Would you?

[spidermac]

So my team aged out of the city rec league last season...I have let the board know that I wanted a new team of 7's (1st year tackle).

Well, as of right now, there are no vacancies in 7 or 8, maybe in the older age groups...but for sure in 5's, which is first year flag. They also told me that they could place me with a 7 year old team as an assitant to help inexperienced header...

I have never coached flag before (8 man football) and have not coached any kids in anything that young before...

Would you take the 5 year old team? A position as an AC with an inexperienced header? Or hold out for your own team?

[Belebuch]

Id hold out. just my .02 for many reasons

[spidermac]

Id hold out. just my .02 for many reasons

And they are (the reasons)?

[CoachGugs]

Do something you never done before!  I did Flag for 5 years and had a lot of fun with that age group.  If you are good at keeping kids attention it will be fun for you.  If you can't... it is going to be a long year and will feel like herding Cats...

I have seen guys explode getting frustrated when kids don’t perform.  At that age you just have to make light of it and move forward properly correcting the kid.

[mahonz]

So my team aged out of the city rec league last season...I have let the board know that I wanted a new team of 7's (1st year tackle).

Well, as of right now, there are no vacancies in 7 or 8, maybe in the older age groups...but for sure in 5's, which is first year flag. They also told me that they could place me with a 7 year old team as an assitant to help inexperienced header...

I have never coached flag before (8 man football) and have not coached any kids in anything that young before...

Would you take the 5 year old team? A position as an AC with an inexperienced header? Or hold out for your own team?

S

Been there and done that a few times. I went the AC route and had a major discovery.

I really liked the OC or DC position and realized I really didnt like the HC position. Since you are experienced and hooking up with the less experienced, he will look to you for many things football so you still have major input....and then he will look to you for some advise dealing with all the HC off the field dramas / needs that happen with every team.

So while the HC is on the phone until 10pm every other night....you are relaxing and enjoying not being the HC. 

I haven't been a Header in 10 years.  Was the Header for 4 seasons out of the last 15. LOVE IT !

Now I have all the grandsons running around and will most certainly have to get back to being a Header in the near future. I will be looking to train up a Dad to be the Header that is for sure. Even when I owned my own Semi Pro team....I was the OC or DC.

[RoyalFlush18]

Are you familiar w/ the inexperienced header @ all? This makes all the difference in the world.

[spidermac]

Are you familiar w/ the inexperienced header @ all? This makes all the difference in the world.

Nope, and I would definately speak with him at length before committing...we all need to be on the same page 

[Belebuch]

Just from my experiences alone. I feel that the inexperienced HC may feel threatened by you and that will cause conflict as you present your ideas and he refuses to accept them in feeling that it is HIS team and things will be done his way or bust. NO HC wants to be shown up by an AC who "knows it all"

The HC i tried to help last yr was one of those block the man in front of you and here's my playbook in napkin form guys. I showed him my collection of playbooks and vids and said hey feel free to use any of these or if you know of an offense you want to implement let me know and ill find all i can on it. Well he was stuck in his ways -won 1 game the yr prior- and proceeded to do it all the exact same way he did the yr before with the same result. There were many grumblings about his way of doing things amongst the AC's who offered their ideas and it came down to my way or the highway with him. Some left including myself and a few stayed for their sons on the team. It was a long season for those kids to say the least.

After the season at the Banquet our Director said one of the ACs who stayed told him he didnt like the way the HC handled Coach D -Me- and that he thought had the staff and team stuck together that we could have done something. Ill be working with him this season btw.

[mahonz]

Just from my experiences alone. I feel that the inexperienced HC may feel threatened by you and that will cause conflict as you present your ideas and he refuses to accept them in feeling that it is HIS team and things will be done his way or bust. NO HC wants to be shown up by an AC who "knows it all"

The HC i tried to help last yr was one of those block the man in front of you and here's my playbook in napkin form guys. I showed him my collection of playbooks and vids and said hey feel free to use any of these or if you know of an offense you want to implement let me know and ill find all i can on it. Well he was stuck in his ways -won 1 game the yr prior- and proceeded to do it all the exact same way he did the yr before with the same result. There were many grumblings about his way of doing things amongst the AC's who offered their ideas and it came down to my way or the highway with him. Some left including myself and a few stayed for their sons on the team. It was a long season for those kids to say the least.

After the season at the Banquet our Director said one of the ACs who stayed told him he didnt like the way the HC handled Coach D -Me- and that he thought had the staff and team stuck together that we could have done something. Ill be working with him this season btw.

B

Different deal....if you are hooking up with an inexperienced HC on a team of Super Smurfs then you are not dealing with a guy set in his ways. I would not hook up with a HC that has previous experience unless I felt good about it after numerous off season meetings. I have done that once and it went well. Twice I hooked up with a complete newbie ant that too went well.

I do agree though....I can see how it can turn bad in a hurry. For me and my personality....I get along with others  well but can manipulate a situation even better. 

[Michael]

Take it.

I hate flag, but coaching five-year-olds for a year will help you a ton.

As Einstein said, if you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it.  (I don't know where he stood on explaining things to five-year-olds.)

You will get WAY tighter with how you look at things and how you explain things.  You can be really sloppy with older kids (and adults) and try to explain away contradictions and inconsistencies and that sort of thing.  With five-year-olds, it needs to be really clean and sensible, the first time, or you have no shot.  Confuse them the first time you try to give them something, and you'll be paying for it for weeks.

Look at it this way: Could the average boss in the workplace lead a bunch of five-year-olds?  Hell, no.  It takes adults to figure out what the boss meant, what he didn't really mean, what was just talk, what was explained incorrectly, etc.

The two years I coached little dudes helped me a ton.

Count it as a one-year investment in becoming a better coach.

[Belebuch]

For us it all started at the practices when he wanted to go live with his offense. He took the studs and gave me the rest -usually anywhere between 6-9 kids, not even a full 11- well needless to say they never got a positive play. I think this really hurt his ego and it just went bad form there. He would scream at the kids for not blocking but he never gave them rules to block by, he yelled at the backs when they were caught from behind or if his FB didnt open a gaping hole. As for the defense, i aligned the kids in the 2 defenses that i liked -DC46 and KB- and with just a few min of simple instruction they were causing problems. It got to the point where he banned Nose Guards and even took a few players from me saying they needed to watch the offense so they can learn the plays as the backups- So...... yeah, thats what we dealt with.

Like i said earlier, i just answered based on my own experiences. If you can meet up with this guy and find a common vision for the team and work together in achieving that vision then go for it. I try to get along with everyone, i mean lets face it, none of us are professional coaches being paid. We are here to help these kids learn about the game of football and hopefully they can win a few while we're at it.

[Vince148]

S

Been there and done that a few times. I went the AC route and had a major discovery.

I really liked the OC or DC position and realized I really didnt like the HC position.

That's surprises me coming from you. I would have thought that with all the knowledge you possess on both sides of the ball, that you would rather be a HC. That's why I like the HC job, because I can run whatever scheme I choose. Just have to have the people to help me coach what I want. Certainly wasn't the case last season.

But being a DC before that, I understand where you're coming from. You can focus on just one thing while the HC gets all the headaches.

[mahonz]

That's surprises me coming from you. I would have thought that with all the knowledge you possess on both sides of the ball, that you would rather be a HC. That's why I like the HC job, because I can run whatever scheme I choose. Just have to have the people to help me coach what I want. Certainly wasn't the case last season.

But being a DC before that, I understand where you're coming from. You can focus on just one thing while the HC gets all the headaches.

V

The best HC's I have worked with run the team and not a system. Sure they pick the systems but the newbies I have worked with show up with some crappy Reed thing....and I convince them to pitch it in the trash can. If you are experienced and coaching with the inexperienced....you will have input. If a HC was set on running a certain thing....do it...but you must have a productive off season first. Cant just hook up two weeks before the pre season and start kicking stuff around.

Its football and all football is good....all the same just different... unless you are so obtuse that you refuse to run anything but your thing.  If that's the case then you need to be the Header.

If I never become a HC again...I'll be happy. 

[gumby_in_co]

Nothing wrong with coaching flag and I think coaching 5 year olds could be fun.  I would NEVER coach under an inexperienced HC. I think the likelihood of things going wrong in that scenario far outweigh the likelihood of things going well.  I would immediately wonder why a guy without experience would event attempt to be an HC.  In the best case, he simply has no idea what he's getting himself into.  In the worst, he's one of those guys who just has to be in charge.

[mahonz]

I would NEVER coach under an inexperienced HC.

...but Lar...you did just that last season. 

Ha...Jr just thru his mouse at me.