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Post by brianmulligan on Sept 28, 2013 7:58:17 GMT -6
I am new to Varsity football, my first year as Varsity Assistant (especially 3A ball as I coached MS for 3 years). I am the O-Line Coach, and Run Game Coordinator (which are huge steps) The team has been 1 and 9 the last three seasons. We come out of camp line looks great, we win our first 3 games, averaging 40 points a game. Yes our first 2 games were against inferior opponents but the third game was against a playoff team from the previous season who was also 3 and 0 this year. We went to there house and beat them 34 to 7. Then week 4 we run into a team that is a perennial power house, they beat the {censored} out of us year in and year out. We truly felt this was our year we had a chance at their house. We lose 56 to 29. Then this week we run into another team that has beaten the {censored} out of us the last several years (50 to 7) last year and guess what we lose again 43 to 3. We are a good team, we have seen it as a staff. But it seems in these big games against teams that have really taken it to us in the past we do not show up. It almost seems as if we are scared. I am afraid of losing my offensive line, they are a good group of tough kids but I worry about their state of mind. The line is a senior group and they have been here the last three years when they have been 1 and 9. We have a bye week (thank Goodness). What can I do to get these kids back, to build there confidence, we are 3 and 2 and right in the mix, but we need some more wins against some tough opponents that have beaten the heck out of the past couple of years. I can not let these kids quit. I am at a loss, what can I do to get these kids to believe in themselves?
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Post by coachfowler on Sept 28, 2013 11:51:35 GMT -6
Coach focus on the positive with your OL while they may be few a far between find something to give them "props" for. During the bye week tell them your going to work on 1 or 2 things that will help and go from there
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Post by footballscout on Sept 28, 2013 12:09:03 GMT -6
Do you have hudl, or another film resource? If so get a set of 10-15 clips together of their play of the last game(or a game when they have played well), and if they are playing with great effort and working hard find 70-90% positive things that they have done, and preach to them why you like these clips. Compliment their play(nasty-ness/effort) or technique. The other percentage could be things that are coachable(assignments/technique), and things that you would like to see improve, but only a small percentage.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2013 18:17:15 GMT -6
you can be a very good team and not be super talented...and vice versa....If you like what you have seen, then stick to what they know, what you have been preaching. Don't get crazy as a coach, person, or with the fundies and adjustment...Make it about execution and performance.
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Post by coachphillip on Sept 28, 2013 18:31:02 GMT -6
Focus on yourself. What can you do to better yourself? What is the standard for excellence as defined by you and your team? Usually teams like this worry about their opponents before they worry about themselves. Whenever you're lost, look inward.
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Post by kylem56 on Sept 28, 2013 19:23:03 GMT -6
I went through something like that last year. First off, go through the films, find 2-3 things that led to "failure". Then practice the hell out of those weaknesses. Film practice so they can see improvement. A lot of what I did was mental. Praise the hell out of anything good they do. I also put together a weekly highlight film, win or lose.
another thing, be very strategic when showing film to your line. Point out what the other team is doing wrong, how they are being beat on basic fundamentals. Sometimes you got to search...
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Post by brianmulligan on Sept 28, 2013 21:06:48 GMT -6
Thanks for all the advice. I will def. use Hudl and watch film. I have already started watching our next opponent for several hours today. They are much bigger than us up front but I think we have better technique and much better athletes.
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Post by fantom on Sept 28, 2013 21:34:05 GMT -6
I am new to Varsity football, my first year as Varsity Assistant (especially 3A ball as I coached MS for 3 years). I am the O-Line Coach, and Run Game Coordinator (which are huge steps) The team has been 1 and 9 the last three seasons. We come out of camp line looks great, we win our first 3 games, averaging 40 points a game. Yes our first 2 games were against inferior opponents but the third game was against a playoff team from the previous season who was also 3 and 0 this year. We went to there house and beat them 34 to 7. Then week 4 we run into a team that is a perennial power house, they beat the {censored} out of us year in and year out. We truly felt this was our year we had a chance at their house. We lose 56 to 29. Then this week we run into another team that has beaten the {censored} out of us the last several years (50 to 7) last year and guess what we lose again 43 to 3. We are a good team, we have seen it as a staff. But it seems in these big games against teams that have really taken it to us in the past we do not show up. It almost seems as if we are scared. I am afraid of losing my offensive line, they are a good group of tough kids but I worry about their state of mind. The line is a senior group and they have been here the last three years when they have been 1 and 9. We have a bye week (thank Goodness). What can I do to get these kids back, to build there confidence, we are 3 and 2 and right in the mix, but we need some more wins against some tough opponents that have beaten the heck out of the past couple of years. I can not let these kids quit. I am at a loss, what can I do to get these kids to believe in themselves? If you're asking as a position coach, the score of the game is irrelevant. Critique them on how they did as a unit and individually. When you show them film, show them what they did right and what they did wrong and show them how to fix what they did wrong. Kids will follow your lead. Coach them up consistently and they'll come along.
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Post by newt21 on Sept 29, 2013 17:32:33 GMT -6
make sure they know that you won't quit on the regardless of the score and situation. my team started the year off 0-3, and i told them that i wasn't going to give up on them, that i was going to keep fighting for them, but that they needed to start fighting themselves too. we won our next game 42-6, and they told me they heard the other team's coach say that he was giving up on them. i think just letting them know that you're going to keep working for them regardless because you're there for them will help quite a bit.
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Post by CoachHess on Sept 29, 2013 19:03:19 GMT -6
Is there a way you can simplify things for your guys? Maybe scale back the O a little bit and focus on a handful of plays. Go into Friday's game knowing you are going to run these plays primarily and see if that doesn't help confidence.
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Post by newhope on Sept 30, 2013 10:55:27 GMT -6
The biggest thing is usually learning how to win. Having taken over several programs that were down, the biggest hump to get over is convincing them they can beat the people they've always lost to.
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orion320
Sophomore Member
"Don't tell me about the labor just show me the baby!"
Posts: 211
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Post by orion320 on Sept 30, 2013 20:27:36 GMT -6
The biggest thing is usually learning how to win. Having taken over several programs that were down, the biggest hump to get over is convincing them they can beat the people they've always lost to. I sometimes tell my kids that X's and O's don't win games, mentality and heart win games. We play a powerhouse team every year and out kids basically believe that the game is over before the game even starts. Each and every year we get manhandled and it is usually the worst week of practice the entire year. Stay positive, even good teams lose games from time to time. Keep the kids motivated and the wins will come.
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Post by coachdennis on Oct 1, 2013 8:36:40 GMT -6
A couple of thoughts to add:
The kids deal with and process those tough losses far faster than we do as coaches. You might find a rare kid who noodles over the losses as much as we do. That kid is destined to be a coach in his future. :-)
The biggest thing you need as a position coach is to make sure that your kids know that you care about them, that you believe in them, and that you are their advocate on the team. In other words, you won't be the one throwing them under the bus in front of other coaches or in the meetings. If they believe all of that, those kids will crawl over broken glass for you. At that point, you cam coach them up like crazy, focusing on skill development.
Every week, find two key points of emphasis where you would like to improve as a unit. (Any more than two and you will have lost them.) Focus on those along with your "every days" for skill development. The next week, you review film, and collectively with the group find a couple of other key areas that you would like to focus on that week. By the end of the season, your unit will be the strongest, most cohesive on the team, guaranteed.
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Post by dubber on Oct 1, 2013 10:41:03 GMT -6
Sometimes the harder you clamp down, the more stuff goes awry.
Kids who aren't use to expectations can sometimes fail to rise to them.
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Post by brophy on Oct 1, 2013 11:01:50 GMT -6
have you taken this group out to eat?
Just regroup (that includes the non-starters). Cut up the first games of all the good things they've done, the good individual blocks (even when the play blows), order some pizzas and treat them nice.
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