Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Coaching Assistants Roles

A great coach does not need to know it all.

How could one person be an expert in everything.

In football, can one person really be the go to guy in offense, defense, special teams, kicking, blocking, tacking, nutrition, strength and conditioning, motivation, offensive line, defensive line, keeping parents happy, making sure their kids stay academically qualified, keeping the AD informed, equipment, hydration, practice scehdules, recruiting talent from within the school, and all the little things that make bigger things happen.

In track and field if your team is not that strong in sprints, well find a good sprints coach. The same goes for a program who lacks distance, throwing, hurdles, or jumping.

Not one person can do it all. That is why a great coach surrounds himself with great assistant coaches.

If a CPS team wants to build up their program finding, attracting, and keeping the right assistant coaches is one of the keys.

Or if your program cannot or does not want to get or pay for Assistants, then you better educate yourself or surround yourself with advisors that compensate for your weaknesses.

Coach Jarvey Lewis-Bey - Trying to Bring a New Norm to Marshall

I feel that a good coach is one of the biggest factors in the success of a programs. One of those coaches is coach Jarvis Lewis-Bey. After a successful run at Senn, Coach Bey decided to move to coach at Marshall. The results have been phenomal and speak for themselves.

Senn football team record with/without Bey
School Year         Record         Coach
2005-06               2-7              Herman Blade

2006-07                8-3            Jarve Lewis-Bey
2007-08                3-6            Jarve Lewis-Bey
2008-09                7-4            Jarve Lewis-Bey
2009-10                8-2            Jarve Lewis-Bey
2010-11                9-1            Jarve Lewis-Bey

2011-12                1-8            Vincent Davis

Marshall football team with/without Bey:
School Year         Record         Coach
2009-10                4-5             William Gray
2010-11                2-7             William Gray

2011-12                8-2             Jarve Lewis-Bey

Immediate Dividends
As you can see from the table above, Coach Jarve-Bey is developing a track record of successfull turnarounds. He turned Senn around from a school with consistent losing record to one of winning. His record his last two seasons at Senn was 17-3.

He it trying to do the same thing at Marshall. I just did not know he could do it so quick. He turned Marshall around from a 2-7 team to an 8-2 team in one year. His team almost pulled out a shocker in last year's playoffs when his team lost only 10-6 to a very good Evergreen Park team in the first round of the state playoffs. Evergreen Park ended up being a state quarterfinalist.

I can't wait to find out what he can do his second year at Marshall. It will be a tougher test for Marshall as they have been promoted to the much tougher Illini Heartland conference with Brooks, Harper, and others.

Football Team Previews Page

Here is a video interview I conducted of Bey when he was at Senn after his team pounded Lincoln Park.

Wesley Yates named new head football coach at Morgan Park

Wesley Yates has been named the new varsity football coach at Morgan Park. He officially takes over to replace Jeremey Gold after one tumultuous season of former head coach Jeremy Gold.

Yates is a Chicago guy. He played football for SIU where he was 2nd team all conference. From 2000-2004 he served as the Athletic Director and head football coach at Hyde Park. From 2004-2008 Yates was the Athletic Director and head football coach at Julian.

Hopefully Yates can bring some stability to a Morgan Park program that has been up an down ever since the removal of long time coach Lexie Spurlock about 2 years ago. Wheter Yates can bring Morgan Park back up to former glory is something that MP alumni and fans surely want to find out.

"Yates is already active and working with the players. A lot of disgruntled players who previously quit are now back with the program and working hard," a Morgan Park parent told me.

New ITTCA Blog

Defending class 2A state champion in the 100 meter hurdles and 400 meter (both state record times) Shamier Little(jr), picture courtesy of the new ITTCA blog. Little, by herself scored 27 points to lead Lindblon to a 6th place state finish.

A bunch of us ITCCCA coaches have started a website to help new track coaches. 

http://newtrackcoach.wordpress.com/

Good stuff on track and field coaching fundamentals.

 

Self effort

The end of the CPS meet signals the end of the season for most track athletes. Except for the ones running sectionals, your season is over. No more coach to encourage you to run harder in practice, no more ritual of dressing up after school for track practice, no more teammates to tell you to lift weights.

Of course you'll run harder, of course you'll lift those weights. If not, a coach or teammate will tell you to do so. Of course you'll turn in that Chemistry homework. If not, a teacher or parent will notice.

We set up a system where you are only as good as your current coach, teammates, and teachers.

What really matters is what you do when no one is looking. Are you surfing the latest YouTube Videos, are you texting your friends to keep in touch, are you reading everyone else's  Face Book entries and pictures, are you eating that candy bar, or are you running?

 

How to be a better runner

During the rain. Run.
During the snow. Run.
During the breaks. Run.
During the weekends. Run

Even if your season is over. Run.
Even if you're tired. Run.
Even if you have a family party. Run.
Even if you have homework. Run.
Even if the Bulls game is on. Run.

RUN! RUN!! RUN!!!

 -Neilski

The Look Test

Absent any other information, which guys in this picture would you pick on your basketball team? I'll bet you most people won't pick the guy with the red flower shorts. Why? Because he does not pass the look test. (photo courtesy the LostOgle blog)

I used to play a lot of pickup basketball. Teams are usually decided on who you see at the gym and you ask him if you want to play on your team. So guess what, if there were a lot of guys in the gym. Guess who I am going to ask to be on my team first? Absent, any other information, I'll take the guy who "looks" like a player. In the case of basketball height is a major factor, muscles and basketball built are a factor, and does the guy dress like a basketball player should dress (shoes, shorts, etc) is another factor.

Why am mentioning this? Because I have this theory that if your team "looks" like they can play, there's a good chance that you can actually play. I feel that there is a strong correlation to wheter your team has as much of the look test items below and your the teams on-field result.

I feel "look" is really another word for doing all the little things to improve your football program. And if a team does the little things to make your team good, your team will be good.


What do dance squads and marching bands have to do with having a good football program? I feel everything. The best football programs work on all the little things to make big things happen.
 
Here is a short list of your football program/team passing the look test
roster of over 70 players
numerous linemen weighing over 250lbs
QB that is over 6 feet tall
cheerleaders
marching band
dance squad
student cheering section
lots of parent volunteers
coordinated dress coaching staff
organized stretching and pre-game rituals
showing up to games early
organized off season workouts
football booster club
lots of fans

The best way to judge a team's performance

Omar Tall (sr) and Kenwood have had as much success as a Lane or Jones. Why? Because they improved as a team over last year.

There's been a lot of talk about, who is better Lane or Jones and Kenwood. One argument says that Jones and Kenwood are better because they both qualified for the state meet. On the other hand, some people feel Lane is the better team because they won city head to head versuses everyone in the city and did not qualify for the state meet becuase they are in the tougher class AAA. Whereas Jones and Kenwood are in 2A, so can get in mcuh easier.

Let's not compare AA vs AAA. We all know the competition is tougher at AAA. No argument there.

The more fair argument is a same school vs same school comparison from year to year.

So compare Jones 2009 team to Jones 2010 team.
At last year's state meet Jones had no runners under 16. This year they had 3. Last year Jones 5th man was 18:07, this year he was 16:33.

I think of you did the same analysis with Lane and Kenwood you would find a comparable improvement in times from the 2009 teams to the 2010 teams.

I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again in the future. The best comparison of success is not comparing your team to other teams. Rather it is to compare your school's performance (work ethic, motivation, and team numbers being my top criteria - not race results) from last year to this year's performance.

So, judging by the criteria of improvement from year to year, it is fair to say that Jones, Kenwood, and Lane Tech (and many other CPS team) are all considered a success this year.

Related
Throw out the victim prizm
Structuring Summer Workouts - part 4

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THROW OUT THE VICTIM PRIZM!!!

Robeson, Hubbard, and Harlan are Throwing Out the Excuses and FINDING WAYS to make it Happen!

Robeson, and Cameron Franklin (6-10, 180lbs, TE/DE, sr) are finding success in football despite all the "perceived" adversity. Robeson is favored against suburban team Riverside-Brookfield this week.

In my 20+ years of involvement in CPS sports, I've heard every excuse in the book on why CPS schools don't perform as well as they are capable of:

* little parental support
* poor students
* lack of facilities
* AD's that don't want to hire winning coaches
* low coaching salaries, inferior coaching
* gangs
* less developed feeder programs
* all the best athletes play basketball

and my favorite one of them all:

* our kids come from all over the city so they don't know each other as well as suburban schools
* etc, etc...

No one denies, those factors exist in the city of Chicago. Nor do I deny those factors have some sort of an impact in a sports teams performance. However, all of the excuses listed above are to me just that excuses. I call it the standard excuse of a viewing the world from a victim prizm. One where if something is wrong or low performing, it is someone else's fault and they are just a victim of something beyond their control.

When a team drops a sport...blame: too many gangs in the school.
When a cross country team only has 4 runners on it's team: blame: poor coaching.
When a football team has poor turnout for it's summer camps: blame: the parents.

It is an anemic problem in the CPS where the blame goes on anyone else but themselves. The problem with this thinking is that it provides a convenient excuse whether conscious or not of not trying as hard. Not only that, but this type of thinking perpetuates the myth that success comes from someone else instead of being self-determined. It creates a destructive culture which I call the IF ONLY culture.

IF ONLY there weren't as many gangs in the school, we'd better.
IF ONLY the CPS would build a track in our school, we'd be have a better track team.
IF ONLY the CPS could pay their coaches more money, we'd have better coaching.
IF ONLY we had more students and as big as Lane, we'd challenge for city more often.
IF ONLY....(fill in the blank)

It's time to get rid of this IF ONLY and victim hood mental block. We can do better.

Despite, all the excuses in the book that they could make, some programs FIND A WAY to make it happen.

Robeson-  I was talking to a retired Robeson coach. He was telling me how between freshman and sophomore year he loses a lot of football players due to academic, personal, and other problems. He could use that as an excuse for his teams low performance NOT AT ROBESON. Not once did this coach every say, that was an excuse for not putting an effort in making a good team. Every single year, ever since I can remember Robeson FINDS A WAY to win or be in the top 2 in conference. Robeson, the relay school,  also had an all-state track relay team last year. Robeson has started the season 2-0 and is the favorite this week against the high powered offense of Riverside Brookfield (a suburban school).

Hubbard - With a high school drop out rate of about twice the state average, Hubbard can find an excuse to not perform. NOT AT HUBBARD. For the last decade or so, there has not been too many consistently high performing football teams in the city than at Hubbard. How? Coach Elton Harris FINDS A WAY to do all the little things to make his teams better. From doing proper warm ups, to getting his players to run track, to making sure the band and cheerleaders are there for away games. Hubbard is now one of three state ranked CPS football teams (Simeon and Morgan Park are the other two).

Harlan - Being in the inner city, the Harlan Falcons can throw every excuse out there. NOT AT HARLAN. Football coach Keith Brookshire, FINDS A WAY to make it happen at Harlan. With a good football pedigree, having coached at Morgan Park, Brookshire knows how to build good programs. He is already making an impact at Harlan and beat Maine East last week. Maine East has everything a school needs to create good sports programs (facilities, coaching, good park district programs, etc). Yet, Harlan went up there and beat them. I'm not saying that Harlan is there yet, just because of a victory over Maine East. I am saying that Harlan is a school that has every excuse to perform poorly, yet found a way to make their program good enough to beat a suburban school like Maine East.

Like I said earlier, problems do exist in Chicago. But there is no excuse for hard work, staying motivated and putting the effort to become better. We all need to work in that area. Some schools like Robeson, Hubbard, and Harlan (not to mention Simeon, Morgan Park, etc) have made it happen. The only question is when are the other schools going to start shedding the victim prizm? ... and really make magic happen!

Other commentary entries by Neilski

New Coach for Whitney Young Boys Cross Country

Billy Poole-Harris is the new boys cross country coach at Whitney Young High School. He knows this team, having been an assistant coach at Whitney Young. This is his first year as a head coach and will inherit a solid core of returnees.

Whitney Young Boys Cross Country Preview