NO MATTER THE level of competition, running a football team is an arduous task, to say the least. Running a successful program is an impossibility without a rock-solid group of dedicated assistant coaches behind you.
When a position opens up on your coaching staff, what sort of person do you look for to fill that role? Or, if you’re a young assistant looking to move up the coaching ranks, do you know what head coaches value most when they’re looking for an assistant?
“When I interview a potential assistant coach, there a lot of things that I look for,” says Dan McCarney, head coach at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “I look for work ethic, character, integrity and a positive attitude. I ask myself, ‘Has this candidate had a silver spoon in his mouth his entire football career or has he worked his tail off to get to this point?’”
McCarney says that you don’t have to have been in the right “football clique” or have been a former star player to be a good assistant coach.
“The candidate doesn’t need to have been a first-team all-American, but it helps if he was a solid player who knew his assignments, made his team better and has a solid knowledge of the game,” he says.
“It’s more important to me that a person possess good football knowledge, great communication skills, great people skills, an unbelievable passion for the job — and is appreciative and respectful of any opportunity that I may give him.”
But the biggest key of all, according to McCarney, is that once you’re hired on as an assistant, you stay focused on your duties and stop worrying about marketing or networking yourself for another job.
“The most successful people and the guys who have develop into fantastic coaches, have had one major thing in common — they never worry about their next job — they always took care of the job they have,” he says. “If you’re hired to be a TEs coach, then be the absolute best TEs coach that’s out there.”