Assistant Coaches Autonomy?

For me it depends entirely on the makeup of your coaching staff. I work with mostly young guys who have recently graduated and are transitioning from player to coach. Some of them require very little guidance (if any) and some seem to need to be told what to do, have their own opinions on how something should be done or don't seem to care enough (that is my perception, at least). Our HC dictates a code of conduct / expectations to us at the start of every year and holds us to it. That includes simple things like being at practice on time (i.e. early), bringing a whistle, etc.

As a coordinator I'm involved in practice planning on a weekly basis. During preseason the HC and coordinators dictate what the positional coaches teach during practice. They're all given a copy of the practice plan (with timings) at least 24 hours in advance so that they can review what they are going to teach and how they are going to teach it. In season I ask the positional coaches what we need to work on, based on the performance of their group from our previous game / practice, etc. I also hold a preseason meeting to discuss the playbook and make sure that the positional coaches are comfortable with the content and that the language/terminology is something they are comfortable using when they coach. If I see or hear them coaching something wildly different during practice I'll address it and correct it (constructively!).

Basically there are times you need to dictate what your coaches do and times where you need to give them as much freedom as you can. As far as autonomy goes, I like to give as much freedom as I can where I am comfortable giving it but in some cases you can end up handing someone enough rope to hang themselves. I like my guys to take initiative, make suggestions, contribute during film review / game planning and be responsible for their own development but again it comes back to individuals. Some of them do a great job, show some real enthusiasm and interest while some of them don't seem to care enough (again, my perception).

Yes, but I think the issue the OP is facing is "who decides 'if you need him too'?"   I am not sure if I like the thought process of telling someone they are the head coach of their position.  No, an position coach is supposed to be delivering the policies and procedures of the HC (and by extension the coordinators).    Now if an assistant can clearly do a job without someone looking over his shoulder, great.  But to present it to the staff that they are each the HC of their positions regardless of individual abilities; I am not really a supporter of this. 

I realize we are just talking vernacular, but (and obviously this is just me) I don't like to associate that kind of autonomy, especially when at least 3 threads a month pop up here with people complaining about inadequate coaching and lack of quality assistants.  

I'm a DC that is given almost complete autonomy by the HC. He'll make a suggestion a couple times a year and I make damn sure that we find a way to fit his suggestion into what we do. I appreciate the freedom he gives me so I'm never going to make it seem like I'm ignoring his advice.

Our varsity assistants are experienced guys, all have been varsity coaches for over 10 years and we develop our game plan together each week. They know when we leave the office Sunday what we're planning to see and do that week so I don't micromanage their individual time from there.

We have a mix of young and experienced coaches.  The HC hires the best he can find.  He trusts that they will work.  It's not like there are a bunch of guys willy nilly doing their own thing.  But if he hires a dame good OL coach and that OL coach has certain things he want to implement, then he has the leeway to do so.  I do a bunch of stuff that the HC has flat out told me he wasn't real sure about and didn't think they would work, but in retrospect he likes.  There IS a plan in place and our program has a system for offense, defense, and special teams.  There is plan in place for off season work, the weight room, player development; the whole nine yards.  The HC can't be everywhere all the time; he hires good people to do a job.  

Now, does he get involved?  Yes, but he expects each man to pull his own weight.  If not then:

he'll coach your position if you need him to, but he won't do it for long.

This might not work for every program, but we have made it work.  The guys take pride in the ownership of their specific position group and having them well prepared.  When you give someone the authority to take charge, they usually respond in kind with the self direction.  I have no qualms about taking that on; I rather like my job and will do whatever I can to keep it.

I got nothing boss. Just the way it was. Good in a way, got to do whatever I wanted, never had to worry about being second guessed, never had anyone looking over my shoulder. Bad in a way bc at the time we had an inexperienced staff and there were times I would have welcomed some more input into the game plan. Just the way it was.

As the DC here is what I did. Obviously I had a plan, and an idea of how I thought things should be done, and I had this completely articulated. This only makes sense though, there is a goal we are trying to reach I should know the steps to get there.
I have things mapped out going into spring ball and I have it mapped out throughout the season. Yes, this includes drills, and yes this includes practice time. It needs to include drills, because drills need to teach a specific technique, and that technique needs to fit scheme. And it includes practice time because I am efficient and I expect you to be too, if you are consistently unable to complete the drills in the time allotted then the players arent being fully trained.

Now this isnt to say that I am not willing to listen to changes coaches want to make, but these need to happen prior to spring ball; and I may not agree with it so don't assume all changes will be made. But its not to say I don't listen, much of what I do today is through change and adaptation . Once the plan is set I expect it followed, this keeps us all on the same page and all working to the same goals, it would take something pretty massive to force a change later down the road.

Once this is done things are easy, you teach the drills that are designed to teach at the time designated for it (and of course you are expected to have things set up and run properly).

As a coordinator, I can see giving autonomy to a position coach who knows more than you, and whom you trust to follow your scheme. But in the end wouldn't you want to know what is going on at all times and keep track of it, at the very least that will help you grow in case that person isnt there someday.

You hit the nail on the head.

As a Head Coach or coordinator, you SHOULD be a micromanager.

Treat it like you would treat any other business.
Whether it be a restaurant, construction, etc.

Obviously leave room to "make it your own" for the assistant coaches, i.e. new drills or opinion on techniques.

But how are you supposed to expect a your linebackers to fit the runs properly if you never told the coach how you want it done?
( or the suggested drill to teach how to do it)

Our HC is a defensive guy, so spends most of his time game planning with our DC. As a young OC, this is both awesome, and occasionally frustrating. He brought me in because he wanted to run up-tempo spread type stuff. He didn't mean straight 10 personnel, he had a vision, and brought me in to implement it. I have total control over what happens on the offensive side. During games, he might make suggestions on a type of play (Lets take a shot, how about that trick play, run the damn ball) but he doesn't micromanage me, near as much as much as he does the DC, and I like it that way.

At the same time, it's hard to bounce ideas off of someone who is spending a lot of time game planning. This is his first HC gig and he's done a much better job over the last year, trying to get more involved in our offensive stuff.

I'll openly admit I'm a bit of a micromanager of our position coaches. We're young on our side so I'll always ask the position coaches in our meetings what they want to do that day. If I don't love what they're doing, I'll ask why we need to do that today. If they can back it up and it fits, go ahead, if it's just because "I don't know, we havent' worked on that in a week" then I'll give them something that we need to work on. My name is on the offense, and I want to make sure we're doing things the right way. I'll be the first to admit (and I actually brought it up in my evaluation this year) that I need to work on letting things go a bit

I think a lot of the responses to this revolve around semantics of the OP, "How much autonomy...?"  I don't want it to sound like my HC is standing under an oak tree, smoking Marlboros all practice.  He is the LB coach, is heavily involved in Special Teams, and he runs around the practice field as much as the players.  As Blitzology stated, you have to earn your autonomy.  A good manager hires someone to do a job, monitors to ensure that he is doing that job, then moves away from overseeing every little aspect of that job as competence is shown.  It is the process of managing a program.

I definitely gave too much rope in my 1st year as a coordinator, I didn't want to micro manage. I gave too much credit, they are experienced guys but not on the defensive side of the ball. If I had a do over, I would have made them run me thru their EDDs, before season.