What are clubs looking for in a coach?

Deadpoolscores!

Deadpoolscores!

I have wondered and observed how some coaches are selected or hired into different clubs.
Why is it that for some clubs they except any coach as long as they bring in a team with them. Others are more selective and look for the best that they can recruit. Yet there are clubs that have a mix of both good and not so great coaches. These clubs I have wonder the most as to how do they select both? I've seen good coaches not given the opportunity to join these clubs but they hire young coaches that it's obvious they don't know what they are doing but at the end the one that gets robbed at the end are the parents. So this question is towards the senior coaches what are you thoughts on how they select coaches? Parents what would you rather have or do you get wowed with the routine drills they do? Why are some clubs just have flat rate price but the quality of the coach is not at high standard as the A team?
 
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Game, you gotta have game!
 
I've heard lots of stories of lawsuits betweeen club and coach.
Coach sues club because of wages held back.
 
great question! We all know clubs don't charge less when parents get stuck with the new shitty inexperienced coach.
 
God said:
Colder than a hooker's heart.
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That's when I personally feel that the parents should be compensated, or asked before the split up the girls who will be there coach and what is there back ground. Also all these coaches that say they played Pro, does not mean they are a great coach. Who here can say that the Men's U.S. team 15 to 25 years ago was the boom? So why would any parent think that just because they played pro...keep in mind it was American type of training would know how to develop kids? I would question if the coaches have ever taking training in Europe or other Latin countries. A lot of the well developed clubs will have a few of them but those are the coaches I would want my DD to learn from and not just do routine drills. It's the routines and sometimes coaches that don't look at the details...I'm sure everyone has seen an over lap drill. If you look at all the players, do they all actually see where the player is running to and is the player that is doing the run is actually looking for the passer? Most of the times they don't which is one of the reasons why either the pass the ball behind the player, too fast, too slow or there is no adjustment. I see it as a lack of soccer IQ making the right decision vs being a robot doing the routine. Oh am I crazy? The coaches that emphasize the little details during practice, is one of the huge differences I have seen between the young vs old coaches or the coaches that care about developing the team and player. Or am I just crazy like my wife says I am LOL.
 
License level, pay grade, experience, reputation.....but sometimes comes down to connections...former players or associations position themselves for opportunities

Seems every year there are last minute changes...better offers or positions open up and coaches jump ship pretty easily.

On the flip side how long should a coach be given if they are not getting the job done, IE...Bob Bradley takes over EPL's Swansea City

Youth soccer is not the EPL but should a coach be given the whole season to develop a team or if they are underperforming midway or something should a change be considered?
 
younothat said:
License level, pay grade, experience, reputation.....but sometimes comes down to connections...former players or associations position themselves for opportunities

Seems every year there are last minute changes...better offers or positions open up and coaches jump ship pretty easily.

On the flip side how long should a coach be given if they are not getting the job done, IE...Bob Bradley takes over EPL's Swansea City

Youth soccer is not the EPL but should a coach be given the whole season to develop a team or if they are underperforming midway or something should a change be considered?
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I completely agree..back in the days with Arsenal if the team was not performing they would send a evaluator to see what is truly going on. At the end it was typically the coach that was not performing. Who do you blame the teacher or the student? If the students are trying there best but still don't understand who's to blame? If the players don't care or not putting effort who's to blame? I see this way, it's the responsibility for the coach teach them and if the players still can execute, then the coach needs to step back and regroup. If the kids don't seem like they want to put the effort, the coach needs to figure how to boost moral and see what's going on to fix it. I know a lot of coaches would disagree with me on these statements...I look at it also from a parents point of view..."So why are we paying so much money and my child is not truly learning?"
 
Deadpoolscores! said:
I completely agree..back in the days with Arsenal if the team was not performing they would send a evaluator to see what is truly going on. At the end it was typically the coach that was not performing. Who do you blame the teacher or the student? If the students are trying there best but still don't understand who's to blame? If the players don't care or not putting effort who's to blame? I see this way, it's the responsibility for the coach teach them and if the players still can execute, then the coach needs to step back and regroup. If the kids don't seem like they want to put the effort, the coach needs to figure how to boost moral and see what's going on to fix it. I know a lot of coaches would disagree with me on these statements...I look at it also from a parents point of view..."So why are we paying so much money and my child is not truly learning?"
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Coach can only do so much to give players tools and knowledge to succeed in games. The rest is up to players. They are the one who needs to play and perform. Players develop and learn at different pace, some get it today and some never will, just like in school, some smart and some not so much. You can't expect any coach to make a superstar out of your kid overnight just because you paid money. If it's all about money for you - pull you kid from soccer and start saving now, by the time college comes, you should have enough saved.
 
I generally have a pretty skeptical view of club directors, but I have sympathy with them when it comes to hiring coaches. What a nightmare that must be! Hiring quality employees is a difficult job for any business. So much dead weight to sift through to get to good people. Gotta be worse than the average for part time soccer coaches. The vast majority of coaches fall into the category of someone who loves soccer more than they know it. These are often parents of players, parents who used to play a little at some level, and got sick of crappy coaches and volunteer coaches and decided to take matters into their own hands. They went out, got their license, were connected to all the local soccer parents so they had lots of recruits, and then went to it. You can win games if you are good recruiter. You don't have to be a great coach. The number of truly "professional" level coaches is really low. The pay sucks, the commute sucks, and the schedule sucks. So if you are a really intelligent, well organized individual who relates well to other people and have great communication skills (good coaching qualities), you probably have way better career opportunities elsewhere. The best coaches I know do something else for a living and just coach one club team "for fun," because they love the sport. If your employee is just there for fun and doesn't "need" the job, he/she will walk if the BS gets too deep (I'm looking at you soccer parents), so even the good ones often don't hang around long. Also, for big clubs with multiple teams in every age group, it must be really hard to evaluate every single coach closely. For the small clubs, they're usually just happy to have a coach bring them a new team, so they probably aren't really tough in the interview process. Then, if you run a club that is trying very hard to do background checks, interview, qualify, and hold new coaching candidates to a high standard, you have to put up with every other local club trying to steal away the good ones with promises of more money, higher positions, and the flaky nature of the market. I think the main thing is just simply a lack of good candidates and an overabundance of crappy ones.
 
Mystery Train said:
I think the main thing is just simply a lack of good candidates and an overabundance of crappy ones.
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For sure. And there's a large, uneducated parent audience out there entering the club scene who don't recognize this. Parents who think since Johnny made All-Stars (or didn't!) that they should move to club ... and their child hasn't yet had a coach who's really played the game ... and they are certain the big clubs will provide a better training experience than what Johnny is getting now ... and they see their friends posting on Facebook about driving to games a 6 AM and think their kids should be doing that, too.

So what happens? They join a club with one of those overabundant, crappy coaches, or maybe he's even a "good enough" coach. And maybe the first year they kickball their way to a nice record and win a medal or two, and then they stay another year and think all is going well. Meanwhile these clubs playing "competitive soccer" keep Flight 3 programs and tournaments alive when those kids and families should really be playing rec soccer and saving their coaching and travel money.
 
jrcaesar said:
For sure. And there's a large, uneducated parent audience out there entering the club scene who don't recognize this. Parents who think since Johnny made All-Stars (or didn't!) that they should move to club ... and their child hasn't yet had a coach who's really played the game ... and they are certain the big clubs will provide a better training experience than what Johnny is getting now ... and they see their friends posting on Facebook about driving to games a 6 AM and think their kids should be doing that, too.

So what happens? They join a club with one of those overabundant, crappy coaches, or maybe he's even a "good enough" coach. And maybe the first year they kickball their way to a nice record and win a medal or two, and then they stay another year and think all is going well. Meanwhile these clubs playing "competitive soccer" keep Flight 3 programs and tournaments alive when those kids and families should really be playing rec soccer and saving their coaching and travel money.
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Jr and Train I have to agree with you guys...and you both bring up good points.
 
What they look for is a coach capable and willing to recruit along with end of the year player retention. First and foremost it is about the number of players a coach can contribute to a club. Of course they want the basic coaching qualities with a fluffed resume to attract the families. ( A NOTE OF WARNING just because your coach played at a high level or is from another country has NOTHING to do with him or her having the social skills and understanding of youth athletes to be a good coach) But again this is all to build the #'$$$$.
I'm not bashing this business model as long as we are all under the same understanding this is all a business and we are customers. We need to keep things in perspective WE are being SOLD a product.
 
Eagle33 said:
Coach can only do so much to give players tools and knowledge to succeed in games. The rest is up to players. They are the one who needs to play and perform. Players develop and learn at different pace, some get it today and some never will, just like in school, some smart and some not so much. You can't expect any coach to make a superstar out of your kid overnight just because you paid money. If it's all about money for you - pull you kid from soccer and start saving now, by the time college comes, you should have enough saved.
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I do agree that ultimately is up to a player to develop and succeed. A yes, save your money now for college and don’t count on soccer to help pay for it. However, a good coach can certainly play a significant role in a player’s development. Unfortunately, most of my DD coaches over the last five years have been average or below average, focus on winning, and more importantly, lack communication skills. I believe a coach should be transparent to the players and parents and communicate regularly with parents/players about performance and expectations. Clubs are so focus on quantity rather than quality. And for those players that need to improve on certain skills, I would expect a good coach to tell the parents what he/she will do to help improve those skills and what he/she expects from the player (including may be the need for separate private training if necessary). I know players have different strengths and weakness, yet the same approach or training is regularly used for everyone. I understand that there is not enough time in every practice to focus on an individual player, but there are plenty of opportunities during training that do not take a lot of time to provide the needed guidance.

Anyway, we’ll be moving to the San Gabriel valley next spring and will be looking for a new team for my DD (2004) so if you know a good coach in the area, let me know. I appreciate your feedback.
 
The more soccer information given to parents by a knowledgeable coach the more they will be confused.
 
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