Football grind forces coaches to put family second

Great article... the key to success in this business is to prioritize the areas on which you need to work and work on them within a limited period of time. There's only so much you can do as a coach... overworking, overcoaching, overtraining leads to losing.

The more time I spend in the office, the more I began to second guess what I had determined to be an effective plan....I set a time limit, and if there is anything left over, I finish it at home.....:wine;:beer;

Coaches
The same question came up at another website and here is how I responded to it:

Andy Reid situation? He is spending probably morning, noon and night at the office. I would like to know what your schedules are? Mine is teaching until 230pm then coaching to 500pm. half hour meeting after that. I am home during the season at 600pm just about every night. My kids come to the games with me. They are either on the field or in the concession standing with my wife. The stress of coaching game comes from the in season schedule (which here is from August to October). We have SAT. meetings from 5AM-10AM do get what we need done so it does not interfere with the family. I am home by 1030AM and the kids have just finished breakfast and are ready to get going.Then the off-season is weight room from 230pm-330pm. Then logging in film into the computer for about 30 minutes a day. I am home by 430pm everyday to get my kids off of the bus. I beat them home from school. I am a part of their swimming practices, gymnastics and little league etc. I am very fortunate to have an AMAZING WIFE. My family is as much of the program as I am. I have not missed any of their games and should not for their games are during the week and mine are on the weekends. I think what Andy Reid and other head coaches from the NFL go through is a bit different than what I go through as a head coach in a high school. I think some coaches have a tendancy to think that working harder is equal with success. If that was the case every high school coach would win. We believe in working smarter and not harder. The other thing we do is we do a lot of our film watching and prep work during the school day and I also do it 2am and 3 am in the morning before school. This helps us also. Which I know not all coaches have the ability to do. Finally, we set a time limit and if it is done or not we are done and it will be done for another day. My staff is setup so that if something comes up that involves the family they go to it. I have assistants miss practices to move their children for college or even games to go to weddings and other things. I am flexible with my coaching staff and in return they will cover me when I need it (which has not happened). I think it is great that you are spending time with your family. I was just curious how much time was being spent away from your family at a high school level. I personally think we are not spending that much time away. My wife and I have dicussed it and the majority of the people out there do not get home until 6pm or later everyday. I only have it happen three months out the year and I have summers off and Easter/XMAS etc. I guess my wife and I have come from a blue collar family where my father stills works 8-10 hours a day. 6 days a week as a butcher for shoprite. What I am doing (even with coaching) is much better for my kids than what I was brought up with.
However, if there was going to be a reason (other than a firing) to leave football it would be my children.

Paul Brown (great Cleveland & Cincinnati Coach) said this about "KEEP A FRESH STAFF":

1. Get 3 square meals a day.

2. Get them home early enough so they will be fresh in the morning!

If anyone wants to SEE this great 6 PAGE article entitled "FROM THE BOTTOM UP" by Sam Wyche (when he took the Bengals to a couple of Super Bowls)

email me at:

billmountjoy@yahoo.com

PS: It covers many things, such as: "KEEPING A FRESH COACHING STAFF"; "STICK WITH FIRST THOUGHTS" (IE: DON'T CHANGE THINGS ONCE THEY ARE IN PLACE - "CHANGE" IS A DIRTY WORD), "CALLING PLAYS IN THE NO-HUDDLE OFFENSE", ETC.