The Coveted G.A. Position

Hey, how's it going everyone. Sorry for a lapse in posting, I have been busy adjusting to Graduate School, moving and countless other things.

Today, I decided to talk about a topic that a lot of people do not truly know much information about. Most people want to know: How do I become a college coach? How do I get college coaching experience? Well folks, while there is no set path to becoming a Collegiate Coach, but, having a Graduate Assistantship, will definitely help you on your path.

A Graduate Assistantship provides a Graduate student at most Colleges and Universities with experience in a field that they would wish to get into upon graduation from their respected programs. They help to provide professional experience in a relevant field of employment within the University you attend. Bigger schools provide more funding for these programs and can at times pay for your housing, tuition and provide you with a stipend.

For those that are interested in coaching a college sport, contact the programs that you would wish to involve yourself in for further information. Reach out to any and all programs of interest in order to get that first start.

For Football check: www.footballscoop.com
For Baseball check: www.collegebaseball360.com

These two websites may lead you directly to an assistantship, however, they will let you know sometimes where new coaches are being hired, coaches are leaving or just basic news about your program.

Keep in mind all new coaches need volunteers!! Its just a start, so volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. Coach because you love the sport not for the money and work your way "up the ladder".

For all other inquiries dealing with athletics contact your University!

Hopefully this information gave you a little bit of a start, stay tuned for more information to come!

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, a bird sings because it has a song"
-Lou Holtz

JP AKA COACH POINDEXTER

Marketing Your Athletics Program

When you look at quality athletic programs around the country, one of the key components to a programs success is their ability to market themselves. From advertisements of athletics, to advertisement of academics and even to creating deals for students and fans, all of the top schools in the country have great marketing plans in place. 

While on my computer today an article about the athletic department at Penn State University popped up in my feed. It stated "Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics will embark on a comprehensive survey of its Nittany Lion Club membership and current season ticket holder base later this month in order to gain a better understanding of where the department stands in the eyes of its most avid supporters." Penn State is actually taking the time to find out how to become a more "fan appreciative" program. All of this is a part of their marketing plan. When marketing your athletics program one of the key things to do is understand your audience. Clearly, Penn State has taken the time to begin to figure out what their audience wants from them so that they can be better prepared and more effective program for their fans. 

Another key to marketing your program as I stated before, is to come up with some sort of gimmick in order to fill seats and allow your school spirit to show. In the world of college football, rivalry games are created to allow fans to not only to feel excited about at least one big game during the season, but they are created in order to help generate more interest in the athletics of the school. Yearly rivalry games such as "The Iron Bowl", "The Lone Star State Showdown" or "The Red River Rivalry" are all examples of big time rivalry games which are not only marketed to the current students and faculty, but also to the alumni of each school.

Marketing is a subject that can we can go on forever talking about but for now we will focus on two things:

1. Understand your audience

2. Create a big time rivalry game

These two things will help to change your program over time and are a good start when you are coming up with your sports marketing plan for an intercollegiate athletics program.

Quote for the day: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

- Aristotle

JP aka Coach Poindexter 

How to develop a football program: Boise State University

Looking at this College Football season and the BCS Rankings, one of my new favorite teams is only one or two slip ups aways from competing for a National Championship. I'm talking about Boise State.  Boise State has developed into one of the top college football programs, in what seems to be overnight. In an article on idahostatesman.com, Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier states "Look at these (commemorative) footballs of teams we were playing in the late '60s and early '70s" including such teams like Linfield, Westminster, Whitworth, Eastern Oregon, Hiram Scott and the College of Idaho. "Fast forward to 2011, and put BYU, TCU, Utah, Air Force on that same football.Boise State, come 2011, will be in the Mountain West Conference and will compete with the teams just mentioned. SO, the question is how do you go from competing against small NAIA schools to the current #4 college football program in America in about 15 years?

My belief is that with any program, as you can see in any information about Boise State, 4things are important to growth:

1. Finding quality talent (Players and Coaches

2. Playing the toughest opponents possible

3. Generating funds

4. Marketing your team, personnel and school.

These may sound like common tools or ideas, but clearly as you look college football, these are not the easiest things to gather. In order to be a successful program you have to find the balance between all 4 tools. Boise State has become successful because they have taken the time to market themselves to their community as well as the entire college football community, find quality coaching and player talent (Boise is 49-4 in the last 5 years), generate funds (football program budget has gone from approx. $3 million to $6 million) and they have played tougher opponents (eliminating their rivalry with Idaho and playing teams such as Virginia Tech this season).

These 4 things will help ANY college or high school football program grow from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the mountain.

Going on with your day, I leave you with the words of Lou Holtz, “Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

JP aka Coach Poindexter