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Post by coachdoug on May 1, 2008 0:38:51 GMT -6
Judging from the number of new posters I've seen recently, and based on the fact that it is currently spring ball season, and that many programs (like mine) will be starting in 3 short months, I thought it would be appropriate to offer some words of advice to any new coaches that my be lurking here. Now, I am hardly an expert on these things, but in 15 years, I've picked up a few things, so here is my list of the top 10 mistakes that rookie coaches make (almost of which I've made myself), so that all you new coaches out there can learn from those of us that came before you:
1. Schemes Too Complex. This is probably the single most common mistake I've seen. Guys watch TV, or remember their playing days in college or even HS and want to implement multiple sets, complex reads, zone blitzes, disguise coverages, etc. and just leave their team of 8 yr-olds scratching their heads. If ever there was a time and place to put the K.I.S.S. principle to use, it is in coaching youth sports. Keep it simple and add on very slowly only after you are 100% sure your players are 100% on board with whatever they already have. 5-10 plays on offense and 1-2 fronts and coverages on defense is all most youth teams need (less for the younger ages).
2. Failure to Manage the Minimum Play Rule (MPR). Not all leagues have an MPR, so if yours doesn't, skip this one. For everyone else, almost all new coaches don't get how important this is. 6-10 plays per player doesn't seem like a lot, but in the heat of battle it is very easy to not get it taken care of, then the 4th quarter starts and you have to put in 5 Minimum Play Players (MPPs) at the same time and the other team scores twice in 5 plays and you lose. You have to sub from the 2nd play of the game and continue subbing every play until all your MPR plays are done, regardless of the situation. I can't tell you how many times I've heard rookie coaches say, "No, we can't put him here - you don't understand how important this drive is - we'll get him in later." That kind of thinking will kill you. Similarly, you have to balance how much you work with your weakest players - most rookies coaches just ignore their weakest players and they really hurt them when they get into games. I erred in the other direction - I thought that if I just worked hard enough with my weakest players, I could make them substantially better. It didn't work - all I did was prove to them that they couldn't play. Weak players generally know they are weak - if you can hide them and protect them so that the whole world can't see that they aren't ready yet, you can keep their confidence up until they improve. This subject is more complex than this, but to grossly over-simplify the situation, just don't ask marginal players to do things that they can't do or are not ready to do yet, especially in games in front of all their family and friends.
3. Failure to Balance Winning vs. Fun. Okay, this is probably the single biggest challenge facing any youth coach, rookie or not. Far too many coaches subscribe to the "win at all costs" approach - they run off marginal players, sweat down overweight kids, break rules to gain an advantage, and never play MPPs beyond what they have to. Don't be like these poor confused souls - make a positive difference in your players lives in a way far more meaningful than wins and losses. Teach values like sportsmanship, discipline, hard work, teamwork, perseverance, honesty, integrity, and the will to win - if you take care of those meaningful things, insignificant things like wins and loses will take care of themselves. OTOH, do not focus solely on "having fun" either. While this problem is less prevalent, it is actually worse - I've seen over-exuberant coaches learn to tone it down over time, but coaches that don't care about being competitive and only worry about fun almost never survive to see a second season, which doesn't do themselves, or their players any good. "Fun-only" coaches don't enforce discipline, don't stress fundamentals, try to have every player get a turn at QB or running back, give all players equal playing time and spend all of practice scrimmaging or doing fun, full-contact drills. These coaches not only rarely win, they almost always lose by mercy rule scores; their players get hurt; their good, hard-working players lose interest because they see no reward for their work ethic and no punishment for other players that goof-off or skip practice, so they don't come back - and neither does their coach. Finding the right mix is extremely difficult, but it is worth the effort.
4. Too Much Practice Time Spent Scrimmaging. I frequently hear new coaches talking about how the old coach spent too much time on non-game situations and how the team really needs to practice game situations, so he wants to spend half or three quarters of practice scrimmaging. Big mistake. It is almost impossible for coaches to watch 22 players at once, and even if you can, you don't want to stop the entire team to correct one player's mistake. The best coached youth teams spend the vast majority of practice in groups or indy skills sessions (like broken out into linemen, backs, and receivers; or line, linebackers, and secondary). The closer you can come to one-on-one time with your players, the more effective you'll be. If you're spending more than 10-15 minutes of practice time in full 11-on-11 scrimmages, it's too much.
5. Failure to Manage Your Coaching Staff. This should probably be higher on the list. At least, this is the single biggest problem I've had in my coaching career. If you're the head coach - you need to make it clear that it's not a democracy and your assistants need to follow your program or get out of the way. It is far better to have a second-best scheme with the entire staff on board 100% than to have the absolute best scheme with a divided staff. I guess because when I've been an assistant my attitude was always to tell the head coach if I disagreed with him and why, but if he heard me and still wanted to go in a different direction, then I got on board with his system 100%, that I expected my assistants to be the same way. Sadly, this is simply just not the case. If you don't know if your assistants understand your system 100% and will teach it the way you want it taught, you're better off to get rid of them and do it all yourself. If you don't already know your assistants and trust them 100% to run your system, you should probably start off giving them no more responsibility than holding bags and setting up drills & cones until you're comfortable that they are on the same page as you. Trust me on this - once you've give your assistants more responsibility than they've earned, it's really hard to take it back without getting rid of them completely - and that can cause a whole other set of problems. DO NOT GIVE AUTHORITY TO YOUR ASSISTANTS until you are 100% certain that they know your system inside and out and will teach it the way you want. I cannot stress this enough.
6. Failure to Communicate With Parents. I've been doing this for 15 years, and about 2 years ago, I thought because I had mostly returning players and I had sent several emails to all the parents explaining my philosophy and how we run things, that I could skip my annual parent's meeting to go over all that stuff. BIG MISTAKE. I had huge, huge problems with the parents that year. If the parents don't know exactly what's going on, they will assume the worst. Even worse, they'll talk to each other, get the rumor mill going and then all the parents will believe the worst and you'll have a mutiny on your hands. Make it a point to meet with all the parents the first week of practice (or before) and clearly spell out your philosophy, your goals, your approach to playing time, your approach to winning vs. fun, and the chain of command that the parents should follow when they have questions or complaints. If possible, have something written up that you require them all to sign - this will cut down on a lot of arguments later during the season. Then, make sure you regularly update them on how you and the team are doing vis-a-vis all the goals and objectives you stated during your initial parents meeting. After practice discussions are good (not all parents come to practice or leave their cars, though); after game discussions are better; and email newsletters to the team are good supplements.
7. Failure to Properly Plan Practices. Create a practice plan and go over it with your assistants before each practice. You do not want your players standing around twiddling their thumbs while you and your staff set up cones & bags and explain the drill. Get organized and maximize your players reps. I tell my assistants that I expect the same level of effort from them during practice that I expect from the players. If they want to chat on the sideline with other coaches about work or their wives or the NFL or anything other than what's happening in practice right then, they shouldn't coach. At least one coach on this forum says he and all his coaches are drenched in sweat at the end of each practice - that's how it should be. A corollary to this is that you should make sure you know why you are running every drill you do. Too often new coaches just run whatever drills they remember from college or high school without any regard for whether it makes sense for the scheme they are running or for the level they're at. I certainly did this - hey, I had to fill up the time with something, so I ran what I knew. Don't waste your time or your player's time - think about each drill and make sure it fits into your overall scheme. If you don't have enough to fill out your practice plan, ask some questions on this forum (or others like it) - you'll get plenty of ideas to fill up your practice time.
8. Not Enough Time Spent on Fundamentals. This ties in with #4 and #7 (even #3 to some extent). Focusing on assignments may be easier or get faster on-field results, but properly teaching blocking, tackling, footwork, executing fakes, mechanics, etc. will mean much more to your players in the long run. Likewise, scrimmaging or doing full-contact, big-hitting drills may be more immediate fun for the players, but you're selling them short if you don't focus on really teaching them sound fundamentals.
9. Too Much of an "Old School" Approach Regarding Toughness & Conditioning. I'm a big Vince Lombardi fan, so I was very guilty of this one. Full-contact, big-hitting drills and heaving conditioning designed to get the kids tough sounds great if you come from that school of thought, but it really is best left back in the 60s or 70s. Yelling at the kids and focusing on drills to make the kids "tough" is just a waste of time. If you run a well-organized, up-tempo practice conditioning will take care of itself, so time spent on up-downs and other conditioning-only exercises not only turn off the players, but are largely a waste of time. Same thing goes for stretching - most kids don't really need much, they're naturally loose at that age. I remember my first few years coaching, we would spend 20+ minutes per 2-hour practice stretching. Are you kidding? A 5-minute dynamic warm-up is all you need. BTW, I didn't come around on this issue because I became PC or got soft or any other nonsense, I changed my mind because being positive and focusing on skills rather than toughness simply works better.
10. Throwing Too Much on Offense. Don't get me wrong - I firmly believe that youth offenses can throw the ball effectively. However, many rookie coaches come in thinking that what they've seen on TV in the pro or college game will work at the youth level. Setting up in the pocket on a 5-step drop with various reads depending coverages and blitzes is a recipe for sacks and INTs at the youth level. If you know how to coach the passing game at the youth level, go for it. But if you're not sure, focus on the run game first until you really know how the passing game works at this level.
Well, that's my take on it - again, I'm no expert, so take it with a grain of salt. Sorry this was so long, but I hope that is helpful to any of the new coaches out there. Please chime in with your opinions if you have other items to add to the list or disagree with anything I have on my list.
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Post by CatsCoach on May 1, 2008 6:22:23 GMT -6
Great post and a helpful post I think. I agree with everything there. I was part of a rookie staff 4yrs ago and we pretty much made all of those mistakes other then keeping the offense and defense simple! I think that we managed to win one game that season. At the same time, I am and the other on that staff are much better after learing from our mistakes that season.
Mike
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CoachJ
Junior Member
Posts: 307
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Post by CoachJ on May 1, 2008 7:40:38 GMT -6
1. Schemes Too Complex. This is probably the single most common mistake I've seen. Guys watch TV, or remember their playing days in college or even HS and want to implement multiple sets, complex reads, zone blitzes, disguise coverages, etc. and just leave their team of 8 yr-olds scratching their heads. If ever there was a time and place to put the K.I.S.S. principle to use, it is in coaching youth sports. Keep it simple and add on very slowly only after you are 100% sure your players are 100% on board with whatever they already have. 5-10 plays on offense and 1-2 fronts and coverages on defense is all most youth teams need (less for the younger ages). I have a couple of questions about this one. Say I have a standard I formation and use the standard #back and # hole play calling system. So let’s say my tailback is the “4” back and my fullback is the “3” back. If I have 31 Dive, 32 Dive, 33 Dive, 34 Dive, 35 Dive, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 is that considered 1 play or 10 plays? What if the OL blocking rules are the exact same on each? Now what if I want to create an ISO with the fullback leading through the hole first? Now I have 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 ISO where the only person who changes is the fullback, but OL and RB stay the same. Am now at 15 plays, or am I at 2? I am not trying to disagree, but that is what I have always wondered when people say 5-10 plays. How many adjustments to a play make it a different play? Point being we try to teach a simple language that may effect 1 or 2 players, but the essence of the play is the same. 4. Too Much Practice Time Spent Scrimmaging. I frequently hear new coaches talking about how the old coach spent too much time on non-game situations and how the team really needs to practice game situations, so he wants to spend half or three quarters of practice scrimmaging. Big mistake. It is almost impossible for coaches to watch 22 players at once, and even if you can, you don't want to stop the entire team to correct one player's mistake. The best coached youth teams spend the vast majority of practice in groups or indy skills sessions (like broken out into linemen, backs, and receivers; or line, linebackers, and secondary). The closer you can come to one-on-one time with your players, the more effective you'll be. If you're spending more than 10-15 minutes of practice time in full 11-on-11 scrimmages, it's too much. It has been my experience that there is such thing as too much scrimmaging, however, there is value in scrimmaging in my opinion. Our staff has experimented with plays that look good on paper, look good when we practice the parts, but just don’t work live. Also there is no substitute for the effort that you see in live scrimmage. I think it is great to “bird dog” and slowly step through things, but until you are live you don’t see the real speed IMO. Now I am not proclaiming ½ practice of live scrimmaging. We do 25 minutes in a 2 hour practice. We also practice O and D every day. 15 minutes of live O vs. D and 10 minutes of live D vs. O. I am not saying my way is right or perfect, just that is has worked for us. In my opinion there are just some things you can’t simulate no matter how good of a coach you are. 5. Failure to Manage Your Coaching Staff. I guess because when I've been an assistant my attitude was always to tell the head coach if I disagreed with him and why, but if he heard me and still wanted to go in a different direction, then I got on board with his system 100%, that I expected my assistants to be the same way. I agreed with #5 completely, but this part is important. Assistants, IMO, have to feel like they have a say, but once they have given the suggestion, they have to accept the head coaches decision no questions asked. It would annoy me as an assistant if the head coach simply wanted me to be a robot that runs his drills. Human beings were made to think. Now I don’t think assistants should do whatever they want, but if they have input/questions/comments the head coach’s responsibility, IMO is to at least listen. Of course we have a rule that we never question the head coach in front of parents/kids. Any and all discussions are away from the field. 7. Failure to Properly Plan Practices. Create a practice plan and go over it with your assistants before each practice. You do not want your players standing around twiddling their thumbs while you and your staff set up cones & bags and explain the drill. Get organized and maximize your players reps. I tell my assistants that I expect the same level of effort from them during practice that I expect from the players. If they want to chat on the sideline with other coaches about work or their wives or the NFL or anything other than what's happening in practice right then, they shouldn't coach. At least one coach on this forum says he and all his coaches are drenched in sweat at the end of each practice - that's how it should be. A corollary to this is that you should make sure you know why you are running every drill you do. Too often new coaches just run whatever drills they remember from college or high school without any regard for whether it makes sense for the scheme they are running or for the level they're at. I certainly did this - hey, I had to fill up the time with something, so I ran what I knew. Don't waste your time or your player's time - think about each drill and make sure it fits into your overall scheme. If you don't have enough to fill out your practice plan, ask some questions on this forum (or others like it) - you'll get plenty of ideas to fill up your practice time. We still make these mistakes, but have taken an approach to eliminate this problem this season entirely. We have tried to come up with multiple ways to make sure this is no longer a problem. I agree completely with your point. 8. Not Enough Time Spent on Fundamentals. This ties in with #4 and #7 (even #3 to some extent). Focusing on assignments may be easier or get faster on-field results, but properly teaching blocking, tackling, footwork, executing fakes, mechanics, etc. will mean much more to your players in the long run. Likewise, scrimmaging or doing full-contact, big-hitting drills may be more immediate fun for the players, but you're selling them short if you don't focus on really teaching them sound fundamentals. I agree 100%. We believe in at least 30-40 minutes of fundies every day. 9. Too Much of an "Old School" Approach Regarding Toughness & Conditioning. I'm a big Vince Lombardi fan, so I was very guilty of this one. Full-contact, big-hitting drills and heaving conditioning designed to get the kids tough sounds great if you come from that school of thought, but it really is best left back in the 60s or 70s. Yelling at the kids and focusing on drills to make the kids "tough" is just a waste of time. If you run a well-organized, up-tempo practice conditioning will take care of itself, so time spent on up-downs and other conditioning-only exercises not only turn off the players, but are largely a waste of time. Same thing goes for stretching - most kids don't really need much, they're naturally loose at that age. I remember my first few years coaching, we would spend 20+ minutes per 2-hour practice stretching. Are you kidding? A 5-minute dynamic warm-up is all you need. BTW, I didn't come around on this issue because I became PC or got soft or any other nonsense, I changed my mind because being positive and focusing on skills rather than toughness simply works better. I don’t coach 8-12 so maybe I have a little different take on this. We condition our kids. I have seen numerous arguments to the contrary, but I just still see value in it. I rarely if ever see a team in better shape then us. In fact we often score more in the second half because there isn’t much drop off. Sure kids can run around after games, but we rarely see kids getting tired in the game. I know many examples of teams that don't condition that are successful exist too. For us though I like the concept. We use 10 minutes at the end of practice for this and often I run with the kids. In a way it is just another way to be mentally tough and compete. I do think mental toughness and cotact are important in practice. I know many people profess that they have animal hitters and mentally tough kids because of their magical coaching styles, but I am not good enough of a coach to magically make my kids physical and mentally tough. I have to sometimes revert to old school methods.
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Post by coachdoug on May 1, 2008 8:33:08 GMT -6
CoachJ - you make excellent points. Without making my original points any more overly verbose than they already are, here a handful of comments:
In your case, I would consider all your dives one play and all your isos one play. It is amusing that one coach might say he only has 5 plays and another says he has 50 (the same 5 plays, but from 3 different formations/motions, to slightly different aiming points, right/left, etc.) and they mean exactly the same thing. My point was just not to have a ton of different things for the players to learn.
I'd say your approach to scrimmaging is fine - you essentially have 2 sessions of 10-15 each. My point was to avoid the natural inclination to spend 1/2 or more of practice scrimmaging.
Regarding assistant coaches, I agree with you completely, and I should have mentioned that it is important to include your assistants and to value their input. Heck, I'm going to be an assistant this year (with a 1-yr old girl at home, I don't want the admin duties of a head coach), so of course I want to coach on a staff that is going to value my input. My frustration, though, as a head coach has been with assistants that either just don't follow my program, or try to follow it, but just don't know how to yet.
Regarding conditioning, I go back and forth on this myself, sometimes. For me, when my teams haven't been well-enough conditioned, it's been more a factor of my inability to get my staff and/or my practices organized so that we stay at a high-enough tempo to accomplish proper conditioning. My point was more about yelling at the kids and using conditioning as punishment to "toughen 'em up."
Thanks for the feedback.
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lbdad
Freshmen Member
Posts: 97
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Post by lbdad on May 1, 2008 11:59:44 GMT -6
doug those are very good points 1. should be at the top of the list,i have seen that 100 times.the "dallas cowboy backfield shift".the termoligy they use for 7-10 yer olds just makes me laugh,there formations and sets dont tie in together.finding a parent coach that will do any thing other than help his own son is hard. they didnot have the internet 15-20 years ago when we started there is 2 much info now for coaches they just need to chenge there mind set.
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Post by chadp56 on May 1, 2008 12:12:20 GMT -6
Coach,
I think the biggest mistake I see, and you had it down, is not letting kids get playing time at the youth level. We always get guys that were pop warner all-stars that either didn't develop or they don't come out. Meanwhile, the kid behind him who never plays doesn't develop and might not come out either. That is how you can hurt your high school program.
Let them play, let them have fun, and teach them fundamentals. All else is a far second to these three things in my opion.
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Post by gunrun on May 1, 2008 13:27:28 GMT -6
coachdoug, Great post. I especially like reasons 1 and 8. KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) and work the fundamentals (not just at the beginning of the year, but year-round).
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Post by dlsmith99320 on May 2, 2008 14:52:21 GMT -6
great post and thanks for the input I am a second year coach we have a good idea now as we just started our program last year in 5 weeks. This season we have the high school coach involved , last year he was a 1st year coach in our division so it was all new for him but I beleive with a good backing from the high school , middle school we should have plenty of knowledge and help all season I cant wait to get started!
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Post by falconscoach on May 7, 2008 3:45:19 GMT -6
This is a great post. Hopefully the "new" coaches that are on here have looked at this and understand what is trying to be said.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2008 9:46:36 GMT -6
Coach I would add :Not properly managing the clock
Also, if anyone is having trouble with a minimum play rule, let me know I have a pretty good soultion for dealing with that
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Post by coachdoug on Jun 20, 2008 18:41:51 GMT -6
Coach I would add :Not properly managing the clock Also, if anyone is having trouble with a minimum play rule, let me know I have a pretty good soultion for dealing with that Not managing the clock properly is a problem that is not unique to rookie coaches. Pretty much all coaches at all levels have trouble with this one. I routinely am amazed at how poorly NFL coaches manage the clock. As far as the MPR goes, please share whatever solutions you have. It is a major problem for most new coaches, so I'm sure your suggestions will be appreciated.
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Post by raiderpirates on Jun 20, 2008 21:32:54 GMT -6
One front on defense, an extra for the goal line as well. Always had two forms with two concepts for passing, run to numbered holes from those forms. 2. Failure to Manage the Minimum Play Rule (MPR). The games I've called we ran backups the 4th qtr on defense and got the reserves some reps on offense for situations. My leaders often would help call plays and watch assignments for those guys from the sidelines and shout out keys., If they were on the field they watched out for their peers and if they were offense would either fake the play to help set up a counter or reverse, or be their lead blocker. Our leading rusher would say "give it to Tino(our smallest player) and I'll lead the way for him." 3. Failure to Balance Winning vs. Fun. Okay, this is probably the single biggest challenge facing any youth coach, rookie or not. Far too many coaches subscribe to the "win at all costs" approach - they run off marginal players, sweat down overweight kids, break rules to gain an advantage, and never play MPPs beyond what they have to. While this problem is less prevalent, it is actually worse - I've seen over-exuberant coaches learn to tone it down over time, but coaches that don't care about being competitive and only worry about fun almost never survive to see a second season, which doesn't do themselves, or their players any good. "Fun-only" coaches don't enforce discipline, don't stress fundamentals, try to have every player get a turn at QB or running back, give all players equal playing time and spend all of practice scrimmaging or doing fun, full-contact drills. These coaches not only rarely win, they almost always lose by mercy rule scores; their players get hurt; their good, hard-working players lose interest because they see no reward for their work ethic and no punishment for other players that goof-off or skip practice, so they don't come back - and neither does their coach. Finding the right mix is extremely difficult, but it is worth the effort. Second problem was a major one on the first team, those 'coaches' are gone now. First problem, not something I'm a fan of, you have to speak loud and clear, but directing yells never really was constructive from my point of view. You have to sell the game to players differently, if they are not physical protypes, get them to focus on some technique while you reduce some of their responsibilities and have better teammates help them as well. 4. Too Much Practice Time Spent Scrimmaging. I frequently hear new coaches talking about how the old coach spent too much time on non-game situations and how the team really needs to practice game situations, so he wants to spend half or three quarters of practice scrimmaging. Big mistake. The best coached youth teams spend the vast majority of practice in groups or indy skills sessions (like broken out into linemen, backs, and receivers; or line, linebackers, and secondary). The closer you can come to one-on-one time with your players, the more effective you'll be. If you're spending more than 10-15 minutes of practice time in full 11-on-11 scrimmages, it's too much. Scrimmaging where everyone goes for a touchdown, all or nothing, does little good, I'd rather see guys get four yards when it's needed first. The first objective of camp for Bill Walsh's recommendations was third and three conversions. Finding drills to make that fun is the item, I might try and purchase some extra down markers to work with that in mind for this year, to greater levels. 5. Failure to Manage Your Coaching Staff. This should probably be higher on the list. At least, this is the single biggest problem I've had in my coaching career. If you're the head coach - you need to make it clear that it's not a democracy and your assistants need to follow your program or get out of the way. It is far better to have a second-best scheme with the entire staff on board 100% than to have the absolute best scheme with a divided staff. I guess because when I've been an assistant my attitude was always to tell the head coach if I disagreed with him and why, but if he heard me and still wanted to go in a different direction, then I got on board with his system 100%, that I expected my assistants to be the same way. Sadly, this is simply just not the case. This is where practice gets like episodes of The Office. This will directly conflict, with reason seven you list, for every youth team. 6. Failure to Communicate With Parents. If the parents don't know exactly what's going on, they will assume the worst. Even worse, they'll talk to each other, get the rumor mill going and then all the parents will believe the worst and you'll have a mutiny on your hands. Make it a point to meet with all the parents the first week of practice (or before) and clearly spell out your philosophy, your goals, your approach to playing time, your approach to winning vs. fun, and the chain of command that the parents should follow when they have questions or complaints. If possible, have something written up that you require them all to sign - this will cut down on a lot of arguments later during the season. Then, make sure you regularly update them on how you and the team are doing vis-a-vis all the goals and objectives you stated during your initial parents meeting. After practice discussions are good (not all parents come to practice or leave their cars, though); after game discussions are better; and email newsletters to the team are good supplements. The league helps greatly with this, the Rev. contacts parents, and for many teams it is essenitally an extended family network(lil' bro goes to the team he cheered when his brother played, etc. cousins join to be on the same team, that kind of background helps these kids connect, many family have football conversations to a great extent, we encourage the kids to make the parents better informed to our approach as well, the HC goes to great lengths to help do this as well). 7. Failure to Properly Plan Practices. Create a practice plan and go over it with your assistants before each practice. You do not want your players standing around twiddling their thumbs while you and your staff set up cones & bags and explain the drill. Get organized and maximize your players reps. I tell my assistants that I expect the same level of effort from them during practice that I expect from the players. If they want to chat on the sideline with other coaches about work or their wives or the NFL or anything other than what's happening in practice right then, they shouldn't coach. At least one coach on this forum says he and all his coaches are drenched in sweat at the end of each practice - that's how it should be. A corollary to this is that you should make sure you know why you are running every drill you do. Too often new coaches just run whatever drills they remember from college or high school without any regard for whether it makes sense for the scheme they are running or for the level they're at. I certainly did this - hey, I had to fill up the time with something, so I ran what I knew. Don't waste your time or your player's time - think about each drill and make sure it fits into your overall scheme. If you don't have enough to fill out your practice plan, ask some questions on this forum (or others like it) - you'll get plenty of ideas to fill up your practice time. We have scripted practices, a printed outline with drills, goals, etc. is at hand. It will be more detailed this year, we expect to have greater work in groupings of skill, line, etc. We must make it even more efficient. 8. Not Enough Time Spent on Fundamentals. This ties in with #4 and #7 (even #3 to some extent). Focusing on assignments may be easier or get faster on-field results, but properly teaching blocking, tackling, footwork, executing fakes, mechanics, etc. will mean much more to your players in the long run. Likewise, scrimmaging or doing full-contact, big-hitting drills may be more immediate fun for the players, but you're selling them short if you don't focus on really teaching them sound fundamentals. Always remind them of ways to play larger using their stance and approach to contact. Get with wideouts and remind them on items coming out of routes or reading the defenser's coverage of him, etc. We did a lot of half line and full line items to get in our main series, this year we'll probably squad that down so we can get more people into QB reps for depth for simple items first, snap, cadence,etc. 9. Too Much of an "Old School" Approach Regarding Toughness & Conditioning. I'm a big Vince Lombardi fan, so I was very guilty of this one. Full-contact, big-hitting drills and heaving conditioning designed to get the kids tough sounds great if you come from that school of thought, but it really is best left back in the 60s or 70s. Yelling at the kids and focusing on drills to make the kids "tough" is just a waste of time. If you run a well-organized, up-tempo practice conditioning will take care of itself, so time spent on up-downs and other conditioning-only exercises not only turn off the players, but are largely a waste of time. Same thing goes for stretching - most kids don't really need much, they're naturally loose at that age. I remember my first few years coaching, we would spend 20+ minutes per 2-hour practice stretching. Are you kidding? A 5-minute dynamic warm-up is all you need. BTW, I didn't come around on this issue because I became PC or got soft or any other nonsense, I changed my mind because being positive and focusing on skills rather than toughness simply works better. I'd rather do some moe focus on execution as well. Too many coaches want to run interior linemen at full speed distances to big collisions, etc. They don't even use that in games, so why have guys doing something they don't do? I'd rather they work those first two steps and their shed technique, that's how you get in position to finish plays strong. As for stretching, it's a necessity for big OL so they develop awareness of their power core and use it more, and do so quickly in live time. Combining this with your tempo of 5 min is the next goal to set. 10. Throwing Too Much on Offense. Don't get me wrong - I firmly believe that youth offenses can throw the ball effectively. However, many rookie coaches come in thinking that what they've seen on TV in the pro or college game will work at the youth level. Setting up in the pocket on a 5-step drop with various reads depending coverages and blitzes is a recipe for sacks and INTs at the youth level. If you know how to coach the passing game at the youth level, go for it. But if you're not sure, focus on the run game first until you really know how the passing game works at this level. Rollouts, and sprintouts, they reduce the reads but it simplifies the play decisions. Since we had a focus on pocket passing(and a dramtic drop in completion percentage, yardage passing, and an increase in sacks allowed) I might be forced to focus on this more. The type of throws you do matter, if you go control passing and get reps quick, if everyone runs bomb routes then a majority of the time is spent chasing down incompletions. Hopefully we go with my prior concern of passing from the same forms we run from. We did almost all our passing in spread forms late in the year and scrapped two of the most effective base series play calls for control passing. That goes back to reason 5 you list above. We're more on the same page now, mostly from taking some of DSQA's r4 and c4 stuff and matching it with prior coaching points(he's even, I'm leavin'). Learn to gauge the coverage cushion and make that throw, get the ball out there fast if you plan on throwing verticals.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2008 13:59:53 GMT -6
Coach I would add :Not properly managing the clock Also, if anyone is having trouble with a minimum play rule, let me know I have a pretty good soultion for dealing with that Not managing the clock properly is a problem that is not unique to rookie coaches. Pretty much all coaches at all levels have trouble with this one. I routinely am amazed at how poorly NFL coaches manage the clock. As far as the MPR goes, please share whatever solutions you have. It is a major problem for most new coaches, so I'm sure your suggestions will be appreciated. This not my idea, John Reed takes credit for this one, but I use it and it works, really well too. Reed runs a Single wing with one flanker aligned 15 yards from the formation at all times. The trick is that he keeps him along his (friendly) sideline throughout the whole game. Now given this changes the formation depending on what endzone you are facing, but the theory behind it is solid and 2 fold. Reed has the flanker simply run a streak, from whistle to whistle, (anyone on the team can do it) the goal is to drive that corner as far downfield as fast as possible., we often have him hold up his hand ie> "I'm open"Then the flanker runs as deep as he can, then right to the sideline, and another flanker runs off the sideline and right into place in the formation. Now the corner has to turn around, and sprint back up to the line, and get set for another streak from a fresh receiver. He does this the whole game, most of the time in hurry up no huddle. This allows Reed to rotate almost every player into the lineup, throughout the game. It also tires out the cornerback very rapidly (especially if it's hot). While the players go through the rotation, our starter, is waiting his turn to take the field again. This provides a unique problem for the opposing team in that now to substitute a new player in they have to send him all the way across the field. We often catch teams with 12, even 13 men on the field, or less than 11. We often get teams totally ignoring the flanker, which sets up our hitch pass. You now force teams to use up their time outs as well. Now on the other side, every parent loves to hear and see their child playing a skill position, you'll get asked a million times when are you going to throw him the ball, but you'll find a time for that, hey sometimes they wont cover him, what the hell.... I incorporate this into all my offensive schemes now, just beware you go through ALOT of water hope that helps
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Post by davecisar on Jun 22, 2008 15:02:47 GMT -6
Getting kids plays is not a problem if you plan for it, practice it and have a scheme for it. We dont like putting a kid out at split and have him do nothing and play 10-10 football. When faced with this we split the difference with our CB and play 10 1/2 vs 10. Those split kids know they are just window dressing and not adding value, so do the parents and opponents.
A true Single Wing offense has a blocking back, pulling and 95% of them either have a 1/2 spin or full spin series, Reeds offense has none of that.
Split the non starters into 2 groups, one gets their snaps in on offense the other on defense ,the OC and DC are responsible for each group getting thier plays in. Once the game is in hand they play both ways. We sub from the opening gun, while our weakside End and guard are involved in all offensive snaps, the offense doesnt need a super strong player there and at certain backfield positions on certain plays same is true. On defense we have a scheme that allows for the playing and starting of MMP type kids. Sub from the opening gun, and every play, we do. Reeds teams rarely scored a bunch of points.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jun 22, 2008 15:14:25 GMT -6
Getting kids plays is not a problem if you plan for it, practice it and have a scheme for it. We dont like putting a kid out at split and have him do nothing and play 10-10 football. When faced with this we split the difference with our CB and play 10 1/2 vs 10. Those split kids know they are just window dressing and not adding value, so do the parents and opponents. I agree 100% on this point. The kids in that scenario aren't playing football, they are simply running sprints in a helmet and shoulder pads. The ONLY situation where I could see that being a viable option is : 1. You get a kid who really doesn't want to play ball, but is being forced to by parents. (Although, I think i would do my best to have the parents remove him before this point) 2. You get a kid who is very sporadic in practice attendance, yet STILL have to play him.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2008 9:40:59 GMT -6
Getting kids plays is not a problem if you plan for it, practice it and have a scheme for it. We dont like putting a kid out at split and have him do nothing and play 10-10 football. When faced with this we split the difference with our CB and play 10 1/2 vs 10. Those split kids know they are just window dressing and not adding value, so do the parents and opponents. A true Single Wing offense has a blocking back, pulling and 95% of them either have a 1/2 spin or full spin series, Reeds offense has none of that. Split the non starters into 2 groups, one gets their snaps in on offense the other on defense ,the OC and DC are responsible for each group getting thier plays in. Once the game is in hand they play both ways. We sub from the opening gun, while our weakside End and guard are involved in all offensive snaps, the offense doesnt need a super strong player there and at certain backfield positions on certain plays same is true. On defense we have a scheme that allows for the playing and starting of MMP type kids. Sub from the opening gun, and every play, we do. Reeds teams rarely scored a bunch of points. True Dave, I 'm not saying that I advocate Reeds offense, I think it's silly actually, just the flanker philosophy. I have used it to great effect, and have yet to have a parent complain about their kid not playing, since we started it. Also, to be fair, (and I'm one of Reeds biggest critics) he relies ALOT on clock control. Once he is up he goes automatically into full slowdown, which is part of the reason, his teams never scored a ton of points. Though I don't like alot of his stuff, it has alot of research, and facts to back it...which I respect
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Post by davecisar on Jun 23, 2008 10:29:11 GMT -6
I agree there are some great points in his book, but Im no fan of his offense. We are no-huddle 100% of the time so the game pace is faster and there are more snaps, more snaps = more playing time= more fun for the kids Only time we play slow down is when were are grossly overmatched. Our teams won a lot more championships, undefeated seasons and averaged a ton more points than any of his squads if we compare stats LOL.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2008 18:28:46 GMT -6
I beleive you, but that's not to say the guy doesn't come up with some great ideas. I never ran his offense, but I faced it with a coach who didn't use the flanker streaks, we didn't have any problem with it. Wused to run the GAM as well....dumped it too.
The only thing of Reeds we do follow pretty tight is his clock management strategy, in which we immediately go into slowdown when we take the lead, but we've refined it to being up 2 scores, 1st. Everything else we do is pretty by the book
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2008 18:42:36 GMT -6
Getting kids plays is not a problem if you plan for it, practice it and have a scheme for it. We dont like putting a kid out at split and have him do nothing and play 10-10 football. When faced with this we split the difference with our CB and play 10 1/2 vs 10. Those split kids know they are just window dressing and not adding value, so do the parents and opponents. I agree 100% on this point. The kids in that scenario aren't playing football, they are simply running sprints in a helmet and shoulder pads. The ONLY situation where I could see that being a viable option is : 1. You get a kid who really doesn't want to play ball, but is being forced to by parents. (Although, I think i would do my best to have the parents remove him before this point) 2. You get a kid who is very sporadic in practice attendance, yet STILL have to play him. You are forgetting less talented players, the kids who want to play, and show up every practice, but who are either too young, or just not as talented as the rest yet. They deserve to play as well We don't have a minimum play rule in our league, we also tell our parents that the only way to guarantee playing time is for them to play on JV, there is no guarantees on varsity. But this works well, I admit freely it's more to tire out the corners than get everyone in, but it kills 2 birds with one stone.
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Post by davecisar on Jun 23, 2008 19:01:21 GMT -6
Over 8 seasons Ive used that strategy and had LOTS of MMP type kids, LOTS. Only one season in 8 did I have a "select" team. As head of the org, I often took the team no one wanted and took the kids no one wanted etc. In Omaha no minimum play rule but I set one for all the teams at 8 plays, while my personal teams did 16 plays. I now coach in a league that has mandated a 16 play MMP rule and we have no problem meeting it. even with team sizes of 24.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2008 20:35:49 GMT -6
I hear you, hell I, and the other coaches all had to go recruit kids, from our car windows, at one point to prevent the organization from closing, (try that in North Phillly) , but you cant argue with the fact, that this works as well. MP rules suck no doubt, Reeds idea just serves a dual purpose soultion, thats all.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jun 25, 2008 10:40:30 GMT -6
You are forgetting less talented players, the kids who want to play, and show up every practice, but who are either too young, or just not as talented as the rest yet. They deserve to play as well I would argue with your definition of "playing" in this example.
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Post by davecisar on Jun 25, 2008 11:35:23 GMT -6
I hear you, hell I, and the other coaches all had to go recruit kids, from our car windows, at one point to prevent the organization from closing, (try that in North Phillly) , but you cant argue with the fact, that this works as well. MP rules suck no doubt, Reeds idea just serves a dual purpose soultion, thats all. Coach, I like MMP rules although Ive coached for the most part in leagues that dont have them. If kids are coming to practice they should play, some youth coaches just dont get that. Ive seen teams suit up 52 kids for 1 team Why? BEcause the coaches were so weak the only way they thought they could compete was by getting so many kids eventually they would find some kind of game breaker amoungst the horde. Im playing all my kids no matter what. When I play in leagues that dont have MMP rules Im at a distinct disadvantage.
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Post by los on Jun 25, 2008 19:41:44 GMT -6
Thats not a totally bad idea there coach k.....if you run the pro set, rather than just a split flanker.....you can have 2/4 smaller kids play on your offense at the splits....we did this often, but the kids were also part of the offense and expected to "block", as well as have the "opportunity" to catch a few passes each game....if its part of the play design for the kid to run off a c-3 corner or something like that, thats cool......but just running wind sprints every play = not good!.......we played a mixed weight format, so this was a good way to let the smaller, semi-defenseless kids, be a part of the action, while staying clear of the bigger kids inside! Something else to consider.....if you run a true spread formation....you could get "many" of these type players in at the reciever positions?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 20:04:47 GMT -6
You are forgetting less talented players, the kids who want to play, and show up every practice, but who are either too young, or just not as talented as the rest yet. They deserve to play as well I would argue with your definition of "playing" in this example. Ok, I wouldn't, what would you rather have them do? Would your opinion change if they threw a block here and there ?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 20:10:48 GMT -6
Thats not a totally bad idea there coach k.....if you run the pro set, rather than just a split flanker.....you can have 2/4 smaller kids play on your offense at the splits....we did this often, but the kids were also part of the offense and expected to "block", as well as have the "opportunity" to catch a few passes each game....if its part of the play design for the kid to run off a c-3 corner or something like that, thats cool......but just running wind sprints every play = not good!.......we played a mixed weight format, so this was a good way to let the smaller, semi-defenseless kids, be a part of the action, while staying clear of the bigger kids inside! Something else to consider.....if you run a true spread formation....you could get "many" of these type players in at the reciever positions? Ok, Ok like the idea, never thought of the spread idea, could work...Here's the ironic part, we don't even have a MP rule, I just ran this thing a few times to see how it would work
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 20:13:00 GMT -6
I hear you, hell I, and the other coaches all had to go recruit kids, from our car windows, at one point to prevent the organization from closing, (try that in North Phillly) , but you cant argue with the fact, that this works as well. MP rules suck no doubt, Reeds idea just serves a dual purpose soultion, thats all. Coach, I like MMP rules although Ive coached for the most part in leagues that dont have them. If kids are coming to practice they should play, some youth coaches just dont get that. Ive seen teams suit up 52 kids for 1 team Why? BEcause the coaches were so weak the only way they thought they could compete was by getting so many kids eventually they would find some kind of game breaker amoungst the horde. Im playing all my kids no matter what. When I play in leagues that dont have MMP rules Im at a distinct disadvantage. How does thaat work your team belongs to different leagues , Also we don't have the MP rule either, but I like this it kills the corners for the sweeps,
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Post by los on Jun 25, 2008 20:26:12 GMT -6
We didn't have minimum play requirements either coach k......we just tried to find every kid a place to play, where they could get some experience, have fun, and be of some benefit to the team, without getting killed, while they were learning, lol
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2008 20:29:51 GMT -6
We didn't have minimum play requirements either coach k......we just tried to find every kid a place to play, where they could get some experience, have fun, and be of some benefit to the team, without getting killed, while they were learning, lol Good man
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Post by coachd5085 on Jun 25, 2008 21:49:38 GMT -6
I would argue with your definition of "playing" in this example. Ok, I wouldn't, what would you rather have them do? Would your opinion change if they threw a block here and there ? Here, there, and everywhere. There is a huge difference between teaching a kid to play football, and putting a kid in a helmet and telling him to run sprints coach.
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