Building a Complete Program

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The full text of “Building a Complete Program” by Coach Pat Rice, from the Vol 2 — Spring 2024 issue.

Building a Com Building a Com I would like to start off by thanking Dan Brunner and the WFCA for allowing me the opportunity to share some thoughts about our football program at Waunakee High School and how we tried to build it in my 32 years as the Head Coach.

Throughout my coaching career, I have been fortunate to have been mentored by some great coaches: most notably, my dad, Bill Rice, and my predecessor at Waunakee, Gayle Quinn who helped me learn the game of football and how to teach it to the young men I would encounter. None of this would have been possible without the sup - port of my wife and children.

They allowed me to do what I loved for 32 years and it helped build our program. by Pat Rice, 32 Year Veteran Head Football Coach, Retired by Pat Rice, 32 Year Veteran Head Football Coach, Retired

7 plete Program plete Program When building a program, try to focus on four pillars: 1. Staff Development, 2. Play - er Development, 3. Youth / Middle School Program Development, and 4. Booster Club Development (TDC). Each school is different and you all have different re - sources, but my hope is that you can take one or two ideas away from how to build these pillars (if not all of them) into your program. My advice would be to try not to incorporate all in one year.

It is a gradual progression that can take shape over time.

I: Staff Development You are only as good as the coaches you have around you. Without the help of a ded - icated staff, we would not have been able to sustain the success that we have had. My first year as the Head Coach, there were 12 High School Assistant Coaches, and this past year, there were 24 High School Assistant Coaches. When going about staff devel - opment, hire people you trust who are relationship builders and love working with kids.

Once they are on your staff, lay out the expectations for them, provide them information on roles and responsibilities, and give them the resources they need to be successful. To help develop our staff, we have monthly staff meetings in the offseason to break down our games from the previous year and look for ways to get better. We also spend time breaking down upcoming opponents from our league or new opponents that will be on our schedule the following year.

Finally, as part of the process, we will meet with other staff (High School or College) with similar schemes to learn from them while also attending clinics.

II. Player Development Player development at the High School level has played an instrumental role in the success over the past 32 years. Player development is a multifaceted process, in - volving physical improvement, football development, and character development. Individual postseason meetings take place with their position coach to go through an evaluation process and ways to improve as an athlete.

Our athletes are given a next step guide to help them begin their offseason process which includes weight training and nutrition.. We encourage participation in multiple sports which will help with their overall development while giving them an opportunity to compete and build relation - ships with their teammates. Our program provides a Leadership Council in which we encourage our players to join. There is a set curriculum that is designed to help them with character development and leadership traits.

Finally, we provide a recruiting seminar to educate our players and their families on the realities of recruiting and how to begin the process of playing at the next level.

III. Youth / Middle School Program Development The evolution of our program is not limited to the High School program. Our Middle School and Youth Football programs had to be created from scratch. Both programs were created as alliances with other like minded programs that focused on “Fun and Fundamen - tals” while making winning a distant thought. We have given our 4th - 8th grade students two tracks with which to choose from: our tackle football program or our flag football program (community / rec).

It does not matter to us which one they choose, we just want them playing football. It was also very important that our schemes are linked up with our 4th - 8th grade programs so we have a curriculum for each grade level and help teach our Youth / MS coaches the schemes and the drills to help them be successful.

The goal was to create an atmosphere where athletes were learning the game of football, its fundamen - tals, while beginning to create bonds with teammates that would develop as they contin - ued to play football together through the years. This has led to a surge in numbers and, quite frankly, has been the cornerstone of our success.

IV: Booster Club (Touchdown Club Development) The best piece of advice I received in regards to Booster Clubs was either you run it, or it runs you. Our Touchdown Club was created to help offset costs from budget shortfalls that our school district couldn’t provide. The TDC consists of parents of players lead by myself, who appoints a Chairperson (President) who in turns appoints a Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secre - tary.

Together we have parent class reps from the Middle School all the way up to 12th grade to form committees. Some of the committees are in charge of our annual Golf Outing, Raffle, PotLuck, Team Meals (During 2-A-Days, after games, etc…), and Advertising, just to name a few. Since its inception, the TDC has provided many opportunities for our players including

14 new field turf for our stadium and a brand new weight room just to name a few. With - out their help, we would not have a lot of the equipment we have today and not to men - tion our yearly highlight video. It is a great organization that helps make our program function to the best of its ability. This is certainly not all the details of our program, rather some of the main points. There are no shortcuts, and no magic bullets. In order to have sustained success you need to put in the time.

Not everything mentioned in this article is the most glamorous, but each step is critical to being successful. To conclude, I hope this article gives you a small insight into what has helped build the Waunakee Football Program. I hope you can take one or two things away from this arti - cle and implement it into your program. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. Do not try to implement this all in one year.

If you ever need help with program development or want any advice, feel free to send me an email at patrice@waunakee.k12.wi.us and I will help any way I can.