|
Post by wolverine55 on May 15, 2023 9:41:17 GMT -6
In my experience (different schools in both Iowa and Illinois) the Sunday policy has been "with Principal's permission." But, no one brings kids in on a Sunday unless it was the playoffs or if the basketball team had a Monday postseason game, there would be a brief Sunday practice.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on May 10, 2023 10:02:48 GMT -6
Question for you. Did you have the rest of Saturday off and Sunday also? If so, a 6 hour weekend doesn't seem all that terrible to me. You get the rest of your Saturday afternoon to watch college ball, drink beer, hang with the family, etc. And a free Sunday. I don't know about rsmith but to me meeting at 5 AM after a night game is a non-starter. I worked for a program where we met at 8 a.m. Saturday mornings and it was rough sometimes.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on May 9, 2023 10:10:14 GMT -6
Personally, I feel better about things if we meet face-to-face, but if a HC ever said we weren't in-person meeting on a weekend, it wouldn't necessarily bother me either. Every now and then, our HC will have some family stuff come up (or like last year, we were 2-6 going into Week 9) to where we won't meet that particular weekend. I don't think we're any less prepared for those games.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on May 9, 2023 8:11:20 GMT -6
I'll add that I've coached for 5 programs under 9 different HCs in a 21-year span. I've never worked for a coach that had us meet both Saturday and Sundays. However, I did work for one who set the meeting times for Saturday afternoon and if we were done by 8 p.m. or so, that was considered short! I did also work for another who set the meeting times for 5 p.m. Sunday evening and sometimes it felt like I wasn't going to make first hour class on Monday on time! I kid...kind of...
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on May 9, 2023 8:08:35 GMT -6
We only have Friday games in Iowa, for the most part. Only a few occasional Thursday and Saturday varsity games sprinkled in throughout the whole state. We have Saturday "off" as a staff, but we're normally exchanging some ideas through text throughout the day both in regards to the previous night's game and upcoming opponent. I have found my life is way easier if I go ahead and get tackle stats done Saturday morning and then spend the rest of the day with family or just relaxing.
We then meet as a staff from 9-noon or so Sunday morning. This is where the bulk of game-planning is done, but again we're still exchanging some ideas throughout the day via text before the HC finalizes everything by Monday early afternoon so he can get scouting reports printed. We utilize Google Docs to get a good chunk of the report done before the Sunday meeting and then finished up afterward on our own time as well.
One more thing that helps me personally is I spend a good chunk of my Thursday and Friday free time looking ahead at the next week's opponent to help save some weekend time.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on May 1, 2023 8:42:22 GMT -6
They must have really not liked you as a student there! None of the people, besides the board member, involved with the panel, or really the school, worked there when I went to school there. It was 20 years after I graduated. My alma mater isn't my true alma mater, because it's a different consolidation of schools now. I actually served as varsity OL coach and special teams coordinator at this school in 2008-10. But, since then, I've applied to go back three times. Once to be HC and twice to be an assistant. Literally no response any of those three times, not even the "Thanks for applying, but..." letter or email. I must have done a bang-up job in those three years, lol!
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Apr 24, 2023 8:18:38 GMT -6
I know at our school there is always a panel of students when we interview for superintendent, principal, and head sports coaches. I can't imagine their opinion sways anything though. I think it's a feel-good to say that all "stakeholders" are included in the process.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Apr 5, 2023 6:56:02 GMT -6
This may not apply to you if you are just getting into it. But, I told a couple of fellow teachers this just a few days ago. My struggle this year--both on the field and in the classroom--is for whatever reason this is the first school year I've had trouble making good connections or relationships with the kids. I don't know if it's the fact I'm getting older (43 now) or if it's just one of those groups of kids, but that was my struggle this year.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 27, 2023 7:20:17 GMT -6
The university a buddy of mine went to made all education majors go co curricular and get certified in a content area and special education. They claimed it was to make them more whole in their pedagogical practices but really it was when it was hard to get a teaching job in some areas and certifications so they could report that their education majors were being hired at a higher rate. The only problem was that they were getting hired in jobs they didn’t want. Great way to set up your alumni… Once I had heard this, I figured at some point we are all going to be “certified” sped teachers. About 15 years ago, I thought about getting certified in SpEd to make myself more marketable. Fortunately, I never did it. If I did, I would have been put in a SpEd classroom and would have never been allowed to leave. I have an English/Language Arts certificate and am endorsed in Special Education. Due to this, the school has me teach some reading classes for lower achieving students and I have a small SPED roster of 5-7 students depending on the year. A few years ago, I was going to apply as an in-house candidate for a fulltime ELA opening in our district. Before I even applied the principal came and, in a professional way, told me to not bother. I asked him why and he said, "Because then we would have to find someone with the dual certification to replace you..."
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 13, 2023 13:34:38 GMT -6
I just hung it up as a head coach this off season. I am going to switch with my assistant who is the head track coach and I am his assistant there so it will be a smooth change. I told the kids it will just be him yelling at them now instead of me. I just couldn't justify or do the year round thing anymore. Chasing kids to get to weight room, get and stay eligible, not get in trouble at school etc. It just gets to be a lot. (before anyone says you should establish culture or anything like that I am at an urban school and those of you who have done it will understand) I've had one summer off (the covid year) and that was the first time in 23 summers at the time I didn't have to worry about doing weight room or 7 on 7. Sunday 7 on 7 and Mon-Thurs weights with maybe 2 weeks off in the summer, just don't want to do it anymore. I will show up the first day of practice, coach and then as soon as the last play is run in practice I will be headed to the car. I will help during the school day with the administrative stuff and with the kids but I am 44, I want to fish and play golf and travel. I told the kids this and its funny they are like "we totally get it coach". This make sense to anyone? Just don't want the year round grind anymore? I've said this before but the summer stuff is why I'm pretty close to being done. I can handle in-season grind. There should be an in-season grind. However, some years it feels like the season starts June 1st.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 9, 2023 8:24:50 GMT -6
I think the increasing workload put on teachers--and most of this extra work is tedious and not rewarding--impacts how many teachers continue to coach long into their careers. I'm fortunate to be in a district that pays fairly well which also means many decide they don't need that stipend (and all the work that comes with it) after just a few years.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 7, 2023 7:44:03 GMT -6
Good post! My answer may be the rest of this week... I did decide to come back for this fall, the 2023 season. But, I'm definitely year-to-year now. I did tell my current HC that while I can give him a commitment for one more year, he'll definitely want to be thinking about who his DC and OL coach will be in the near future.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 5, 2023 15:46:34 GMT -6
I voted $4-5.000 but then remembered it's $3400. Doh! Flat rate regardless of years, experience, or duty. Our HC stipend is around $5500 I believe. This is at a school of 600 students in southeast Iowa.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Mar 1, 2023 12:24:26 GMT -6
I've posted this before, although I struggle with putting into words how bad it was. This was back in the summer of '18. We offered weights at two different times--5:30 in the morning and then an afternoon period. What made the 5:30 period rough was our on-the-field workouts went until 8:30 the night before so that was a quick turnaround for the kids and whoever the coach was that had that duty the next morning. One time we returned from an overnight, full-padded camp at 11 p.m. on a Sunday. I asked if I should announce no weights in the morning or if the kids figured it out. He looked at me and went, "Why would we cancel weights tomorrow?" Granted, he wasn't the one on duty the next morning, I was!
And then those on-the-field workouts I mentioned, they were actually scheduled for 5-7:30 three evenings a week. The 7:30 turned into 8:30 more often than not by the time we ran over and the HC gave his postpractice speech. They were conducted in helmets and shoulder pads, although this is not legal in Iowa. And, he frontloaded the time requirements as summer went on. The evening weights session already coincided with the 5 o'clock start time, then he would add film prior to the weights session, then coaches meeting before that. By July, I was spending from about 2-9 at the school 3-4 times a week with some morning weight duty mixed in there as well. It made for a looooong summer...
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Feb 28, 2023 15:54:53 GMT -6
If Florida would pay its Coaches the answer would be a no brainer. I got paid 2100.00 to be a Varsity DC at a 4a school in 2017. [br This amazes me. That's what I was paid to be an OL coach at a small IL school...in 2008! And it was low then compared to neighboring schools.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Feb 21, 2023 16:01:57 GMT -6
My high school allowed for two "vacation" days when I was a student because it was understood that almost everyone would use these days the two Fridays of shotgun season. Most of the boys actually hunted and most everyone else still used these two days, because otherwise they would be sitting around in classes with free days all day.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Feb 21, 2023 10:36:38 GMT -6
Since it is now fashionable for males to wear jeans to prom and Homecoming, we had a student miss practice because he had to get a new pair of jeans for Homecoming. His dad, a middle school coach for us at the time, seemed shocked that we were shocked: "Well, the store is only open until 5..."
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Feb 20, 2023 17:28:08 GMT -6
And, his answer was............ ?? Paint stuff, change the helmet, cool new hashtag, etc. At the risk of hijacking the thread, is the painting the weightroom/lockerroom when taking over a job that common? No idea until I read some of the clinic coach tweets.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Feb 12, 2023 13:48:08 GMT -6
Agreed. Largely depends on where you are.in Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois if a head coach got to bring an assistant or two with him, that would be a huge deal! At least based on my experience...
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Jan 17, 2023 8:51:06 GMT -6
The T-shirt idea is good if a class does indeed have enough success/accomplishments to justify listing them. We simply have all underclassmen contribute money (how much depends on size of senior class) and our managers put together gift baskets for them. We also have a photographer volunteer to make posters of each senior that are on display at the game field for the majority of the season and then they keep those as well.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Jan 5, 2023 9:31:05 GMT -6
Good gracious alive I have beaten teams that had 15 d1 players on the team, but 7 NFL players?? That is crazy! Has there ever been another high school team with 7+ NFL players on their roster? Serious question! I could have sworn I read an article in the not-so-distant-past that talked about a high school defense that ended up having 7 NFL players on it, but a just completed Google search didn't provide me with anything.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Dec 18, 2022 9:41:01 GMT -6
For whatever reason, hoodies are just the choice of fashion. Our students will wear hoodies and sweatpants early in the school year when temperatures are in the upper 80s/low 90s...and then complain all day about being hot.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Dec 8, 2022 9:54:38 GMT -6
Iowa does some "interesting" things with all-state teams. It is a combination of coaches vote and media-types vote, I believe. But, for instance, if there are multiple deserving QBs, one might make the All-State team as a defensive back even if he barely played DB all season long. That being said, literally every year I've coached--and that's 20 by now--I"ve seen things on All-Conference or All-State teams that just don't make a lot of sense.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Dec 8, 2022 8:13:18 GMT -6
As a DC, I decided I did want my 7 on 7 periods and team segments scripted, but only by formation. I would tell the offense to run whatever play they wanted but out of a certain formation. We did not play any opponents that were so formation-based that we blitzed the formation but we also had adjustments to formations. Of course, keeping my HC/OC on the script was a challenge...
I will also admit that as a new father (two-month-old and 2-year-old foster sons home on the weekends) and teaching 100 low-level readers throughout the school day (double what I had in previous years) sometimes that script got done, sometimes it didn't.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Nov 22, 2022 10:48:45 GMT -6
Linebacker play across a variety of fronts. I'm not very good at getting kids to play those positions well. This speaks to my heart! I put the Lou Tepper book on my Christmas wishlist, but will literally order it December 26th if I don't get it. That and as mentioned in the Film Exchange thread, you can get literally any film you want to in Iowa, so I'm going through some semifinal and final games looking for examples of LB play that fit what I want our guys to do.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Nov 21, 2022 7:46:45 GMT -6
A little off-topic, but D3 football has come a long way since I played ('92-'95). I was a 3-year starter at a D3 school that made the playoffs in 1992 but I don't think I would even make the travel team for the D3 school my son plays for now. And it's an average program, at best. I definitely wouldn't fit the style of football my alma mater plays and plays against. Not a lot of need for run stuffing 3 techs against 4/5 wide chuck ems. I've had the same thoughts. If I was the same player now that I was back then, I'm not sure I could make it four years at my alma mater. And, they consistently go 4-6/5-5/6-4 in a not great conference.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Nov 18, 2022 11:08:34 GMT -6
One year about 8 years into my coaching career I had built enough relationships with area HS coaches that I contacted them and went to their practices while they were in the playoffs. A couple conference teams were kind enough to allow me to attend, as were some non conference ones. I didn't look at x's and o's, but was just interested in how they did things. I learned that everyone skins the cat differently, but all the solid programs have a lot of similarities. I told myself this was going to be the first year I did this, but then life happened. Hopefully next year.
|
|
|
Parents
Nov 6, 2022 15:37:37 GMT -6
Post by wolverine55 on Nov 6, 2022 15:37:37 GMT -6
Is the AD/Administration aware and is it bad enough to ban them from games? We've had a couple parents in my tenure at my current job given one-year suspensions from attending any activity.
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Nov 1, 2022 13:25:50 GMT -6
I used to be known as the "Homecoming Scrooge" at my school. This year, I came out of my shell and did some of the dress up days and even represented the Freshmen class in the Ghost Pepper Challenge. Seemed like a good idea until I was still having to run to the bathroom a half hour before kickoff...
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Oct 31, 2022 13:24:38 GMT -6
Have not had a football player do this, but I had this thought just this morning: if I get called "bro" by one of my freshmen students one more time, I'll absolutely lose my chit... Yes, it finally happened today. I was having to discipline a student when he said, "Bro! Are you phuckin' serious?!" The bro actually set me off more than the F-bomb did...
|
|