I’ve seen this happen many times. What reason does a head coach have for leaving assistants behind often times to fend for themselves and find a new job?
Occasionally an assistant stays behind and gets promoted usually when HC recommends or makes them head coach in waiting. But most of the time when HC leaves the AD cleans house.
What’s the main cause?
Assistants are there to assist and not to coach. If they're good, AD is more likely to fire HC and hire assistant. If they're bad, it's easy to hire another one.
Got similar question, seems like you are right
Couple of thoughts
1) There are good assistants already at the new school
2) The HC is able to recruit a higher caliber coach at the new school. This could be due to being able to pay more, being able to recruit better student-athletes or having better resources/facilities.
It's sometimes a case of the AD at the new school having some semblance of a heart and asking the new HC to retain the current staff. Often they don't want the trouble of having to seeming heartless for a sport they have little interest in.
At the DI level an AD will almost always let a new head coach decide on the assistants. Some times they retain a few members of the previous staff. Very often they bring a few assistants with them if they can. But, when a Head leaves a successful program for a better job their lead assistant often has a good shot at replacing them.
In my experience, I don't see too many head coaching hires completely clean house and not bring in any of their previous staff (if they were a head coach previously). If a school hires an assistant from somewhere else into a head position that is an entirely different scenario.
A LOT of assistant coaches don’t make a ton of money. Usually supported by a spouse that has a good job making it harder to move
Burrito Track Club fan wrote:
Assistants are there to assist and not to coach. If they're good, AD is more likely to fire HC and hire assistant. If they're bad, it's easy to hire another one.
WTF are you talking about?
If you have EVER coached (sounds like a big NO), Any good HC who hired assistant(s) will invite them to the new gig. If for some reason they don't accept, the HC will recommend them for the job he/she is leaving. Also, any smart HC will hire assistant(s) who CAN coach and are experienced runners.
Aouita 84 wrote:
Also, any smart HC will hire assistant(s) who CAN coach and are experienced runners.
Why would a throws coach need to be an experienced runner?
Sometimes the assistant is rooted to the community and does not want to relocate.
What percentage? I’m mostly seeing ADs clean house when the head coach moves on.
No one’s mentioned the elephant in the room. Sometimes HC doesn’t offer to bring certain assistants with him because it saves him from having to fire them