Assistant Coach: What Do I Do Now?? Part 1

Being an assistant coach for a varsity girls basketball team, I wondered a lot in the beginning what I was supposed to do. Was I responsible for yelling at the girls?? Was I supposed to baby them all the time? I was confused. However, here are some things that a good assistant coach should know.

1. Loyalty

Be loyal to the head coach. Don’t try to take over. Do everything you can to learn the head coach’s system. Look for ideas that might help the team and convey these ideas to the head coach. Never discuss ideas behind his/her back with other parents or players. Be humble. Don’t try to make yourself out to be smarter than your head coach.

2. Keep an open mind

When I first began assistant coaching, I was prone to yell at the girls when necessary as the head coach would do.  In time, my head coach told me that my job was to be the “good guy”. I was to leave the yelling to him. I was there to further explain what he was yelling about. I say this to say: always be willing to learn. If you always have an open mind, you can learn something new everyday. Ask questions. Keep a notepad in practice and during games to jot things down. A good assistant coach is onw who is willing to listen more than talk. As a result, he/she becomes more and more knowledgeable each year.

Come back next week for part 2