Any Coaches out there thinking about not doing it anymore?

Maybe now is the time to mentor your successor. Thats what I did for myast 3 years and glad I took the time to do it. Hes doing a wonderful job. I also gave up the head track post to coach jh distance kids to feed the XC program for those 3 years to keep the numbers high and continue to build on a culture of success at all levels.

Been coaching at the Collegiate Level for almost 20 years now. It is a great profession, but getting tired from it, not of it. A lot of work outside of the actual coaching, & missed so much of my own kid's stuff over the years.

The Covid Hell of the last year plus has also taken some of the wind out of my sails. Perhaps another 3-5 years, & then I'm most likely riding off into the sunset.

I was only an assistant this past year. My main role was to assist with training plan and pace varsity guys in long runs and workouts. I forgot how moody and immature high schoolers are. I also got frustrated with how long it took to actually start running in a practice after announcements and pre-run drills. Im glad I tried it out, but I want to focus on my own training and set some new PRs before Im past my prime.

op, i get where you are coming from. a big problem is that a precedence has been set and you are doing a lot of stuff you shouldn't need to do.

Fundraising. Hosting an invite. team dinners. Even morning practices are not a necessity, depending on where you live.

You need to find a way to get team parents in charge of running those things. Or perhaps even assistants.

pomderingthefuture wrote:

Any coaches out there thinking of hanging them up after this season?

When I’m coaching I’m all in: driving to trails for practice, weekend invites, fundraising, host an invite for the booster club, morning practices, team dinners, etc. But after this year I just don’t know if I can keep it up. I’m tired. The paperwork, the certification classes, the meetings on top of coaching (what I really enjoy) is getting overwhelming. And if I’m being totally, honest I am enjoying the off season more than when I’m in season. But don’t get me wrong, I love seeing these kids fall in love with running and wing out there.

Don’t know if this is it… or one more year of 5. But just seeing how other coaches are feeling out there.

Doesn't look like a perfect coach for the kids.You must love it all the way......Have you considered to try to start a coaching online part time business and try for another fulltime job parallell?

high school xc coach wrote:

op, i get where you are coming from. a big problem is that a precedence has been set and you are doing a lot of stuff you shouldn't need to do.

Fundraising. Hosting an invite. team dinners. Even morning practices are not a necessity, depending on where you live.

You need to find a way to get team parents in charge of running those things. Or perhaps even assistants.

Yes, the "depending on where you live" could be a factor but the guy has built a culture with his own hands and the mids/parents exlect that as a minimum. He's grappling with letting go. He most certainly has a lot to consider. Probably has most of his support in his coaching friends that he sees regularly. He has another life that is calling him and hes listening to that voice but not sure about letting go yet. He also sees that hes not living up to his own standards the way he used to and is frustrated and not giving the kids his best. Hes made sacrifices that he is starting to regret. Its a tough part of the coaching life cycle. Youll never let go completely and there may be a rebound attempt later after a break but the truth will come forward.

Pray about it. Then make your move without regret. You have a lot of great memories that you can be content with. Find other ways to contribute to your passion that allows for that other life to spring forward.

Been there.

Thanks everyone for your input. Like many of you the list season due to the COVID shutdown was tough. Coupled with my kids getting older, the wear & tear of 17 years coaching it is definitely a tough decision. Your commentary & advice is much appreciated.

pomderingthefutur wrote:

Thanks everyone for your input. Like many of you the list season due to the COVID shutdown was tough. Coupled with my kids getting older, the wear & tear of 17 years coaching it is definitely a tough decision. Your commentary & advice is much appreciated.

A lot of us sometimes question what we do. If you don’t enjoy it then it might be time to change your role if that’s possible. Change teams, move to assistant if you’re head coach, or maybe give your assistant some more power to take on some of the tasks. Change it up, you don’t have to do it the same way every year.

coachy wrote:

pomderingthefutur wrote:

Thanks everyone for your input. Like many of you the list season due to the COVID shutdown was tough. Coupled with my kids getting older, the wear & tear of 17 years coaching it is definitely a tough decision. Your commentary & advice is much appreciated.

A lot of us sometimes question what we do. If you don’t enjoy it then it might be time to change your role if that’s possible. Change teams, move to assistant if you’re head coach, or maybe give your assistant some more power to take on some of the tasks. Change it up, you don’t have to do it the same way every year.

Agree with all of this. Also am hearing that you want to be there more for your own kids. Like I mentioned before, maybe one option would be to mentor or assist your successor which could free up some time and you could volunteer assist if you can give up that control or if admin would be ok with that. Funny how leadership differs on this issue.

There's another BIG part of this that wasnt mentioned but I know how important your spousal relationship can be depending on where you are with that and your level of communication. Ideally, that after God should be your best go-to but in reality, that may or may not be a factor in this decision for you. Also, with the XC season concluded, you have some time to reflect and plan. Shouldnt be a hurry on this but i would say before track season starts would be appropriate in the event there is another person on staff that would be interested in getting started on relationship building before summer training begins.

Maybe a break for awhile and return later? Ive seen coaches take several years off and then come back later when the opportunity arose and the time was right. One even won a state title before and after a 5 year hiatus. So dont take it too hard, a break may be what the doctor ordered. Get some ME time and get some other important things in order. Good Luck.

I feel this way every year.

I love coaching. It's the other stuff that you mentioned that wears me down.

We feel like the school system and booster's club is routing against every year because they give us such a hard time about having to pay for championship meets that we qualify for or feeling obligated to give out money for jackets if the kids win championship meets. The school department currently owes me over $2000 for transportation reimbursements for travel for the team. They typically take 4-6 months to pay us back.

I used to be a 3 season head coach but now I am only the head coach of XC. I find the volunteer coaching role to be the greatest gig ever so that is what I do for track. I show up and coach the kids skills, write training schedules. I go to the meets to watch my athletes. No paperwork, entries, or any of the other bs that goes along with being the top dog.

When June comes around I am always hungry to coach the kids over the summer in preparation for XC. When I am no longer passionate I will instantly hang it up because the kids deserve my 100%.

I teach in a rather large district and stopped coaching 9 years ago. Why? The parents. I can handle the coaching stuff and it can be a lot, but I liked it. But the stuff that was going on with parents was inexcusable (and illegal in some instances) and the majority of the incidents were employees of the district I work for whether they were teachers, assistant principals, or classified. It created this whole other circus and they were not my monkeys and before it drained me I left. Same stuff went on with the next coach and he quit probably to late as he really let it get to him and he thought he could fix it. And the coach after that. Fortunately I've always had other hobbies that I easily transitioned to and am just as happy going to watch meets and being a track fan. I will coach again, but in another district and when the time is right for me.

So I was in this position a few years ago and ended up quitting college coaching because the head coach I was working with was very abusive to both me and students and had the AD on his side, so I ended up quitting without another job lined up because the abuse was just making it not worth it anymore. I then moved to a different city to live with my fiance and was a finalist for a few college head coach jobs, but ultimately wasn't selected for the job, so I ended up taking a job in another field since there were no more openings for a full time coaching job in my area. I then started doing some private online coaching instead.

At this point, we're moving in a year, so I haven't even bothered to apply for any college openings around here because it doesn't seem worth it to spend a year getting used to a new coaching role then have to quit after a year. I miss the actual coaching part of coaching and working with the kids and being active and around the sport daily. I enjoyed recruiting too, but I don't miss that part a ton. But similar to OP here, I was starting to get bogged down with the long hours of endless work outside of actual coaching for a job that paid below minimum wage working for thankless rude people. I also felt like on average kids seemed to be less dedicated and more ungrateful each year. I felt like I cared more than a lot of the kids which is not ideal. Over years you can change the team culture to solve that, but I wasn't at a single school long enough to get to that point completely. While I miss the kids, I don't miss doing that as my full time job as much as I thought I would. I'm way less stressed now, make more money working less hours, and actually have my weekends to go do stuff versus working 6-7 days a week. The private coaching is kind of nice because it's less time commitment, but I don't enjoy just writing workouts and communicating via a virtual platform as much as I enjoy coaching in person.

pomderingthefuture wrote:

Any coaches out there thinking of hanging them up after this season?

When I’m coaching I’m all in: driving to trails for practice, weekend invites, fundraising, host an invite for the booster club, morning practices, team dinners, etc. But after this year I just don’t know if I can keep it up. I’m tired. The paperwork, the certification classes, the meetings on top of coaching (what I really enjoy) is getting overwhelming. And if I’m being totally, honest I am enjoying the off season more than when I’m in season. But don’t get me wrong, I love seeing these kids fall in love with running and wing out there.

Don’t know if this is it… or one more year of 5. But just seeing how other coaches are feeling out there.

I love coaching so much that I have often volunteer my time to do it. But the politics of being a head coach just became too much for me. So, now I'm just a lowly assistant and the only responsibility I have is to coach. I don't have to deal with parents, administrators, etc. I show up at 3:30, coach until 5:30, then go home.

Being Letsrun, I entered this thread unsure of whether "it" referred to coaching or sex.

Teenagers are the most exhausting subspecies in the universe. Whatever freak bone some of you have to do this for lifetime is beyond me. It’s like you have to be half kid yourself. Don’t get me wrong, watching them exult in pr’s and their general growth as distance runners has been amazing, but the day-in day-out immaturity and moodiness is not something I’d wish even on Steve Bannon. I might have another year in me.

I coached cross country and track for over 20 years at my school. There were some really great seasons, and some tough ones. We were successful both on and off the course, and I loved coaching and the relationships I made with my athletes, staff, and parents. I had a lot of support from top to bottom, but the job is tiring and it seems like school/society keeps adding more and more each year.

I chose to step down back in June to spend more time with my family, I have a 4th and 6th grader. They are both very active, and I don’t want to miss out on their activities. I am thoroughly enjoying my time with them and I am making the most of every moment. I am still teaching at my school, so I have various kids drop in from time to time to meet and talk about their season, their goals, and just their life in general. While I do miss coaching (I will go back to it at some point), I am very happy with my decision to step away and enjoy my family. When I return to coaching, I feel that I will be reenergized and motivated just like my “younger” days. For some of us, a little time away is good.

Almost every track season I have moments somewhere in the middle of the season where I ask myself why I keep coaching: those long bus rides home after all day Saturday meets, practices when kids aren't showing up, tough conversations with parents, it all wears you down after a while.

For me I've found I have to carve out some time for myself both during the season and during the offseason, so when I am there, I can be excited to be there. I've shortened my practices to cover just the workouts and I keep my workouts shorter now than I used to, I'm not running a baby sitting service. I build in rest days almost every week during the season, especially the day before most meets, I need it as much as the kids. It's easy to do when you coach sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers though, I admit that would be much harder to do coaching distance runners. Some years I have more committed kids than others as well, in the down years I dial back my own commitment level, and work on certifications or something else in the off season. I've found that really helps me step up in the years when I have some motivated kids to work with, and makes it worth it to put in the extra time, especially in the off-season.

I will say if they keep adding training requirements to coach high school in Colorado, I will reach my breaking point one day. CHSAA by-laws test every year, fine. Concussion test every year, OK. CPR certification every two years, makes sense. Pole vault course every two years, OK. Workplace harassment training specific to the school district I coach in, probably no getting out of it. But the list keeps growing, a couple of years ago they added "mandatory reporter" training for anyone dealing with kids in Colorado, it's 2-3 hours every year of online learning on how to spot signs of child abuse and what to do about it. It's at the point right now, I spend an entire weekend of my own time getting caught up on this stuff every year during the off season. As they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I've often thought I picked the absolute wrong sport to coach. Coaching is awesome and making a positive impact on kids (HS or College) lives is amazing. Of course you can accomplish that by coaching any sport.

But if you are a distance coach, especially at the collegiate level, you are not only doing paperwork and meetings and fundraising and massive recruiting and more (that is non-coaching), you are IN SEASON all but about three months a year (and are usually quite busy during those three months too). Pretty much every other sport has an off-season that is far longer than their in season. Sure they have conditioning and maybe a few off-season competitions, but it isn't even close to being in-season, traveling, etc. while doing all the other crap.

So we are possibly the lowest paid coaches in athletics, with the longest in-season, and possibly the least care about our programs from administrators. Coaching is hard in any sport while in-season. Our sport is in-season almost all year, which makes burn out a much bigger threat.

Not to mention that we are usually coaching two genders simultaneously. Not many other sports have coaches coaching men and women at the same time. And while most sports competition last 1-3 hours at most, a college track meet can be 12 hours, and up to three days of 12 hour days. If you are a track coach and have 80+ athletes, you are also coaching more athletes than any sport except football, with a lot fewer coaches to help.