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Post by mattharris75 on Nov 18, 2015 1:11:24 GMT -6
No, by staff cohesion I mean here on time, knowing what the practice plan is, being able to attend all functions, etc. That is a problem with off campus coaches. Doesn't have to be though, if you have great top down communication and the right off campus coaches.
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Post by mattharris75 on Nov 6, 2015 11:04:32 GMT -6
Sounds like a rich man's problem...
And I say that not to minimize the fact that you do have a legitimate issue you'd like help with. But how many of us are heading into the playoffs right now looking to defend our back to back state championships?... Good luck to you!
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Post by mattharris75 on Oct 11, 2015 22:01:40 GMT -6
I have never received a hate email. I have thought about sending them to officials on occasion, though...
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Post by mattharris75 on Aug 30, 2015 15:54:58 GMT -6
Are you talking on offense or defense? I looked quickly at their highlights on Hudl and they don't have an "old scheme" on defense. And based on what I read about the school, I'm sure they would win no matter what schemes they use. Their defensive alignment is predicated on their opponent. Looking at most of their hudl highlights shows them defensively against teams in 10/11 spread formations. Regarding that they would win no matter what schemes they use, that was kind of my point. Building a program and being successful is NOT about your scheme. I mostly agree, but would probably qualify that by saying that being successful IS about scheme, but only insofar as you have one that is sound and that you can effectively coach the kids up on. It's a piece of a much larger puzzle. But your point stands, the perceived modernity of your schemes is irrelevant.
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Post by mattharris75 on Aug 24, 2015 22:52:57 GMT -6
This is a little different story, as it involves one of my players, but not something he did on the field.
So, we have a kid who is more than a little spacey and odd. On my birthday he sent me a video of him in a fast food drive through buying an ice cream cone, taking it from the employee, and smashing it into his forehead right there. Last year he picked up fertilizer off the ground and ate it because he thought it looked like Nerds candy. Weird stuff, but a good kid.
During the first week of camp this year he and I were talking and I told him, "I bet your parents have a pretty big insurance policy on you, because odds are good you're going to kill yourself at some point".
The following weekend he climbs out of his second floor window to sneak out and go see a girl. He slips and slides down the branch of a crepe myrtle, which essentially tears his p*cker off... Seriously. He's already had a couple surgeries for it and has at least one more scheduled. He came to our jamboree last Friday night. Two weeks later and he's still in a wheelchair. It just doesn't get much more awful than that.
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Post by mattharris75 on Aug 5, 2015 21:31:16 GMT -6
Line Coach Porn, "Squeeze their titties!!" My line for running backs when it comes to ball security, "There's only one word you need to know when it comes to ball security, and as teenage boys I don't expect you'll have a hard time remembering it, 'nipple'. If the ball never leaves your nipple you'll never fumble it. When you're running with it, the ball should rub your nipple off." Not a 'mindless coaching' type of line, I use it every year, and it seems to work. But your quote made me think of it.
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No JV
Jun 14, 2015 21:26:20 GMT -6
Post by mattharris75 on Jun 14, 2015 21:26:20 GMT -6
Only a varsity team. This will be my 10th year at this school. We started a 9th and 10th grade team my first year and have been able to compete at a very high level. Last season our numbers dropped big time and are not getting any better. We were a very good team last season with only 22 varsity kids. This year we should be OK but the future doesn't look so good. Three sets of brothers move because of jobs, two moved because of custody issues, and two brothers moved after a family member pasted away. Ten kids moving will kill a small program. Anyone ever had a scrimmage game each week with the kids that will not play much? If so, some of the guys will need to play later in the week. Looking for ways to keep them interested because we need a JV the following season. We had a 2 game "JV schedule" at a previous stop when we had about 35 kids on the roster and a bunch of them weren't getting much playing time. We just scheduled a home and away series of midseason scrimmages against the same team, who brought their varsity team to both--they were that bad and desperate for a win. We let all the 9th and 10th graders, including a lot of kids who were counted on to contribute on Fridays the same week (6 of which were starters) play on JV, as well as all the non-starting juniors and seniors. We made sure everyone got to play. The kids loved it, but I don't know if it really accomplished much and we had a few injury scares. I'd be wary of doing something like this again unless it were better organized and had a real "JV Season" feel to it. In some states, this can be tough with maximum quarters rules and things like that. I'd be wary of this as well. Last season we let our starting varsity slot receiver (Who was also our backup varsity QB) play quarterback in JV games just to get him some reps at that position. It seemed to be working and was valuable to his development, until he got sacked and broke his collarbone and was out for the rest of the season.
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Post by mattharris75 on Apr 13, 2015 9:46:39 GMT -6
For me, it's always depended on the specific drill and its relevance to our scheme and our personnel. For many drills, particularly any that focus on an individual skill, I just want a rep or two a day. For more complex skills, or things I think the players need more work on at that time, we may max rep it for 5 minutes. So, really it's not a totally static thing. It can vary quite a bit from early to late season and week to week. Kind of hijacking my own thread here but how often do guys put in new drills during the season? I didn't intend to imply that I was adding new drills during the season, just that I adjusted how often we ran certain drills based on performance during the season. For instance, last season we were new to running inside zone. I spent a lot of time early on repping the running back reads. As the season progressed, we got to where we were executing that pretty well, but I noticed other areas that needed improvement (Such as blocking EMOL on sprint out). And perhaps it was my fault due to neglect of those skills. So we'd cut reps on our zone read drill and work our edge blocking drill more. As to adding new drills during the season, I have done it a few times, based on thinking that what I was currently doing wasn't as effective as it could have been. It's not necessarily desirable, but sometimes is for the best, in my opinion. I suppose that my philosophy is that growth as a coach is a constant thing, just like it is for our players. If something I'm doing doesn't service this particular group of kids as well as it should then I'm going to change it if I can.
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Post by mattharris75 on Apr 13, 2015 9:28:38 GMT -6
For me, it's always depended on the specific drill and its relevance to our scheme and our personnel.
For many drills, particularly any that focus on an individual skill, I just want a rep or two a day. For more complex skills, or things I think the players need more work on at that time, we may max rep it for 5 minutes. So, really it's not a totally static thing. It can vary quite a bit from early to late season and week to week.
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Post by mattharris75 on Apr 6, 2015 9:19:52 GMT -6
This makes no sense to me. If your best players can't do it because they will get hurt... Why in the heck would you have anyone do it? This would have lawsuit written all over it. I wasn't thinking about a lawsuit, but I was sort of thinking the same thing overall. I think it makes some sense. For us it's one of those 'first day in pads' things. When we've got a pretty established guy, whose capabilities we already have a pretty good idea of, we're going to have him do one early rep as an example, and get out of the drill. Because, for us one of the main purposes of the drill is an evaluation tool. It lets you see, without regards to a players knowledge of scheme, how aggressive they are, how they deal with contact, how much they want to be involved (We don't mandate reps, and the guys that jump in the most are telling you something). For kids who are new to the program, or who were younger and not significant contributors in previous years, it's a good opportunity early in camp for us to get a good data point on them or a feel for their development in a pretty confined situation. Every year there's a surprise or two. Are their other ways to evaluate? Sure, it's a constant process regardless of a single drill, but it's been a good tool for us. Not to mention all the kids and coaches love it.
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Post by mattharris75 on Mar 31, 2015 8:49:52 GMT -6
I'm in the box, and my header really couldn't care less what I wear. In fact, he told me a great story of his first year as a head coach, at his previous school.
At the time he had a cantankerous old coach who was his mentor, and who also served as his coach in the box. This fellow showed up to the first game of the year, an away game, wearing jeans and non-school related button up shirt. My header asked him why he wasn't wearing the school gear that they had provided him and he responded, "Well, I don't know if we stink yet or not. If we're winning I'll change at halftime".
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Post by mattharris75 on Jan 5, 2015 10:30:27 GMT -6
You often hear that competition is 75% mental and 25% physical. Yet, we spend a majority of our time talking about the importance of the weight room? Wait, wait, wait...before you get your "tighty whites" in a bunch, I run my weight room like we are storming the shores of Normandy. But, I also spend a great deal of time focusing on what works above the neck. I feel that if you can combine a great weight room environment, with successful mental strategies, you have the makings of a winner. I agree with what you said, but I believe that people talk about the weight room precisely because of the other factors you listed. It's not just lifting weights in a vacuum. An excellent off season S&C program builds athletes both physically an mentally. It increases buy-in to the program. It teaches kids how to compete on a daily basis. It builds mental and physical toughness by regularly overcoming obstacles. The daily grind of that shared experience creates camaraderie, which builds a team who will play for one another. There's your motivation. Like I said before, I really don't think the value of a great off season S&C program (and coach) can be overstated. To me, that's the most important assistant coach in a program.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jan 1, 2015 23:23:57 GMT -6
My story: -Went to a high school without football -Worked hard and walked on at an NAIA school, then was awarded a scholarship the next year -Dreamed of being a part of starting a football program at my HS alma mater -Several year later it worked out that I was a part of that, been there all 10 years of the program
So basically I'm a career assistant who has had the opportunity to be a part of starting a football program at my alma mater. It's been great to be a part of giving these guys an opportunity that I never had.
My responsibilities: -Linebackers, 6 years -Running Backs, 5 years -OC or Assistant OC, 4 years -Lots of other off the field junk
Our on-field success: -10 years of football, no winning seasons in first 5 years, no losing seasons in last 5 -2 playoff appearances (2010, 2014), second round once (2010) -1 ten win season
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Post by mattharris75 on Dec 30, 2014 13:20:19 GMT -6
I think you're minimizing the role of the off-season strength & conditioning program in creating a team that 'doesn't crumble on 4th and goal'. Having a great S&C coach is absolutely key to having a great program, in my book.
And I would also add that I'm of the opinion that it's not about getting players to 'run through a brick wall for you', but rather for each other.
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Post by mattharris75 on Oct 21, 2014 10:25:54 GMT -6
1. It's a wash, both sides of the ball have their own unique sets of challenges.
2. Defense is more time consuming to do it well. Film study, scout cards, etc. Although you can find as much work as you want on either side of the ball, if you are so inclined...
3. Also a wash.
4. Offense. Every Tom Dick & Harry thinks they can call plays better than you (even though that's only a piece of the puzzle).
5. I'm sure there are a wide variety of reasons here, but I think one big factor goes back to which side of the ball is more time consuming. Head coaches have a much broader range of responsibilities outside of the on the field stuff, so it's easier to coordinate an offense than a defense with that time constraint of additional responsibilities factored in.
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Post by mattharris75 on Oct 17, 2014 10:58:28 GMT -6
Entering the 2010 season our football program had never had a winning season, never having won more than four games in its short five year history. We had been 3-7 the previous season, the first under a new coach.
In the off-season we switched to the Split Back Veer, and the kids worked their tails off in the S&C program.
Game one of 2010 we played the top team in the state in our classification and lost 21-0. First time I'd ever been proud of a loss, as our guys fought their tails off and were really only a few mistakes away from being in a dogfight with them.
Week two, we're playing an up & coming program, and they think pretty highly of themselves. The first thing their head coach asked us while chatting before the game was whether we thought they stacked up pretty well with the top team in the state we had played the previous week.
Here is a highlight video from the game:
We proceeded to come from 21-7 down at halftime to win 42-41 in double overtime. Our freshman starting QB (now a preferred walk on H-back at alabama) scored the go ahead TD in the second overtime and was hit hard in the head (4 minutes into the video). The game had to be stopped and the EMT's had to come out and put him on a back board and take him to the hospital. The other team then scored a TD on their possession. Instead of kicking and going to a third OT, they decide to go for two. We stoned them on the 2 point conversion attempt (4:30 into the video) to win the game.
We then proceeded to win 10 games in a row and go to the second round of the playoffs, marking a ton of firsts for our program. Before that season we'd never had a winning season, and since that season we haven't had a losing season. Still gives me chills thinking about that night, and the long term impact it's had on our program.
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Post by mattharris75 on Oct 14, 2014 13:04:51 GMT -6
It's extremely unsportsmanlike and not the least bit different than using steroids. For the guy that said it worked out for some child because he got a scholarship, what about the kid that played fair and actually deserved that scholarship?! Is it so great for him? Is it fair the other essentially cheated him out of what he deserved? In my town there's an 8th grader who has been held back twice in the name of sports. What's that teaching him and the other children? Cheating and using loopholes is all perfectly fine and great! Shoot up with some drug that will slip by the tests while you're at it! One post lurker digs up a post from 2009 and goes all irrational sour grapes on it... Really?
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Post by mattharris75 on Aug 20, 2014 11:47:31 GMT -6
We have a very open staff as far as opinion sharing is concerned. Everyone puts in on everything. But when a decision is made, it is done. Wait until the off season. This is the ideal, to me. Every program can get better, and head coach or not nobody has the best or most efficient idea on how to do everything. Great head coaches encourage assistant coaches to have input because it increases the buy in of those assistant coaches and ultimately improves the program. But at the end of the day the head coach has the final say and every assistant coach needs to understand, within the context of their relationship with the head coach, when that decision point has been reached and when to move on.
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Post by mattharris75 on Aug 7, 2014 10:25:39 GMT -6
The sad truth is that most of the recorded summer football deaths are from an un-diagnosed heart ailment and not heat. but that doesnt make it in the paper, or if it does its buried in the back. I had a friend in college who was on the cross country team. During thanksgiving break one year he was at home and doing a 5 mile training run in the woods, and just dropped dead. Excellent physical condition, college athlete, just didn't matter... Very same thing, undiagnosed heart condition. It's a very sad, and seemingly too common thing.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 30, 2014 13:34:59 GMT -6
We'll be at the 7 on 7 event at y'alls place in a few weeks. And we play you guys Week 4 (or is it week 5 now?) at your place. yea we just moved to this new region I'm excited about it. Do y'all still run the split back veer I played at Carson Newman and that's what they ran I haven't seen any other school around here run it yet and I'm excited to see how well a highschool team runs it. We're actually changing things up a bit this year. If you want to see a team that runs the SBV beautifully, Lauderdale County are very impressive to watch.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 30, 2014 10:20:36 GMT -6
Dline at Priceville Highschool We'll be at the 7 on 7 event at y'alls place in a few weeks. And we play you guys Week 4 (or is it week 5 now?) at your place.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 28, 2014 21:56:17 GMT -6
3 hours a week. Two hours on Monday night, and an hour on Thursday mornings after they do conditioning.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 27, 2014 17:57:41 GMT -6
To play devil's advocate, sometimes mindless coaching phrases are just cues coaches use to remind players of drill work. I use "hands hips feet" to remind my DL to play using their hips for leverage. What you've just described, to me, is not a 'mindless coaching phrase'. When you are consistent with your verbiage, in some situations all it takes is a few words to make a player realize what they did wrong. It has meaning. It reminds them of specific coaching points, which they have been taught, and which they failed to execute.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 24, 2014 23:21:26 GMT -6
How'd you end up in Indiana?
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 4, 2014 10:19:46 GMT -6
but they never did anything more positive on the football field than simply being a team mate. Underrated contribution, and great life lesson, IMO.
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 3, 2014 9:33:02 GMT -6
We started summer practices last night. We generally have a few parents who watch from the stands, particularly those who have to drive their kids. No big deal, we've got a lot of really great parents. But last night, I saw a first. Halfway through practice, as we were transitioning from offense to defense, a dad came out onto the field, walked up to the head coach, and asked him if we were 'getting anything' out of his son. What is the thought process there, that you would interrupt a practice of 50 people in order to discuss the productivity of your son? Some people are just unreal... I guarantee you he's been allowed to do exactly that all the way through youth football. I guarantee you he won't be doing it again...
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Post by mattharris75 on Jun 3, 2014 9:22:39 GMT -6
We started summer practices last night. We generally have a few parents who watch from the stands, particularly those who have to drive their kids. No big deal, we've got a lot of really great parents.
But last night, I saw a first. Halfway through practice, as we were transitioning from offense to defense, a dad came out onto the field, walked up to the head coach, and asked him if we were 'getting anything' out of his son.
What is the thought process there, that you would interrupt a practice of 50 people in order to discuss the productivity of your son? Some people are just unreal...
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Post by mattharris75 on May 30, 2014 8:03:48 GMT -6
I don't like the term stealing. I think that implies taking something that you don't have a right to take. In the coaching profession you aren't obligated to share the how, the why, or the specific technique of anything that you do outside of your staff. But by putting a product on the field every Friday night you've just got to recognize that everything that occurs out there is a matter of public record, and it will be recorded and proliferated at least to some degree. And that is at least somewhat out of your control. So simply as an inherent part of what we do we lend tacit approval to others to analyze and glean whatever they can from that product. Our results, if not our methods, are more or less community property. At least that's the justification in my mind.
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Post by mattharris75 on May 27, 2014 12:29:44 GMT -6
In 9 years of coaching there are two losses that still sting. Both were games where we were the generally superior team. How do you get over those?... I really don't have a clue. I've learned from them, but haven't gotten over them. Time helps, but they, and the lessons gleaned from them, never seem to go away. And maybe that's a good thing...
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Post by mattharris75 on May 22, 2014 9:02:11 GMT -6
It's a Lexington coaches meeting up in here...
I remember the first time we played you guys, Fall of 2008 in Lexington. We scored on the first play of the game, on an 80 yard fast screen. Then we proceeded to get pounded 35-7. Hardly even moved the ball after that.
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