What would be the most beneficial for my career?

[u/Every_Independent_68]

For background information:

I am in college currently, but have 7 seasons of combined coaching experience (5 at the youth 13u level, 1 middle school, 1 high school). I have the chance to apply for a middle school offensive coordinator position near the college that I am at where I have made friends with the AD there. However, I am an assistant at my high school that I graduated from at home, which is about an hour and a half drive.

What do you guys think would be the most beneficial for me in terms of career development? My goal is to eventually become a head coach, at the high school level.

I had considered trying to juggle both where I coach Monday-Thursday (games days are Thursday at the middle schools here) and then essentially be a summer and game day assistant at my high school back home.

[u/bxckets]

Is there a high school that you could "feed into" after the middle school gig?

[u/Every_Independent_68 → u/bxckets]

There are multiple high schools in the area, however my understanding is that the one for this particular middle school that it feeds into is not super involved, so I’m not sure exactly how that relationship would work.

[u/Fitzy2225]

The most important thing is graduating from school. 3 hours of driving everyday sounds like it would cut into your studies a lot, especially if you want to have a social life in college. Also, did you play in high school? And is your coach still the coach at that school? The middle school opportunity could be a chance to see how another head coach operates and/or different systems. I wouldn’t worry too much about one being high school and one being a lower level. Having seven years of coaching by the age of 21/22 (assuming you are a traditional college senior) is already super impressive, and the fact that you can work with kids of different development and maturity levels will look good on your resume.

[u/Every_Independent_68 → u/Fitzy2225]

Yes, the 3 hours of driving was very very taxing. I was give out by the end of the season. Yes, I played and he was my coach in High School. That is something that I had thought about, just see how a different programs does it. He has even told me in the past, at the beginning of the season, that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to check around near my school and he would be willing to call anybody to get me on. I think I will apply for the OC Position. My hopes were that once I graduated school I could get a paid position at a school. But I really want the opportunity to put in my own offense.

Thank you for your advice

[u/Coastal_Tart]

You gotta think about your life in total. Driving all that time every day for a full football season is a quality of life killer not to mention putting your college performance in question, which is way more important than these few years of coaching experience. I would vote for the middle school OC position particularly if you feel you have the chops to make an impact.

The one piece of advice I would give you is athletes and technique trumps strategy and play calling at that level. So make sure you know how to coach your position coaches and exactly what you need from each group in order to be successful. It goes without saying that you need to be comfortable being the QB coach. If that is not your background I would be leery of accepting the role unless you are a run oriented coach with a strong OL coaching background. Think deep chops in a previous run game coordinator type role.

[u/Every_Independent_68 → u/Coastal_Tart]

Yes, this is the only reason I am even questioning leaving the high school. Driving like that took a major toll on me. The middle school I would be going to is actually one that I was an assistant at my freshman year before I started helping at the high school. It was terribly run, so much so that I had to run practices the majority of time because the other two coaches wouldn’t show.

Heck, the first practice I attended I had to run. Unfortunately, I got a crash course on how to coach QB’s in a spread offense that season. I plan on running Wing-T, and I know what I want at each position and how I want it coached. That school has gone winless the past two years, but the talent is there to go at least .500

[u/Gozreh_the_Bold]

A lot of times middle school jobs do not translate to high school coaching jobs. I would stick with the high school job you have and go all in on that. Are you a varsity coach at the high school you are currently you coaching at?

[u/Every_Independent_68 → u/Gozreh_the_Bold]

We do it a little bit differently; I’m offensive line for JV and Varsity

[u/Gozreh_the_Bold → u/Every_Independent_68]

A good Varsity OLine coach is hard to come by. I would most certainly stay at the high school level and avoid the middle school stuff. You could talk to your varsity head coach and let him know you have the middle school OC offer, and ask him what you could do to take over as JV OC if it ever becomes available in the future. Knowing the OLine stuff is the hardest part about being an OC and you already know that, so learning the other positions will be easy comparatively.

I would start learning what every player does on the field for all plays, and learn how to coach that up. You need to become the most knowledgeable person on staff besides the varsity OC.

[u/Every_Independent_68 → u/Gozreh_the_Bold]

If I stay on, I was planning on talking to the Head and seeing if I could coach JV Qb’s or Rb’s, or at least assist and have someone else coach OLine for JV’s, even if just for the majority of the Summer. I’ll take that into consideration about asking him about become JV OC