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Post by coachcb on Aug 23, 2018 13:34:18 GMT -6
I would say yes, that strong of a bond is rare on any staff. Your staff not only works well together professionally but you get along personally as well. That can be a tough combination to find, especially in what can be the ego-driven coaching profession. The staff I'm with not works well together but we're not tight on a personal level. They're great, personable guys and coaching with them is fun but we're all very different people and I don't know that we'll ever have a strong personal bond. We've hung out as a staff a few times and it's very apparent that we just don't have much in common, other than football.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 23, 2018 8:23:06 GMT -6
In Montana, I've been paid between $1k and $3k. Schools that have a standing tradition of success in a sport will pay more, regardless of their tax base as the school boards don't have any issue giving raises there. Schools without success will generally pay the bare minimum.
One union tried to make get raises for coaches during negotiations (it's tied to our Master Agreement) but the school board's retort was simple: "Why should we coaches who lose more money?"
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Post by coachcb on Aug 23, 2018 7:44:53 GMT -6
Our LBs are struggling with their pass drops right now, especially because we're doing some pattern reading/marrying routes. It was very evident in our scrimmage last Saturday and we decided to really hammer it home in a skelly session yesterday. We agreed to give the kids FIVE walk-through reps and then go full speed. We stopped and coached things up during those FIVE reps and then went full tilt. I was watching the inside backer's, another coach was watching the outside guys and the third was on the DBs. Between reps, we'd run over to a player, quickly correct an issue and then throw another round at them. It was an ugly session to start off (some of them really didn't have a clue..) but we ended it with four picks by the LBs in the last six plays. And, all four of those picks were directly due to coaching points we gave on the fly. We'll hit them with the same thing today but we're going to ditch the walk-through reps. Get 'em out there, get 'em flying around, PAY ATTENTION AS A COACH, and correct mistakes on the fly. I like the idea of being able to adjust. Sound like yall were struggling, did a quick walk thru, and started repping again. We did a similar thing just yesterday. Sometimes a quick walk and talk session gets things back on point. IMO, it's the best way to do things. We explain INDY drills in detail and go through them at half speed ONCE and then it's full-tilt, working on the fly. A kid will redo the rep with an emphasis on one or two coaching points if they messed it up. Shell session like inside run and skelly are taught the same way. We've chalked and repped the run fits and pass drops before hand, go through slowly and then get after it. Some coaches don't realize that many kids NEED to fail at a skill/assignment in order to truly get it through their thick heads. Case in point; our younger DEs are struggling to wrong arm pullers and our OL and H-backs were kicking the chit out of them during inside run. They've gotten turns at it during INDY time and now it's time to apply it. One kid got ear-holed again and again on Counter and Power and I had one of two decisions; pull him out and go through it with him or coach him on the fly. I coached him on the fly and told him "look, you either do what you've been coached or you keep getting the crap beat out of you. It's your call but I'M NOT PULLING YOU OUT OF THIS DRILL". That sunk in and he finally started wrong-arming correctly. The fear of getting knocked on his a-- served as an excellent motivator.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 23, 2018 7:01:41 GMT -6
Coach your missing the point, you can send all the letters you want. Nobody reads them. If you wait until the last minute to communicate face to face in person with your parents, you will fail to win their support. You can rationalize it all you want, bottom line is without parent support you can be Bill Belichek in the X's and O's and you will fail. Nobody on your school board gives a tinker's damn what you say, or what your rules are, but they sure as hell care about pissed off parents. Pissed off parents vote, pissed off parents go to the press, pissed off parents hire attorneys. Pissed off coach's just get fired. The kid is just that the Kid. The parent controls the decisions of the kid. Your program, do what you want, but you aint coaching the Green Bay Packers....your coaching someone else's kid. And that someone else can get really pissed if they think you are screwing their kid....just saying No, they're missing the point if they don't read the pertinent information that's sent to them repeatedly. If they can't be an adult and read the ONE of the three letters sent to them then that is their problem. And, you're also assuming that parents actually show up to PARENT meetings; ours don't. And, our school board doesn't care about angry parents as long as we can show that we've done our due-diligence.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 22, 2018 15:37:15 GMT -6
Devils advocate here....you have your meeting the day before practice 1. Mom may have scheduled the out of town shopping way before that. So piss poor planing on your part constitutes an emergency on mine? If parents spent money to go out of town to shop or whatever with say grandpa or grandma 2 months ago, and then you meet the day before and say "sorry i know you acted like a responsible adult and planed your trip, but now your kid will not play because I waited til the last minute to tell my team rules". I can see it from a parent prospective. You failed to properly plan your meeting, now you are asking me to change my plans last minute...just saying I think you need to plan better, get the info out before summer so parents can adjust accordingly.....these kids arent paid athletes, and they dont make their own life decisions, mom and dad do. If you want parent support, then you have to communicate better than this. what if you had a trip planned and your AD says sorry but I decided you have to be at this mandatory meeting tomorrow or you cant coach this season. You would be pissed, especially if that trip cost you money... Lol.. Reread what I posted. This woman received three different letters in the mail; one in the middle of the spring, one on the last week of school and one in the middle of the summer. This letter detailed all of the program's policies. It was also posted repeatedly on Facebook and Twitter AND reiterated during the kids at our July camp. This year, the AD scheduled all of the fall sport meetings right before practice but, this next year, we'll run a separate meeting at the beginning of the summer. At the end of the day, this parent and the player received all of the information on multiple occasions over the space of nearly six months. And, let's be honest; any kid or parent that were truly invested in the program wouldn't miss four practices so that they could take an extended weekend shopping.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 22, 2018 13:22:36 GMT -6
Well, I suggest that we look into solutions for the issue:
1. The concussion issue will fade away when concussions stop being prevalent. Make sure that the kids are outfitted with the proper equipment and teach proper tackling, shedding and blocking form. The number of concussions coming out of football around her has dropped significantly since coaches started teaching safer practices. We had more concussions coming out of basketball than football last year. And, the concussions in basketball were far, far worse because a kid rebounded the head off of a floor or a wall.
2.. Press home the importance of being a multiple sport athlete. Sell the other sports programs at every turn; show up to as many basketball games, wrestling matches, baseball games, track meets (etc..) as you can. Being a multiple sport coach certainly helps as well. The football players know I am going to get on them if they're not out for track. If they're out for Legion baseball, so be it.. But, I'm going to be pushing track all year long.
3. Honestly, it seems like we're fighting club sports for kids more and more these days. Hockey and fall baseball are getting popular around here, they're talking kids into specializing and it's a PITA. The best way to counteract this is to promote pride in ALL school athletics without trashing the club sports. Make sports a point of school pride, regardless of the success of certain sports.
4. Successful sports draw participation, PERIOD. Our wrestling program is one of the best in the state and they routinely have 50-60 kids out with a school population of 250. Track draws around 80-90 boys and girls.. We had an ugly season in football last year and our numbers have dropped to the high 30's..
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Post by coachcb on Aug 22, 2018 11:17:46 GMT -6
There's your reason for his behavior. He needs to understand he's not coaching youth ball anymore.
I hope youth ball coaches don't just talk through individual periods. I would think youth coaches should almost talk less because their kids have a smaller ability to reason on why the drill is useful. I have done very little talking when coaching youth or middle school ball. We're running simple, limited schemes that require limited skills and, as such, limited coaching points.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 22, 2018 10:09:45 GMT -6
Compartmentalize the coaching down to key words or phrases that you ingrain understanding into them early on. This helps me coach on the fly and not get mired in 2 min coaching diatribes that the kids tune out after 10 seconds. Don't assume that they know what the phrases mean, however. (I didn't know what "choke up" meant until my 2nd year of little league).
This is hugely important when running INDY drills. The majority of drills should only emphasize a few key coaching points that the kids need to focus on. My rule of thumb: if a drill involves more than three coaching points, then it needs to be simplified.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 22, 2018 6:58:19 GMT -6
We would have preferred to have our meeting earlier but the AD wanted to do all fall sports at once, right before the season started. However, the parents did receive several letters throughout the spring and summer stating when practice would begin and what the expectations were for attendance. The same letter and information was posted on social media every other week throughout the season. In all reality, it wouldn't have mattered when we held the meeting with regards to this woman's attitude. She would've scheduled the shopping trip for the same time and expected special treatment. She figured that the kid was "owed" a few days off because he went to camp and lifted during the summer. She's dropped it for now but I imagine she'll be in rare form after her kid doesn't play in either of next week's games (JV or varsity).
I had our Football Parents' Meeting in June so as to avoid conflicts - or be able to tell parents such as you describe they were their fault for not being there.
ADs always had a Fall Sports Meeting after practice had started, which was too late and sparsely attended anyway.
We'll have to look into that for next season.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 21, 2018 15:40:05 GMT -6
Night before our first practice, the HC hands out a sheet detailing the team rules. Highlighted, bolded and underlined if the statement: AN UNEXCUSED ABSENCE RESULTS IN NOT DRESSING FOR THE NEXT GAME. He goes on to explain, in detail, the difference between an unexcused absence and an excused absence. He sites one specific example; "Missing practice to get your hair cut will be UNEXCUSED." As we're leaving the auditorium after the meeting, a parent walks up to him and states: "Lil Johnny is going to miss the first four practices as we're going on a back-to-school shopping trip out of town tomorrow. I'm letting you know early so that he can play in the first game." The HC stood his ground but ended up arguing with this woman for nearly fifteen minutes.
That's why I had our Parents' Meeting in June, last week that school was in session before summer.
We would have preferred to have our meeting earlier but the AD wanted to do all fall sports at once, right before the season started. However, the parents did receive several letters throughout the spring and summer stating when practice would begin and what the expectations were for attendance. The same letter and information was posted on social media every other week throughout the season. In all reality, it wouldn't have mattered when we held the meeting with regards to this woman's attitude. She would've scheduled the shopping trip for the same time and expected special treatment. She figured that the kid was "owed" a few days off because he went to camp and lifted during the summer. She's dropped it for now but I imagine she'll be in rare form after her kid doesn't play in either of next week's games (JV or varsity).
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Post by coachcb on Aug 21, 2018 11:59:33 GMT -6
Night before our first practice, the HC hands out a sheet detailing the team rules. Highlighted, bolded and underlined if the statement: AN UNEXCUSED ABSENCE RESULTS IN NOT DRESSING FOR THE NEXT GAME. He goes on to explain, in detail, the difference between an unexcused absence and an excused absence. He sites one specific example; "Missing practice to get your hair cut will be UNEXCUSED."
As we're leaving the auditorium after the meeting, a parent walks up to him and states: "Lil Johnny is going to miss the first four practices as we're going on a back-to-school shopping trip out of town tomorrow. I'm letting you know early so that he can play in the first game."
The HC stood his ground but ended up arguing with this woman for nearly fifteen minutes.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 21, 2018 6:47:54 GMT -6
Our LBs are struggling with their pass drops right now, especially because we're doing some pattern reading/marrying routes. It was very evident in our scrimmage last Saturday and we decided to really hammer it home in a skelly session yesterday. We agreed to give the kids FIVE walk-through reps and then go full speed. We stopped and coached things up during those FIVE reps and then went full tilt. I was watching the inside backer's, another coach was watching the outside guys and the third was on the DBs. Between reps, we'd run over to a player, quickly correct an issue and then throw another round at them. It was an ugly session to start off (some of them really didn't have a clue..) but we ended it with four picks by the LBs in the last six plays. And, all four of those picks were directly due to coaching points we gave on the fly.
We'll hit them with the same thing today but we're going to ditch the walk-through reps. Get 'em out there, get 'em flying around, PAY ATTENTION AS A COACH, and correct mistakes on the fly.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 20, 2018 14:30:56 GMT -6
We coach the same way; multiple groups going and teaching on the fly. BUT, we do so after a few days of slowing things down so the kids understand what is being emphasized through the drill and how to do them correctly. Within most drills, the kids may screw up one or two movements but there's at least one movement that they're performing correctly so the rep isn't a complete waste.
One of two things is going on here:
1. The guy hasn't bought into the philosophy and is choosing to coach "his" way. This isn't acceptable for you and he needs to understand this. If the kids are doing things correctly the majority of the time, then he's wasting a lot of time by stopping and going through the drills again and again.
2. The guy hasn't thoroughly explained the drills or the drill structure to the kids, they're making a ton of mistakes and he needs to correct it. We kick it into high-gear pretty quickly and the kids know that each drill has two-three points of emphasis that they focus on. We don't even have to tell them where they screwed up in a drill; they know it after we've mentioned it and corrected it once or twice. Our starting H-back has a helluva time getting his hands inside on his blocks and it only took him three practices worth of reps to figure it out. On Saturday, he was drilling a kick out block, had his hands on the outside of the frame and, before I could even correct it, he hollered:"I'm gonna get a damn holding call!!" and smacked himself upside the helmet.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 20, 2018 11:20:57 GMT -6
If he were missing seven practices because of another sport, REAL family obligation (funeral or wedding of a close family member), or something where he absolutely had to be gone, then we'd just make sure he made up the conditioning. But, in this circumstance, he would miss the first game, PERIOD. As has been pointed out, it's a slippery slope. Kids will start skipping August football because they know that they only need to do some conditioning to make up for it. That pales in comparison to the time the rest of the kids have put in; meetings, warm-up, indy time, inside run, skelly, team, condo, etc..etc.. Our guys put in a solid 7-8 hours per day of football once practice starts so it's not fair to them to allow a kid that's skipped to do what basically amounts to an extra hour of conditioning. 8 hour days? I am assuming you still have doubles or something similar. Down here (south eastern Louisiana) in some districts, the kids return to school a day or two after the first practice day (and obviously teacher coaches are back to work a few days before that) , so gone are the days of grueling double sessions or camp environments during preseason practice. Yes, we've been running two practices per day since August 10th and most of the kids don't go back to school until next Monday. We did a solid week of two-a-days and the kids are now doing meetings/film/lifting in the morning and practice in the afternoon. During two-a-days we did an hour worth of film/meetings and then practiced. Between meetings, dressing out, practicing, and showering, they were putting in some long days. Two-a-days before school starts have become trickier and trickier over the years. Parents are ignoring the schedule sent out three times (spring, before school gets out, mid-summer) and are setting up vacations during the thick of two-a-days. We've always taken a hardline on this; you miss practice during two-a-days, you miss the first game.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 16, 2018 14:10:56 GMT -6
We'll back off and go THUD during groups sessions once we see the kids taking proper angles and tackling with proper form during tackling drills and INDY time. Before that point, we're live during group sessions but we're quick with the whistle. Honestly, we've seen more injuries to defenders from poor tackling form (dropping their head, diving at the ankles, tackling too high and pulling WWE crap..) than injuries to the ball carrier.
Generally speaking, we'll pull back to THUD halfway half-way through two-a-days.
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Post by coachcb on Aug 15, 2018 7:42:54 GMT -6
If he were missing seven practices because of another sport, REAL family obligation (funeral or wedding of a close family member), or something where he absolutely had to be gone, then we'd just make sure he made up the conditioning. But, in this circumstance, he would miss the first game, PERIOD. As has been pointed out, it's a slippery slope. Kids will start skipping August football because they know that they only need to do some conditioning to make up for it. That pales in comparison to the time the rest of the kids have put in; meetings, warm-up, indy time, inside run, skelly, team, condo, etc..etc.. Our guys put in a solid 7-8 hours per day of football once practice starts so it's not fair to them to allow a kid that's skipped to do what basically amounts to an extra hour of conditioning.
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Post by coachcb on Jun 22, 2018 8:50:21 GMT -6
Participation for weight training has been low this summer and it's been irritating me. I've gotten all kinds of excuses from the kids not showing up to lift but they've been to every basketball open gym. The basketball coach has been on them about lifting but I finally pulled a bunch of them together before an open gym a few nights ago and read them the riot act about not getting in the weight room. I finished up by telling them that I would only be offering to open up the weight room twice per week if I had another round of no shows. I get a text from an incoming freshman's mom the next day that reads something like this:
Mommy: "Coach, I just want to let you know that Billy really wants to lift but he's intimidated by the older kids in the weight room. Can you open it up at another time just for the younger kids?"
Me: "Ma'am, I work during the week and the times I have scheduled are the times I can open the gym. Also, Billy will only need to join us for one session to get comfortable. The older boys are very helpful with the younger kids and I can put them on auto-pilot and get Billy up to speed on our lifts."
Mommy: "Well, weekends work best for him. I don't see why you can't open the gym on Saturdays or Sundays. Especially because he's really anxious about lifting around the older kids."
Me (trying to remain calm): "Ma'am, I work fifty hour week and open the weight room for the kids and I take the weekends to myself."
Mommy: "Well, Coach ____ does open gyms on Sunday nights for the kids, why can't you do the same?"
Me (frustrated): "You bring up an excellent point, actually. I see Billy in basketball open gyms, mixing it up on the court with the varsity kids three days per week. If he's confident enough to push them around in the pain, then he's confident enough to lift with them. I won't be opening the weight room on the weekends. Billy can join us for weight training during the week nights or not, it's up to him."
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Post by coachcb on May 23, 2018 7:03:23 GMT -6
We were running SBV one year and I was an assistant on the sophomore staff. The sophomore OC was gone one day and left the rest of practice in the hands of an obnoxious WR/DB coach. We were running an inside-run session and this guys calls "Right" (TE/flanker to the right, SE to the left) and OSV to the left. The QB comes over and asks if he meant to call ISV or "check with me" as we couldn't run OSV to the open side of the formation. The guy hollers at the kid and sends him back to run the play. I tried to talk to the guy but he just hollered "run the play!" The kid was smart so he called "Left" and ran OSV to the left. The assistant comes uncorked on the kid and is literally screaming at him. The varsity HC comes over, pulls the coach and QB and asks what the issue is. The dipchit assistant states that these "kids don't listen for CHIT!". The QB calmly explains the situation to him so he tells me to take over the session, pulls the other AC coach aside. The idiot AC actually starts arguing with the varsity HC about the call and gets booted from practice for the day..
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Post by coachcb on May 21, 2018 6:59:58 GMT -6
I have a few things to help keep me organized:
1. A written planner where I write down things that need to be handled day to day as well as keeping a weekly and monthly schedule. I jot things down every day that need to be taken care of and just cross them off as I go along. This is with me at all times, along with a pencil so I can make sure things are written out. There's a little note section in the back where I take down notes as well. Important phone numbers are written down in there as well as plugged into my phone.
2. An Google Calendar that includes the same stuff. It may seem redundant, but I copy everything from the written planner into the calendar just to make sure I don't miss something. And, it works the other way as well; I put things in the calendar and then write them down in the planner. I might be working in my classroom, an email pops up about something and it's quicker for me to pull up that calendar and write it in. The calendar also allows me to easily type in notes for things.
3. A separate three ring binder for EVERYTHING: practice plans, inventory, playbook and depth chart, physicals, player/parent contracts, assistant coach contracts, etc..etc.. These are tucked away in a file cabinet and I never lose them.
I have always struggled to stay organized throughout a year and I've become pretty Type-A about these kind of things. Also, keeping two the two calendars/planners gives me a backup in case something goofy is going on with the internet or with my phone.
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Post by coachcb on May 15, 2018 6:49:47 GMT -6
It sounds strange but she could easily get a doctor's backing on the situation if it's a bad enough burn. And, to be honest, a bad enough sunburn could get infected if the kid isn't careful.
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Post by coachcb on May 14, 2018 13:55:55 GMT -6
Have any of yall had problems with your wife wanting to move? I got a great opportunity to be a DC, signed my contract and all already. We go to look for houses and she straight up says "I am not living here"....mind blown My ex-wife refused to move to a town where I was offered an HC gig. She was all for it initially until we visited and then she said "no friggin' way." Even though she's my EX-wife, I don't regret the decision to turn down the position as keeping a family happy and together is far more important than a football gig. This thread is a good one for single coaches as well; never take a good coach's wife for granted because they're hard to find. And, if your current significant other isn't kosher with you coaching and you love it, you've got some decisions to make. LOL.
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Post by coachcb on May 10, 2018 14:34:35 GMT -6
is "a ton"?
Posters on here say they run "a ton" of this or that.
Similar to some who say they run something "all day (night) long."
Exactly what does that mean? To quantify this, when I say a I call a "ton of ____ during a game" I mean that it probably constitutes around a nearly a quarter of our play calls.
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Post by coachcb on May 10, 2018 8:27:14 GMT -6
I coach for two reasons; I love the sports that I'm involved with and it's great to watch the kids grow through athletics. And, the latter is what really keeps me going. We live in an age of immediate gratification where kids get a nice rush by just clicking a button on their phone, computer or gaming console. They're gradually losing the ability to work towards anything that isn't a swipe or a tap away. Coaching allows us to teach kids to value the process of setting measurable goals and developing the patience, the work ethic and skills necessary to meet those goals.
We went through a hellacious football season last year (long story) and everyone involved with the program was frustrated and burned out by the end of the year. But, I will always be proud of that group of kids because it would have been easy to turn in their pads and go home every day so they could play "Call Of Duty" or mess around on Facebook. No one quit: the kids stuck it out, continued to work hard at practice and played tough in games. Those kids will go far in life because they learned to persevere.
We have a very good thrower right now who is looking at state titles in shot and discus in a few weeks. But, that wasn't the case when we first started working with her. She was impatient, easily frustrated and would fall apart after a couple of bad throws in practice or in a meet. We spent a ton of time in practice teaching her to calm down, focus, shake off poor throws and put her time in. It was a tedious and frustrating process at times but she figured it out and is now one of the best throwers in the state and is heading to college on a track scholarship. She is a completely different kid at practice and at meets now and we've all been thrilled to watch her figure it out.
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Post by coachcb on May 10, 2018 7:56:25 GMT -6
Honestly, there really is no positive end-game if you approach him about that specific tweet. He's being overzealous, for sure, but it's hard to approach a kid when he's being positive about the program. Most high school kids aren't going to hear you say "hey, your enthusiasm is great but I need you to tone it down a bit as the season hasn't even started." He's going to hear "blah...blah...blah... We're going to suck next year."
With that being said, I would approach the whole team about your social media policy if you've got kids who are posting on social media constantly. There's a good chance they're gong to cause problems for the program if they keep it up. Our kids are absolutely addicted to social media and I have gotten after a few of them as AD about the crap they're posting.
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Post by coachcb on May 9, 2018 8:55:15 GMT -6
I have run into a few HCs and coordinators like this over the years. When I was young, I would pull them aside and correct them at practice which tended to result in a waste of practice time and a coach with a bruised ego. Coaches like this tend to be over their heads and get bent out of shape when you talk to them during practice. It's much more professional to sit down with them after practice and "clarify" the terminology.
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Post by coachcb on May 8, 2018 10:17:58 GMT -6
I was coaching freshman football for a large school while I was in college; I handled the LBs and the RBs (FBs and TBs). We had over 60 freshmen out and 25 of them were LBs/RBs. We had a B-squad schedule in place but there were twice as many "A-squad" games and we needed to rotate all of these kids in and out of the game. One kid was getting a fair number of snaps per game at TB but his dad felt that we weren't doing enough for his boy and approached me after practice: Daddy:"I need to talk to you about Lil Johnny." Me: "Alright, what can I do for you?" Daddy: "Lil Johnny isn't getting enough playing time and he isn't touching the ball enough. He's the best RB you have." Me: "Well, it's freshmen ball and we're more concerned with getting kids playing time." Daddy: "It's high school football. You should be playing to win not dishing out playing time like some communist country." Me: "That is something that you need to take up with Coach _____ (the HC) as he wants us playing as many kids as possible. I agree with him though; we treat the lower levels as developmental." Daddy: "No, YOU'RE the person I need to be talking to; you're his coach and you're calling the plays. Did you know that he only has 12 carries for 40 yards and 3 catches for 16 yards through the first two games." Me: "Look, I'm done talking about this, we'll need to discuss this further with Coach Mr. HC and Mr. Athletic Director." Daddy:"We paid $15000 for him to attend the Seahawks football camp this last summer!! He deserved more playing time and more touches. This is bullchit!!". Me: "Give the head coach and athletic director a call, I'm not discussing this any further." Daddy: "Well, I'm pushing to have you fired, just so you know". Me: "Alright." Sure as chit, we had a terrible season with the freshmen team (because we didn't coach them very well..), Lil Johnny's Daddy got the rest of the parents worked up and the whole freshmen staff was canned at the end of the season. Rule #1: "WE DO NOT DISCUSS PLAYING TIME". Program wide. Top to bottom. Parents are told this from Day 1 and it is enforced. Any coach who can not follow this simple rule gets fired. Solves many problems. (Also, make sure admin is aware of this and supportive from Day 1 as well). Our varsity HC had made it clear to the parents that we had a developmental philosophy when it came to the freshmen level. If they practiced, they played. He also made this very clear to the freshmen staff. However, we had 60 kids out for freshmen football without an A/B schedule.. We set up 5th and 6th quarters every game with a running clock.. So... Some of the staff members played a handful of kids during the first four quarters, tried to stuff everyone else in during the 5th and 6th and we had weeks where kids had ZERO playing time. I was the DB/WR coach and set up a rotation during the first game as I knew we wouldn't be able to get all of the kids in with this set up. The HC/OC was livid about it and demanded that I play our "starting WRs" and get the rest in during the extra quarters. He and I bickered over this continually, especially when parent complaints came rolling in about kids that didn't see a single down of playing time while others never left the field. The DC and I agreed on it so he also fought with the OC over it.. The freshmen HC was a passive guy that didn't take control over the situation. The varsity HC came down and mediated arguments between the two of them every week. And, again, at the heart of it, we didn't coach the kids well. So, you take the immaturity on staff, the parent complaints, the fact that we were losing by 30 points every week (against teams who were rotating players..) and you've got a recipe for a firing.
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Post by coachcb on May 8, 2018 8:58:00 GMT -6
I was coaching freshman football for a large school while I was in college; I handled the LBs and the RBs (FBs and TBs). We had over 60 freshmen out and 25 of them were LBs/RBs. We had a B-squad schedule in place but there were twice as many "A-squad" games and we needed to rotate all of these kids in and out of the game. One kid was getting a fair number of snaps per game at TB but his dad felt that we weren't doing enough for his boy and approached me after practice: Daddy:"I need to talk to you about Lil Johnny." Me: "Alright, what can I do for you?" Daddy: "Lil Johnny isn't getting enough playing time and he isn't touching the ball enough. He's the best RB you have." Me: "Well, it's freshmen ball and we're more concerned with getting kids playing time." Daddy: "It's high school football. You should be playing to win not dishing out playing time like some communist country." Me: "That is something that you need to take up with Coach _____ (the HC) as he wants us playing as many kids as possible. I agree with him though; we treat the lower levels as developmental." Daddy: "No, YOU'RE the person I need to be talking to; you're his coach and you're calling the plays. Did you know that he only has 12 carries for 40 yards and 3 catches for 16 yards through the first two games." Me: "Look, I'm done talking about this, we'll need to discuss this further with Coach Mr. HC and Mr. Athletic Director." Daddy:"We paid $15000 for him to attend the Seahawks football camp this last summer!! He deserved more playing time and more touches. This is bullchit!!". Me: "Give the head coach and athletic director a call, I'm not discussing this any further." Daddy: "Well, I'm pushing to have you fired, just so you know". Me: "Alright." Sure as chit, we had a terrible season with the freshmen team (because we didn't coach them very well..), Lil Johnny's Daddy got the rest of the parents worked up and the whole freshmen staff was canned at the end of the season. I can’t imagine a frost coach ever getting fired for anything short of either misconduct or maybe gross and wanton incompetence to the point of jeopardizing the whole program. Who the hell are you going to get to replace them? The entirety of the staff did a terrible job of coaching the kids and there was a lot of in-fighting going on between a couple of coaches. The in-fighting came down to playing time; a couple of the coaches only played the best in their position (out of 60 kids..) while others (myself included) ran a rotation to get all of the kids in. That, coupled with continual parent complaints about playing time was enough for the HC to can the entire freshmen staff. Not a single one of us was brought back. The HC had just taken over the program, the varsity had a sub-par year and he spent more time dealing with the B.S. that was coming from the freshmen level than anything else. It was a learning experience for me, for sure. It's the only coaching position that I have been canned from and, honestly, I deserved to be fired. I did a p-ss poor job of coaching, I was way too focused on Xs and Os and got involved in some of the fighting between the other coaches. I would have been brought back if I had kept my head down and teaching fundamentals. But, I was a young, arrogant, 23 year old kid.
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Post by coachcb on May 7, 2018 11:40:59 GMT -6
Pet peeve of mine right now.... Too many kids are about making the NFL or MBA or MLB or whatever. How about just enjoy the experience, be the best you can be at what you do and let the chips fall. I understand its financially driven, and there is no way to go back, but there is nothing wrong with being a good high school player contributing to your TEAM and building relationships that will support you and help you the rest of your life. Actually about 95% or more thats all they ever will be and thats ok... rant over lol I would argue that it actually isn't financially driven, but rather fame/attention driven. Now, NFL, MBA, MLB fame obviously comes with a large income, but if you were to truly isolate the reason, I would say it is for the attention/fame as evidenced by the step before the professional leagues (meaning signing day and all the fluff with recruiting) Side note, sometimes they just don't get it. Had a backup senior OL at a Ncaa Div 1AA school tell me during an academic conference that he didn't need to perform well in that class because he was going to make it in "The League". When I told him "You are a backup here, at a below average (didn't have a good squad that year) AA school. You don't get on the field for us, and none of our players are going to even be offered Free Agent try outs, much less be drafted. What makes you think you are going to even have an opportunity to ever show a team what you have?" he looked like I shot his dog. When I first started coaching, we had a Mike LB that was decent for our conference (honorable mention all-state) and had a few walk on offers from NAIA schools around the state. The kid probably would have succeeded at one of those schools but he and his parents were convinced that he was the second coming of Jack Lambert. We did what we could to help the kid; got together highlight film for him, made some phone calls but the best offer he got was a walk-on offer from the current NAIA National champ (not a bad offer, IMO..). We ended up in a meeting with his parents and the AD in the spring because he parents were furious that he didn't get him into a school that would get him "NFL looks". They accused us of sabotaging his future, not coaching him well enough, etc..etc.. The AD was a straight shooter who listened to them whine for about five minutes and then said: "Here's the deal, your son would be heading to a D1 school in a few months if he was a D1 level athlete. He's not. He's an NAIA level athlete and that's been made clear by the walk-on offers he's gotten. All three of you need to readjust your goals in life if you think that an offer from the NAIA national champions isn't good enough for him."
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Post by coachcb on May 7, 2018 9:31:11 GMT -6
I, personally, don't care for most the "Fire'Em Up" coaches. I find them to be loud and obnoxious and we need the kids to be calm and focused right up until a few minutes before kick-off. We have things to go through in position meetings and that can be tough to do with some dude jumping around and trying to get the kids fired up.
Plus, as has been pointed out, the kids need to find their own happy medium when it comes to intensity. Every kid is different; some of the best players we've had over the years come across as having ice-water in their veins before kick-off.
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Post by coachcb on May 7, 2018 8:40:50 GMT -6
I don't think any of these are unreasonable. In the first situation your described, you put starters back in during the second quarter because your JV wasn't getting the job done. A three score lead can go away in a hurry if you're JJV is getting their butts kicked. In fact, we make a standard practice to leave our starters in until the middle of the third quarter or the start of the fourth quarter if we're up big. The varsity kids still need reps and we don't want to run into the situation that you did.
We'll keep attacking the same DL over and over again if they're not getting the job done. Now, it'd be a different story if you were up big in the fourth quarter, left your starters in and were tossing the ball up against a weak CB. Some coaches will disagree with me on that but we had a coach do that to us a few years ago and it was infuriating. Our 5'6'', 150lb CB had gotten smoked by their 6'1'', 180lb WR all night long. The opposing HC/OC not only left the start in the game, but would motion and shift that WR to make sure he was in the same vicinity as our CB.
Who you play if your call: not the parents. Yeah, the kid was getting his butt kicked but they can take the clipboard if they'd like. We've also been in that situation and subbing the kid's back up in would have had even worse results.
I don't care for most death metal but we'll put it on if the kids want to listen to it and the lyrics are appropriate.
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