Priorities for a new coach

Congratulation on your head coaching job. Just being a parent I can only give you my perception of what I appreciated in a head baseball coach and what it appeared they were doing to make themselves successful. Most good coaches seem to be well organized and seem to have a plan. First off take charge of the situation. This is YOUR team and you run it. You may step on a few toes at first but this will eliminate your toes from being stepped on in the future. Parents can be your biggest asset or they can be your biggest nightmare. While they want to feel like they are part of the team but you can’t allow them to be part of your decision making process.

Not sure what your plans are but some things to consider:
1. Work days at the field. Involve parents and players.
2. Lead-off banquet. Possibly a pot luck dinner to allow parents and players to get to know you and each other.
3. Booster club. If your state association and the school allow a booster club, then utilize it to generate some revenue for your team’s needs. I personally think the coach should preside over the booster club. Fundraisers seem to be a necessity for many sucessful baseball programs.
5. Rules: Publicly state at a meeting what you will NOT allow parents to be involved in. This establishes the parent/coach ground rules without singling out any one parent.
6. Know your state’s rules when it comes to high school athletic participation. Know what’s going on. Know when and what you can do.
7. If you don’t already have a baseball team website, I think it is a nice touch to have one. This can be run by the students and/or parents.
8. Assign a team statistician that provides YOU with the team’s statistics. What you do with it is up to you.
9. Promote your team. Establish a relationship with your local media to make sure your boxscores are in the paper in time.
10. Community involvement. Get your team involved in different aspect of the community where they can spend an afternoon helping someone or some organization. We helped tornado victims clean up after a storm and the players and the coach would visit children at the Cerebral Palsy Center a couple of times a year.

Fungo gives some excellent advice, but I didn't see anything about getting in done on the field and in the classroom.

As a first year head coach, you are really going to need to show the players you are prepared to practice and teach the game of baseball. You need to start developing your style right now. You can't drill down to too much detail until you have an idea of the talent you will have to work with. You can do your homework on last year's team and the players who are potentially returning.

If you demonstrate you are going to do a good job on the field with the players, the other things will start to fall in line. You can do all the shmoozing you want prior to the season, but the players can spot a used car salesman a mile away if you don't know your baseball.

And I don't necessarily think you need to win right away. Much of winning is having talent. If you don't have it, you might have alot of trouble winning. You have to play with the hand you are dealt. You can certainly be evaluated on how your players and team improve physically and mentally as the season goes on.

Don't be too hard on yourself if you make a mistake, and don't be afraid to let the players know when you make a mistake. Shows you are human and maybe they won't be so tough on themselves when they make mistakes. Players who fear making mistakes are usually the ones that do just that.

Good luck!

Very simple

Be yourself---that apparently got you the job--don't change--it aint that difficult to be a good coach

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would

Be fair. Be consistent. dont try to please everybody.

Be fair. Be consistent. dont try to please everybody.

If you don't have them, I would suggest getting a copy of Ron Polk's Baseball Playbook and Andy Lopez's Coaching Baseball Successfully. They both have tons of good info that includes month by month checklists of "to-do's" and "master plans" for implementing skills/strategies.

As a young coach I wnt to clinics and listened to everybody. The key word is listen. have an open mind. Pick and choose what works. Try new things if it does not work then scrap it. Everybody out there comes up with new techniques and gizmos. Some good and some bad. You determine that but I found that the KISS theory works. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. A bucket of balls and a fungo served me well over many years. You can always count on that.

The best advice that I ever received from another coach about the parent & coach relationship was as follows:

As a coach I will not discuss the players position, batting order or playing time with any parents. If the parent wants to talk about anything else that is fine. We will eat, drink, laugh and have fun together but those 3 things are off limits. This seemed to work well for me.

Too many to mention! Here's a brief shot at it:

1. Meet the team and get a feel for the players. How did you become the coach? If the old coach retired, that's one thing. However, if the old coach was fired, then why and what effect did it have on the kids? I took over after the former coach resiged to take a "better" baseball position. The kids were devestated since they were so close to the former coach.

2. What about your staff? I had meeting individually with all of the staff that I inherited. One quit with the first 5 minutes of our meeting. I gave a "Quiz" to see what they knew. They were told that this "quiz" wasn't about them but was a tool to enable me to assess where I could help them and our program. I don't recommend the "quiz." LOL! You have to think about issues such as loyalty! Don't disregard this single piece of advice!

3. What are your philosophies on hitting, pitching, base running and pitching? Sounds simple. If you think that, you're already losing. Do you have all of these ideas in a "packet" that you can go over it with players and coaching staff? Don't wait to do this!

4. What are the expectations from your bosses? Are they enthused about your program? Are they expecting you to supervise and not cause waves? If this is the expectation, forget it! Oh, are you Tenured? While the majority of our posting community will respond with a resounding "boo-hiss" on this, you have to have your job. Do the best for the kids as fast as you can. Don't get fired right away!

5. You understand that there are two rules to coaching that are universal -- You will be hired at some point. YOU WILL BE FIRED. Nuff said!

6. You'd better have a plan for dealing with parents. I not just referring to disgruntled parents. You'd also better have a plan for those parents that can do great things for your program.

I could go on and on but this is a start.

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I not just referring to disgruntled parents. You'd also better have a plan for those parents that can do great things for your program.

Interesting quote - what do you do for the kid that is a marginal player but dad makes heavy investment ($1000s) for field equipment, etc. Kid is probably about the 15th man or so.

Been there and done that. You have to be up front with all parents in an open parent's meeting. We've debated this several times on this site but I'm a firm believe in a parent's meeting. It has to be publically said that any contributions are for the team and program and that none will ever influence any decisions on playing time. Catcher09, I had/have a parent that was willing to do so many things for our program and we were once teammates on several teams. I pointed out to everyone at our parent's meeting with his first and second son that he and I are friends and that our friendship would never influence any decisions on who plays. Just_Learning and I are friends. However, he knows the same. Many parents what to contribute and believe it or not, they don't expect anything back. I believe this.

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Many parents what to contribute and believe it or not, they don't expect anything back. I believe this.

In a perfect world this would be the case all the time.

Donations are always anonymous

I have used an "Baseball Handkbook" that has been successful for me. In it welcomes everyone to the program, gives a description of my expectations on/off the field, playing time,my goals as their coach, and contact info. Then I share my discipline tactics, then move into some baseball stuff, my philosophies, some strategy (so they have heard it before they get there), what I look for in players, and a summary of leadership. I also include all schedules (tournament brackets too) so they have those in advanced.

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8. Assign a team statistician that provides YOU with the team’s statistics.

I liked most of your suggestions but this one. Do not allow a parent to be the official stats person. Do it yourself or have an assistant do it.

Great feedback, I would include hardwork and enthusiasm. Also attend to your lower level teams such as JV,JH, summer programs, etc.
Consider how you will make cuts if necessary, very sensitive. As someone mentioned, the Polk Playbook is the bible!
Clinic this weekend in Toledo, 419-534-2220.
Go Wolverines!

"Baseball is Life, the rest is just details."

ehsbball,

The fact that your searching for ways to better yourself as a coach indicates to me that you are heading in the right direction. Its no different then the player, if you quit working at the game , someone passes you. (Be it Coach or player) There were some great posts that I will use as well. Thats the beauty of this game, there is something to learn every time its talked about.. Run your team your way, with your personality, delegate roles to your other coaches and make it known that they are crusial to your success and give them say in what decisions you may make, at least get their input.
My biggest priority every year is to make sure that every single person(coach or player) I surround myself with is a good person and has a passion for the game.. If they are, good things will happen. Good luck to you and Congrats on the job.

1. Dont try to please everyone as you never can and if you try you are in big trouble.

2. Do what you want to do not what other people tell you to do.

3. Be fair and consistent.