What towns have great coaches and serious off season programs? Come on man...
IMHO, there are more good coaches than bad. Regardless of the coaching, you need good players to win. As far as offseason stuff, I would say at least half are working in the offseason, not sure I would call them "offseason Programs", like a college does. But open gym, winter leagues, and fall tournaments are common.
That's almost the textbook definition of an off-season program. Having recently graduated college (where I played for 4 years) I think that the coaching doesn't really come into play at the HS level, with the exception of the topo teir programs that do the above. For the most part, HS coaches put their best players at the positions that give their team the best chance to win. They are teachers in the districs who happen to have played lax (most of the time). Travel coaches coach most of these boys for 10 months a year for years on end. I think if you look at Smithtown for example, they have those boys exclusively for the 10 months and those boys know that system inside and out. If you look at a team like Connetquot, they have some really great players that carry that team. I don't think the coach needs to do any more than put them in the right spot and feed them the rock. He did that last year and they were successful; however, last year was the exception, not the norm. His track record shows that. I only use those towns because they have been discussed earlier. The coach didn't make those players, he got them like that. Smithtown, WM, WI, Mannhasset, etc... those clubs make and develop their boys from day 1. I think that's the difference.
