Post by coachdoug on Aug 22, 2010 15:01:27 GMT -6
So after the fiasco with the first program I joined here in Tucson (see the thread "F My Season" below), I resigned and looked into my options. Thanks to Dave Cisar, I got introduced to another program in the league that really needed some help. It's a good organization overall, but their Jr. Midget team was severely understaffed (only 2 coaches for 20 players, and the head coach is a rookie). Last year as Pee Wees, they only won a couple games. I met with the offensive coach, who has 5 years of HS coaching experience, and they also added a line coach who seems pretty sharp. Anyway, I joined them as a QB coach and general offensive assistant. I've been to 2 or 3 practices and yesterday we had our first scrimmage.
Before I get into the scrimmage, let me say that this team has only been practicing 3 times per week when everyone else has been going 5 times per week (apparently the coaches misunderstood the rule), and they've been focusing primarily on conditioning, so we are waaaaaay behind. When I joined the coaching staff, the offensive coach decided to make some changes to their scheme to match up with some of the things I want to do. So, even though they only had a couple plays installed, we were basically starting over.
We were scheduled to play two teams in the scimmage - one is the odds-on favorite to win the championship this year and the other is in a situation similar to ours (low numbers and way behind on installing their schemes - mostly because a lot of kids signed up late) - I know this because they were one of the teams I considered joining.
Well as you can imagine, we got our a$$es handed to us by the league favorites, but we did have a few highlights. One of our LBs (our best overall player) intercepted a pass and returned it for a TD. We completed one pass for about a 10-yd gain and had about 5 or 6 plays that gained reasonable yardage (3-5 yards). Other than that, it was ugly. I'm not sure how many times they scored, but I'm sure it was at least 5. On the bright side, no one got injured and we did have some pretty good hits, and I don't think the kids were overly demoralized.
I expected that, but I was hoping to have some real positive things to build on against the second opponent. Unfortunately, we never got the chance - the wind picked up, it threatened to rain, and there was lightning in the distance. We could have at least started, but the other team said they were going to go home - they lost a couple players to injuries in the first scrimmage and only had 14 players left. I think they officially cancelled everything and sent everyone home about 30 minutes later, but I really wish we could have had even a few plays to give us something positive to build on.
Oh, well, we have a lot of work to do. We still don't know who our first opponent is next Saturday, but I'm just praying it's not one of the top 4 or 5 teams in the league. If we get a reasonable matchup, we should be able to keep the kids spirits up. It's out of my control, though - we'll play whoever they schedule us against.
Before I get into the scrimmage, let me say that this team has only been practicing 3 times per week when everyone else has been going 5 times per week (apparently the coaches misunderstood the rule), and they've been focusing primarily on conditioning, so we are waaaaaay behind. When I joined the coaching staff, the offensive coach decided to make some changes to their scheme to match up with some of the things I want to do. So, even though they only had a couple plays installed, we were basically starting over.
We were scheduled to play two teams in the scimmage - one is the odds-on favorite to win the championship this year and the other is in a situation similar to ours (low numbers and way behind on installing their schemes - mostly because a lot of kids signed up late) - I know this because they were one of the teams I considered joining.
Well as you can imagine, we got our a$$es handed to us by the league favorites, but we did have a few highlights. One of our LBs (our best overall player) intercepted a pass and returned it for a TD. We completed one pass for about a 10-yd gain and had about 5 or 6 plays that gained reasonable yardage (3-5 yards). Other than that, it was ugly. I'm not sure how many times they scored, but I'm sure it was at least 5. On the bright side, no one got injured and we did have some pretty good hits, and I don't think the kids were overly demoralized.
I expected that, but I was hoping to have some real positive things to build on against the second opponent. Unfortunately, we never got the chance - the wind picked up, it threatened to rain, and there was lightning in the distance. We could have at least started, but the other team said they were going to go home - they lost a couple players to injuries in the first scrimmage and only had 14 players left. I think they officially cancelled everything and sent everyone home about 30 minutes later, but I really wish we could have had even a few plays to give us something positive to build on.
Oh, well, we have a lot of work to do. We still don't know who our first opponent is next Saturday, but I'm just praying it's not one of the top 4 or 5 teams in the league. If we get a reasonable matchup, we should be able to keep the kids spirits up. It's out of my control, though - we'll play whoever they schedule us against.
