Is Coaching the Job for You?

 

In this article I want to get away from offensive line play and football in general because as I have gone through college a graduated and started my journey as a football coach. There is always this one impending question mark that goes through my mind and I often ask other people in the same major field as I was. Readers, I am going to ask you a simple question, but at the same time it is a very hard question you need to ask yourself. Is coaching truly the job for you? Please do not get me wrong I love hearing when people tell me they want to coach so and so sport, but have you ever taken the time to really evaluate what being a coach at the middle school, high school, college sport really entails?

Being a coach is not a regular monday through friday, 9 to 5 job. In fact it is a 24/7, 365 days a year until the day you either retire or decide maybe coaching isn’t the profession for you.

From day one, parents are blindly trusting you to have the best interest for their kids and depending on the sport and size of the school it can be anywhere from 20-100 athletes. If that is not pressure enough you have to deal with the stresses of not seeing your own family, friends and sacrifice your social life in general. I gained a whole new perspective when I played college football. I witnessed coaches that were up at the fieldhouse at five in the morning to midnight during the season, sacrificing their sanity so that our team could be the best and that ladies and gentlemen was a sunday to saturday deal.

Legendary coach Tom Landry said it best, “A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.” In order to do that for your athletes and that is your obligation to them, sacrifices must be made for the love of the sport Aspiring coaches, please I beg of you to take the time to really consider what you are getting yourself into. I am no way trying to discourage you from not wanting to be a coach. I am promoting that you first talk to some that has coached or is still coaching because this profession is not a normal one. It is as unique career as they come and it can be a life changing job if you decide to stick with it!