when it's third and ten

i have always said:

give me a a few outlaws, in my experience, they are tougher and more likely to bow up and claw their way out of a mess.

that is how i take the quote-when your back is against the wall you don't want a pretty boy you want a street fighter.

my 2 cents anyone else?

A coach I respect a great deal told me once that if you can't coach outlaws you can't win because you can't win without a few outlaws.

Don't know how true that is in regard to off the field behavior, but nearly every good player I've ever coached had a little turd in him when he was on the field.

You never hear anyone say on 1st and 10 "wow what a gutsy call that was." Sometimes you had better lay it all out.

I recall John Elway saying something like "They don't pay me for first and second down, I get paid for what I do on 3rd and long." (more of a paraphrase here but it gets the point across).

"yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, because I am the baddest M*^therf$%^er in the valley."

That is the kid I want at middle linebacker.





But to be honest, I believe it depends on the position. I don't necessarily want a "whiskey drinker" at quarterback or center. Do I want them to be tough SOB's? yeah, of course. But I will take quality discipline at his position over $hit kickin' attitude at these positions. This guy doesn't strike me as a "whiskey drinker"



nor do these guys



QB's and C's are the ones in our system that makes all the checks and calls and have to be the most disciplined in every situation.

G's, T's, WR's and RB's, that's where I want my "whiskey drinkers" at. Those guys are going to do what they do regardless of whether or not it is their rule. they are just going to get the job done and they are going to do it with an inferno under their a$$.

Had a QB a few years ago - he's playing D-III right now. Great Christian kid, perfect SAT score, and a darn good QB. His senior year we were arguing (in a good way) over plays for that week. He wanted a play that I wasn't sure about. Finally he said, "Hey coach, I'm reading a book about Johnny Unitas and he was once asked the question, How do you know when you're finally a QUARTERBACK?" I didn't know where he was going so I said, "What was his answer?" And my QB said, "Unitas said, you know you're a Quarterback when you've told your coach to Go to Hell!" And then my guy smiled....

We put the play in.

Along the same lines . . . our coaching staff has always said if half of our defensive starters are wrestlers we will be ok.

I don't know if its so much the drinking so much as the attitude, although I remember my dad telling me tales about Bobby Layne.

I want him at running back

Similar story...

My first year coaching D backs at the collegiate level. We are getting on the bus on a Friday to travel to game 1. One of my freshmen safeties..all 5'8 165/170 lbs (1-aa) has a bag of candy sitting on his seat. He forgot something in the locker room, told those around him not to touch the candy, and left the bus. When he gets back, he notices candy missing, and a Senior Defensive end munching away. with the empty wrappers in his lap. DB says "I told you not to touch my candy" DE "What are you going to do about it Rook" DB proceeds to smash DE's face in with a great jab/cross/hook combo. Blood goes everwhere..

HC pulls me aside after he hears about this (he was on the offensive bus) and asks me what I think we should do . My reply "START HIM and hope Albany takes some of his candy"


----DISCLAIMER---NOT A FAIRY TALE ENDING----
Unfortunately though... this "whiskey" drinker..couldn't fit in well within ANY structure. By his junior year, he was no longer on the team...3 years of mentor programs, tutors, positive behavior support, negative reinforcement....just didnt work. He ended up choosing drugs and alcohol over football... left school, got 3 different girls pregnant and had numerous run ins with the law.

Didn't Manning spend some time in Tennessee though? ;D

got a freshman this year who we just refer toi as "the angry child". 5'11, 185 rb who is just a specimen. most upperclassmen didnt like him, mainly because they felt the coaches gave him too much attention. what they failked to realize is that his kid would finish top 3 in EVERY sprint we ran... starting in the summer. he would antagonize the senior linebackjers when he ran the ball for the scout team offense, often knocking them over and liughing at them. he challenged a senior to a fight because the senior made fun of him because the frosh was crying after we lost......... a scrimmmage! this boy's mother is a drug addict, his father (a LEGENDARY criminal in our city) was murdered when the kid was 3 or 4, and he lives in the projects with his grandma... who can barely control him. the kid is so full of "piss and vinegar" its frightening. i guess what im getting at is this..... this kid turned out to be a leader as a freshman. we have already named him co-capt for next year, and god help those who miss off-season lifting sessions - they will have to deal with him. i love this type of player. and i think as coaches these are the kids we can build around. if our staff can keep this kid focused (he has some gang ties), im sure he can go to school for free. and if i get another couple of kids like this, we could really scare some people.

We liked to see 3 criminals (convicted of something) on the starting defense. Each criminal less then 3 equals a loss and each additional one over 3 equals a loss.

I also had an old Coach tell me that if you NG, Mike, and SS are virgins then you are in deep trouble

coach i am with you on this one. the kids who has character is the one you can trust. if i can trust my kid, then i can win a ball game.

ok

to take the alcohol out of the equation here



how much do you want kids to question/do their own thing vs being robots?