Coaching Pain Points

Interesting! Was this at a High School level? Were the kids disinterested as they continued to lose?

I was in the same situation several years ago...minus the crazy parents.  Our parents were very supportive.  

It's near impossible to turn it around in 1 season.  We didn't start having true consistent success until a full cohort of kids moved through our program (i.e. the grade 9s when we took over became the grade 12s).

Now you say kids didnt know what the flats were, runs fits, etc. Was this harder for you because you had to take time out of your typical practice? Or was it hard from them to learn and grasp the terminology?

Yeah for sure. That's one thing I learned the hard way as well when we took over a program was automatically assuming kids knew the very raw basics of the game. Which I learned never to assume because it ultimately wastes practice time. Always teach it Day 1.

Finishing. And that is the hardest thing to teach too. Finishing tackles, finishing runs, finishing blocks. Just finishing...

Parents.

Unrealistic expectations for their son's playing time, hurt feelings because of what their son comes home and says he heard someone say, in general a lack of wanting to help make changes, etc.

KEEP YOU "PMA" (Positive Mental Attitude)!  YOUR "Mental Toughness" is needed to PREVAIL!

In the words of Winston Churchill (in WW 2):   "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

One of the pain points I haven't seen mentioned is parents undermining the coaching staff.

It's hard to coach kids up when their dad tells them to do something different as soon as practice is over or the moms are making big scenes on social media to undercut what we're trying to accomplish.

This is definitely rough.  This year we had a freshman kid that is a gifted athlete but is one of the laziest kids you can imagine.  His parents are divorced - dad is a good guy with a solid football knowledge but keeps his opinions to himself, mom is a professional bodybuilder and the only thing bigger than her muscles is her fat trap.  Woman screams her lungs out at every game, tells her kid what to do, tells the coaches what to do, tells the officials what to do.  She was always on facebook talking about how the coaches are morons, her kids should be the star, etc.  In the championship game her kid caught a TD pass and she went batsh!t crazy, it was like she just won the lottery.   Later in the evening I saw her, the dad and the kid in the parking lot and she says, with a big cheese-eating grin, "Coach, aren't you glad you finally listened to me?  Taylor could have been scoring all season!".  Normally I'd just roll my eyes and laugh but this time I turned and said, "Lemme tell you something, and I say this without any anger but to help your son.  You may think we listened to you but we didn't.  The fact is, it was the right time to call that play so we called it in spite of you.  You acted like a lunatic in the stands all season and it actually hurt your son.  Your football knowledge wouldn't fill a shot glass, you would do your son a huge favor if you would just sit there and cheer instead of making a fool of yourself by shrieking the entire game."   The kid's dad (her ex) laughed and said, "A-f**king-MEN!!"  She just stood there with her mouth open, in shock. 

Well played indeed!

1. Struggling to get an off-season commitment to other sports and/or weight training. The kids don't understand that you need to be active during the off-season in order to be successful in-season. You can't play with the big boys unless you're paying your dues in the weight and in other sports.

2. Attention to detail from assistants and players. Yes, repping fundamentals daily is monotonous but it is absolutely necessary. We can do all kinds of scrimmaging but it doesn't amount to a pile of chit if the kids aren't fundamentally sound. I've worked with many good assistant coaches over the years but there is always that guy who just doesn't understand why the QBs and WRs can't just do pass skelly for half of the practice.

3. The parents can be a PITA but you only typically get what you allow in this scenario. It is made abundantly clear to the parents that we will not discuss playing time, positions, carries, etc..etc.. PERIOD. Also, we will not field any calls from them until their boy has talked to the staff about their issue first. Parents that try to force this issue with me don't get a warm reception. And, there's nothing I can do about parents whining at home but I will get after them if they are whining near the boys during a game or during practice. I had three sets of parents escorted out of a youth league game because they wouldn't screaming at the staff, the officials and other kids,

Lower back. Damn Sciatica actin up real bad.

For us it was consistency. We were real young and we don't have the biggest roster. So lots of inconsistent play was my frustration. From practice to practice, game to game. Too much of a roller coaster.

We work them into practice. I think kids learn it better on the fly than in a classroom where most are probably not paying attention what I am saying anyway.

I mean "What can I do to get on the field more?" isn't allowed. I wouldn't know what to say to my coaches.