If you don't have one, then you need one. If you haven't thought
it out, then it's something that you need to. Your coaching philosophy - it's
what should guide you along your coaching career.
Whether you have one written out and saved
away deep in a computer folder, or you have never given your personal philosophy
a thought, let me help you shape it.
Coaching is a balancing act. Sometime we
have to play the good guy and the bad guy. Both are necessary. Ultimately,
however, you have to decide if you are the good guy or the bad guy in your
coaching identity. A good guy can't be negative with his guys all of the time,
while a bad guy can't be positive all of the time. You are what you are, and will
you will be what you decide to be. The choice you make will determine your
coaching course.
I am a good guy. I don't try to hide that.
I am a players first, hyper-positive coach, who will rarely yell, yet have
found success. I pride myself in having great relationships with former players
years after they leave my practice field. To me, this game is more than just a
game. It's a life-lesson, and when I have kids who tell me they loved playing
the game with me as their coach it makes every why-in-the-world-do-I-coach-football
kind of day worth it. If a coach tells you they haven't had those days, they
either are lying or have just started.
From that experience, I believe that there
are three essentials that need to be added; three things that you need to be.
Be Positive. Be Proactive. Be Proud.
Be Positive.
Simple. Say positive things. Do positive
things.
When you are a hammer, everything looks
like a nail. If you take the stance that everything is wrong in the world
except you, then, yeah, everything looks that way. We can't perpetually see
things this way. It's bad for football. It's bad for your health. If all you do
is tell a player what they are doing wrong, that's a self-esteem killer. While
it may build you up, it breaks them down.
To be positive, you have to work to find
good things sometimes. And that's great because it means you are looking, that you
are analyzing. Football can be messy and ugly. It's easy to jump a kid because
he missed a block. It's easy to make him feel like the worst football player
ever. But can you make him feel like the best player ever. Can you take a
negative, and build it into a positive. He may have missed the block, but he
fires off the line. Then coach him up. Don't just jump bad habits or plays. See
the positives, pull them out, and then correct the negatives. That's why we are
in this, right? It's called coaching, not showing kids up.
Let kids know when they are doing well. It
will save everyone grief down the road because they will be more receptive to
what you are saying to them, and they won't develop some complex, constantly
worrying if they are good enough. They are.
Be Proactive.
When calling a good football game, you
have to be one play (if not more) ahead of the guy on the other sideline. Try
taking this approach with your players like you do your practices.
To prevent fumbles, you work on exchanges
and ball-carrying drills. To prevent false starts, you rep plays out and
constantly remind your guys. To prevent fatigue in the fourth quarter, you do
wind sprints and run hills and do grass drills and run laps and more wind
sprints and on and on and on. If you do it in practice, try it with your
players.
This will be harder to do with players,
but can be done. Do you love wasting practice time running the whole team
because the locker room is a mess? No one does. This is an example of where we
can be proactive. Make yourself present in the locker room. Let the kids see
you in there. Other than covering your tail if something like a hazing incident
occurs (which they do), you can get to know your kids - their personalities,
sense of humor, even what they look like without a helmet on. By being
proactive and settling clear guidelines which you and your staff oversee, you
can keep small problems from becoming big distractions.
Be Proud.
Here is a redundant, philosophical phrase:
I take pride in being proud.
I am proud of my kids. We put them through
things physically that would take us days to recover from. We demand the best
from them every time they are on the field. We expect them to sit through a
film and grease-board session for 45 minutes when we know they can't sit
through 20 minutes of geometry. Football players, and other athletes, have
higher expectations than students who don't participate in sports. We monitor
their grades more closely, keep tabs on their in-school behavior, keep them out
late on school nights and expect them to do all we ask with marginal error and
ultimate success.
So when a kid hangs in there and doesn't
walk away from the game, I am proud of him. Uber proud.
Too many times I have seen kids endure all
of the blood, sweat, and tears and excel on the gridiron to look up and see
that their parents aren't there to see them. How many of us can identify with
having to take our best players home after practice because no one bothered to
pick them up. I have been there and walked that. It's disappointing as a coach.
It must be crushing as a player.
That's why I am proud of my kids. If they
mess up, they're still trying, still fighting. I will be there for them during
the wins. I will be there for them during the losses. We preach team; sometimes
we preach that football is family. Family doesn't quit, doesn't abandon. Family
doesn't feel ashamed; neither do I. I am proud of all of my boys. I am their
number one fan. Sometimes, we are their only fan.
So while I can't make do things like
creating a new offense that would spread like wildfire in the prep ranks, I can
pass on some advice and some things that have helped me grow as a coach.
If this helps, which I hope it does, let
me know.
Young coaches just starting out, write out
a philosophy regarding the way you coach/want to coach. It will open your eyes
to what you want to be. Even if you are the most seasoned of coaches, take a
moment and evaluate your philosophy. After all, every good coach steals a play
from another coach along the way.
