In my coaching career I have made more mistakes than most. It would be impossible to count the number of mistakes I have made, unless you had one of those NASA supercomputers. Some mistakes I made were bigger than others.
Today I am going to focus on one of the biggest mistakes you can make that leads to mediocrity. Often coaches don't realize they are doing this, and they don't understand the impact this mistake has on your program. Coaches are very competitive and driven, and want to be successful. The programs that have consistent, sustained success are the programs do not make this mistake.
Everyone focuses on talent with the best teams, and yes, talent matters. But there are plenty of talented teams that underachieve every single year. You might play some of them. Hopefully you aren't one of them. What we are going to look at today has the potential to destroy your program.
As we look at this, let's focus on two things that you must do. First, you must build relationships with your players. Great relationships are founded on Trust and Unconditional Love. Second, you need to have standards of performance that are clearly defined. If you don't have clearly defined standards, how does anyone know what to do? This seems like a simple question, but many programs don't have clear standards. They have implied or inferred standards. They don't have a standards that help to reinforce their identity. They talk about things, but they don't live them. They live in the world if "ish." Everything important needs to be clearly defined. If you don't have standards, you will not achieve at high levels.
Now let's get to that one thing... This is what happens at so many programs. What is that one thing...
Inconsistent Accountability to the Standards
Once you have your standards, you need to consistently hold people accountable to the standards, and do so on a consistent basis. You won't tell them what they want to hear, you will tell them what they need to hear. John Wooden said coaching is "correcting someone without causing resentment." This is where trust and consistency are important. Trust and Consistency are foundations of coaches building strong relationships. Most resentment comes from players not trusting that their coaches. They don't trust their coaches because of inconsistencies in correction and accountability.
There are three ways coaches are inconsistent with their accountability...
1. Consistency comes from applying accountability to the standard everyday. The standard doesn't change based on how you feel or the mood of the athlete. Mediocre programs do mediocre things. Mediocre programs inconsistently hold people accountable to standards.
One example is when a coach is tired. He may not apply the standard because it would require energy to apply that standard. So today, they let an athlete walk between drills. The next day, the coach is well-rested and energized. He then decides to apply the standard. This inconsistency affects your athletes and your program in a negative way. When you hold people accountable to the standard one day, but don't hold them accountable the next, you will lose trust from your players. They also will become frustrated. You will find players testing the waters each day to see if today is a day where they will be held accountable. This will eventually lead them to struggle in games where your discipline will come out. If players aren't held accountable to the things that take zero talent, you will struggle to hold them accountable to the things that take more talent. You must be consistent in holding people accountable to your standards, regardless of how you feel.
2. Coaches Being Consistent In Holding People Accountable to the Standard. Head coaches and athletic directors must ensure that everyone is clear on the standard. If your coaches are not clear on the standard, they will not be able to measure whether the standard is being met. Coaches then have to apply the standard consistently. You can't have one coach interpreting the standard differently from another coach.
A great example of this I have seen in many programs is in the squat rack. You will be maxing out, and a kid will be at a rack with one coach and max out at 285. He tries 300 and doesn't get to parallel. The coach doesn't credit him with the max because he didn't meet the standard based on their definition of parallel. The athlete then goes to another coach and tries 300. The other coach is not using the same standard, and all of a sudden the athlete has a max of 365. When you calculate their workouts based on the max, the athlete will not be able to do the workout. He will then be frustrated. The coaches will be frustrated because the printout says he should be able to do the workout.
The other negative to this is that players lose trust. They see that coaches are not consistent in their application of the standard. This is rarely purposeful. Usually it is a lack of clarity on the part of the coaching staff. They don't have a consistent, clearly defined standard of performance. When the standard isn't clear, application won't be clear. This will catch up with you on the field.
3. Consistency comes from applying the standard to every athlete in your program. One of the quickest ways to destroy your locker room is to have different standards for different players, and not holding everyone accountable to the standard. Look at your own program. Are you holding every player accountable to the same standard? I have seen many programs where the best athletes are not held accountable. I coached in a program where there was inconsistent accountability.
When you hold some players accountable to the standard but not others, you develop a sense of entitlement. Those players who are held accountable see that others are not held accountable. This develops resentment and frustration. You lose trust. Your team will not perform at its highest level. The players who are not held accountable will believe the standards don't apply to them. If they are not held accountable to one standard, they will believe all standards are optional.
How many of you have seen this with your teams? You often see this with the players who are hardest to coach. They are guys that don't respond well to being held accountable. Instead of coaches having difficult conversations, they ignore the issue. Or, they apply accountability different for that player. You might have a rule that if you are late to the weight room, you have to push plates for 100 yards. You apply the standard to 5 guys who are late, but then your best athlete is late and you let it slide. Or you make an excuse for him, or give him another chance. Everyone on your team saw this.
The accountability I am talking about here are the things that take zero talent. Effort, being on time, being where you are supposed to be, behaving in the school building and in class, and other things that everyone can do equally. These are also the things people need to do in life to be successful. When you don't hold someone accountable and they develop entitlement, they will take this with them through their lives.
Later in life, there are some things you will see with these athletes. They will not be successful if they have a chance to play in college. They will get recruited on their talent, but when they get to college they will be eliminated by their character. They won't be able to handle the adversity they will face at the next level. Some will enter the work place. They will struggle to keep a job. They are used to being able to skirt the rules, and their boss will not hold them accountable.
As you begin your preparation for next season, you need to evaluate your standards and accountability. Are you standards clearly defined? Are you holding everyone accountable to the standard? Are you consistent with you accountability? Are you coaches consistently applying your standards? This is a great time to reset everything. Hit the control-alt-delete button and rebuild your standards and accountability. This is a great time to raise your expectations.
I also put together a YouTube video on this topic. Check it out here:
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.
I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office!
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.
A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these available.
Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/
It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today and start preparing for your first game right now for less than $13.
This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like:
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. Again, it is less than $13 right now!
And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/ This helped us to build dominating special teams!
I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office!
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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