"Athletes" versus "hard workers" - Age old dilema

Coach -

I am in the same situation and we went 1-9 last year as my first year as head coach. The program I took over has the most talented kids yet they have not had a winning year in 10+ years. In fact, I was the eighth head coach hired in 13 years. Here is where the program was before this year.

2003: 1-9 Me
2002: 2-8 Old Coach
2001: 0-9 Old Coach
2000: 1-9 Another Coach
1999: 3-7 Another Coach

etc.....

The program was at rock bottom.

We are currently 3-2, the JV is 3-1-1 and the freshman are 5-0. The first thing we did in the offseason was recruit. We felt the kids have had it too damn easy to get on the field. We created competition at every position. By doing so, we have more kids in the program and we have the "right" kids that can get the job done.

The 2nd step is not to play favorites. You are either getting the job done well enough to win or you are not. If you are not getting it done, you get fired until your replacement fails to get the job done. Some kids have been fired a dozen times this season. They actually love it because we have communicated exactly what we want from them at every position and they know that the responsibilitry lies within them to get the job done. We now have accountability. The backups love it because they can see themselves getting on the field and they do.

This year, the kids are focused on staying on the field and bringing their "A" game to practice whereas last year, any threats of sitting a kid down would not be taken seriously. Teaching kids to win with us starts with getting the kids to learn to win in practice, to win in the classroom and to win in the community. It's a full time job for the coaches and the players.

The 3rd thing we did was hire coaches that were older role models for the kids. They don't accept excuses. They do not have egos about themsleves. They are very positive with the kids and give them a lot of guidance off the field year round and not just during the season. Most of all, they are team players and are willing to take direction from me. Did that mean I hired the most knowledgeable football coaches? NO. I hired guys that would learn football and not scream and yell at the kids. We had to pick the kids up. The last 4 staffs were there and gone in eight years and all they did was yell at the kids. I didn't want to repeat that mistake.

The 4th thing we did was to win the parents and community over. We did this by staying in contact with the parents by informing them of the good things "jonnie" is doing as well as the bad. They soon learned we were in it for their kids and they give us 100% support in helping us get "jonnie" to the weight room in the off season because we had invested so much time into their son. They now move their vacations around our schedule. It didn't used to be like that. They now make sure their kid gets a physical on time. It didn't used to be like that. They now come to us when they need help with their son. It didn't used to be like that.

Finally the last thing we did was keep it simple. The kids needed to be able to do the same things over and over everyday if we were going to improve. We work the Freshman, JV and Varsity through fundamentals together everyday. We do not let freshman hit anyone but freshman. Everyone gets into their stance the same way each and everyday. They come off the ball the same way and they all understand the same terminology, the same plays and we all talk about executing it the same way. I needed to keep it simple for two reasons: 1. My coaches needed to be able to grasp it and 2. The kids had to understand it. We run 4 formations, 6 runs and 3 passes. Every coach in the system understand why we and when we run each formation. We have one main formation and 3 additional formations we go to for adjustments to get the desired look we want. We run the veer and we do read it.

Defensively, we run the 3-5-3 and we play cover 3 and man. Our LB's read keys and attack downhill. We spill everything and run it down because we have the athletes that can run sideline to sideline. We are not giving up points because the kids can understand the scheme and the coaches can understand it and coach it.

By doing all the above we are starting to turn the corner. People say we are disciplined now. I always think that's funny because I always thought discipline was just doing it the right way and doing it that way all the time.

I hope you may be able to pick up an idea or two that may help your situation.

Good Luck!

Hang 50-

what is your e-mail address...?

Hang 50,

Thanks for the post. I'm in year 2 of this amazing experience of coaching and have struggled this season with just this same problem - kids with good talent and bad attitudes vs. kids with lesser talent and great attitudes. I had a thread on the Youth forum I won't repeat here asking questions on the same issues; your comments here (and J.C.'s as always) have been helpful.

we have a saying at our place

alingment where are you lining up
assignment what are you doing on this play
excute git-r-done
effort


we grade each position based on these 4 things we also give effort points. for example, on defense I see alot of players when the play is going the other direction just stand around or loaf. we when we watch film we want to see all 11 of our color jerseys in the picture around the tackle. don't defend air.

so we award points. if you are standing around as the ball goes the side you do not get a point. if you do your job then hustle to the ball you get a point. our defense gets black jerseys we call them the black shirts. however just because you are on first team defense does not mean you get to be a blackshirt. you have to earn it by getting hustle points. to keep it you can never have 0 hustle points. the first game no one has a black shirt. there effort is what gets them the black shirt.

our olineman have pink practice jerseys. they have to earn there way out of the pink jersey by giving effort. nothing uspset me more then when the ball is past and the olineman are standing down around. we want them to hustle down field make a block.

what is really cool is the effect is has on backups. hustle points are apart of earning your letter. what better way to show effort then on special teams.

we do have one chart which people find to be on the downer side. it is called the dropped ball chart. our goal is to have every rec coach 65% of the passes thrown to him. we chart there drops and give them a percentage. we also chart effort on blocks and routes.

it is work but I feel it shows the kids what they need to do. we have another saying" don't be a loafer" "loafers never win" loafers cheat there team mates out of victories"

the worst thing you can be called at our school is a loafer. they all know what that means.

hang 50, airman, lou

Excellent posts.

I get better here everyday.

Regards

Go Reckless, Stay Loose, and Score

Coach Kramer