A dead end?

Taking a break from the peek inside posts to talk about something I saw on the rowing boards.

Dead end jobs.

Is there such thing as a dead end job?  Yes and no.  For the sake of this post, I'm going to answer the question from a head coach perspective.  It gets more grey when you get into an assistant role.  With that being said, let's get into it.

Yes

Quite simply, the only way a job becomes a dead end is if you're not receiving the support you need from those in higher positions.  Juniors, collegiate club, college, it does not matter.  At the junior programs and collegiate club programs, the most likely source of that ceiling cap is the board.  Junior boards, in my experience, are abysmal.  I've seen more boards ruin programs than help a program.  I won't name names because that isn't correct, but I know of more than a dozen junior programs that at one point were flying high only to be brought down internally.  

Collegiate club programs are similar.  I know of three that are struggling because of decisions by the board.  Sometimes the board doesn't feel the need to be competitive, which means if you head there as a coach, you better be prepared for a bunch of low intensity, recreational fun.  Some programs try and live like varsity programs not understand the vast difference between the two and fail because they, to borrow a quote from the movie "Moneyball," "Try and play like the Yankees in here, to lose to the Yankees out there."  Great movie.  

College programs are less likely to run into administration holding them back in the same terms.  A lot of the cases where a program doesn't rise is due to budget constraints.  University athletic departments aren't bastions of money - for the most part.  Very few athletic departments operate in the black.  Most are either just making it to net loss/net gains being offset or more likely, operating in the red.  

No

I can think of several programs that felt like "dead ends" that changed head coaches and suddenly are programs either on the rise, or are at least operating at better efficiency than they were under previous coaches.  

To me, when someone says, "______ program is a dead end," it means simply that the person who is making the comment is adverse to hard work, lacks vision, and drive.  The kind of person who makes this sort of blanket statement is the type of "coach" who wants five eights of sub 7 females, or sub 6:10 males, all strong, fit, lanky, lean, and ready to go.  They want the national team where selection is done, and all they have to do is put names into boats and sit back and wait for the accolades to roll in.  They assume.

A "dead end" job is where the person in charge can't see a way forward, or more specifically, refuses to see a way forward.  In the post that inspired this job, the person making the comment referenced two collegiate programs in rather wealthy athletic departments with plenty of go buttons - the things you need in order to attract athletes, and build upon.  How is a job a "dead end" job when you have a boat house, are close to campus, have full scholarships, have money, have the full staff allowed by NCAAs plus grad assistants, plus volunteer assistants, plus a boatman?  

It's not a dead end job.  It's a brain dead person making that assessment.  

Unless you're born rich, you're going to have to work for a living.  You're going to have to find the passion, something that drives you, some work you find stimulating, and then you're going to have to get stuck in.  You're going to get dirty, and beat up a bit, so you might as well get used to it.  

JK Rowling gave a speech once and I'll paraphrase here, "That the only way to live without failure is to live a life devoid of risks, in which case you might as well not live at all."

You're going to need some ointment for that burn.  

I'm sure every club program that became varsity was seen as a "dead end."  I'm sure plenty of people looked at some jobs and said, "There's no way."  And they are equally shocked that said program rose up and started making waves.  They are shocked because they do not have that in them.  They can't take pieces and make the puzzle.  They can take the completed puzzle and pass it off on their own.

There are dead end jobs out there because people want them to be such.  But you have to decide what sort of dead end that job is.  Is it because there are people in your way, or is it because you're in the way?