Program Philosophy

Great question and it's something I've done myself when I was head coach in Kentucky. You can probably search through this forum and find tons of stuff. About a year or two ago a bunch of us got into emailing each other what we had. I know I got a ton of good stuff from a bunch of people from here. Shoot me a PM with your email and a list of anything you might be looking for specifically and I'll email some stuff to you this weekend. Then you can pick and choose what you think will work best for you.

Here is what I had in my playbook

Team rules / policies

Offensive Philosophy

Defensive Philosophy

Team goals

Individual goals (blank lines they could write them)

Drill section where I would describe most of the drills we would use on a frequent basis

Overall schedule for the preseason as to when we would put certain things in like 1st / 3rd, bunt defense, picks etc...

Sample practice schedule of the preseason so they could get an idea of how fast paced practice goes

Defensive plays like 1st / 3rd, bunts etc.... drawn out and described to help with the learning process. They could use the schedule and know to go over it a day or two beforehand to get an idea to help speed up the putting in process. They still made mistakes and stuff but it does help

Signs section that talked about everything we did whether it be offensive, defensive or whatever

A hall of fame section - if a player ended up playing in college and completing their time (4 year school or 2 year JUCO) then they were listed in the playbook. Put their year they graduated HS, position, where they played and whether they were on a team that won a district and how far they got in region

A history section that showed the records of previous seasons and what tournaments, championships, rankings etc.... they won. WHere I was at was very difficult to find anything before me so I just used my first year to start it.

All throughout the playbook I would put quotes from famous athletes and those who say things that motivate. I'm big on quotes for motivation and it was packed full of them.

Hope this gives you some ideas of what to do. Let me know if you want anything that i already have.

I would also put down on paper exactly how you mechanically want things taught. I did this about 6 years ago due to a high turn over rate of lower level coaches. It is so much easier to hand them this manual then trying to put on a "Clinic" to show them how I want things done. When I hire a new coach I give them the manual and we meet a week later and go over any questions they might have.

Thanks for the information.

Coach2709 I'll send you a PM.

IMO, you build a program and not a team. You lay a foundations of instruction but as importantly, expectations. There are so many angles that you have to look at the program you are building. You have to involve community, local business, the school administration and parents in the building of a program. Then, when you have done that, you have a program. JMHO!

2 thoughts:

1) make sure you decide what things HAVE to be done the same way at each level. For me that was bunt coverages, signals, flyball communication, and a few other things.

2) make sure you DON'T make all coaches use the exact same language (as long as they're saying the same thing). Many times a coach saying something a little different makes all the difference in the world!

1. Create Loyalty
2. Create a system - routines
3. Success = know what you want, know how to get it, DO what you know

Rick
Player Development Coach
www.play-in-the-now.com