By Rory Weishaar
(December 1, 2023)

My first football coaching job out of college was as a head coach (for four years) when I was just 24 years old. (Later I was hired at another school as an assistant coach and did that for twelve years.) As a 24-year-old kid head coach, I had no coaching pedigree. It was later, as an assistant coach working with two veteran coaches (See the article: Becoming a Better Coach: A Look Back on a 25-year Coaching Partnership) that my pedigree was established. I “retired” from coaching in 2001 because I became a middle school principal and athletic director (AD), and at the same time joined a doctoral cohort. It was a busy time in my life, so I was glad I wasn’t coaching, but sad at the same time. I missed the sport, the athletes, and my fellow coaches.

Even though I no longer coach, I still get to “coach” while teaching a Coaching Football class for our Sport Coaching Minor program. It has been fun getting “back into the game” albeit now as a professor. What makes this important for me, and I hope for the students, is that I teach the course not only as a former coach, but as a former AD who evaluated coaches, and school principal who evaluated ADs. My compendium of experiences in each area, plus teaching and coordinating a Sport and Athletic Administration master’s program, has helped me present administrative aspects of coaching to students so they understand the entire realm of youth athletics.

It has been interesting to hear students in class (most of whom are current student-athletes or former high school athletes) say something like, “Oh, I never thought about that” or “Oh, I didn’t realize that” when their perspective is “all I need to do is coach.” For example, when speaking about athlete safety and concussions or injuries, many of the students say, “Just let the athletic trainers (ATs) handle those things.” I must remind them that, even today, many schools do not have athletic trainers. So, as a football coach, what will you do if an injury happens at practice? What is your plan? That leads to a discussion about athletic administration perspectives, or the school administrators’ perspectives, from schools that do not employ, nor have access to ATs.

As the discussion continues in the classroom, students often argue that if safety is the number one priority for youth athletics, then the school must hire an AT (or two) because it’s a liability concern. My response, from a school principal’s perspective, is if I can hire 1.5 teachers for the salary of one AT, what do you think the school board will support? And what will community members say when they realize we hired an AT instead of a teacher or two? This makes perspective coaches realize that, depending on the community, they may end up having to think about handling concussions and injuries during practices because no one else is available (scheduled games should still be covered with EMTs or whomever the AD has cover medical emergencies at events).

Another topic many students in my class on teaching football don’t think about is allied educational services. Does the school offer academic tutoring for athletes? What about mental health assistance? Also, who is identified as the counselor (if there is one) that works on athletes’ NCAA eligibility? What is the coach’s role in the process? Depending on the school size and funding, does the coach need to help, somehow, with allied educational services?

We also take the time to talk about working with parents from an administrative standpoint. How do you handle situations that may come up and what will the AD and/or principal will say or do in those situations with parents? How will, or can, administration support you when it comes to tough parents?

I do spend time teaching the techniques, drills, skills, X’s, and O’s of football in the course, but I make sure to add the “other coaching” aspects they will have beyond the field of play. I have found it important for them to understand the administration of athletes, so they are not surprised when they find out it’s more than just showing up to coach.