Using Play Suggestions from Players During a Game

At a previous school, we let the kids call the plays in the huddle. We taught them when were good times to be conservative and agressive, what we wanted to run against a certain front or coverage, etc.

The did a really nice job. The biggest thing they did (that we didn't always do) was to attack personnel. They had no problem telling the QB "I can beat this DT every play" or the other way, they would tell the QB "i can't kick this guy out we can't run G" or whatever that they weren't comfortable telling us.

After reading your post and thining about it, this is maybe something that we should get back to doing more of.

As far as having a kid give me an actual play call the years that I have called the game . . . I typically do not have much conversation with the kids during a series. Usually it would be between series. I think we have had kids make some suggestions during a timeout that we then ran, but that is about it.

Last year we had a singlewing series we used in a few games, one game nothing was working, especialy a reverse/counter we had run twice for a loss of yards (later film showed the ballcarrier trying to go outside the kickout, hole was there)
This same ball carrier turned to me and said we should fake the reverse and have the TB keep it, I thought that a good Idea so told them to run it and it went for a 70 yard TD that was a spark that our O needed to get going. BTW the kid was 13
Another game a kid (12) was messing with the white board before the last game and showed me all the recievers to one side unballenced and wide, with two plays a screen and a qb keep back side, I let them run the qb keep in our last game and it went for like 50 yards.

NOTHING like a great laugh, that was a darn funny reply, and lots of good ones so far..."speaking dolphin" too funny.

KB ;D

Playcalling is mostly overated and occasionally underated.
I like the kids knowing and seeing whats going on and having ownership in it. I've had some smart kids make good suggestions in good situations. That makes me feel good that they know what is going on with the big picture, not just the man in front of them.

I give a lot, probably A LOT more freedom to my QB to call plays and to change plays than most coaches do. My reasoning is simple, I make a guess (when huddling) or a call (when no huddle) and then the defense shows something nasty for the play I've called, its usually a wasted down. The QB can salvage the down with a decision (we work hard on decision making) and get us into something better, but probably not worse.
Generally, when we call plays off the wristband, they are specific in play and direction. When we signal plays in, they are a play type, the QB will determine and then call the actual direction based on the defensive alignment. This involvment in the decision process has worked well for us.

I like to do it depending on the kid. If it someone that knows what we can/cannot do and is serious about the game. I will not take one from a guy that has questionble work ethic/study habits etc. but will often ask in a huddle what some of them think--they have the best view during a game and know if they can whip their guy for something big. It also shows them that the coaching staff and the kids are a part of the same team and that their opinions or even gut feelings matter. Usually in the huddle when i ask the question and someone gives a suggestion others might say yeah that will work etc. or i might have a variation of their suggestion but everyone must be on the same page and understand what he/they can do against a team or even the guy they are lined up against. You cannot do it every time but just asking their input makes them stick with you in the long run. I find it more useful in time outs and at halftime when making some adjustments. Especially at half-time b/c you have "the eye in the sky", what you see from the sidelines, and what the kids see across from them.

I'm learning to be less stubborn (stupid). I've had players in the past tell me, "___ blitz" isn't working because they have 1.5" splits, we should run "___ blitz." Well you're just going to have to find a way, because on film and paper this should've worked! Not the best response.

I remember a sophomore linebacker we had a few years ago coming to the DC at the time in one game, he said "Coach when the QB does this, I can sack him." He replied, "Um, okay then." We go back out, sure enough QB did 'this' and sack! He came over after that series with, "Coach when the QB does this, I can intercept the ball." "Alright." Why start doubting him now? Boom, pick. He's at UVA now. No one else has been quite that impressive in their play calling, including me.

We usually get players opinions on short yardage situations- QB sneak or punt? Also our QB has the freedom to check to uncovered receivers, tag a go route vs cover 0 and this year we are going to try to teach him a couple simple rules to check between running zone/iso/counter.
The only problem I had with it last year was that he didn't check uncovered enough.

We always ask our kids - the ones who are IN the game. This would be at the Varsity level.

Not a big deal as by the time the kids are VARS in our program they understand what we are trying to attack as well as the coaches do.

If my QB says to run it I do about 90% of the time. Funny he never thinks running the ball is a good idea.

when i played my OC would always tlak to me inbetween series and i would tell him what i thought was open. Sometimes he would run what i said right away, sometimes later in the drive, but he always called what i told him was going to be open

Almost anytime a kid that I trust makes a suggestion, it gets ran. Of course there is always 1 or 2 kids a year that are those strange guys that talk too much and you basically have to politely ignore their many suggestions.

This may make me unpopular in coaching circles, but I believe the football team and its success belongs to the players. They are the ones, not me, that decide the outcome of the game. My role is to provide guidance, discipline, knowledge, and skills necessary to succeed. Baiscally give them the opportunity to succeed, but they have to do it. Not one thing I can do guarantees the desired peformance. So if they recognize a weakness and are proactive enough to know how to attack it and knowledgeable enough to give me an exact play they want to run, then by all means that is what we will do.

I have known a lot of coaches out there that would love to say they are the reason for their team success. Their schemes, their knowledge, their abilities, their coaching style, their will has practically forced their players to be great. I don't believe that for a second. I think coaches can create and environment that leads to the success of their players, but a really good coach in my opinion doesn't need to take credit or put the spotlight on themselves.

When you don't need credit, it is a lot easier to let someone else contribute.

We had a three year starter at QB who was great as long as he was given a play, several times during his career we let him go with what he thought would work, never did. At half time I would ask him what he saw open (I was in the booth) and then twist it to fit what the Head Coach and I planned for changes, it worked great, we got our changes, and he felt we were doing what he wanted.

We had a stud d-line men one year, who had a talent for reading the offense pre-snap, so by the end of the year we let him line up where he thought the play was going and also any slants, stunts. He singlehandedly shut down a few offenses that were, at least to him predictable