The idea of any organization is that someone is in charge of someone else. Assistant strength coach’s boss is the head strength coach, head strength coach’s boss is the head football coach, head football coach’s boss is the AD, the AD’s boss is the school president, the school president’s boss is the school board/trustees….. But the more I think about it, the less I feel like athletic departments are that linear. Especially in that, I was never hired by the person you would think I would be hired by.
On any given day, do you actually feel you are doing something based on the highest ‘level’ in the hierarchy’s vision? If I was hired by a football coach to run the strength program, do I really answer to the AD? Bureaucracy is based on the idea that most important decisions are made by state officials not the elected officials. In a lot of ways, me being hired as the football coach creates bureaucracy from the fact I am viewed as elected by a coach with lots of power and authority. Athletic departments will continue on, so they are state officials. I can imagine with any bureaucracy there are constant power exchanges that go through natural ebb and flow. But that creates a really important question, whom do I actually answer to?
As long as my boss thinks I’m good, I’m good. Walking into work and putting up my middle finger to the athletic department is not recommended, but if my boss likes me there is little they can do about it. I get a raise solely off the recommendation of the football coach. I get more resources like staff, continuing education, equipment, etc based on the approval of the head football coach. Athletic departments are at the mercy of either a new coach that they want to give autonomy to or a very successful tenured coach that threatens to leave if they do not get what they want.
This is something you will not be taught, but you better understand this quickly. You play nice with the athletic department. You give them the illusion that you work for them. But everyone knows the truth. It’s unspoken but definitely understood. At the end of the day if my direct supervisor wants something and that person has unchallenged power, you do it. Athletic departments are at the mercy of the person that makes the most money, and you as the strength coach answers to that.
Head coach wants to change the schedule in the weight room. Sorry about Olympic sports, figure it out. You’ll get yelled at, you will get chewed out, you will even be threatened, but it does not matter. If you get a sports nutrition budget and we have to allocate a certain percentage to football and restrict olympic sports, sorry olympic sports you don’t get unlimited snacks like football does. Fair and equal are conditional upon if someone that has power defines it as.
It’s funny cause you hear the olympic coaches preface a conversation with the football strength coach “I know football generates the revenue” or “I know coach wants this, but.” It displays that everyone really knows the predicament you are in. I don’t answer you to you and never will, but I’m trying to be respectful to your frustration. At a certain point you begin to wonder, this does not feel like amateurism and student athlete centric based on politics and misappropriated power.
This is not an excuse to be rude or cruel to the rest of the athletic department. You will need them for one reason or another. It’s also just the station you are in life, you did not earn this position of power, you were elected by a football coach. Relative to the person that works olympic sports, you did nothing special, so there’s no need to take an elitist approach. On other hand, you will feel bureaucracy melt away when they feel like you are at least more empathetic to their needs.
The best answer is probably divide and conquer each entity. I’ve been in enough difficult situations with olympic sport coaches that feel marginalized to realize all this could be avoided. Set up separate weight rooms. We can lie to ourselves about the situation and say we are better as a unit, but this will come at the expense of the non football athletes’ experience. Its not easy to do, but having a situation where the football coach can wield his power and authority without collateral damage to other sports is the only way. Having a weight room and resources available to Olympic sports is mission critical to overall success. It avoids placing someone in the middle of a bureaucratic standoff.
This way we can say although I work for this school, I do not have to play along with this charade that I am a part of this athletic department. When we get fired, and we will, I just exit without leaving a trail of disenfranchised olympic coaches that are trying to position themselves for the next coach. Its laughable when I come in and the person that hired me makes 10x what an olympic head coach makes, telling me ‘this is how we do things around here…’ Sure, but the second my boss says we are going to do something a certain way we are going to do it. No need to make your position known or demonstrate territory on something when we have separate weight rooms.
I dont think an AD will ever read this. I’m sure they would be pissed if they did. But on the other hand, they probably should. I have been accused of being arrogant. I don’t think that is the issue, trust me I am humbled everyday. I’m confident, but more importantly I am keenly aware of the fact that I am only at a school off the pretense of a football coach that makes more than everyone in the athletic department and possibly the entire state wanted me there. He decides my fate, no need to make silly statements like “at such and such we believe in….” Unless you can control who the football coach hires, which is not a bad idea, let’s leave it as “let me know if you need anything.”