Creating a GA-type position in your HS program?

IDK...there's a hierarchy in everything, and High School students are particularly sensitive to that. So... Other students organizing and running drills may not be the hot tip as in college GA's.

Football Players, (and other athletes) are the Alpha Males in the HS Hierarchy and I'm having a tough time thinking this is a good idea for them to accept other students (who they may see as lower in the hierarchy) as their coach.

You'd prolly have to open this program up to the female students, too...and I can't see a bunch of cheerleaders out on the field helping to run a varsity practice.

If you try this, I'd sure like to know how it works out.

I think it could work if the Student-Assistant's role was limited to things like:

- Breaking down film
- Stats
- Making scout cards
- Helping set up & put away equipment

That said, I think it would take a significant investment of time on your part to teach the student how to do these jobs properly.

Oh absolutely, more what I had in mind was the stuff like Coach.A mentioned above, the behind the scenes stuff. If they are at practice, they are moving equipment around and helping film practice, not run the drills.

My son transferred to a new HS this past season (long story). Long suffering program that has brought in some good people to turn things around. HC finds out who I am and my experience, asks me over the summer to come be their LB coach. I turn down for a couple reasons:

1) I want my son to establish himself at the new school on the new team as his own man, before being "Coach 'so-and-so's Son"
2) I am currently the middle school AD for the MS I am at, and that takes up a lot of after school days to where I could not fully commit to practice.

That being written, I said I would happy to help out on the defensive side with a lot of the duties you listed. I broke down the upcoming offenses film, made scout cards, made the tendency sheets (one of my weird skills is finding good tendencies others miss) and worked the booth for the defensive side of the ball on game night.

It was kind of what you wrote, so I thought I'd mention it; though it was really more of a defensive consultant role. We did however have a young coach who we were trying to groom in such a way, but he ended up being a frosh position coach.

I definitely think this (a hs GA type) is a feasibility for larger schools with HUGE staffs. There are lots of schools around here with guys begging to be a part of what they do. I imagine some young 20 something would be good with doing these things. It just pends where you are and how many people you got who want to help.

Zero chance I trust a high school kid to break down film or make scout cards. The kids we have can barely follow one let alone draw one out.

The stats and equipment stuff fall under managers which we have but we don’t let them do stats. I wouldn’t be against it but just seems like something that needs to be done properly

Aren't we all just GAs at the HS level... As the HC working 50+ hours a week I got a $5000 stipend for the year (pre-tax)

Coach, at the end of the day, I respect your position on this regardless. That being said, again, in my mind, these are people you would select for traits you would want in coaches. You aren't letting in just anyone who wants to do it. They have to prove themselves, just like a coach would. Why specifically wouldn't you trust a HS student assistant to break down film, tag HUDL, create scout cards, and do stats if they prove they are capable of it?

Why is that, coach?

I absolutely think it could work & be popular if.......you could write a curriculum, get it passed and involve a grade / credit for kids.

I think that would be a great opportunity for kids interested in the coaching side of sports.  Especially maybe some females who traditionally manage the team.  IDK about you guys, but I personally have those types of kids start strong and then peter out as they get older.  

This could be an incentive for kids to get & STAY involved as well as allow them to earn some elective credits. 

I think it's a fantastic idea!

Because if I’m going to put in the time and effort to teach a kid how I want it done and check to make sure it was done properly I’m going to have a kid on the team do it. At least if I’m giving myself more work to do in season I’m going to make sure it’s to make a kid on field better

FWIW I've been with a number of programs who had "Stat Girls", I imagine you could have them bring out gear before and after practice. That would be half the initially listed tasks

Sure. How is that any different than teams that already have equipment managers for football, baseball, etc?

I was asking how it's different in the sense of them both taking on work as unpaid servants

We've had "student managers" - they are usually pushed toward us through our school's mentor program (aka kids that need something to keep them out of trouble) or they're enthusiastic about the sport but tiny/unathletic/high functioning special ed. These kids help set up the practice field, film practice and/or games, maybe some minor equipment stuff, etc. They're not bringing much to the plate but if it's good for them and they're not a distraction, then I don't have a problem with having them around.

I've also been in a few situations where we had a coach who was maybe less adept with actually coaching football but was willing to do a lot of the grunt work with Hudl, film, operations, etc. This could be a parent, a recent graduate, or just somebody who is looking for a place to coach. Usually they would also coach a freshmen/JV position group but their varsity role was more operational and less actual on-field. Contrary to the first example, I love having one of these guys around.