Coaches have to adapt, and listen to your assistants

In high school, well most high schools, you don’t get to recruit your players for your sport. I know that some private schools can do this, and maybe some high schools in the bigger football states can, but most schools can’t. As coaches, we have to adapt almost each year to the talent that comes into our programs. So, us as coaches have to be able to evaluate that and be able to see what we can do each season. If you get big strong offensive lineman, well of course you are going to hand the ball off a little bit more because you have men up front. If you have smaller offensive lineman, you will still run the ball but maybe just pass a little bit more because they should be quick enough to pass block. If you have a outstanding athlete you of course are going to pass him or hand the ball off to him and have different packages for him. These are just small examples, but to be a good coach, you sometimes need to put aside your pride and what you want to do in order to put those kids in a great spot to win.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to change your whole offense or defense system. You just need to be able to adapt. For example, you are a spread coach and that’s the system you want and believe in, that doesn’t mean that you switch to a wing t just because you get bigger kids and need to run the ball more. It just means you have to adapt your formations and plays to those kids. If you run a 3-4 defense and that’s the defense you want, but you don’t have the athletes to play those outside linebacker spots or safety spots, doesn’t mean you get rid of the terminology or philosophy, just means you may need to line up in a different defense. Or, you have different packages, group A is in you run your 3-4. If you have group B in, this is your 4-3 defense.

Coaches get caught up in, well this is my defense and this is what we are going to run. Or this is my offense and this is what we are going to run. We just wont call certain plays cause the kids can’t do them. Their pride gets in the way, or they feel like they will look weak, or they just don’t want to listen to anyone. They want to feel like it’s their program and they want that “Power” feel. When this happens, it becomes more about you than those kids. It doesn’t put those kids in the right situation to learn and to get better to win and compete.

You have to be able to listen to your assistant coaches well. The team starts with the coaches, because we are the ones that watch the film, and try to game plan on what to do each weak, and research with different clinics or going to watch other coaches’ practices. During meetings on the weekend, or even any meetings during the week, you as a head coach or even a coordinator need to be able to listen and take in what assistant are thinking and saying. You can’t just say no to everything that is told to you by them, because that is not helping those assistant gain confidences. And its not letting them feel like a part of the team and family.

Now, you don’t need to say yes to everything, you have to be able to give them the chance to explain why something could be done this way, or this tweak could work. If that means you talk about it for an hour, then you talk about for an hour. If you have to draw it on the white board, then you draw it on the white board. Then at the end, if you as the head coach don’t want it, well at lease you let them try, and instead of saying no that’s not going to work, say well this just may not be right for these kids but I like it and like where your head is at. If you just turn down everything an assistant says, after you asked what to do, most likely you won’t be getting much out of that assistant, or he will take his talents elsewhere. And you can’t turn down an idea just because it wasn’t your idea, or you don’t like where they got it from.

We are not bigger than the game of football as coaches. Its our job to make sure those kids are in a good situation to learn, grow, get better at football, and put in a spot to compete to win. Once you make it about yourself, like I have written above, you will not last long and it will not end well. You won’t have kids come play, you won’t put them in good spots, and you won’t grow either.

We have to be able to adapt, we have to be willing to admit when something isn’t working so that we don’t beat our heads against the wall. We have to also be willing to listen to the assistant coaches we surround ourselves with. And to make sure those assistant coaches have a big part and say in our program.