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Post by coachjm on Dec 21, 2015 20:22:16 GMT -6
So are they identifying folks with CTE and taupathy in the general population specifically folks with Alzheimers/parkinson ect.? Also what is the effect of substance abuse on taupathy? I'm not trying to draw any conclusion as I know research is far from complete. It seems obvious to me that repeated head trauma is not a good thing for the brain and ultimately I feel this research is a good thing and necessary and I would love to pointed in the direction for additional articles and/or information specifically on the development of these diseases. Think of it this way, the occurrence of lung cancer in the population of people who smoke one pack everyday for 20 years is much greater than in the population of those who don't smoke at all. However, it's still possible for someone who doesn't smoke to develop lung cancer. The question you seem to be asking is about the occurrences of lung cancer in the population who doesn't smoke. While it's certainly possible for CTE to develop in someone w/ minimal occurrences of head trauma, it's much more likely to occur in those who engage activities, which lead to repeated head trauma. Drug usage, as I'm sure that you're aware, leads to all sorts of cognitive impairment, often permanent, in the structure of the brain. There was a study performed a few years back, which linked recurrent opioid usage to a predisposition to Alzheimer-related symptoms at an earlier age. What they really found was an impairment in the hyperphosphorylization of tau, which is the process regulating mitosis, which, if you remember biology 101, is the process by which cells reproduction occurs during the totality of the cell cycle (Anthony, Norrby, Dingwall, Carnie, Millar, Arango, Robertson, & Bell, 2010). In other words, this breakdown can lead to chromosomal damage, which makes me wonder what effect this would have on future generations. Pregnant women would be at the greatest risk, I would imagine. Btw, I cited my source, since you said that you were interested in reading up on this further. Hope this helps, Coach. Anthony, I.C., Norrby, K.E., Dingwall, T., Carnie, F.W., Millar, T., Arango, J.C., Robertson, R., & Bell, J.E. (2010). Predisposition to accelerated Alzheimer-related changes in the brains of human immunodeficiency virus negative opiate abusers. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 133, 3685-3698. doi: 10.1093/brain/awq263 Absolutely awesome post and exactly what I was looking for! Thanks sooo much!
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Post by coachjm on Dec 21, 2015 5:02:41 GMT -6
My guess is probably more optimistic then most... My guess is the evolution of the helmet will progress more then it did in the last 50 years. Helmets will be constructed and look different. Our game has a lot of money invested in it and where there is a lot of money to be made typically it will. In addition most people enjoy the gladiator nature of the sport. Although boxing demise is often spoken about the creation and growth of MMA some could consider an advancement of the sport as MMA does require many different aspects of boxing plus several other skills, the audience is similar as is the mindset of the participants. Although their will be rules changes and the game will be made safer I don't see these changes to be any more significant then the ones of the last 50 years. We will (if alive) be enjoying the sport talking about the time in the early 2000's as a critical period for the game and people as it is when we learned how to protect the brain and bodies of the participants to enjoy a better and safer game.
With regards to HS football I tend to agree with blb I forsee the educational system going through MAJOR transitions in the next 50 years that will change the look of our local HS into on-line, regional tech hubs, and skill development centers if this is the case interscholastic athletics as a whole can not function the same likely leading to the development of larger participation in club or regional athletic programs. This will be unfortunate for a lot of kids who will not participate with out the means to.
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Post by coachjm on Dec 21, 2015 4:53:39 GMT -6
I have been reading up on CTE and the research that has been done from several different resources. I'm curious if anyone has any links or knowledge of studies that have been done on Tau protein found in general population that were not involved in contact sports or military experiences. Also, is there a defined link between alzheimers and CTE, meaning do all alzheimers patients have the development of the tau protein or is their a belief that the CTE is a contributing link to other neurodegenerative issues? Everyone has tau proteins. What you're referring to are neurodegenerative disorders caused by the degeneration of tau proteins. Together, these neuropathologies, such as CTE, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc, are called tauopathy. There are plenty of biological studies on tau proteins, unrelated to neurodegenerative disorders. As far as relation between these disorders is concerned, it's sort of a cascading effect, as one may lead to another, but in general, they affect different parts of the brain, so degeneration might start in one area, but it's possible that it could lead to another. So are they identifying folks with CTE and taupathy in the general population specifically folks with Alzheimers/parkinson ect.? Also what is the effect of substance abuse on taupathy? I'm not trying to draw any conclusion as I know research is far from complete. It seems obvious to me that repeated head trauma is not a good thing for the brain and ultimately I feel this research is a good thing and necessary and I would love to pointed in the direction for additional articles and/or information specifically on the development of these diseases.
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Post by coachjm on Dec 19, 2015 9:46:34 GMT -6
I have been reading up on CTE and the research that has been done from several different resources. I'm curious if anyone has any links or knowledge of studies that have been done on Tau protein found in general population that were not involved in contact sports or military experiences. Also, is there a defined link between alzheimers and CTE, meaning do all alzheimers patients have the development of the tau protein or is their a belief that the CTE is a contributing link to other neurodegenerative issues?
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Post by coachjm on Dec 12, 2015 20:36:24 GMT -6
Just had ours today.... 7th-12th graders and cheerleaders were awarded....
I used to hate banquets but started to enjoy them when we changed formats...
We start it with overall thank you's and explain to all that we will brief with the awards and have the goal of honoring seniors.
Each HC of lower levels comes up and talks briefly (1-2 minutes) about their season then calls off names for awards, staff hands out awards and coach makes 1 nice comment on each kid as he gets it (hold the applause) then we when get to the Seniors each position coach introduces his position Seniors speaks about them for a 1-2 minutes then they come up and give a 1 minute presentation about what it means to play in our program. Then they hand off a bandana which represents their legacy carrying on through another player.
What makes the whole thing awesome is it is the kids talking about the kids, the kids, parents, and coaches don't want to see me stand up there and talk but they do really enjoy watching what each kid has to say and frankly so do I! All the kids get nice awards and honored and we get to watch them talk to each other about the impact the program had on them and the hope they have for the next group! This has changed my perspective on the banquet!
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Post by coachjm on Dec 6, 2015 11:03:57 GMT -6
Coach in Michigan yet we drive down to Ohio to watch their finals every year.... In our opinion there is great football great community support and love seeing how many MAC teams are gonna win each year. It is one reason to go to the Shoe..
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Post by coachjm on Dec 2, 2015 4:53:45 GMT -6
Discipline is nothing more then the team meeting the expectations that the adults set forward... This looks different for all of us! I could care less if kids have earrings and long hair for example, others for good reason believe this is something that doesn't represent their team well. Ultimately the expectations we have for kids of discipline on the field are much more similar. ie Don't commit fouls, respect your teammates, respect your coaches, ect.
If expectations are clearly stated and there is accountability to these they will be met, it is really as simple as that. I do believe most coaches do this however, the one other piece to all of this is the element of tolerance ALL of us tolerate some actions that are less then our expectations, ALL of us have at some point not held a kid accountable for a minor moment of not meeting expectations. I believe when a coach's TOLERANCE becomes to generous is when generally programs start having discipline problems as there suddenly becomes no clear expectation.
To conclude, have clear simple expectations known to all, have accountability consistently when those expectations aren't met and watch the discipline improve and also understand there may be a few boys who choose not to participate because they really aren't looking for this level of accountability in their lives.
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Post by coachjm on Nov 22, 2015 10:44:16 GMT -6
This is why school districts have policies.... We are football coaches not judges, to me the wise thing to do is follow any and all school policy that is in place for the district regarding extra curricular activities and criminal charges. This should be determined by the school principal and/or superintendent. Nobody wins in these situations, sad choices generally lead to disappointing outcomes.
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Post by coachjm on Oct 29, 2015 17:44:33 GMT -6
Visors stink!!! Burns my head!!! Nope, it isn't the Visor that is the problem it is the fact that I can't grow hair on the top of my head that is! I guess I will have to continue run the double wing and make fun of guys who wear Visors (also known as men who still have hair)!
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Post by coachjm on Sept 26, 2015 20:55:55 GMT -6
My first year as a HC I had a TE who broke our single season receiving record. He did not play much as a Junior and going into his Senior year he was starting as an OLB and rotating at TE as we determined if he or another young man would be our starter... At this time I had just gotten my first school email address but I did not have a computer in my PE office yet. By the end of the season I had a brand new computer in my PE office and our tech director set up a link to check my email on there. I opened it and had three emails, two of which were from this young mans dad ripping me up and down about how his son did not get enough touches. I couldn't figure it out as he just set our school record and he got all kinds of local press for this record, I looked at the date and it was from the night of our first game... So I responded, "Thank you so much for your interest in Addison Football and supporting your son so passionately! I'm sure your support and passion helped your son set records for receptions and and yardage this year. As his head coach it was a pleasure to see the passion you have for Addison Football as I opened my first email in my new email account today!" he never responded but boy was he friendly around town, and it is a good story that I made sure to share as often as I could.
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Post by coachjm on Aug 23, 2015 6:16:20 GMT -6
Has anyone ever considered tackling drills without helmets? Eve just using bags? I contemplate doing it but always fearful of the liability issue I have considered it, but I have the same fears as you so therefore I don't We do instruct tackling without helmets at first this is all technique and fundamental based, we don't worry about liability because it is not full speed, it is safe, and we are teaching to ensure greater safety. We view no inherent risks and our instruction is based with the intent of future risks. We have not ever even had an abrasion with these drills and I do believe it has enhanced our tackling once we do get pads on to eliminate the head from contact. I read these articles with a bit of a different perspective, 1. The timing of their release have no irony and do have an objective to generate profit to the companies who produce them. 2. There is nothing shocking about a intelligent/cerebral college grad choosing a less risky career path, this is no different then me choosing not to be a skyscraper window washer or a boxer (not that I would have the aptitude for either). 3. Roosevelt many moons ago pushed for the elmination of our game if it couldn't be made safer it is still here and much much safer. 4. The focus on head trauma has made the instruction of our game and rules of our game a bit different however, it is safer for kids to play and this is a good thing for all of us, I know I'm a better coach due to this awareness and I know many many youth programs that have altered their focus to instruction and safety something that should have always been a priority IMO. 5. As long as there is big money in the sport there will be these reports and the sky is falling type information as folks will all try to monopolize these profits, the few researchers who are out there with good intentions of truly finding cause and effect I praise as they will be able to provide information on what potential risks that exist in time. Ultimately, if there is an age group that is at greater risk it is not the job of the researchers to prevent participation at those age groups but ensure that the participants know the risk that they are inherently choosing. 6. With no data or supporting information I deducted at a very young age there was some inherent risk in participation in the NFL.. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to deduct that. Of course, I have always also believe that this risk exist in many other sport and like the NFL I see great pride and purpose in all of these activities and do not see a reason for discontinuing them unless there is no longer people interested in participating. As I still see the purpose of sport being greater for the participant then the viewer.
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Post by coachjm on Jun 24, 2015 19:00:02 GMT -6
Almost all kids live in the moment.... Often times kids quit for things that have nothing to do with the game... Frankly, if I had a kid come to me and say he was going to quit on June 24th my reaction would be "quit what" mandatory practice doesn't start for us until August. So if he wants to quit training we can talk about that but ultimately we haven't started football so we can quit something we haven't started. My goal in my conversation with the young man would be to encourage him to continue to train nothing more nothing less if he doesn't want to play come August you let him know you would love for him to come out the following year.
I had a boy this year who is a good athlete who came to me in March and said he wasn't going to play, I responded why are you telling me this right now he said because he wanted to focus on baseball. Well yeah it is baseball season that should be his first focus. I called him at the start of summer and met with him and said, hey I don't know if your gonna play or not and I don't really care what you decide but you need to train for your other sports and if you decide to play you will need this work if you decide not to it won't hurt you to have some workouts with your buddies. Thus far he has missed 2 workouts and my discussion with him is August 1st let me know if you want to play or not and I won't try and talk you into if you don't want to because I want kids who are all in when it comes the fall. He has already told his buddies he plans to play but we will see.
Bottom line, MOST kids aren't like US as coaches and too many of US expect the KIDS to be as passionate we are wrong in this. This is why I feel we are losing participation numbers and we have to change this mindset.
Football is a sport, that is hard that teaches discipline and structure however, it doesn't need to be a burden on a kid, coach, or staff on June 24th IMO.
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Post by coachjm on Jun 16, 2015 12:06:27 GMT -6
We require athletes to attend 90% of offseason functions to be chosen as a Captain. All that do are voted on by the players and the players vote is discussed by the coaches. We have never not chosen a player that the players voted on but the number of total Captains has varied from year to year based on the number of quality leaders we feel are available.
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Post by coachjm on Jun 15, 2015 17:21:05 GMT -6
excel file.... Also have all have workouts weight listed in next to their attendance, the boys can see what weight they need and how often they attend as well.... I prefer to do it on a desktop or lap top...
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Post by coachjm on May 29, 2015 20:10:31 GMT -6
coachjm how do you guys balance playing time for kids vs winning at the lower levels? To be frank, I could care less how much our lower levels win... I have had 0fer teams when a lot of games as seniors and undefeated groups stink so our view is to focus on other things, here it is: 1. Want every kid to have a role, when our numbers have been big we have ran two offenses and a full defense to ensure every kid gets on the field, when the numbers are smaller it is just a matter of making sure every kid gets quality reps on the first half. 2. We make sure every kid gets coached, the hard part of this is having enough quality coaches who will instruct the techniques of each position to each kid, you will be suprised how much the instruction gets to the reserved kids when they have to play. 3. We move kids up, I never want our lower levels to be the most talented if a kid can have a role on the varsity we will bump him up to push him and then that generally creates two additional starters on the lower level that have to be instructed well. 4. We emphasize the process vs. the results on all levels the focus is on improving our fundementals and we try not to worry about results although I know that is tough. 5. All the above has yielded lower level teams that are generally above .500 and on occasion real good and winning/losing issue only exists early in the season when I move kids up and the parents assume the lower level team will lose because we bring up Joe stud however, they learn through this process that it is about the team and process and not about how good Joe is, this can be a negative as Joe Stud's dad isn't always equipt for it not to be all about him!
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Post by coachjm on May 29, 2015 19:50:48 GMT -6
Boys today like boys of yesterday have a pack mentality! They all want to be accepted and do what is cool so ultimately creating and environment in which it is cool to be part of football will yield you more boys. We have a big sign-up meeting every year at many stops we have made this a pep rally environment at the conclusion we do sign-ups ultimately when they sign up we then immediately (same day) send home a parent letter with dates and times of events. What this does is get all the information to parents and they get kids to commit to our events. We never retain them all from the sign-up but it is typically about 90%.
Ultimately to grow and sustain numbers it is a long term process, it comes down to a couple simple things, kids having fun playing football and getting and opportunity to actually play. It is critical at the lower levels kids get an opportunity to play and coaches who focus on instruction and patiently teaching boys how to play better if that happens they will generally have fun playing and continue to play and numbers aren't an issue after a few years.
For program success recruit the middle school halls not the HS halls, by then you should know who is interested and passionate about the game.
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Post by coachjm on May 16, 2015 5:49:06 GMT -6
First I would ask by district and state association policy can it be made mandatory? If it can't then it shouldn't be, if it can well then it is up to you!
We have NOTHING mandatory until the first day of practice, this is with intention, I want my best hard working players on the field just like everyone else. I also want to see who my most committed, dedicated kids are in the offseason. By have optional workouts that are optional (we give two incentives) I get to learn who our leaders are, the kids who are most competitive get a leg up in their job to start, and kids who don't make the same commitment level are either good enough that they are gonna beat out the other kids in the fall and help our team be better or are gonna get beat out by another kid and learn a valuable lesson of how dedicated they need to be.
If it were me, I would create some rewards for all kids with perfect attendance for spring ball and really emphasize this attendance award (something they all want) and I bet you will have pretty good commitment.
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Post by coachjm on May 10, 2015 7:04:42 GMT -6
I just shared this on two facebook pages and my twitter account I hope others do as well.
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Post by coachjm on May 4, 2015 18:28:45 GMT -6
A
Our program is aligned from 3rd grade up. Our 7th grade through 12th grade is aligned because they are part of our overall program, I am responsible for hiring/firing coaches evaluating them and their program. Our 3rd-6th program chose to do the same as us and we support this...
How it is aligned: Entire staff and youth director clinic together in offseason We do sign-ups all together on the same day Weight program is all run by same strength coach and philosophy Summer Camps are all done together with entire staff Pictures are all done together (love the entire 3-12 picture) Equipment is all managed by same coach Fundraisers are all done together Scheme is all the same Banquet is done together at end of season
Nothing really we would change, I'm hopeful we can stay here for a while as the entire staff is a great group of guys who enjoys being/working together and the scheme part is just and extension of us all having the common goal of teaching football...
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Post by coachjm on May 3, 2015 6:56:52 GMT -6
We have vertical schematic alignment from 3rd grade to 12th grade. To me this is best for all the kids due to the fact that they can build on skills that they learn at the previous age level. In other words, a 6th grader who has ran our scheme since 3rd grade will be better at this scheme then he would if he is learning it for the first time. It then gives him a greater chance of success in 6th grade not necessarily 12th grade though. Additionally, this gives us a template to work from to train coaches in and build off of. Ultimately, as the HC I oversee 7th-12th grade so we hired (recruited) a MS director that previously had run similar schemes and believed in our general philosophies, our youth program we stated that they could do whatever they chose to do that we were here to support them in any realm that they wanted or needed we ran clinics with them and in these interactions they felt it was best to have a common philosophy and asked us to organize a playbook for them. The long term vision (if our staff continues to coach here) would be to have our youth programs/MS programs/HS programs filled with former players who have prior knowledge of our scheme. It should also be noted that we give our coaches our 5 base run plays and 3 base pass plays and base defense they run those and then have the freedom to go where they want with it like all offenses there is tremendous flexibility in the scheme and different groups may look different to one another and that is fine!
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Post by coachjm on May 2, 2015 17:34:07 GMT -6
It is what you don't know you don't know that kills you! Once coached with a guy who had a division 1 NCAA national championship ring and a super bowl ring and I'm pretty sure his greatest desire was still to be a head HS coach. The #1 thing I learned from him was...... You don't know what you don't know and you won't know it until you learn it!
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Post by coachjm on Mar 28, 2015 11:47:42 GMT -6
I have had it happen 3 times and all three scenerios were different.
1. Had a division 1 kicker, Dad acted as an agent for him, I thought he was a high level kicker as well and contacted numerous schools for the family he ended up signing with a division 1 school that I had never contacted, he started as a freshman but didn't make it for four years and had several health issues that occurred.
2. Had a kid not come out for football as a Senior, after playing 5 games in the previous 3 years... They had a big SIGNING for a d3 school where kids obviously don't need to sign he played one year and quit not playing a game.
3. Had a Senior on a 2-7 football team who was a part time starter that "earned" a division 1 AA scholarship there staff never contacted me and I did recommend him to several division 3 schools due to his size. He played one year at the 1 AA school, transferred two more times and then dropped out of school.
All three cases I never talked with college coaches, in two of the three cases I would have helped the kid get an opportunity that they more likely could have succeeded in socially, academically, and athletically. I have done a couple small stints coaching college ball and I can tell you there are many guys out there who don't have respect for HS coaches or their opinions. The good ones do and they generally will call around. I have several friends who will call and ask about all potential recruits in my region even as they know I will give them honest feedback and I'm very proud of the my players I have recommended most have played 4 years and had positive experiences...
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Post by coachjm on Mar 13, 2015 15:05:35 GMT -6
what do you guys think is the minimum number of players that you need in your program to effectively two platoon? We are at a small school right now that doesn't two platoon, however, we do try to play everyone and we do have many kids play just one side of the ball however, with 125 boys in the school two platooning isn't an option. My last two stops had 1,000 kids and it is my belief that once you get 35 or more playing for your varsity it benefits you to two platoon. If you have a minimum of 17-18 kids per side of the ball you will suddenly find that you have many more kids come out you will be shocked to see your roster jump from that to 50 in a year or two as your retention numbers will be up and kids will be more engaged. Kids having HOPE does an amazing thing to their motivation!
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Post by coachjm on Feb 23, 2015 5:00:07 GMT -6
Truly care about your players more then you care about their output or your teams results and spend adequate time giving them the attention they would get from someone who truly cares for them and the relationship piece takes care of itself.
Our kids just want our attention and their lives to be viewed as important, if you invest your life into helping them instead of (some folks do this) view them as pawns in your game of being a coach relationships will rarely be an issue.
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Post by coachjm on Feb 19, 2015 6:08:54 GMT -6
We are the second smallest school in our league of 8. We play 5 of our 9 opponents are nearly double then us in enrollment there is one school smaller then us, one the same approximate size and the other 2 opponents are approximately 25% bigger then us. Our first year at our school we had 34 kids 9-12 playing and the majority of our opponents have between 50-60 boys playing. Last year we did have the most kids playing in the league so that has flipped to some degree. However, due to our enrollment there will be ebb and flow to this, our current 6th and 7th grade boys have extremely low numbers. Here are some thoughts:
1. Use your enrollment to your advantage, ensure every boy participating has a significant and meaningful role with in the team that is embraced and appreciated by all this doesn't mean everyone plays equally but you can empower many kids if you as the coach emphasize their role even if it doesn't include playing as much.
2. Rotate on offense, we try to play our best kids defensively all the time, we keep them fresh on offense we try to rotate at every offensive position with the exception of Center and QB and often times FB. When we are training our kids we try to always have a back-up game ready at every position so thy are getting meaningful practice reps.
3. Spend time teaching individual drills in special teams, get good in this phase and teach individual skills during these periods as this gives greater value to kids who are in these roles.
4. Have fun in the offseason, we lift year round like everyone but it is far from a grind, it is a workout with a positive atmosphere that kids generally enjoy if a kid doesn't show up we don't fret about it we are thankful for the boys who do attend we have good attendance without it being a grind and the boys who are playing are generally energized come season.
5. Limit your contact low numbers is less depth and you want to make sure you keep as many healthy as you can.
6. Keep schemes simple if you overload the brain they aren't gonna play faster and the fact is your kids due to numbers are probably gonna be on the field more and will need to know more.
7. I believe in using as much clock offensively as possible.
Several years ago at a school with 900 students we dressed 22 varsity players and beat one of the largest schools in the state, and two others with 2000 students in one season. All three schools had between 50-70 varsity players. I remember my post season meeting with the AD and I talked to him about how this was not likely to happen again and that we would need to address the schedule or this wasn't gonna work long term. Ultimately, it is ok to look at things with logic as well so if the playing field isn't level you may have to adjust your goals to what is realistic in that situation.
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Post by coachjm on Feb 13, 2015 19:23:30 GMT -6
1. Head Coach 5,200 prior to taxes this is the top of the steps, last school much larger was 7,600 2. Nope 3. Nope 4. Nope
I'm in Michigan every school is a little different it should be noted that as a educator the compensation is much better and every position but my current position I was hired in that capacity in part because I was going to be the Head Football Coach (I do take pride in being an educator as well). There was one stop that between my wife and I it was a 30K pay raise from the previous year when we changed schools. So even though the pay isn't necessarily always high due to the impact we were hired to make on the district the opportunity to make a significant income was due to our ability to coach football.
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Post by coachjm on Feb 11, 2015 19:33:01 GMT -6
Well I just tweeted it out and put it on facebook. Figure I will do my part as a member of the (Social) media! I encourages others to do the same.
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Post by coachjm on Jan 29, 2015 9:47:23 GMT -6
One thing we are looking at doing is a combo camp with our basketball team--offer a 2 for 1 deal--could be a great thing in terms of exposing different kids to sports and camps they might not go out of their way to participate in... We did this in Owosso and it was a great event. Parents loved it because it was a big chunk of time, hit a bunch of kids involved in both sports it was really positive. Only thing is you will need to have a bball coach that has the same level of passion as you do to make it work we had that it was a good program.
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Post by coachjm on Jan 29, 2015 6:59:11 GMT -6
I leave for work at 5:30 each morning and have a 108 mile round trip from home to work to practice this has to end soon. Tough when you have a nice home, job, and coaching position just not near each other.
Monday Home at 9 Tuesday Home at 8 (lifting after practice) Wednesday Home at 9 (MS games always go to home ones road ones most teams in our league are closer to my house if it is one of the two schools farther away I don't go) Thursday Home at 9 (JV Game) Friday Home late (staff gets together to socialize after, wives/families are all there) Saturday film exchange for those who don't have hudl break film down on own. Sunday Meet at 4 typically done around 8.
If it weren't for the drive this would be much earlier as we have to start practice later and finish later.
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Post by coachjm on Jan 27, 2015 16:41:50 GMT -6
#9 To be frank we build our program around a lot of Christian principals. Although we don't spend a lot of time talking about God/Jesus as we are a public school however, myself and my staff are Christian men and our focus is building our program around a culture of service and selflessness. Obviously this as a philosophy and belief by a large group of men is probably most impactful however some practical things we do because we believe it supports our vision are: - We build around our defense first as we feel that this requires the greatest amount of teamwork so we want our identity built around this principal - There are basic expectations that if you don't meet you aren't rewarded regardless of who you are. Examples if you don't practice you don't play even if your the starting QB. - We try to find a role for every kid to get meaningful plays in the first half of every regular season game, we feel it is our job to honor kids efforts during the week. (Often times this really bothers some of our top players parents). - We share the ball offensively a lot of kids touch the ball we try not to have 1 kid get half our offensive output of course some years this is harder then others but generally we do have at least 5 RB's that get a lot of carries. - We rotate a ton on offense especially early in games early in the season, we typically play 8 offensive lineman for example. - We do a community service project each year. - We spend time talking about goals both individual and team and how our individual goals effect our team goals. - We spend time talking about relationships with each other and what we mean to each other we talk. - We meet with the captains every week and find out if there are any issues if there are we bring in all parties and work through the issues we will do this even during practice time.
10. Offseason, we will test in November but then from November to March we lift only twice a week and do zero conditioning. March to June we will lift 3 or 4 days a week no additional conditioning and start working with QB's and backs or WRs. During summer we lift and condition for an hour and a half have a camp and 4-5 7 on 7's that is about it in the offseason our kids are generally excited to get going and we don't do two a days anymore just 1 3 hour practice plus film. During the season we shorten practice every week and we don't bring the kids in on the weekend unless we get a short week. We don't practice on labor day either. We feel all of this stuff has helped us play better at the end of the year as our kids have been fresher although we as coaches have had to learn to be much more efficient with our instruction as there is not time to waste. Additionally, all of our lifts are truly optional I don't chase kids to attend and generally we have about 98% get 90% or more lifts in.
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