Head coach and assistant coaches are a package deal for team success

In marriage, it is often said that behind every great man is a great woman.

As someone who as of this writing has been married for 15 years, I can
vouch for that notion to be true. I am only a legend in my own mind but
without further adieu, shoutout Jacqueline Scioneaux D’Adamo.

There is a sports angle to this, behind every accomplished head coach are
a band of assistant coaches that are paramount to a team’s success. I could
take it a step further and say supportive administrations are vital but I have
seen teams and coaches succeed despite dysfunctional relationships with
the powers-that-be. However, at some point such strife has limits on what
the team can achieve.

Within the confines of the team, however, the head coach and assistant
coaches have efforts that compliment each other. At least it is vital that such
is the case. In my years as a sports fan and reporter, I have seen coaching
staffs work like a perfectly orchestrated ensemble. I have also seen coaching
staffs that had dissention. In some cases the team had success but in the
long term, there were diminishing returns. It’s hard to ask players to perform
as a team when coaches who are preaching such a message do not.
The efforts of coaches are not limited to on the field either.

Some head coaches are more hands on than others but at some point, they
must delegate. The opposite approach are head coaches that take the
delegation to an extreme. The one that takes the former approach is viewed
as ego-driven by some. The one that takes the latter approach is viewed by
some as “well, he’s not a real coach. The assistants REALLY do the coaching.”
I find that take strange because they are the same ones that say you need
good assistants to succeed. All I’m saying is, if you beat the drum of “you need
good assistants,” then don’t diminish the head coach’s achievements if they
are wise enough to do so and let said assistants do their thing.

In sports like football, you are going to see a larger volume of assistants (10
or more in some cases) because the roster size is much bigger than other
sports. In sports not named football, you might have 2-4 assistants as a broad
generalization.

The key when forming a staff is that regardless of sport, each head coach is
going to have an area where they are well-versed more so than others. For
instance, if a baseball coach is well-versed in hitting, the key is to bring in an
assistant that deeply understands pitching and let him do his thing. I could
give endless examples but you get the point.

At every level of sport, whether it is Bill Belichick, Nick Saban or any random
highly successful coach in Napa Valley, CA, the head coach does not have the
win-loss record without his band of assistants. If you ask those head coaches,
most would likely utter the same sentiment. Belichick has guided the New
England Patriots to six Super Bowl championships but does not achieve that
success with assistants like Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Josh McDaniels,
Matt Patricia and Dante Scarnecchia. While Belichick comes across as a
curmudgeon to the media, he would likely say the same thing.

I could come up with endless examples but I won’t in the interest of space.
There is every reason why assistant coaches should get praised. So why then
do head coaches get the lion’s share of the credit? The notion of “it starts at
the top” is the stock answer but I’ll give a couple different analogies. The
assistant coaches are the engine of the racecar and pit crew rolled into one.
The head coach is the driver and you still need someone to get the car to the
finish-line on race day.

To use a military analogy, the head coach is like a colonel, the assistants are
lieutenants, captains, sergeants and privates all rolled into one. The colonel
needs them and they need the colonel to guide the troops.

Though the work of the assistants are vital, the head coach gets the credit
because he is at the front of the line. You can think that it’s good, bad or
indifferent but it’s reality.

It is important to remember that having quality at head coach and assistant
coach, one is no more important than the other. It is a package deal.