Are There Any Coaches On Here?

[st0rmb11]

I was an "assistant" coach for my old highschool's basketball team (JV) for 2 years, and then last year, they handed the JV boys to me, and I went 10-2 on the season (5-0 in conference, including the championship game).

Anyway, as an assistant, I was someone who really only put in my input when asked or permitted. (My 2nd year I inserted an offense before the championship game, at the request of the head coach).

Anyway, this year, the school has decided to hand me the entire boys program (JV & Varsity) for this season and into the future.

But, last year, I did JV alone, with no assistant, and I've always said that I never want an assistant. But, the chairman of the board appointed his son my assistant. I had played in high school with his son and let me say, he doesn't have a good grasp on the game and how to manage it as a player, coach, anything..

The problem I'm having with him so far, in pre-season workouts is that he is having a tough time accepting that it's MY program. He constantly talks over me, undermines me, disagrees with me in front of MY players. He treats it as though I'm his assistant.

Also, I knew this would be the case, but we've discussed our ideas for the program, and he differs with me on everything (and as far as I'm concerned, he has the worst ideas. He has his mind made up on what he wants to do, and his mindset is..."we're running this, regardless of the personnel." As I know (and anyone who has ever known anything about teaching basketball), you can't do that..you have to adjust your system to what you have.

Since it's just pre-season conditioning, I have no issue letting him just control workouts; I just make sure he's doing the workouts I want to do.

Once the season starts, I fully intend to put my foot down and let him and the players know that this is MY program, we do things MY way, etc.

Basically, I'm asking if anyone has any advice for me on how to hand it.

My dad coached for 40+ years, and said that what I need to do is make sure it's known to the players that I'm the head, not him. He also said that I need make sure that we go into practice with everything planned out to the minute so that he can't try to do his own thing.

[Jr.]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

You need to talk this over with him soon, without the players around. Ideally, you can talk with him and his father in the room together. Your season will go down the drain quickly if there is a visible rift between yourself and your assistant. You can't let this go on because it's going to be harder to fix at that point.

If I were you, I would speak with your assistant and his father at the same time and explain to both of them that you were named the head coach for a reason. Let them both know that if they want to have a successful season, you and the assistant have to be on the same page and show a unified front with the team. I would also make sure that you ask the chairman if he appointed his son with the intent of him being the head coach or your assistant, because it won't work if he's supposed to take over your job.

It seems you've been put in a bad situation since you weren't able to choose your assistant, but like you said, you have to put your foot down. Just not in front of the team.. this should be handled by you, your assistant, and the chairman (if possible).

[Chrisksaint]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

I've never coached(I want to, but it'll probably be impossible being an elem. teacher) but it's already hard enough to coach players no need for the extra baggage of problems with an assistant. Like Baughn said come season he needs to know that you're in control.

I know in Football all the assistants controlled the offseason practices,etc. as i'm assuming it's just easier on the HC.

[st0rmb11]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

My big thing is (and I've told people this since I got into coaching, and I told anyone who asked me about it this year) - I really don't want an assistant. To me it's just one more person I have to teach and one more ego/personality I have to deal with.

When asked by various board members (not the chairman), I made it clear that I had no issue with this guy, but I didn't like the idea of him being my assistant. Nothing against him, but I knew he was like this. He's always been pretty full of himself and a know-it-all. But, also, I know that no two people see basketball completely eye to eye.

I'm a defensive minded coach. The first things I show my team are defenses. My assistant? When we first talked about our ideas, he presented me with his idea of offense, offense, offense. He likes a 3/4 court press, which I am completely against. I prefer full court pressure. He prefers man to man. I run a mixture of different zones, with traps thrown in. Long story short, we don't see eye to eye on basketball philosophies.

I talked to a mutual friend who is also getting into coaching, and his advice was, "look, man, he's an *******...the best way to get your point across to him is be an ******* yourself."

[Jasong7777]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

I coach special olympics basketball. Our team actually finished second in our division in the state of Virginia last season. Can't wait to get started again in a month.

[Jr.]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

My big thing is (and I've told people this since I got into coaching, and I told anyone who asked me about it this year) - I really don't want an assistant. To me it's just one more person I have to teach and one more ego/personality I have to deal with.

When asked by various board members (not the chairman), I made it clear that I had no issue with this guy, but I didn't like the idea of him being my assistant. Nothing against him, but I knew he was like this. He's always been pretty full of himself and a know-it-all. But, also, I know that no two people see basketball completely eye to eye.

I'm a defensive minded coach. The first things I show my team are defenses. My assistant? When we first talked about our ideas, he presented me with his idea of offense, offense, offense. He likes a 3/4 court press, which I am completely against. I prefer full court pressure. He prefers man to man. I run a mixture of different zones, with traps thrown in. Long story short, we don't see eye to eye on basketball philosophies.

I talked to a mutual friend who is also getting into coaching, and his advice was, "look, man, he's an *******...the best way to get your point across to him is be an ******* yourself."

Well you have to get some help since you can't run both programs by yourself. It would've been nice if they let you have some kind of interview process to hire your own assistant so you could have gotten someone who thinks like you do philosophically and understands that it's your program and they will fall in line.

I really think the best next step is to talk to the chairman and your assistant in private and explain what is going on and that you're not comfortable with the situation. That way they know how you feel and won't be surprised if the season goes down the drain because of this guy's insubordination.

[JODYE]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

Screw being rational.

Fire his ***. Lol

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

As a coach I have always been involved in hiring of assistants and JV coaches. My advice is every preseason I would have a coaches meeting. I would lead the meeting, go over expectations in the program and with individual athletes.

Always make it clear that the buck ends with you. Ultimately as the varsity coach everything will fall to you. They need to understand they are feeding to you.

I have always given my coaches something they are responsible for. Make sure though at the meeting you have the same philosophy, nothing is worst than a coach undermining the varsity one. If for whatever reason you can not get along and it impacts the kids, seek out the ad, and demand a change.

[Jr.]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

Screw being rational.

Fire his ***. Lol

I'm guessing since the Chairman of the Board gave his son the position, that's not much of an option.

[JODYE]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

Lol I know.

Well I guess there is always the other option.

Spoiler

[VDusen04]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

I've done my fair share of coaching since 2003. I have some questions about your program though, Storm. Namely, what kind of program are we talking about here? You mention going 10-2 as a JV coach. Was that your entire season? Just 12 games? And a championship? Or did you step in mid-way through the year?

Second, is this a small school? Or is this a pretty average sized school (say, high school enrollment of 800ish)? Further, when you say you were given control of the JV and varsity, do you mean you're coaching both teams? Or do you just mean you're the varsity coach so in essence you're the head of the program now, but only coaching the varsity?

Third, by "entire boys program", are you only referring to varsity and JV? I ask all these questions because it sounds as if your program is a little bit different than the ones I've participated in over time. In my programs, the varsity basketball coach is more or less the head honcho. He doesn't make the hires for the other coaching positions, but he has a very significant hand in them. He works hand-in-hand with the athletic director in employment, scheduling, rules, and general program setup. That means the varsity coach is more or less in charge of not only the varsity and JV, but also the freshmen, middle school, and parts of the elementary school program.

I have to ask, if you're in charge of both the varsity and JV, how were you planning on getting by without an assistant? Who fills in if you're sick? Who's there to help split drills in practice? To give pointed and specific instruction to one group while you work with another? To tell you when you're wrong? I've often operated sans assistant on the middle school level, but I'm not sure I'd be able to pull it off in upper high school levels. Well I mean, I could, but I'm not sure it'd fully benefit my players.

The unfortunate thing here is when an assistant became mandatory, you didn't have a hand in who you selected. Again, every program I've been a part of has featured coaches being able to appoint their own assistants. As you've demonstrated, working alongside someone you didn't select and/or do not know or agree with, can be counterproductive.

I think Baughn3 was right on point (and tabarnes). It's imperative to get everyone's positions clarified prior to the season. We always had coaches meetings where we could get together (often with the athletic director) and discuss the direction of the program and outline how things were expected to work for the upcoming season. It is here where your concerns should be voiced, feelings shared, and assertions asserted. Again, maybe our program was easier to operate because the hierarchy was already established and we already knew and understood our roles, but coaches didn't hesitate to say what needed to be said, even if it was something along the lines of, "Hey guys, I'm glad we're all in this together, but you need to know, when it comes down to it, I'm the varsity coach here. We can have disagreements, but we can't have dissent."

In truth, if you're the head coach, you're in charge, guy. When I'm the lead man, I do not let it get to a point where my assistant is constantly trying to overrun me. If I want to run a full court press and he wants to run a 3/4, guess what, we're running a full court press. I mean, chances are if he wants to run something else we'd probably talk about it at length after practice, but if I ultimately decide his route doesn't make sense for a program, then that's my move to make.

[st0rmb11]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

I've done my fair share of coaching since 2003. I have some questions about your program though, Storm. Namely, what kind of program are we talking about here? You mention going 10-2 as a JV coach. Was that your entire season? Just 12 games? And a championship? Or did you step in mid-way through the year?

Second, is this a small school? Or is this a pretty average sized school (say, high school enrollment of 800ish)? Further, when you say you were given control of the JV and varsity, do you mean you're coaching both teams? Or do you just mean you're the varsity coach so in essence you're the head of the program now, but only coaching the varsity?

Third, by "entire boys program", are you only referring to varsity and JV? I ask all these questions because it sounds as if your program is a little bit different than the ones I've participated in over time. In my programs, the varsity basketball coach is more or less the head honcho. He doesn't make the hires for the other coaching positions, but he has a very significant hand in them. He works hand-in-hand with the athletic director in employment, scheduling, rules, and general program setup. That means the varsity coach is more or less in charge of not only the varsity and JV, but also the freshmen, middle school, and parts of the elementary school program.

I have to ask, if you're in charge of both the varsity and JV, how were you planning on getting by without an assistant? Who fills in if you're sick? Who's there to help split drills in practice? To give pointed and specific instruction to one group while you work with another? To tell you when you're wrong? I've often operated sans assistant on the middle school level, but I'm not sure I'd be able to pull it off in upper high school levels. Well I mean, I could, but I'm not sure it'd fully benefit my players.

The unfortunate thing here is when an assistant became mandatory, you didn't have a hand in who you selected. Again, every program I've been a part of has featured coaches being able to appoint their own assistants. As you've demonstrated, working alongside someone you didn't select and/or do not know or agree with, can be counterproductive.

I think Baughn3 was right on point (and tabarnes). It's imperative to get everyone's positions clarified prior to the season. We always had coaches meetings where we could get together (often with the athletic director) and discuss the direction of the program and outline how things were expected to work for the upcoming season. It is here where your concerns should be voiced, feelings shared, and assertions asserted. Again, maybe our program was easier to operate because the hierarchy was already established and we already knew and understood our roles, but coaches didn't hesitate to say what needed to be said, even if it was something along the lines of, "Hey guys, I'm glad we're all in this together, but you need to know, when it comes down to it, I'm the varsity coach here. We can have disagreements, but we can't have dissent."

In truth, if you're the head coach, you're in charge, guy. When I'm the lead man, I do not let it get to a point where my assistant is constantly trying to overrun me. If I want to run a full court press and he wants to run a 3/4, guess what, we're running a full court press. I mean, chances are if he wants to run something else we'd probably talk about it at length after practice, but if I ultimately decide his route doesn't make sense for a program, then that's my move to make.

I'll try to address each question/concern you brought up, individually.

First, yes, we only played 12 games last season (including the conference tournament.) The varsity teams (and JV girls, for that matter) played between 18 and 23, but 3 or 4 schools we played didn't have a JV boys program last year. This season, the JV boys have 17 games (excluding the conference tournament), and the varsity boys have 19 (excluding conference tournament and state tournament) Also, this is a small school. Between 200 and 250 students. The JV team is looking like it will have 17 or 18 players (before "cuts", to make the B-Team), and the varsity will have 10 to 13, depending on some eligibility things going on.

I don't know that I would have really been going at it without an assistant. My plans were to have my dad come out and help with some practices, but for the most part, I can handle the guys just find when I split them up for different lessons and drills. I don't know how it would have gone with the varsity, but if it got to the point where splitting them up became an issue, I would have brought my friend, who is just getting into coaching, to come help. The point being - if I have to have an assistant, I would prefer to choose him myself.

Here's where the problems really arose. I was slated to be the coach of the JV boys ALL summer, but for whatever reason, a few weeks into the school year, the headmistress decided she wouldn't pay me to do it, and I told her that with the hours and money I'd be losing to take off of work to do it, it wouldn't be worth it. So, they began a "search" for a new coach. Well, comhehee two Thursdays ago (October 18th), the varsity coach up and quit, and the school still hadn't found a JV replacement, and was now in need of a varsity coach. The board held a meeting and decided that they wanted to negotiate with me, so the A.D. called me that Friday, and the head of the athletic committee called me that Saturday, and we worked everything out. I went in Monday morning, talked to the headmistress, we were all on the same page, so I went out to pre-season conditioning that Monday. Well, apparently, the chairman left the meeting they had under the impression that his son was going to be getting the boys program, and told his son that. So, when I came into conditioning, it caught him a little off guard, and led to a lot of drama and turmoil at the board meeting that night. But, they all ultimately (and unanimously) voted me the JV and varsity boys coach, but said the chairman's son would be my assistant. We came in Tuesday, and I thought everything was resolved, but apparently this was a bitter pill for him to swallow because he was going out of his way to try to establish himself as the head figure to the boys. (he had done the same the previous day, but now knowing that he thought he was the head coach, I can understand why). I talked to him Thursday after conditioning, and he seemed completely fine with where things stand and said he had no problem taking a backseat to me once the season started. He said the only reason he was like that at conditioning was because I had coached the boys and been around them for 3 years, and had earned their respect, and he felt that the only way and only time he had to earn it was during the weeks of conditioning, so he wanted to do that. He apologized for doing it at my expense, and I guess we'll see where things go once practice starts tomorrow.

As you can see, it's a really special case because of how poorly things were handled by the board and administrators, where they were telling each of us different things without consulting one another. (the version I gave you of the story was very condensed. There was far more miscommunication going on than what I got into in this post. We had one day where the headmistress was telling me one thing, the AD was telling both of us nothing, 3 board members were telling me one thing, and the chairman was telling his son another..)

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

Saw this thread title and definitely read something else.

Carry on.

[VDusen04]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

As you can see, it's a really special case because of how poorly things were handled by the board and administrators, where they were telling each of us different things without consulting one another. (the version I gave you of the story was very condensed. There was far more miscommunication going on than what I got into in this post. We had one day where the headmistress was telling me one thing, the AD was telling both of us nothing, 3 board members were telling me one thing, and the chairman was telling his son another..)

So you guys seem to be on the same page now? If so, good stuff.

Also, how do you handle practices and games as both the JV and Varsity coach? Do you hold practice concurrently?

[st0rmb11]

Re: Are There Any Coaches On Here?

So you guys seem to be on the same page now? If so, good stuff.

Also, how do you handle practices and games as both the JV and Varsity coach? Do you hold practice concurrently?

I've never done both teams. Our first official practice is tomorrow, so I'll see if my plan on how to handle it works, since my assistant won't be there tomorrow. (He can't be there on Mondays or Wednesdays until after Christmas due to school, which may be a blessing. I love the idea of having the teams to myself for the first day, and establishing that "I'm your head coach" relationship before he can come in and try to convince them otherwise.)

But, I really can't say I know exactly how I would handle it without an assistant. I handled JV just fine last year during games and practice without help. But, as you and my father have told me, doing two teams without some help will be very difficult, so it's best to at least have someone out there with me, I guess. I just wish I could have chosen my own assistant.