coachsherman
Lurker
Assistant Coach: Hanover High School
Posts: 4 
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Post by coachsherman on Jul 26, 2017 14:52:34 GMT -6
Background Information:
I moved to a new State this past year and was hired a few months ago on to the local HS football staff as a Varsity Assistant Coach (and JV Coach).
I am still learning the new system this program runs, both offensively and defensively (more familiar with the D than I am the O)
Have had 7v7's and lifting along with some small walkthroughs with the HS team, but we will not begin our pre-season practices until early next month.
Just the other day I was asked by the Varsity Head Coach if I would be interested in being the head coach of the 8th-grade program, remaining on the Varsity staff as an assistant, but giving up my JV duties in order to focus on the youth program. Apparently, this youth program has gone through allot of back and forth over these past years. It was at one time run by the local Rec. department, but they flaked and didn't want to deal with it anymore and dumped it on the High School if they wanted to keep it going. A coach on the HS staff took over last year when that happened and helped keep it afloat. Well, wouldn't you know, we went through the same thing again this year, and the Rec. center dumped the program right before the pre-season was nearing. I know how essential a youth program can be to the development of young players coming through your system, and as such, I do not want to have these kids lose out on playing this season.
I have agreed to take over the program, but I have very limited time to prepare practice plans, drills, find assistants to help me, etc. I will also be a teaching intern this year at the same school I will be Coaching in. Because of this, I am already spread as thin as can be in terms of my time (God bless my Girlfriend). If anyone out there in the Football Coaching Profession could lend me any ideas, plans, I would be grateful.
- Games are on Wednesdays, so I am not sure how to formulate practices with an odd game day.
- How to break up practices when It may only be me, or 2 other men.
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Post by 19delta on Jul 27, 2017 11:35:25 GMT -6
Background Information: I moved to a new State this past year and was hired a few months ago on to the local HS football staff as a Varsity Assistant Coach (and JV Coach). I am still learning the new system this program runs, both offensively and defensively (more familiar with the D than I am the O) Have had 7v7's and lifting along with some small walkthroughs with the HS team, but we will not begin our pre-season practices until early next month. Just the other day I was asked by the Varsity Head Coach if I would be interested in being the head coach of the 8th-grade program, remaining on the Varsity staff as an assistant, but giving up my JV duties in order to focus on the youth program. Apparently, this youth program has gone through allot of back and forth over these past years. It was at one time run by the local Rec. department, but they flaked and didn't want to deal with it anymore and dumped it on the High School if they wanted to keep it going. A coach on the HS staff took over last year when that happened and helped keep it afloat. Well, wouldn't you know, we went through the same thing again this year, and the Rec. center dumped the program right before the pre-season was nearing. I know how essential a youth program can be to the development of young players coming through your system, and as such, I do not want to have these kids lose out on playing this season. I have agreed to take over the program, but I have very limited time to prepare practice plans, drills, find assistants to help me, etc. I will also be a teaching intern this year at the same school I will be Coaching in. Because of this, I am already spread as thin as can be in terms of my time (God bless my Girlfriend). If anyone out there in the Football Coaching Profession could lend me any ideas, plans, I would be grateful. - Games are on Wednesdays, so I am not sure how to formulate practices with an odd game day. - How to break up practices when It may only be me, or 2 other men. First off, what are the HFC's expectations for the program? Does he expect you to be competitive and win? Or does he primarily want you to focus on skill development and player retention? Assuming it is the latter and not the former, I would go into the season with the idea of playing as many kids as possible. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was that if you aren't going to be really good, play a lot of kids because that will at least keep the parents happy! As far as assistants go, are there any paid positions or are you pretty much looking at volunteers? If you are looking at volunteers, perhaps there would be a couple dads willing to help out (choose daddy coaches wisely!). Regarding practice plan and drills...I would beg the HFC to set up a "clinic" for you in which he shows you some of the basic drills he does with the high school kids that you can use or modify for your 8th graders. I would also ask him for help in designing a practice plan. Given your situation and your willingness to contribute, I would expect the HFC to be sympathetic to your situation and would be willing to provide these things for you. If none of that is possible, buy the book, "Winning Youth Football" by Dave Cisar. This is, hands down, the BEST guide to running a youth football program I have ever read. If Dave Cisar can't help you, you are pretty much hopeless!  Good luck, Coach. I applaud you for your enthusiasm and willingness to take on so much responsibility! |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2017 12:08:54 GMT -6
First off, what are the HFC's expectations for the program? Does he expect you to be competitive and win? Or does he primarily want you to focus on skill development and player retention? Assuming it is the latter and not the former, I would go into the season with the idea of playing as many kids as possible. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was that if you aren't going to be really good, play a lot of kids because that will at least keep the parents happy! That depends on the parents. I got caught in a similar position with the MS girls basketball team here a year ago. They were awful and I am not much of a basketball coach, so I just kept all 11 girls who came out and made the bottom 5 our "JV" to develop them for the future. Everybody was getting playing time but nobody was very good. That didn't stop a lot of crazy drama with parents and the school board over why we weren't winning. Parents actually went to the principal and school board to complain about the backups taking playing time away from the starters, even when the starters were injured and I was trying to pull them out of blowouts before they aggravated injuries in garbage time. I am glad I'm not doing that anymore! As for the OP, coachsherman, I suggest running a very simplified version of the HS systems if you can (talk with your HC for guidance), but if you're still unsure of what to do install a very basic version of what you already know and go from there. As for practice plans, see if you can find at least one other person, whether it be a parent or an aide or whatever, to be an assistant coach. He doesn't need to be knowledgable about football. He just needs to be reliable and able to supervise the kids when you're busy with the other group and help out with stuff like mixing gatorade and painting the field. An idea for practice would be something like this: Mon.--Offense and Defense split evenly (maybe 1 hr each) Tues.--light day with special teams (Punt/PR, KO/KR), and some light contact offense and defense to review for the game. Wed.--game day--do a walkthrough on air before kickoff if at all possible to review for the game Thurs.--light day to recover. correct mistakes from the day before in all 3 phases. Fri.--Offense and Defense split evenly (maybe 1 hr each) If you're the only dependable coach or the only guy who knows football, see if you can just have the other guy run very simple drills with the kids on one end of the field while you do more teaching-related stuff with the others. Maybe do something like do the OL indy one day yourself while they throw routes on air with the other guy, then switch it up and have them do sled drills with him on the opposite end. Another thing is to divide the groups into "linemen" and "backs" for offensive drills and "front" and "secondary" on defense. One good thing about running a system like the Double Wing or Single Wing is that you can easily cross train positions if you just keep the playbook small and do drills with the whole team on how to block down, kick out, and wrap through a hole since all 11 of the positions all need to do most of those things. Use the same tackling drills, pursuit drills, and sled drills to teach a very simple defense to also keep it streamlined. KISS and fun and try to find a role for each kid, playing them all. If you have low numbers, as it sounds like you probably will, focus on half line and half field stuff instead of "team" and make sure to cross train each kid at least 1 or 2 other positions on each side of the ball. |
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