What makes a good coach?

HS Boys Lacrosse
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Bonkboo
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What makes a good coach?

Post by Bonkboo »

Allegedly Bum Phillips said about good football coaches that “he could take his’n and beat yours or he could take yours and beat his’n.” What makes a high school lacrosse coach fit this? Is it how practices are run? Game management? Lucky geography? I’m genuinely curious about why someone like Brameier (sp?) at Darien gets so much out of his group? As an FCIAC parent and NEW-1 alum, these are the programs I know best. Could Wynne from Salisbury take over at NMH and be successful? If so (and not simply “recruiting”), how?
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Dip&Dunk
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by Dip&Dunk »

Wow, ok here are a few ways but with a disclaimer that a great player can accelerate the growth of any program and a no talent team can only go so far.

1) structure. Players learn an approach to winning. Attitude, practice, prioritization, strategy and tactics.
2) leadership. Coach provides constructive leadership that builds the same in his/her team.
3) communication. Nothing works without this for long.
4) fun. My sons have experienced coaches that had the first three and not this attribute. One almost quit lacrosse because of that.

I could go on but this is what comes to mind first.
PrimeTime21
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by PrimeTime21 »

For high school level. And there are nuances I’ll explore.

Let’s say the job is a public high school. Ok suburb but not a first tier elite community. Lax has been around for about a decade, but never really any acclaim. First and most important job is recruiting and selling the hell out of the dads of the better middle and elementary school boy athletes in the community. Get them excited about lax. Have different grades scrimmage together, love the game, build tight friendships.

At a Public you need to build the bejesus out of your grassroots and grow them if not already planted. Be at every youth practice. Find some way to get a stick into the guys hands all year round. Even if you don’t get a dime from it. Reps = Wins. Encourage the younger guys. Make the game cool. You never know who will grow into a horse. Make yourself and your brand known. Join an established club or start your own. Get to know other players from the community. Preach the difference of the one thing you do well as a differentiating feature from program X (transition O, Pressure-Zone D, team culture, fun, player freedom and creativity) whatever. Improve the game in your area. Even if the guys aren’t assigned to your school, help them help grow the game. If you’re really good some of them just might want to move to your attendance area.

Recruit your talented Middle Schoolers. You don’t want to develop some monsters and then watch them go pay to ball out for someone else. Where guys get in trouble is “why do I need to kiss up to some 7th graders who haven't made Varsity?” And I get that. But that mindset will screw your team long term. I don’t care if a kid is zoned there, until he’s on the field he’s a free agent.

At a Private it’s the exact same as above. But you do not need to care about the grassroots or youth level as much. Politics is huge everywhere but maybe even more treacherous at a big money Private. At a “name” private you only get so many “slots” and so much aid money. You need to nail your evals. Always be recruiting. You need to sell why little Billy’s parents need to pay 15-50k a year. Sell your institution. Sell the idea of a more elite and higher achieving peer group. Stack talented depth on your roster. Hell, create D-1 logjams on your roster. Outcomes are also infinitely more important at a private. You need to win, and win big to get the whole of your 30+ lax-primary athletes run.
PrimeTime21
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by PrimeTime21 »

Bonkboo wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:21 am Allegedly Bum Phillips said about good football coaches that “he could take his’n and beat yours or he could take yours and beat his’n.” What makes a high school lacrosse coach fit this? Is it how practices are run? Game management? Lucky geography? I’m genuinely curious about why someone like Brameier (sp?) at Darien gets so much out of his group? As an FCIAC parent and NEW-1 alum, these are the programs I know best. Could Wynne from Salisbury take over at NMH and be successful? If so (and not simply “recruiting”), how?
What I described is the Darien model. Coach B needed about a decade to get it going. They started off behind Wilton and NC. At a public the model needs longer to work.

At a private it can be overnight. If NMH (they proved this with their basketball) made the institutional decision to be a dominant lacrosse program (meaning club connects, admissions decisions, $$$$) they could do it. Hell, there is nothing that compelling about Culver Indiana. It’s a choice. You need institutional resources behind you. But basically any elite private could overnight decide they want to win, do whatever necessary to get the best players and win their league/be nationally dominant.

Geography is infinitely more important for day schools. But I’d argue the “boarding” model runs into mercenary and team chemistry issues. Even Bury is not immune from a “bad crop.”
Bonkboo
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by Bonkboo »

Thanks for those posts. Helps me think more about it. On the more granular level is there something that the best coaches do regarding X’s and O’s?
OSVAlacrosse
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by OSVAlacrosse »

I was once a head coach with a very strong assistant coach who had experience coaching a high level HS program. We were coaching a youth team in a rec league but they were the more skilled kids at the 5th and 6th grade level. During a game he huddled the team up and drew up a play in a tight game. It was something they have never learned or practiced before and was a complex motion scheme involving every player in the offense. It was a play his HS varsity team used. After we went to the sidelines I asked him if he really thought it would work considering how young the kids were and how they have never once practiced this play. He responded that while he doubted the players would execute the play exactly as he drew it, the activity would at least create off ball movement and open up a scoring opportunity. While I feel talent wins over X and O's every time, teamwork can win over talent and X's and O's create teamwork.
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Dip&Dunk
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by Dip&Dunk »

Bonkboo wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:44 pm Thanks for those posts. Helps me think more about it. On the more granular level is there something that the best coaches do regarding X’s and O’s?
There are probably as many answers as there are good coaches but I have always thought coaches that stress the two man game set the best foundation.

You learn how to help when you are off ball, you learn to pass to a cutting player, you learn dodges, you learn to keep your head up and this concept can be used within other approaches.
foreverlax
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by foreverlax »

Bonkboo wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:44 pm Thanks for those posts. Helps me think more about it. On the more granular level is there something that the best coaches do regarding X’s and O’s?
IMHO, X's and O's are important, but I'd rather have a team that gets the concept of offense vs having them execute a binder full of plays. My view is that the 6 players who understand the concepts of offense will do better than the 6 players who are constrained by a set of plays.

I call this Summer League Offense

1. Offense is generated out of 3 basic sets - open, 2/3/1, 2/2/2, 1/4/1. This allows for tons of options - Open goes in to a 2/3/1, which can go in to a 2/2/2 and then a 1/4/1.
2. Pass Pass Dodge - to a shot, feed, or reversal.
3. If you are two passes away, you are V cutting inside to shake your defender and get your hands free to receive the ball
4. Pass and follow the ball - getting the defense to slide/rotate
5. When the ball crosse GLE, triangle(s) should rotate
6. Work the ball until a good shot develops..."one more" for a crease finish.
7. Rinse and repeat....if nothing good is happening, call a play based on one of the above sets.

A focus on small games - 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 - as parts of the whole, adds more value then running play after play....while the rest of the team watches.

I have found there is very little focus on perfecting the fundamentals at the high school/club level, and yet you hear about D1 teams that spend all of fall hammering fundamentals before tactics and strategy.

H.S. coaches may spend time shooting, but are they actually teaching the player how to shoot??
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3rdPersonPlural
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Re: What makes a good coach?

Post by 3rdPersonPlural »

I was a coach once. Middle school level, with my kid on the team, so it was pretty easy right?

I went back to officiating the next year. I'm still friends with the 'rents, and we won 93% (all but the last one, and we played the best teams we could find) of our games, but it wasn't my groove.
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