Not my question....but someone asked it in another thread and it seems to have gotten some folks talking. Assuming a coach doesn't necessarily have a ton of previous high school experience under their belt, but has spent a significant amount of time coaching middle school football, does that make for a questionable hire? Is there any benefit to hiring a middle school coach as a high school head coach? Are there any immediately obvious drawbacks to it?

I'll carry this over here from Hellcats:

 

"Not normally. Gotta remember up here HS coaches have teaching/school day employment and then second shift football."

 

Pretty much every coach in the state of Georgia is also a teacher. There are some community coaches but I can only think of one coach who is not a teacher and that is the world famous Rush Propst who has 1 period of planning, 1 period of "Football Operations", 1 period of Cafeteria duty and 1 period of PE. The rest of us teach.

Ted Edgington was looked upon and asked about the head job at CCH. Even thiugh Ted had minimal varsity experience and one year as freshamn hc, I'm categorizing it in the same group. Although hiring a middle school coach with no head coach may be unorthodox, it could be best for that situation. Depends on the type of person and coach he is, not the way he calls his offense or defense. And at the end of the day, what the school thinks is most important. Wins or grown respectable young men(can certainly have both).

I'll carry this over here from Hellcats:

 

"Not normally. Gotta remember up here HS coaches have teaching/school day employment and then second shift football."

 

 

Pretty much every coach in the state of Georgia is also a teacher. There are some community coaches but I can only think of one coach who is not a teacher and that is the world famous Rush Propst who has 1 period of planning, 1 period of "Football Operations", 1 period of Cafeteria duty and 1 period of PE. The rest of us teach.

 

So your HS coaches run your middle school programs there ?

It has to be the right person , but I am sure it is rare , but possible it can benefit both the program and the new hired coach with minimal experience. One must get an opportunity, and get a chance eventually.

Barth was the Middle School coach at Woodland before taking over at Walton Verona. That's worked out pretty well.

Walton Verona's Jeff Barth was a middle school assistant coach for one year and then became the head coach at the middle school the following year. The very next year he was hired to be WV's varsity coach. I don't know if Barth had any other coaching experience before the 2 yrs at the middle school but it sure has worked out for Walton.

I don't see a problem with it at all. If a coach can coach then it's all good. The only thing he may struggle with is the things behind the scenes that he may not be ready for.

There are 2 coaches in the Fort Thomas Junior Football League that could very well coach High School in Brian Ulbricht & Mick Abner. I think Dave Bibb who head coached at Norwood is even on Abner's staff. They have plenty of coaching experience between just the 3 of them. Put Ulbricht on Defense with Abner's offensive creativity and you would ha e some pretty good stuff.

So your HS coaches run your middle school programs there ?

They do here as well, in many places (oversee, not coach the JR High team).

They do here as well, in many places (oversee, not coach the JR High team).

 

If you mean by oversee: schedule, budget, train coaches, ensure transportation, purchase equipment, and anything else a football team needs plus run his own varsity program that guy is amazing!

 

If you mean hire the right guy to do those things and be there to support as oversee that's a little more common.

 

I would hope that most guys do that.

Coaching is coaching. There are high school coaches that could easily do the jobs of college coaches. There are middle school coaches that could easily do the jobs of high school coaches. If you have ever sat down with college coaches then you know that some are excellent and brilliant minds, but some a far from the sharpest pencils in the box.

Walton Verona's Jeff Barth was a middle school assistant coach for one year and then became the head coach at the middle school the following year. The very next year he was hired to be WV's varsity coach. I don't know if Barth had any other coaching experience before the 2 yrs at the middle school but it sure has worked out for Walton.

 

Barth was an assistant football coach at South Oldham Middle School for 6 or 7 years, and 8th grade head basketball coach for several years.

 

If you can coach you can coach. Whether the "internship" is varsity assistant or in the middle school ranks, both can provide successful high school coaches. It definitely helps when guys play for successful high school coaches and have some level of college playing experience.

In several programs I know of in KY, the Middle school coaches are just an extension of the high school staff. The high school head coach runs the whole shooting match from youth league through the HS program. The middle school coaches in those programs do the coaching, but everything else is run through the varsity head coach. In my opinion, that's how it should be done.

In several programs I know of in KY, the Middle school coaches are just an extension of the high school staff. The high school head coach runs the whole shooting match from youth league through the HS program. The middle school coaches in those programs do the coaching, but everything else is run through the varsity head coach. In my opinion, that's how it should be done.

I couldn't agree more ! Well said ! I believe the feeder teams , and middle school teams should implement the offense that the varsity is running . The Varsity coach should have his say in what the youth is being taught under his program. This helps better prepare the kids , and they already got a grasp on things . I would love to see Woodland Middle and Scott High do this , maybe even junior level Taylormill Eagles too in Nkyfl.