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Post by fantom on May 18, 2016 15:45:34 GMT -6
I was wondering what lessons any of us have picked up outside of coaching that have helped us as football coaches.
I was reminded of this when I read the obituary of Louie Mariani, a great player at my HS (Two friends in the same day. This "Getting old" chit ain't what it's cracked up to be). After we worked out at the stadium in the summer, we'd play touch football. One game, we won because the QB-me- threw five TD passes. Thing is, all five were to Louie and they were in the air for a total of about 20 yards. Lesson learned: Get the ball to the playmakers.
In college, I learned about the importance of tendencies. I was a MLB and the MLB called defensive signals on our own without signals from the sideline. In spring ball, the most important objective is to make yourself look good so that you can win or keep a starting job. Once I figured out that, in scrimmages, the offense always started with the same play- an off tackle play to their right, the defense's left. Accordingly, I always started a scrimmage with a MLB B gap blitz to our left. That meant that every scrimmage started with a Tackle for Loss by me. That might have been my only tackle but I knew that it would stick in the coaches' minds.
Any of you guys pick up anything outside of football coaching that helped when you got into coaching?
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Post by coachklee on May 18, 2016 16:54:54 GMT -6
As a incoming sophomore a much shorter 16 years ago I learned 2 things from my HS track coach (unfortunately I never had him as a football coach having graduated in 2003 a year after he became the HFC and won 86 games in his 9 years from 03' to 11'):
1-My HS Track coach had high expectations of all of us & made us believe in both ourselves as well as his "quarter" workouts...1 day we ran as many as 13 at 2:00 cycles so if you got it at 1:30 you had :30 of recovery time. If you got it in 1:45 you had :15. Anyways, he convinced me that I could get my long 6'3" 185 pound butt to run a 2:10 800 that year & a 2:05 the following year almost qualifying for the state meet. He just had a way to instantly get us kids to buy in & believe because he had high expectations.
2-You do things the right way & actually interact with your student-athletes. This is probably why we bought in, believed in ourselves, him & drank the kook-aid. Going into my sophomore year he lifted with a small core of 5 of us. When the weight room at school was unavailable for a week he started to have us come over to his garage to lift. He worked his butt off with us. He had the perfect balance of keeping us focused, but also showing a sense of humor & joking around when we got done. He'd play pick-up basketball games for an hour or so after lifting trash talking the whole time slowly teaching us to enjoy competing.
On top of being the best motivational coach I've ever had, he understood high school ball is mostly about tough disciplined line play & knew all the techniques as well as schematics needed to be a real master of the Full House / Dead T offense & 52 defense. I still strive to model much of my coaching after him & feel so inadequate because he had that perfect blend of master tactician & motivator that the success of his programs has always been high.
It is mind blowing how simple he makes it as his clear focus is just on getting kids to be as tough as they can be. He left football coaching for a full year in 2012, but filled in as a JH football assistant for a few years & is currently a JV football assistant. I think his teams lost like 5 games in the past 4 years. I don't remember exactly when he left coaching track, but know he hadn't coached it for about 5 years when he got talked into doing it again in 2015. The track team's numbers exploded from around 10 to almost 30 & they won both the Conference & Regional Championships. The dude is just a flat out winner because he knows how to get the athletes he coach's to turn into winners himself. He is easily the single greatest influence on helping me to understand how to coach although I've yet to replicate his level of success. However, he didn't really get it going until his early 30s which is where I'm at right now so we'll see...
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Post by rosey65 on May 19, 2016 6:53:43 GMT -6
I went through most of my 8-year playing career under coaches who were, i'll clarify this, performance-based coaches. They praised a successful block, and ridiculed or demeaned a missed block. Regardless of the match-up, or play by the defense, or stunt/blitz, any unsuccessful play was met with scorn, or at least disdain. Conversely, the stud OL pancaking the scrub walk-on was met with high praise. It went deeper, and there was a bit more to the negative behavior, but it turned us as players completely off of the coaching staff. The fight and desire we had was not just to play for our brother next to us, but to play in spite of the reaction from the staff. I had a tough run of programs, the best record I ever had was 5-4. I was a part of 18 losses in a row, spanning 3 seasons, from JUCO to my D2 team. I'd get cussed out for losing to the all-american DT during 1-on-1's in college, while never receiving constructive coaching on what I did wrong. I clearly remember, in films my Sr year of HS, the coach says "rosey, are you f-ing kidding me? what the F is this??" and running the play over and over. (I was LT, it was Keep Pass right, I had backside hinge) The team laughed as he ran the play back for probably 2 minutes, cussing me out. I have since seen that game film, and to this day have no idea what I did wrong, or what was so funny.
As a coach, I've taken it as a personal goal to, at all cost, coach my kids to be successful on the next play. I'm not there to react emotionally, I'm there to TEACH them how to react in situations. I dont react negatively, most of the time, to missed plays, assignments or techniques. I know from experience, as we all do, that none of my players are trying to be wrong. They are trying as hard as they can, with often very limited ability, to be successful football players. In practice, I will rarely acknowledge a play result, and even then it is in the positive. I point out technical or assignment errors immediately, then I work out the correction. "Here's what you did wrong, and HERE is how to fix it." I notice the impact the biggest on kids as they come through our program. Dealing with a Soph who's brought up to varsity, there is a lot of head-hanging and defensive body language during drills. By the time they are seniors, I usually get told by mistake by the offender before I even have the chance to say anything. At the same time, when I do get "loud" about a mistake, it is correctly instantly with minimal negative reaction.
This really isn't anything earth-shattering, but it's made a big impact on my coaching. It's funny how well kids respond to praise and correction when they know there is no judgment being made behind the correction.
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Post by coachwoodall on May 19, 2016 8:25:33 GMT -6
I was probably about 10-11. Our family was having a big reunion at our house. Everybody was coming including some uncle, aunts, cousins from across country. We BBQ'ed a hog and some goats. A big shin dig. We had this carport/garage that today would be considered a 3 car garage. The ceiling was painted white. We didn't have any doors on the thing, so it was open. There were mud dauber nest that were built there, cob webs would build up, and there were some bug spots, mildew, etc....
Well since this big reunion was coming up, my dad wanted to have a place for folks to sit and eat out of the sun/rain depending on how the weather ended up. My job was to clean the carport including the ceiling. He told me, "I'll tell you what. Since the ceiling is so big, just clean the worst spots." I thought, "Man I'll be done in no time". Of course every time I thought I was done, he'd point out other spots that was now the 'worst spots'. I ended up scrubbing the whole ceiling and it took twice as long as it should have.
Lesson learned: Do a job right the first time, don't cut corners.
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Post by blb on May 19, 2016 8:49:02 GMT -6
Having kids of your own can have a positive impact on your approach to coaching other peoples'.
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Post by fantom on May 19, 2016 9:32:12 GMT -6
Having kids of your own can have a positive impact on your approach to coaching other peoples'. Changes your whole outlook. |
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Post by fantom on May 19, 2016 10:04:22 GMT -6
Here's another one: Years ago I read an interview with the great basketball coach Red Auerbach. One thing that he mentioned was how he'd look at coaches during late game time-outs drawing up plays and wonder what they did at practice. I took two things from that: 1. Practice situations. 2. Confidence breeds confidence. I think that scribbling like mad and reminding them of all the possibilities just makes them nervous. You've coached them up. Trust them.
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kcarls
Sophomore Member
Posts: 152
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Post by kcarls on May 19, 2016 13:35:47 GMT -6
Went fishing with my old man one time. I remember making a few casts and then getting frustrated that the fish weren't biting. I was changing my lure every 10 casts. (which takes some time). Meanwhile my dad was catching fish.
As I complained loudly about what was wrong, unfair, etc. (making excuses) My old man calmly stated "you can't catch a fish if your line isnt in the water".
I've probably applied that line to my life more than anything else.
Lesson: throw your hat in there, and be around. Something good just might happen. Dont be so easily frustrated and a wishy-washy.
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Post by shocktroop34 on May 20, 2016 9:36:05 GMT -6
Most of my lessons come from my time in Marine Corps boot camp.
One of the biggest lessons I learned was when I was in what is called "Third Phase" (about a month from graduation). I was the platoon Guide which was the top recruit in the platoon. I was basically in charge of about 45 men when the drill instructors weren't around. I paid for the mistakes of the platoon, so my job was to keep them on point.
In Third Phase, we were running on all cylinders and our platoon was pretty squared away. I figured if I just held everyone together and kept us out of any serious trouble, we'd have a smooth transition to graduation.
One day, this new Private is dropped into our platoon from another one. He got injured and once he healed, he resumed his training with us. His name was Pvt. Bailey.
He was the former Guide of his platoon and everyone, including himself, thought that he was going to take my job. He was a stud. He was bigger, smarter, and stronger than me. But, being the platoon Guide was pretty significant honor, and I had busted my tail to keep my job.
My comfort level was reduced instantly. The drill instructors were pressing me and stressing me like no other. Everything was, "Bailey's coming for your job, Guide...Bailey's coming for your job!" It was 24/7. Everything was pitted as a challenge between he and I.
At the end of the day, I had to step my leadership efforts up even more. I was already operating on 3-4 hours sleep for 3 months, but when Pvt. Bailey came in, I don't remember sleeping. I just took short naps. I'd didn't want him doing anything I couldn't see. In hindsight, he never tried to undermine me deliberately, but I wasn't sure about his motives at the time.
After a while, he realized that the men in the platoon saw that he couldn't top me, thus we all resumed under my leadership. Fortunately, I had enough rapport with the platoon, that they didn't turn on me when they could have.
Pvt. Bailey ended up as one of my squad leaders and turned out to be a really good dude. I learned a lot from him.
Sub-lessons I learned:
1) Never get too comfortable. In anything.
2) Never take the men that you work with (or have under you) for granted.
3) There is a lot to be said for sheer determination and effort.
Now, every time I'm in a situation and I feel like someone is "coming for me"...I call it Pvt. Bailey.
When an administrator seemingly has it out for me...it's Pvt. Bailey.
When a parent brings their "pitch fork" to the game... it's Pvt. Bailey.
When an opposing coach has a All-American DT that can't be blocked...it's Pvt. Bailey.
"Pvt. Bailey" is about stepping your game up and not accepting anything less than your best. If Bailey won in the end, he was going to have to kill me for it. It was that serious to me. Not many things, especially football, is that serious to me now. But I put my mind in the right perspective to work for something that I did not want to loose.
In short, the Major lesson is (regarding myself that is): I may not be the smartest, or most talented coach out there, but I simply will not be outworked. Lastly, there is no real way to measure work-ethic, but I guess it's just an internal feeling that I hope becomes validated with a positive result, regardless of the circumstances.
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Post by the1mitch on May 20, 2016 9:45:56 GMT -6
Without a doubt, my dad! It may not be in fashion in some quarters to speak highly about the "Greatest Generation", but I am who I am as a result of hearing stories from old WWI and WWII vets. As a boy in the early 60's I asked my Dad about a customer who wheezed horribly with every step and had a barrel chest like I'd never seen. Dad just said, "Mustard or Phosgene son 1918". He followed that up with "guys who have seen the real deep SH!t don't talk about it. If he wants to talk about it he will." Later we talked about being in really tough times vs unpleasant times. I am a thankful person for where I am in life and try to be humble since I haven't walked in your shoes. My Dad also taught me the power of the bond of honesty and confidentiality between men. We as Men don't trust friends the same way women seem to.....
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Post by shocktroop34 on May 20, 2016 9:50:25 GMT -6
A lot of memories coming to mind...
I had a position coach in college that had a sign in his office that said:
"Eat the Frog First."
Months went by and I didn't have the guts to ask him what it meant. Finally, one day I came in early and we were just sitting around, and I asked him, "coach what the heck does that sign mean?!"
He said, "If the worst thing you have to do all day is eat a frog, then eat the frog first."
Lesson: Whatever it is, get the tough part done first, and try to enjoy the rest that comes.
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Post by wolverine55 on May 20, 2016 10:26:19 GMT -6
This may be kind of odd, but I learned how damaging unorganized leadership can be from my summer restaurant job. It honestly demonstrated to me how important it is to not only be organized but model the behavior you expect out of players and other coaches.
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Post by coachlawson on May 20, 2016 10:50:54 GMT -6
This year in my winter reading I stumbled upon Albert Camus, an old existential philosopher. He talks about what he calls the Myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is the ancient Greek whose punishment was to push a a boulder up a mountain, that always rolls back down when he thinks he has gotten to the top. At initial thought this seems like a terrible punishment. Camus saw it differently. This line stood out to me: "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." It has allowed me to focus less on "state championships and rings"and remember no matter how high you climb, it eventually comes to an end. It's let me enjoy the day to day grind and overall has improved my coaching experience this spring.
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Post by mariner42 on May 20, 2016 13:04:51 GMT -6
This year in my winter reading I stumbled upon Albert Camus, an old existential philosopher. He talks about what he calls the Myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is the ancient Greek whose punishment was to push a a boulder up a mountain, that always rolls back down when he thinks he has gotten to the top. At initial thought this seems like a terrible punishment. Camus saw it differently. This line stood out to me: "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." It has allowed me to focus less on "state championships and rings"and remember no matter how high you climb, it eventually comes to an end. It's let me enjoy the day to day grind and overall has improved my coaching experience this spring. Big fan of that one, as well as this quote: In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. Been through a few down times in my career and it's nice to remember that there's something inside me that exists to push back. |
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Post by jturner on May 20, 2016 13:14:39 GMT -6
As I get older and am taking over as a Header at 28, I realize that modelling appropriate and inappropriate behavior is one of the biggest things I have to do. This means more than just football too. How to act on and off of the practice field as well as in the classroom. Many of my students have poor father figures who aren't the best role models. I constantly run into problems with the 6th graders that I teach, because they do not have a man in their life that disciplines them. It really frustrated me at the beginning of the year, but now that I realize this, it doesn't bother me as much, because I know they need it. I'll have to take the same approach with the high school players too. They have been a rather unruley bunch and there haven't been many dads pop up at events. I know that I'll still have to be firm and give them the tough love they need. This is not something that I expected that I would be doing at this age as I don't have kids or even a girlfriend. Quite a culture shock to be honest.
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Post by coachbdud on May 20, 2016 13:16:31 GMT -6
I was wondering what lessons any of us have picked up outside of coaching that have helped us as football coaches. I was reminded of this when I read the obituary of Louie Mariani, a great player at my HS (Two friends in the same day. This "Getting old" chit ain't what it's cracked up to be). After we worked out at the stadium in the summer, we'd play touch football. One game, we won because the QB-me- threw five TD passes. Thing is, all five were to Louie and they were in the air for a total of about 20 yards. Lesson learned: Get the ball to the playmakers. In college, I learned about the importance of tendencies. I was a MLB and the MLB called defensive signals on our own without signals from the sideline. In spring ball, the most important objective is to make yourself look good so that you can win or keep a starting job. Once I figured out that, in scrimmages, the offense always started with the same play- an off tackle play to their right, the defense's left. Accordingly, I always started a scrimmage with a MLB B gap blitz to our left. That meant that every scrimmage started with a Tackle for Loss by me. That might have been my only tackle but I knew that it would stick in the coaches' minds. Any of you guys pick up anything outside of football coaching that helped when you got into coaching? being a very undersized center in HS (everyone that sees me know assumes i am a RB coach... 5'8" 165) this has helped me as a coach because i really understand what it is like to be at a physical disadvantage so i think i am really good at coaching OL who suck ... |
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Post by CoachHess on May 20, 2016 13:25:30 GMT -6
My old man lost his arm in a car wreck when he was about 7 years old. He's had 3 major shoulder reconstructions by the time I was in high school (a total of 5 now, including a recent reverse shoulder replacement). He gets phantom pains, which is where his "arm" that has been missing for 50+ years will ache, the nerve endings still firing. In high school, I was helping him with a project and said something to the effect of "man, my arm is really sore." To which he pauses, stares at me, and says "mine too".
Lesson: Someone always has it worse than you. Shut up and keep working, it'll all work out.
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Post by bluboy on May 20, 2016 16:54:55 GMT -6
Old proverb:I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.
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Post by blitzology on May 20, 2016 23:22:13 GMT -6
In college I needed a literature class to graduate. The only class that fit my schedule was Shakespeare II. I had not had Shakespeare I and needed the professors signature to get into the class. This professor has spoken all over the place on Shakespeare, written extensively on Shakespeare, and has a big reputation in the academic world for her Shakespeare expertise. I remember thinking the class was not only going to be boring but because of the professor it was going to be hard as hell and I was behind without Shakespeare I. Turns out I loved the class and learned a lot. The reason was the professor. She was so enthusiastic about Shakespeare it was contagious. To quote my current players "she had the juice". She also did a tremendous job of making something complex into something relatable and easy to understand. Her high level knowledge was obvious but she made it feel like she was making you an expert not like you were just listening to an expert. At graduation I told her how much I learned from her class. She gave me some advice, "Find your passion. Help others ignite their passions. A world full of passionate people is a world you want to live in."
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Post by groundchuck on May 21, 2016 8:59:52 GMT -6
My dad always repeated the mantra of "corners and edges" when I was doing cleaning chores as a kid. I hated it. But I have taken that into coaching for sure. Details.
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Post by tothehouse on May 21, 2016 10:03:17 GMT -6
I was a 19 year old JV head football coach (I'm almost 44 now). My old HS coaches needed a coach, knew I wanted to coach...so they asked me. I thought football coaches were supposed to be older than my dad at the time. But I ended my playing career right there because I knew I wasn't going to the NFL as a player...why not try as a coach?
I learned many lessons in my early years as a really young coach. A couple come to mind.
1. Know your stuff. It allows you to not be the team's "buddy". I did as much as I could to make these players understand I was their coach and not their buddy. Especially since I was only 4-5 years older than them.
2. Watch what you say. My friend and line coach at the time and I were on our way to practice and were talking about the practice plan. A player walks by and jokingly says, "what? you guys are getting drunk tonight?" As if he heard us say something like that...which wasn't the case. I immediately pulled him into an adjacent office and ripped him a new one. A lot of other players saw this (which was my intent). Protect your integrity...even at 19. Get wise quick.
3. At the same time...I was still going to off campus college parties, etc. I never did too much at these things, but kinda followed the pack. Well, one of my player's brother's played a little D1 football. Not a great player, but was on the roster. I see him walk into this backyard (where the party was going on). Sure enough, his little brother is walking behind. I'm with my line coach again and I turn to him and say, "Kevin's here." (Kevin's our best running back by the way). Line coach friend, "What?" I'm like..."Kevin's here. We gotta go".
My thinking on this was simple. If I wanted to be a coach for awhile and prove to my HS coaches, the ones who took a chance on me, then I can't be seen at something like this. We walked right past Kevin and his brother without them seeing us. It was pretty much the last party I went to where I didn't know most of the people.
4. Learn from other people's mistakes...in everything. I've been around coaches who I didn't think were that good. And it wasn't because I thought I was that good...it was the fact that the {censored} they were doing was "head scratching" bad. Same thing with odd jobs, parenting, etc. Learn from crappy co-workers. Mold what you want your family to look like based on your beliefs, but also the downfalls of others (the "how not to do it" crew). Be a good visual learner and pick up on the little things outside of coaching. I know that I "see" a lot of things happen before they happen as a coach because I've learned to tune into that could get sideways in a hurry.
5. Don't say "maybe". I've been around guys who only talk with you to get you to do stuff for them. And since you're young...and eager, you feel like you need to do everything. Sometimes you should be jumping into things. You should be around the situations you are putting your time into. But when you can't make something, do something, help something. Say, "NO". "Maybe" puts you on the "yes" side more than the "no" side. If you can't pull something off...say no. If that means you take hits along the way...fine. But know what you want to do and either do it or not.
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Post by kmiller716 on May 22, 2016 21:00:09 GMT -6
I have been keeping up with this thread and my unconventional learning lesson just hit me dead square in the face.
My oldest daughter decided to play softball this year. She is 8 and we just started to play in the back yard this past year. She is my intellectual, not very athletic but loves to be active.
Well, it was interesting. She was the worst player on the team by far. This rec league we joined may have been too advanced for her (typically good softball in this area). I was just trying to teach her how to catch and swing, while the coach is talking about forced outs and 3 & 2 rules at the plate.
She struck out 90%, played Right field (I did not show her the Kent Murphy YouTube videos, ha ha) and you know what, loved every second!!! She wanted to practice every day we could in the back yard and we worked. Is she going to be on ESPN playing softball one day. Hell no.
What I learned from this experience as a dad watching my daughter just love being a part of something allowed me to now look at my players with a different perspective. I will admit, there were many times in the past I said to myself: "that kid is terrible, he doesn't want to work; or he is just out here wasting our time!" However, watching my daughter perform as slowly as she did (she made strides) but gave it her ALL every practice and game truly changed me as a coach FOREVER. The one hit she did have and seeing the smile on her face standing on 1st was priceless.
During spring practice, I see my players not as a commodity for this HS organization (or my egotistical agenda), but more so as someone's son, brother, grandkid, etc. I do not get discouraged and frustrated when my worst receiver dropped his 3rd straight, but we stay after practice to work on it or team him up for ball drills with one of our seniors. I truly will now look at my top receiver no different than I will my last on the depth chart. I can honestly and genuinely say that.
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Post by jlenwood on May 23, 2016 20:19:45 GMT -6
I was taking over a job from a guy retiring at the company I first worked for. Had worked my butt off to get that high up in the company, and was still a youngster according to the guy who was retiring. Well one of the first days of him training me, I made a comment about one of the salesmen coming in to make a call on us. I said that I heard this guy was a jerk or some other derogatory thing, and Phil turns to me, and for whatever reason this really struck me, "Don't ever judge someone based on what somebody else says about them".
In other words, make your own judgement and not base your opinion on the words of another. This has served me well over the years, and the times I don't follow this advice, I get bit in the a$$ by a bad judgement of someone. I have been around kids who you hear from someone that he is trouble or a turd or whatever, and I try to make my own judgement. Sometimes a turd is a turd, but a lot of times they aren't as bad as made out to be.
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