Ask most coaches and they'll tell you the same thing.
"I think the biggest thing is the preparation that goes in beforehand and in the preseason," says Saugus boys soccer head coach Seth Groller.

But what about the games themselves? What about after the first whistle blows?

Given the nature of the different sports, they require different levels of participation by their coaches during the actual game.

And coaches of the most popular high school sport - football - are near the top when it comes to in-game involvement.

"You have someone calling the offense, the defense, someone coordinating, someone coordinating the special teams," says Hart football head coach Mike Herrington. "It's a lot of stuff going on in the game as far as actual coaching, and the activity level of the coaches is very high."

Football coaches are very hands-on during the game, calling plays on every down of both offense and defense.

Herrington recognizes the involvement in sports such as baseball and basketball, but he acknowledges that football might require the highest level of activity.

That's why, he says, coaching staffs are important.

"The head coach is in control of the game, but there are aspects they need to delegate to other coaches," Herrington says. "Most of the time you get people you trust and go with them."

In other sports, trust is a key component - not just with the coaching staff, but with the players themselves.

In fact, Canyon boys basketball head coach Chad Phillips says his in-game involvement depends greatly on who he has running the offense.

This season, Phillips had a lot of confidence in sophomore point guard Coley Apsay.

"My point guard this year was my quarterback, and all year long I wanted him to call the offense," Phillips says. "Earlier in the year, I made a lot of calls, but as the season went on, Coley made those calls. It allows us as a coaching staff to manage the game."

Valencia boys volleyball head coach Mark Knudsen has similar trust in his setters.

"Some coaches are literally calling in plays and talking to their setters every game," he says. "I personally like to let the setter be more in control of the match as far as running the offense goes."

Both Knudsen and Phillips also acknowledged the importance of assistant coaches keeping an eye on different aspects of the game.

For instance, Phillips says he assigned assistants to coach the defense and keep an eye on the different matchups in the game.

Knudsen divides his coaches' responsibilities in a similar fashion, but he says the coaches still work together more than in other sports.

"It's not as specialized," he says. "All the positions work together and are interconnected in practice. You can't really pull everybody apart, or you can't play volleyball."

Playing together is critical in soccer, which Groller says relies much more on the players' improvisation.

Groller says he makes decisions on substitutions and formations, but other than that, there's very little he can do during the game itself.

"I think there's more pressure for the football and even basketball coaches," he says. "They have all the timeouts and different plays they're calling. For us, other than set pieces and corner kicks ... I'm calling out plays just for that."

Then again, the individual creativity of soccer is what initially attracted Groller.

"As a player, that's one of the reasons why I liked soccer," says Groller, who also played baseball and football as a kid. "When it comes down to soccer, it really is up to you. It's more on the team and a little less on the coach."

Sports like track and field and cross country are the same way.

But that doesn't ease a coach's anxieties at meets.

"I think I'm always most nervous right before the race is going to go off, because I know I pretty much no longer have control of what they do," says Golden Valley co-head coach Rob Evans. "We've worked on pushing them through the pain, and I can't call a timeout to help them do that."

Evans says that the coaches are very hands-on during practice, especially during track and field season, when the athletes work to refine their technique.

The mental component, Evans says, is just as important in track and cross country.

"I think the coach's role is to facilitate and teach them what to do and teach them how to think," he says. "That transitions to everyday life. You leave with a great set of skills because you're independent, and they have the self-confidence."

Perhaps the best balance of in-game coaching and reliance on athletes can be found in baseball.

"To be honest, I think we are kind of in the middle," says West Ranch head coach Casey Burrill. "We impact the game, but we also have to rely upon the preparation we had before the game."

On offense, Burrill says the coaches can decide when to put runners in motion and instruct batters on what pitch to look for, but they have to let the players trust their own instincts and react.

Defensively, Burrill says his staff calls every pitch, including what kind of pitch it is, the pitch's location, etc.

But what if there's contact?

"Once the ball is put in play, well, heck, we don't have a glove on," he laughs.