@TN DAD posted:Hello all,
I fully expect a coach even at the High School level is "coaching" all of the time in some form or fashion. But what is the expected time commitment from coaches throughout the country? I figured the expected commitment time frame is something like this:
Jan-May coaching and practicing and playing
June- Small break and then field maintenance, facilities upkeep, and promotion, securing donors, camps
July - Same as June but with Dead period, communicate off-season/summer workouts, conditioning
August-December - School starts- volunteer "open cage" after school, communicating with players about expectations, grades, potential college interest, suggest camps, showcases
This seems like a full year job and for a passionate person, this is part of the process.
I want to fully understand the commitment from a coaches and parents expectation.
Thanks so much!!
I found it interesting that you think that coaching high school baseball is a full time job. I then wondered if you meant that it is a full time job therefore high school baseball coaches should only have to coach or if you meant that you expect for that position to be full time and above all other positions. I also found it interesting that you think that one aspect of the job is to do the diamond all summer although that is exactly what I did. You might find that you run into all types of problems as a coach if you attempt this. For example, at one point I was barred for getting on any equipment so I bought my own. You are not allowed to use weed control as a coach and so, my daughter and I pulled weeds all summer. Eventually, I got the maintenance guys on my side and things became a little easier.
I coached HS baseball for a very long time. There is a difference between coaching a team and building a program. If the goal is to build a program, a coach has to put in the time. They also have to be constantly learning the game. They have to become knowledgeable about weight programs, hitting philosophy, pitching philosophy and being a "trainer." For my first 12 years of coaching baseball, I was the trainer for the team I coached.
To keep this short, per your list, I did most of that year around. However, and I know I am different, I didn't seek donors. That was against school policy. We had one athletic booster club for all sports. I was fortunate that I was able to get my high school team into the fundraiser program with the St. Louis Cardinals and so, we generated revenue that way. I was also fortunate that our summer camps became one of the top camps around. We would put 100 kids in both the fundamentals and advanced hitting camps. With the breakdown regarding ages and skill levels, that had me and my staff working long days but doing great work. In fact, we had other coaches sign up their teams to come to my camps. Since I didn't take any money from the camps and my coaches agreed to take less than they should have taken, we could put $5,000 into the program every summer.
Finally, in many places a high school coach can not focus just on their programs. I was the head coach in two sports for a very long time and in three sports at the same time for a short period of time. In all, I was the head coach in four different programs. It was impossible to be everything to everyone. However, the expectations didn't lessen. To quote my AD at the time, "We expect to win. You have one year to turn things around here. If you don't we'll go a different direction." We won and became an area power in all of those sports I coached!
Edited to add: I missed the post about HS coaches not really coaches but managers. Unfortunately, that seems to be the way HS coaches are being thought of today. I coached the entire deal. My assistant coaches coached the entire deal. I was fortunate that I was allowed to hire all of my assistant coaches so I hired many coaches who had played for me when I was an assistant coach. They knew my expectations and they had the passion to excel. They made me look real good.