Advice for young (asst) coaches

thakatalyst,

Glad things went well for you! Only a new HC is going to sit there and grill you about how much you know(x and o wise). An expreienced HC will always be interested in exactly what your new boss was interested in, loyalty above all else to him and to his philosophy and to his overall program. He will be interested in your communication skills and teaching methods, if you are really interested in learning and growing with him, and what kind of a guy you are personally (are you going to fit in with the rest of the staff?) These are the the things that experience brings out in a HC and he must know the answers before he makes a decision on any assistant. I would rather have a guy with less experience that I can train in our way of doing business, than some guy who comes in as a know it all type. Those kind are pretty much phonies, for the most part, because if they were all that they would have a prgram of their own some place as HC. Outwork everyone who wants the same things that you want, and treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. It has always worked for me, being in my 41st year of coaching I'm not looking to change that in any way. Best of luck, and again, congratulations.

Coach Easton

Loyalty is always the most important trait of an assistant coach. My rule is you need to be 1. LOYAL and 2. ACCESSIBLE. Coach, good luck in your coaching career.

ZJaz,

The last attribute that you list in your above post, imo, is the absolute key! Once attended a seminar on "effective listening" and it really opened my eyes, as well as, my ears! Most of us listen well until such time in the course of discussion something that is said triggers a thought that we just can't wait to inject in the conversation. From that point on, most of what is being said by the speaker becomes moot to the "listener" until such time he gets to put in HIS thoughts! Percentages were interesting as well; we retain about 10% of what we hear, about 35-40% of what we see, and about 60-65 % of what we see and hear in combination ( a good case for visual aids). At any rate, the gist of the seminar was to train ourselves to listen by CONCENTRATING ON THE SPEAKER AND HIS OFFERINGS, SHORT CUTTING YOUR OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO ADD TO THE CONVERSATION.

Coach Easton