How important is it to win in 1st year?

That's what I was thinking.  I mostly just want to get a discussion started on what peoples' thoughts are and what their rationale is, as well as experiences that people have had.

Read "Bear" Bryant's "Building A Championship Football Team".  He says being realistic it takes 5 years to build a program properly!

Of course - you want to win as quickly as possible but that isn't always "realisdtic"!

There are no more "Five year plans."

Guys are getting fired after three now.

arnold, the key word in your question is "major" (rebuilding project).

I think it's vital you show improvement and that you demonstrate a vision, a plan for how to make the program successful.

If it's a major rebuild, it may not be possible to win first year. In fact you may take a step back in record while laying your foundation.

We won one game my first year, two my second. Then we won six and went on a good run for a few years. The key is growth.

I'd say that you may have unrelenting administrators who don't know that rebuilding takes more than 0 years.

They don't understand that major program overhauls can take some time.

I also think a critical aspect is "what"needs to be overhauled. From my personal playing experience on a 2-8,2-8,2-8, 1-9 team (where the first 2-8 team was actually an OK team that just got worn down in games, and the 1-9 team had 9 out of the 11 teams on the schedule making the playoffs) had someone simply gotten a year round lifting program installed we would probably have been around .500. That said, one major issue preventing that was that all the coaches were coaching 3-4 sports.

Agreed.

My boss inherited a program that went 5-4-1 and was 4th in league.  The next year we went 6-4, 2nd in league, and then lost in the first round of playoffs.  Record-wise we barely improved, but the difference in the program was night and day.  Shoot, even just looking at the kids' bodies there was an unbelievable improvement in what they looked like.

I believe the biggest factor is support. Specifically, ones administration, and boosters (if the boosters are an influential group).

Nothing else really matters, IMO. Whether you are inheriting a good or bad program, if you don't have the support from the right people, it will all come crumbling down anyway.

My first job, I took over a team that won two games in three years. In the three years I was there, I went 2-7, 4-5, 4-5. During my tenure, I never felt like my job was in jeopardy, and I received support when the situation called for it.

As others have stated, you need time to build. That said time is only afforded by a certain group of people. If you don't get it, you'll know sooner than later.

Winning is #1. Have to get buy in and kids to come out in the following years.

As much as people say scheme won't win you games it can. Can being the key word. When I first got to my current school and watched their games of the previous year it was shocking how unsound they were on defense. The offense they ran did not fit the kids/athletes they had and were unsuccessful at almost everything they did. Putting in a sound defense and the UBSW gave us an opportunity to win games and go 6-4 that first year.

It takes a year in a good S&C program to start chugging out some athletes. The second year we went 9-2 and third year went 10-2. Athletes will win you championships, but a good scheme can win you games vs roughly equal competition.



First year you don't necessarily want to just play for the future. In the grand scheme of things it's too late for the seniors but odds are they provide you the best opportunity to win, and winning now is most important.

Low numbers can be an issue in every aspect of the program, have to do the best you can with that.

Discipline wise you have to be firm and fair but not super demanding like you can after you start winning.



In the end... winning cures everything.

I'll try to attempt to say what hasn't been said...

1.) Build a good relationship with the seniors. They are the voice of your team. Even if they aren't your future, building a good relationship with them creates positive vibes and envy for some people to want to play all four years. I've seen situations turn sour because the HC couldn't set a positive relationship with his 1st class of seniors.

2.) Recruit every male in the building. Chances are, you don't have great numbers. My senior season of HS, we had won 3 games in two seasons before hiring a coach. I was one of 6 seniors to play for him in his 1st season. Now he's got almost 20, despite having to compete with a perennial soccer program in a school of 500 kids. As the years go by, you may have the luxury of not having to recruit every male. But for now, selling your brand to the school is really important.

3.) Scheme does matter. I'd say about half of the time you walk into a truly AWFUL situation, they were probably running unsound offenses and defenses. Run what you like, fit it to your personnel, and make everything include a rhyme and a reason.

4.) Form a system of discipline and accountability. Start with the senior class. If they start slacking, it carries on. Unexcused absences are a sin. Everyone lifts, everyone practices, everyone watches film. Dress sharp on gameday, don't fool around in class, sit in the front row(s).

5.) Make football fun. This is IMO the hardest part of creating a good culture. You want to have systems of accountability, discipline, etc. but you need to make sure your kids love it too. I get the saying "winning cures all", but that's likely not happening your first two years. You have to balance it out. If you make it too military-like, kids will begin to dislike you and dread coming to practice. If you're too loosely-run, kids will lose focus and start to see you as more of a peer than leader. Of course, do what fits your personality the best, but I prefer to keep things mostly business-like and add in a little bit of fun to lighten the mood.

6.) Create new traditions. Do whatever you can to let everyone know that this is a new era of your program. Get the sour taste of seasons past out of the players mouths. This can be anything from what music you play in the weight room (country music Thursday here) to weekly post-practice meetings with your team that have nothing to do with football (we eat at one of the seniors houses after practice on Thursday nights).

if you can, then do so.
DC this past year on a brand new staff taking over a 1-9,2-8, 3-7 previous 3 years.

we come in, again 100% brand new to school. 1 holdover was a volunteer for 1 season. everyone else is new.
went 6-4 made playoffs for 2nd time in schools 15 yr history.
we won on discipline, organization, a great plan so to speak, alot of hard work.

my previous stop as a HC.
took a doormat school(75 wins in 25 years doormat). previous guy went 1-9 in his only season, guy before him was there 6 yrs as HC and 8/9 as asst. his best record was 5-5. 3 yr run of 4-6,5-5,4-6 was best run in since early 80s. if you can believe that.
we went 2-8 and won our exhib game (for a 3rd) to start season. you would have thought we won the superbowl that game. kids dancing on the 50, the whole 9.
more about organization, getting buy in, foundational things. create your structure. create your building blocks of the program. what are you going to be about. wins will come at some point.
went 3-7 the next fall, and had 3 super kids who would return for senior and junior yrs the next season and I thought for sure we would win 5,6 games.
fell apart, coaching issues more than likely, underperformed(although we had a fantastic january to august off season, qb who is a stud at a juco, had 450 yds of offense in spring game good)
went 1-9, some serious on field issues, you know when the mind falls behind the heart and they care so much and want to fight after every game because they all knew how hard we worked for 3 years type things.
new principal
retired ad
5 year plan was out the door, right along with me.

if you get 5yrs, you better make the most of years 3-5. that will be about all you get if not.
win all you can! anytime you can!

There are a hell of a lot of coaches out there today with "5 Year Contracts".  They may get fired after 3 years, but they will get paid for 5!!!

in high school?  
where is that!
i want that gig, no dam doubt about that.
in florida, if you got grandfathered in, you still can have a professional services contract(continuing contract).  if you change counties or came in after 2012 i think, you are an annual employee and will never be able to get a continuing contract again.
every administrator/county admin will tell you that your teaching job and your coaching job are not tied together.  
BS....

yep.
took over  a 125 yr old school, perinnial winner.  
ol red, the principal didnt hire me first applied, hired another dude.  i stayed on as his OC.  good guy, would coach for him any day he called me, in any part of the country and we only worked together 1 year.
he got fired and she appointed me head coach.  said if she knew how much passion, etc i would have gotten job.
she left in june,
I was fired in october by a new regime.

fast forward 5 years
took over a door mat as HC
principal moved to new school in july of that year
next guy was awesome, he was too good for our school
2 years later he is a supt of another county
new principal and....new AD fire me after 3 seasons.

high school ball is turning into college mentality.  win at all costs, regardless.  win and keep job, to hell with getting kids to school or teaching young men about being an adult.

would die to have what my coach had,,,,,35 yrs at 1 school, losing record in that span(dont want that part(only by like 10 wins or so)), win games everyones happy, winning season even better, lose games-get em next time coach, losing seasons--have a good offseason and recharge and get better.

where are those jobs at?