Recently, I resigned as assistant head coach football coach
and offensive coordinator. This was the first time I resigned from a coaching
position, but the second time that I am looking for a new football coaching job.
I helped out at my high school for 3 seasons, and when my head coach was let
go, I didn’t offer my services to the new head coach. So, this free agency as
we all call is, is not very new to me. But, I do have more experience this time
around, good and bad. Through my first time trying to find a football coaching
spot to this time, I feel that I can give some young coaches, new coaches, or
coaches that are going to go through this experience for the first time some
advice on what to do or what is about to happen.
My first piece of advice is try to coach as quick as you
can. If you end up not playing college football after high school, and you are
really serious about coaching football, I would try to right away after you
graduate high school. If you end up not going to college, that is perfectly
fine. If you go straight to the work force there is nothing wrong with that at
all. If you are lucky enough to find a job that will give you the time to
coach, I would take it. The reason why I say to coach right away is because the
sooner you start to learn how to coach, and start to make a name for yourself,
you could possible get bigger and better jobs somewhere out there and could
lead to different opportunities. You also can build working relationships faster.
Now, this is where I contradict myself a little bit. I would
like to tell you that if you stay around your area and get a job, that maybe
you should try to talk to your head coach and try to help him out and coach at
your old high school. My reasoning behind
that is you already know how the head coach works, you understand what he is
trying to do and most likely you are bought into what he is trying to do. You
also are going to be around someone who wants you to succeed and could prep you
into becoming a head coach one day. But, I also want to tell you to not go back
to your old high school right away. This is what I did and there are some
negative sides to it.
If you go back to
your high school right away, there will be a struggle to coach those players that
were just your teammates the previous season or two. Some of those players
might be your friends, and they may not respond well to you yelling at them
while coaching or this or that. I went through that experience when I went back
to help the team. Some of the players I grew up with in our small town, some
where my teammates for the past 2 seasons as well. So, it was a hard adjustment
for me to now be telling them what to do and may have to chew their butt once
in a while. It led to some tension between us. Eventually we got over it but it
was a hard thing to do.
My advice would be, if you are staying around your area
right after high school to work or go to the local college, I would recommend
going to a different school to try and coach. This way you are getting a
different experience, different culture, different system and just a way to
build different connections with different experiences.
If you do go away from home and go to college, and you can
have time fit into your schedule to coach, I still recommend that you need to
go to a high school around the college and try to help out. I know that might
be tough for some kids because we all know what can happen in college and what
kids want to do. But, if you are serious about getting into the coaching world
and be a good coach, you will have to give up your nights out to do this. I
think that’s a small price to pay to go help kids get better and coach this
amazing fun game.
My second point is how to go about asking a coach and what
will happen when you do talk to a coach. Asking the coach is the easy part, you
can either find the head coaches email on the school website and send him an
email about who you are, where you are from, and that you are very interested
in getting into coaching. Or can find him in person and do that same but just
now its face to face. Now, he may just email you back saying that he has enough
coaches, but he could direct you to another school to try and contact to coach,
or he will say to come meet him to talk about it. Now, I will tell you young or
first-time coaches, you most likely will not be paid your first-time coaching. Its
just the way it is in this coaching world. So, do not be upset if in the email
or when you go meet the coach that he says he doesn’t have a paid spot but will
talk about being a volunteer.
If you get asked to go talk to him, its going to be somewhat
of an interview. The head coach is going to want to know who you are, where are
you from, what does your family do, what do you do, what is your major in college
and stuff like that. The coach is going to want to know what you are all about
outside of coaching. Head coaches want to be surround by good people, so that
way good things will happen. Then, they are going to ask you what sports you
played, what positions did you play in those sports as well. Then, they will
get into your football offense and defense you ran at your high school. So,
before this, I would go and make sure that you know your head coaches’ offense
if you only played defense or your head coaches defense if you only played
offense. If you can’t answer that question very well to the head coach, that is
not going to look good.
Here is the part that most young coaches or first-time
coaches don’t know, while the head coach is asking you these questions and
interview you, you need to be interview him as well. Yes, you read that right,
you need to be asking him questions as well. You need to be asking him how do
they run their weight lifting program, what offense and defense do they run,
what is he trying to build here, what team building activities do they do, what
is the culture they are trying to build and so on and so forth. Now you don’t
just yell these questions out, you have to build them into the conversations
depending on how they are going.
The reason for this is you need to be able to coach at a
place where you are bought into the system. If you as a coach are not bought
into what the head coach wants to do, you are not going to learn and get
better, and you are not going to be put in a good spot to succeed yourself.
This may sound selfish, but us coaches sometimes need to worry about ourselves
as well. We coach for the kids and want to help them as much as we can, but us
coaches have to be helping ourselves out and have fun as well. If we don’t get
along with the head coach or just don’t buy into or agree with what is going
on, then we are not having fun and it hurts us from learning and growing to get
better.
Us coaches always one
day want to move up from the position we are at. Its just like any other job,
we always want to move up in the ranks after so many years working. If you are
not bought in, then eventually during a season, the kids are going to sense
that from you and its going to rub off on them. Of course, you can fake your way
through it, but eventually those kids will figure it out.
So, during this interview with a head coach, while you are
asking him questions, if you just don’t think you will learn or go or be bought
in, do not coach there. Do not waste your time at a place where you will not
learn to go be a coordinator, or head coach, or just a better person. I know
what it is like to not be bought into something or don’t agree with what is
going on around you. It is a tough thing to go through mentally. Please don’t
confuse that with you just not being happy with the position the head coach
offers you. If its your first time trying to coach and the head coach puts you
on the freshman staff, don’t say “well I was a 3-year varsity player I know my
stuff this is dumb I’m varsity material”, and just don’t accept it. You need to
start on the bottom and work your way up. That’s the head coaches’ way of
seeing what you are made of and get your feet wet in coaching. If it’s a place
that you think that you will be put in a spot to be successful, learn, and to
grow, and that coach offers you a spot somewhere, you need to take is.
I feel this is important information to give out because
some young coaches or first timers need to be prepared and to know what will or
can happen. Also, because I went through this, and I am going to go through it
again. I coached at my high school right after graduation and went through some
ups and downs. Then, when I went to talk to the new hired head football coach
at Charleston, in the back of my mind I thought I should have a big role. In
other words, I thought I should have gotten the keys to the car and sat in the
driver’s seat. I quickly learned with being a young coach, that wasn’t going to
happen. The head coach wanted to put me through the ringer the first year to
see what I was made of and what I could do to help his program. It was hard to
me because I had the mindset that I knew this or that or I could do this or
that.
It was bad attitude
to have at the beginning of this relationship and new coaching spot. I thought
I wasn’t bought in, but the more the year went on, even though we struggled, I
could tell what the head coach was trying to do. I could see how he wanted to
change the culture around the program, and the more conversations we had the
more I realized I was acting like a brat and he really wanted to get me to the
level I wanted to coach at one day.
To this day, even though I don’t coach under him anymore, I
still call him coach, he still helps me try to find coaching jobs, and is still
my friend. If I ever get the chance to coach under him again, I would take it
no questions. And if I ever get a head coaching spot, he will be one of the
first guys to get a phone call with a job offer.
That’s what is great about this game, you can get
friendships that will last a lifetime. You can get experiences that you can get
anywhere else. You can help kids and just grow as a person during the seasons.
I hope one day to be able to help young coaches out and get them ready for what
this coaching gig will really be about.
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