One Year in the Books
As we head toward Spring, I hope you are all doing well and the excitement about next season is starting to build!
While next season may still seem like a ways off, programs are working hard to lay the groundwork for the Fall, which always seems to get here sooner than we think! I certainly hope your offseason thus far has been rejuvenating and productive! This is month’s newsletter includes:
· Ideas on building trust within your program
· Characteristics of a great assistant coaches
· March Checklist
· Subscriber Spotlight on legendary Silverton assistant coach Don von Weller
This is also the 12th edition of the Playbook and marks one year since we started publishing. I would like to thank Brian O’Connor, a friend and former Nike executive, whose wisdom and guidance has been so critical. I would also like to thank my “editors”, daughters Katie and Megan, for all of their honest feedback and tech support along the way!
What has been most rewarding for me is reflecting on my career and experiences, and trying to write about things that may resonate and be helpful to you all. A special thanks to Oregon coaching legends Steve Coury, Ken Potter, and Randy Nyquist, long time collegiate coaches Chris Casey and Angus McClure, as well as my son Sean who was recently hired to the coaching staff of the Green Bay Packers, for all giving your time during this past year to share your expertise with our readership.
As I enter year 2 of publishing the Coaching Playbook, it is my goal to continue to shape it and make it something that can be helpful to all readers. I am excited about some of the interviews that will be included in future months as well as new features and videos that can provide useful tips/drills for readers to take with them. My goal continues to be to shape the content to whatever would be most helpful to you all, so please email me at jmannionfootball@gmail.com with input, topics or questions you would like addressed. I look forward to hearing from you!
Finally, I am very proud that the distribution list is now over 250 coaches! I would like to continue to include anyone interested, so if there are others you know who may enjoy reading it, they can email me or simply subscribe directly on the site. While many of you are paid subscribers, I would encourage those who are free subscribers to consider the $5/month subscription as we head into year 2. All the previous editions are archived and you will have access to all articles, drills, and interviews that have been published in the past year. There is a subscription bar located a little further down in this edition…..I encourage you to consider subscribing!
JM
Building Trust in Your Program
Trust is a crucial, necessary element within any organization and certainly any successful high school football program. Trust is something that can deepen relationships, allow a group to work through challenging situations, and ultimately give your team a chance at success. I believe that football in many ways is the ultimate team sport requiring your players to work together unselfishly in order for your team to execute effectively. With eleven players involved in each play, if one of the eleven loses concentration, plays in an undisciplined manner, or “does their own thing”, the play will undoubtedly fail. Offensive linemen trusting what the other will do in pass protection, quarterbacks trusting their receivers to run precise routes, and a corner trusting the safety to be their for him in coverage are examples of trust that are evident in virtually every play in a football game. I feel there are things that we can do to have our players build trust with us coaches and with each other.
A big part of trust is having everyone on the same page about the mission of the team. For this reason, I believe that having very clear expectations for your team is essential. Everything from what you expect from a drill, to how you want your OL to make line calls, to what your players should wear to passing league games, these should all be clearly communicated. This leaves no confusion on the part of the players as to what is expected of them. It also allows you to fairly and consistently hold the players to the standard you have set. If the players understand what is expected and see that everyone is being held to the same standards, it can foster cohesion and the players will begin to trust that everyone on the team is valued and treated fairly.
In addition to coaching your team in a fair and consistent manner, trust also happens when real and sincere relationships exist. I believe in taking every opportunity to be positive with my team. I offer praise often throughout practice. I also invest time getting to know my players on individual basis and try to develop sincere, meaningful relationships with them. While this may be challenging on a bigger squad, I believe it is time well spent and creates a pathway to greater trust.
During my second year at Silverton High School, 3 of my offensive linemen were constantly talking about the steers they were going to show at the County Fair that coming July. Our offensive huddles often saw arguments about whose animal was better, who had better hay, who had a better barn, etc. I finally asked them when this showing was going to happen so I could see this myself. I took a few hours of my time that July to go to the Fair and see the boys show their animals. A couple of their parents called me the next week to say how much that meant to their boys. While it may be hard to do this for every player on your team, going the extra mile to attend one of their sporting events, writing them a letter of recommendation, or even having dinner at a burger place where they work can all make it clear to the players that you are interested in them as people. I assure you that this will go along way toward having the players trust you.
Another crucial piece of building trust is that the players see and know that you are looking out for everyone on the team and “have their back”. I feel that if different players are held to different standards based upon ability or position on the team, it will quickly erode the players trust in the coaches to be fair and consistent. My third year at Silverton HS, we had won our league title for the first time in many years and were practicing a couple of days before our second round playoff game. During a blocking drill, one of our best players went beyond the scope of the drill and plastered one of our third string guys. I immediately jumped in and in no uncertain terms let my displeasure with our starter be known and said that every guy is as important as the next and we don’t do that to a teammate. The player immediately apologized to the backup and the rest of the group. Leaving the field that day, a different backup player pulled me aside and thanked me for watching out for everybody. Trust can grow when everyone on your team or organization feels supported and safe in the environment you have created.
In my opinion, one final ingredient in this trust building process is that you as the coach or leader must willing to give an honest assessment of your performance as coach, and take responsibility when things don’t go well. I can’t tell you how many times I have told my players, “that was a bad call by me”, “I didn’t do a good enough job preparing us”, or “I will do a better” when things have not gone well. In tough situations, your players already feel bad and disappointed so you as the leader accepting blame can help bring your team together. Being willing to be vulnerable with your players is also a critical part of the process. In 2021, our team began the season 0-3 after coming off a deep playoff run the season before. At our team meeting on Saturday morning after our third loss, I called on each player and asked them what they thought we should do to turn things around. Players gave their thoughts and everyone was heard and invested in the discussion. It was a very healthy exercise that gave the players and coaches ownership of the plan to turn things around, and it propelled us to a five game winning streak. Being comfortable with asking the players for their input is not always natural as a coach, but it shows a level of trust that can be a key to a successful season.
Being a Great Assistant Coach
This past Saturday, I was honored to speak to young coaches at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Portland. As part of my presentation, I discussed some of the characteristics of excellent assistant coaches. My coaching career spanned thirty-five years, with nineteen as an assistant coach and sixteen as a head coach so I have extensive experience in both roles. While I hope that I was an asset to the head coaches that I served under, to this day I am indebted to the phenomenal and incredibly valuable assistant coaches that were on my staff. I believe that football is the ultimate team game and that extends to coaching staffs! Below are some things that in my opinion are characteristics of a great assistant coach:
Lead by Example – It is critical for all coaches to demonstrate the behaviors you want to see from your players. At the top of the list would be to hustle as a coach, whether it be transitioning from drill to drill or the urgency with which you run an individual period, your players should see you hustling! Other examples you can set include: always maintaining good body language (especially when things are not going well), communicating in a positive and clear manner, and valuing all the members of your team!
Own Your Assignment – Often as an assistant you will be working with a part of a larger group of players/coaches in more of a support role. During any opportunity you have been given to lead a group of players, I encourage you to take pride in making it a highly engaging, organized and productive period. Whether it be a ten minute individual period with the DB’s, peeling off the TE/OT to work on double teams, or running the scout team, take pride in whatever assignment you have been given and make it great. I guarantee that your head coach will notice this and it will lead to greater responsibilities in the future.
Take Initiative and Look For Ways to Help - There are so many moving parts in a two and a half hour practice or Friday night game that I was always incredibly thankful for assistants that jumped in to make things run more smoothly and efficiently. Anticipate what is going to be next in practice and begin the transition without being told. Take on game day responsibilities like setting up the head phones or helping manage the footballs on a wet night. It is always a great sign when an assistant sees something that needs to be done and jumps on it.
Be Open and Flexible to Your Role In The Program - I would encourage assistant coaches, especially younger ones, to be open to coaching positions that may not be something you played or coached in the past. Year-to-year staff needs may change so being willing to stretch yourself to coach something new is good for the staff as a whole. Not only will it show you are unselfish and a team player, but it will make you a better coach in the future. When I came to Foothill HS in 1996, I had never played or coached Offensive Line, but I assisted Head Coach Matt Sweeney with that position for the next ten years. Over the course of that time I not only gained a greater understanding of the technique/schemes involved but also of the critical nature of the position to the success of an offense. For this reason, I always coached the OL in my 16 years as a head coach. I would also mention that while many assistant coaches strive to coach on the varsity level (and understandably so), some of the most important coaching in a program takes place at the Freshmen and JV levels. I was always so grateful to the coaches on my staff that were team players and did unbelievable jobs with the lower levels. They were always with us on Friday nights and everyone in our program understood their importance to our program’s success!
Always Be Coaching – One of the things I look for in an assistant is if they are always coaching throughout practice. With a football practice divided into so many different periods and focuses, it can be easy and natural for a coach to take their foot off the gas at different points in practice. I am of the belief that we have such limited practice time with our players that we need to coach the entire time. For example, if the team is working on punt team, and you are the WR coach, hustle down and work with the players that are fielding the punts. If I am an assistant OL coach and we have a team defensive period, be in the scout offensive huddle and even though you may not be running your offense, be attentive to and coaching your OL on improving their fundamentals. There is also a tendency for some periods of practice to run over the allotted time on the schedule. Always have some things to work on if a scheduled 10 minute period becomes 15 or 20 minutes. I believe it is a mark of a great coach that they always have productive and focused coaching going on regardless of the situation.
As an assistant coach for nearly twenty years, I understood and embraced whatever role I had in a particular season or program. As a head coach, I can attest that a program can only be as good as their assistant coaches. I feel so blessed over my time as a head coach to have had so many outstanding, motivated, and selfless coaches that had a huge impact on our program and the young people in it!
What You Should be Doing in March