Getting kids to finish the year

Projectile vomit?

I might have just found my next catch phrase

It starts with the culture you build as a coach. Many years ago we took over an apathetic program with apathetic kids. It was a process building a championship culture. Every day we brought it as coaches. We told them from day 1, if you aren't here to become a champion, then deuces. We had some talented kids quit. While we were less talented, we became a better program. We didn't play kids that didn't attend practices. We didn't play kids that didn't work hard. When you have a cancer, you must kill it before it spreads. You can cut it out or you can attack it with chemo. Either way, it must be gotten rid of as quickly as possible. It will hurt in the short term, but it's part of the long term process that will make your program better. It is hard to do. It is easy to trick yourself into thinking you need those talented guys that are lazy. If they don't work hard they can go be a PE All-Star. 

That's the tough part. I won't coach somewhere unless they are committed to winning. Some of the best jobs our there are programs that have been down but the administration and community want success. We are in a situation where we have to give kids rides. I give three or four kids a ride home from practice and to school each day. It is something I actually look forward to. I have also been at places where kids have every advantage. The big deal is what are the expectations, and do they match the support you will be given? Can your coaching staff build a culture that overcomes a lack of administrative and community support?

I once took a job at a place that said they were committed to winning, but after walking through the door I found out they were committed to mediocrity. It was going to be my first head coaching job, and I had signed the offer letter but not the contract. I am thankful there was a delay in the contract being written. I found out quickly they didn't want to be a championship program. They wanted to be below mediocre, and they embraced everything that had to do with underachieving. I made a decision to not sign the contract. It was the best career decision I have made. If the culture outside your program is so toxic that it creates complacency within the program, and there is no way around it, find a new place to coach. People who strive to excel cannot coexist with people who embrace being mediocre.

The easiest way to put it is that I clearly laid out our program, standards, and expectations in the hiring process. I told the admin and committee that if they wanted to be successful and build young men to be great leaders in society while winning on the field, this is what it would take. If they didn't want to commit to this, then I am not the right fit. They said they were committed to the process until the process began. Coaches couldn't hold kid accountable because the admin bowed to the parents. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I realized quickly this place was a coach killer.

I think this partly fails to see things from those kids' perspective. Their season is over, because I'm assuming most states lack any kind of JV playoff structure, meaning that their games didn't mean anything to begin with and now they've got doubly nothing to look to in the immediate future. So if your team isn't looking at winning some championships, what exactly is in it for some 14 year old kid? I know he's part of "the team," and "the program," but his young brain literally can't handle the concept of paying it forward years and years into the future. He needs something a little more immediate. Even in college ball I make a special point of celebrating our redshirts, rookies, scout guys.

Nobody is born loving football, you need to create positive associations.

I get more than a little irritated when I see the same tired self-righteous answers blaming the culture that the coaches have or have not built for crappy behavior of players. I've been doing this for 24 years and yes, the coaches have a say in how the culture is shaped and how committed the kids are. No question.

But- you don't always have control of all of it as the HC. School culture is one thing. The culture of the other sports the kids play is another. Administrative support is huge. Player leadership is huge. Parent culture is a big BIG part of it. You can say "just cut all those kids" or "you get what you tolerate" or whatever, but when you only have 30 or 40 guys, and cutting the douchebags kills the chances of the good guys you have, that's a tough call.

It's never that simple or one-dimensional. I don't mean to offend...but it just isn't. I get really irritated when I see coaches blaming the perceived lack of leadership of other coaches with a canned "change the culture" lecture. Lots of good men with great leadership skills have suffered through bad seasons with a crop of payers who aren't committed, despite pouring their hearts into all the right things. Calling out the coach on a message board without more information is no different than being a parent yelling from the stands.