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Post by coachcb on Mar 22, 2018 18:36:07 GMT -6
Drills, drills, drills and more drills. Learning the Xs and Os is the easy part; learning how to teach them as effectively and efficiently as possible is what will set you apart. One of our great assistant coaches is our OL/DL guy and I caught him watching 3-4, ILB read drills on HUDL one day on a bus trip. I asked him what he was doing and he said:
"I got bored and have always wondered how to coach a 3-4 Mike linebacker."
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Post by coachcb on Mar 22, 2018 11:47:49 GMT -6
Going to X-Over unbalanced sets. (Wing-T team). Takes a few minutes to put in, lots of headaches for the defense. I agree completely with this... Unbalanced sets are a pain to game plan around at times. This last year, we saw a team that lived in an various unbalanced sets. We stressed that the unbalanced side was the strength call for our defense as they tossed out a ton of formations. They came out in an unbalanced formation we hadn't seen on paper, the kids set the front and passing strength to the "Y" side and we got gashed to the unbalanced side for a whole series.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 22, 2018 10:46:27 GMT -6
We don't do non-padded 1 v 1 drills with the OL and DL because they just aren't an effective use of time. Yes, we can pull them back a little bit but, as has been pointed out, the OL is at a disadvantage. We don't find it particularly useful for pass protection drills either as the it teaches the DL bad habits. They can't engage the OL the same way they would if they were padded up and they end up trying to run around the block, versus using proper shedding techniques.
We would much rather spend that time getting our footwork down, learning various blocks against bags, hand shields etc..etc.. We have found that doing bag drills consistently from Day 1 is one of the best ways to teach both sides of the line to use their hands properly.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 21, 2018 10:31:36 GMT -6
gators41Lol... I hear that. We had a junior SS once who didn't know what a "tight end" was. For three weeks, I kept hammering him about keying the TE for his initial read on quarters and fitting off of him. He finally asked me what a "tight end" was, I couldn't help but laugh but his play improved.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 21, 2018 8:48:16 GMT -6
Everything. Do not assume they know any terms you use unless you show them or explain it to them first. Years ago had an OL, who went on to play in college, ask week 7 "How do I know when the play is coming to my side" "If the last number is Even it's right Odd is left..." "I didn't know that thanks coach" This. We walk in assuming that the players know very little football terminology. And, we know that some kids still won't understand some basic terminology by the end of the season. Watching film one Monday, half way through last season: Me: "Lil Johnny, you're the defensive tackle and should be aligned in a three technique. Why are you aligned on the center? We've never had you aligned on the center..You're always in a three technique" Lil Johnny: "What's a three technique? Me: "You should be shaded on the guard's outside eye." Lil Johnny: "What do you mean by 'shaded'?" Me: -go back a few plays and show an opposing play in a three technique- "You're splitting the guard down the middle, inside leg back, inside hand down." Lil Johnny: "Oh! So I should be lined up in the B-gap!" Me: "Yes and no..We'll go through it at practice." Bear in mind that this conversation took place after repeated chalk talks and reps in practice where we explained what the techniques are, what the alignment is, etc...etc... The kids also have to draw out their own playbook showing the alignments, including technique numbering and the term "shade". And, this was a kid that had started the previous two games for us and was ALWAYS aligned in a 3-tech. He had shown proper alignment in practice and games up to that point so we had no idea he didn't know the terminology.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 20, 2018 9:31:16 GMT -6
This is something that I have had to convey to p-ssed off assistants when I have been a coordinator in the past. They will be upset about how an HC wants something taught, said-HC won't give on it and I always end up telling them "He's the boss and it's name on the program. So, we do things his way." I will say this, in most of those situations, the HC has tried to throw the staff under the bus at some point and have gotten an earful behind closed doors over it. I was the OL coach in a multiple formation, UC IZ/OZ/Power/Counter team one year and the OL wasn't getting enough time to properly rep our zone blocking. The HC/OC expected us to rep all of the necessary skills (including pass pro) within our 10-15 minute block of Indy time. The OL looked like crap, we couldn't run the ball to save our lives, I asked the HC/OC for more Indy time with the OL repeatedly and he shot me down as he wanted to spend half of practice running "Team O". He made an off-hand comment in the office one day about how I "wasn't getting the job done" and I laid into him over it. I told him to take the OL if he thought he could do a better job with the time he was allotting us. Each "situation" will be somewhat different, but as a Head Coach, I was VERY CAREFUL as to whom I hired. When I was an assistant, I was very careful who I wished to work FOR. ALWAYS felt the following was the best advice (for Career "advancement): Loyalty If you work for a man, in heaven's name work for him. If he pays you wages which supply you bread and butter, work for him; speak well of him; stand by him, and stand by the institution he represents. If put to a pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. If you must vilify, condemn, and eternally disparage, resign your position, and when you are outside, damn to your heart's content, but as long as you are part of the institution do not condemn it. If you do that, you are loosening the tendrils that are holding you to the institution, and at the first high wind that comes along, you will be uprooted and blown away, and will probably never know the reason why. The HC I described above offered me a DC position the next year and I declined and moved on. I will break my back for a good HC. I will break my back for ONE season under a poor one. Before taking any position, I try to get a good feel for the HC and the program. But, often times, that first impression is deceiving. The HC that I was working under had just taken over the program but had a good reputation as a coordinator and as an assistant. He was well-liked within the school and the community but I found him to be insufferable as a boss. And, I wasn't the only one; the entire staff turned over within two years of him taking the position. He's still there as a) they're in a weak division and he breaks into the play-offs every year and b) he knows how to play politics. As an HC, I try to give the ACs as much ownership in the program as I can. But, they dictate that level of ownership by how they act. It looks like I will be taking over a program next year and I am going to give an AC with limited experience the DC position. He's a smart kid who sees the big picture, either knows the fundamentals of every defensive position or is willing to learn them and (most importantly) he communicates well with the rest of the staff. I can trust him to run the defense without having to step in much. This is going to stir up some chit as the DE/TE coach has more experience and I know he considers himself "next in line" for the DC job. He knows his positions well and is good with the kids but he doesn't see the forest-for-the-trees (focuses too much on Xs and Os versus fundamentals) and he can be an overly emotional hot-head who gets tunnel vision. I know I can't trust him to run the defense as we will be duking it out over the defensive game plan every week. He and I already clashed last year when he was the JV DC as he started drawing up blitzes in the dirt during games.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 20, 2018 8:53:10 GMT -6
Wondering if anyone has had experiences where they have major differences in philosophy and scheme among their staff/HC. If you were stuck in your spot, did you just bite the bullet and teach something you felt/knew was wrong? Not saying like wing-t vs spread, but things that you felt were fundamentally wrong. Just remember: The Head Coach isn't always right, but her is always the Head Coach!!! PS: Don't be the "cancer" on the staff! If there is any disagreement, it must be agreeably, & behind CLOSED DOORS! This is something that I have had to convey to p-ssed off assistants when I have been a coordinator in the past. They will be upset about how an HC wants something taught, said-HC won't give on it and I always end up telling them "He's the boss and it's name on the program. So, we do things his way." I will say this, in most of those situations, the HC has tried to throw the staff under the bus at some point and have gotten an earful behind closed doors over it. I was the OL coach in a multiple formation, UC IZ/OZ/Power/Counter team one year and the OL wasn't getting enough time to properly rep our zone blocking. The HC/OC expected us to rep all of the necessary skills (including pass pro) within our 10-15 minute block of Indy time. The OL looked like crap, we couldn't run the ball to save our lives, I asked the HC/OC for more Indy time with the OL repeatedly and he shot me down as he wanted to spend half of practice running "Team O". He made an off-hand comment in the office one day about how I "wasn't getting the job done" and I laid into him over it. I told him to take the OL if he thought he could do a better job with the time he was allotting us.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 20, 2018 8:00:56 GMT -6
I have not worked for a head coach that did not let coaches run their position group. With that said, great head coaches want to have a handle on what you are doing, why you are doing it, and want to know if it is the best way. If they want me to teach something a certain way that is the way I teach it. Every head coach I worked for would listen and discuss if I had an issue with what they wanted. When we walked out of the office we were unified. As a coordinator I always let guys coach their position, but everything had to fit our system. If I don't understand a drill you are doing I am going to ask you about it. Coaches need to do their discussing before they walk out of the office, and when they walk out of the office they should be unified. There is nothing worse than a coach who bitches on the field because they don't agree with something. Say your piece in the office and get it worked out. If you can't get it worked out, you are in the wrong place. If I ever found myself in a position where I couldn't be all-in I would leave. Great coaching staffs don't argue in front of the kids and they don't backstab each other. They handle disagreements like men. They figure it out in the office and once the decision is made they go full speed for each other. There is no room for personal agendas and temper tantrums if you want to be a championship program. That nails it on the head. Unfortunately, there are many staffs that haven't learned how to communicate in an adult, professional manner. A good staff can have it out in the office, come to a solution and implement it on the field during practice. A poor staff will drag the argument out onto the field. They may not let the kids hear them fighting over something but they don't try to solve the problem in practice. I will admit, there have been times when I have been a coordinator or HC and I have walked over to a position group and taken a drill away from the AC in practice. On one occasion, the AC and I had talked ad-nauseum about how the WRs need to be running routes. We went over the number of steps they need to take, their breaks, the timing, etc..etc.. One day during practice, I'm working with the OL and I see the WRs juking and jiving on their routes and dropping ball after ball because the timing was off. I talked to the QB coach and the WR coach about it after practice and went back through what I expected to see from the WRs. There was an argument because the WR coach felt that we needed to "shake the DBs off before running a route". I told him that what he was teaching wasn't sound and to knock it off. He continued to argue and I ended it at "you can either do this correctly or I will take the WRs away from you". Sure enough, the WRs were break-dancing at the LOS before running their routes the next day. I had the OL go with the backs to to inside run with the RB coach, went over to the WR/QB drill, took over and coached up the proper technique. The WR coach got p-ssed off, tried to bark at me, I pulled him aside and told him to leave practice for the day.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 19, 2018 14:14:57 GMT -6
Well, first you need to take a look at the private HS's admission standards as that might be the reason that two-thirds of the kids are going to the public school. I know that many of the private schools in this state have strict admission policies and that's a double edge sword. They get some of the best and brightest from the area but they also lose out on some talented athletes that have so-so grades. One school requires a 3.0 coming out of middle school along with a passing score on their entrance exam.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 19, 2018 9:00:09 GMT -6
We had a big junior high volleyball tournament over this weekend where we fielded both a 7th grade team and an 8th grade team. A small town about 30 miles from us couldn't get someone to coach their girls so our volleyball coaches let them join our teams. I went to several of the games this weekend and was absolutely appalled at the attitude of two of the parents from this town... They sat in the stands and criticized the coaches the entire time and started to get pretty loud about it. I told one of our parents that I was fed up and was turning around to say something to them but another mom from our school beat me to the punch.
"Those coaches were gracious enough to allow your girls to join their teams because you couldn't find anyone to coach. So, you need to keep your trap shut or pull your kid off of the team. Either way, YOU can coach your OWN team next year!".
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Post by coachcb on Mar 19, 2018 8:40:59 GMT -6
" Showing the players you can disagree & still work together is the better lesson to teach them." Moreover, by telling them that you disagree it comes off as you wanting to disavow responsibility from the technique in case it fails or is in anyway attached to failing. What's wrong w that? Nobody should take the blame for somebody else's mistake. Doing so makes it less likely mistakes will be fixed. I agree with this. In my earlier post, I described a situation where I was the DC, the HC turned into a micro-manager and we started doing some extremely unsound things. The HC was very set in his ways, he wouldn't listen or have a discussion about things and I basically threw my hands up and handed the defense to him. We were horrendous on defense after he took it over.. I had two evaluations following the season; one by the HC and another by the AD. The evaluation by the HC went badly and I refused to sign it (hence why I had to talk to the AD). I refused to sign an evaluation where I was taking the blame for the HC's screw-ups and I told him as such. When I sat down with the AD, he was livid with me but calmed down when I explained laid out what had happened during the season; the lack of game planning, the poor fundamentals being taught, the lack of practice time on defense, etc..etc.. And, I told him point blank that the chit was not going to roll downhill in this situation. The HC was responsible for the mess and that he needed to own up to it. So, the AD watched film of the three games where I was actually the DC and he evaluated me based on them. The evaluation was fair and I agreed to sign it.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 15, 2018 7:48:10 GMT -6
Wondering if anyone has had experiences where they have major differences in philosophy and scheme among their staff/HC. If you were stuck in your spot, did you just bite the bullet and teach something you felt/knew was wrong? Not saying like wing-t vs spread, but things that you felt were fundamentally wrong. I have been in this situation several times in my career. I pipe up about the problem, with solutions in mind (drills, change in techniques, etc...) and if they listen, they listen. If they don't, they don't, and I avoid beating a dead horse. One year, I was the DC and we didn't tackle well because we weren't repping it enough and the tackling technique we were teaching was chit. I kept hearing about it in staff meetings, I provided a variety of solutions and the HC still didn't listen. I finally pulled him aside, one-one, and told him that we either needed to take steps to fix our poor tackling or we needed to stop talking about it. He got p-ssed off and I told him that there was no point in talking about it if we weren't going to fix it.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 14, 2018 14:28:05 GMT -6
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Post by coachcb on Mar 13, 2018 13:04:07 GMT -6
Get online, figure out when they're holding spring ball and then call and ask if you can attend. Small colleges are usually pretty open to having H.S. coaches show up and take notes. Some bigger schools are accepting of it while others close the practice.
My alma mater (FCS school) was great about allowing us to come view spring and summer camp. They just asked that we keep our distance from the drills, observe and keep our traps shut. Their coaches were AWESOME about answering questions once practice was done and over. I sat down with their OL coach for two hours after one practice and he answered all of my questions. I learned more about coaching the OL in those two hours than I had in the previous two year's of researching combined.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 12, 2018 13:32:02 GMT -6
We go on first sound unless there is a "freeze" tag on. The "freeze" tag tells the kids we're snapping the ball on second sound, assuming we don't get the DL to jump. This has been great for us as a) the kids get off of the ball quicker and b) the defensive front slows down significantly the first time they get drawn off-sides. Some defensive fronts keep coming hard but we pick up a ton of penalty yardage against these units.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 12, 2018 9:18:46 GMT -6
it starts with the schools administrators. what is their vision for the athletic programs at the school? if they believe in the benefits of a school wide weight room and conditioning program for all sports, then the discussion should end there. this is how it is at _____ high school. if you don't want to be apart of this, well then nothing personal, but i appreciate your work here, but we do no see eye to eye on this, and i will not budge on our goals for the athletes here. so good luck in your next job search. id be glad you in any manner. at the end of the day, the schools athletes are getting stronger or not. coaches should be using the off season as player development. kids that play mulit sports, should still be involved in in-season lifting. if a coach isn't on board… coaches get fired everyday… sounds like it won't get better at your place. coaches that don't believe in the weight room never will be on board. they are lazy. can't change that. focus on your kids and make your program as good as it can be. parents should be thankful that you are there and fighting a good fight for their children. I agree with you 100% on this post. However, bear in mind that it is becoming more and more difficult to find people that can actually coach a sport well. I have been trying to get everyone on our staff to buy into an all-sports weight training but it's tough. Most of our coaches have bought into it, see the benefits and hammer their kids about getting into the weight room. BUT, there are always a few dissenters that make it difficult. As I've pointed out before, we had a quality girls basketball HC who ran an excellent program. But, he refused to let the girls weight train during the season and he never pushed the girls to do so in the off-season as he didn't "believe" in it. He demanded that they be involved in as many sports as possible, ran open gyms that didn't conflict with other practices, took the girls to camps, etc..etc.. He retired, we brought on a new coach and the girls basketball program is struggling because he's an Xs and Os guy and we're not a fundamentally sound basketball team. He is a PITA about weight training during the season (wants to do his own thing..) but is all over the girls about lifting with me when the season is over. So, moral of the story: we have a new coach who believes in the benefits of weight training but he's not effective when it comes to coaching his sport. And, unfortunately, he is the best that we can get right now. He was the only applicant that we even considered for an interview because the rest of the pool was so chitty.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 10, 2018 9:46:39 GMT -6
Honestly, being an AD comes with nepotism and politics. My recommendation holds little weight when it comes to hiring/firing of coaches as I report my recommendation to the administration, we talk about it and then they make their recommendation to the school board. Some administrators go with my recommendation, some don't. But, the school board can still vote against the administration's recommendation, which happens. I desperately wanted to can a volleyball coach one year as she was not only inept, she was unprofessional and many of her actions were liability issues. Our girls hadn't won a game in two years, they were embarrassing to watch and she I told her I wasn't recommending her for rehire, explained everything that had happened with her and he agreed with me. He recommended that she not be rehired but she was a former "sports star" of the school, popular in the community and the board voted against the recommendations, 5-0. But, I do a few things to keep our coaches on their toes. I ask that all of the coaches send me a schedule of off-season activities that they plan on implementing and a schedule for said events that they can provide the kids and parents with. This is documented on their evaluations. Their evaluations are almost painfully detailed and specific to the sport they're coaching. I just had our boys basketball coach in my room this morning for an evaluation and he got dinged on the "Fundamentals" section because the boys didn't follow their shots in and couldn't rebound for chit. He also got nailed on the "Knowledge Of The Game" portion as he went through a dozen different offenses and eight different presses by the end of the season. I'm going to recommend him for rehire as he's good with the kids, puts in the work in the off-season and is professional; he just needs to to stop being an Xs and Os guy. Did you go to all of his practices? I pop in on all of our coaches once or twice per week. I do so because I have had a few coaches over the years that I've caught violating state and school policies when it comes to practice. They'd have former alumni come in and play with the kids, have middle school kids practicing with the team or would be participating with the kids in scrimmages. These are huge liability issues for the school and I needed to put a stop to it. But, I digress. When I went to those practices, I saw the kids putting up shots and not following them in and not even attempting to box out under the basket and the coaches never addressed it. I also saw the coaching staff installing a new offense, defense or press each week and not stressing fundamentals during practice. Now, I honestly don't like this kind of micro-management as an AD but I do so for a few reasons. Firstly, many of my coaches are pretty green and I'm trying to help them learn to stress fundamentals and keep the Xs and Os simple and sound. Our basketball teams have been getting crushed for a few years because the coaches we have tend to be "Xs and Os" gurus and we're just not fundamentally sound. Secondly, I get hammered by my administration and the community when they show up to volleyball or basketball games and see poor performances because the kids don't execute the simple fundamentals of the sport. I had folks demanding that this guy be fired after this season but he's a decent coach, he's good with the kids but he's just green. A little push in the right direction could make him an excellent coach. So, when school board members and the administration and talking about canning the guy, I can tell them that I have addressed their concerns with the coach and he understands. I will say, I do limit my management of this aspect to those simple points; fundamentals and sticking with a scheme and executing it. I don't sit down with them and get into specific schemes ("I don't understand why you're running ____ full court press, you should be running a half court trap!!") as I'm certainly not going to try and dictate what they do there. I sit down with our coaches (one-one) before and after the season to talk about these things. I had sat down with our boys basketball coach back in November and we talked shop about basketball. I don't address things during the season as we all have enough on our plates and it never works out well. I wasn't AD last year but saw the same fundamental problems in the previous season. So, following shots in and rebounding properly were two things that we talked about, I didn't see it being addressed at practice, they weren't doing it in games, so he was dinged on his eval over it. I didn't gut him over it but he got a 3.5/5 on these two aspects of the evaluation because of it. Welcome to the world of being an AD. It's hard to strike a balance between just being a paper-pushing administrator and a hands-on administrator. You push too much paper, don't address certain things and you lose clout with the school board and the administration. They don't take your recommendations seriously and they don't listen to you. You micro-manage too much and you over-step boundaries with the coaches. My school board and administration would love it if I was on the coaches' a--es about every little thing, all season long, but I have made it clear that I don't operate that way.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 15:38:06 GMT -6
As an AD can you ask coaches to justify their offseason and in season plans by showing scienctific or at least anecdotal studies. For two reasons first safety purposes and putting athletes in the best position to stay injury free. Second to stay up to date with best practices. If coaches want money for equipment and camps and clinics for those same purposes I would think it fair to show some evidence based justification for implantation of an athletic enhancement plan. I have no clue if this is ok just thinking out loud. Yes, we have that ability to ask for specifics behind their off-season programs but it's just not a hill worth dying on. You'll get a lot of "bro science" and things just turns into an argument. And, you'll run into coaches like my friend who has had a long, successful basketball career but doesn't have his players lift at all. So, it becomes hard to justify. Honestly, most AD jobs involve a ton of bureaucracy.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 14:45:51 GMT -6
Unfortunately, as an AD, I can tell you that I would probably have to allow the track team access to the weight room during those three weeks before the season. I'd disagree with what they were doing and be encouraging them utilize the weight room year round but our athletic policy grants the coaches full access to all of the facilities during their sports season. And, the track coaches would need that block of time with the number of kids they have out for track. I know it's bullchit but welcome to bureacracy. I'm the AD and the S&C coach and I ran into this issue with the girls basketball coach this year. I have been opening up the weight room after school since the end of football season (opened it up before school during the season) and have had kids from all sports lifting with me. The girls basketball coach decided that he wanted the girls following his weight training program every Monday and Tuesday during the season (circuit training with calisthenics and jump roping..) and we were evicted for those two days. Last year's girls BB coach had the girls training with me but our new coach doesn't want the girls getting hurt by "lifting heavy weight". I tried to talk to him about it but he wouldn't listen. So, there isn't much you can really do. And, as an administrator, I can imagine your ADs hands are tied as well. All the track coaches have to say is "Coach Vice can open up the weight room in the morning and there are weight training classes during the day" and any argument he has is invalid. He does need to push for more off-season participation in the weight room though. I think you're just about spot-on..... I have a follow up, though. As an AD, what would you do with coaches who under-achieve? I'm talking about the coach who does bare minimum (and sometimes less) over a period of time. We recently had an AD change and I've told both that we need to start scrutinizing effort and commitment among our coaches. Unfortunately, no one is listening. I've tried collaborating with them, I've tried offering assistance, and I've tried tolerating, but it's gone nowhere. In fact...last year, not only did they tell the AD that they wanted the weight room, but they requested the sports room, both gyms, and they even told the AD that they needed all the halls. Basically, it was an attempt to keep us from doing anything in the building after school. I hung around after school and after a few days noted they were only using a small portion of what they were reserving. I told our AD and the track coach's response was "you can have your guys stay after and if we're not using it, you can use it." I don't work that way. Honestly, being an AD comes with nepotism and politics. My recommendation holds little weight when it comes to hiring/firing of coaches as I report my recommendation to the administration, we talk about it and then they make their recommendation to the school board. Some administrators go with my recommendation, some don't. But, the school board can still vote against the administration's recommendation, which happens. I desperately wanted to can a volleyball coach one year as she was not only inept, she was unprofessional and many of her actions were liability issues. Our girls hadn't won a game in two years, they were embarrassing to watch and she I told her I wasn't recommending her for rehire, explained everything that had happened with her and he agreed with me. He recommended that she not be rehired but she was a former "sports star" of the school, popular in the community and the board voted against the recommendations, 5-0. But, I do a few things to keep our coaches on their toes. I ask that all of the coaches send me a schedule of off-season activities that they plan on implementing and a schedule for said events that they can provide the kids and parents with. This is documented on their evaluations. Their evaluations are almost painfully detailed and specific to the sport they're coaching. I just had our boys basketball coach in my room this morning for an evaluation and he got dinged on the "Fundamentals" section because the boys didn't follow their shots in and couldn't rebound for chit. He also got nailed on the "Knowledge Of The Game" portion as he went through a dozen different offenses and eight different presses by the end of the season. I'm going to recommend him for rehire as he's good with the kids, puts in the work in the off-season and is professional; he just needs to to stop being an Xs and Os guy.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 13:00:06 GMT -6
I always tell the kids there's a reason Division 1 sports (outside of football as well) pay HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars for Strength and Conditioning coaches. I understand kids that don't get the benefits from developing their body because they are young and sometimes the long term benefits to hard work isn't an immediate or prioritized part of their thought process. But the adult coaches that don't understand the benefits to athletic enhancement and development are disturbing. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but the cat still needs skinned. I fought this battle with many coaches over my career and I finally just gave up because I have found that people that are adamant about avoiding the weight room cannot be reasoned with. One hour of research on their part would show examples of all of the benefits of weight training for high school athletes and I won't bother trying to educate them if they won't do it themselves. One of my closest friends has been coaching basketball for over twenty years now, he's a bright, educated guy but he refuses to let the kids weight train during the season. I had one talk with him about it, heard all of the usual bullchit ("They'll get hurt", "They'll get too bulky", "They need endurance, not strength..") and I quit.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 11:40:40 GMT -6
Just start hacking away at his playing time until he doesn't have any.. For this kid:
1st offense: lose a quarter of playing time. 2nd offense: lose a half of playing time. 3rd offense: sit out a full game 4th offense: sit out a full game 5th offense: he's quit because he's tired of sitting on the bench.
My first HC job was in an impoverished area where EVERYONE was late for EVERYTHING. My first year, I ran the hell out of the kids that were late but it didn't put a dent in the problem. The next year, we started cutting their playing time and they either got it together or they quit. Most of them quit after they lost playing time and the rest of the kids fell in line.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 10:47:43 GMT -6
I believe senatorblutarsky is still coaching 8-man ball somewhere in the mid-west. There have been a number of knowledgeable guys that have come and gone over the years. Jhwanna (sp?) is another guy who provided a lot of information. He contributed greatly to my knowledge of the "spread" run game many years ago.
I used to talk to dcohio quite a bit and follow him on Facebook. He's coached in some successful HS programs in Ohio since he quit posting. Last time I checked, he was doing pretty well for himself as an HC.
Yes, Lochness is still up in the New England area as an HC, I believe. He was also doing good things with his program the last time we talked.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 8, 2018 10:14:06 GMT -6
Unfortunately, as an AD, I can tell you that I would probably have to allow the track team access to the weight room during those three weeks before the season. I'd disagree with what they were doing and be encouraging them utilize the weight room year round but our athletic policy grants the coaches full access to all of the facilities during their sports season. And, the track coaches would need that block of time with the number of kids they have out for track. I know it's bullchit but welcome to bureacracy.
I'm the AD and the S&C coach and I ran into this issue with the girls basketball coach this year. I have been opening up the weight room after school since the end of football season (opened it up before school during the season) and have had kids from all sports lifting with me. The girls basketball coach decided that he wanted the girls following his weight training program every Monday and Tuesday during the season (circuit training with calisthenics and jump roping..) and we were evicted for those two days. Last year's girls BB coach had the girls training with me but our new coach doesn't want the girls getting hurt by "lifting heavy weight". I tried to talk to him about it but he wouldn't listen.
So, there isn't much you can really do. And, as an administrator, I can imagine your ADs hands are tied as well. All the track coaches have to say is "Coach Vice can open up the weight room in the morning and there are weight training classes during the day" and any argument he has is invalid. He does need to push for more off-season participation in the weight room though.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 6, 2018 15:38:10 GMT -6
We had a "Swag" coach on staff many years ago and he was almost as obnoxious as the first guy I described. I swear, that guy showed up wearing $300 worth of Under Armor gear every day and spent the day trying not to get his sneakers dirty.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 6, 2018 10:59:40 GMT -6
We simply keep PB, jelly and bread in the office and encourage players to stop in and make a sandwich between periods. We also encourage our kids to bring an extra sandwich to eat before practice. Sometimes we will buy some kind of "power bars" and hand them out after practice. This is the way to go. A few loaves of bread and big jars of jelly and PB goes a long way and it's cheap. Our kids will eat three sandwiches in the morning along with some chocolate milk.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 2, 2018 9:47:22 GMT -6
We sold Gold Cards through a company that only kept 30% of the profit and we raised a ton of money. I was coaching in a big program and we managed to rake in over $15k in one night. Do you know what company that is? Most of those card companies keep closer to 50% I can't remember the company's name as it was nearly a decade ago. Sorry.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 1, 2018 11:33:33 GMT -6
We sold Gold Cards through a company that only kept 30% of the profit and we raised a ton of money. I was coaching in a big program and we managed to rake in over $15k in one night.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 1, 2018 9:40:47 GMT -6
Lol...
We had a MS coach one year that was a joke in the weight room. He'd come in with a big thick powerlifting belt and knee wraps on and "lift" with the kids during the off-season. He tromp around and toss out stupid, random "inspirational" quotes like "YESTERDAY WAS THE EASIEST DAY!", "IT'S TIME TO GET JACKED!", "I'M GOING TO BE RIGHT NEXT TO YOU GUYS, LIFTING EVERY POUND OF THAT WEIGHT WITH YOU!!" We're all trying to coach the kids up on the lifts while this jaggoff has 315lbs loaded up on the bench and is hollering and grunting while bouncing it off of his chest. He took over the sound system one day and started playing obnoxious death metal. The kids beat us to the punch and asked him to turn it off. He even bought a Prowler sled out of his own pocket, brought it in and started dragging kids away from their workouts to go push it for an hour. The HC put a stop to that real quick.
The HC asked him to start acting like a coach in the weight room; monitor the kids and teach them how to lift. He got p-ssed off, started talking about how we didn't know what we were doing, took his Prowler and never came back. The kids were ecstatic that he was gone as his behavior was really embarrassing. The HC sat down with the AD and made sure the guy lost his job on the MS staff. He ended up at our rival HS a few years later and ended up booted from there too.
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Post by coachcb on Feb 28, 2018 15:11:41 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.
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Post by coachcb on Feb 28, 2018 9:29:14 GMT -6
So, what are your thoughts in this situation: I was coaching the WRs one year and our pass skelly sessions were crap as our QBs had terrible footwork and throwing technique. And, the QBs couldn't read coverage to save their lives. The QBs were either missing the WR by a mile or throwing the ball right into coverage. I talked to the HC/OC/QB coach about it several times in the office but he really didn't have a clue. During one particularly bad session, our HC/OC/QB coach was working with the varsity crew while I coached the JV. I got fed up and started coaching up the JV QBs on the basic technique and the fundamentals of reading a coverage. Things picked up and our pass skelly sessions improved dramatically. The HC left me to run the varsity and JV sessions a few days later so that he could work with the OL. I pulled the varsity QBs aside and taught them the same things I taught the JV guys. The HC/OC/QB coach saw me doing it and chewed my a-- out after practice. Now, bear in mind, I wasn't teaching them any skills contrary to what he had been coaching; just actually giving them coaching points that he wasn't. I stood there and took the a-- chewing for a little bit ("You need to be focused on the WRs, not the QBs!! That's my position!!") and then pointed out that our passing game had improved since I started working with both the WRs and the QBs during these drills. He didn't have much to say other than repeating his rant about me focusing on the WRs. After that, I just left it alone and did what he wanted. Would this be considered an over-step in boundaries? Unfortunately yes it is. Its that mans program. He may not know anything, his QBs cant throw it in the ocean. But if he feels that way, then thats they way it is. Get out is all you can do. The worst part about this is the kids, they are the ones who are suffering. I got out of that program the next year as we had an awful season because of our offense's complete inability to move the ball. And, that was due to our HCs inflated ego. Out of the five assistants, one guy hung around for another year and then quit.
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