Coach Vs. Coach

[softballgal 0]

I am having problems w/ my assistant coach and need some help.

Here's the sit. I am a new teacher at a very small school and was asked to be the head coach and part of their enticing package was that I would have an assistant coach.

Turns out my assistant coach is fresh out of high school, asked to be head coach but was told no because of his age. I played softball for 10 years he's played baseball for one. My philosophy is work hard but have fun his is win. From day one I approached the situation as if we were equals I would ask his opinion on planning and we would be in agreement prior to practice but then when it got down to it he would completely do something different. Several times I let it slide but its getting to the point where I say one thing and hes says another and the girls are getting confused. The two times I have called him on it he gets out team leader and bad mouths me.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I am going to talk to my AD tomorrow and I plan on talking to him but every time we have talked he just goes along with what I am saying and then does something totally different.

HELP!

[Connie 0]

You are tyhe head coach and you do have the final say in how things are run. You did not mention the age you are coaching - I am assuming grade school. I totally agree with your philosophy of have fun and learn the game...if they are doing that well winning will come.

If I were you I think I would sit down and talk to your assistant and redefine the team goals. Maybe make a poster of them that way everyone the team included knows what they are. The team needs to know that you are the head coach and they come to you with questions.

Good luck talking to the AD...I have not found the ones I dealt with to go much beyond you are the head coach you will figure it out.

I wish you the best in this situation.

Connie

[Saugussoftball 0]

Hi

Keep in mind that young "boys" right out of HS still have something to prove. Recent studies have shown that the male brain (apologies to all you guys, but the studies have been ONLY done on teenage boys) has not fully formed until at least the age of 18. Some say 25. It's physiological, the synaps's have not connected yet! Young men are still in the high rev testosterone haze and truly NEED to roar! Unfortunately for you it seems that you have s roar'er. Any kind of logic is still going to be met with a bit of teenage defiance. My son had a "right out of HS" little league coach (an all american all star) who could not relate to 12 YO boys, great kid but I could see where he was still so very immature.

You might want to double up your presence and not give him too much slack or alone time with your team. Delegate him to soft toss or teaching basic drills like getting the ball out of the glove, turn, step and throw.

And take heart, what you're doing will far surpass pettiness Just stick with coaching fundamentals and realize that if you have taught all the basics, and you lose now, the rewards will be reaped much later when your team members instinctivly do what needs to be done in a crunch situation. A bad coach's name will be remembered forever.....a good coach's teachings will live forever.

[ctcoach 0]

Hi, I am an assisstant coach on my daughters softball team as well as being head coach of her basketball team so I have seen it from both sides. I had a similar situation this year with a parent on my daughters basketball team who helped me coach for a while.I would ask him to have the girls run a couple of ball-handling drills, but evry time I would look over from what I was doing he was having a shoot-around or showing the girls trick shots. My suggestion to you would be before starting any drills in practice go over it with your asst. and the whole team at the same time so everyone hears what you want done. Then if he tries to change things on you make him and the girls do laps so the girls will understand that you are the head coach and you are in charge of the team. Hopefully they will begin to take it upon themselves to run the drills the way you ask even if your asst. deviates from your gameplan.As an asst. myself I have learned that it is also easier to coach your(the head coaches) strategy if the girls are as aware of it as I am. A teenager might not know an answer to one of the girls questions so he may just make one up or change things up on you so he doesn't lose face(part of that darned male ego i guess).Don't be dicouraged if he is really there to be a coach he may just need a nudge into his correct place on YOUR team.

[slogar1 0]

I went through this several times and have since found out that this is a common problem with all sports (John T. Reed-Biggest Coaching Mistakes). It has much more to do with the fact that he is a new coach as opposed as to he is fresh out of h.s. Many new coaches have a need to "prove themselves". My last problem was in youth football whereas an assistant h.s. coach came into our program to coach his son and did the same thing to me. What I did was warn him and made the Board of Directors aware of the situation. The next time he started arguing and confronting me, and I made sure there were others present, I immediately suspended him from further practice and games. The President, his buddy who actually forced him on me, stood up for him, but I presented the witnesses and stood my ground. It ended up he received a one game/one week suspension with the understanding that the next incident would result in his removal. When he came back, he was OK, we never had another problem, and we went on to win the championship. To this day, we still get along. It is unfortunate, but sometimes drastic actions are required. Hope this helps.