Post by coachaldridge on Jul 4, 2007 23:56:38 GMT -6
In another thread (http://coachhuey.proboards42.com/index.cgi?board=pass&action=display&thread=1183489272&page=1#1183589354), Tog asked me to make a thread here about our struggles in taking a poor program and trying to make it better.
So here we go....
I have been coaching in this city for 7 years now. First five, coached middle and high school. After year five I elected not to do high school anymore (when posed with an ultimatum by head coach at end of season to just move to high school and coach only high school. I was growing more and more dissatisfied with our head coach by that time). I coached only middle school and took some time away. In the middle of that season, the high school head coach was on his way to being dismissed at the end of the year because of the program's performance, how he ran it, how he burned relationships with parents, kids, administrators, etc. and how he did things in and out of school. It was definitely time for a change to be made. He resigned (in mid season but effective at the end of the year) and really had the program in bad shape. I had been away from the program for almost 2 years.
The new head coach (baseball coach who has been there longer than me) asks me and another assistant to return to high school staff ( me as O.C. and him as DL and Strength/Cond.) Only a couple of holdovers are there from previous year's staff and we really are blessed with some good coaches to try to get this thing rolling in the right direction.
Now for the trials...
1.) The weightroom was totally a joke that last year so we are fighting the battle of mentality for lifting/conditioning as well as the players physical lack of development.
2.) The kids had become used to losing and found it acceptable. There was little competitive passion.
3.They aren't football smart yet. It seems they rarely watch a game.
4.) Academics and prep for college (if applicable) was non-existent.
5.) Construction of a new school and work to facilities.
6.) Change in system (Off. and Def.)because of what the new staff believes in as well as what we think we have to do to have a chance to be successful with the players we have. Me trying to put it together offensively.
7.) Honestly speaking, alot of not good football players (to put in nicely). Very little talent for the game. Have less than five "good football players" and there is really really a lack of competition.
8.) Weak-mindedness. I use this term to collectively mean what you normally think as well as not willing to do what it takes for success and showing us the disrespect they had been allowed to get away with.
9.) Zero leaders on team (at least in a positive way).
What did/do we do? The process is still ongoing but there are a few rays of light.
1.) Weightroom- This is the area of most progress primarily due to the attitude and fire for conditioning of our strength coach. We challenge them physically and mentally in workouts but we also build them up with encouraging words and being around after workouts to hang out. We are still slow and a very large percentage of our starters would not start for our district opponents.
2.) Lack of passion- The ones that are still with us this offseason and the new ones are getting there (some key players still aren't passionate, they are proving to be a tougher nut to crack. Many meetings this offseason with individual players.) Seeing that we as coaches will not lower our expectations of them and that we will push them has made them buy into us and take on our desire to win and change for the better. They are also working harder as a general group.
3.)Football smart- Still tough. They are learning but were so far behind. Watch more film than they ever have before. In spring I told our linemen to go home and watch ESPN classic for football game replays at least every other day. Try to explain and teach them why we are doing something so they can see the big picture. A few kids play playstation at school so we try to sit in and explain a few things going on on the game. After workout/practice, sit around and just talk about football.
4.)Academics- We have really been trying to stress how grades matter the day you walk in the door. We still have a few in summer school and we have lost some potential players to grades, but some have made a big turnaround and pulled up those F's. I started pulling them from workouts if their grades weren't good enough at the time to be eligible for next year. This applied to spring football if it was warranted and we even sent some kids to study hall for the rest of the semester. Got a couple of kids tutors. Plan to do some ACT practice work next year with whoever is interested. Coaches, make your players take the ACT as soon as they finish their sophomore year as that is when the NCAA accepts scores for eligiblity. That way you can start working the numbers and get them to do better on the test and work on individual sections so their composite score goes up.
5.) Construction- Worked out in an old gym with no air flow all summer in the deep south. More of an inconvience than anything else and just added to our headaches as coaches. Move our weights up to that old gym and went at it. Had to practice on a public soccer field that was in terrible shape. Just suck it up and get it done but we sure complained about it until we were back on campus. We did get a new weightroom (funded largely by a private donation) that has really been a blessing and a tool for change. The budget actually looks functional for this after ridiculous cuts last year.
6.)Change in systems- This is really what the rest of this great website is about. Still working out lots of kinks on offense and defense. We just have to rep, rep, rep, rep, rep. Coaches must be in continual learning mode (newsflash huh?)
7.) Lack of Talent and Competition. We are just in a dry spell. Before you say it, they aren't on the basketball team either nor are they in the halls. Sounds crazy but it is true. We have gotten a few out but nothing really amazing has come of it. Hopeful that two make significant contributions. The competition part is what gets me the most. Don't have enough talent to push each other. I feel this is one of our biggest "football problems."
8.) Mindset. You know, some of our players really think they are the greatest. They don't understand what it takes to be great. In some cases it has taken us literally saying "You are not good. Can't you see this? Here is you on tape. See yourself." And some still have this false sense of reality. Lack of talent/competition contributes because they still know that the next guy is really bad.
9.) Leadership- Anyone know how to teach kids to be leaders? We have tried by example. We pull potential leaders aside, meet with them, explain importance of them being leaders, some things they can do or ways they can start to be a leader. One has tried but just not "happening." When things go bad in a game for example, there is no player to help rally his teammates. They are only going to listen to coaches so much with failure around them. They want a fellow player to pull them up.
Wow! Alot of typing. If you made it this far thanks. Hope this helps somebody. As you can see, any practical ideas or words of encouragement would be great. Picking up some more wins would really help us as coaches see that we are making it better.
May God guide us to lead these young men to be quality grown men.
So here we go....
I have been coaching in this city for 7 years now. First five, coached middle and high school. After year five I elected not to do high school anymore (when posed with an ultimatum by head coach at end of season to just move to high school and coach only high school. I was growing more and more dissatisfied with our head coach by that time). I coached only middle school and took some time away. In the middle of that season, the high school head coach was on his way to being dismissed at the end of the year because of the program's performance, how he ran it, how he burned relationships with parents, kids, administrators, etc. and how he did things in and out of school. It was definitely time for a change to be made. He resigned (in mid season but effective at the end of the year) and really had the program in bad shape. I had been away from the program for almost 2 years.
The new head coach (baseball coach who has been there longer than me) asks me and another assistant to return to high school staff ( me as O.C. and him as DL and Strength/Cond.) Only a couple of holdovers are there from previous year's staff and we really are blessed with some good coaches to try to get this thing rolling in the right direction.
Now for the trials...
1.) The weightroom was totally a joke that last year so we are fighting the battle of mentality for lifting/conditioning as well as the players physical lack of development.
2.) The kids had become used to losing and found it acceptable. There was little competitive passion.
3.They aren't football smart yet. It seems they rarely watch a game.
4.) Academics and prep for college (if applicable) was non-existent.
5.) Construction of a new school and work to facilities.
6.) Change in system (Off. and Def.)because of what the new staff believes in as well as what we think we have to do to have a chance to be successful with the players we have. Me trying to put it together offensively.
7.) Honestly speaking, alot of not good football players (to put in nicely). Very little talent for the game. Have less than five "good football players" and there is really really a lack of competition.
8.) Weak-mindedness. I use this term to collectively mean what you normally think as well as not willing to do what it takes for success and showing us the disrespect they had been allowed to get away with.
9.) Zero leaders on team (at least in a positive way).
What did/do we do? The process is still ongoing but there are a few rays of light.
1.) Weightroom- This is the area of most progress primarily due to the attitude and fire for conditioning of our strength coach. We challenge them physically and mentally in workouts but we also build them up with encouraging words and being around after workouts to hang out. We are still slow and a very large percentage of our starters would not start for our district opponents.
2.) Lack of passion- The ones that are still with us this offseason and the new ones are getting there (some key players still aren't passionate, they are proving to be a tougher nut to crack. Many meetings this offseason with individual players.) Seeing that we as coaches will not lower our expectations of them and that we will push them has made them buy into us and take on our desire to win and change for the better. They are also working harder as a general group.
3.)Football smart- Still tough. They are learning but were so far behind. Watch more film than they ever have before. In spring I told our linemen to go home and watch ESPN classic for football game replays at least every other day. Try to explain and teach them why we are doing something so they can see the big picture. A few kids play playstation at school so we try to sit in and explain a few things going on on the game. After workout/practice, sit around and just talk about football.
4.)Academics- We have really been trying to stress how grades matter the day you walk in the door. We still have a few in summer school and we have lost some potential players to grades, but some have made a big turnaround and pulled up those F's. I started pulling them from workouts if their grades weren't good enough at the time to be eligible for next year. This applied to spring football if it was warranted and we even sent some kids to study hall for the rest of the semester. Got a couple of kids tutors. Plan to do some ACT practice work next year with whoever is interested. Coaches, make your players take the ACT as soon as they finish their sophomore year as that is when the NCAA accepts scores for eligiblity. That way you can start working the numbers and get them to do better on the test and work on individual sections so their composite score goes up.
5.) Construction- Worked out in an old gym with no air flow all summer in the deep south. More of an inconvience than anything else and just added to our headaches as coaches. Move our weights up to that old gym and went at it. Had to practice on a public soccer field that was in terrible shape. Just suck it up and get it done but we sure complained about it until we were back on campus. We did get a new weightroom (funded largely by a private donation) that has really been a blessing and a tool for change. The budget actually looks functional for this after ridiculous cuts last year.
6.)Change in systems- This is really what the rest of this great website is about. Still working out lots of kinks on offense and defense. We just have to rep, rep, rep, rep, rep. Coaches must be in continual learning mode (newsflash huh?)
7.) Lack of Talent and Competition. We are just in a dry spell. Before you say it, they aren't on the basketball team either nor are they in the halls. Sounds crazy but it is true. We have gotten a few out but nothing really amazing has come of it. Hopeful that two make significant contributions. The competition part is what gets me the most. Don't have enough talent to push each other. I feel this is one of our biggest "football problems."
8.) Mindset. You know, some of our players really think they are the greatest. They don't understand what it takes to be great. In some cases it has taken us literally saying "You are not good. Can't you see this? Here is you on tape. See yourself." And some still have this false sense of reality. Lack of talent/competition contributes because they still know that the next guy is really bad.
9.) Leadership- Anyone know how to teach kids to be leaders? We have tried by example. We pull potential leaders aside, meet with them, explain importance of them being leaders, some things they can do or ways they can start to be a leader. One has tried but just not "happening." When things go bad in a game for example, there is no player to help rally his teammates. They are only going to listen to coaches so much with failure around them. They want a fellow player to pull them up.
Wow! Alot of typing. If you made it this far thanks. Hope this helps somebody. As you can see, any practical ideas or words of encouragement would be great. Picking up some more wins would really help us as coaches see that we are making it better.
May God guide us to lead these young men to be quality grown men.
