6 Ways to Better Utilize Assistant Coaches

• Equip them properly
• Praise them in public but criticize them in private
• Be strategic during games and practices
• Maximize their strengths
• Prepare them for the future
• Allow them room to fail

Together everyone achieves more (T.E.A.M.) is often used to talk about athletes but it’s just as true for a coaching staff. You’re the head coach but you can’t do everything yourself.

As Mother Teresa once said, “I can do things you cannot and you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” Your staff is a mini-team that allows the bigger team to do great things.

Equip them properly

If you want them to do something, then train them to do it. Explain to them how you want things done. If necessary, give them the resources to accomplish what they need to do. Don’t assume they know what you want. Even if they’ve been a successful assistant elsewhere doesn’t necessarily mean they know what you expect and understand what it takes at your school.  

Praise them in public but criticize them in private

If you want them to give you their best, then they need to be inspired – just like your athletes. Catch them being good. Be positive and encouraging. There are very few times that you need to correct them in front of your athletes. This rarely benefits anyone. When you’re critical of them, your athletes might turn against you or lose faith in the assistant coach. Neither of those things are good for building a healthy culture. 

Be strategic during games and practices

You should constantly be evaluating how you can utilize your staff during games and training sessions. Don’t fall into the trap of traditional thinking. Don’t do things just because it’s the way it’s always been done. Don’t also take everything upon yourself and try to do everything. 

Understandably, everyone’s situation will be slightly different but here are a few ideas you could incorporate…

• Spread your assistant coaches out on the bench so each athlete is within talking distance of a coach.
• Give your assistants a quick chance to tell you (or the team) something during a timeout.
• Handling the play calls for certain situations (e.g. baseline out of bounds plays, corner kicks, special teams, etc…)
• Assigning different coaches to watch, observe, and become an “expert” in certain areas.
• Delegating a certain coach to keep track of timeouts, game clock management, playing time, or substitutions.
• Let an assistant work with certain athletes and talk to them on the bench to limit noise or mixed messages.
• Give your assistants opportunities to coach certain drills or take ownership in different aspects of your game warmups.
• You can’t see, hear, or know everything so utilize their eyes, ears, and brains.

Maximize their strengths

Every person has strengths and weaknesses. You might not have a lot of staff which means assistants will have to do things they don’t like or aren’t good at. However, regardless of how many staff members you have, you always want to make sure that you are utilizing a person’s strengths. If an assistant coach is passionate about a certain area, then use that. Even if you’re also good in that area, let them utilize their passions and strengths. You want them to be as excited as possible about what they’re doing. This doesn’t mean they’ll never have to do stuff they dislike but make sure that you assign them some roles and responsibilities that are right in their wheelhouse.

Prepare them for the future

Most assistant coaches want to be head coaches one day, so you have a great opportunity to help them in this area. You have a position or the status that they aspire to. Be a mentor to them. Help prepare them to be a future head coach. They’ll be more appreciative, and they’ll also become a better assistant coach since they’re thinking more like a head coach. This should lead to them taking more ownership in what goes on and they may take their roles and responsibilities even more seriously.

Related to preparing them for a future head coaching job, be willing to help them with job searches. You don’t want to lose good coaches but having a supportive and helpful mentality in this area will garner more loyalty from your assistants. It also has the chance of making your future openings more attractive since you have a track record of helping your assistants achieve their goals.

Allow them room to fail

When you view failures or mistakes as learning opportunities, your assistant coaches will develop quicker. Certainly, you don’t want them to mess up but that’s going to happen. It’s important that they grow from those experiences so that they are better in the future. If they are people, you want around, then be careful not to lose them mentally or physically because you overreact to a mistake.

Tom Watson, the former CEO of IBM discovered that a salesman had made a mistake that cost the company at least a million dollars. The salesman was prepared to resign but Watson essentially said he had just invested a million in this person’s training and education, why would he want him to leave? There are very few fatal failures when it comes to coaching.  Be willing to forgive and coach them up so that they are even better in the future.

You’re responsible for your program

Ultimately, you’re responsible for everything that happens in your program. You’re culture will be whatever you permit, allow, reward, or reinforce. Culture is intentional and a big part of your culture is your assistant coaches. Each of you needs to be on the same page in moving your program forward. Whatever’s important to you needs to be rewarded and reinforced. This is intentional. A strong culture doesn’t happen by accident.

In the same way, don’t assume that your assistant coaches will think, act, or care the same way you do. You have to equip, enhance, empower, and encourage them to be the kind of coach that will promote your desired culture and inspire your athletes. Help make them better so that they can make your athletes better. Inspire your assistant coaches so that they can inspire your athletes.