Post by dsa0305 on Nov 9, 2017 9:23:50 GMT -6
Sorry for the length of this post. I have been in my present school as the AD/Head Football coach for nine years now. We are a small school and due to that we are subject to the ebbs and flows of talent swings. When I took over this program nine years ago we had low participation numbers and we were really young. Starting my second year we began a six year streak of being in the playoffs and a consistent top ten team in the state. Our numbers increased and we had had a quite a bit of success. I knew going into last year that we were going to have a drop in talent and on top of that we were put into one of, if not the toughest district in the state. We failed to make the playoffs last year, and we will not make the playoffs again this year. While this group may not be the most talented team that we have had, we are talented enough to have competed for a playoff spot (which we really didn't do). We will only graduate 1 kid on the defensive side and two kids on the offensive side, so on paper we should be good next year. For that to happen though something has to change. I think several factors have created a culture change, and I am looking for advice to how to right the ship again.
One of the factors that I know caused this was going into last year we had some turnover in the coaching staff, and I made two bad hires. Techniques and fundamentals were not a priority, and the kids once they left football and went on to their next sports were allowed to get away with things that should never have happened. Both of those two coaches were replaced and I was fortunate enough to get two successful veteran coaches that have been head football coaches and ADs.
Another factor is that I truly believe that our current group of kids really could care less if they win or lose. Yeah, if we win they are excited, but if we lose it is almost like oh well at least I got to play. We coach effort, fundamentals and technique everyday in practice, but they just don't get it. Our work ethic is poor, and one of the big problems we are facing right now is there is no competition for position.
Leadership is probably the biggest hurdle we face. Most of these kids were in JH or playing JV when we were in the middle of the our stretch. I know that when we were in that stretch we had great kids, and great leadership, but once those kids graduated this group didn't pick up the torch. They have a sense of entitlement to them, and again they know that they can give a crappy effort because we don't have anyone to replace them. The thing that is the most frustrating, is that in our stretch we didn't always have competition for position, but that never stopped us from being super competitive in practice.
Again sorry for the lengthy post, but any ideas at all will be appreciated.
One of the factors that I know caused this was going into last year we had some turnover in the coaching staff, and I made two bad hires. Techniques and fundamentals were not a priority, and the kids once they left football and went on to their next sports were allowed to get away with things that should never have happened. Both of those two coaches were replaced and I was fortunate enough to get two successful veteran coaches that have been head football coaches and ADs.
Another factor is that I truly believe that our current group of kids really could care less if they win or lose. Yeah, if we win they are excited, but if we lose it is almost like oh well at least I got to play. We coach effort, fundamentals and technique everyday in practice, but they just don't get it. Our work ethic is poor, and one of the big problems we are facing right now is there is no competition for position.
Leadership is probably the biggest hurdle we face. Most of these kids were in JH or playing JV when we were in the middle of the our stretch. I know that when we were in that stretch we had great kids, and great leadership, but once those kids graduated this group didn't pick up the torch. They have a sense of entitlement to them, and again they know that they can give a crappy effort because we don't have anyone to replace them. The thing that is the most frustrating, is that in our stretch we didn't always have competition for position, but that never stopped us from being super competitive in practice.
Again sorry for the lengthy post, but any ideas at all will be appreciated.
