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Post by coachg33 on Jul 11, 2008 16:29:49 GMT -6
Just curious as to what most of you coaches thought about off the field player conduct. Whether it be in the classroom or off the school campus what are some rules that you set with your team. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.  |
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kr7263
Sophomore Member
Posts: 228
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Post by kr7263 on Jul 11, 2008 17:43:26 GMT -6
The basketball coach at our school is in his 38th year (he continues to coach 4 yrs after retirement). He has averaged 25 wins and several titles etc. He told me "Why would I make any rule above and beyond our district and state guidelines. It puts our kids and team in a great disadvantage when competing against every other school in the state." Personally I think our academic standards are pathetic, our discipline rules are way too lenient. I have also found the more rules you have the more chances kids have to break the rules.
I have several kids that are D/C students, however, they go to study table when I tell them, they don't get into trouble in school and they attend every off-season activity. I also have several kids from real tough home situations I know they are around criminal activity on a daily basis, however, they are good citizens, maintain good grades etc.
I try to reward good behavior with playing time & make bad behavior difficult through peer pressure, punishment & leadership / team activities. IMO each kid is different with different situations - anything above and beyond school or state rules should be handled on a case by case basis.
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Post by touchdowng on Jul 11, 2008 21:42:49 GMT -6
We're in a public school of 1400
We get over 115 kids out for football. We have a big influence on the culture in our high school and we take that serious. We EXPECT our FB players to be leaders in and around our school. Our academic expectation is no F's and never below a 2.0.
When either of these happen (and we check weekly), the player will sit 1 game but will have an opportunity to do a grade check the following week to regain his playing status.
Most of the game suspensions have been by freshmen players as it takes them one season to know that we mean it. We've only had to sit players from varsity games 5 or 6 times over three seasons. Our team GPA is over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Behavior is to be at least that of a good follower when in class. When there are ongoing behavior problems, teachers come to us right away. They usually just have to mention that they will be speaking to a FB coach and the behavior usually improves.
Our teachers go the extra mile for our players (helping them with extra tudoring ,etc.) because they know that our coaching staff backs them up 100% in the classroom.
Our players are responsible for letting me (as HC) know of any problems before I find out about it from another person. When they do this I'll cut their consequence down. If I find out from a third party, "heck" will be paid.
We are also involved with our community 12 months out of the year with various clean up projects in and around our town.
We set a high bar and we get good results.
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burn
Sophomore Member
Posts: 181
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Post by burn on Jul 11, 2008 22:14:55 GMT -6
Touchdowng,
What type of area do you coach in? An average 3.0 GPA is huge. I would like to learn from other coaches from different types of areas how their kids GPAs are on average? I can't tell you what my kids average GPAs are but I would guess more around the 2.5 range and I coach in a middle sized town that socio-economically is right in the middle. Demographically we are about 50% Hispanic and 50% White. Just think it would be interesting the standards coaches have for their teams from different areas that have different demographics.
My rules for my team are: 2.0 with only 1 F, be a stand up guy. That is it.
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Post by touchdowng on Jul 15, 2008 22:58:40 GMT -6
Touchdowng, What type of area do you coach in? An average 3.0 GPA is huge. I would like to learn from other coaches from different types of areas how their kids GPAs are on average? I can't tell you what my kids average GPAs are but I would guess more around the 2.5 range and I coach in a middle sized town that socio-economically is right in the middle. Demographically we are about 50% Hispanic and 50% White. Just think it would be interesting the standards coaches have for their teams from different areas that have different demographics. My rules for my team are: 2.0 with only 1 F, be a stand up guy. That is it. Coach in Western Washington. Our school is in a middle class setting. About 20% free or reduced lunches. 90% white. I would say about 40% of my players come from single parent homes. Our staff has a constant dialogue going with our players about grades and academic performance when we are off the field. We've decided when we started working with these kids that part of our culture was going to include being academically strong. |
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burn
Sophomore Member
Posts: 181
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Post by burn on Jul 15, 2008 23:11:50 GMT -6
Touchdowng,
How many of your coaches are on staff? We also emphasize grades to the kids and talk about the responsibility athletes have in representing their school in class, around campus, around town, at other schools and on the field. Next year will be my second year at this school and the culture of the whole school changed (other teachers observations) when our staff took over and made being a "stand up guy" a priority. I am envious of your team's GPA whatever the demographics. I can only say one hell of a job coach.
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Post by touchdowng on Jul 16, 2008 8:54:08 GMT -6
burn
We have a staff of twelve coaches. Of the twelve. eight are teachers in our high school and that is huge. Of the other four coaches, two are teachers in our district and one is a cop. The other is a retired military guy that has the right perspective.
All of our kids grades are posted online. Our teachers are expected to keep their grades current bi-weekly. I monitor our lower kids all of the time and the rest of the guys on a quartly basis. During the season we have the boys do grade checks weekly. When their grades dip below a C, I fire an email off to their position coaches. Between the two of us and their teachers and parents, they sort of have the wagons circled around them.
Once we get them on board (usually when they are freshmen), they sort of conform.
During the offseason, we'll make kids go to our after school tutoring and skip weight room whenever their grades drop.
We make academics our constant mantra. We don't talk grades on the field - except maybe a short talk here and there (from me) - On the flip side we don't talk much FB with the kids around the building. We talk about keeping the two separate but grades will always be the priority. "When you step on the field, it's ALL football. When you are off the field, it's ALL about school."
I want our kids to know that we care an awful lot about FB and they have to live up to our expectations academically and behaviorally to be part of our system. Our numbers continue to grow so I guess it's true that kids will gravitate towards structure.
When we started at this school four years ago, we had 80 kids out in 4 grades. Last month, we had 125 out for spring football and should have about that number out in the Fall.
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Post by wingtol on Jul 16, 2008 12:42:03 GMT -6
We tell our players-- Remember where ever you go and what ever you do the first thing people will remember is that you are football players. Do not do anything to embarass the school number one and the team number two. If you do then you will be dealt with in a way that fits what you did to embarass either one. Be leaders in school and out.
We also have a speaker every week from coaching4life come and talk to the team and they stress alot about character and we push character as the most important trait to have.
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Post by airman on Jul 16, 2008 13:49:19 GMT -6
If the poorest school in milwaukee and the school that used to lose a lot can demand its players get a 3.0 gpa I think it can be done any where. Pulaskis high school in milwaukee has seen as the grades rise the number of wins also go up. will they be a basketball power in milwaukee, most likely not. I mean it is hard to complete with high schools in milwaukee where if you are retarded you can play sports if you can dribble or shoot a basketball.
they started with this about 4 years ago. they have also seen the number of kids going to post secondary schools go way up.
I know a high school in wisconsin which is a power house program. they have over a 3.0 gpa every season and they practice for 3 hrs per night and then they have a hour study hall where the brighter playes help those in need.
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leo818
Freshmen Member
Posts: 56
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Post by leo818 on Jul 17, 2008 18:59:51 GMT -6
We constantly remind the players that every one of them represents every one of us, and that as long as they wear a jersey, jacket, etc. that has our school name on it, they are the school to anyone who sees them. We enforce our grade and attendance policies to the letter, and our teachers do a nice job of helping kids who struggle, but no one gets a break for being an athlete. Honestly, we have had kids transfer to other schools that are not as big on expectations, and some of them have been studs on the field. However, when our kids get their diplomas, it means something, and many of them go on to college someplace in the state with an education that gives them a chance at a degree.
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