How to get a bad program to give great effort in practice?

I am sure you will get many recommendations, but here is an outside the box one. Is there a successful college program or large high school program where you could bring the captains, seniors, or team to watch a practice? One of the things that I found when I took over a perennial door mat program was that none of them knew what a good practice looked like. My first year at that program, we actually started by taking some of the coaches who hadn't been in a winning program before to see some other people practice. I know that it can be tough to work out the scheduling of it around your own practice schedule, but it might be worth looking into.

so why are they still playing? why are they allowed to rob the underclassmen from playing time?

I get low numbers, but if they know they aren't going to be out there for 3 hours trudging along, they may be able to direct their energy in short bursts.

This should have been addressed in the summer, though. You operate a defined tempo and intensity at the start of camp and hold everyone to that standard. If one guy isn't hustling out of the huddle, off the sideline, to the sideline, aligning....then EVERYONE runs immediately.

You aren't going to fix this poor leadership after the 5th game, so may as well start on the underclassmen.

Obviously, they lack confidence.  Give them a "check up from the neck up". You must control the mind before the body.  As famous leaders like Napoleon, Stonewall Jackson, George Patton, Coach Ara Parseghian all said:  "The mental is 4 to 1 over the physical".

Study everything you can get your hands on re:  MOTIVATION (rather than football X & O's)  !  CONVINCE them that if they all play to the BEST of their abilities, things CAN change!

And this is where I am at coach. It is a rock and a hard place because I am stern and demand discipline naturally but these kids never have had any and fixing them now when they are broken is almost impossible. We complain about having to hit in practice and complain about having to condition. Realistically I have 10 guys that are ready to step onto a varsity field and if I chase them off we will get murdered by everyone we play. However, if I allow this to continue we will just stay stagnant and not get any better.

It's easy for you guys with 50-100 guys on your team to say just set the bar high and run them off. What if I said the one kid that the cancer and poor effort starts with is the board presidents son?

Stumped as to how we will ever be like a normal team if I can't get them to give me great effort. I just told you guys the exact situation, so what do you do knowing if I chase guys off we won't even be competitive?

What if no motivational quotes do anything though? These are the types of kids that would say "oh that's a nice quote" and then it would be out the other ear and they wouldn't even remember it in 5 minutes. What do you do physically in practice to get them to go? Quotes and words are nice but they don't have an effect on these kids.

scarletandcream

At least you only need 8 guys and you have 10 varsity caliber players.

I've needed 11 and only had 3 before (not much to choose from when you only have 16)

Culture outside the practice field has to be in place too.
Do all the coaches give great effort too? Starts at the top.
Praise effort.
Show it in film.
Punish lack of effort.

it takes time to change the culture of a program that has been a perennial doormat. Lay out your expectations from the onset, stick to those expectations, and maintain consistency. eventually it will start to filter through. it will take time though. don't bolt after 2 or 3 years for greener pastures if you are really wanting to turn the program around.

Im 0-6, gonna be 0-7 after this weeek. I started the year with 11 seniors, 4 quit, kicked one off (starting QB), another got hurt in the off-season. Out of my "top" 10 players, 6 are sophomores, 2 are juniors. I had a heart to heart with my (new) starting QB, whos played 5 games at this spot. I laid it out for him, that with our season the way it was going, I was gonna start giving the sophomore QB reps in games, probably the 1st series of the second quarter, and the way things are going the entire 4th quarter. Same with the freshman fullback and a senior. Thanked those two seniors for believing in me and the program, still gonna let them play all of defense and make sure I give them the best chance to get into the college of their choosing.
My future is now. The seniors are a part of the "old way", I was their 3rd HC in 4 years. I have high standards. I expect them to do weird stuff like come to practice, and not act a fool during practice. My soph's only know what we've taught them. They are a small class, but have ability. Gonna ride or die with those guys the rest of the way out, knowing it will be an investment in next year.

Also, totally stealing the visit another school idea. Buddy of mine just down the road has a good program and gonna ask if we can visit.

This may be a good place to look for ideas (on AMAZON):


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Read Randy Jackson's book and spend the entire of-season changing your program's culture.

Have an organized practice plan that flows. I'd plan different periods with competitions throughout practice, so they learn how to compete and win plus have a little fun.


Most places that are historically bad have horrible practice structure and waste a lot of time getting nothing done.

Do you have clear expectations? We have a 3 strike policy with attendance. If you are going to miss practice you tell the head coach and your position coach before practice. If you miss practice (excused) you don't play the first quarter. Miss two practices and you miss the game. If you have an unexcused absence you don't play. If you have 3 unexcused absences you are off the team. This was about more than football. This was about being a man and being responsible. If you miss work you can get fired, and then you can't put food on the table for your family.

We have a very detailed practice plan. Each coach has competitive drills during individual period. One thing we did to pick up practice a few years ago was to go to 4 minute periods. This helped practice move along. At most places I have been we were very efficient with practice. We don't have any standing around. We don't practice more than 2 hours on Monday and Tuesday, and we go 80 minutes on Weds. This keeps kids involved and we don't have the lull.

We constantly praise great effort. We criticize poor effort. Kids want praise. They want to hear that you are pleased with them. Find good stuff and praise it. It can be hard.

At one of the biggest turnarounds I was a part of we had to kill the cancer before it spread. We had low numbers and didn't let kids who didn't show up in the summer play. Our second year we actually kicked 3 seniors to be off the team. They didn't show up all summer and then showed up the first day of two-a-days. The expectations were clear. If you don't show up to 50% of summer workouts, you don't play. You can guarantee every year after that we rarely had kids miss a lot of summer workouts.

It all starts with expectations and what you allow. Permitting is promoting. They don't know how to work hard, so you have to show them. It starts with your coaches. Your coaches set the tone each day. Your enthusiasm and effort will carry over to the kids. If coaches have their hands in their pockets and don't have enthusiasm, your kids will follow. If your coaches are jacked up and getting after it, the kids will get after it. It isn't easy. It takes great effort from coaches every single day.

Your coaches must be unified and together. If you have coaches talking behind each others backs, you will not be as good as you can be. If a coach talks about another coach behind his back, fire him. It is better to coach a man down than coach with a cancer on your staff. If your coaches aren't unified, your players won't be unified.

Finally, relationships are vital. Your players must know that you care. That starts with spending time with them away from football. You also have to see them for what they can be, not what they are. You have to tell them they can be an all-state player. I am going to coach you to be D-1, you have to work like it. If you want to be coached to be average, go somewhere else.

The suggestion of watching someone else practice is great. We took our captains to a Rutgers practice many years ago when I was coaching out East. We also took our whole team to a Jet practice when Herm Edwards was there. It was eye opening. Coach Edwards talked to the team about effort and discipline, and believing in themselves. It was a huge deal that helped our program.