The importance of quality assistant coaches

When I first talked to Scott Mitchell last April about the possibility of becoming football coach at Springville High School, I was impressed with his perspective on the position. Then, and at last week’s press conference, he was saying all the right things.
I am especially impressed with how he admits that a coach is only as good as the people with which he surrounds himself. In other words, all good coaches have a good staff of assistants.
Here in Utah County, Mitchell and three other coaches are soon going to find out exactly how true and important that is. Between now and the summer Mitchell, Monte Morgan at Salem Hills, Saia Pope at Provo and whoever gets hired at Lone Peak, have the difficult task of putting together a staff of quality people and quality coaches.
Myself, I think it will be the most important thing these coaches do in their new jobs in the coming months. In fact, I think it’s the most important thing that all coaches do. Assistants coaches are a reflection of the head coach, and good assistants need to share the character, vision and philosophy of the head coach. A lot of good coaching and preparation takes place away from the football field and during the offseason, and it’s often good assistants who get this done.
Morgan has done this before. But with the move south it will still be a major part of his new post. Mitchell and Pope, head coaches for the first time, might find this task overwhelming. I guarantee you, however, the administrators at their schools are going to monitor this closely. Both need to surround themselves with people who know how high school football works.
It takes more than just a good head coach to coach a football team. It takes a team of teachers and instructors. A good assistant has good knowledge of football fundamentals, understands football strategy and knows how to teach all of that to the kids in practice, and how to help players make adjustments during a game. Coaches have to be great students of the game and great teachers of the game. Almost all good coaches have very good communication and people skills, and this includes the assistants.
So, what are your thoughts on the importance of assistant coaches? What makes a good assistant coach? What should these new coaches be looking for in their staffs? And what teams currently have the top assistant coaching staffs?