Need Help, I just took over a program

If you're talking about a HC job, probably so. There are many places where you can be a HC without working at the school but not many that will hire a HC without a degree.

As for an assstant job, you don't need to be rich. You just need to have a job with flexibile hours.

just another note about the weight room (man, you CANNOT put enough emphasis into this facet of building a football program)

Just some cheap gimmick things we would do.....

3 Tiers of physical benchmarks.
(lets say your team is the 'Fighting Mangos')
....1st tier of basic physical competency is a T-shirt qualifying for the "Mango Club"
........2nd tier of excellent physical competency is a T-shirt qualifying for the "Green Mango Club"
.............3rd tier of superior physical competency is a T-shirt qualifying for the 'Fighting Mango" club

(its one thing to get a T-shirt, but I got a "Fighting Mango" shirt)


oh,yeah.....you will make good friends with your local screen printer....it doesn't take much to print off some basic T-shirts

The point is based on body weight % of weight lifted in the Bench, Squat, Clean, Deadlift....
Some of the stuff we stole from was "Husker Power" program (which had some of these elements in it). This pushes kids to GROW and not just meet arbitrary numbers.

This should drive a RECORDS board in your weight room. Leaders in each class (Sr-Fr) for every major group....so that those RECORDS can stand for as long as it takes to break them (non-starter Jimmy Blow is relatively unknown, but he can get his name on the "Big Board" as the strongest Clean as a Sophomore).

T-shirts given for test-outs every lifting phase (every 12 weeks of the off-season)
T-shirts given for every class for strongman contest winner (every month, the point winner in every weight class - small, medium, large weight classes)
T-shirts given for weight room attendance (given at the beginning of football camp)

The biggest thing is, do not think you can build a football program without investing in the off-season conditioning. With basketball players, they usually already go for SPARQ stuff and plyos....just introducing Oly movements would do wonders......since you are so 'connected try to get a competent instructor to come in to clinic', both YOUR staff and the BASKETBALL staff along with any players that want to attend. So they can properly teach the movements like cleans, and take away the mystique and intimidation of these lifts. You can do it "right" or you can do it "cheap"......what is best for the program?

with the T-shirts you are really just investing in the program because that money goes right back into the program (as workout clothes for your guys)......

T-shirts can be elaborate as printed designs or as simple as just basic block letter type.
PLUS, you can get SPONSORS to help fund them (put your message on the front, sponsor logo on the back)

here is a design I would like to use next year for program building shirts (it was stolen from the Saints billboards that string I-20 from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that simply say "earn it")

Warning- This post is a bit of a rant. I guess it just hit a sore spot, concerning a head coach's involvement. I apologize in advance, and I'm probably going to take a lot of crap for this, but here it goes.

I just couldn't stay quiet on this one.

Am I the only one that caught this?



I don't know how things work in New York, but this would not fly in Texas. It should not fly anywhere. As the head man, how can you not be there on a daily basis? That's your job (not making a statement against you duce, just the title of "head coach" in general). I guess that answers the question of how someone can get a head job with "limited coaching experience". That is a reflection on the school that makes such a hire. If that is their expectation, well...good luck with that.

My defensive coordinator has driven over an hour each way every single day for the last 5 years. That may just be showing stupidity on his part by not moving (probably so, but no comment on that one at this time), but at least it shows a little commitment. If a DC can do it, surely the head coach can make it every day. If the kids or your staff are required to be there, the head coach should be there. The only acceptable reason for not being there would be the administrative duties that often accompany being a head coach (meetings, supporting other teams at their functions, etc...). At least then he is still "at work".

I understand that some of us only do this "part time", but seriously, even as a "part time" coach, if you can not do the things that being a head coach requires you to do, 1) you should not apply for the job. 2) you should definitely not be hired. The first thing you are required to do is BE THERE.

Maybe I'm just naive or unaware of the world outside of coaching in the South, but that's how I feel. I just had to get it off my chest.

The end.

p.s. Sorry for the rant, and ducej11, I wish you luck. You have your work cut out for you.

well, to each his own, but it is a 'credibility' thing.

Have fun getting kids to sell out for weight room attendance, if the HC can't even make it every day.

I guess maybe I'm anal retentive, but the HEAD COACHING spot is T-O-U-G-H because you are responsible for sooooo much (the burden of leadership). You are essentially the Governor of Football, and not much of a true coach. To go into a gig blindly, without your ducks in order can do more harm than good, because like I said, you can never make up the 'lost time' (building momentum). This is why you find a lot of (perceived) GREAT head coaches delegating many of the tasks and they merely just make an appearance (DC, STC, OC, etc).

A great deal of the weight room benefit is not only physical, but also emotional & psychological.

It BONDS the team together, a proving ground. If you are busting your hump 4 days a week in the gym in the off-season, then some guy decides to show up at the tail end, you will naturally resent him.

I think we all would be interested in the results of your brain-storming session and wish you the best of luck.


It is probably just how the message comes across, and not the actual situation, but like it was pointed out --- it comes across like some guy getting a DC job, then wondering about how to install a defense......it is stuff you should know/have a plan for before you even think about applying for the gig.

I'm going to assume that THIS job was just too good to pass up, because of what kind of opportunity it provided. You had some AFL / high-level playing experience (?), are bringing some of your buddies, and you are close friends with the VP. You intend to be a HC some day, and this was just a great way to get started early.....Good on ya.....

The 'problem' is.....................how do you get the crash-course in program building (not play calling) before its too late?


(I hate how this comes across as being a 'critic', it is just what we all are thinking)