Style of Program

I always remember hearing Dan Hawkins when he was at Boise St speak about having a philosophy. He said that you need a philosophy and go to the death defending it. He cited his famous quote when asked why his kick off returners never took a knee in the endzone:

"Gandhi didn't take a knee, Martin Luther King didn't take a knee, Thomas Edison didn't take a knee, and I sure as hell am not going to take a knee." -- Dan Hawkins

Of course, one could ask how'd that work out for those guys? To me you need to think about what you do and why you do it. If it's important to you, stick with it. If it's just an arbitrary decision, or one that you think is adversely affecting the team, you need to weigh the cost and benefit of it.

I am not going to compromise my integrity to make someone else happy, or to win games. I will however give up things that I like, prefer, etc in order to win games.

In your opinion, is this extreme discipline environment you created a reflection of "what life is like after high school"?

I agree with much of what you do, however I'm a little bit more relaxed on many of the issues.

A great piece of advice I got when I started coaching was: The more rules you have, the more you have to enforce.

If you chose to have all these rules, you better be prepared to enforce them consistently. In my opinion, too many rules can end up being counterproductive.

Steelhawk,

We have a few standards that need to be met. I know its semantics but I am not sure we have any rules. Be at practice work your a$$ off, be in school work your a$$ off. The students are not supposed to wear hats in school. We enforce the rule, we have 6 coaches and 5 of them are in the building so we are all giving it to them all day. The swearing thing is really not a big issue. There is a quota on swear words and I will use the entire quota the first day practice. We will not let the kids take the easy way out. I am not going to appease at the cost of many. I am a prick about the uniform though.

Coach Juice----starting my 27th year of coaching hs football, my 16th as a head coach.Have won some, lost some. While I don't believe I have all the answers, I see NOTHING wrong with your methods, philosophy. Keep doing what you're doing and be true to yourself. Good luck Coach.

Some of those things I would agree on, but socks and tshirts are not something I can be brought to give a crap about. I don't like to get uptight about that stuff because I feel like you only get so much capital to be anal, I would rather expend it elsewhere.

It's amusing and clever. I'm sure it's not the real reason he doesn't take a knee.

juice, Woody Hayes said "Football is the last bastion of discipline in America."

Like you I once coached in a school where there was little to no discipline and we ran football program in a structured, organized way.

Made it tough on us.

But we did not compromise or lower our expectations because we knew WE were doing it right.

Eventually though I got stagnant and had to move on.

Been a HS HC for over 18 years. Would always meet with my kids Day One of two-a-days to talk about "expectations", and "goals"... mine, AND theirs. Would explain to them how to get all of those expectations to work together (chemistry, synergy... whatever you call it), and to achieve those goals. Once WE determined what the expectations and goals would be TOGETHER we pulled together to make sure those expectations would be met, and goals achieved. Those who bought in stayed in. Those who didn't fell out right away. More stayed than left... and each year more joined than didn't. Discipline is a RESULT of a skilled teacher.

Things are different for me, since I'm a true youth coach now, but I coached at Middle School for three years. We were somewhat strict for two of those years, and the third year I was there under a different headcoach. He was loose.

In terms of winning football games, I think it comes down to your ability to focus them. Meaning that you tell them on a daily basis that you will win because you do X, Y, and Z. I didn't find the strictness to play a big role in our success on the field. So in that respect, I don't think it matters.

With regard to making them better people... I lean more towards strictness. Real life definitely is a free-for-all where you must discipline yourself, but I tend to find that people who are raised with good habits are going to continue those good habits. I have a Chinese friend, and when I went over his house as a kid in High School he would litterally be told to study while I was there, and he did. He's now going to be a doctor, and he can play the piano pretty damn well too. Those habits followed him through college. Likewise, I was always taught to never quit, and I don't. Upbringing means a lot.

Another issue is respect. Just because you've set rules and are strict with following them, that doesn't mean you can't have respect for your players.

I think discipline and high standards are good but you have to have a reason that the kids can buy in to..

Why cant the kids wear hats?
And "tradition" is not a good answer for a kid...

I read your post several times, and I don't get the idea you are running a "seal team" boot camp or anything, just standards have to be met to be a part of the team. I may be wrong but that is what I take from it. I don't see anything you are doing that is truly much different than anyone else who runs a good, solid program.

The only thing that I see that kind of bugs me is the statement about "preparing the boys for Friday night but for life after high school as well." I truly think that what we do in our programs is a building block for the kids, but not the only one. I think that to many times teachers/coaches fall into the thought of "I am going to make a difference in this kids life and all will be well". This is not a anti teacher rant, but the reality is, as coaches we can be instrumental in steering a kid in the right direction with discipline, standards etc. But in the end, the culture and environment that they come from will more times than not dictate their future success. We have I am sure, all had experience when we work with a young man for years, see them making great strides to becoming a fine young adult, and then the influences from home or environment turn everything around we have worked on and the kid still ends up being a turd.

I own a construction/service business. I run it very loose as far as rules. Clean shaven, dressed appropriately, no smoking in front of customers. We don't have a set starting time or quiting time. The only thing that I demand is that when we get to the job, we work and get it done. No di**ing around, just work your butt off and get after it. Employees love working for me because of this structure.

To me, that is what we need to do as coaches. The rules we set need to be those that will keep a kid in line with what the school rules are, but treat them as adults (as much as possible) and let them see how what they do is responsible for their success. Hard work pays off, and it sounds like that is what your are doing. Let them know when we are scheduled for weight room, be there and ready to work (in whatever you want to work out in-not big on uniform apparel for the weight room). Practice, be there and ready to work. Game time, you get the idea. If a kid fails to live up to TEAM expectations and can't get in line with this...see ya.

Keep up the good work. Sounds like you are doing a great job for the kids in your program.

That says you are getting through to them and having a positive effect.