SoccerFrenzy
SILVER ELITE
I am sure it’s been brought up but how often should there be a coaching change for teams? I know some clubs like to change out coaches every 2 years. What are the benefits or not of change?
Coaching Change - Thoughts
- Thread starter SoccerFrenzy
- Start date
outside!
DA
It is very situational dependent. If you have a OK coach and the team seems to have plateaued then a coaching change could be a good thing. If you have a great coach and the team is consistently improving, then keeping the same coach is a good thing. If the coach is sleeping with the moms and giving preference to their kids, find another team.
Justus
GOLD
Best advice I've heard since I got on this Forum. Man, I wish someone told me this three years ago
I'd also add "Be Careful What you Wish For".
If players are happy, don't mess with it too much.
Did you go up to a higher level this year and are struggling? Has the team put in the effort to compete at a higher level?
dk_b
GOLD
I think this is a good general rule - or 3 years - and should only change if there really extraordinary reasons to keep a coach (obviously, I am assuming that the club has ample coaches). I have watched coaches stay with teams too long - the players need different voices and they are also passing through very different stages in life. Always seemed to me that there are some natural times for changes - U-little through U11 or U12 (elementary school, small-sided format); U12/U13 to U14 (middle school, full-sided format, full bore into adolescence); U15 to U17 (high school, full-sided format, looking at playing in college or getting their licenses or experimenting with sex/partying, or a combination of all these things); U19 (if you still have a team at that point, you are providing activity or getting them ready for college . . . good luck).
3 years is my preference because it allows a coach to really develop, implement and perfect a style/approach to the game. I also think that the school grades work well: 3-4-5; 6-7-8; 9-10-11; 12. I've been watching competitive youth sports as a parent since my now 21-yo played and I can think of one coach (she did not coach any of my kids and is a woman coaching a boys' team) who deserved to stick with the team through a lot of developmental stages. Most of these players are in college (some playing) but she has the last group now as Srs (since it was, first, an 01/02 group, then an 01 group (with a couple of 02s), then an 00/01 group (with a couple of 02s) and now an 01/02 group for the kids who are finishing. I have watched them practice and play and she has their attention more than any group of older teenagers that I have ever observed. She comes with the goods - she played in college, coached at the D1 level for 10 years (women's side) - and she speaks with authority. But she's unique. Most coaches who stay beyond 3 years think they are unique (as opposed to thinking that there is something unique about the cohort and the coach together) and that decision should be made by someone other than the coach.
Chalklines
GOLD
2 years tops
It kills any and all of the current politicking that was going from prior years especially if it's transitioning from a youngers age group where the parents tend to control the teams more so then olders.
@timbuck this "be careful of what you wish for" is bull shit unless you are the one in the current coaches ear or pocket. The only people afraid of a coaching change after 2 years are parents who make special arangemts or leverage multiples in the club to get their way. Past threats hold zero Merit to a new coach who's willing to play the best and stick players in positions where they actually belong.
It kills any and all of the current politicking that was going from prior years especially if it's transitioning from a youngers age group where the parents tend to control the teams more so then olders.
@timbuck this "be careful of what you wish for" is bull shit unless you are the one in the current coaches ear or pocket. The only people afraid of a coaching change after 2 years are parents who make special arangemts or leverage multiples in the club to get their way. Past threats hold zero Merit to a new coach who's willing to play the best and stick players in positions where they actually belong.
futboldad1
PREMIER
I agree with this. Unless a coach who was once hard working is now a lazy SOB, then I'd want to maintain a coach that the team likes and plays hard under rather than chop and change.....my DDs hated getting a new coach and tbh have never enjoyed anybody like they did their first coach
Club politics and entitled parents are a few of the annoyances but how does changing coaches take away the leverage or club politics? That pressure of playing kids or listening to parents with multiple children in a club comes from the Directors as they don't want to lose money. I've seen the pressures remain the same as coaches are changed. Coaches and directors discuss parents like this to prepare each other.
I'd add the changing every 2 years is pretty normal because that seems to be about how long a coach or club stay connected.
You are either changing coaches (because they left for a better club. They got let go. They got moved to a higher/lower team).
Or you are changing jerseys/clubs due to mergers/affiliations.
Or you are changing leagues - DA/ECNL/DPL/ECNL RL
You are either changing coaches (because they left for a better club. They got let go. They got moved to a higher/lower team).
Or you are changing jerseys/clubs due to mergers/affiliations.
Or you are changing leagues - DA/ECNL/DPL/ECNL RL
Chalklines
GOLD
Please share the club name. Seems like another Tuesday of doing bussiness for those bastards. Sports for our youth have turned soooo sour it's sad.
jpeter
PREMIER
Subjective to every situation but the old time rule of thumb was coaches change every 3 years. That kind of went out the window will the explosion of participants in club, the affiliate mega club build out, etc.
For us always been about what the coach(s) are trying to teach and what our player(s) are learning. Putting a time window on that seems silly to us now. When the learning and/or teaching slows or stops normally it's time for change of some sorts.
For us always been about what the coach(s) are trying to teach and what our player(s) are learning. Putting a time window on that seems silly to us now. When the learning and/or teaching slows or stops normally it's time for change of some sorts.
Eagle33
PREMIER
At highest levels of soccer, yes, changing coaches every year or 2 is the norm. Unfortunately, majority of the kids don't play at highest level and most of them signing to play for the coach, not the club. In a matter of fact most of them don't care about the club. So once the coach leaves or get replaced, it creates a problem and players either leave or follow the coach. Clubs created this situation by giving coaches complete anatomy over their teams, where they do recruiting, coaching and everything else, including taking teams to a different club as soon as something don't go their way.
I guess the question is why commit to the club when the commitment level doesn’t go both ways?