An assistant coach should have a great deal of initiative and ambition. I prefer to have my assistants study the game all ways and always. They should constantly try to improve themselves. There is no corner on the brain market and a person advances in his field through hard work and his own initiative.
It is a must that all coaches be good “mixers.” They must be able to get along with each other, the head coach, the players, and the people in the community. On the college level a coach must know how to recruit, and most of the time the successful recruiter is a good mixer. He must sell your product—the school, the team, the coaching staff, etc.—to athletes and their parents, and his job will be easier if he has this type of personality.
Honesty and Integrity
It is an absolute must that all coaches be honest with themselves, the people for whom they work, and the others with whom they come in contact. If I cannot trust a person, I do not want him around. Along this same line, we like our coaches to be active in their church work. We emphasize to our players the value of attending church, and we like our coaches to set a good example for everyone.
A Sound Thinker With a Good Understanding of the Game
In order for a coach to be competent, he must be a sound thinker and possess a good knowledge of the game of football. I have mentioned this previously. I expect my assistants to study, plan, discuss and try to come up with ideas that might aid us in winning a football game. We are going to toss around all ideas in our staff meetings before we adopt any of them, but your brand of football can become stale and unprogressive if the coaches do not study the game.
DIVISION OF COACHING DUTIES
Morale on a squad is very important. The morale of a coaching staff is very important, too. I feel the latter group will influence the former group, consequently I am vitally concerned about my assistants having good morale. With this thought in mind, I try to delegate duties and responsibilities so the assistants enjoy their work. Each man is really a specialist, or he can do some phase a little better than another coach. Therefore it’s just common sense to permit him to work at the specialty in which he is going to excel. He will not only have more enthusiasm for his work, but his enthusiasm will be reflected in the players’ work. There is no substitute for enthusiasm. Under such conditions the players learn more quickly and the coaches are able to do a better job of coaching.