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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 8:47:52 GMT -6
This is something I stole from a coach who won multiple state championships in Kansas. He said that each off-season his coaching staff would identify what they called the FRANCHISE 15 - the 15 players they had to build around and depend on to be successful the following season. They would fill in around this group, but these 15 would be the ones to carry the load. We have used this idea for the past two seasons with decent success.
What are your thoughts about this? Does anyone else do something similar? Any way to tweak it and make it better?
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Post by kylem56 on Mar 28, 2008 9:44:25 GMT -6
I found this on the Jerry Campbell forum and its something I realy believe in. Apparently one time Chuck Noll was doing a speaking engagement somewhere and after speaking he was giving out his buisness card, on the back of his card was this:
"ON EVERY TEAM, THERE IS A CORE GROUP THAT SETS THE TONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE. IF THE TONE IS POSITIVE, YOU HAVE HALF THE BATTLE WON. IF IT IS NEGATIVE, YOU ARE BEATEN BEFORE YOU EVEN WALK OUT ON THAT FIELD."
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 10:10:14 GMT -6
I found this on the Jerry Campbell forum and its something I realy believe in. Apparently one time Chuck Noll was doing a speaking engagement somewhere and after speaking he was giving out his buisness card, on the back of his card was this: "ON EVERY TEAM, THERE IS A CORE GROUP THAT SETS THE TONE FOR EVERYONE ELSE. IF THE TONE IS POSITIVE, YOU HAVE HALF THE BATTLE WON. IF IT IS NEGATIVE, YOU ARE BEATEN BEFORE YOU EVEN WALK OUT ON THAT FIELD." What a great quote from Coach Noll. Thank you for sharing it. |
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Post by williamcrehan on Mar 28, 2008 10:20:57 GMT -6
Superpower,
GREAT IDEA!!!! I am at a small school with an average of 13 out of a graduating 115 playing football. Would you suggest finding 15 kids 7-12 grade, just highschool, or mostly high school and a kick a$$ 8th grader or two?
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Post by williamcrehan on Mar 28, 2008 10:22:37 GMT -6
Sorry, just checked the books, we have an average of 95 graduating, but you get the idea.
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 10:38:32 GMT -6
You graduate 95 students every year? And you can't find 15 football players?
We graduate 60-70 each year, and we have 50 fb players in grades 9-12.
If you are graduating 95 students, you aren't in a very small school.
By the way, the coach that I stole this idea from was in a school with about 225 students in grades 9-12.
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Post by rideanddecide on Mar 28, 2008 11:54:54 GMT -6
Love the start of the idea, but don't really get the end of it.
We are a co-op program that draws enrollment of 450.
I just thought about our 15 franchise players and it was pretty easy.
How do you approach it once you've determined the 15? What do you do with your list?
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 12:00:55 GMT -6
We make sure that we have as many of those kids on the field as possible at all times. We also develop their leadership skills. It causes us to look at not who is our best left tackle, for example, but who are the best football players who could play left tackle. I think it helps us as a coaching staff to all get on the same page.
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Post by rideanddecide on Mar 28, 2008 12:30:13 GMT -6
How are you careful not to discount the kids that aren't currently on the list?
How much does this affect it: Great kid, needs help with football vs. Great fb player, needs help as a teammate/with work ethic/with coachability etc..
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 12:34:20 GMT -6
Good questions.
We always go into two-a-days with open minds because I feel it is our job to find the kids who give us the best chance to win. The list is geared more to who are our fb studs. The good kids who work hard will earn playing time, but we are really trying to indentify our core group who are likely to determine how successful our team will be.
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Post by wiaa3 on Mar 28, 2008 12:49:54 GMT -6
I think this is a great idea! I love it!
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Post by coachd5085 on Mar 28, 2008 13:06:00 GMT -6
All this is simply a formal construct of what most coaches do intuitively. It is a good method to check/balance your team, and keeps you from that forehead slapping moment when you go "WHAT WERE WE THINKING" regarding personnel. i
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Post by wingt74 on Mar 28, 2008 13:25:28 GMT -6
Not sure what this means. Are these 15 kids you give extra attention to for weight lifting and off-season workouts? Do they get playbooks and nobody else does?
Or, are you building your system around your 15 best players? cause that make sense to me.
And I agree with Coachd. As coaches, we all have our 15 players we know are the heart and soul of the team...
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 13:27:34 GMT -6
Building the team around them. Certainly not giving them extra attention or playbooks (We don't use playbooks.), but we probably do have high expectations for them on and off the field.
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 13:28:19 GMT -6
By the way, this is not information that we share with the team. This is strictly for the coaching staff.
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Post by flexspread on Mar 28, 2008 13:35:23 GMT -6
Coach, I like the idea but how do you identify the 15? It seems like it would be hard to not just identify your starters. What are the criteria that you take into account?
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Post by coachd5085 on Mar 28, 2008 13:39:33 GMT -6
flex--it flows the other way...you identify the core players, THEN assign personnel. Again, most coaches do this intuitively, but there are some bonuses from having a formal construct. It might keep you from maybe having two good fullbacks splitting time, while playing a mediocre guard... ETC.
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Post by superpower on Mar 28, 2008 13:45:48 GMT -6
Coachd5085 is correct. I give each asst. coach a roster of our returning players and ask them to identify who they think are the Franchise 15. Then we get together, compare notes, and compile a master list. At that point we can begin to assign personnel and consider how we can get the most from those 15 players.
In all honesty there are probably going to be some seasons where we will be fortunate to have 10-11 kids that we feel comfortable putting on the list, while there are other times when we could realistically expand the list to 18-19. I think 15 is a good number because it doesn't just identify 11. With 15 you have created some depth and you know who you can depend on if a starter goes down with an injury.
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Post by senatorblutarsky on Mar 28, 2008 15:39:21 GMT -6
We might be able to do a franchise 3 next year  Seriously, we don't consciously or intentionally do this... it just happens (so maybe unconsciously). We identify who we need to have on the field and work accordingly. We've had a #2 QB move to Guard, moved a #2 TE to HB, etc. About the others (16 -??)... well we learned about this too after several devastating injuries in 04, 05 and 06 (in 06 we lost 3 QBs by week 5, which is what lead to us being, in part, Single Wing) so we have a second tier group of guys and ask what do we do if these people suddenly HAVE to play a major role? Usually that involves shifting some #1 guys around too, but I like to have that plan in place week 1 though we may not need it in the 2nd week of playoffs. I do think it has simplified... or maybe a better term is " specified" exactly what we are focusing on on O, D and specials. Overall, it seems like a good idea... to do consciously. |
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Post by fbdoc on Mar 30, 2008 16:19:31 GMT -6
This seems to be a small school thread so I'll go ahead and chime in, although we had the same philosophy at the college level. I agree with coachd5085 and the good senator in that I think most coaches do this anyway. Your Franchise 15 (or for us, franchise 4-7) for the most part will be canceled out by your opponent's Franchise players. However we don't want to lose sight of the other guys because while they probably won't help us WIN games, we as coaches are going to coach the heck out of them to reduce the chances that they will LOSE the game for us when they get in. Those 2nd tier players are going to be on the field - either off. or def. and likely special teams at some critical point during the season. We want them to come through when they get the chance. Yes, those franchise kids are important! But Chuck Noll is also known for another great quote, namely "Most games are lost, not won." Do what it takes to not lose the game.
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