Is this normal procedure for an Athletic Director?

Update that resume asap. Do not turn down a good job if offered.

Even if you don’t get fired, this is bad period. Being second guessed by AD. Film sent to other coaches. The other coaches should tell that AD that is inappropriate and no way will they will be involved in that evaluation.


My first response was going to be simple.

Run

wth, I hope you didn't give him film, ive never heard of that and I wouldn't trust him, that is the craziest thing I ever heard, I would look at them if a friend who was the coach asked me, but wouldn't do it for an ad for his coach,

Yeah, this is not normal at all. This is bad.

He's putting you in a no-win situation with him: either you say yes and give him the film to allow second guessing from other coaches or you say no to your boss and refuse his offer to "help." Update the resume and get out ASAP because this sounds suspiciously like the first step towards firing you.

I honestly doubt he has "other area coaches" to review that film... unless he's got some guys who want your job and are going to use this as a way to rip you to shreds to your boss so they can take over.

Maybe I look at things simplistically but why not just ask the AD? Why worry and guess? Just ask him what that was all about.

I plan to meet with my AD on Monday. My thought was that this was unusual behavior for any position. I can see the value in having peers review your work and give feedback, I have been coaching for 20 years and still know I have a lot to learn. This seems more like a CYA move by an administrator.

If your AD brought your film to me and asked for a "breakdown"...I'd tell him that I was too busy and hand it back.

Also, I'd remember this AD and be sure to never work for him.

My first reaction would be "what the hell" but after watching a game last night, I could see at least an argument for something. Not sure if the wording of this particular was verbatim or paraphrased "sending to see 'what we were doing wrong' " and that is definitely a cause for concern, but allow me to just put this out there.

Last night I watched a fairly talented team have every opportunity to win the district championship against the #2 rated team in the state, but flounder offensively and actually end up losing by about 17. Having coached for half my life, I am always very hesitant to criticize, but this particular program has just been very "ugly" for lack of a better word offensively the last decade or so. They are what I like to call a "bully" offensively, meaning they look lights out when playing teams of lesser talent (speed) but just seem to sputter and spurt about when playing any team that isn't considerably worse than them. I think a somewhat accurate analogy would be LSU, in the way that under Les Miles they would hang 40+ on Kentucky, and then put up only 40 points over the next 3-4 games combined. More importantly, neither team (this team or LSU) ever seems (or seemed) to be able to EXECUTE offensively, but rather just rely on a big play by a big time athlete.

I have traditionally been a defensive coach for the majority of my career, so in watching this program from that perspective, I just kept seeing things that had me puzzled:
--Never taking a deep outside shot to a 6'1 Db/wr who has committed to a team currently ranked in the Top 8 in the CF Playoff poll but rather always aligned as the inside #3 in trips against single high coverage where he could be consistently doubled teamed and rerouted with the deep safety playing over the top. Oddly enough previous week when in "bully mode" he had 3 shots for 3 touchdowns in the first quarter (all were slower developing wheel routes though, still from an inside position but obviously the top of the route is the same)

--Never using the aforementioned player on the single side of trips

--Route designs with no hot or rush routes. Everything was either all relatively deep slower developing routes, or WR screens. This led to multiple QB scrambles/throw aways under pressure.

--VERY right handed, seemingly always getting pinned on the right hashmark and not being able to exploit the field.

--Punted down by 10 on 4th and 15 on the +37 with 4 minutes to go in game. Punter had shanked previous 2 punts trying to angle away from returner. Shanked this one as well, and other team took possession on the 23 (a yard less than the line to gain)

I have watched this school the last decade or so, and while the above are just single game nitpicks, it is just obvious that they do not really execute on offense to the same degree as defense. The most glaring example of poor execution was in state semifinal game about 8 years ago, where on 4th and goal from half yard line with a trip to the state championship on the line the RBs aligned with their hands on the QB's butt presnap, the white hat reached into his pocked knowing what was going to happen, and of course aiding the runner penalty.

The HC in the situation has a lifetime record of about 100-70, but that doesn't doesn't paint a truly accurate picture as it is pretty segmented (periods of 8-9 win seasons and deep playoff runs, periods of losing years and missing playoffs recently)


All of that rambling to say while the original post is indeed not really standard behavior, I do have to ask, what should an AD or Principal do at the HS level? We get second opinions in the medical field don't we?

If the person responsible for evaluating the football coach isn't a "football person" are they just stuck?

Me after that meeting...

I am going to meet with the AD tomorrow. He isn't getting the film. He can fire me if he wants to. We will see what happens.

make sure you make copies of your film, also sneak in a voice recorder to your meeting

That's not normal behavior.
If you have been close with him do you think this behavior of his is being driven by someone else above him? I have seen this kind of thing happen where even though your AD is supportive, suddenly when he's confronted with a directive from above things get fuzzy in a hurry.

Why not?  Are you able to dismiss/replace said coach that demonstrates he doesn't know what he is doing or isn't doing a professional job as a coach?

I agree being an offensive analyst isn't in the AD's job description.  Isn't that kind of the point of him asking others for input?   I do realize my comments are influenced by my situation (which I detailed above) but I have to admit I have mixed feelings on this.  I read constantly here about slappy coaches.  I bet 5-10% of the threads here mention or refer to some type of slappy coach.   Now the best practice would be for the HC to recognize these issues and seek advice/help on his own.  But what if that doesn't occur?  Say "Oh well... " ? 

That's a thread for the CoachLuey AD forum.  And maybe the CoachDuey principal forum.

update?