Keeping your coaching staff together through an off season is a rare accomplishment. Conventional coaching wisdom says that keeping the same guys in the office, and interacting with your players year after year drastically helps your odds of having a successful program.
However, legendary Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder wants you take that "conventional coaching wisdom" with a grain of salt.
“It is a plus to have all of your staff returning, but it is a plus only if that staff continues to grow and continues to provide the foundation for our players to improve on a regular basis. When you have been in a position — yours, mine, anyone — the longer that you are in it the more susceptible you are to taking certain aspects for granted. We need to be awfully careful about that.” he told the Topeka Capital-Journal.
“Just the fact that you have the same people in place, it will be very easy to think it will just be done how it has always been done. Then you get yourself in some dire straits if you accept it that way." Snyder, who returns his entire coaching staff from 2013 after losing two assistants the previous season, explains.
As a head coach, hiring great coaches (and quality people), can be hard it itself, but Snyder's wisdom is a reminder to also look for hungry coaches during the hiring process. Don't hire guys that are going to get complacent the longer that they're around, and make sure you're creating an environment that keeps them hungry for clinics, conventions, and the occasional night of drawing plays on napkins over some beers.
Anytime coach Snyder speaks about coaching philosophy, he has the ears of the entire coaching profession, and for good reason.