I’m a big proponent of using a Player Committee to help steer your football program as a Head Coach. To read more about the Player Committee format I’ve used for a long time, click here.
I’ve had coaches email me about what I do in these Player Committee meetings.
Here is a sample January Player Committee Agenda. I believe this is from January 2007.
PLAYER COMMITTEE AGENDA
Why you are here.
Define what the Player Committee is and why the players are going to be a part of it this year. Talk about the process for how they were selected to the Player Committee or Leadership Council, or whatever you call it. They need to understand the importance of their selection or appointment to this panel.
Open door policy.
Explain to the players that your door is ALWAYS open for them, BUT only if it is truly open to them. Explain to them the importance of the head coach-player committee relationship, and how there has to be trust and confidence from both sides.
Off season workouts policy – how much?
Many coaches won’t agree with this, and I’m okay with that. As a Head Coach, I’ve always had my Player Committee set the bar for the Off Season Workout Attendance Policy. Do they want to have an 80 attendance policy, meaning that players must attend 80 percent of the workouts or not play. Do they want to have a 90 percent policy? We talk through this and come up with a plan to announce to the rest of the players, put in writing formally, etc.
Recruit, recruit, recruit.
I’m a very firm believer that the players will recruit the hallways better than I ever will. Recruiting the hallways is an important aspect of building a program that will be strong in numbers. I give them a speech about reaching out to kids to bring them in to the fold of the football family. I tell them that it starts with them as the Player Committee leadership. We usually make a list of names of kids we want to target to be on the football team.
Theme for year?
We choose a theme for the year to begin to focus on. This theme is used as the basis for our offseason program, and in to the regular season.
Pride Pack? What do we want in it? Colors? Sweatshirt? Jackets? Hats? Beanies?
We discuss what the Pride Pack or Spirit Pack will look like. I have the players design the shirts, shorts, color scheme, logo, etc. that we put on the practice jerseys, shirts, shorts, hats, etc. We talk about the color of socks that we wear with our uniforms, and make that decision for the next year. We talk about ordering sweatshirts, or jackets, what do you players want? I want for the kids to have a major say in these things so that we get their buy in.
Helmet color? Blue vs. White
This specific year we discussed changing the helmet color. I took over in 2006 at this school, and they had been wearing white helmets for just a few years. They used to be blue for a long time. I really don’t like white helmets, and so I shared my vision of taking them back to blue helmets. Kids liked the idea, so we went with blue. Again, I wanted their input here, and they appreciated it. I had them also help me with the design of new helmet stickers. This helmet below is what we came up with.
Coaching staff situation
This particular year we hired 6 coaches and dismissed 1. I talked with them briefly about this process, so they would know what was going on. One reason we hired so many coaches was because we added JV Football. So, we also spent some time talking about having a JV program, what practice would look like with two teams, how coaches would help at both levels, etc.
Summer calendar
We talked about what the summer calendar would look like, what the summer commitment would look like. I handed out the calendars from January to December’s Championship game at this January meeting. I think it’s very important to be this organized enough to hand your parents a year long calendar in January so that everyone is on the same page regarding the time expectations and commitments.
Anything else? Any other needs?
I opened it up for any other questions, and asked what other things the team needs to be successful. Again, players can give great insight in to what the players need and want to get the most out of their program!