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Post by wingt74 on Dec 5, 2006 15:19:39 GMT -6
I've been reviewing a lot of playbooks lately.
Complete, over the top details on everything from team philosophy, equipment, plays, formations, motion, weight lifting, religion, diet, and the coin flip.
Does every coach spend 5-6 hours a week, teaching directly from the playbook (besides the X's and O's) in a classroom? If not, then really, what is the point of writing that all down?
A playbook in the hand my players will have 3 keys to team philosophy, the base offense, the base defense, base special teams, with minimal details, just summaries and the foundation to the language.
In my opinion, a playbook should be like a presentation. Put the main bullets of things you need players to remember and review it with them.
Everything else you have to teach them will have to be done away from a book. Otherwise, unless you have a team full of bookworms, they'll never absorb more than 5%-10% of the material.
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Post by Coach Huey on Dec 5, 2006 15:23:22 GMT -6
we have a playbook of our offense / defense for the coaches .. not the players. new guys are added to the staff periodically. it's a good starting point for a coach to do some reading in his "spare" time. also, things change each year (some things are used, other not) and it's good to have a resource to go back to.
but, number 1 reason why we have a playbook, is for the coaches
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Post by superpower on Dec 5, 2006 15:23:48 GMT -6
I totally agree. That is why we don't hand out play books. My assistants might get a copy of our base plays, but the kids learn through repetition. When I was a younger coach I spent a lot of time drawing up plays, blocking assignments, etc. Now we get it done on the practice field.
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Post by tog on Dec 5, 2006 15:24:14 GMT -6
our 300 pager is more of a coach's resource than anything
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Post by lochness on Dec 5, 2006 15:42:23 GMT -6
In my opinion, you can never have enough stuff in a playbook. It's a resource. It has not just all of our "plays", but our philosophy, rules, language, formation possibilities, etc. Plus, we have all of our coaching points for backfield steps, route releases and adjustments, blocking calls and rules. It's primarily for the coaching staff. From there, they can make smaller position manuals for everyone. They also copy pages for themselves and put them in plastic along with their practice plans so they have them for installation and for answering more complicated questions the kids might have.
I know our offense book which I put together has about everything you would want or need in it. And to me, that is DEFINITELY not a waste of time!
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Post by bluboy on Dec 5, 2006 15:49:07 GMT -6
I agree with Coach Huey that playbooks are really for the coaches. When we teach our offense and defense, we give the kids a sheet of ppaer with the interior of the offense drawn ii. the kids have to draw in the rest of the formation and whaqtever we are teaching them.
I look at playbooks as reference books for coaches.
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Post by coachcalande on Dec 5, 2006 16:16:59 GMT -6
best part of writing every detail down is in handing it to your feeder teams and those coaches...will save you lots of "coach, what is the footwork?" "coach is he reading the overhang?" etc etc.
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Post by djwesp on Dec 5, 2006 16:30:35 GMT -6
It is all about what it takes your team to win.
If it takes your team ALL of those plays and all of that information to win DO IT.
We are pretty sophisticated with ours, however a guy down the road by the name of Don "The General" Campbell (wynne a tiny team with 6 former players in the NFL including De'Angelo Williams) has a one page playbook of 6 total plays. They are unstoppable offensively. He will even send the playbook with film to his next opponents.
If you can have a playbook set up like that, give all the kids the information, and execute so well people can't stop you more power to you. Otherwise, you can be like me and use a novella. :-)
We diagram the play. List each players responsibility and key points respectively. Notate most likely defensive situations they will see from it. Provide points of emphasis and then the back page is how we block it with our 6 "base viewed" fronts.
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Post by oguru on Dec 5, 2006 17:03:42 GMT -6
Paper playbooks are know like dinosaurs. The majority of colleges are know going to DVD playbooks.
I am working on one for my senior thesis project and am going to be using it for interviews as well.
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Post by spreadattack on Dec 5, 2006 17:21:42 GMT -6
I agree for the coaches. Stick to one-sheet handouts, if anything, for players.
Norm Chow told a story that he made playbooks on CD (not sure if Powerpoint or what) but the last page said "if you're still reading come see Coach Chow for a free $100." Only one player came to see him--his all-american, 4.0 gpa center.
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abbo55
Sophomore Member
Posts: 152
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Post by abbo55 on Dec 5, 2006 17:29:47 GMT -6
LOL. I always new centers were a little on the different side...
I have a master copy of my offense for just something to have. It has all the stuff I draw up, plus terminology, and my philosophy. Just in case I ever want to install something new that I've drew up in the past.
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Post by Mav on Dec 5, 2006 17:41:40 GMT -6
I too believe you can't have enough detail in your coaches playbooks. Having all of the position coaches on the same page is critical, esecially for the new staff members.
I think the key to the electronic player manuals is to make them interactive, with 'you draw it' sections, multiple choice quizzes, games, etc. Anything that promotes player feedback is the best way to ensure they're studying and absorbing the material.
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Post by coachcalande on Dec 5, 2006 17:42:33 GMT -6
I know there are plenty of guys that swear playbooks are waste of time and effort...but I strongly disagree. I had several boys this year that CARRIED THOSE THINGS EVERYWHERE to study their plays. They wanted to play, they knew they wouldnt if they didnt know the plays...some learn from reps on the field, (most) and yet some need to see diagrams and rules etc...gee, not all that different from coaches!
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Post by tog on Dec 5, 2006 18:17:21 GMT -6
the main thing i found out while writing ours was that it is a good way to figure out issues people can give you in a structured way.
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Post by coachcb on Dec 5, 2006 18:23:02 GMT -6
I agree with tog; the biggest playbook I ever had was simply a coaches resource- the kids never got copies out of it. Funny thing; the most effective offense I have worked with or around was 20 pages long. The coach ran one formation (double tight, I formation) with 12 run plays. 12 PAs off of those plays and an easy 3 step frop system. Each page had the running play on top with assignments and the corresponding PA and assignments on the bottom.
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Post by coachjblair on Dec 5, 2006 20:13:48 GMT -6
I think you need to have the job duty for each player on every single play. I also think you need to have anything else you have in the system in your playbook this includes stuff like audibles, motions, etc… I think you need this stuff in their so that if a player has a question on a play or just about the system then he can look in the playbook and have his question answered right away. I also think it is important to remember that different players learn in different ways. For example, one player might learn by reps while another person might learn by looking at the playbook.
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50Murf
Sophomore Member
Posts: 212
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Post by 50Murf on Dec 5, 2006 21:01:02 GMT -6
I like the 400 page playbooks, I use them for me, and my staff. That way, we are all on the same page - or at least we try to be. I never have used the "BIG BOOK" for the kids, usually I take the plays from the book that I am using and might give them to the kids who learn better by seeing/reading than the kids who like to learn the plays by "doing" them.
I am thankful for this books actually, the ones that go into every little detail are even better for me, that way I know the answers, or at least I have a resource to get the answers when the "Coach...what if" questions start up.
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Post by okpowerspread on Dec 5, 2006 22:47:30 GMT -6
When you create or make a playbook it really forces you to learn your system and be able to teach it. When you write down you ideas and put them in an organized playbook or manual, it gives you added confidence that you will be better prepared to make quick decisions down the road because you already thought of it and devised a plan.
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Post by coachcalande on Dec 6, 2006 7:01:33 GMT -6
best thing i ever did for my linemen was a one page cheat sheet...it has all of the blocking tags, rules, calls etc for every play on one sheet.
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Post by blb on Dec 6, 2006 7:18:53 GMT -6
We have what I think is a pretty complete book (because I'm one of those anal peoole who break out in twitches if everything isn't down on paper) that we give to the coaches from sixth grade on up. Still, ours is only like 150 pages (maybe I don't know that much!)
My first year we gave the players an offensive notebook, the manual for their defensive position (including x's and o's), and put all the special teams stuff on the varsity lockerroom bulletin board. We also give the Front Four a "cheat sheet."
Putting together a playbook is of tremendous value to a young coach or anyone who aspires to be a head coach. Our playbook's biggest use now is probably as a reference for our coaches - saves a lot of time in meetings, etc.
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Post by wildcat on Dec 6, 2006 7:19:07 GMT -6
We have a huge playbook, but like most of you guys, it is mostly a coach's reference.
Last year, I gave the playbook to the guy who runs our junior tackle program. He's a pretty good guy and works hard, just doesn't know how to coach (never played the game but he really is a hard working guy and a very positive role model for the kids).
Anyway, he took the copy I gave him to the school secretary and asked her to make copies for all of the kids. He told her, "I really don't understand it, but maybe the kids will." So, the guy basically planned to wipe out a federal forest and give a bunch of 8th graders this massive, overwhelming mass of paper.
Well, the secretary called me first (I think she was concerned that all of those copies would put a serious dent in the district's paper budget ;D ) and told her to hold off on it. In hindsight, what I should have done is sat down with the coach and helped him to pick out a handfull of plays or concepts that he could use with his kids. Instead, I dropped this a-bomb of information on him and basically didn't provide any followup. So, I met with the coach and gently explained to him that giving out the playbook was probably not a good idea. We then came up with about 10 plays (6 running, 4 pass) that he was comfortable with teaching his kids.
Like I said, he is a great guy. Works hard, wants to learn, and is very supportive of the high school program. Good lesson learned for me in the future.
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Post by spreadattack on Dec 6, 2006 10:20:52 GMT -6
I think the thing is that the 400 page playbook is beneficial for the person who makes it. Further, that coach should probably go back and cut it down to about 250 pages, eliminating redundant things or finding better ways to present the same information. Then you've really got something.
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Post by tribepride on Dec 6, 2006 10:39:07 GMT -6
WOW.....200-300 pages I coached one year under an "old legend" like djwesp talked about and we kind of have that same philosophy. I don't think we could come up with that many pages unless we used size 24 letters.  We are a small program, (6 coaches, 7th-12th) which makes communication rather easy. We all practice with in 100 yards of each other. |
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Post by fbdoc on Dec 6, 2006 10:44:33 GMT -6
Agree with the crowd - the BIG book is a great resource for coaches although we don't try to get everything in there. We have our base plays, formations, and assignments but as we also want to be adaptable. I'd rather draw up an adjusment , go over it with the staff, and then print the weekly sheet rather than go back through 300 pages to try and find something. I can tell you, the only thing we give our kids are the 1-2 page focus sheets or their own DVD.
Coached with a guy (D-III) who insisted on handing out 20 page packets each week to the defensive team. It was a classic case of over-coaching as the packets invariably ended up in the trash! How much of that publishing is for the kids/team and how much of it is for the coach to feel impressed?
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We are a small program, (6 coaches, 7th-12th) which makes communication rather easy. We all practice with in 100 yards of each other.