This may ruffle some feathers, but sometimes I don’t get it. Administrators / “Committees” are often unwilling to give assistants opportunities to take over or be hired for a program. There are a lot of good assistants out there. One current example, when the Southport job first opened, Ben Danner’s name was mentioned as an internal candidate. Personally, I do not know Ben and I don’t know if Ben is interested or not (I assume he would be), but Ben is a Southport grad, is Southport’s current JV coach and has been coaching basketball in the Perry system since 2003 (this is all on their website).
However, the HH report said Southport’s “administration embraces the hiring process and likes a big name”. I’m sure that’s even more true since Mark James was hired at their township rival Perry Meridian. I have read three names associated with Southport (assuming they are accurate). One doesn’t appear to have coached since 2012, but does have a good varsity record, winning 60% of his games (according to John Harrell’s site, there are 15 coaches in Indiana with a winning percentage over 70%. 40 between 65%-60% and 42 between 60%-64%...in total that’s about 25% of the current coaches in Indiana.), plus four sectionals and one regional in 19 years. The second has also been a varsity coach for a while too, has a 48% winning percentage and resigned his last job that is not as prominent of a job as Southport is. The third has a 57% winning record with one semi-state and one sectional in 20 years. None of the three I would necessarily categorize as a “big name”. So, I think, hmmm, why not Ben? Would Ben be able to handle the job and have as good a winning percentage as these three coaches?
For all the administrators/committees out there that don’t give assistants much thought, maybe looking for the big name, you might consider talking to the those that hired Criss Beyers or Daniel Cox. What did they see? Why did they take that risk? Criss has gone 53-3 the last two years and won a State 4A Title. Daniel is 61-18 the last three years and won a Regional Title this year. Criss had one year of head coaching experience (13-10) before coming to Warren Central. Daniel had no head coaching experience before going to New Castle. For that matter, most big names start as an assistant somewhere, right? Just saying….
My opinion is, if an assistant has more than 10 years’ experience, comes from great pedigree under a highly successful head coach/program, has been successful on his own (JV/varsity assistant, etc.), successful in some leadership roles showing the ability to manage people/situations and shows the passion and hunger to be a head coach, I think this assistant will be just as and many times more successful than an experienced head coach with a long average record.
Don’t get me wrong, if I’m the administrator, I am going to hire Mark James at Perry over an assistant with the above credentials…to not do so would be irresponsible. But other times, I scratch my head when the likes of maybe Ben and other highly qualified/successful assistants don’t get consideration/opportunities.
However, the HH report said Southport’s “administration embraces the hiring process and likes a big name”. I’m sure that’s even more true since Mark James was hired at their township rival Perry Meridian. I have read three names associated with Southport (assuming they are accurate). One doesn’t appear to have coached since 2012, but does have a good varsity record, winning 60% of his games (according to John Harrell’s site, there are 15 coaches in Indiana with a winning percentage over 70%. 40 between 65%-60% and 42 between 60%-64%...in total that’s about 25% of the current coaches in Indiana.), plus four sectionals and one regional in 19 years. The second has also been a varsity coach for a while too, has a 48% winning percentage and resigned his last job that is not as prominent of a job as Southport is. The third has a 57% winning record with one semi-state and one sectional in 20 years. None of the three I would necessarily categorize as a “big name”. So, I think, hmmm, why not Ben? Would Ben be able to handle the job and have as good a winning percentage as these three coaches?
For all the administrators/committees out there that don’t give assistants much thought, maybe looking for the big name, you might consider talking to the those that hired Criss Beyers or Daniel Cox. What did they see? Why did they take that risk? Criss has gone 53-3 the last two years and won a State 4A Title. Daniel is 61-18 the last three years and won a Regional Title this year. Criss had one year of head coaching experience (13-10) before coming to Warren Central. Daniel had no head coaching experience before going to New Castle. For that matter, most big names start as an assistant somewhere, right? Just saying….
My opinion is, if an assistant has more than 10 years’ experience, comes from great pedigree under a highly successful head coach/program, has been successful on his own (JV/varsity assistant, etc.), successful in some leadership roles showing the ability to manage people/situations and shows the passion and hunger to be a head coach, I think this assistant will be just as and many times more successful than an experienced head coach with a long average record.
Don’t get me wrong, if I’m the administrator, I am going to hire Mark James at Perry over an assistant with the above credentials…to not do so would be irresponsible. But other times, I scratch my head when the likes of maybe Ben and other highly qualified/successful assistants don’t get consideration/opportunities.
