Cochran: Don't underestimate value of good assistants

Posted: Friday, September 10, 2010

The head coach is always the person that gets his name in the paper.

When a team wins, it is the head coach that talks about what his team did right. When a team loses, it is the head coach that has to explain what went wrong.

Today, I wrote about the five new assistant coaches at Cedar Shoals and I started thinking about the interesting role they and other assistant coaches play.

The Jaguars finally have a full slate of coaches with the addition of five new coaches before the start of this year.

One of a head coach's most important responsibilities is delegating to his assistants. The fewer assistants a coach has, the more a head coach has to take on himself.

Even though they rarely get the attention they deserve, a talented group of assistants is a vital part of any successful team. It is almost a more desirable position to have than a head coach.

First off, assistant coaches get to focus on one particular part of the team, whether it's the defensive line, running backs or special teams. So not only are their jobs more specialized, the assistants can give more attention to athletes one-on-one.

Every coach I've ever talked to said the bonds built between players and coaches is the best part of the job, and I can only imagine that the bond is strengthened with the extra attention assistants can give.

A head coach has the whole team to worry about and has to deal with bothersome reporters like myself. His time is much more divided.

It isn't just X's and O's. Head coaches have to deal with having the necessary equipment, player discipline, the media, scheduling practices, communicating with parents, staying active in the community - oh and winning on Friday nights.

Even when a head coach has a full complement of assistants with which to delegate, his responsibilities are endless. Assistants get to focus more on football and the players - the best parts of the job.

And when a string of losses come around, it is often the head coach's decisions that are the focus of speculation.

For the most part, assistant coaches stay relatively buffered from the spotlight, whether it is a positive one or a negative one.

Those days as an assistant might be the days with the least amount of stress - when a coach can just be a coach and not the face of a program.

But what assistant coach doesn't one day want to be the head of a program.

Every time I talk to a former assistant coach making the transition to being a head coach, he talks about all the extra responsibilities he has, how there are never enough hours in the day. But their desire to be a head coach makes all those extra sacrifices worth it.

That is why having talented assistant coaches can be tricky. If they are truly that talented and know the game that well, they won't be assistants for long.

I talked to Apalachee coach Shane Davis at some length about this before the start of the season. His former defensive coordinator, David Wagner, took the head coaching spot at Winder-Barrow during the offseason.

Obviously, Davis was sad to see Wagner go. The two had worked at Elbert County together and helped usher in a new era at Apalachee.

But Davis made it clear that he wants all of his assistant coaches to strive for that dream job and he wants to help them reach it. He expects his offensive coordinator, Joel Miller, to one day leave the Wildcats for a head coaching spot somewhere.

Assistant coaches get to live in this strange form of football limbo, where they don't take as much of the blame or get as much of the praise, but they still get to enjoy the game and the kids.

But the truly good ones will be in the spotlight soon enough.

• Jeff Cochran is preps sports editor for the Athens Banner-Herald. E-mail:


  • Switchboard: 706-208-2200
  • Circulation and Delivery: 706-208-2354
  • Newsroom Tip: 706-208-2211
  • Obituary Fax: 706-543-5234
  • Accounts Receivable: 706-549-0123
  • View the Staff Directory
  • or Send feedback