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Post by fcboiler87 on Sept 20, 2016 6:22:36 GMT -6
We've had 2 diagnosed this year that have been considered to be "career ending" concussions. Both players had sustained multiple concussions from wrestling and car accidents before this, so this was their 3rd and doc said no more. Two of our better players too. Really hurt us. I haven't seen or had hardly any in the couple years prior.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Sept 20, 2016 6:20:45 GMT -6
We've had issues with knee pads. Apparently it's not cool to wear them. I have been watching college football and have noticed the same thing. Guys aren't wearing knee pads and their pants are barely covering or not covering their knees at all. I guess it's one of those trendy things? I don't know but it drives me nuts because it is a penalty. They show up to practice without them so we have been doing up-downs for not being prepared for class. We don't have any tall kids so that's not the issue! Maybe manufacturers are just catering to the "cool" stuff!
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Post by fcboiler87 on Sept 14, 2016 10:20:18 GMT -6
I agree with funkfriss I think we are seeing a trickle down effect. Not everywhere, but in some places. It's happening to me here. in a place with no football history. In an area that "doesn't care" about football (the north). The people think they should have Nick Saban and they won't settle for anything less. The pressure they are putting on the admin is crazy. We aren't very good this year, but we were last. That doesn't matter. It's about right now. Same thing is happening around us too. It's never enough. Treating kids right and holding them accountable are irrelevant to too many places. Get the W's or get out. Sorry, this isn't college and we can't recruit the guys to fit what we do, we have to work around them and do the best we can with what we have. If that isn't good enough, many of us can't help you.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Aug 26, 2016 12:17:08 GMT -6
Our numbers are down here. We're a school of almost 700 and we're under 40 after some injuries/defections. We started last season at 54 and wound up at 36 anyway, so we just got there a lot quicker this year. There's some bad stuff going on inside the building that doesn't help things, but I don't go out in the halls and walk past a bunch of kids that would help us. We recruit non-football guys and good athletes but there just aren't many. The ones that are have no ethic, don't want to put in the time, etc. It's not that they couldn't be a good player. Some of the programs in our area are going through similar things. A few of the solid programs are seeing some higher numbers than average, but it's due to recent success. Some programs are at such a point their programs could easily fold. Very unfortunate. Can't say exactly why but football is hard and we've got a lot of kids who don't want to work hard to make it happen and that's why they don't play.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Aug 13, 2016 19:11:47 GMT -6
One of our opponent's film is that zoomed out but it's of much poorer quality. They are a terrible program and probably don't raise enough to purchase a reasonable camera. Since they were so bad it wasn't a big deal, we just did the best we could and won by 50.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jul 22, 2016 8:47:18 GMT -6
Two out of 12 work in our district. Those two were just hired within the last month. One will be in the HS with me and the other in another building. After it just being me for 2 years, I'm thrilled. 2 others work at other districts in the area. Everyone else is a non-educator. It's fairly typical for a smaller school in the state.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 22, 2016 9:26:21 GMT -6
I think olcoach53 makes a good point about success. Our place has never been successful outside of the last 10 years. There is a real sense of arrogance and entitlement. Part of what we have done is try to bring them down to earth a bit and make them work for it so they understand it's not just given because we're ____ that we're going to be good. That has probably been the biggest struggle. In their minds they should be winning conference and section titles when the talent and work put in does not give us that chance. Perhaps success is a problem outside of your traditional powers in that they don't understand how to handle it. Of course that's our job as coaches to keep an even keel for the program.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 21, 2016 13:06:38 GMT -6
I don't know that there is a great answer to this question. We might all have better teams if we knew it.
I hear ya loch, we have the same thing going on here. 10 seniors, 15 juniors, then our sophomore class is bottoming out. There were 17 of them in 8th grade, 10 of them as freshman. Now we are down to 5, and that includes a kid who hasn't even played since 7th grade. From what I'm told, the majority of those not coming back and are lazy and would rather puff the magic dragon all the time. The ones back are the better ones but then we lost a kid who would have started varsity today because his dad (who supports us well) decided to up and move cross country. Our incoming freshmen numbers look to be approximately 20, but that is down from 33 as 8th graders and includes a few new kids. And these kids, despite higher numbers have never been a successful group in their life, losing most games they have played.
We should be okay the next two years, but after that it's bleak. I'm like you, you think a hundred ways of what you can do but until we get there I really don't know the answer.
I talk with the kids all the time and try to get a pulse on things but even they don't have the answers or know what the deal is most of the time.
I guess we just keep doing what we're doing and going forth until we realize it's time to stop or move on.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 18, 2016 8:46:49 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback. I am going to give Columbia a shot. They have a waterproof jacket for around $70 a piece. I know Columbia is a reputable brand so hopefully they turn out well. As I mentioned I do have a Nike that works well and know the UA and Adidas are similar, but this is a difference of about 30 per jacket. I'm going to spend around 1k on coaching gear and the coaches wanted to to get something else in addition to the jacket so this was the compromise. I'll update with how they work out.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 18, 2016 8:43:57 GMT -6
Yeah I definitely don't care how they look as long as they do their job. We do use old game pants for practice pants. Works out well and saves money.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 18, 2016 8:34:52 GMT -6
Having been in administration some as well and having been around some good admin guys, the best advice I've heard is that you can't make things in black and white. You want it to be, but it doesn't work that way. That applied for them when it came to handing down discipline and dealing with situations, but it applies just the same to our rules in coaching.
We've got a guy who is a good baseball player who plays for us. Probably scholarship level. He won't be around much this summer. He should be our starting QB. This gives two other guys that are pretty talented some opportunities for reps. Whenever the baseball kid comes around he will be given the chance to compete. Will he win the job? Who knows. There are no guarantees. He will be behind. But at least he hasn't spent the summer on the couch eating cheetos. His situation is different that this kid who started for us last year but hasn't come to one day of anything since last season and doesn't play any other sports. That kid can come out in August and join us but he will be sorely out of shape and will have no clue what's going on. Will he play much? I doubt it. Two different situations, thus two different ways it has to be handled. I don't love it, but you have to adapt or lose out completely.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 17, 2016 13:41:07 GMT -6
Part of the problem definitely is the amount done in the summer. If everyone else we went against didn't do so much, I'd be much less concerned. But the teams we play have all already scrimmaged someone and/or participated in some type of 7 on 7. We have one coming this week and will do 2 7 on 7's in July but that's it and it's much less than most of our opponents. I'm not a proponent of doing the most or even as much as everyone else. I'd rather be less is more and we are doing that relative to our opponents. However, we still lack. We even had some issue with guys showing up for those competitions and that's supposed to be what the kids like and want to do.
So what ends up happening is that our opponents end up in good form as the season starts while we are still trying to get our wheels under us.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 17, 2016 9:40:56 GMT -6
This is a tough question I ask myself every day right now. We have been at less than 50% attendance so far this summer. Under 25 kids on average at a place where we should have 50+ on the team. Apathy is high and work ethic and drive are low. A couple older kids talk about not showing up until fall. Can they win a spot? It's possible but not likely. Plus what kind of message do you send to young kids that have had opportunities all summer? It's a tough hill to climb when your opponents of similar size are average 50+ kids per day at their sessions. I don't think we can walk out there and be better than those guys busting their tails when we're not. We recognize and reward those that are there. I don't know what else we can do. Those guys that show up in the fall? They will have to start low on the chart and work their way up. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But like I said I don't know if it's the right answer or not. No good way to know what's right. I don't think that there is anything wrong with rewarding the kids who participate in the summer program. Give those kids "Ironman" t-shirts. Put a leader board up in the weight room and only kids who participate in the summer program are eligible to have their names and weights up there. Do cookouts and stuff like that. But, once the season starts, I think the best player at each position has to start, regardless of what they did or didn't do during the summer. I get that but then I think you perpetuate and make it an acceptable part of your culture if a guy you know is a player leaves you in October and you don't see him again until August. I think that physical capabilities and mental aspects of the game that are lost over the course of that time will ultimately do some of these guys in. If you are trying to change and shape your culture there has to be some type of accountability for that. If those guys that are there all summer are your first teamers and then a few kids show up and they go down to JV, what incentive do they have to show up next summer and work if they can just show up in the fall and play? It's a rhetorical question but one that I think is fair. I get there are times and exceptions. Kids at football or wrestling camps. A week's family vacation. No big deal. Not there because you are admittedly lazy and don't feel like working? What kind of guy are you on Friday night? How are we supposed to depend on an attitude like that regardless of their talent? When things go bad, those guys fold. We had it happen last year in my first year. We had sporadic attendance last summer. The ones who never showed up all off season rode the pine. Why? Not really because they weren't there, but because they didn't cut it because they weren't there, both physically and from a knowing what we were doing process. Again I'm not saying I have a definitive answer. Those are just the things we ask ourselves and try to combat.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 17, 2016 9:13:07 GMT -6
This is a tough question I ask myself every day right now. We have been at less than 50% attendance so far this summer. Under 25 kids on average at a place where we should have 50+ on the team. Apathy is high and work ethic and drive are low. A couple older kids talk about not showing up until fall. Can they win a spot? It's possible but not likely. Plus what kind of message do you send to young kids that have had opportunities all summer? It's a tough hill to climb when your opponents of similar size are average 50+ kids per day at their sessions. I don't think we can walk out there and be better than those guys busting their tails when we're not. We recognize and reward those that are there. I don't know what else we can do. Those guys that show up in the fall? They will have to start low on the chart and work their way up. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But like I said I don't know if it's the right answer or not. No good way to know what's right.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 15, 2016 13:35:22 GMT -6
A school I was at early in my career did. We went all Nike. I think it gave us better deals on the cost of everything. I don't remember any specific drawbacks but I was just a lowly assistant. I guess the only thing I can think of would be cost. All the stuff you order for your kids is supposed to be that brand and if you want to get a lot of stuff it will cost them or you more. Although now that I think about it some of the stuff we ordered just for reward type stuff wasn't Nike. All I know is I've never had more gear than when I was there. Seemed like a good all around deal to me.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 14, 2016 13:27:08 GMT -6
Update: only had the A4 jerseys out a couple times but the kids seem to like them. I got them out of the box when they arrived and thought holy crap, these look awful and cheap (which is partially what I expected since they were). But the kids never blinked and eye and thought they were cool. Once they are on the shoulder pads they actually look pretty good. We will see how they hold up now. Oh if you get them apparently they don't come with numbers on the back. Did not realize that would be the case. Doesn't really matter for practice purposes but if that's something you want make sure you get it. Best part is we only paid around $750 for the 75 jerseys. I've seen schools spend 2k on them.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 14, 2016 13:22:19 GMT -6
Not meaning to start another gear thread but I want to order our staff some water proof jackets for those monsoon Friday nights we get sometimes. A lot of the stuff out there says water resistant but that means it'll soak through on a rainy night. I want something 100% waterproof (or as close as you can get). I have a nice Nike one from another stop I still wear sometimes. They are very expensive for those. Nike, UA, Adidas are all over $100 per jacket. Are there any cheaper alternatives that still do the same job? I've been using rain gear I bought at WalMart that has served me well but just wanted to get everyone something with the team logo on it. Thanks.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 8, 2016 8:08:32 GMT -6
Well I feel fortunate on the transportation issue at least. Any school I've been at the athletic department always covers tranport costs, even over the summer. Of course who contributes the most to that fund? We do. So it seems fair to me.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 7, 2016 11:38:33 GMT -6
No more elementary PE. There will be an instructional assistant for guided recess once a week. No more freshman PE. They are utilizing 8th grade to give them a credit somehow. They take 1 semester in 7th grade. They reduced us from 5 Elective PE to 2. So they get 3 semesters of guaranteed phys ed in their entire educational career.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Jun 4, 2016 12:41:34 GMT -6
Where do I begin? I will first agree with Party@QB that when no one in your building enforces anything, it makes it very difficult on you to instill discipline because it is a double standard and you're always the jerk. I think mine starts at the top with our super. They are eliminating phys ed throughout the district. I am down to 2 weight classes next year when everyone else in our conference is in there all day. This means I'll be back in the classroom. I DO NOT want to do that. I don't mind the material, but I despise lesson planning and can't stand teaching the stuff to a bunch of kids who don't care. That's why I like PE because you just have them work and/or play games. For the most part they enjoy that. My school is afraid of lifting weights. All sports. It has largely scared our athlete base. Kids won't come out to play because they are convinced they'll get hurt, not necessarily playing the game but in the weight room (of course not true, there has been no such thing happen). This is perpetuated by a former HC who wants to run all the S&C stuff. Our super granted it to him and paid him 4-5k more to do it, which again typically goes to the HC around here. It severely limited my access to the weight room this summer. I was informed of none of this, just told it was done. Well that's a start. I like this thread and hope it can help me feel better about things. However I have this feeling if I were to ask for people's advice on here and say what do I do they'd say get the hell out (which is what the few sane people here have told me). I would but it's not that simple because I can't move.
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Post by fcboiler87 on May 24, 2016 8:45:12 GMT -6
Great post and insight. It is so true. My first year here there was absolutely no accountability or discipline. Kids did what they want and when they wanted it. It was disgusting and you couldn't hold anyone accountable so it was a joke that I was attempting to hold people accountable on the field too. Now we have a new principal and assistant and I am the dean so it has been much better cleaning up and changing the culture of the school. As I mentioned in another thread, it starts at the top of your building with admin whether or not you can be successful. Unfortunately sometimes it even starts at the top above them if your super is a controlling micromanager.
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Post by fcboiler87 on May 19, 2016 13:02:48 GMT -6
groundchuck hit the nail on the head. It starts with a great administration. It has to be one that understands athletics are the backbone of your school culture. Success there often leads to success in the rest of your school, namely academics. If they don't get that and won't do whatever it takes to get coaches in the building and get your coaches on the same page, it will be an uphill battle. I've not seen too many admin like that though as they are concerned about test scores, academics, etc. I hope to be one of those strong admin one day who makes a school a great place to coach. There just aren't really any around here at any school.
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Post by fcboiler87 on May 3, 2016 6:55:25 GMT -6
I think any change of head coach ultimately results in a culture change, intended or not. Everyone is different. I know you are asking about a bad place, so I think many of these points are good advice. It takes time. I went in on the other end. I came into a decent place and of course you look for things that you can improve to help them be better, take them over the hump, etc. It's been rough and it may not work. Some places like the way they are and are content with it. I have been told many times the culture here will not change. I can see some of it working after 2 years of being here, but things are at work to keep them from completely working. It may or may not change. In the mean time we fight the good fight and keep going and hope that it works out. And that, like in a bad situation is all you can do. Good luck.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Apr 27, 2016 11:25:50 GMT -6
Laundry accessibility. Even if you can't afford to get the washer/dryer right now, it's a great thing to have. They redid our locker room here several years back and the coach then told them not to because he didn't want to mess with it. I don't want to either but it's just part of things and now we don't have the ability to go back and put it in.
I would also say more than enough lockers for the expected number of players you will have. Don't skimp now or else at some point it may not be enough.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Apr 20, 2016 7:41:09 GMT -6
We use a facebook page. I do so because the old people (parents) use it and not twitter. We utilize twitter as well but it's more for the kids. We also keep a website, but it's mainly to host documents and links for recruiting purposes as opposed to a place for updates and announcements. If I add something new to the site, I put it on facebook to publicize. I'll agree with Coach Bennett, pictures are what people love. I'll post from our after school workouts, camps, etc and people like to see that. The occasional video is good as well. People eat that stuff up.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Apr 13, 2016 9:07:17 GMT -6
One of the better programs in our area is a run heavy team. When they get up on you they will spend 1-3 series working on their throwing game with their starters in before the substitute. They are just good. We have to be better and work to stop them.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Apr 12, 2016 12:09:48 GMT -6
I think it's funny how polar this topic is. Seems like most either do it and love it or don't and don't like it. We don't do it Monday-Wednesday. One for teaching, but two because we don't have the set up for it. On Thursday, which is our pregame RUN through we blast it pretty loud (we are on gamefield with set up here). It's a nice way to change it up just within the week and also provide them with some added energy. It strikes a nice balance of doing it and not doing it. I always come up with the play list, which ends up being 100 songs or so that are my own that I made sure are clean. I've challenged our guys to do it if they can come up with a clean playlist but have yet to receive any offers. Imagine that.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Mar 21, 2016 9:00:48 GMT -6
As many have alluded to, you have to be yourself. Kids can see through it. I've struggled at my current spot with this topic because this place is just weird. There are way too many teachers/coaches here who haven't escaped high school and have less maturity than many of our students. The adult/friend thing is blurred way too much so it sends a terrible message to these kids. The ones who try to be adults and establish that line often have trouble simply because they've been around so many people around here that they have almost this expectation of friendship. When I came in and set a line and didn't act like their buddy, I was portrayed as someone who doesn't care. It's taken two years of just being here, getting to know them and showing them that I can instead of acting like their buddy to gain their trust. Cultures are a weird thing and I know I won't change it but at least I've been able to prove I care to the kids through time and just being myself.
The phone thing doesn't bother me. I set the expectation that I am giving you this if you NEED something. Don't text me for fun or for anything else, just if you have a question or a need. I set this to the parents too. I told them I'm a parent of a young child, please don't utilize my cell phone unless it's something you truly need otherwise please email me. I've had no issues and the communication has worked well.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Mar 16, 2016 12:45:39 GMT -6
I have 5 stipends. I can divide them anyway needed. For this season I should have 8 paid as well as 5 volunteer. This is at a school with around a 700 enrollment. We have 3 paid JH positions as well as a couple volunteers typically.
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Post by fcboiler87 on Feb 24, 2016 13:30:15 GMT -6
Ok, I'll be hosting our first youth camp/clinic this summer. I've got the on-field/operational details pretty well down, but I need some guidance on the admin side. How do you manage the financial side - registration, distribution/payments, insurance, that kind of thing. The record keeping operations. I actually go and visit each school in our district - 5 elementaries and 1 middle school. I hand out the flyer/registration form. On it is a waiver that keeps responsibility off of us so we don't have to purchase insurance. I ask that each school gather the materials and send them through inter-school mail to me. I collect each one, take the money and deposit it as I receive it. I chart each student name, grade, t-shirt size, school and payment info in an excel file. I also keep track of totals of t-shirts as I go so I have a running total of how many of each size I will need. If kids don't get their registration to me before school is out, they can mail it in to the high school. At the camp itself I have coaches wives help out by confirming attendance, taking at the gate registration and any thing else that might come up. We waited until the last day to hand out t-shirts so we could take a group picture at the end. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me.
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