When you think about coaching, you mostly always think of at least two people. These two people are the head coach and the assistant coach. Although the head coach makes most of the major decisions, the assistant coach has a very important role when it comes to coaching a team. These roles may have extreme significance, or they may just be administrative paper work that needs to be done. This report explores some of the many functions of an assistant coach and shows its importance within the team.
There are a few different situations an assistant coach may be involved in. The first simply has to be at practice and do the things with the players the head coach tells them to. This doesn't mean that every practice will consist of the same monotonous groups of individuals, but a rotation of groups in non-specific areas. They will not have the freedom to add any of their own drills or workouts. It will strictly be what the coach says.
A second situation a coach may have is to be a specific pitching coach, or hitting coach, or linebacker coach. In this situation, the assistant coach is a specialist in that area of the game. They know specific routines and activities that will best prepare their players for competition. Furthermore, they will have more input on what players should play and have the freedom to run that portion of the team as they feel fit. In this approach it may be easier to measure the success of that specific group and make it easier to figure out if it is the coaches fault or if it is a players fault.
A third approach is for the assistant coach to do most, if not all, of the administrative work so the coach can concentrate on what the team needs to improve. With this approach the coach still coaches the team. They just may have less responsibility as far as practice goes. But, it may be in addition to the large role they play at practice. This assistant coach may be putting in more time than the head coach may.