Wedgebuster

6 minutes ago, Indiana Fan said:

It is very difficult to be a head football coach and be a normal classroom teacher. At least for the bigger sized schools that is. There are many obligations and responsibilities for the head football coach throughout the day during the season and in the offseason.

Is there a dividing line at some level of ball where you can or can't be a full time class room teacher?  

Example: 2A you can, but 5A you can't?   

Now, I do agree that great coaches are GREAT teachers, and if I was a principal, I would want those coaches contributing to the academic development of kids.  But the time requirements of a classroom teacher inevitably make it more difficult to do all the things that a successful football program now requires.   So how do schools strike a balance?   

Piggy back question.............how do schools navigate this?   Some schools will jump all in and put a football or basketball coach in a job that doesn't require much of their time outside the school day.  Other schools or principals don't want to show an bias and are very careful to make sure that the football coach isn't shown any favors as far as a teaching load.    

2nd question, how does the football coach that is teaching Geometry, writing tests, writing lesson plans, grading, etc. compete with the coach who doesn't have any of those things on his plate?   Is it fair to compare those two coaches to each other in terms of success on the field?  

Most, not all, but most high school coaches teach as well as coach.   What is reasonable for a school to ask for as a time commitment from their Head Coach?  Couple hours a day for practice, then there is that flex time before and after so it ends up being more like 3 hours.  Then they have their commute.  With most of them teaching, they are likely to have some sort of lesson planning, test writing, grading time in their evening, then they have to make and eat dinner, practice planning for the next day, most will want to watch some film,  some staff to staff text and phone calls throughout the evening.  This is all before any parent or player issues are dealt with, youth league work is done, or any time is spent with family.  

That's not evening mentioning the weekend grind. Time with the varsity kids in film (which the coaches were up watching til 2 am the night before) and/or JV football on Saturday morning.  Maybe you get to collapse on the couch for a little while Saturday afternoon but then back to the film.  Sunday morning, film, church, lunch film, mow the lawn, change a light bulb, pay the bills, staff meeting in the evening, and getting ready to teach for the week, etc.  

Again, this is just in-season grind............lets not start on the off season. 

Seems like a lot to ask for the few thousand bucks that most coaches are paid at the HS level.  Is their any "fix" to this crazy work-life mix that coaches face today? 

What has caused the shift in power from the days of Penn, Jimtown, Duneland Conference dominance?  

Is this better than Hudl Stats?  

I've admired Coach Radke for years but never been on staff with him.  Every story I've gathered from opposing coaches, every old article from Northwest Indiana Times or Region Sports Network, paints a picture of a extremely passionate individual that pushes his staff and players to the limits.  You could easily suspect the man of being some sort of tyrant.  Then you talk to players who have played for him or coaches that have coached under him, and they are all FERVENT Coach Radke supporters.   It will be interesting to see how fast he can turn Portage around, which of his longtime staff members of his staff will go with him,  and what "Vibe" he chooses to exude at this stop.  Is the old dog learning new tricks late in his career?    Does anyone know if he will have some sort of position in the school during the day?  

We start at 7 up here in Michigan and I hate it!  Feels very rushed after school compared to my time in Indiana.  I think it hurts attendance, etc.   Part of the issue with changing the times is that their are a lot of Mega Conferences up here.  1 conference that has many divisions based on size and geography, so for any change to happen takes a 2/3rds vote.  It makes any and all changes happen at a snails pace.   Its the classic tale of schools giving up some local control to have an outside entity schedule games, officials, etc.  I don't like it, but it does save some tax payer dollars.  Some on the GID would appreciate it. 

Coach Radtke has how many 4,000-5,000 yard rushing teams in his coaching career?  You could make a strong case he is one of the best offensive minds for running the football in High School Football history.  Definitely for Indiana.  No concerns about his teams moving the football.......no matter what league he might coach in. 

Would all the 6A fans heads explode with a Portage vs Warsaw Semi-State in 2025 with the over/under passing attempts for the game being set at 3?   I for one would LOVE IT! Hard to picture Russ Leaving NP, but this has kind of been par for the course if you look at his career.  Show up, push everyone and everything to its limit, and then move on when he feels like the limit has been reached or people around the program start to push back or question the pushing, and he is on to the next place.  

5 hours ago, FastpacedO said:

I will be totally honest with one thing that drives me nuts sometimes with teams I watch.

4th and goal at the 1 yard line (lets say a tournament game) down by 4 points.

Offense trots out in Shotgun formation. 

Watched my buddies team lose a playoff game this way.   Its overtime, 4th and goal from the 1/2 yard line.  They line up in Gun (cause that's "what they do"),  run Qb ISO and got stoned.   SMH 

Who cares where you practice as long as its close to the school! 

Give me the Strength and Conditioning coach......think about the amount of time and stress that takes of an HC. 

Give me a weight room that's functional and can accommodate large numbers of kids so you don't need to live at school all summer to run multiple sessions. 

Give me enough paid coaching positions to fill out a staff properly 

Give me a school system that is committed to hiring teachers that coach

Give me a coaches office that has room to move, is functionally set up to run a meeting, etc. 

Give me a community that understands what has to be asked of student athletes in order for a meaningful experience and success to have a chance to occur. 

The school that has more of these things is the more attractive job.  

People think its all about the how new and shiny things are.......  Practicality, Functionality, Sustainability is where its at. 

Remember,  Its not the climb to the top that wears you down, its the rock in your shoe! 

I think #6 and #7 are difficult for a young coach to control......

#6 Hire good assistants.......

The job probably opened because things weren't going well.  The current assistants were part of things not going well, even if they didn't always agree with the Head Coach.  There is also the potential sticky situation that if your an outside hire, you probably beat 1 or more of the current assistants out for the job.  Then their is the issue that in 2019, you also fight the following: less young people entering the teaching profession, more requirements on teachers make them feel like they can't coach,  crazy parents that have in one way or another run potential coaches out of coaching all together, etc.  Non-teachers come with their own set of issues.  They might know the sport but aren't around kids at their job so they don't communicate as well or have as close of relationship to the kids as a teacher would.  Their dad's that are only interested in being on staff while their kid is coming through, etc.  A lot of these new coaches are "stuck" with whatever they can get for assistants.  People like to say "Hire Good Assistants" like its something that everyone should be able to do.  

#7 Don't jump at the first job

I agree with this, but only to a point.  The jobs that are open usually aren't premium situations.  If they are a great set up, their is likely a long term assistant that helped build that program waiting in line for the job.  A young coach is almost going to have to go make a poor situation better, or wait their turn in line at great program. 

Which leads me to my next point.  The public often heaps praise on the Coach when things go well, and kills the Coach when things go poorly.   Is it the COACH that makes the JOB or the other way around? 

Their is no doubt that Kyle Ralph, Nick Hart, and others like them are "dial movers" but also couldn't one argue that a very average coach could have landed at NP or GS  and posted winning records during the time periods where Coach Ralph and Coach Hart have posted their wild success. 

Lots of moving parts do into building a top tier football program, and many of them (unfortunately) are in the hands of Administration rather than the Head Coach.   

2 hours ago, FWfootball10 said:

Last year he said the same thing about getting beat by a better team when Dwenger beat them which is fine. I do agree though lol that’s kind of a defeatist attitude saying there was no way we were winning.

I think players appreciate hearing the truth from their coach.   I watched the game on YouTube today......Coach Kinder was correct.  They were the significantly weaker, slower team, and weren't going to win that game no matter how well they played.   Probably good for the players to hear that.   What he is really saying is "boys, if you want to be competitive in these types of games, we are going to have to get bigger, faster, and stronger than we are right now." 

Press Coverage of HS Sports is not what it once was.  I think NWI Times and Region Sports does a good job compared to what we get up here. 

19 minutes ago, DannEllenwood said:

Major part of a winning formula right there!

tick-tick-tick-tick-TICK!

People do not realize that Time of Possession might be the number 1 stat that can consistently even games.   In my opinion,  New Prairie was much better than Mishawaka this year, far more than the 1 point we won by,  but we only had the ball for something like 10 plays the entire 2nd half..............those Caveman run that clock on everyone.  Even more devastating if you can get a turnover. 

We just played them, and I was impressed with (as I've been in the past) with Plymouth. From what I understand, his last son is now through the program.  Would John Barron ever be interested in making a move?   I would think the guy at Central is in the "drivers seat" for the job, he has done some great things there......., but Barron would be a big name.   Guy knows the area, could probably dig up a staff better than someone from far away, lots of consistent success to his name, etc. 

That's Awesome!   Huge fan of those mid 90s Nebraska Teams!   Tomich, Winstrom , and all the other Rush Ends they had back then were STUDS!!!

On 11/11/2019 at 7:17 PM, Coach Nowlin said:

concur

Pettiness and jealousy are dangerous 

Well I'm obviously not the only one that took it that way, as Admin removed your comment.  

On 11/13/2019 at 9:24 AM, Steve said:

 

That was not how your original post came across.............

10 hours ago, Steve said:

REMOVED BY ADMINS

Both Barron boys are GREAT HS players, and I'm saying that as an NP guy.   Sad that a Plymouth fan can't back their own player. 

My prediction is it will be closer than people think.   New Prairie -6.5 

2013 was a blow out

2014 we beat them by 2 and did nothing in the 2nd half

2019......?  I think Coach Barron and their staff is pretty good, they will have a good plan. 

16 hours ago, FormerCoach said:

C'mon man...I WAS at the game...it was running clock...it was a COMPLETE and TOTAL butt whooping..one of the TD's happened at the end of the 3rd. When starters were on the field for both teams it was 42-7!

But besides that...NP BURIES Plymouth on Friday...call Vegas now and book it!

What would your spread be? 

I wonder if Plymouth can withstand the early onslaught of NP?  The speed the physicality, the unique offense, etc.  I think Plymouth will eventually settle in, but will it be 21-0 or 21-7 by the time that happens? 

17 minutes ago, Indian72 said:

Plymouth has a WR that appears pretty speedy.  NP pass D has been suspect at least when we played them.  Can PLymouth D stop the NP run game is the key component and the fact they are throwing the ball more spreads people out.  

Will it be a repeat of 2014 when it took Plymouth a half to figure NP out?  If I remember right the Cougars rushed for 300 in the first half and scored 35, but our lone score in the 2nd half was a safety on the older Barron boy.   Plymouth threw it all over that night to the Drudge kid, he was a STUD.   Weather going to play a factor Friday?