Season End: Lessons Learned

Focus on Fundamentals more. As I’ve stated in an earlier post, I joined a completely new staff at a new school. We were naïve in the thought that the previous regime had taught the kids the basics of the game. We jump right in and start working on scheme before we realized the majority of them were atrocious at blocking, tackling, ball-handling, you name it. After a few unfortunately wasted practices, we tried to get back on track, but a lot of the damage was done. We lost the one thing we couldn’t get back….time. In hindsight, if we would have used those earlier camp practices to focus on the fundamentals and instead installed our scheme more slowly, I feel we would have been more successful (not just in the wins and losses column).

I also think we lacked in over-all vision this season. We are all fairly young and this was the HC’s first stint in charge. We didn’t really establish any goals other than “final goals” such as Win. We should have focused on more building goals such as, “250 yards rushing for game 1”, “No fumbled snaps”, or “No foolish penalties such as neutral zone infractions or illegal motion”. I feel these are things that if we focus on taking care of, the score takes care of itself. If we would have taken the time to work on goal setting with the kids, maybe they would have taken more ownership and pride in the finished product.

At the end of the year, it seems I have all of the answers to what went wrong. This period usually lasts for about a week and then like a fart in the wind, it’s gone

Every year.

one time at a scrimmage , we had a kid tell one of our coaches something along the lines of "youre the reason I am going to quit" when the coach simply told him to get off the bench and cheer on the team.

two weeks later he quit. He tried to take 3 other kids with him.

If I could go back in time Id save him the trouble , at the time, I was busy with something more pressing - trying to call the offense.

I already knew it but senior leadership is everything..if you don't have it ...you must develop it

Every year about week 5 or 6 I remind our HC about the question he always asks if we end our season with a loss, "what could we have done differently". I was sick of having to answer that question at the end of the season....so now I ask during the season in order to fix anything that might be broken. Hopefully we're playing the next 5 weeks.

Be more physical in practice sooner and work more on tackling more. Coach the Oline myself.

would you have done anything different? I wish I would have utilized filming practice more than I did. I only did it a few times and it was invaluable for the players. I wish I would have tried more off-field position group bonding (like going bowling or getting pizza). I felt that we had some talented players but we ever did really gel as a unit. I also need to do a better job with adding more levels of difficulty to some drills we do everyday (i.e. combo drill, trap drill etc). I would have also gone back and added more fundamental periods (on both sides of the ball) throughout the season.

Would you have been more successful/efficient doing something else? I think we would have been more successful on offense if we did not panic when a play wasn't working well for us. We repped veer all pre season and then during game 1 it got shut down. For some reason our staff decided to scrap it after that. Bottom line is we did not stick to our plan when things werent going well.

What are the lessons learned for yourself and as a staff this season? I have learned that you cannot win unless every kid in the program buys into the team concept. We had same talented kids this year who would miss once a week for a BS reason and it showed on Friday nights. I have learned that I would rather lose a game with 11 kids who may not be that talented who are dedicated than win with some kids who are not all-in for the team. I have also learned that I take it to personal when one of my position group players make a mistake or when we lose. I do not enjoy the wins enough because I automatically switch into gameplanning mode for the next game. We have been done for 2 weeks now and its just now starting to sink in how valuable a 2-8 season can be in regards to facing adversity. I am a competitive person and I hate to lose but as I look back and think about the seniors who are done, I can't help but be proud of them because I had a part in helping them develop into a man.

...learned that trailing by 3 pts ( JV Game), with the ball at our own 40, with three timeouts, it is okay to run the ball to move the ball down the field. The JV QB ( second or third string by this point in the season) just needed to know where to throw the corner route - wide side or short side. Need to tell them ahead of time on where to shift his eyes in order to make the right read, rather throwing the interception. Got the ball with 14 seconds at midfield, but our JV soccer playing kicker missed a 42 yard FG- can not blame the kid at all.

While I was told that the offensive side of the practices were run more efficently and smoothly when in control, I still need to coach up my kids rather than falling into the pits of self pity. I was disappointed as much as anyone but the kids need to keep getting instructed/coached or at least I need to keep giving the same effort after being stripped the playcalling duties.

Need to learn when to my keep my mouth shut when it comes to disagreeing with the playcalling/overall organization of practices. Learned that I need to bide my time ......

Learned this year that I can't get all emotional DURING games, especially when calling plays. The way our kids are, if I start showing anger/frustration, they start showing it too and they completely fall apart (stupid penalties, mental errors). Last couple games, I thought I kept my cool much better.

I just added it to my signature. I like it.

for me, I have to segment this season into categories to keep me from losing my mind and also to actually take something of value away from this experience.

I look at it from a team, platoon, position, staff, and personal level. You take the good with the bad, and even when things are rotten, you always can find something to learn / appreciate from (after falling off your motorcycle and causing a 12 car pile up....you can always say you at least know how it feels to break your face and be in debt).

From a program perspective;there is so much fundamentally wrong with the program (that will hinder any shot at success) that it isn't productive to dwell or list them. Without the arrival of 7-8 guys who “just happened to show up” in the Fall, I have no idea how we would’ve competed this season. These guys are not great players, they were never in the weight room, weren’t even in football before. So, if that is any indication of what it looked like (continuity) then it is what it is. It isn’t just one school, it is the entire school board in this county that is completely abysmal. I feel good about what I contributed to trying to develop the program by attending everything and showing support.

From a team perspective; It was a triage all year with 33 kids and only really having 14 kids who actually played…. I feel we short-changed the kids in learning football. I feel the kids short-changed themselves in developing. My main gripe is the lack of organization or purpose in practice. Kids learned it was okay to grabass and walk and not focus during practice/competition…..this fundamentally was a cancer that sunk any attempt at building a foundation of football skills. I felt I did a fairly decent job always doing my best and doing the little ({censored}) things no one else would do as well as always being enthusiastic / energetic in practice (even if I didn't feel like it).

From a platoon perspective; I am not even going to address any schematic issues because they are too many to list (nor is what defense or offense we run that important in the grand scheme of things). We threw together stuff on defense like a duct-taped Cutlass Supreme and diluted the foundations of the offense to ridiculous proportions. The real crime was that we did this primarily to appease the coaches (not the kids). I am not sure we gained mastery over any one particular facet of the game on either side of the ball. I feel I did a good job of projecting encouraging support of what we were doing in front of the kids, and challenging our staff behind closed doors to question / galvanize what they were going to see on Friday night.

From a position perspective; I know I didn’t do near a job of developing relationships with the players, especially my position group. This was probably my biggest failure of the year. Many times during the season, I questioned whether I would even continue coaching, so consequently, I didn’t get too attached. Although I didn’t connect near as much after the summer, I felt I was able to try some new things with player relationships and information delivery methods that made me better. I can honestly say the players I had from Spring through Summer and into the first few weeks of the season had no better opportunity to learn the scheme/fundamentals/position than what I gave them. Whether it was quizzes, DVD handouts, hardcopy sheets, film sessions, skelly, whatever….the guys that were there had no excuse not to know exactly what we were trying to accomplish and HOW. As the season progressed, it became clear that many of the players lost confidence in me and their role as I was being undermined by other staff members about how we were doing things (and these players being blamed by the HC and staff for botched assignments of other players). I completely understand how they would question me / themselves as a result. Again, it all goes back to fundamentals…..and if you don’t pay more than lip service to it, you will never have anything.

From a staff perspective ; I was real proud of the core group of guys I was blessed to work with. They were, for the most part, enjoyable and good people and I truly believe they had the best interests of the program at heart. When it is all said and done, on any staff, you usually end up with a core group of 3-4 guys that pretty much do everything. That is what we had. How good you are as a staff probably depends on who else is on staff and if they are carrying their weight (only as strong as your weakest link). Obviously, I have never seen a staff do worse than what we've done this year. In all fairness, we lost our head coach right at the beginning of the season, so there was lots of turmoil, but it actually was the best thing that could happen to us. The issue became an issue when the principal forced a group of his buddies on staff to collect stipends and little else. I would say we did good to avoid fist fights and any other major drama. I also believe that nearly ANY staff can “get along”, so I can’t say I put a lot of credence into valuing the staff you’re on as being “good” simply because it is comfortable. If you put 5 people in a room for 3 months, they’ll eventually learn to live with one another.

from a personal perspective ; This is, by far, my lowest point in coaching. I am to the point where I have no plans to coach at all anymore. This was the biggest waste of time and resources for me, personally, than I have ever encountered.

Naming captains too early.....I named captains this year based mostly on the fact they were seniors, had been in the program and were going to be starters on my team (I know that is not a prerequisite for being a captain). Anyway, it didn't work out well. All 4 of the captains were starters all year and were good players and good kids, just not really the leader type, either through actions or words....so I learned to hold off on naming the captains too early....usually these types of kids will surface and hsow themselves.

Brophy, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I learned that lesson this year. 0-8.

True. One thing that losing revealed to me was that I love coaching, because I love the kids and I love helping them grow. Good point.

Do not let friends of the AD be an assistant...gassed today!