Please Help Me Define "Head Coach"

Russel;

I'm not a huge power-mad dictator, but on my team, as the head coach I make the ultimate rules about who plays where, and what goes on at our practices. This is because I am the person who is ultimately responsible for everything that happens on the field.

For example, say one of your players gets tired and frustrated in a bad game and takes a swing at a player on another team. Who's fault is that? The referees are going to come talk to YOU if you are the head coach.

If you are responsible for everything that goes wrong, then you need to have the authority to enforce that responsibility when it's required. (There were absolutely no significant discipline problems on my team, or any other in my league this year.)

As head coach you are also responsible for the success of your kids. You MUST see to it that they learn everything they need to know. (I'm not talking about winning as a meter for success.) To ensure that your kids get the information they need, you must have an active hand in how it is presented (I.E. you must carefully select the drills your team will run to hone their skills.)

Lastly, you are the primary cheerleader for your team. I'm proud to say that I had the loudest voice in my league, and when one of my players did something right, they probably heard me screaming kudos in Anchorage (I'm in Kodiak Alaska.). Those kids are going to look to the head coach for support, especially when the chips are down. That's a lot of responsibility right there.

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me if there's anything I can do to help you out. I'm no coaching genius, but I fooled my kids into going 6-0 and winning the division championship this year.

I also heartily recommend Coaching Youth Football and Coaching Youth Football:Defense by Jack Reed for any coach at any experience level. (They are not sold on Amazon.com, only at his website, see the URL below.)

Good luck!

~D.

www.johntreed.com