Post by The Lunch Pail on Oct 12, 2024 14:38:37 GMT -6
Disclaimer, this is not a "woe is me" post. It'd be awesome if I found other coaches who maybe can relate to this or are in the same situation.
I'm a DC at a high school in our state's smallest classification. My school is only in our 5th year of Varsity football. Our kids have a small football IQ, as is expected with a newer football program. However, our roster turnover is absolutely insane. We looked to have a loaded defense coming back, 9 of 11 starters returning. We ended up losing 6 of those 9 returning starters (transfers, would rather work on the farm, just don't like football, etc.). Of course, all of those six players were going to be dudes for us and we'd spent years developing them.
Now, we're playing literal JV level guys 30-40 snaps a night. Somehow, we've still been over 50% efficient throughout the season. But we're in this constant cycle of "forced to play youth w/ 0 FB IQ - develop promising young talent - young talent starts to break out - young talent gets a big head - young talent quits - forced to play youth w/ 0 FB IQ"
In my three years at this school, we lose nearly half the roster every year. At the same time, I can't think of a more "players-first" program in the state. We constantly have team socials, reward kids for any imaginable positive action, and all of our coaches have outstanding relationships with our kids.
I love our HC to death. The most high-character man I've ever known. Outstanding person, knowledgeable, couldn't ask for a better face of the program.
Problem is, the guy's so far on the "coach the coaches" end of the spectrum that every issue is a coach problem and not a player problem. Kid misses a block? You coached him to do that. Kid completely loafs/gives up on a play? You coached him to do that. Kid drops a pass? You coached him to do that. I've never in my life been around a program with so little player accountability. There's nothing wrong with coaching coaches, but I get chewed out 3x a practice and 6x a game (win or loss). Our kids pick up on this and it's like they can do no wrong. I would walk through hot coals for a lot of our kids, but they don't have any fear of failure to the point where it's a "who cares?" attitude most weeks.
Last Friday, we played a legit NFL offense. Very akin to Sean McVay/LA Rams (wide zone, 1,000 formations, motion every play). It was hell gameplanning for them. We came up with a pretty solid gameplan that would keep the game really simple and sound for our kids. Realistically, we should've lost by ~14 points. But our kids completely folded after going down 14-0 in the first quarter. Ended up losing the game by 41. I can think of a million things I could have done better, complete team loss.
Driving back home, I recall a phonecall I had with a fellow HC in our conference regarding how they played this specific opponent. He literally said, "they were a lot more physical than we thought, so we just decided to adjust and be more physical." Boy, would that be nice.
Sometimes, I wonder if I'm hitching my wagon to a dead-end gig or if I should see this thing through. Building a program from scratch is truly not for the faint of heart.
I'm a DC at a high school in our state's smallest classification. My school is only in our 5th year of Varsity football. Our kids have a small football IQ, as is expected with a newer football program. However, our roster turnover is absolutely insane. We looked to have a loaded defense coming back, 9 of 11 starters returning. We ended up losing 6 of those 9 returning starters (transfers, would rather work on the farm, just don't like football, etc.). Of course, all of those six players were going to be dudes for us and we'd spent years developing them.
Now, we're playing literal JV level guys 30-40 snaps a night. Somehow, we've still been over 50% efficient throughout the season. But we're in this constant cycle of "forced to play youth w/ 0 FB IQ - develop promising young talent - young talent starts to break out - young talent gets a big head - young talent quits - forced to play youth w/ 0 FB IQ"
In my three years at this school, we lose nearly half the roster every year. At the same time, I can't think of a more "players-first" program in the state. We constantly have team socials, reward kids for any imaginable positive action, and all of our coaches have outstanding relationships with our kids.
I love our HC to death. The most high-character man I've ever known. Outstanding person, knowledgeable, couldn't ask for a better face of the program.
Problem is, the guy's so far on the "coach the coaches" end of the spectrum that every issue is a coach problem and not a player problem. Kid misses a block? You coached him to do that. Kid completely loafs/gives up on a play? You coached him to do that. Kid drops a pass? You coached him to do that. I've never in my life been around a program with so little player accountability. There's nothing wrong with coaching coaches, but I get chewed out 3x a practice and 6x a game (win or loss). Our kids pick up on this and it's like they can do no wrong. I would walk through hot coals for a lot of our kids, but they don't have any fear of failure to the point where it's a "who cares?" attitude most weeks.
Last Friday, we played a legit NFL offense. Very akin to Sean McVay/LA Rams (wide zone, 1,000 formations, motion every play). It was hell gameplanning for them. We came up with a pretty solid gameplan that would keep the game really simple and sound for our kids. Realistically, we should've lost by ~14 points. But our kids completely folded after going down 14-0 in the first quarter. Ended up losing the game by 41. I can think of a million things I could have done better, complete team loss.
Driving back home, I recall a phonecall I had with a fellow HC in our conference regarding how they played this specific opponent. He literally said, "they were a lot more physical than we thought, so we just decided to adjust and be more physical." Boy, would that be nice.
Sometimes, I wonder if I'm hitching my wagon to a dead-end gig or if I should see this thing through. Building a program from scratch is truly not for the faint of heart.
