Staff interaction

wonderingcoach...I think those are all GREAT examples of things a HC can do to be successful. Nothing wrong with them at all...however, they sometimes WILL rock the boat. The reason why college staffs are generally better is that they don't have teaching positions. Toe the line, or get fired. At the H.S. levels, it is harder, because a guy could not like the way you do things, and even if you fire him as a coach he often will still retain his teaching spot. Building a quality staff is hard when the teaching positions dry up.

I think those are must does. Someone can't do those things? They aren't going to be on my staff.

By stand behind the HC I mean physically and metaphoricly. I can't stand it when I used to talk to my team see an assistant Coach behind them, where they can't see them and or talking or zoning. I don't mean to be too hollywood, but I always picture the other Black Coach with Coach Boone in Remember the Titians. I always stay behind the HC so that the kids can see that we as a staff are in support of whatever the HC says. Also so the kids havce the expected behavior modeled. I don't know if that makes more sense. ALso as for daily uniforms. I always provided 5 t shirts and 5 pairs of shorts for just practice and game attire. I always figured if the kids are expected to be the same, we should model the behavior.

I like a head coach who expects these things and then insists upon them and lives them himself.
If he doesn't like cussing- he doesn't cuss. If he wants loyalty he models loyalty. If he wants a dress code he finds a way to supply the gear.
I have heard coaches cuss during my long career and choose to not do so myself (in front of the kids). Cussing is a tale of two coaches though. Some coaches cuss kids, some coaches simply cuss in front of them. Neither is good- one is the lesser of two evils.

Used to work for a guy who had the ability to use the "F-bomb" as a noun, adjective, and verb, often collectively in the same sentence. Guy had a mouth that would make a sailor wince...
I have on occasion let one fly but I try to use the same language on the football field that I use in the classroom.


I don't think this is that big of a deal. Shorts and a t-shirt are appropriate. If you have team colors and team shirts, that is a bonus, but I don't think it is a big deal if a coach doesn't come to practice wearing them.


I agree...hard to convince the kids they have to be there if the coaches don't show up to stuff.

I can't stand the guys who don't attend and meetings in the offseason but then bitch and moan about any changes that were implemented. If your not there, your opinion doesn't count.


I always stand behind the team when the coach is addressing the players. When I am speaking, I don't like people standing behind me, so I won't do it to the head coach.



I don't know if this is true or not, but I have heard several people tell a story about Pete Carroll and how he actually has his COACHES videotaped during practice to make sure that they are doing things the "program way".

I don't think I would ever go to that extreme, but I think it illustrates the point (if it is true) that the GOOD head coaches have a vision that they expect their assistants to adopt.

I would lay the things you described down as LAW, before the season ever begins. Have a staff handbook made that includes behavioral expectations along with the playbook. Put it in writing and make it very clear.

If you aren't in the position to hire and fire and you are dealing with these things, I'd start looking for another HC job. Nothing

i like the staff to dress the same at practice.......but the header should be ready to buy the staff enough t-shirts and shorts to last at least a week........it's unreasonable to ask a coach to wash his clothes every night or wear nasty ones just to look the same......

I think of it as a professional statement. Now I would never expect a coach to go and make that happen on thier own. As a HC I bought all my guys stuff. As an AC I made sure I owned 5 team shirts that I wore every day. To me its also a sign of respect to the kids. Here I am practicing what I preach, teamwork and uniformity.

Is it unreasonable to expect staff to not swear, infront of the kids

No, coaches and athletes are not allowed to swear.

, wear team uniforms,

Game day, shirt and tie...practice, nothing required however, we wear t-shirts with school logos or of colleges where former players have continued their careers and we all have school sweatshirts and jackets for cold weather.

attend all practices and meetings,

This is one that I have changed my thoughts about. I learned from a coach (at the D-III college level), who is an unbelievable disciplinarian that these things depend on coaches situations. I work at a boarding school, our basketball coach who coaches the QBs works in admissions, there are times that he has to travel for work and cannot be at practice or will have a family visiting campus that he will have to spend time with, he has also missed because he needed to bring one of the basketball players. He always communicates clearly, and I know when he won't be there so I can plan for it and we let the kids on the team know where he is, so they understand. On the positive side the football program gets a coach who sets a great example of what a person who has his priorities of life in order (faith, family, work) and he is involved in the kids lives. We also have the situation that not everybody can be at all meetings because of dorm and responsibilities....not everyone can be at the meeting because then there would be some unsupervised dorms. Out of season meetings are done by position or by small groups....much more productive....the DT's coach does not need to sit in on the WR meeting, but he is welcome to attend.

stand behind the HC during team huddles

Every coach has a job to do during team. We practice off a script and the plays are numbered, so if we go off script to rerun a play we just call out the number. Every coach has responsibilities during team....so if someone is hanging over my shoulder, they are not doing their job.

and never contradict each other infront of the kids?

An absolute.

I worked for one hard-#$@ Coach my first year, who really drove all these things home... but he was ancient then and dead now. Is that era over?

No....the first full staff coaches meeting of the year....everybody attends and we go over the expectations of the staff and of the athletes. It is written out and we go through every point, before we talk about football or about the kids. There are no gray areas.

Watching your mouth is obvious; not just because of the poor example it sets, but because you need to CYA.

There are parents out there that are going to be understandably upset if you're swearing around their kids. As a coach, I want to limit the amount of b.s. I have to put up with; parents complaining about my language falls under this category.

I would for sure talk to the HC about this in closed quarters. Just because you are young doesn't mean he can act like a no class jerk.

Thanks for your advice!

Already old news and moving on. He apologized in our next conversation. Forgive and don't forget. Your right about the thin skin and if you want your players to be thick skinned willing to endure through any adversity then you have to as well. As they say in Goodfellas "every now and then you gotta take a beating".

Thanks again!

We had a coach for a youth spring league who was very inexperienced and did this stuff quite often.

Luckily, I wasn't the target for the criticism. But the 2nd time he did it, the other coach got angry. Now, we are all young coaches. I have the most experience of the 3 of us. I told them both (HC and DL coach), "There is a time and a place for this coaches. Its not right here, right now, in a game, right infront of the kids." They both agreed and stopped. No one seem insulted by that. But I think they both know I have the most experience and I am the coolest under pressure out of the 2 (they are both high energy. I use energy, but I am not over the top) and they both respected it and understood why I said it without a problem.