How do we salvage this impending ship wreck??

Sounds similar to our school. They have been up and down in last 10 years. One semi state year and one 8-2 season (two years ago) with 3 out of last 5 years losing seasons. They didn't have any off-season weight lifting program for the last two years. The previous coach left town because lack of parental support after finishing 3-8.

We were happy to get the job and get things rolling. Even though we lost 16 starters, a lot of people hoped we would be great because we instituted a pretty rigorous off-season program including strenghth and conditioning, 7 on 7 league, and 11 on 11 scrimmages. Now that we are 1-4 we are starting to lose our parents. It is a struggle for the kids to stay bought in when the parents are not behind us.

We ask our kids two questions that may help you guys out...

First: "Are we asking you guys to do anything that is going to make you a worse football player?"

Second: "Has any team we played done things different than we have said they would do?"

When they answer these questions they obviously answer no to each...we prepare our kids and ask them to make themselves better.

I was reading the other day I believe it was Hal Mumme but I am sure many coaches have said it. Have the Gonzo effect. He was talking about his dog and how his dog is always happy to see him. My kids make me as mad as can be but I always try to let them know I am happy to see them. We call it loving up on each other. We want to let them know we care about them. I don't know if it is working but I don't want them to ever doubt I care about them.


Stick in there coach. You will right the ship. It will take some time but you will take care of business. Stick to your system and philosophy and the wins will come.

Football is a funny world. Last night my cousin and I were watching the Eagles game and he was bashing Andy Reid. It donned on me that in football everyone is an expert except for the experts!

If you have given your absolute best effort, the scoreboard can't make you a loser. If you haven't given your best effort, the scoreboard can't make you a winner either - John Wooden.

You may have to re-define what success is for the present. Make playing football a positive experience, somehow, for your guys, win or lose. Weather the storm, recruit the halls, focus on instilling the character you want in your younger players. Build for the future. Good luck!

1. Ignore the parents unless they really start raising hell. Deal with them if they're being belligerent in the stands, berating coaches and players publicly or going after you with the administration. They shouldn't be in the stands if they're being stupid and they shouldn't be going over your head. Get them booted out of games if you can and make sure that you are included on every dealing with the administration and parents. Past that, screw 'em. You'll always have criticism.

2. Coach the kids the best you can, prepare them week by week and something will click. Get back to fundamentals, focus on the little things and they'll probably ditch the spooky nature. Pull things back in terms of schemes; don't add stuff in or 'tinker'.

3. Keep your staff in line. A loud mouth assistant will only cause you problems. You need to show a united front and it sounds like the parents are hearing one coach run his mouth. They may have the impression that the whole program runs like that.

4. Maybe move in a different direction when it comes to motivating players. I am generally a more laid back coach but I have had to become a little bit of a hardass with kids. The opposite could be true too; sometimes coaches need to dial back on the intensity.

I feel your pain, coach. We are in the process of trying to establish a program right now and it's never easy. But, I guess I have it easier as the community never expected much out of football because it's been so bad. But, we're winning games and playing more competitively at this point and things are coming around.

Coach,
When you say that "we are in a new, tougher league that recruits" that sounds like assumptions on your part and a little bit of excuse making.

I hope that this is not something that you have brought up to your team.

fix this first.

That isn't the kids fault, either.

"This" won't be fixed during the season, though. It begs the question of what were you guys investing in/ teaching / reinforcing from January to August?

I don't know who you were addressing, but I never mentioned any of that stuff (irrelevant).

The issue you raised was your player's competitiveness in games.
This is an issue of making off-season weight training competitive and goal-specific to build the team (its not what we do TO them, but what we do FOR them). Schemes are irrelevant (it doesn't matter what you run). If your kids work to compete on Friday nights, you have a chance (and have done what you can do). I single that out because the OP lists a wall of text and information that really has no bearing on the situation.

I don't think were you are is an exception. Think about it like this. How often do you see kids out just playing football with their buddies? That's were I learned about toughness on the field. We didn't play two hand touch or flag, we played tackle. No pads, helmets, nothing. Now, this was during the 70's when I was growing up, but it is something I notice here.

Kids also don't seem to want to work on their sport unless it's an organized practice. If they aren't at practice, they are working on their video game skills.


I know that there are exceptions, but this is what seems like for the majority.

So...how does this help me get a kid to grit his teeth and want to get in front of a ballcarrier....?

I agree it's a societal problem, but how do we as coaches get by this and turn it in to productivity on the field? Also, I know this isn't just where I'm at either, I just was stating what I'm seeing. However, we are far LESS physical than our opponents, which is NOT a good sign. Not sure why they are more physical than us, esp. since this area has long been known as a hard working farm community that has developed some very physical teams over the last few decades.


Duece

I think any coach worth his value should go through one of those seasons. I am in the middle of one those seasons myself. We are physically outmatched, with a whole bunch of young kids.

My spin on it is that we are going to invest in these young guys. Coach them up as much as we can, get them in the weight room come off season and stay positive with the group I got now.

As said before, ignore the parents to an extent...they do not determine whether you keep your job. Get the administration behind you by doing service projects, study halls, and different things like that. Make sure they see that you are doing things in the off season.

I know that does not help you for this season...but it's about building a program and not about one year wonders! Hang in there. There is a reason for this and you will be a better coach for going through this!

We are in the same boat as Deuce; we drill defensive fundamentals constantly. It's a daily routine; tackling stations, shedding stations, strip/take-away drills. We keep our scheme extremely simple and I mean friggin Rain Man-Can't-Tell-You-The-Cost-Of-A-Snickers simple. We get incrementally better each week but we still have a lot of guys that aren't playing physical football.

I feel like we're doing everything we can but I still don't understand it.

Always felt I got paid for when things went wrong or were going badly. That's when I earned my money.

Anybody can coach 'em when you're undefeated and leading 49-0 in 4th Quarter.

Excellent point!

Please, please, don't let this thread turn into another 'this generation is a bunch of whiny p-sses that need to spend 27 hours a day on an oil rig/ranch/sweat shop and get beat up by Mongo-The-School-Yard bully to toughen 'em up'.

IMO, the only difference between the generations is technology providing instant gratification. BUT, we're not just talking about the current high school groups. I am guilty of the same thing; I could go home and read a book after my day is done but I generally choose to sit on my a$$ and play video games or watch TV. And, for me, it's really is about that instant gratification. And, thinking back to my youth, I used to get more exercise and read until the Nintendo game came into society. I have gotten a lot better about it; I broke my controller while losing in a game of NCAA 2012 so I have to go for walks now. B.S.

So, there is that factor. BUT, it's not something that we can't overcome. We just have to make sports more appealing than Mortal Combat.