10 replies to this topic

[Johnp2]

I've noticed that we seem to be the only team in our league with one coach (me). Some teams have up to FIVE coaches. Most have 3-4. I don't mind at all (I figured if the parents of my players wanted to coach, they would volunteer).

I'm just curious if there are any other "single-coach" teams out there. It does make it a little more difficult at practice, however the kids all have a single person to focus on, and I've been very good at ensuring all players are doing *something* at all times (no standing around).

Thanks

[Orange]

I'm "the coach" and my two assistants will gladly admit that point. But, I do have two capable assistants who can and will step up to help. They equally shared defensive coordinator duties and I ran the offense. I also manage practices, set lineups, draw up plays, decide which defense alignment to run (from the sideline). But I can tell you that it is priceless to have them there when I need them. They can run my practices now (the way I want it run) with little oversight. Also, I can bounce ideas off of them during practices and games which is nice. I ask them to watch for certain things and alert me because I can't watch everything at once. They might spot certain mismatches and let me know for instance. Between the two of them I can usually expect one to be there during any given practice. Being able to break into groups and having an assistant work with some of the kids is great. Even better is when both of them are there and I can break the kids into two groups, each one supervised by an assistant as I go back and forth between the two.

I used to think I could run the team by myself but I've learned that I can get much more done with help.

My experience is that if you wait for parents to volunteer you might be waiting for a long time. I actively sought help. I've had my team for three seasons now. The first season I had one assistant but he was inconsistent on coming to practices so I asked another to help. He's been great because he's more consistent and between the two I always have help. Both of them have enough football knowledge to be good but acquiesce to my lead on pretty much all matters. That's nice too because I have a very specific way I want things done.

[Johnp2]

Thanks for your reply.

I guess my situation is a little different. First and foremost, I certainly welcome any parent that wants to help---however, in my years of coaching I've never had an "assistant." I like to flatter myself by saying that it's because a) My teams have always won, We always have the most fun of any team--that is my guarantee, and c) I pay incredibly close attention to each child. I conduct a 4-5 page color "newsletter" that I distribute to the parents each week, which details all the wonderful things each player did in both practice and the game that week. I've found this to be a big hit with the parents and kids (some parents have actually teared up regarding some of the content I wrote in it).

I take the kids out for ice cream after games, I see them around the neighborhood and at my son's school, and when the season is over we have a BIG trophy presentation/awards ceremony. I give each player and individual award--and spend about 15-20 minutes during the cermony speaking about each player and why he earned the award. Examples are "Most Social Player", "Defensive Player of the Year", "Sportsmanship Award", etc.

My son's first year playing sports (when I was not the coach), his team had three coaches---or at least I think. I say "I think" because you never knew who was going to show up to coach his practice, who would be at the games, etc. The "head" coach I would dare say did not even know my son's name at the end of the season. Consequently, I told myself I would do things differently, and put my words to action. I am in fairly high-demand in my league, but I am very selective on whom I will "request" to return on my team, simply because I enjoy meeting new kids and building relationships with their families.


Ever since, I have yet to have a parent step onto the field in practice to do anything. My wife socializes during practice with all of them, and she hears a lot of parents say, "Well, my husband would help out---but the coach has everything under control and is doing a great job." As mentioned, this is more than fine with me. I would never seek help, simply because I figure that if a parent wanted to coach, he or she would simply volunteer. So I am happy with the parents of my teams just sitting back and relaxing at the practice/games and enjoy watching their kids have fun.

I know I am a minority, and probably a dying breed. I can certainly see the benefits of having multiple coaches, but I really do believe it is not a must, especially at this age. Quite often, it's the child's first year playing sports, and it's kind of cool for them to have "a coach". A single person who they win and lose with, and the only adult that is acting silly with them on the field, etc.

I have a lot of friends in our league who are the "head coach", and who have 3-4 assistants. Our league only allows one coach on the field during the game, and I've seen quite often where the head coach is not even on the field. I've let my friends know when my team faces them, that I want them (as head coaches) to be on the field and go heads up with me instead of having their assistants to on the field. Ha ha.

Thanks again for your reply.

[Coach Rob]

Guess you could say I'm the head coach, but I have a co-coach who has coached with me for several yrs now. Also have two dads that help with drills, keep stats and act as sounding boards through out the season. Their input has been invaluable from season to season. It's easy to get caught up in the "heat of battle" so those two dads will catch me during a game and say things like, "Looks like John hasn't had any ball touches" or "The left side of the field is wide open for a slant pattern". All of us talk on a regular basis about how the season is going and what improvements or tweaks need to be made. We remind each other on a consistent basis that this isn't the NFL and crushing other teams isn't the end goal.

My wife handles all the admin stuff like informational e-mails, snack/drink lists, picture day, registration questions and acts as a liaison between our team and the league director. I have solid relationships with our league directors, but she'll handle any admin type stuff, which frees me up to focus on coaching.

I handle planning the practices (with input from my co-coach), drawing up plays and which plays to run. My assistant handles the defense and his part of the practice. Together with the other two dads we all encourage and coach as we see fit.

In the end, I take ultimately responsibility for making sure everyone is registered to the end of season awards ceremony and everything in between, but absolutely couldn't do it without my other coach, those two dads, my wife and the parents that step up. I owe a lot of our success to these boards and especially Orange, who's allowed me to run things by him from time to time.

Over the years, our team has evolved into more of a small community than a sports team with each person finding their niche. We lose a few kids, gain a few, but overall have a core group of kids and parents that play various sports season after season together. After 18 seasons of coaching youth sports, I can honestly say we have fun, win or lose.

CRob

[rushbuster70]

I coach with 1 assistantWe just finished up our season and he takes care of the defense and I take care of the offense.My brother comes and helps.Hes just a helper but hes good with the kids and will let us know if he see's a mismatch or part of the field is open.He helps with little things.I take care of all the administrative stuff, calling parents, emails, ect...I always take care of that and let my assistant coach just coach football and not worry about those other things...Next season we are going to get my brother more involved and have one of my other brothers come.We've played against teams that have anywhere from 1 to 5 coaches.For the most part its just me and another coach though.

[Johnp2]

This is great feedback---thanks so much! I think I will wait to see how this season goes, and if I feel the players suffer by only having a single coach, then will make that decision. As mentioned, I an oddity in our league (and through the years parents have told me they love what I am doing. No matter what, however, I want fall in line with some of those coaches who get a bunch of assistants and then lose touch with their players and parents.

With that said . . . I've had a parent offer to be my "bench coach", which I think is great. I do some fairly complex subsitutions to ensure all the kids get equal time, and he can certainly remember. In our last game, I sub'd out and told the three leaving players to get players x, y, and z. Well, players x, y, and z came running on the field alright, along with the players who I told to get them. They didn't know they were supposed to stay on the bench. ;-)

Also, I'm going to ask that he keep the kids on the bench into the game. Nothing better than seeing your bench chant "Defense! Defense! Defense!" when you are on defense.

[Vegas Coach]

I am the Head Coach and I coach with one other assistant coach. My assistant is also a good friend of mine, so our relationship is very good as we work well together. He basically takes care of the defense, while I handle the Offense. I am responsible for calling the plays and pretty much running the practices each week as well. Of course the input I get from my assistant is awesome. I find myself getting caught up in the game on game days and sometimes I dont notice certain things and tendancies in the game. He'll help point these things out to me!

I think having an assistant helping you is HUGE if you find the right guy who works hand in hand with you. At practice is the key to having as much help as needed in my opinion. Keeping 10 kids all interested and the practice flowing quickly like I like is a tough task by myself. This year (Fall) I am going to ask another Dad to help out, because I think we can use one more assistant to help with drills in practices as far as lining kids up and keeping them together. This will free me up in order to "coach" and "teach" a little more.

In our league the most coaches I believe I've seen on a team was 3 coaches. There were a couple with only 1 coach, but most of every team went with 2 coaches, 1 defense and 1 offense.

[Orange]

That's a good point. One of the things I emphasize is that when you are out of the game, you stay in a designated area on the sideline and cheer for your team. I consider a sideline coach as invaluable in this regard. Without one, my kids would wander around and eventually break into their own little game on the sideline. Either that or they go off and talk to their mom or friend and are not following whats going on and thus not ready to play. I really like them to watch what is going on for several things, 1) keeping their head in the game 2) see what the other team is doing and 3) cheering on their teammates. Also, the sideline coach can quickly sub in someone when needed.

The other greatest thing about an assistant (in my opinion) is to allow me to be more efficient in practice. Some drills we can break into smaller groups which allows my players to get in more reps. That's the key, more reps. If I have one group of 10+ kids running a passing drill they can only get in so many throws and catches. Two groups and they've doubled up their reps. Three, tripled, etc. Additionally, I have found that when you get a large group they tend to fool around more thus making the drills go even slower. Smaller groups mean less time to fool around and makes them more efficient. Do I sometimes feel that the assistant is not doing what I would do during a drill? sure, but in those instances I switch groups and make sure I keep track of what is going on.

During a game I would really prefer to never leave the field. I'd like to coach both offense and defense. My assistants would let me do it too but I want them to feel engaged. That's why I turned over the D to them. I still actively coach from the sideline and I'll run out onto the field on occasion and give instruction.

A final note when at times my assistants cannot be at practice I'll grab an older brother to help me out. There are usually 2-3 hanging around playing catch and most are eager to assist me. Even if its just retrieving balls or something I get them to help.

[Johnp2]

A final note when at times my assistants cannot be at practice I'll grab an older brother to help me out. There are usually 2-3 hanging around playing catch and most are eager to assist me. Even if its just retrieving balls or something I get them to help.

Yep, I have a taxi-squad made up of siblings. There are typically 4 or 5 of them. Lot's of fun.

[rushbuster70]

I am the Head Coach and I coach with one other assistant coach. My assistant is also a good friend of mine, so our relationship is very good as we work well together. He basically takes care of the defense, while I handle the Offense. I am responsible for calling the plays and pretty much running the practices each week as well. Of course the input I get from my assistant is awesome. I find myself getting caught up in the game on game days and sometimes I dont notice certain things and tendancies in the game. He'll help point these things out to me!

I think having an assistant helping you is HUGE if you find the right guy who works hand in hand with you. At practice is the key to having as much help as needed in my opinion. Keeping 10 kids all interested and the practice flowing quickly like I like is a tough task by myself.

This is how I am with my assistant.I hate calling him an assistant lol but we are awesome friends.Our friendship is well enough to where what happens at football practice and at the games stays there.Our friendship is never ever affected at all and we just finished our 5th season together.It works out well.I run everything with his input on it all.I take care of the offense but if he see's something I missed he lets me know and same with defense.I highly suggest an assistant coach...

[rushbuster70]

I watched a game today that had 5 coaches and 6 kids...Team was full of studs...Played Awesome today.