Happy New Year Coaches! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. This time of the year is always an interesting one, due to the combination of the holidays and, at our level, the bulk of our on-the-road recruiting. Between high school visits and holiday travels, I spent quite a bit of time behind the wheel of a car, and that always leads to a lot of time thinking. That said, here are my January ruminations:
My first thought pertains to a subject which gets discussed quite a bit, but I still think some coaches resist -adapting to your personnel. We all have preferred schemes on both sides of the ball. As coaches, once we “attach” ourselves to a certain scheme or system, it can be tough to change. At the college level, we have the luxury of recruiting to suit our scheme, but high school coaches aren’t always so lucky – particularly at schools without large enrollments.
As an example, I will use a man I have a great deal of respect for, my high school coach Joe Rafferty. Coach Raff is the head football coach at Kennebunk High School in Kennebunk, Maine. He has held that post for 35 years and, in my opinion, has been able to do so because he has mastered the art of adaptation. In 1991, his team won a state title with a punishing “true” triple option offense. The Rams made another state championship appearance in 1999 running a more pro-I style scheme, and reached the title game again in 2013 featuring a pseudo-triple option out of the gun. In between there were variations of the spread, Wing T, and anything else you can think of. I admire Coach Raff for his ability to look at the personnel he has, and install a scheme which will maximize his players’ talents. He is not afraid to experiment, and after 35 years, he is willing to learn. I think this is a philosophy we can all take something from. A good coach puts his players in a position to have success.
I want to stress that this next point is strictly my opinion. Some of you may agree, and some will not, and that is alright. Pounding the phones (or emails, texts, etc.) is a critical part of recruiting. We all know that. However, I think we all need to be sure we are being thoughtful when it comes to the young people on the other end of the phone. I don’t call kids after 9:00 pm. Many high schools start classes before 8:00 am, and some kids are waking up at 6:00 am (or earlier) to get to school on time. With practices and studying, they’re up until 10:00 pm or later as it is – even without taking phone calls. Additionally, whenever possible, I try to avoid making calls on the weekends. In my view, that should be their time to relax and decompress. Sometimes you have to, and I get it. I do try not to make it a habit though. Again, in my opinion, if you’re calling kids at 10:00 pm and on Friday evening, you aren’t outworking anyone – you’re just being inconsiderate.
My final thought for this month is a bit chilling. I recently read an article about some “corruption” at the administrative level of a Division III school. The actions were limited to the upper levels of the school, and no coaches were implicated. However, I started to think how this could negatively affect the coaches’ recruiting efforts. Bad publicity for an institution can certainly cause a student-athlete to look elsewhere. This puts coaches in an unfair position. A recruiting scandal, NCAA sanctions, etc. probably wouldn’t negatively affect the school from a big-picture view – a non-athlete English major probably wouldn’t rule out a school due to recruiting violations – but an institutional “scandal” can definitely hurt innocent coaches and undermine their efforts. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
I hope everyone has a great month. If you’re going to Louisville for the AFCA Convention and would like to share any feedback with me, look me up! As always, I can also be reached at wrussel1@norwich.edu.