Relationship Between High School and College Coaches

Relationship Between High School 

and College Coaches

By: Bill Schnier

Originally Published in Techniques Magazine – Official Publication of the USTFCCCA

The relationship between high school and college coaches ideally is a symbiotic one in which each helps the other for the advancement of their common athletes. We are all doing the same job but with different employers and different aged athletes. We very much need to be supportive of each other for the benefit of our sport.

At times the relationship is terrific; the admiration is high with the results soaring. That scenario usually exists when the high school coach and the college coach have the following relationships:

• Both have self-confidence and a sharing spirit.
• Both are happy with their jobs.
• Neither is burdened by jealousy.
• Both understand and respect the job
  of the other.

When relationships break down, it is usually spearheaded by misconceptions. Let's try to put things in perspective. Is a fourth grade teaching position better than a first grade job because the fourth graders will always outperform the first graders in every measurable category? If your answer is "yes" then you assume the college coach is better and more important than his high school counterpart. In reality, coaching is coaching. Having been a grade school teacher for one year, a high school teacher/coach for seven years and a college coach for 38 years, I have benefited from the advantages of all levels. When you work with younger athletes, you are more important in their lives because you meet them in their formative years, consequently making a greater lifelong difference. You usually know their parents and families You are part of their school and larger community. You teach them the sport for the first time, using that clean canvas to create an early masterpiece. You take them to places they have never been. Frequently you are their father or mother figure. The high school coach plays a more critical role in the development of the athlete as well as the person, seldom duplicated no matter how skilled the college coach. For these reasons the high school coach is the more memorable, much like the first grade teacher because she was your first teacher.

College coaches work with athletes at a higher level and can usually point to lifetime PRs being set under their watch. The coach-athlete relationship is almost always more mature resulting in a higher level of dialogue. The stakes are higher so the peaks and valleys are greater. The college coach usually has the luxury of coaching as a full-time job. The college athlete tends to have more serious teammates and better training groups. The college coach has a larger pulpit with the opportunity to make a bigger splash. The college coach is usually the student's final coach and in that respect is the more memorable, valued for his work at the pinnacle of an athlete's career.

Both categories of coaches need each other but their relationship is full of land mines which can be avoided if the following are true:

• The high school coach needs to know what is actually good and not oversell his athletes.
• The college coach needs to investigate the entire person, not just his times and distances.
• The high school coach cannot discount college achievements just because the colleges are blessed with better athletes, facilities, money, schedules and a more national setting.
• The college coach needs to appreciate that the high school coach got his or her athletes 85 percent of the way.
• The high school coach needs to continue to show interest in his athlete(s) once they get to college.

At their best, both coaches will remember the excitement of their first days of coaching and why they got started. The high school coach should try to pass his students on to the best coach and person, not simply to the most prestigious university. The college coach needs friends in the high school ranks, especially in these days of negative recruiting. In our sports, the need is great to respect and benefit from each other. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "if we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately."

The ideal symbiotic relationship previously referred to can be achieved with a spirit of cooperation between the high school and college coaches. If each coach would walk in the other's shoes or at least attempt to from time to time, then their relationship should be outstanding. Not only will that expand each coach's personal network but will also best serve their common athletes.

The high school coach has a golden opportunity to reach out to the college coach because his collegiate counterpart has a built-in interest in the high school athlete, the life-blood in building his team. No high school coach needs to incorporate all of these suggestions, but should be active in some of these ways. It will only help.

• Attempt to create a college-type team featuring good athletes in all events, college-ready students and a team which competes at high-level meets. Most important, they need to think big.
• Visit colleges occasionally with your athletes to promote "life beyond high school." Make them aware of the places they visit as well as other colleges which are both similar and dissimilar. This will motivate your students to continue their sport in the future.
• Showcase your athletes by making a list of juniors and seniors who plan to attend college and who are athletically able to compete. Indicate which athletes are best suited for college Divisions 1,11 and III. Include complete information so as to begin a personal relationship based on more than just athletic statistics.
• Contact college coaches by phone or email when you have a worthy athlete. Make yourself known. Most college coaches enjoy those calls and are waiting for them.
• Host meets. Make your team important in your own school as well as with colleges.
• Share officials with your local universities. Those officials will tend to speak well of both the high school and the college.
• Host a "College Night" with your parents, sharing what you know. Invite a variety of speakers including counselors and college coaches who can present their school.

Help to place your students where they need to be, obligating you to be well informed. In doing so, don't allow bias to stand in the way of a natural fit for your athletes.

The college coach can bask in the status of his position much like the fashion model who smugly expects lots of attention, or he can reach out to his high school counterparts as a peer, much like the person who is pretty both inside and out. The latter type of coach not only serves himself and his team, but is highly regarded at the high school level, receiving commendations which he seldom hears but which occur nonetheless. He can do some or all of the following:

• When you attend high school meets, introduce yourself to as many people as possible. Too many coaches simply observe and never get active with coaches and parents at that meet. Realize that you cannot approach athletes other than seniors and not until they are released by their coach after their competition is over. Also know that a discussion with parents constitutes a "contact" per NCAA rules.
• Host events for the high schools. This could be meets, camps, clinics or "College Days" from the collegiate perspective. NCAA rules play a role in this but it could pay off richly with good recruits either this year or in the future.
• Attend high school coaches meetings. Be a member of the high school organizations. Ask them what your university can do to help them out. Invite them to attend your college meets.
• Speak at high school clinics. If you aren't asked to speak, attend them as a participant. In doing so you will learn and also give others the realization that you are not too "big" to learn. The track and field culture is very much against a person who is "living beyond their raising." Keep in mind that if you speak at a high school banquet it cannot be during a dead period and cannot include a recruiting presentation.
• Volunteer at large high school meets. You are allowed to be an official but not an announcer at high school meets per NCAA rules. Your presence will do wonders for your reputation and will also enhance your ability to recruit.

If all of these suggestions appear to be too much to handle, plan on doing one per year which is still one more than many coaches do. After several years you will discover what is possible and also what you enjoy. Any time taken from your primary job appears at first to be time poorly spent, but upon further review you will discover that you have enriched your life by reaching out to others. Just as the best athlete cannot be contained in just one sport or one event, the top coaches cannot be defined by just fulfilling their job description and nothing more. By putting their athletes first, all coaches will discover they are not only better coaches but will live a much fuller coaching life. Most of all, it will be more fun.

BIO
Bill Schnier has been the Head Track and Field Coach at the University of Cincinnati for over 30 years. During his tenure, the program has produced more than 130 individual conference champions and he has been named Conference Coach of the Year 15 times.