Coaches Confidential: 'You can't play if you don't know what you're doing'

Welcome to Coaches Confidential, a new Cincinnati Enquirer series for the 2024-2025 fall season that allows football coaches to answer weekly questions anonymously.

The purpose of this exercise is to educate parents, athletes and fans, uplift and encourage athletes to be the best they can be, mentor young coaches, idea share and, in some cases, just have fun.

This week's question: What qualities do you look for in athletes when you decide on your roster and depth charts? What helps or hurts these players in terms of playing time?

Here are their answers:

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Identifying the 'Best 11'

"This is a great question for both coaches and players, especially considering the advent of social media, NIL, and the transfer portal. After doing this for 35 years, I can admit that when I was young, I would always look for the best athletes and try to force them into what I felt I needed to build a team. I was looking to field the 11 best players I could find. Today, I believe my job is to identify the BEST 11 as opposed to the 11 BEST players. I still look for the best athletes who fit positional needs (height, weight, speed, etc.) but I now look for players who have ability, great work ethic, understand the system and the needs of the system, and complement the other players in the system. TEAM players make the TEAM better. As a result, I play the guys who make others better. Now, there are a lot of ways to define this, but one thing I can tell you is that if a great athlete, one of the 11 best players, does not buy into the system, does not care more about his teammates than he does his own statistics, does not display the commitment and expectations of the mission, he will NEVER become on of our BEST 11. Our players understand this, and I live by this. In my opinion, we are training these kids for the next 50 years of their lives. Being one of the Best 11 in any organization far surpasses being one of the 11 best. I hope this makes sense."

Three keys to success

• Tenacity ‒ The competitive character to never be outworked.
• Coachability ‒ Can he receive coaching and make adjustments?
• Resiliency ‒ This is sports, adversity is going to happen. They must be able to persevere

"The biggest thing that helps players is knowledge of what we are doing. You can’t play if you don’t know what you are doing. This happens by an intentional focus on not just understanding the 'what' and the 'how' but the 'why' of our systems."

Are you coachable and committed?

"The biggest qualities in players we always discuss in our program are coachability and commitment. If a kid can take coaching and work to improve, we can find a spot for them in our program. We believe in welcoming everyone. We can find anyone a role to help our team. When a player buys into that mindset of 'I want to do anything to help the team,' we notice that and then we begin finding more ways for them to do so, which eventually leads to more opportunities to get on the field. We don't use real depth charts in our program on purpose because we want players to know the competition for opportunities continues every day and is never set.

"The way kids hurt their chances at our program is by being the opposite of coachable and committed. Showing up every day is a huge part of the battle. Taking coaching but not taking it personally is key. We all want everyone to improve and the team to be successful. Players have lost opportunities to play when they lose sight of that."

Buy into the program

"A huge factor when determining status on the roster comes down to the buy-in. The student-athlete must show a huge amount of dedication and pride in our program. Talent is great but we like to see it combined with great attendance, perseverance and the will to work hard for the guy next to you.

"Being inconsistent and being a distraction are the fastest ways to lose playing time. Too many distractions on a team can set a program back and prevent it from reaching its potential. "

Maximize your potential

"The qualities of athletes range within each position and how to formulate a quality team. It starts with the commitment to development in the offseason. Sweat equity from coaches to players: They have to love the struggle of the offseason. That has to be a foundation. The qualities that help include daily attendance, owning their learning, being coachable, and maximizing their potential!"

'The best ability is availability'

"The qualities in athletes I look for when deciding on the roster and depth chart vary. The first thing I need to know is who will be at practice. The best ability is availability! If players cannot attend practice, I know I cannot count on them to go out and play on Fridays. Another quality is effort. I need to know you will give it your all every play for 4 quarters. Taking plays off and not making an effort hurt teams more than anything. Over the years of coaching, I have noticed this is usually when the negatives happen on the field. Player's attitudes are what determine playing time for me. Being part of a team means building each other up and pushing everyone to be great. Being an "I" guy does nothing but single people out and distance them from the team. One player cannot win a game, so buying into the team and having a 'we' attitude will get players in my program on the field."

Effort and work ethic are game-changers

"I think most high school coaches look for effort and work ethic when they start evaluating roster/depth chart decisions. I also think attendance and knowledge of the playbook or philosophy also play into this as well. For me personally, I will take a kid who is at every off-season lift, and every practice and find him a spot to play on Friday nights because he earned that in my opinion even if he isn't the best player on the team. On the flip side of that, I have benched really good players for missing practices or being late."

Character matters

"Character is a quality we look for in athletes for our program. Sometimes an athlete's character can be the deciding factor when the athletic abilities of multiple candidates are similar. We also look for athletes who are committed to the team. They are committed to improving their skills, putting in extra effort before, during and after practices or training sessions. Such individuals are more likely to earn playing time as they demonstrate their commitment to the team's success. Individual efforts will always add up to team successes. Athletes with a good attitude and sportsmanship are more likely to earn playing time as they contribute to a healthy team culture. Finally, trust is a quality we look for. We often ask: 'Can this athlete be trusted not only on the field to do their job, but also be trusted off the field to do the right thing?' Being a part of a team, athletes represent more than just themselves. They represent their family, school and community."

Versatility and preparedness are important

"As high school coaches, we look into many aspects of depth charts and playing time. The sport of football is a great teacher of life and skills our student-athletes will need after they graduate. Our young men are learning to compete and win on the field, while simultaneously doing the same in the classroom. We want our student-athletes to be their best academically and athletically. These are young men whom we are trying to instill work ethic, coachability, and team chemistry while building their overall self-character.

"In a public school, we are a no-cut sport, unless there is a discipline/academic issue in which we remove a student-athlete from the team. As one season ends the staff works to see potential fits based on our scheme and returning athletes. The off-season training starts to give some clarity based on the growth and work put in by each young man. As we continue workouts, 7v7s, and practices over the summer the depth chart takes shape. Once the pads come on in July/August we know where each athlete fits in and then keep evaluating based on their performance during the season. The depth chart is constantly evaluated based on the skill of our athletes and how they perform.

"We want to have our best 11 on the field as much as possible, but multiple components could affect playing time. The depth chart starts with pure skill level but is adapted to certain factors. We are looking for athletes who have a solid work ethic and attitude while pushing others to be their best. In essence, their work ethic determines how well-prepared they are (mentally and physically) and their attitude will show if they are a true team player. There are also times we are looking for versatility in our athletes. Depending on the opponent, game plans could be completely different on a week-to-week basis. Balancing these factors is crucial for high school football players to maximize their playing time and contribute effectively to their team.

"Three aspects to earn playing time:

• Athletically ‒ Demonstrate strong football skills and consistently perform well in practices and games.
• Mentally ‒ Possess field awareness, understanding playbooks, and making smart decisions on the field.
• Attitude/effort ‒ Show dedication, a strong work ethic, and a positive attitude in practice and games. Helps build team chemistry."

Become a relentless competitor

"For me, the qualities I look for is a relentless competitor, someone who will do everything to win. When you find players like that, it helps bring others along with them! When a guy has a fierce competitor spirit, it helps bring them up the depth chart because you know they’ll give you everything every down."

About Coaches Confidential

The Cincinnati Enquirer gave all Greater Cincinnati high school football coaches a chance to join a coaches advisory board, giving feedback on many issues, including this venture. The board is comprised of nearly 20 coaches from a variety of schools, divisions and states. Coaches can still join the group by emailing Melanie Laughman at mlaughman@enquirer.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Coaches Confidential: 'You can't play if you don't know what you're doing'