This is my first entry on my first attempt at managing a website. My goal is to help coaches to understand that it isn’t just “X’s and O’s NOR is it Jimmys and Joes!” It is preparing properly and taking care of the “little things” that many coaches do not realize their importance. My principal is a former head coach and has a doctorate in School Administration. He teaches college classes at night to prospective teachers coming into the profession from other occupations. He has stated to me that the most important thing he can teach a new teacher is: classroom management. Teachers come into school the first day and have no concept of how to organize lessons and manage time. Within a week, their class is chaos! The “inmates are ruling the asylum.” The same holds true for new head coaches. They fail to pay attention to details and very soon their team is floudering and they have no idea how to right the ship!
For example: my “Tip of the Month” today will be about how to deal with parents of players whose expectations exceed the talent level of their son.
It’s that time of year and senior football players are on line reading about how many offers “Jimmy Jones” has or that “Bobby Joe” just verbally committed to State U. Their parents hear about this too and wonder why their son doesn’t have a dozen offers. It must be the coach’s fault. Let’s call and rant at him!
So you, as the HC, get the inevitable phone call and the meeting is set up to discuss Johnny’s future. What the meeting is really all about is to find out why you haven’t gotten their son a scholarship!
The best thing you can do is 1- listen and 2- empathize. But, most important, be positive. Let them know that you have sent out his name to colleges (IF you have considered it warrented) and that decisions on who is recruited and who is offered is SOLELY the job of the college coaches.
A nice “prop” to have as evidence if the player is obviously over-rating himself is to have copies of college football media guides. Go to the roster and show the player and his parents the average height and weight of the Offensive Linemen. This is reality hitting that 5’10 in., 225 lb. offensive guard in the face. You can SHOW them what a Div. 1A offensive lineman is built like. Then you can find out how serious they are about their son playing college football. Do they want to look at some smaller school programs? Would they like you to get in touch with some D3 coaches? Would prep school or junior college be an alternative? You come out looking helpful and the family gets a “friendly” dose of reality.
