11 Questions from a recent interview for a head varsity football position

Duke is absolutely right in this approach. So many coaches say what they "think" the interview committee wants to hear. Then, after the head coach gets the position, he does things the complete opposite. Coaches who don't win and aren't honest are let go a lot faster than someone who doesn't win and is as honest as truth syrum itself.

You have to apply for jobs at small schools that are in tough situations. That's your best chance of getting a head coaching job at a young age. John, are you coaching varsity yet? Also, you must have a professionally written plan describing how you would run the program. The more detailed the plan, the better.

I hope this helps.

I would love a copy coach...e_twardoz@yahoo.com

thanks a lot

Average age of a 5-A Head Coach in Texas is 52. Coach CAmpbell

Here is another question for you guys.

If you were a young coach aspiring to become a head coach, what type of program would you prefer to start with? Would you want to take over a program that has already experienced success and knows something about winning or would you rather take the reigns of a program that has never seen success?? The feeling of building a program up from nothing would definetly be very rewarding. I realize its very unlikely for a young coach to take over a program that has been successful in the past but all the same I would like to hear what you guys have to say on this.

Lou,
I realize that is what I will HAVE to do...but I was wanting some opinions on wheather I should continue to work as an assistant and hope for a decent head coaching job down the road, or should I just go for it (head coaching job) at a school where the shelf is empty and see what happens??

Coach Cella, is there any type of webpage that has PA coaching openings on it?

Kmills,
I would love to get a copy of your word document packet that you have assembled.
email is kadcarey@yahoo.com
thanks in advance
kevin

i will answer question #1:

I came into a program with 35 years of apathy. No playoffs or league title ever!! i deal with a group of kids that range from extremely wealthy to extremely urban. there are many kids that were not committed, mainly due to their lack of parental support. unfortunately, most of these kids were the best athletes and the most potential. I TRIED to reach out and understand that their lives were different than mine. I tried to reel them in get them excited about our FB program. by reaching out to them, i was failing to coach the kids that wanted to be coached. For example, if a kid or 2 was missing a few minutes before practice, i would call him, pick him up or have another coach pick him up. i did this countless times. the fact of the matter was that if these kids truly cared, they would have been there on time. it's that simple. i spent 80% of my time dealing with issues such as kids being late or ineligibility. Meanwhile, there were eager kids wanting to be coached, I could go on forever, but what I learned is that you must treat all your athletes the same. You cannot have different rules for different kids, regardless of their home lives. It just doesnt work out. And it hurts the overall program. Coach the kids that want to be coached!!!!!!

GCTIGERS,
Thanks for the post.

I am in the same boat as a few of you here. I am just 25 and have 5 years of experience. I put a pretty good interview packet together with strong influences from TM's packet. I sent it out to three schools and has one quasi-interview. Ill explain why it was quasi in a sec.

John my advice to you since you are a little like me, is put a good packet together, go to kinkos have them bind it, and send it to the schools. The worst that can happen is they throw the thing away, then you are in the same boat you would be if you never sent the thing at all.

I am beginning to realize myself that if I am going to get an opportunity it is likely going to be at a small school that is struggling for whatever reason, many times coaches move up to the bigger schools or are guys that have been on the staff for many, many years and the HC retired, thats just how things go, at least in the areas of the country I am familiar with.

Now here is my quasi interview story. I sent my packet to three different schools, two in Wisconsin and one in Indiana, since I am originally from WI. I called the AD at one of the schools and basically said, hey I am interested but am wondering about teaching positions as well, also I am going to be coming home for X-mas and am wondering if you wouldnt mind sitting down with me when I got there. He said yeah sure thats fine.

So I went in to speak with him and he told me what shape the program was in. They went 3-24 the last three seasons, their numbers have declined and last season they only had 24 kids play. They are a small catholic school, only about 240 kids, very similar to the HS I went to, which just happens to be about 30 miles away and is a perennial 10 game winner.

Anyway he received my packet about two days before I went to speak with him. He let me introduce myself and give him a little more background on my teaching and coaching history. He then went on to tell me what downfalls the program had right now and wanted to know what I would do to change them (low numbers, low weight room attendance mainly) So I addressed those questions as best I could. We then spoke about the feeder school and the problem they had there. Since it is a Catholic school, not all the students at the Catholic middle school attend the HS. For instance if they have 15 8th grade football players at the MS, maybe 9 of them would come to the HS and only 6 would play FB. He then asked me what I would do to change that. We then spoke for about 45 minutes about various topics, budgeting, offense, assistant coaches etc. He gave me a tour of the school and their facilities. He then told me he will definately be calling me at the end of January because that is when he will interview the rest of the canidates. So I was able to get a quasi-interview because I was intown from out of state and he said he is going to call me back at the end of the month. My impression when I left is that I have a decent shot. Yes it is a tough situation, but as a 25 year old I am not going to be given the keys to a Cadillac. I gotta get that little beater and turn it into a Mustang.

So anyway John, just start applying all over, be open minded and be optimisitic. You might not get what you want right away, but everything you do prepares you for when you get what you want.

AZ, we are very much alike. I too would coach the OL and LB's. However, I would coordinate all aspects of the program (offense, defense, special teams, strength and conditioning-- I am a believer in micromanaging, and frankly, I don't care if my life revolves around football). I was a head coach at the age of 25, in, without a doubt, the worst situation in Pennsylvania. In my two years at this school, we never had more than 17 kids out for football and even though I worked every, single day on some aspect of the program to make it better (this includes Christmas, New Year's Eve), I didn't have enough people who care.

The lesson I learned is that before you take ANY JOB, make sure you have enough kids out for football to have a nucleus. What I mean by this is make sure that you are able to have no less than six kids who will do whatever you want whenever you want. I started off at a very small catholic school (average graduating class- 70s) with an outstanding soccer program and a basketball program that won two state championships in a row. Now, I've coached high school football in three states, and as an assistant with a major role, took two programs to playoffs for the first time in school history. I'd like to think I know what I'm doing. But, if you cannot find enough people who care, you will waste your time. Your name is not Coach Christ. George Curry, who just resigned at Berwick after 35 years, and is the winningest active coach in Pennsylvania told me that he could not have won two games at the school in which I coached (I won two). My point AZ, is, if the car is beaten so bad that it's beyond repair, don't sink your fortune into it. Find out if that school has enough kids who care, and then take the job. If you don't, you may bury yourself at a young age. Honestly, if it wasn't for Coach Campbell's fantastic recommendations every time I have a chance at a job, I probably would not even get to the final round.

The answers you gave in the interview questions are eerily similar to mine.

I would like to talk more about this subject.

In addition, I read your other post, and I will send you the majority of my packet. I don't have the first 15 pages saved to MS Word. However, they are somewhere on this website, because they are directly from Coach Campbell. I'll send you what I have though. Take care, AZ.

Coach Mills,

Coach Easton repeatedly told me the same, exact words that you uttered. He and I have talked at length about this subject. After months of this discussion, Coach Easton is now completely in favor of me going for a head coaching job. Quite honestly, I wasn't put on this earth to be an assistant. The Lord has a plan for me, and it doesn't involve being somebody's lackey. Most people follow, some people lead. The latter applies to me.

GC I'm with Coach Cella great post. I have coach 34 years also and are you right on. Coach Campbell