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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 25, 2017 7:28:15 GMT -6
So we drop the first 2, then go on a 4 game win streak, starting to gel pretty good. Defensively, we have 8 returning starters so we only had to fill a couple of slots coming into the year. We're really flying around to the football.... we got our 11MASOB. To a coach, the one guy we all felt like can play our over hang/S$ is also one of the one question mark we have on our side of the ball as to whether or not he is 'all in' and we can trust him. He can struggle a bit in the classroom, and is a little 'stand-offish' at times. But he has never been PITA to us coaches. He can cop a little bit attitude, but again nothing out of ordinary. He missed a few things in the off season, and has missed a couple of meetings this year.
Well, he has probably been our most consistent defender this season and that is saying quite a bit considering how we have several pretty special players. He has scored the highest on our defensive production points count every game and could have easily been our POTW every week. He has a couple of things he needs to get better at and we have to adjust our coverages a bit to compensate, but nothing that we don't have to do every year or most of you do also.
Last week my DB coach took all the starting DBs out to eat to reward them for doing so well with learning the game plan and executing it. In the course of hanging out, the S$ does open up a little and come to find out the kid is basically homeless. He stays with a grandmother some, goes to his dad's some which is over an hour away, stays at other player's houses. He also said he is not really sure where his 2 little sisters are at the moment. He didn't have a clean shirt to wear after the game Friday night.
It made me feel about 2 inches tall that I'm just now finding this out.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 23, 2017 14:16:06 GMT -6
Finally got a W guys. 1-4 now with a good chance to take another this next week. Still not as lucky as my neighbor though. He for sure isn't married. I'm proud of the great seasons I've been a part of, BUT I'm most proud of the times I coached my arse off just to help the team be respectable. Thoreau stated that most men life lives of quiet desperation. I never take pessimistic view point, but it does point to mundane aspect of the routine of our every day life. So to is football. Don't focus on the season, wins, losses, scores, or outcomes. Focus on the impact you make on just 1 kid. Just 1.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2017 23:24:05 GMT -6
Bus drivers that ignore the GPS and go off roading. Massive let downs after big wins. Teams that complete tipped passes for long touchdowns against us when we're in man. Having touchdowns called back because a moron is holding on a screen pass. A freaking screen. Letting a team you're better than and a staff you know you're smarter than and outwork beat you during their homecoming. And then getting on your phone and finding out the team you're playing next beat a really good team they weren't supposed to. Losing with the first principal ever to hire you come to the game to support you. All of it happened to us tonight. It's going to take a lot of beer to forget this one. Bobby Knight said the best time to beat a team is after they had a huge win because they focus on that game more than the next one. And the 21st amendment remains intact...so it could be worse. +1 on your Constitutional knowledge, I might have to follow you
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2017 22:46:07 GMT -6
Thanks as always for the response fellas. We ended up scoring 11 TDs in the first half and one more (by the JV) during the running clock in the second half. My last starter scored with 8:13 left in the 2nd quarter making the score 51-6. We started subbing our 2s and 3s early. Our starters only played 16 minutes or so of the game. We had 2 sophomores score 2 TDs a piece. 9 guys carried the ball, the second half was entirely JV so was the last 3 minutes of the first half. We called only one pass the whole game (for a TD) and ran basic formations with Buck Sweep and FB Trap from the 8 minute mark of the second quarter. The score ended up 83-14. They also had six turnovers inside of their own 20 plus attempted and failed a punt fake on their own 21 yard line. We scored off of each of those plus we had a kick returned and a punt retuned for TDs. Of course the other team's coaches were upset. They left their starters in and blitzed like crazy agains our JVs and even on-side kicked and recovered it against our JVs. They thought we were trying to run it up but we were definitely not. If we had been we'd have scored triple digits with ease. I just never want that to happen again. Not because I care about how their coaches feel, but for their players. It's not the players fault they weren't properly prepared for our game and I hate to think we may have turned one of their kids off of football because of a ridiculous sore like that. Thanks again coaches for your advice and experience. If their coaches were as bad as your describe, I seriously doubt your team and how many it scored would be THE deciding factor for any of their kids giving up the ghost. I'm sure if any of them did, they had the idea long before your game b/c of their coaches. You saw (maybe foresaw) the outcome as it was unfolding. You made the honorable attempt to show sportsmanship. Their coaches chose to see it otherwise and use it for their own purpose. You did no wrong.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2017 22:39:20 GMT -6
I knew a guy a few years ago who chose to start every drive in the second half with a penalty. They were dominating so heavily and were significantly deeper, so he kept calling trap and ISO. But he said he figured it would at least make it look a little less bad. They won by almost 80, and ended up having kids slide down on long runs. It's a great problem to have, but aside from taking a knee or committing repeated penalties, there's not much you can do. I know a guy who won 77-0 that punted on 1st down the entire second half.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 22, 2017 22:29:27 GMT -6
I still believe our old 8 quarter rule was the best of both worlds. Each kid could dress for 8 quarters a week. The only restriction was those 8 couldn't be on the same day.
JV guys got to have their reps.... they get to develop versus similar level competition. They also go to dress on Friday night as possible injury back up, emergency sub, or in the case of a blow out they got a chance to save the varsity guys from having to play in a situation where the only thing that might happen would be a negative outcome.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 21, 2017 12:13:36 GMT -6
I've done this before at the lower levels, have Blue/Gold, Red/Black, etc... school color pair of teams.
Everybody learns offensive and defensive positions.
Take your good OL an pair them with the lesser skill players on one group. The better skill players with the lesser Linemen.
One quarter the Blue team starts on offense, the Gold team on defense (or which ever colors you use). At the end of the quarter, switch.
Then in the second half, you can always then go you White/Silver/etc.... team which is all the best players playing together.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 19:00:29 GMT -6
Have you guys ever recruited people to get into the profession? If every school recruited 2 people to train and if half of those crapped out, you would dramatically improve the situation.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 12:06:38 GMT -6
If he has a +1 Warhammer of Armor Piercing then he must be one heck of a guard. Nerd!! haha, jk. I'll ask him that today, tho! If you only knew
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 9:40:35 GMT -6
My G missed study hall and was late to practice the other day. His Dungeons & Dragons after-school club was holding elections, and he was one of the members vying for office. Honestly, tho, I really like having the weird tech/gamer kids on the team. It's a nice break from the Madden-playing football lifers. And I can really appreciate the "Renaissance Man" attitude from a teenager. If he has a +1 Warhammer of Armor Piercing then he must be one heck of a guard.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 9:36:22 GMT -6
I've never been around something like this:
Last week we beat a team pretty good, defense gets several turnovers, could have been worse. That was our 3rd in a row after an 0-2 start. They dropped to 2-3, second game in row 'the wheels kind of fell off'. We're both in the biggest classification, in very competitive regions/conferences. We both have won recent championships and consistently have good play off runs.
The next day, their HC and OC gets fired. It kind of shocked me. I commented to the defensive staff before the game that they looked on film like they were going to have that 6-6/7-6 down year you get every once in a while since they were pretty young/graduated some studs, but then they would be back to banging on the door for the trophy soon.
I kind of felt a little guilty. I'm not saying we were the cause or did anything to embarrass the team. And I've always said that you can never look on the outside and make assumptions about a program; you have to get involved with a team before you can understand it's warts. I just haven't been a 'part' of or near something like that ever before.
Anyhoo, just musing.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 8:56:27 GMT -6
We had a 280 lb Samoan freshman lineman on a JV team I coached. Nice kid, but different drummer. Had trouble making it to practice, forgot half of his equipment, etc. One day he was a no-show on a Wednesday. Our rule was if you don't practice on Wednesday you don't play on Friday. He's our starting left tackle with no real backup, so obviously wasn't happy (I was the OC) He finally comes rolling in halfway through practice, the HC coach asks where he had been. Very calmly he answers "It was all you can drink soda day at Sonic." crap, now you made me have to go to the bathroom
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Glazier
Sept 20, 2017 8:52:29 GMT -6
Post by coachwoodall on Sept 20, 2017 8:52:29 GMT -6
I got an email from them about the beginning of clinic season, and I for the life of me, can't figure out where the link for speakers is located for each site. I see all the info but that.
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 18, 2017 17:08:59 GMT -6
Looking back at it, I would have sent my boys to specialty camps when they were 6. I would have paid decent money to a coach that could have taught them to tie their own shoes and not pee on the floor next to the toilet. I clearly didn't have the chops to get those 2 jobs done. 😂
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Post by coachwoodall on Sept 5, 2017 19:02:49 GMT -6
Genetically, I can sleep in a hurricane/himmacane..... My dad was a railroad guy who napped when he could.
My tired sleep is usually caused by my wife poking me in the ribs when I snore.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 30, 2017 6:17:41 GMT -6
I have to add another to this list: I'm trying to get my DL to start watching their KEY for movement and not the ball. We've struggled with our hands to target and being able to react to the block in front of us. So now every time it's a 3rd down, everyone on our sideline, including a few coaches are constantly yelling out "watch the ball", even though I'm trying to get our guys to stop doing that. I'm going to bring it up to some of the coaches sometime (to be fair, they don't coach DL), but it's still annoying to be contradicted every time it's 3rd down. So basically "watch the ball" is now right up there with the infamous "hit somebody", "wrap up", and "hold on to the ball" phrases I never want to hear on our sidelines We say, "Watch the ball" to clue the kids that it's a situation that the offense might go on a hard count.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 24, 2017 16:15:58 GMT -6
Where's DC when we need him?
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 24, 2017 9:14:01 GMT -6
try tart cherry juice
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 23, 2017 18:12:25 GMT -6
I have gone with the Adidas pants. Light, airy, and sit well. This year I'm going to go with some Duluth Trading Company khaki shorts. Heavier material, but still breathe, repel water pretty well, and have the flex fit to expand when necessary. I have those in pants too, but I try to stay in shorts as long as I can in Minnesota. And their ball room jeans are great too
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 18, 2017 8:59:11 GMT -6
We had that day built into the calendar, it's a work day. And everyone is released by noon. All practices have to conclude by noon.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 16, 2017 7:14:51 GMT -6
"Attitude reflects leadership"
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 14, 2017 20:56:54 GMT -6
Or maybe pen and paper types
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 14, 2017 20:56:27 GMT -6
How hard is this for those 'Un-online' types?
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 14, 2017 11:32:47 GMT -6
I know this should be in Technology section but I think it could belong in General too..... We are thinking of doing an online meeting this year on Sundays- with one of the many apps/websites out there- just to go over a few things from the previous game and initial game plan thoughts for the new opponent- and then meet on Monday's after practice to solidify things. I've never done this before but like most staffs we have some challenges at times to meet on the weekends. Has anyone done this and if so, WHAT APP/Website would you recommend as being the best or easiest to use? We use GroupMe to sync phone texts
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 11, 2017 19:05:55 GMT -6
I'm a 'go chop wood' kind of coach. Go do what you do and teach like you teach. Nothing wrong with board work, film, etc.. but my cats have to be doing something to learn.
Monday is a Monday and I'm going to sharpen my axe.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 11, 2017 19:00:27 GMT -6
Obviously the specific situations come from film. Early in the week during install/prep, we just tell them, '3rd and 8+ think check routes to boundary ' As time goes it just becomes, "It's 3rd and 9".... I just sprinkle it in during each period. DL don't need to know 'Check route to the boundary, they need to know 5 step drop.
I don't specifically have a period for these, except for goal line/ short yardage, trick plays/ formations, big tendencies/etc....
I just make part of the teaching progression.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 11, 2017 11:48:12 GMT -6
Script it
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 7, 2017 18:24:26 GMT -6
over 12 years ago I was at a top flight program.... 1 HS for the district, 2 feeder MS, youth program was integrated with the 'system'.
We had 60/70+ in each grade7th and 8th at the MS;s. I tracked the players from 7th to 12th grades and we had only 10/12% stay with the program all the way through.
Kids find other things to do, kids transfer, kids 'figure it out' --- they won't play.
the biggest thing you have to sell with your program is what they get from the being there and staying there.
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 4, 2017 18:07:56 GMT -6
I'm not a social media person at all, but how is using social media with today's kids to "recruit the halls" any different than knocking on doors, pulling Jimmy out of class, going down to the filing station/barber shop/ hardware store on Saturday, speaking at the Rotary Club, or visiting a church to "recruit the halls" back 30-35 years ago?
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Post by coachwoodall on Aug 1, 2017 17:39:37 GMT -6
I had one this morning, thought I was going to pop a gasket. Short story long
Our turf field is about 11 years old and so is our Mondo track. Time for some repairs. Welp, of course it is scheduled for this summer after spring ball/track is over. Then it gets moved back to July. Well before our clinic/dead week, we learn they MIGHT be ready to start on the 1st day of practice (July 31). No problem, we have 2 grass fields adjacent that we can use, just are going to have to juggle all 3 teams with times. Oh, and by the way our field maintenance guys already can seem to figure how to handle a Bermuda grass field which really isn't that hard (sand it, skin it to the ground, slice it, and drown it in water). And double oh, they finally realized that those brown patches are fungus and need to replaced.
Yeah, they started the first day, at least they waited until after practice. But on the flip side they didn't bother to replace the sod. So get out to the field day 2 this morning and my great plan for a tempo pursuit/high energy/make the most of these dagjim no contact days was out the window.
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