Consultant

We haven't but I know other programs that have and they got some great insight from what I heard. At a previous school I was at, the head coach didn't want to pay for someone to come in but I was going to pay him myself to evaluate what we did defensively in practice.

Here is the problem with the "consultant" aspect in HS football. Compensation. If actual asst coaches are making low 4 figure stipends to work long hours (and maybe even year round), what does a consultant merit?

My own thoughts on that is doing this as just a small side hustle, or if I wanted to invest more time into this to make real money, creating books/products, writings, etc, but then I criticize myself and say I'm just turning into another "clinic coach," or content creator which I often hold my own harsh criticisms about lol.  

I really just like writing and talking about building programs and systems.  Compound how bad inflation has gotten, I'm more and more tempted to try a side hustle like this.  Working a salaried job with a master's degree and still having half of your monthly income going to just housing and utilities is getting exhausting.  

Yes, but there is a flip side.  Not to be rude (because this would apply to almost every other poster on this board) but what value would you bring?  Who are "you".  Can you imagine being an asst coach at a program and having the program invest money in someone else outside instead of upping your stipend a bit?  

The issue with consultants and HS ball is that consultants don't have any skin in the game, and unlike other levels of football, the vast majority of HS ball is simply skin in the game --working many months for little pay.  

From a personal finance point of view (since you brought it up) this would likely be a horrible investment of your time and resources.  There have been a few other threads on this board discussing the topic, and I believe they all sort of steer into that same direction.   Because the compensation for those with all the skin in the game is so low, it isn't really feasible to find a price point at which it is worth the consultants time... unless that time is so short that the consultant doesnt add any value to the program hiring the services. 

We initially had a grant, I don't know the specifics.  It was received very favorably by coaches and admin. in order to help meet the district requirements for Social Emotional Learning.
The district piloted a program through the summer and it culminated with a a 2 day session in which we observed at a volleyball game and a football practice.

It wasn't cheap, yeah federal government grants.

The psychologist is also trained in Strength and Conditioning.  His primary sport has been VB but he has worked with pretty much every sport. DI to HS and teams and individuals.

So again, from a business perspective, how many practices will they have to attend to evaluate the program, its individual situations (players, staff, facilities, equipment etc)? One practice? One week? How much does that cost per hour/day? How much is that expense relative to what you are paying your assts (and yourself) for working ___ hours a day 6/7 days a week from late July- November?

I believe that is where the “consultant “ idea in HS ball fails. Any compensation worth the “consultant’s” time is going to be monumentally disproportionate to what most HS coaches make for the season/year.

Isn't the Athletic Director paid to evaluate the program?

The Cost / Value will always be exorbitant to bring an 'outsider' in to give you an honest assessment. Even in professional settings, what you end up with is 90% redundancy (telling you what you already do), 8% suggestion (what you already know you should do, but aren't) and 2% of new perspective (if only you had ___ to adopt it).
To do it right, they would need to spend significant time with you in the off-season, during practice, and on game night. The best you could realistically do is a 'friend of the program', some ex ball coach that has anxious time on his hands. Even then, unless its some open-minded forward thinking, dude,you're likely going to get "you should do things like I did back in the day...."

How could you achieve the same while having more control of the costs?
Do the opposite. Instead of an outsider coming into your program, YOU go visit another program (on your dime). Can the header and/or assistant(s) devote time out of THEIR personal lives to embed with a college program in the region? Visit them during the off-season, during spring ball, etc and just hang out on campus. Don't just visit for an hour, go to their coaches meetings, go to their players meetings, spend time in their film room, go to the practices, talk to the players and support staff....Now, measure your notes and overall experience with what you guys do. What did your time inspire you to do/ creative thoughts?
This is powerful if just one coach on staff does it. If more than one does it, it multiplies even greater. It shines a light on what you could do, through the lens of what you already do, but more importantly it can SHOW you how those things look like when put in practice

I think consultants are valuable because too many high school coaches (at least around here) don't visit other programs and they go to one clinic in the off-season and spend most of the time drinking in the bar. Should high school programs be able to correct things on their own without paying someone else? Absolutely, but that's unfortunately not the case.

Spend more time on Defensive Fundamentals and Run the ball more. Consult concluded. Venmo me $250.00

A few more years out of teaching or having any idea of what actually goes on in a classroom and I should be able to make some real coin doing this.

Most ADS anymore seem to spend most their time trying to find refs and doing evaluations of teachers. At least around here.

I've seen more ADs that never coached than I have not in the past 10 years.

Yep. You just need a Google slideshow and an acronym. Poof...you are an educelebrity!

Yes sir. I'm with you. I was making the point that other than those types of things, I think it would be difficult to get support for and justify spending $ on a consultant in most programs. I had a buddy who wanted to bring me in to do the 3 day camp thing but said he knew the admin at his school would wonder why he was paying somebody else to come coach his kids... that is what they hired him to do.