The Importance of Communication

by Brian Wical
Cardinal Stritch High School Head Football Coach
Follow @CoachWical

I always knew that communication was an important aspect to being a Head Football Coach. In fact, one of the main answers I gave in each of my coaching interviews on an important trait for a Head Coach was always communication. However, I am not sure I truly understood the importance of it until I actually became one. 

One of the first things that I picked up on after being hired as the Head Coach was that there seemed to be little to no communication in the past at Cardinal Stritch when it came to the football program. This was evident on all levels, but none more than with the parents. It was also true with the football players as well, which is a huge issue, at least in my opinion. 

First of all, the parents are probably the most important people that you can communicate with. Let’s face it, many times our kids wouldn’t be at a summer workout or even football practice in the fall if it wasn’t for the parents. They need to be the first group that is in the know because they are the lifelines to your entire football program.

 

At the first meeting I had with our football players after accepting the job, I had each fill out a player profile page. I wanted this for a multitude of reasons. Which included: their address so I knew what part of Toledo they were coming from, what position they had played in the past, their grade level - just to name a few. The most important line on there though was the line that requested the parents email address. I immediately gathered all of the email addressed provided for me and made a group in my school email account titled: “Football Parents”.

 

After establishing this group I sent an email out, just introducing myself to all the parents. I wanted them to know whom I was, where I came from, and assure them that I was going to lead their sons to new heights, both as football players and as young men in our community. This was originally done as a one-time thing. Shortly after sending it, however, I got to thinking that the parents would probably appreciate a monthly newsletter informing them of the happenings within the program.

 

I got a lot of positive feedback from our parents that they really did appreciate the communication, because before I got the Cardinal Stritch job, they felt “out of the loop”. Outside of the monthly newsletters, creating the bulk email group has allowed me to communicate changes with them as well. I distributed a summer calendar to all the families in April. Because of this, a few dates and scheduled events have changed a little since then. Instead of setting up a meeting or relaying a message through our athletes (that may or may not make it home), it was simple to type a quick message and alert everyone to what is going on.

 

The other great advantage of this is that it makes the families feel like they are actually a part of your program, which I want. It isn’t fair for me to preach that our team is like a family and that we should all care for each other, if that caring stops at the players. We are all a football family and that is something I am truly working to try and facilitate within our football community.

 

Because of that goal, we have started a football parents club. One thing that shocked me was that there was no organized club to help support our kids during the season. Things like team meals, fruit during two-a-days, etc. were all things that I have seen football parent groups do in the past. Yet, the issue was, we didn’t have one at all. That isn’t to say there weren’t parents doing a tremendous job in supporting the players in the past with these types of things, because there were. 

However, they were more isolated events by single families, than they were an actual group. I believe the group concept is one more way to help our parents truly feel like they are a part of our football family. I am proud to announce we have started that club, and just finished with the second monthly meeting Monday night. Traditionally, this will be something that is completely and solely run by our parents, and I will have little to do with it, other than coordinating certain plans and events together. However, since the group is still in its infancy I went to the meeting Monday night to make sure my visions, the school’s visions, and the parents’ visions were all aligned so we don’t get in trouble or offend any other groups. 

The next place where communication becomes key is with your players. You absolutely must communicate everything to them. This includes: team rules, expectations, times, events, what to wear to practice, etc. If you don’t, I promise the first thing you will deal with is the kid saying “well, coach, you never told us that”. Most of the time, they will be right and you have no legs to stand on. To help prevent that situation, communicate EVERYTHING to them. Each week in our scouting report, the last page is a schedule of the weekly events. I even communicate what color jersey they are to wear to practice, what the practice attire is, when there is a meeting, special event, you name it. I do this because that way every kid loses the excuse of “coach didn’t tell me”. 

The third most important aspect of communication within a football program is with your assistant coaches. My coaches probably think I am crazy already, and we haven’t even coached a game yet. I try to be the most organized and prepared that I can be, for everything. I have monthly meetings with our staff, and each meeting is to discuss some different kind of topic. For example, in February the meeting agenda was just an introductory meeting to my program. I then went through in March and taught the entire offensive playbook to my staff, as if they were the players. In April, our Defensive Coordinator did the same thing. I run the Special Teams as well, so I went through and taught each of them the playbook. You can see that each meeting had a set agenda, and was put in place to keep us all together in the off season still, meanwhile working towards being ready for late-July when we use our coaching days and actually get to have football practices. 

The bottom line here is that in every facet of your football program, communication is essential. With parents, coaches, players, and even school administration. Every decision you make needs to be communicated to at least one of those four groups. We owe the success of our football program, often times, to how well we can communicate what is happening in our head to others around us. Make sure you are doing all that you can to help your program by taking advantage of something so easy.