I was reading thru the Smoaky.com archives and I ran across this...

http://www.smoaky.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127285

Are you kidding me? There is no way this guy is ready to lead a program. He is 22!!! WOW!!!

I wish him well but I see this ending in disaster!

Adam is an extremely hard working guy. I coached with his dad and have had the chance to get to know him through the years. Good Luck, you will do great.

Give the kid a break. (i say kid but he's not much younger than me) He may have a winning season and make you eat your hat. One of two things will come out of this: 1. He proves you right and reinforces a stigma that young guys aren't suitable for a head coaching position. 2. He proves you wrong and ushers in a new era of young coaches proving they can hang with the seasoned veterans. I'm hoping it's the latter! Good luck to him!

I'm sure everyone is hoping he does well...but let's be honest with one another...he is way too young and inexperienced to have a job like this...I just don't wanna see the kid's hopes get dashed when he isn't successful.

If he is mature & intelligent enough to be a coach and teacher, and not a "buddy" he may do fine.

This one could be too close to call.
Lots to say either way.

But good grief!
It's not like it's Odessa or Midland High.

I was a baseball head coach at 22. Good luck to him. It may be Lazbuddie but it's a good start. Honestly age doesn't mean a thing sometimes.

One of the under-reported stories in the TAPPS/Beren issue this basketball season was that the coach of the team that defeated Beren, Abliene Christian, was coached by a young man who I believe is about to graduate from one of the colleges in the Abilene area with a teaching degree.

Don't know about you, but I think that young man has a pretty solid background when he goes in for interviews for coaching positions. Here you have all the hoopla about the Beren situation, a big media circus (I understand there were six satellite trucks parked at Nolan Catholic for Beren's games -- I don't believe I've seen that many media trucks at some events at the Alamodome) and yet, he keeps his kids focused on the prize and wins it.

I led an entire athletic program as athletic director at Amarillo Holy Cross at the age of 25. Probably the youngest AD in Texas and this is my first year as a coach/teacher. Sure, I had struggles while learning the ropes of the job along with being a middle school head/asst. varsity football, head varsity basketball, and head varsity track coach. This is not a job I recommend to just anybody, but bottom line, I did it. It is possible for a young man to lead a team, or in my case an athletic program. Good luck to the coach at Lazbuddie.

Our friend at HCM can answer this better than I can, but I would guess the biggest problem of being a young coach (or a young teacher) is that you'd better realize that you are not there to be the kid's friend. You're there to be a coach/teacher.

I remember a friend of mine calling me several years ago from another Christian School. For some reason, he thought my advice was useful. Seems he was seriously considering having a young man, about a year or two removed from playing on his varsity team coach the team and wanted my input. We talked for quite a while and one concern we both had was that this young man was going to be coaching kids he had as teammates a couple years prior and how would he deal with the friendship vs coach issue.

We talked about a number of strategies ... making a practice plan much like a teacher makes a lesson plan, stressing that he was for all practical purposes a faculty member, insisting that the players call him Coach, having him dress up (dress shirt and slacks vs. t-shirt and jeans) for games, and things like that. Kid did pretty well in the year or two that he coached that team and was respected by veteran coaches in the district.

Coach Kirby has been coaching for almost 4 years now at the Collegiate level already. He worked at Tyler Jr. College, 2 stints with Lon Morris and 1 season with Texas College. So its not like he is fresh out of diapers.

I know Kirby personally and he will do fine. He is pretty arrogant and standoff-ish but if you get past that, he's a good guy. Lazbuddie needs some help...I don't think they've had a winning season in like 10-15 years. Maybe a 22 year old kid can do that...

I've heard coaches say that about him around East Texas. Evidently, he is not very friendly, but he's from New London, so what do you expect?

Lazbuddie needs some help...I don't think they've had a winning season in like 10-15 years.
***Is a winning season the best measure of a Teacher's success?

has been coaching for almost 4 years now at the Collegiate level
***Wouldn't that make him a college coach at 18, with his Master's degree to boot?

making a practice plan much like a teacher makes a lesson plan,
***Is this is a common mistake? Thinking that coaching isn't teaching? The practice/lesson plan should be a given.

WOW! If ya'll are talking about me and my coaching career, ya'll must be bored! But since ya'll are so interested, I figured I'd join in on the conversation...

Thanks for the motivation EastTexas...keep throwing fuel on my fire. All I'm going to do is prove you wrong.

Dogface, I got my first full-time coaching job as Running Backs Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at Lon Morris College when I was 19. You need neither a Bachelor's Degree or a Master's Degree to coach at a private institution so from ages 19-22 I coached in college. Four Years.

Keep Lookin' Up!

Adam Kirby