The Good Assistant

The Good Assistant

A retired coach once gave me the best advice I ever received as a young head coach.?He simply said, “A good assistant is way more important than any player.” If you have coached long enough, you know how true this statement is.?Head coaches need to hire a good assistant because if they hire a bad assistant there is no player good enough to overcome it.

Let’s break this down a little by using some phrases that every coach in every sport during every season will echo relentlessly to their teams.?“We are only as strong as our weakest link.” “There is no I in team.” “We rise by lifting others.” Or how about this beauty, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Simply put, coaches want their teams to work together, sacrifice for the best of the team, and have each other’s backs.?And coaches want… Uh oh… here comes the word loyalty.?Yes, coaches want players that are loyal. And guess what??Players want coaches that are loyal as well.?No, this doesn’t mean that young men or women can’t jump into the transfer portal if they have the opportunity to play up or just play.?And it doesn’t mean coaches can’t reward themselves with better paying opportunities when they’ve earned them.?It means having each other’s back.?It means doing the right thing. It means serving the mission. That’s what good assistants do daily.

So, what is a good assistant??Well, it goes without saying that no one person can succeed in any team endeavor alone and even the most talented coaches need help. But head coaches would be better off leading their team alone if they have a bad assistant.?To define what a good assistant is, let’s look first at what makes up a bad one.?A bad assistant can be a lazy one, a careless one, or an immature one.?But even those ‘ones’ a team can survive if those “ones’ are loyal to the leader and to the mission.?However, a disloyal ‘one’ will cause damage to any team and to any culture. In short, a disloyal ‘one’ is a losing ‘one’.??

It is way too easy to point fingers after a loss. “I would have done it this way” or “I can’t believe how stupid that game plan was.” It is way too easy to be disloyal when things aren’t going well.?“I would play you if I was the coach” or “I don’t know why coach didn’t play you tonight.”?Comments like this only prove the ego of the one saying them.?Comments like these don’t help the athlete perform better and it doesn’t help the mission.?And a good assistant will always support the mission.?A good assistant understands the difference from being a mentor and being ‘one of the guys or one of the gals.’ Players don’t need an assistant as a friend.?They have plenty of teammates or people their age to be buddies with.?A good assistant will focus on the overall growth of their players. A good assistant communicates his/her thoughts with the head coach in private and then supports the decision made...even if it's not theirs. ?A good assistant understands that being disloyal to the leader actually hurts the followers. ?A good assistant will understand the importance of patience. Yes, patient for his/her time to be in charge.?And while they’re waiting for that moment, they need to take the time waiting to learn and grow.? And those learning opportunities will be easily found everywhere… no matter what your title is.

Lastly, a coaching staff should represent what they demand of their teams.?Work together.?Communicate. Lift each other up.?Do the right thing and do that thing when no one is watching.?

But remember...the players will always be watching. Learning from the words spoken and the actions taken by their coaching staff. So, strive to be the strongest link in the teamwork chain.

Be a good 'one' because the team needs one to succeed.

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