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.
