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Post by coachks on Feb 25, 2011 9:22:17 GMT -6
Same as above. Had it, enjoyed it a little, then it stopped coming regularly, and when it did come, it was about half the size with more ads. There might be 3 articles in the actual magazine, about 3-5 pages apiece. 15 pages of football, including diagrams, is really nothing.
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Post by coachks on Feb 8, 2011 12:06:47 GMT -6
I find the idea of a "dress code" for practice almost laughable. Coaching a practice is a lot like manual labor. Show up in whatever you're willing to get sweaty and lets you get the job done. Half-way through a 2-a-day, clothes look like crap anyway.
As an aside, I'd be interested to see how people who replied in the coaching fitness thread had a similar view on dress codes (for both teaching, coaching and any other profession). To the point, do those that feel being over-weight is a non-issue have the same thoughts on wearing a tie and khakis, having facial hair, clean hair cuts ect. ect.
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Post by coachks on Jan 25, 2011 18:52:19 GMT -6
It's like taking diet advice from Dr. Phil, you just aren't going to get the same buy-in from everyone. It doesn't change the message, but it makes it tougher.
If you look like a professional strongman, you are going to get some instant-respect, the same way that former players get a degree of instant-respect. Over time you can lose that if you prove to be a dumb ass, and you can obviously earn respect without it. But there is a positive impact to being in shape.
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Post by coachks on Jan 19, 2011 15:17:50 GMT -6
Seriously, how are people so ignorant as to the issues with concussions? Everybody wants to make wild speculation. The solution is very simple.
MAKE THE PLAYERS WEAR THEIR EQUIPMENT.
Mouthguards have been shown to reduce concussions (and, the special formed, very expensive, dentist made/custom fit mouthguards may potentially eliminate them). Yet they are not required in the NFL, and I'm not sure they are in NCAA.
Why are knee pads no longer neccessary? A knee to the head can certainly cause a concussion, a nice, thick, pad on the knee sure seems like a good idea. Yet, those aren't required anymore.
What about hip pads? Thigh pads? F=MV. If wearing all those bulky pads (that players take off) slows a player down....that reduces the force a player hits with.
Same issue with shoulder pads. Maybe, just maybe, putting players in bigger pads...wtih more padding...would reduce the force of collisions. Maybe hitting a kid with a well-padded shoulder, instead of an under-sized, joke of a shoudler pad, woudl protect the kid getting hit. The issue isn't the hitters shoulder, it's the hitted's head.
Along with those radical suggestions, how about enforcing the rules that already exist. Call spearing everytime it happens. It doesn't have to be helmet to helmet, it doesn't need to be on a "defenseless receiver" call a penalty everytime ANYBODY (even RBs, TE ect...) drop their head and lead with the helmet. It's a penalty. It's been a penalty. Start calling Spearing 15 times a game and suddenly coaches start yanking players who spear. Far more effective than maybe fining a player for a helmet to helmet.
Why not repeal the illegal contact penalty, which prevents receivers from being slowed down and opens up the middle of the field...where all these "dangerous" hits happen.
How about calling holding, so the QB can't take 5 step drops and hit the 18 yard DIG constantly...giving the safety the chance to nail the receiver.
Shocker, you open up the passing game (through rules) and you don't like the unintended consequences. Instead of repealing the rules that created the situation, MORE RULES is the obvious answer.
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Post by coachks on Jan 12, 2011 8:24:03 GMT -6
Concerning how to combat the difficulty of wrestling, you can't! It is what is is and what it is is basically a controlled fight. A lot of kids say use excuses like wrestlers are "gay" or want to touch other guys, blah, blah, blah! It's all just to hide the fact that they are afraid. Like I said, without the ability to blame someone else for your failure (like in football), many kids won't take that chance. Or, maybe their just turned off by the wrestling "culture." When I was in school, the wrestlers were like a little cult. A lot of inside jokes (ironically, mostly the "gay" kind). They were also, generally, "meat heads." who somehow brought every conversation around to wanting to fight. Pretty much the same attitude that the MMA wannabe at the bar has. That culture turns a lot of kids off. It has nothing to do with toughness, or fear, and everything to do with not liking their teammates and not wanting to be in that "group". Obviously not every wrestling program is like that. And, there can be lots of football teams that walk the halls with that same attitude. But to categorically place everyone who doesn't want to wrestle as scared because wrestling is so tough...probably turns off a lot of kids.
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Post by coachks on Dec 12, 2010 23:44:53 GMT -6
I was wondering the exact same thing watching it. What they did was so simple it was a real "duh" moment when I saw it. I was thinking snap it the ball and have stanton dance around for a few seconds and just fall.
If you were to couple those ideas, snap it...take a 7 step drop...dance around a second and launch the ball....you can kill 8+ seconds I imagine.
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Post by coachks on Nov 28, 2010 1:44:32 GMT -6
Genetics? Funny you mention that. One of the best programs in our conference (and they just won a state championship) has been putting out the same last names every seasons for years and years. If your great grandad could play, and your grandad could..and you father...then you and your brothers can probably play (and your cousins probably can too). Now, thats in the small-school realm where you have two-way players and you might only have 15 kids that can be put on the field. When they can have a steady supply of "smith's" that's a big plus.
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Post by coachks on Nov 22, 2010 8:44:41 GMT -6
Season has been over for 3 weeks, I gave the boys 2 weeks off. We also are not allowed to let anything before practice have a baring on who starts and who doesn't but I let them know that I expect them to show up. At our banquet I had a S&C coach from a local D1 program come and speak and talk about the importance of lifting and I think it helped a little. What about working in the 8th graders who will be 9th graders next year? This might sound odd, but we don't really want those kids coming in. We wont discourage them, we'll be positive and make a big deal about them showing up....but we really don't want all those extra bodies in the weight room. Not enough equipment. Not enough coaches. And often, teaching them one day is a waste, because they don't show back up for 2 weeks. Last year we ended up designating one day for the middle schoolers to come over. It worked out well. Boosted their attendance consistancy, kept the room free for the older kids and let the coaches focus.
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Post by coachks on Nov 19, 2010 14:03:21 GMT -6
For Varsity-To-Be kids, we expect 90% to be their regularly (70%) or so during the winter. For the JV to be kids, we don't put a ton of pressure on them...especially if they do winter sports. We might get on some of the kids that have a lot of potential, but we aren't hunting down the 115 lb freshman.
Over the summer we expect to see the varsity to be kids regularly, with most of them being close to 100% (or, atleast tell us in advance they are going to miss). We usually have 3 or 4 that only show up 25% or so.
For the JV, we usually see about 80% of the kids, but maybe half of those kids over 50% of the lifts...and maybe 20% of the team to be at 80% plus. The sophs usually make up the "regulars" with the better sophs getting a little heat if they don't show up.
Should note that we typically have between 50-70 kids in the whole program. Usually about 35 on the varsity.
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Post by coachks on Nov 17, 2010 9:11:07 GMT -6
Wouldn't call it "petty stuff" but by their senior year I'd expect it to be perfect. If you half step or false step etc as a senior it isn't the kids fault it is my fault for not fixing it two or three years ago. At least in my eyes. We don't do all that stuff with our WR's and RB's through the course of an entire season...but with the OL we have always gone on the side of caution with CONSTANT care and feeding of the fundamentals. We don't have a TON of OL, so for us, it's an absolute necessity to make sure those kids we do have are so well coached that they can do everything in their sleep in mid-March if need be. It's paid off. We had a record year rushing the ball this season led by a FB who runs a 5.1 (898 yards) and a 165lb TB (1106 yards) that ran a 4.9 and had only taken 12 varsity handoffs last year as a Sophomore. We also had fewer sacks this year than the last two combined. We only started one senior OL, and he dislocated his kneecap week 6. I really credit our OL coaching, kids, and blocking system for that level of success. When asked, our OL captain told the local press that our "attention to detail in teaching OL fundamentals" was a big part of turning our program around. ...and I'm the RB coach...! So, each program has it's emphasis areas. This just happens to be ours, and we proudly hang our hats on it! To piggyback on this a bit, and jml. Other positions don't need as much work with footwork because, often, they are naturally better at it. If a RB doesn't have solid footwork, we call him a guard. If a DB has bad feet, we call him the Will LB. Which isn't to say other positions don't need footwork, because they do, but not nearly as much as the big guys. I coach DBs, and we work footwork about 15-20 minutes a week. Our OL works it 15-20 a day. I would also say our DB's are better at the drills than the OL, not because I'm a better coach, but because our DB's just have better feet. We also have to work our tackling drills more than the DL, because DB's aren't usually good tackler...because they aren't as strong and they don't always like getting their head across. Just my .02
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Post by coachks on Oct 10, 2010 18:57:07 GMT -6
if you were teaching someone to solve algebra problems, and they just weren't getting it, would you start swearing in an effort to get them to solve it? would dropping f-bombs make it more likely that they would get the correct answer? if you were teaching someone how to change a tire, and they just weren't giving a very good performance - just couldn't get it masterd - would you start the swearing in an effort to make them get the job done? if you answer is "yes" then I guess keep swearing away in your attempt to "coach up" your players ... if answer is "no" then why are you swearing? what is it doing to make the player better? how is it part of the ultimate solution of getting a job done, teaching a kid the game of football? Doen't it really depend on why they aren't getting it? If they can't solve the problem because they wont stop texting long enough to learn how to solve the problem, telling them to put that sh*t down might just help them.
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Post by coachks on Oct 10, 2010 7:02:12 GMT -6
Other than the F-bomb (or...the C word, N word) does it really matter? Around here, it's just what people say. You can hear most of it on network TV anyway. It all depends on context. You don't call a kid a piece a sh*t, but at some point he might hear that effort was sh*t.
Oh well.
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Post by coachks on Oct 8, 2010 13:47:43 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses guys. I am with many of you and don't see how it is constructive or positive in any way. I have never seen any one embarassed into performing better. My thought was that if we want the kids to play better than clearly we need to coach better. I am of the belief that everything you see on the field is either coached or allowed. Clearly we were coaching and allowing poor tackling and soft play. Really? Nobody? Humiliation is a pretty big motivating force. Yelling, Benching, throwing a kid out of a drill, pointing something out on film are all, at some level, humiliating. A DB gets burnt deep, now he plays deeper. Why? Getting burnt is embarrassing. RB fumbles, now he keeps two hands on the ball. Why? It's embarrasing. This obviously extends well beyond football (Look at how the Military runs a boot camp. Humiliation is a huge tool for them). I'll also disagree with Mariner to a degree. Not every F up is a kid not "understanding" or not being taught. Some kids are soft. Some kids are undisciplined. I had a RB in a 1 on 1 tackler vs Ball carrier drill, designed to get RBs to run INTO tacklers, keep avoiding contact. I called him out. He knew acknowledged he was avoiding the contact. He acknowledged he KNEW he was not supposed to avoid contact. He didn't like getting hit. No different than a lineman who stands up and peeks in the backfield. They'll acknowledge that they were wrong. But they want to make the tackle. Or they get fatigued and don't want to stay low. At that point, you have to call them out on it (be it verbal, or the depth chart). This handbag award thing is stupid for two reaosns. 1) It attacks a player personality (IE, you're a girl) rather than his actions (You avoided contact). 2) It extends beyond football. But lets not get carried away with the "You shouldn't humiliate a player," stuff. It's all a matter of context and severity. Just like it is with their friends, in the workplace and every other enviorment in life.
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Post by coachks on Sept 30, 2010 12:13:33 GMT -6
In Illinois it goes strictly by school enrollment with private schools having a multiplier. The interesting thing about football classifications is that they are not made until the playoffs. The best 256 teams in the state make the playoffs, confrence champs and 6-3 or better is automatic birth and 5-4 teams with enough playoff points fill out the bracket. The 256 teams are then divided into 8 classifications based on school enrollment. The dividing lines usually end up being pretty consistent from year to year, but occasionally a team will get moved up or down. Same formula in Michigan, except we do not have a private school multiplier. It really hurts the lower 4 classifications. A few private schools absolutely dominate the small public schools (year in, year out).One team in particular put (I believe) 3 kids into the Big 10 last year...playing a public school with 270 kids in it for the "championship." I really like the Illinois model of a 1.6 multiplier (I think that is the number) for private schools. It would put a 500 kid catholic school against 800 kid privates, I think that's a pretty fair line.
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Post by coachks on Sept 30, 2010 12:05:56 GMT -6
If this player was a star I'd question the coach's intentions, but going by the article the suspension is rediculous. Helping out a homeless kid gets you suspended? What has our country come to. It's very similar to the Oher situation, and I hope it ends with similar results. You have to, at the least, look into things and put a little scare into people who may do this to serve their own interests. It's easy to see how slippery the "he was homeless" slope can become. I certainly hope there is no actual punishment from this (atleast from what I read).
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Post by coachks on Sept 11, 2010 12:08:11 GMT -6
What are some of you guys doing for so many hours? Tog especially...what are you guys DOING for 13 hours?
Post Game make copies and do stats (equipment ect...). Watch and analyze tape while it's being copied. We usually make 3 sets of copies, so that is (roughly) 3 viewings. For road games it's 2/2.5 hours, home games we try and get out in about an hour and half and head to the post game festivities.
Saturday. Arrive around 7:30. Show the kids film, run a bit and get them out by about 9:30. We'll handle the exchange and start making copies during this time. Start breakdown around 10:30...or whenever the first batch of tapes is copied. Get formations, personnel and base plays.
Start gameplan (basically, drawing up our base stuff). This should be quick. Defensively we draw up base against what they like and whatever adjustments we talked about over the winter/spring/summer. Unless a team has completely changed it's scheme, we have a pretty good idea of what we want.
Out around 12-12:30.
Meet around noon on Sunday to finalize our stuff. Usually we will have talked on the phone already so it's just putting it down on paper. This is about 30 minutes of good, solid, work and maybe an hour of one-liners and college football discussion.
Including phone time, maybe 9 hours as a staff (including Friday post game).
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Post by coachks on Sept 4, 2010 9:41:29 GMT -6
Most of the coaches in our area will tell us if the JV runs a different program than the varsity. If not, through connections we'll get the scoop. Nobody wants to go in blind.
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Post by coachks on Aug 30, 2010 21:42:21 GMT -6
Didn't want to derail the cramps/dehydration thread, but what do teams eat at halftime? Before reading this forum, I'd never heard of a half-time snack, but I'm interested. No school budget, so looking for something easy/cheap that kids can bring.
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Post by coachks on Aug 28, 2010 18:24:45 GMT -6
Seeing that your OL needs to work on reach blocks will help your sweep more than spending hours trying to formation them. Im of the philosophy that if we take care of ourselves and do our business than everything will normally work out ok. Which, to me atleast, begs the question of: Would you NOT work on reach blocks if you were "good" at them? I'm going to work out base techniques good/bad or indifferent because that is all that matters. I'm sure you are the same way, so that is not my point. More than, what does it really matter what a player "grades out" as, we are going to work our fundamentals and try to improve them.
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Post by coachks on Aug 28, 2010 16:19:22 GMT -6
What about earning/winning the trust of the athlete? Getting kids to respect/trust/like you as a coach is the first thing. That's different than being a buddy. That's different than being their friend. But a player who thinks your just an a-hole, a player who thinks you're incompetent or a player who thinks you're a pushover isn't going to learn.
That's the difference being being able to jump a kid and having him accept responsible and respond, vs jumping a kid and having him go into a shell or becoming defiant.
Now, there are lots of ways and requirements to "win" a kid. Some of those you outlined in the above. But before you can coach a thing, you need kids to be coachable.
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Post by coachks on Aug 27, 2010 10:13:37 GMT -6
Depends on the state of our team. We've had strong teams and ran about 5 plays before pulling the starters. We've had younger teams who needed to build confidence and played to "win."
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Post by coachks on Aug 27, 2010 10:08:40 GMT -6
Lou Holtz also had players who have been playing for, potentially, 8 years at a high level (RS seniors...3 years on HS varsity), and a lot of players who are naturally aggressive.
On the High School level, our juniors have, potentially, 0 years of high intensity, physical football. Some of those kids need more reps than they can get to become aggressive, to play fast and work at the Point of Contact.
I listened to a very successful college coach about his defense last clinic season. It was a session on angles and tackling an one of his main points was that few tackles are missed at the point of contact, most are missed because of angles and leverage. How much high school ball has he watched? Getting the head across. Running the feet. Those are HUGE issues at our level (even beyond pad level). His talk was great and I got a lot out of it, but it's a different level.
There's a major seperation between a college senior and what he needs to prepare, and a high school junior (let alone between a guy thinking about playing in the NFL).
Reign em in? Heck, we are still trying to get some of them to turn into the Hammer instead of the Nail.
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Post by coachks on Aug 26, 2010 21:01:54 GMT -6
Assuming you are the odd-ball, and you are being imitated, there is no reason for you to NOT continue to be the odd-ball.
You bring the Wing- into an area that doesn't see it. You win for awhile and you system starts filtering through the area.
You have to be able to change your system to stay odd. Maybe it's new formations. Maybe it's adding/replacing a series. Maybe it's changing the pass game. Maybe you GET IN THE GUN, but run the same stuff. Maybe you abandon the gun and go back under center.
If you are Wishbone and everyone jumps into the Wishbone. Go Flexbone. If you're flexone and so is everyone else, run your option out of a "power" set (Wishbone/I) and throw in some ISO or Power. It's change without being radical.
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Post by coachks on Aug 25, 2010 18:33:48 GMT -6
Up by 30 Kick. Anything else, go for two.
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Post by coachks on Aug 21, 2010 13:50:08 GMT -6
mariner - I know exactly what you are talking about and the plain simple fact is: there are alot more "Bobby Knight" style (maybe not to that extreme) coaches who are successful than "John Wooden" style. The truth is most coaches are somewhere inbetween as I believe these are the polar extremes. But I'm probably not the best one to reply to this post. Every year my HC says something to me about being to hard on the kids. I will also say, personally I discount Dungy because he coached Pro athletes, that is a far different world than coaching HS or college players. Not saying Dungy was not a great coach, just saying there is a monumental difference between players who make more money than the coach and players in NCAA or HS. It's a different type of motivation. Definately agreed on Dungy. The ability to take away someones job is a much more powerful motivator than any ass-chewing can ever be. To an extent, that same idea can also be applied to a guy like John Wooden. You can pick any player in america and you can cut. Not exactly the same thing as coaching high school ball.
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Post by coachks on Aug 20, 2010 15:09:00 GMT -6
Lots of factors at play here. Chiefly, what caused the error? How many errors are effort/attitude/concentration effors vs how many errors are legit 'learning process" errors.
There also comes a point of diminishing returns, no matter what method you use. At some point kids become immune to yelling/"punshiment", but they also become immune to the "cheerleader" style compliments.
And, of course, accountability. At some point, the player in question AND HIS TEAMMATES have to see the player being held accountable (usually mainfested in playing time).
Another factor would be "tempo" or "intensity" so to speak. How many times can you slow down a drill to "coach" before you hit a lull and the rest of the kids lose interest?
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Post by coachks on Aug 17, 2010 20:17:15 GMT -6
Noticed a serious drop in play when one of our guards adopted the neckroll about halfway through the season. Suddenly he starts missing the flowing LB on pulls
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Post by coachks on Aug 2, 2010 8:33:21 GMT -6
It's a lack of respect. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't matter if it's the NFL, High School, the workplace or the shopping mall. There's a level of respect that is expected to be shown to people with a more senior role (be it veteran players, an authority figure or a simple store employee trying to organize the checkout line).
If you choose to show the lack of respect, you face being ostracized, until you choose to conform. If he is having a issues learning the playbook or understanding a technique, he probably won't get help from the veterans he just disrespected. Maybe he won't get invited over for a poker night or maybe the vet won't pick up his bill after a dinner one night. Who knows?
It's no different than the Sophmore on varsity who won't listen to the seniors. He isn't going to get the invite to the post-game party. Maybe they won't let him borrow an undershirt. Maybe they'll makeup some nickname for him. Once he conforms he's accepted, until then he's not. Boo-hoo.
The same thing exists in the conventional workplace. We've all probably worked with a person who wants to change something the first day on the job. Maybe they take food that isn't theirs, finish the coffee without refilling it or they refuse to watch the lunchroom. They end up isolating themselves until they either quit or conform.
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Post by coachks on Jul 9, 2010 21:14:13 GMT -6
Great topic, something I've really been thinking about.
So many kids are worried about getting along with their teammates, and are scared to rock the boat (IE, call a teammate out, get on his ass, show him up ect...). When you have those kids as the "studs" you can have issues. They actively hold the team back, because they don't want to work hard.
When your studs aren't afraid, that's the leadership you need. I know, real deep insight.
I've been really thinking about how to get kids to understand that "friends" can call out friends. How to phrase it without coming out like some hollywood junk. More importantly, how to phrase it without throwing the last years team (and thus, half of this team) under the bus or calling out their "friends" in the process.
When I figure out how to do that, maybe I'll think about being a header.
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Post by coachks on Jul 6, 2010 22:39:06 GMT -6
Love the responses. Thanks guys. I downoaded a free book on my B & N 'nook' that is from 1919. Its pretty interesting to what a "complete" guidebook from 1919 entails. Its called "Inside Football" really interesting b/c it breaks down the different positions. I'll look at some of those books you suggested. I've learned so much about football on this message board and other coaching clinics etc., I sometimes find myself asking "why the hell is it called an 'eagle' front or why do some people used a 7i, 8 & 9 as DL allignments instead of keeping it consistant with the other tech.? I probably think too much.... Not sure if it was a real question, but it's called an "eagle" front because it became popular with the Philadelphia Eagles (source: Some thread in the defensive section on this board).
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