5. He should have a great deal of initiative.
6. He should be a sound thinker.
7. He should be tough mentally.
A Dedicated Person, Hard Worker, Loyal
The first trait, “Be dedicated to the game of football,” is a must for all coaches, assistants as well as head coaches. Don’t ever try to fool yourself or anyone else. If you are not truly dedicated to your work, and you dread spending many hours every day working and planning on building a good football team, then you are in the wrong business. I’ll guarantee there is no easy way to develop a winning team. If it were an easy task, all of us would be undefeated and “Coach of the Year.” Unfortunately one team generally wins and the other loses, and if it is the latter it doesn’t make a coach’s job any easier. If you will look at the consistent winners, you will find behind them a group of coaches who are dedicated 100% to their work.
Regardless of whether it’s the college or high school level of competition, there are coaches and teams that win year after year. The real reason for this success, other than good material, is the coaches of these particular teams are dedicated to the extent that they “want” to do what is necessary to win. There is a big difference between “wanting to” and “willing to” do something to be a winner. Frankly, I don’t like the word “willing” in connection with an assistant coach. First, if the coaches are not willing, they should not be coaching. Coaching is not an 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. job. The assistant who is “willing” to work a little extra is not the one I want on my staff. The assistant who “wants” to do what is necessary in order to get the team ready to play, regardless of the time element involved, is the man whom I want to assist me.
A head coach cannot expect his assistants to be dedicated to their work, unless he leads by example. The head coach must work harder, longer, and be more dedicated to his work than any of his assistants, if he expects to have a good, hard-working staff and winners.
Another qualification I consider a must for all assistant coaches is their 100% loyalty to the head coach’s plan. It is very important for a coach and his staff to know they have mutual trust and loyalty to each other. These characteristics are obvious, and an assistant coach who does not possess them commits professional suicide.