What's your thoughts on the size of the bench coaching staffs that we are seeing today?

I've seen teams this year with as many as eight guys on the bench, besides the head coach.  Do these guys show up every day for practice?

Has the game really advanced to the point of needing all of this staff?

What's your thoughts on this topic?

It seems to be like this in every sport nowadays. When I played in the 80's, my football team had over 80 guys on the roster, and we had 4 coaches. The basketball team had 2 varsity coaches. My baseball team had 1. Now football staffs are often 8 or 9 or more. I'm not sure how many you need, or what the perfect number should be. But staffs certainly have at least doubled in size in the last 20 or so years.

 

I think that for basketball you need to break it down into roles.  I'd suggest a head coach, a shooting coach, a defensive specialist, a strength and conditioning coach, and a JV coach.  Now, a single individual can do multiple roles.  For example, the JV coach might know how to teach shooting fundamentals and he'd work with them extensively while they're young.  It also would help to have someone to break down film and prepare scouting reports.  I'd say you could fill all of those roles with relatively few people if you can find ones who have the expertise.  

The biggest factor, as far as I'm concerned, is that the head coach find good assistants and then let them do their job and trust their judgement.

I don’t know if there are more members on staffs or if now all staff members have a seat on the Varsiy bench. When I played varsity basketball, the assistant freshman coach did not sit on the Varsity bench with us. In fact, the freshman coach only sat on the bench if it was a triple header. Now it seems like every assistant and every member the staff has a seat. There may be a guy on the bench who is only taking stats, but he’s considered a varsity assistant coach and has a spot on the bench.

15 minutes ago, PP1 said:

I don’t know if there are more members on staffs or if now all staff members have a seat on the Varsiy bench. When I played varsity basketball, the assistant freshman coach did not sit on the Varsity bench with us. In fact, the freshman coach only sat on the bench if it was a triple header. Now it seems like every assistant and every member the staff has a seat. There may be a guy on the bench who is only taking stats, but he’s considered a varsity assistant coach and has a spot on the bench.

You’re right about that.  The key is to see how many of them the coach talks to and more importantly, how many he actually listens to.

Years ago quite often the freshmen coach was on the road scouting. As a varsity assistant once we got to January I began preparing and scouting for possible district and regional opponents. It payed big dividends......as I understand Hudl replaced all of that driving. One thing Hudl couldn't do .....stop at Latonia Bakery on my way back into town for Saturday morning breakfast treats for my kids.

To me, the ideal bench staff has a head coach calling plays and being the voice, a defensive specialist calling the defense, any opposing plays, and assignments, a substitution coach who makes subs (with head coach having veto power) and talks to the players going in and out, and then use your JV and frosh assistants for random assignments.

Head Coach is the main voice with a lead assistant that is focused on the Varsity team as well.  In a perfect world, the assistant counter balancing the head coach strength.  So, if head coach is an offensive guy then a strong defensive coach.  Then, need two guys that are focused on the young levels and feeder while also providing support in the scouting department for Varsity.