Coaches...what are things you have done to turn programs and culture around that you've went into and were typically not very good? I'm at a place now as an assistant that is struggling and has for the last 10-12 years. What things have you seen that have turned around programs that have struggled??? Thanks in advance.
BUD WILKINSON QUOTES:
COMMON COACHING ERRORS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
By: Bud Wilkinson
GENERAL COMMENTS: The best coach is the one who makes the fewest mistakes; the one who does the best teaching job; the one who is the best organizer. Writing the X’s & O’s is not the most important thing. There are 22 variables in a football game. Coach must be a salesman to the extent that when his team loses, they don’t blame him or the offensive and/or defensive system, but rather themselves.
ERRORS IN TEACHING METHODS:
FIRST = FAILURE TO USE TIME EFFICIENTLY. Failure to recognize the time factor available to get the job done. Planning makes for valuable use of time. Too long on any one thing produces boredom. When boredom comes in, learning goes out. Football players have a short attention span. Hold to time schedule.
SECOND = FAILURE TO EXPLAIN THE PURPOSE OF THE DRILL. Tell the boy WHY he is doing what he is trying to accomplish and he will do a better job. Explain WHY, then show HOW.
THIRD = IMPROPER TEACHING PROGRESSION. You can’t teach a boy how to block until he has learned stance. If he hasn’t learned stance, he doesn’t know how to step out of the stance into the block.
FOURTH = TOO MUCH VERBAL INSTRUCTION ON THE FIELD. How much can boy learn from your verbal instruction with his helmet on, he’s breathing hard, he aches, he’s stunned, etc. Do WHO and WHY in chalk talk. Teach assignments before hitting the field. Correct on the field. Teach – no! (HOW is taught on the field – not WHO & WHY).
FIFTH = TOO MUCH DEMONSTRATION BY COACH. How much you know is not important. How much player knows is.
SIXTH = BEING ON THE FIELD TOO LONG. Better to have a team eager to play rather than physically tired. How long to practice is a judgment factor. Cut down as season goes along – not going to change mechanical ability late in season. Only one rule never violated at Oklahoma. If one coach on staff feels practice too long, we must cut it down. More boys play poorly because they practiced too long than boys playing poorly because they didn’t practice long enough.
ERRORS IN TACTICS AND STRATEGY:
FIRST = TACTICS AND VICTORY. You get very few victories on tactics. Victories come if you can out block, out tackle, out fundamental your opponent. Red Sanders quote: “Intimidate them physically”! Outmaneuver – no. Defeat – yes.
SECOND = CLEAR CUT PHILOSOPHY A MUST. Decide on an offense and defense that will suit your personnel then stick to it. Depth of morale can be determined by a kid’s reaction to a loss. If morale deep, they’ll blame themselves. If morale shallow, they’ll blame you.
THIRD = TOO MANY PLAYS AND DEFENSES. Subtract the number of different plays used in the game from the total number of plays you practiced. If this number is too large you better get rid of some plays. It is difficult enough to know when to run off- tackle, but if you have four ways to run off-tackle, you will never get the right play. Beauty of Split-T was it’s very limited number of plays
ERRORS IN JUDGMENT:
FIRST = BE REALISTIC ABOUT PLAYER’S ABILITY. Don’t just put an X or an O on the board. Put up the boy’s name. Immediately his limitations affect the offense or defense you put up. Whale of a lot of difference between Dick Butkus and Humpty Dumpty.
SECOND = WHEN CHIPS ARE DOWN, BEST PLAYERS ARE IN THE GAME. It is a mistake to be able to play blue chippers only one way. Say best kid you have can only go on offense. Say opponent has ball for 45 minutes. These are 45 minutes he cannot help you.
ERRORS IN OFF FIELD RELATIONSHIP:
FIRST = RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER FACULTY MEMBERS. The environment that exists has a lot to do with winning or losing. If they are with you, your job is easier. If they are against you, you’re in trouble. Work on a program of how to win friends and influence faculty members.
SECOND = ORGANIZE A MOTHER’S CLUB. Get mother on your side by pointing out to her what he can get out of football besides winning games.
THIRD = PRESS, TV, AND RADIO. Straight up fact of life that the great majority of people get their impression of you from what they read in the paper, see on TV, or hear on radio. Their jobs depend on info. Get it to them to make their jobs easier. Get these people on your side. Let them know what you’re doing. They will interpret what you’re doing in the way you want it interpreted if they are with you.
ERRORS IN DEVELOPING MORALE (MORALE IS TO THE PHYSICAL AS 4 IS TO 1).
FIRST = FOOTBALL BEGINS WITH MORALE! Once you get morale, it is easy to maintain. How to get it is a problem.
SECOND = HOW TO LOSE MORALE. Do what you said you’re going to do. Don’t say we’re going to practice 1 ½ hours and go 2 ½ hours. Training rules – if you’re not going to enforce them, don’t have them.
THIRD = MORALE STEMS FROM DISCIPLINE (ALL Discipline begins by being on time).
FOURTH = TREAT PLAYERS AS A PERSON. If he feels you are interested in him only as a football player, he won’t go all out for you. If you are interested in his academics, his personal problems, etc. and he knows this, he’ll go all out for you. Convince him that football is good for his future.
FIFTH = One year, Knute Rockne had 2 QB’s. Under great athlete, team failed; under mediocre QB, team succeeded. Why? Captain’s reply – “the great athlete is trying to show how good HE is. The TEAM is trying to make the average guy look good”.
COACH IN YOUR OWN WAY:
FIRST = DON’T COPY! Note clinicians and their personalities. ALL different ways of being successful. Plan carefully in the off season. Can’t take golf lessons between the 8th green and 9th tee.
CONCLUDING REMARKS: The man who is best organized and does the best teaching job, is the best coach.
PLAYING WITH MORALE AND INTENSITY (with thanks to Bud Wilkinson)
There is no magic formula for developing morale, but there is a means of getting consistent effort from your team and intensity is what it is all about. How close do your players come to making their best effort every time the ball is snapped? That is what it is all about, and if your team can do that then they are going to play very well. My theory of judging how well a team is coached is not how many games they won that they shouldn’t have won (they upset somebody), it’s games they lost when they were a superior team, they didn’t play well that day. And why didn’t they play well --- nobody got geared up about it. Teach your players to think of the game totally as a chance to find out about themselves --- what kind of a man am I and how well can I play when it is tough to play? You begin by explaining to them that this is a most uncomfortable game to play. There is no way you can play football and feel good. The first two or three plays everybody feels good. But now I am the Nose Tackle and I have got to meet someone me and now it’s a sweep and I’ve got to run 20 yards and there is a big collision and I’ve got to line up again and meet somebody and run 20 yards and then there is another collision. I do this three or four times and I don’t feel good. Now, do I quit at this point and wait to get my breath or do I continue to go as hard as I can to try as hard as I can try? THAT’S WHERE THE GAME IS WON OR LOST! What happens to most teams is they play the first two or three plays as well as they can, then they get to a point, I used to call this the “QUITTING DOWN”, where two or three guys tell themselves, “If I coast on this play then I’ll be able to go real hard on the next one”. They have gotten kind of tired so they coast for a while. So they go hard again but now a few others decide it is time for them to coast and the result of this is that you never get eleven guys going all out.
So to get back to the basic point, if you can convince your people that the reason for playing is for them to find out about themselves and for them to find out how close they can come to playing as well as they can on every snap. Then you can eliminate, I think, that “up and down”. So now I have three practices and I get the men together after practice and I ask them, “how many of you think you went as hard as you could every time” and if anybody puts his hand up he is lying. “How many of you did it 90% of the time”, I don’t think you get any hands if you have an honest relationship. “80% of the time”, you will get some hands and you explain to them again, that’s not very good if you expect to be a good football team, and we’ve got to make the effort every time the ball is snapped and if you don’t think you can, walk off the field --- it takes more courage than standing out there bluffing. I’m never going to know if you make the big effort, and your teammates are not going to know if you make the big effort, but you are going to know and the whole game is a test of yourself. Now, if your players understand this, and I think if you explain it to them they will, some days they are going to play a guy in a red shirt who is a super athlete, some other day it will be a guy in a green shirt who cannot play a lick but that does not effect your guy’s performance at all because his whole purpose is to find out today how close, “I can come to making my maximum effort every time they snap the ball”. After the game in the locker room, “Okay how many of you went the best you could everytime”, I don’t think you will ever see any hands. How many of you went 95%”, maybe one. “90%”, maybe 4. But this is something that if they understand what I’m talking about, as the season goes along more and more of them will be able to get their hand up and if you can ever get them all giving their best effort then it is going to be awfully hard to beat you. And the major thing that happens is this, if you players begin to think this is just an opportunity to for me to find out about myself, “today, how close can I come to doing the best I possibly can”, then it doesn’t matter whether you are supposed to win by four touchdowns, because the objective has nothing to do with that, their objective is to find out about themselves. Or, they are supposed to lose by three, that has nothing to do with it. It is simply a question of “today, am I able to beat MYSELF”. I’m the toughest opponent that anybody ever had, there is no question about that. If they do honestly believe that, that is the purpose of the game, then I believe they will play consistently with MAXIMUIM INTENSITY!!! Get everyone on the field doing that – it will be very hard for anyone to defeat you!
BUD WILKINSON QUOTES: “In my coaching, I was able to achieve a momentary selflessness on the part of our team – when you play well, it is because the cause transcended individual recognition or honor”.
“If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price than your opponent.”
“Football in its purest form remains a physical fight. As in any fight, if you don’t want to fight, it’s impossible to win.”
“Morale and attitude are the fundamentals to success.”
“Play against the Game, not your opponent.”
“If a team is to reach its potential, each player must willingly subordinate his own personal goals to the good of the team.”
“We compete, not so much against an opponent, but against ourselves. The real test is this: Did I make my best effort on every play?”
“If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team.”
“Your players’ attitude toward you hinges on just one thing, and that is respect. If they do not respect you, you’ve lost them. If you have their respect, you’ve got it made.”
“If you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price.”
“Every game is an opportunity to measure yourself against your own potential.”
“You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip.”
“The will to prepare is the key ingredient to success.”
“I feel more strongly about this than anything else in coaching: Anybody who lacks discipline, who doesn’t want to be part of the team, who doesn’t want to meet the requirements – has to go. It’s that simple.”
“The man who tried his best and failed is superior to the man who never tried.”
“Losing is easy. It's not enjoyable, but it's easy.”
“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”
“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
BUD WILKINSON – FACTORS IN BUILDING A TEAM:
I. Factors in putting together a team.
A. Discipline and morale are essential.
B. The coach must earn the respect of the people.
1. You do not need to be liked if you are respected
2. Be yourself to earn respect.
II. The relationships necessary with various groups.
A. Players:
1. Do not have any rules you cannot enforce.
2. Keep the players currently informed at all times.
3. Convince them that you are totally objective.
4. Show concern for the player as an individual – grades, family, etc.
B. Parents:
1. Teach the parents football.
2. Welcome parents to informal conferences and explain what you are doing.
C. Press, radio/TV, and other news media:
1. Recognize that they have a job to do and a role to fill in today’s sports.
2. Explain what is happening and why – get them interested.
D. Faculty:
1. Approach them from the standpoint that you are a teacher too.
2. Participate as a faculty member yourself without setting yourself apart.
E. Students:
1. Communicate with the student body -- assemblies (& pep rallies), press, radio/TV, etc.
2. Invite them to watch practice sessions – obtain their interest.
F. Alumni:
1. WIN!
2. Correspond with them through newsletters, letting them know a little more than the general public so they feel more of a part.
G. General Public:
1. Public attitudes result from the preceding six groups.
2. WHO your friends are will effect what the public will think of you.
BUD’S 4 CONVICTIONS:
1. Games are lost – not won (if you avoid fumble, interception, blocked kick, missed assignments, & penalties – you SHOULD win). Turnover ratio = #1 factor.
2. You win on DEFENSE
3. Play “Field Position” football.
4. If you can’t pass – you can’t win.
BUD (MORE) S.I. Sept. 12, 1955
A MATTER OF MIND
"In reality," Wilkinson continued, "what takes place is that both teams are well conditioned, smartly coached. They're both made up of fine young men. The winning or losing is in that intangible factor of mental toughness. You've got to have that to be a champion...where you get it, I don't know, but you've got to have it.
"If you're going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price than your opponent will ever pay. Critics of athletics say that's too much of an all-out approach. They want it to be played just for fun, but just going out there and going through the motions defies the purpose of competition. If you're out there just to take up space, you aren't playing the game. It's meant to be played as well as you can play. If you're just joking around you aren't doing credit to yourself or the game. There must be the willingness to compete when the chips are down. Some people don't want to pay this price—and I've no objections to them—but I don't want them around because we aren't going to win with them.
"I use Ben Hogan as an example to my boys. I was plain sick when Hogan lost the Open. I didn't get over it for a couple of days—I'm still not over it.... Hogan is the most outstanding individual performer for my money, not only from the standpoint of his concentration but because of the price he paid in preparation to avoid ever hitting a bad shot. If a football player who's subject to daydreaming—as we all are—daydreams at the wrong time, he'll make a mistake that defeats you. Our approach to football is: don't make mistakes!
"Unless our standards are high in everything, the entire group will retrogress to the lowest level. When we travel, we're going to travel as well as we can. Our uniforms will be the best, and we'll try to look the neatest and be the cleanest and the smartest. In every possible ramification, we're going to try to shoot for the moon. People who are going to play well operate that way. For instance, I don't think a good golfer can play with dirty clubs."
In the locker rooms at O.U., huge red and white placards pound home the words, PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION. Yet if a boy doesn't want to play at all, that's his privilege, too.
"I don't see any reason why a boy should feel he has to be a football player, if it's against his personality," Wilkinson said. "He'd be better off in some other line of endeavor. A lot of kids participate in football because their girl thinks it's nice or their parents want them to, but there's a tremendous number of young men who are blessed with an abundance of physical energy and truly combative spirit. They have to relieve themselves of that pressure and test their minds and bodies. Football fulfills that demand for total effort and teaches them fair play, discipline, teamwork and loyalty.
"Skills demanded in other sports are all needed in football. There's the straight combat of boxing and wrestling, the speed of foot of track and running, the throwing and catching of baseball and basketball, the extremely difficult art of kicking and judgment of the ball as in tennis."
'Don't become sold on the type of football that defeats teams you could defeat anyway,' 'Base your play on standards most likely to defeat the champions. You can't fool a good team. The good ones don't take the fake. You've got to block 'em.'
'Your measure of a coach is based on how well he creates in practice the situations the player will face in a game, and keeps repeating it until the player reacts properly by rote memory.'
"We play the Split-T," he explained, "because we think we can teach it more effectively than any other offense in the short period of practice time allowed us.
"Four hours of preparation are needed for one hour of practice. If we're going to use our practice to maximum value, we have to know what we're going to do every minute. If we're ever strategists, it's during the summer. We must decide then exactly what we're going to do so that when fall practice starts, we're teaching ball. How much football we as coaches know will have no bearing on a single game. It's the skill and knowledge we're able to impart to our players that counts. The game is won or lost by the players—not the coaches.
"When you're in a game, you may play 12 minutes or 46 minutes, but somewhere the
{censored} begins to crack. If a player hasn't conditioned himself previously, he'll probably not have the fortitude or courage—football won't mean enough to him—to recover a punt when he's tired and it's 96 degrees on the playing field.
" 'There are 11 fights out there,' I tell my men, 'we've got to win seven of them.'
"Wearing 13 pounds of equipment and with only 25 seconds between plays, they've got to equal the speed of a lightly garbed sprinter who has his own lane to run in without any interference, and has maybe 20 to 25 minutes to recuperate before the next lap.... That's why I think running is the most often overlooked fundamental of the game.
" 'Find your opponent's weakness and exploit it!' I keep telling my men. 'Every player has a weakness!' And if you're smaller, you have to think bigger. The fact our men believe they can use their brains to defeat a physically superior opponent pays dividends you can't reckon with—they're so great.
