Have you ever finished a season and been disappointed that you underachieved? One of the biggest disappointments in my coaching career was feeling like we didn't meet our expectations for our season. There is nothing worse than knowing you didn't have the success you thought you would have. I have talked to a few coaches the last couple of weeks that are frustrated with their seasons went and the directions of their programs. They feel like they are lacking discipline, leadership, and accountability. They have stupid penalties, turnovers, or mental mistakes that cost them football games. As I look back on the biggest disappointments in my coaching career, the biggest reason we underachieved was a lack of discipline, leadership and accountability tops. It was rarely a lack of talent.
Having a lack of talent is something that is often out of your control. Unless you are a program that recruits, you can't control the genetics of the athletes in your program. When we struggled because of a lack of talent, I could deal with that. When we had a lack of talent, however, we tended to exceed expectations. What is frustrating is when you have talent and fall short of expectations. 95% of the time this comes down to discipline, leadership, and accountability.
Discipline, leadership, and accountability are three things you have complete control over. If you are a head coach, you set the standard for the level of each of the these three things. Discipline and accountability come down to the standards and expectations you set, and what you are willing to tolerate. What you tolerate from your best players will lead to the level of discipline and accountability for everyone in your program. And when someone doesn't meet that standard, do you hold them accountable? Do you have a system to teach them what they did or didn't do that went against the standard? Ultimately it is about changing behaviors.
More than once this year I have seen several very talented teams lose football games to teams with inferior talent because they lacked discipline. In my 25 years of coaching, I was a part of three teams that lost to teams much less talented. I watched several games this year where I saw teams with superior talent lose to inferior competition. How can this happen? If you have more talent, aren't you supposed to win? There is a reason there are a bunch of very talented teams that lost 6, 7, and 8 games this year at all levels.
First, it happens because you allow it to happen. You control what you allow and what you expect. You set your standards and expectations. You control the level of accountability to your standards. As a head coach you are ultimately in control. You set the tone for the entire team. You are the one who ultimately sets that standards for your team. You are the one who controls the level of accountability for your team.
If you are going to set standards, and you had better set standards, you must be willing to hold every athlete to the standards you set. If you aren't willing to hold your best players to the standards, then you are going to lose trust with the team. You are going to have players that might outwardly act like they are bought in, but they are going to be frustrated with any lack of accountability. You will have the same frustration with coaches on your staff. They may outwardly be bought in, but inwardly they will be frustrated. If you don't have complete trust built up with everyone in your program, they will tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear.
Let's get to 3 important keys I'd like to focus on. First: If your best players are not being held accountable off the field, they will break your heart on the field. I have seen his first hand, and it something that is frustrating because you have complete control over it. When you let a guy get away with being a jerk in the school building, or getting in trouble in class, he will break your heart on the field. When you allow your most talented players to be un-coachable and unapproachable in practice, they will break your heart on Friday night when you play good teams. Have you set clear expectations for your team, and are you willing to hold everyone accountable to these expectations?
When you have two sets of standards, one for the guys who are hard to coach, and one for the guys who are easy to coach, you will lose when you play someone who is inferior to you in talent, but has a higher level of discipline and accountability. They will not make undisciplined mistakes that cost teams football games. They will not get 15 yard penalties that will extend drives. They will not get penalties on third down that end drives for your offense, and extend drives for your opponents. They won't get 15 yard penalties that negate touchdowns. They won't have breakdowns in eye-discipline. They won't stop playing hard when they get behind. When one standard becomes optional, all standards become optional. If you are inconsistent with your accountability, the players you do not hold accountable will not know how to handle real adversity when it hits.
Let me add loudly: NEVER JUSTIFY SOMEONE NOT MEETING THE STANDARD
That is so important that it had to be in all caps. Once you start to justify negative behaviors, you are allowing yourself to accept mediocrity. Everything we are talking about today has nothing to do with ability or talent. Do not justify mediocre behaviors or habits unless you want mediocre results. If the standard is important, everyone should be expected to meet the standard. If the standard ins't worth holding everyone accountable, get rid of the standard. Once one standard because optional, all standards become optional.
Second: Head coaches, listen to your assistant coaches when it comes to discipline. We had a situation one year where we wanted to bench two of our most talented players on offense. We wanted to take playing time from them. They weren't practicing well, and they were becoming a cancer for the team. They were lazy in drills, and that was carrying over to the game. The offensive staff was in agreement that these two players needed to be benched. The head coach initially agreed, but then relented. The players were not held accountable. While they made big plays at times, they also did not play up to the level of their talent. More importantly, they were a distraction far more often than they were making big plays. Instead of setting the standard, they were the negative example.
When we tried to kick these players out of practice, the head coach brought them right back and said he "talked to them" and "they will be better." They weren't better, and talking rarely creates accountability. These players then proceeded to essentially sabotage practice. They didn't do it intentionally, but by not holding them accountable, we set them, and the team, up for failure. When things got difficult, these players did not perform at a high level. Because they did not face adversity when the lights were off, they could not handle adversity when the lights were on.
Holding people accountable will help them to be able to handle when situations do not go their way in a game. The head coach did not support holding them accountable, and their behavior never improved. This post is not about relationships, but relationships are important. But relationships are not accountability. Relationships give you permission to hold athletes accountable to being their best. The relationship without accountability is just friendship. They don't need a friend. They have friends. They need a coach who will tell them what they don't want to hear right now, so they can get what they really want down the road.
Third: When you don't teach character, leadership, and discipline, you are building entitlement. You are teaching them that it is okay to not meet the standard because they are a little more talented. And what happens is that these young men will end up struggling in life. They will expect their boss to let them slide because you let them slide. You are doing them a disservice. The goal isn't for them to be accountable during the season. The goal is for them to be able to be self-disciplined and accountable in their life, when you aren't there to guide them. Everything you do is going to have an impact in 5, 10, and 15 years. You either built accountability or you built entitlement.
One of the best ways to build discipline and accountability is by taking playing time. Most kids will push plates, do up-downs, and flip tires until the cows come home. They won't like it, but often these activities do not change behaviors. You have to have some form of accountability that will eliminate the negative behavior. That is the goal of accountability, is to change behavior. As coaches, our biggest responsibility is to change behaviors and attitudes to help kids to make better choices. We use the game of the football to teach them this and it will impact them the rest of their lives. Everything we do will have a lasting impact.
One of the best head coaches I worked for, David Diaz, understood this fully. My second year as his OC we had an elite football player who was our leading rusher on offense and leading tackler on defense. We had a Saturday game one week, and when I walked into the office at 7:30 Saturday morning, Coach Diaz told me to prepare not to have this elite player. He had skipped 7th period the day before, and needed to learn a valuable lesson. I argued about other forms of punishment, but Coach Diaz said those were not going to affect the player and help him grow. It was bigger than winning a game. If we let that young man play, he would learn a sense of entitlement. We also would be letting the team know that while we talk about academics, that we really don't mean it. By holding him accountable, we were able to develop responsibility in the young man that would benefit him in every aspect of his life. It also helped build trust in the locker room. The players knew that the standard was the standard, and applied to everyone. This young man did not cut class again. Not only that, but he is successful today.
I was on the sideline at a high school game a few weeks ago. It was a close game in the first half, and a player threw his helmet and was yelling at the head coach during a time out. A. couple of teammates appeared to calm the young man down, and the head coach put him back on the field. His teammate got an interception and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. This player, in his frustration, blocked a player in the back well behind the play, then stood over him and talked. He got two penalties on the play. The touchdown was called back, and since it was a spot foul, the penalties were marked from where they occurred. Instead of a touchdown, they started with the ball at their own 15.
It turns out, this young man had not been held accountable to the little things on or off the field, and in the game, that lack of accountability on the little things led to an issue with a big thing. His lack of discipline hurt the team. You might say, well, coach gave him a chance after he calmed down. He didn't want to take his opportunity. Sometimes kids need to feel pain to learn. Sometimes they need something taken from them to learn a lesson. The more comfortable something is, the less people learn. The more painful something is, the more they will learn. Now don't think I am telling you to inflict pain. I am telling you not to be afraid of difficult decisions that might lead to tough conversations. Don't be afraid of having a kid sit out when it is the best thing for the development of the kid. It will also help your program. Sometimes it might be a series or a play, and sometimes it might be a game. Sitting in the stands can make a powerful impact on a young man who is struggling with accountability.
Sometimes as coaches, we make things too easy for kids on the field. We try to smooth the path for them off the field. Because we smooth the path, they never face any adversity. They never hear the word no, and don't learn how to deal with boundaries. If they don't have boundaries off the field, they certainly won't deal with them on the field.
If you are in this situation with your team, then right now is the time to change. Right now is the time to reset the culture and direction of your program. You can talk about things all you want, but until you take action, and take it consistently, nothing will change. You can't wait until the middle of the season to build discipline and accountability.
If you are in this situation, what do you do? There are a some vital things you can do to change the direction of your program and increase the level of accountability.
1. Set Standards of Performance
Standards are simply your expectations. They must be clear and concise. Everything you do should have a standard to which it should be done. And I want to make sure you understand that we are talking about behaviors. We are not talking about anything that requires ability. These are the things that take zero talent. Some examples might be: We will be in the weight room at 3:30 each day. You will sit in the front two rows in class. You will not leave class to go to the football office. You will wear our gear in the weight room. You will wear proper footwear in the weight room. All skill players will run track.
Everything you do has a standard. Parallel squat has a standard. Your splits on the offensive line is a standard. Your linebacker stance knee bend is a standard. You don't need to recreate these. You probably already have them. You simply need to clarify them for your athletes. I think you get the idea. Find the areas where your team needs to improve, and start there.
2. Hold people accountable to the standard
If you tell players that you will be in the weight room at 3:30, and someone arrives at 3:32, how will you handle this? There has to be something they don't like for being late. Teaching people to be on time. is a life skill they will need. If you have a standard that says they will wear proper footwear, what will you do to hold someone accountable who wears slides? What if you set an expectation that all skill guys run track, and one of your skill guys doesn't run track? How will you handle this? Most importantly, every single person must be held accountable to the standard. If you let one person deviate from the standard, you have now given everyone permission to deviate from the standard. If you decide the standard isn't worth holding people accountable, get rid of the standard.
3. Be Consistent. and Finish
This is really important, and where a lot of coaches fail. They start holding people accountable, then they stop. They hold people accountable in January and February, then in March and April their level of accountability drops. They let their guard down. Great coaches are consistent in their application, and they finish. The level of accountability. in May and June is the same as it is in January and February. The level of accountability in October and November is the same as the accountability in June and July. That is why they are playing more games in December.
4. Emphasize what you want to see more of
You get what you emphasize is something that I heard as a young coach, and it stuck with me. If you want to see more of something, recognize and reward it. If you want to see less of it, call it out and expose it for what it is. Let me give you an example. We wanted to increase our attendance at summer workouts. We found a great way to do this. Let me first say that while we worked hard to provide every kid with first-class equipment, we did not have the budget to do so. We had 24 pairs of brand new, top-notch shoulder pads. We had 24 brand new top-not helmets.
When we first started, we gave new equipment out based on seniority. We realized in our evaluation of the season that doing that did not increase attendance or work ethic. We decided instead to give equipment out based on attendance and improvement. Players who had the highest summer attendance would get their gear first. Players who had lower attendance got their gear last. We had 24 summer workouts. We listed players in order of their attendance. When more than one player had the same number of workouts attended, we looked at the percentage gains showed in Squat and Power Clean to determine who would go first. This rewarded guys who had the best attendance and work ethic. What happened? More of our guys showed up to workouts, and most of our best athletes were at the top of the list.
Leadership: The final piece of this is leadership. We had a disappointing 5-5 season one year, and I called my dad when we lost our last game to be eliminated from playoff contention. I told him we had little leadership. He asked a simple question, "What did you do to teach and develop leadership?" That question is on the front of my mind every single day. What are you doing to develop leaders within your program?
We can spend hours on leadership, and I will write a separate post on this topic. But you have to invest time teaching people to be leaders. You have to have a plan for teaching and developing leadership. The first thing is to realize that everyone exerts influence in your program. That influence is either positive, or it is negative. Your plan for developing leadership will determine how positive or negative your leadership is. Leadership is too important for you to leave it to chance. When we started teaching leadership, we saw an immediate improvement in the level of leadership within our program. If you want strong player led teams, you've got to teach them to lead, then put them into situations where they need to lead each other. We invested time into teaching leadership skills and developing leaders. The result was that our leadership improved.
Evaluate your own program. Do your captains view leadership as the opportunity to serve others? Or do they view being a captain as a position entitling them to privileges others don't have? If your captains lead with entitlement, you will have an entitled team.
To Recap: If your season did not go the way you wanted, look first at discipline, leadership, and accountability of your program. Talent is one part of the equation, but what you do for your athletes as far as developing accountability matters more. Talent is only one part of the equation. There are a lot of very talented teams that lost 6, 7, and 8 games this year. There are a lot of talented teams that underachieved. And there are a lot of less talented teams that made deep playoff runs and won district championships.
More important than all of those wins, however, is the impact you will make on your young people. The standards you set matter. And the level of accountability you have with your athletes will have a direct impact on their ability to have self-discipline when you aren't there to guide them. When they leave your program, are they more likely to overcome adversity because they were in your program? Or did your program develop a sense of entitlement that will hurt them as they go through life? That is a question you must ask. If you have guys who are dropping out of college, or guys who are not able to hold down a job, what could you have done differently?
I want to leave you with this. You have total control over the culture of your program. You control the standards you set. You control the level of accountability to those standards. You control how much time you invest in leadership. Be intentional with discipline, accountability, and leadership with your program.
I wish you the best as you begin to prepare for the upcoming season. If you are looking for some resources that will help you in your preparation, I have put together some things that coaches at all level of football are using with their programs. Not only will these help you be more organized, they will save you valuable time on the weekends.
All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points.
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
New Book
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
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