How to include and develop assistant coaches

So...the interview went well, an offer was made, and you accepted.

One day has turned into day one and you are excited to get to work with your new program.

Entering your new office for the first time, you are met with a young, eager, and enthusiastic assistant who was appointed under the previous head coach.

With big eyes and a nervous smile, they are ready and anxiously awaiting your lead.

My thoughts on how to include assistants, as well as develop them into future head coaches, have changed drastically over the years.

Here is my past method of incorporating an assistant coach, as this was the way I was taught:

•  Send them to recruiting events for our program
•  Have them nearby at practice and observe
•  Have them, on occasion, run part of our session
•  Suggest getting their own club team for experience 
•  Introduce them to my contacts and help them move up the coaching chain

Now that I have had time to develop further as a coach, I view my role in terms of mentoring an assistant in a much different light.

Yes, my job is to hire an assistant that will help me create something special. I expect them to work hard, invest in our team and in their craft. I want them to learn how we do things and help our program flourish. 

This is all well and good for me - however, where I was falling short was in preparing my assistant to continue to be successful once they left my team or school.

So now, my current outlook on using an assistant coach (see right) is now focused on creating opportunities for those coaches, more than it is about what they can do for me.

What I have come to learn is that I must break up their coaching development into two areas.

The first is training the assistant in how we do things in our current program, while the second is to provide resources, training, and opportunities.

This second area provides an assistant coach the freedom and stress-free environment to choose what they want to invest further in, and gives them ownership of their own coaching journey, which is very important.

I want to provide the opportunities and empower them to make the decisions they feel is best for them. I still plan to go over the pros and cons, and exchange my experiences to help better educate them on different situations and pitfalls.

Ultimately, I must be able to take a step back and not influence the second area. My way is not always the best way - nor does it have to be your way!