I never coached high school (obviously), but I did coach for club soccer, so I'll take a stab at it.
I think it depends on how capable your bench is, how competitive the coach and team are at any point in time (ie game time versus ultimately going for the win), how the players in the game are faring, and the coach him/herself. Some coaches are very good at knowing their benches and being confident in their abilities and using them. Others don't trust their benches and won't play them if possible and others still may not have the depth needed to stay in the game even if the starters are tiring, so the hedge their bets on tiring starters being better than fresh reserves.
It's ultimately up to the coach's judgement and the only truly wrong response is a coach who won't play players due to unfair biases either way, on players or reservists.
Subbing well can mean the difference between a win and a loss though. I can recall two Wando games in particular back when I played where it made the difference.
Versus James Island: Their assistant coach orchestrated an absolutely brilliant game by substituting new legs in every five minutes or so. They kept pressure on us everywhere, all the time, full force. It kept us flustered and we tired while they were fresh from rests all the time to give 110%. With few or no subs going in on our side and fresh legs on theirs, they wore us out and won by playing a fabulous game, working hard, and using the coach's great strategy.
Versus West Ashley: We were up 3-1 (I think) and instead of backloading the defense with speedy players to mark up on Danielle Jordan and Alexis Brothers--for those of you not familiar with them, one of the National team coaches once said he thought Danielle could be one of the three fastest girls in the country and the others were no slouches either--we left good 1v1, but slow defenders back with no speedy support.
For WA, boot and "boogie" really did work because they could beat anyone on the run unless you gave them a cushion and were speedy yourself. At any rate, instead of moving our faster defenders and players back to be able to contend and defend against the long ball and run, we kept some good 1v1 defenders that weren't the quickest back there. While excellent defenders against most other players, against phenomenal speed and the long ball, they struggled. Inevitably, WA sent the ball long and over their heads several times, and with no adjustments, we got beaten fair and square in the backfield, and lost something like 4-3, losing Lower State.
(My grammar is atrocious today, my apologies!)
Last edited by adidaskitten86; 05/19/08 09:33 PM.
