BS Test: Sniffing Out What Stinks in Your Program

I'd say that's a pretty good road map for all avenues of life! Not just football. Well said.

coachhuey.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=31283


That's sort of what the point of this thread would be.


This is not only a schematical question, but the HOW WE GET THIS DONE side of football that is often ignored.


We have a goal of X, BUT HOW do we achieve it?


The things we take for granted (without Brophy's 10 questions of merit) are ripe with inefficiencies.

This is more of a continuum, or probably a more articulate (evolved) version of the deleted "faith in football" thread from February.

Many things we do, we do "just because" and just because we BELIEVE it, doesn't make it true. Emotional passion / conviction doesn't necessarily equate to actual substance.

I am under the impression that many folks see the game as essentially emotional fervor. That if we drink enough red bull or bang our heads hard enough....then, what else is required? If I tell a kid to "block that guy", and he doesn't, then I probably just need to tell him to "BLOCK THAT GUY" a little louder, then he'll get it.

Essentially this thread could be better titled "a skeptics guide to coaching", but that isn't as catchy as what we have here (because there is a deeper issue to expose)

Here is a semi-related/retarded question...
If we aren't teaching the expectations of assignment......are we really "coaching"? Or is it something else?

I think one example of this is how we draw up our defense. How many of us coaches draw up our base defense against 21 personel? A lot of our defensive thinking is based on how it matches up against 21 personel, I-form power football.

We only see 21 personel once a season.

Dude you think like a software engineer! A corollary can be found in the world of software engineering and that is the notion of code or design smells. With experience you can look at a design or the software code that implements the design and tell what stinks - design smells or code smells. It's actually a term we use, like "this code smells somewhere", determining that is a matter of experience and perception based on what is in front of you.

To help with the design issues we have a concept known as patterns and later developed the concept of anti-patterns. Patterns are tried and true ways of dealing with certain issues, anti-patterns are examples of things to avoid. One definition is:

Patterns are optimal solutions to common problems. As common problems are tossed around a community and are resolved, common solutions often spontaneously emerge. Eventually, the best of these rise above the din and self-identify and become refined until they reach the status of a Design Pattern.

They take a base form of a problem statement, a context (description of the situation), solution statement, and rationale. I can see where something like coaching patterns could be a useful concept. If we set up a wiki (web pages that anyone is allowed to modify, like Wikipedia) we could start to catalog coaching patterns.

I think the biggest issue is we have to everything in a context composed of available talent, our knowledge, teaching that knowledge and time available to teach it all. Then there is the other issue of constraints which SpreadAttack wrote about so well on his blog.

When we go to the clinic and see something new, it's that "Wow, this is great!" moment, but it's in the context of what works for the presenting coach in his environment. Said another way, just because we find Florida's offense interesting, hear Urban Meyer give a great presentation on it and are blown away by the possibilities, we probably don't have Tebow or Harvin like athletes to make it go. Flip that around, and the Gator staff found out that when they hit the SEC the speed in that environment dictated that they make modifications to what they had been bread and butter in the past at Utah and Bowling Green.

Then there are the key concepts behind lean manufacturing: inspect and adapt. Inspect your work, fix what needs to be fixed, eliminate waste to get down to the essentials of what needs to be done and adapt the changes you need to make on a continuous basis. As Brophy said, shoot holes in your program (inspect) and make the changes you need to make (adapt).

Brophy you made a ton of great points in your post, we all have to keep our thinkin' hats on.

Yea, but what are you trying to say Brophy??

I like the, "I don't understand a word you said, but it sounds great!"

Just jokin' there Brophy.
Great thoughtful post, I've read it a number of times already and can see that your ideas could apply to a number of subjects, not just football.

Thanks for taking the time to write all that, we already knew you were a pretty smart guy.
OJW

The force is strong in you Young Jedi.
Nietzsche on Football....
You can Zone the Concept, but if you read it, what then?

Maybe he only runs that play against Cover 2?

Scientific Method + Pragmatism + Experience = A pretty good B.S. detector.