Building a championship football team

by Paul W. Bryant

HOW TO START BUILDING A WINNER

Building a winning football team is something that cannot be accomplished overnight, or even in a year or two, if the program is starting from scratch. I believe, irrespective of the time element involved, a football program has little chance of succeeding unless the following “musts” are adhered to:

1. The coach must have a definite plan in which he believes, and there must be no compromise on his part.

2. The football coach must have the complete cooperation and support of the administrators and the administration, who must believe in the head coach, his staff, and his plan.

3. The coach must have a long term contract.

4. The coach must not only be dedicated to football, but he must be tough mentally.

5. The head coach must have the sole responsibility and authority of selecting his staff of dedicated men, who must believe in the head coach and his plan.

The Administration Must Believe in Your Plan

It is vitally important that a coach build a solid foundation for his program. In order to do this he must have complete cooperation from every member of the school’s administration. In many cases the school officials will not have a complete and thorough understanding of your athletic program. It is important that you explain to them just what you are trying to accomplish, how long it will take, and why you are doing it in your particular manner. The administrators and the administration must understand the value the program has for each boy who participates, and the ways the program can benefit the entire school system. Therefore, before a coach accepts a particular position he should give considerable thought to the administration’s philosophy, attitude or point-of-view toward the football program. If the school president or principal is skeptical, consider the position seriously before accepting it. Building a championship team is difficult enough with full cooperation from everyone, but it is an impossible coaching situation without the administration’s full support and confidence.

The Coach Must Have a Long Term Contract

If a college coach is going to build a team, it is an absolute must that he have a long term contract. There is little use in believing or thinking any other way. It is very possible, and highly probable, it will take at least four or five years to shape a ball club into winning form. Without the security of a long term contract, a coach can be forced to concentrate on winning a certain number of games each year, and it is possible this can completely disrupt or disorganize a rebuilding program. I am not saying that a coach should not try to win every game, because he obviously should strive to win ’em all. I merely want to point out the fact that without the security of a job for a period of years, he might be forced to revert to certain practices which he knows are not sound principles on which to build a winning program. As an illustration, he might have to revert to such a practice as playing individuals of questionable character because of their immediate ability, rather than weeding them out and concentrating on the solid citizens. The latter group will stay with you and will eventually be winners, if you are given job security and adequate time to work with them.

The Coach Must Be Dedicated and Tough Mentally

Unless a person is dedicated to his chosen trade or profession, regardless of his field of endeavor, he is never going to be highly successful. Building a winning football team is no exception. The head coach, as well as his assistants, must be dedicated to football. All of them must be tough mentally, too.

Many times a coach’s job is unpopular and unrewarding. From time to time a coach must make decisions that are unpleasant. He cannot compromise, however, if he expects to build a winner. He must be tough mentally in order to survive.

In addition, a coach must be tough mentally in another sense. He must be able to spend numerous hours studying football all ways and always. A coach who hopes to be successful must drive himself and be so dedicated to his job that he puts it ahead of everything else in his life, with the exception of his religion and his family. One can have a tremendous knowledge of the game, but he cannot possibly make the grade unless he can stand up to the long hours and the trying times. It is not an absolute necessity for a coach to be exceptionally smart or a brilliant strategist, but he must be a hard worker, mentally tough, and dedicated to the game of football. One can only be honest with himself in determining whether or not he has these qualifications.

You Must Have a Definite Plan

As head football coach, you must give leadership and direction to your program if you expect it to be successful. Therefore, you must have a definite plan in which you and your assistants believe. In order to build winners you cannot deviate from your plan, and there cannot be any compromises.

Many factors go into the plan, such as organizing the program and the type of boys whom you have on your squad, both of which will have a great deal to do with your ultimate success or failure. These and other phases of the plan will be discussed in detail shortly, and in later chapters in this book.

You Must Have a Good Staff

In order to build winners, the head coach must surround himself with a dedicated staff of hard working coaches. While I have touched on this point briefly already, this particular must will be discussed in greater detail in [Chapter 3], “Making the Most of Your Coaching Staff.”