
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Post by kcbazooka on Jan 5, 2012 8:09:55 GMT -6
my weakness as I have continued in the coaching field for 34 years is the offseason grind of working to get kids in the afterschool off-season program. Seems like pulling teeth sometimes.
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Post by coachorr on Jan 5, 2012 8:35:04 GMT -6
as I told my girlfriend yesterday - "to be anymore perfect I'd have to be twins but even as great as I am, my only real flaw is that I'm too humble." she rolled her eyes. haha. And then you told her to go get you a beer. I gotta be honest, I have put a lot of thought into this and I think my greatest weakness has gotta be pu$$y. I ain't gonna lie.
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Post by coachbrek on Jan 5, 2012 8:36:37 GMT -6
Nerves, before any game I get physically sick, because the thought of losing petrifies me.
Every year I wonder why I put myself through the self inflicted torture of worrying about our game day performance, Once the game is under way I am fine but the time between our last practice of the week and kickoff nearly does me in.
I really wish I could do something about my nerves.
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Post by blb on Jan 5, 2012 8:56:37 GMT -6
my greatest weakness has gotta be pu$$y. I ain't gonna lie. That's not a weakness, that's the greatest motivating force in the world. Or, to paraphrase Frasier Crane, men don't use sex to get what we want - sex IS what we want!
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Post by msirishman on Jan 5, 2012 9:03:49 GMT -6
I'm sure I have plenty of flaws but these are the ones off the top of my head: 1) Teaching the fundamentals, tying the drills into what we are actually wanting to accomplish on the field. I'm good with the Oline and Dline, struggle with some of the other positions. 2)Like everyone else, trying to do too much schemewise. 3)Passing game. I feel like I'm really good in the run game and understand simple passing concepts, but struggle with some of the more complex stuff. 4)Not a very good networker, don't like to ask questions. I try to figure stuff out on my own. Trying hard to work on this.
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Post by jlenwood on Jan 5, 2012 10:50:50 GMT -6
Not to stir things, but it seems that the majority of weaknesses, especially from head coaches is in their management capabilities. I don't mean this as a put down, but it is evident that staff, assistants, time management etc. are a recurring theme in most posts. Being a good "manager" of resources is not something that everyone has, but I would think most football coaches could master it.
Again, not to be negative, just the opposite actually. I have found a lot of coaches struggle with this, but are great at teaching a position or scheme or whatever.
At least if you recognize a weakness, you know what to work on. One thing for me that I want to get better educated at is speed, strength and conditioning.
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