Coaching on the Next Level?

Hey Derek,

I just got hired at Lackawanna College as the Offensive Line Coach. Although it is a college job, I will be working as my school district's Jr/Sr High School Library Media Specialist (A.K.A. Jr/Sr High School Librarian... the greatest school job ever--it will be my first year doing that as well--I taught 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English over the last six years).

See if you can work your regular teaching job, and coach somewhere as an assistant. Look at colleges in the DC area who have football programs. See if you can get your foot in the door at one of them (Gallaudet, Georgetown, Catholic University, etc.). Even if you take an unpaid position for a year, do a good job, be loyal to the HC, and maybe they'll pay you the next year, or maybe someone else will have a paid opening locally and you go there. Regardless, that's what I would do to get started. Eventually, if you do a good enough job, stay loyal to your HC's, and make enough connections, you will get the job that you want. My experience has taught me that if you want a really good job, the key to getting it is AFFILIATION not CONTENT KNOWLEDGE. If someone that carries a lot of clout recommends you for a job, the prospective employer will assume that you already know enough.

This summer I'm working two offensive lineman camps: Carson-Newman College and UNLV. Not only will I get valuable experience on how to coach an offensive line at the college level, but I get to work with coaches who are a big deal in this profession. Mike Turner (C-N) is the premier split-back veer guru in the country, Greg Bernardi, who is the TE's coach at UNLV has 25 years of college coaching experience (Arizona, UCLA, Northern Arizona, USC), and Keith Uperesa was an assistant under Urban Meyer. In addition, I get to sit down with and meet Mike Sanford, UNLV's head coach. I will be sitting down with Ken Sparks (C-N Head Coach), who is the First Vice President of the AFCA. Not only do I get to meet these gentlemen and exchange information, but I get to know them as well. If I want a job in the future, perhaps they can help me.

Also, don't forget some of the coaches on this board. Coach Campbell coached college ball for a long, long time. Jerry Easton coached ball for 42 years at the high school and semi-pro level. Three of his players at Raines High School start for the Eagles now (Jabar Gaffney, Brian Dawkins, and Lito Sheppard). In addition, he coached Rod Gardner, who will start at WR for the Packers this year, and Scott Player, who is the punter for the Arizona Cardinals. Finally, there is Bill Mountjoy, who coached high school ball and semi-pro ball in Virginia for 40 years. Many of his good friends are the current Redskin coaches. He knows many NFL coaches.

Just remember, if you remember anything from this post... and it took me a long, long time to accept this in regards to our business-- if you want a really good job, the key to getting it is AFFILIATION not CONTENT KNOWLEDGE!

Let me know if I can help you further.

Coach Cella,

That was a great post and don't worry about the length, you know how we get when we start going, lol. But that was real good advice. I always knew that our profession was/is based on the networking that we do as coaches. It is good to see that if you are hired on the next level their are some coaches who will work with you on getting another position for you. I would love to coach on the next level but as you know (and as many have stated), it is hard going from being a teacher and a coach to just being an assistant coach at a small school. The salary is a big difference. In addition, I made the "big" mistake of getting into a serious relationship while also having coaching ambitions. Gladly, she knows and accepts the "dream" but it is not the optimal situation. But thank you again for the post.

Sincerely,
Coach Derek Tyler
Parkdale HS

Derek,

Like I said, see if you can coach at a college after school. THE MAJORITY COLLEGE COACHES HAVE OTHER SOURCES OF EMPLOYMENT and start coaching at 4PM. The division 3 schools in my area have a head coach, 2 full-time coaches, and seven part-time coaches. Part-time coaches are the position coaches. At my school, we have ZERO full-time coaches. Our head coach is the Dean of Admissions and our Defensive Coordinator is Director of Housing. I teach at a jr/sr high school, our offensive coordinator teaches at a high school, our running backs coach works in the education profession, and our wide receivers coach works as a case manager. Even at the division 2 level, I know that Bloomsburg University (a consistent Division 2 playoff team) has five full-time coaches and five part-time coaches. The offensive line coach at Bloom is a teacher at a local school.

Don't give up on your dream of coaching college because you're a high school teacher. You can still teach, make a living doing that, and coach college ball after school. Most colleges start practice at 4 PM anyway. See if you can get your foot in the door as an unpaid assistant, work your tail off, and advance from there. The key is the loyalty to the HC. Nobody wants to hire a disloyal coach. Now before I go on a tangent about loyalty, think about what I said.

Let me know if I can help you further. Good luck and God Bless!

Coach Oneback,

Three very familiar schools......Hermitage, J.R. Tucker, and Huguenot. I grew up in the West End community of Henrico and grew up in Goochland. I actually moved when I was around 12 or so and have been living in the Maryland area ever since. I did not have a chance to go to HS in Va but if I did I would have gone to Hermitage and actually I had a couple of cousins that went there. It is definitely a small world though. Also, those are some pretty decent programs coach so congrats goes to you on that as I am sure you had a role to play in the success of these programs. But yea coach my whole family lives there and I am actually planning on moving back down there in a few years (have a town house on the west end that I am renting out).

Sincerely,
Coach Derek Tyler
Parkdale HS

Coach Tyler, I've seen this done at small schools...I'm also have a BS in Elementary Edu., and one of my instructiors was the receivers coach...I attended kentucky State University, which is a Division 2 institution...:light;