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Post by jturner on May 26, 2016 10:34:09 GMT -6
I'm doing the military thing with my kids. I'm having the local National Guard come in and put them through some workouts and activities. I don't know what all this will entail, but I know it'll be worth while.
Also, we are having a team camp for 4 days, and we are going to have a madden tournament, group lip sync battle, and I'm going to be making kids have roommates with kids they don't normally associate with. I'll be changing room assignments nightly to facilitate this.
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Post by jturner on May 20, 2016 13:14:39 GMT -6
As I get older and am taking over as a Header at 28, I realize that modelling appropriate and inappropriate behavior is one of the biggest things I have to do. This means more than just football too. How to act on and off of the practice field as well as in the classroom. Many of my students have poor father figures who aren't the best role models. I constantly run into problems with the 6th graders that I teach, because they do not have a man in their life that disciplines them. It really frustrated me at the beginning of the year, but now that I realize this, it doesn't bother me as much, because I know they need it. I'll have to take the same approach with the high school players too. They have been a rather unruley bunch and there haven't been many dads pop up at events. I know that I'll still have to be firm and give them the tough love they need. This is not something that I expected that I would be doing at this age as I don't have kids or even a girlfriend. Quite a culture shock to be honest.
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Post by jturner on May 20, 2016 12:05:08 GMT -6
I'd have to go with Frosty Westering, and Bud Wilkerson. They both seem like they'd have unique experiences I could use.
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Post by jturner on Apr 27, 2016 19:39:10 GMT -6
I use/used publisher for mine. They look good enough for what I want to accomplish.
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Post by jturner on Apr 3, 2016 15:20:29 GMT -6
This is pretty much the approach my school wants us to take as we teach. I teach 6th grade math and I know my kids don't do as well if I teach them an isolated skill. I try to spiral in what I can, and that definitely helped those skills improve over the course of the year. I think there is tons of merit to it in the classroom.
As for football, I think this is the approach that Mike Leach and the Air Raid guys take. They install a few things over a couple of days and then come back to it and reinstall it. As time progresses, they become highly intelligent at the few things they are doing. I think it would be pretty hard to operate at the pace they do in games if they didn't practice that way. I think it may be tough to do in some individual things where you kind of need a basic understanding, but if it's anything like how my kids work in math, you've got enough to master all the skills instead of just wasting time on one or two
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Post by jturner on Feb 14, 2016 15:43:35 GMT -6
In fairness- I've never done this. It's always felt like "selling your soul" a little. I hate the thought of selling these kinds of guys on something as a benefit to THEM, when that goes against our core values as a team. I want guys who want to play football and be part of what we're trying to build. I don't want guys who I need to convince. I don't want to hire mercenaries. I've had basketball guys join up on their own, but usually because our existing players sell them on it, not me. And THAT'S when you know things are really working. Your players go after the "right kind of guys" and there's no promises, no Facemelter, etc. It's just a couple of guys who love playing convincing a buddy to come and share the experience. I think when you need to convince someone, you end up with a player who isn't there for the team. They're there because of the sell-job and they aren't going to lay it out there for you. Maybe this "hands off" approach to recruiting will be the end of me, but I'm ok with that. This is my feeling for the most part. If they aren't already out, there's probably a good reason for it. Now, there are some kids that haven't been exposed to football that are worth getting. Figuring out the prima donnas from these types of kids is the key
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Post by jturner on Sept 14, 2015 21:35:57 GMT -6
When you drink more beer then water... Yea my season is that bad, 0-3 - offense has scored 6 points, defense is giving up an average of 17 a game. An average of 17 per game? I would take that right now. Agreed. Same here
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Post by jturner on Jul 12, 2015 16:23:26 GMT -6
I'm the only one on my staff.
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Post by jturner on Mar 30, 2015 9:37:54 GMT -6
Here is all you need to know about hot and crazy There are times where I miss dating in the Danger Zone... Those were interesting times. Haha. I agree. I've got a buddy that only dates up there. His car has been keyed or egged at least 10 times. I don't know how he finds em.
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Post by jturner on Mar 29, 2015 17:05:59 GMT -6
Here is all you need to know about hot and crazy
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Post by jturner on Dec 20, 2014 13:14:40 GMT -6
Living: John Gruden or John Jenkins. Gruden for the laughs, and Jenkins to learn from one of the craziest/best offensive minds.
Dead: bud wilkinson just for the fact that he was able to build a powerhouse at Oklahoma and it not get stagnant. I've read a couple of his books, but talking in person would be awesome.
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Post by jturner on Dec 18, 2014 20:30:37 GMT -6
I believe both UNC and NC State have excellent online resources from their agriculture departments regarding athletic field care. I'm also thinking either Indiana or Purdue has information about this as well. I was part of a staff that installed a new sod field a few years ago and recall finding this information. It had "schedules" as to fertilization and what types to use throughout the year depending on what type of grass you have. Sorry I don't still have the link. More than likely it would be Purdue. It's an ag and engineering school
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Post by jturner on Feb 26, 2014 20:24:09 GMT -6
Overall, it seems like a pretty cool product. I can think of many uses. (Mostly ones you thought of)I would be curious though to see how often you had to apply coats of the stuff to continually see results. That would be my only concern. Yea, the reviews I have read basically sounded like the people were disappointed that it did not last longer... I am not sure if they thought it was a once or twice a year application or what... But as long as it would last through a game or practice I would be fine with it. Kind of what I was thinking. It would be real nice if there were some longevity to it. Having to apply 2-3 coats of paint to keep it going over the course of a season would get tedious and pricey. The thought of being dry during a rain game without having to wear a bunch of jackets or waders does seem worth it though.
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Post by jturner on Feb 26, 2014 19:57:20 GMT -6
Overall, it seems like a pretty cool product. I can think of many uses. (Mostly ones you thought of)I would be curious though to see how often you had to apply coats of the stuff to continually see results. That would be my only concern.
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Post by jturner on Feb 2, 2014 10:59:11 GMT -6
We have the kids buy their own in their practice pack. The kids can then use their own for all 4 years they are in the program. Some will donate theirs after they leave for some of the less fortunate kids that can't afford them. Finally, this helps cut down on the number of pads we need. With the 5 pack, all you need to keep on hand are knee pads. Much more cost effective for smaller programs.
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Post by jturner on Jan 6, 2014 23:40:27 GMT -6
I love hearing the coaches putting the analysts in their place. Coolest way I have ever watched a game! That and it was cool when those guys predicted the fake punt in the 1st half. Seeing Addazio jacked up over the OL blocking was cool to see as well.
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Post by jturner on Jan 6, 2014 21:48:47 GMT -6
If Matt Millen wasn't on it, it would be perfect
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Post by jturner on Nov 10, 2013 11:20:07 GMT -6
What do you do in your program to hold your players accountable for missed assignments or improper technique (being un-coachable?) I would like to run them, but at the rate we were going this year, we would have been a bigger, uglier cross country team. I think you could run them or have some other type of punishment to do like push ups, sit-ups, etc
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Post by jturner on Nov 10, 2013 0:08:50 GMT -6
This was my former head coach's standard approach. I didn't think there was any other way until I started working for the HC now. He takes an active role in getting kids' names out there. It's made me rethink our entire role in the process. I agree. We do very little, and if it were up to me I would do more. In our defense though, we rarely if ever even get 1AA talent. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using proboards If you're getting D2/D3/NAIA players, you're doing better than us. There's nothing worse than game planning vs a D1 RB and having D-none talent. With that, I find our team in quite a pickle. We could probably send 2-3 to a D3 school, but the likelihood of them staying on the team, keeping grades up, and actually playing is slim to none. That would in turn make our school look bad, and if we actually had someone that could play, they might overlook him for the name on jersey. Also, I'm not sure how it works in other states, but recruiting for D3/D2 in Indiana is basically a cattle call after national signing day for the big boys. Lots of the colleges send guys to you, and they get all of the names of players that are interested in playing football after high school. It just doesn't seem like someone would need a recruiting coordinator at the hs level nowadays.
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Post by jturner on Oct 3, 2013 0:06:36 GMT -6
I hear you coach. Something to remember to is that it's not about how good you are, it's about how good the people you play are. I coach at a 2A school in Indiana. We should be 1A, but got screwed on realignment..long story. Either way, the previous two years, we had the best records in school history. (Schools only been playing football for 10 years total.) We had gotten up to 40 players and were loaded with sophomores and juniors who had 2-3 years of varsity experience. You'd think we would be in good shape. Well, before the season started, we had 3 seniors quit, 3 juniors quit, and 1 sophomore move to a different school. 2 of 3 seniors would have started and had started previously. All 3 juniors had and would have started. The sophomore would have started too. We were still expecting to be pretty good. We changed defenses to get some more of our speedier guys on the field as we lost some of our bigger guys to graduation. We play the D well like you said 95% of the time, but the 5% we don't looks atrocious. However, of our first 6 games, we've played 4 that were either ranked or were receiving votes to be in the top ten. The first game was against the now #1 in class 1A. The second was against a team that has only lost 1 game all year. The third team has a 6'2" 240 RB going at least D2 in some capacity. We beat the 4th and 5th teams easily, before getting beat by another team that has only lost 1 game and has a kid with a full ride to Ball State. (Kid ran for 415 yards in the 1st half before hurting a shoulder in the 3rd. Score was a wild 71-60 loss.) Throughout the course of these games, we looked real good at times and other times real bad. However, we had been improving and looked like a solid team. We just lack some people in certain positions that hold us back. It has been real discouraging to our coaching staff as we feel like we've over-achieved and underachieved. However, I think that is one of the beautiful things about coaching. The struggle is what keeps us coming back. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Keep your head up and finish through the grind. Keep doing things right and they will eventually turn around. When they do, you can sit back and take pride in your hard work. It'll be worth it. You guys keep plugging away up there at EG, things will work out. Same for you guys coach. Saw some of your film, and you guys looked pretty solid compared to what it was. I lost a bet on you guys not beating Mitchell. That was a tough one for a lot of people around these parts.
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Post by jturner on Oct 2, 2013 18:40:16 GMT -6
I hear you coach. Something to remember to is that it's not about how good you are, it's about how good the people you play are. I coach at a 2A school in Indiana. We should be 1A, but got screwed on realignment..long story. Either way, the previous two years, we had the best records in school history. (Schools only been playing football for 10 years total.) We had gotten up to 40 players and were loaded with sophomores and juniors who had 2-3 years of varsity experience. You'd think we would be in good shape. Well, before the season started, we had 3 seniors quit, 3 juniors quit, and 1 sophomore move to a different school. 2 of 3 seniors would have started and had started previously. All 3 juniors had and would have started. The sophomore would have started too. We were still expecting to be pretty good. We changed defenses to get some more of our speedier guys on the field as we lost some of our bigger guys to graduation. We play the D well like you said 95% of the time, but the 5% we don't looks atrocious. However, of our first 6 games, we've played 4 that were either ranked or were receiving votes to be in the top ten. The first game was against the now #1 in class 1A. The second was against a team that has only lost 1 game all year. The third team has a 6'2" 240 RB going at least D2 in some capacity. We beat the 4th and 5th teams easily, before getting beat by another team that has only lost 1 game and has a kid with a full ride to Ball State. (Kid ran for 415 yards in the 1st half before hurting a shoulder in the 3rd. Score was a wild 71-60 loss.) Throughout the course of these games, we looked real good at times and other times real bad. However, we had been improving and looked like a solid team. We just lack some people in certain positions that hold us back. It has been real discouraging to our coaching staff as we feel like we've over-achieved and underachieved. However, I think that is one of the beautiful things about coaching. The struggle is what keeps us coming back. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. Keep your head up and finish through the grind. Keep doing things right and they will eventually turn around. When they do, you can sit back and take pride in your hard work. It'll be worth it.
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Post by jturner on Aug 17, 2013 22:13:56 GMT -6
Seeing everything from 1 hour to 2 hours, which is what I expected. We had a team that showed up 10 minutes before kickoff one time.........it was a momentum thing for them, and completely threw us off. Anyone do this? Planning to do this to our week 1 rival. They're only 25 min away. They have a brand new head coach in his first game. Should rattle him even more than he'll already be.
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Post by jturner on Jul 3, 2013 10:30:00 GMT -6
Coach,
One thing you might be able to do is use the age and experience of the seniors to your advantage. They should be rather experienced in technique and your blocking schemes by this point in their careers. What you can do is use them as coaches for the younger/less experienced players. For instance, if you are working on block progression, have your first guys demonstrate the technique, then have them watch the people in their line to see if they are doing the technique right or not.
They always say that you don't truly know something until you can teach it. Teaching technique and blocking schemes to the younger guys will help them out in the long run.
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Post by jturner on Jun 16, 2013 18:10:20 GMT -6
For a guy that doesn't have kids, this was a good read. The risk section was very interesting to read as person under 30. Makes you think about your childhood that is for sure.
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Post by jturner on Mar 10, 2013 11:03:26 GMT -6
My favorite saying, and the one that irritates the players the most is, "Lower." I use this phrase all the time. I will say this though, the players may hate me, but our Power Clean, Squat, and blocking angles have gotten much better...Go figure.
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Post by jturner on Mar 9, 2013 19:52:37 GMT -6
Mariner, one thing to consider- in English there is at least some "down time". Fridays are independent reading for our classes... Plus, when I need to do anything football related, I can have he class read (or work on grammar, etc.) for a day. PE is easier to prepare for, but you are ON all period... that's my experience anyway. The years I was exclusively PE, I missed the time in the classroom- especially on game day. A lot of times I wished I was at a desk working instead of refereeing volleyball... or whatever we were doing in PE. In my 22 years, I have taught English, PE and social studies (along with being an AD, Dean of Students in the past as well) Currently I have English (9th and 11th) and 1 weights (hopefully 2 weights next year). My favorite schedule is 1/2 English and 1/ PE... which I have had in the past and am hoping to achieve here. I had K-12 PE in a small school... elementary PE (especially K-2) was exactly "herding cats". Compared to that I would much rather teach HS English. That was my thinking when I chose English over that Social Studies job, but with the kids I have (who average in the 17th percentile), I get no downtime unless I'm showing a movie or my SPED partner in the Inclusion class (a fellow coach on staff) is teaching his 1 day a week. My kids have to be kept on a very tight leash or it turns into chaos and the kids don't accomplish anything. SSR, worksheets, etc. go nowhere unless I stay on them like glue. Scantrons are good to help with the grading workload, but our machine's been broken for weeks. As much as I like my SPED partner and the kids as individuals, I really want to switch to social studies, or at least a different ability grouping. It's a real headache trying to teach an academic subject to all the problem kids and hold them to the same standards as the "general population" when most of them wipe their @$$es with the papers I spend hours grading and giving detailed feedback for each week. I know how this goes. I only get a SPED partner once a week to help with the kids. I teach English 10 and 12 to all sophomores and seniors. Grading papers is very time consuming especially once you add that to working on an English Masters, after school remediation plans, and try to coach at a school 30 minutes away. (School I'm at now doesn't have football.) Not to mention this is my actual first year of teaching. Next year, it is looking like I'll be doing it all again, but I'll be picking up either an Econ or Government class on top of that. I will definitely be over worked and under paid.
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Post by jturner on Mar 9, 2013 14:41:53 GMT -6
I am on the map... If only my team was... Haha. Agreed
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Post by jturner on Jan 13, 2013 16:25:27 GMT -6
--Figure out who makes the school run. HINT: It's likely not the principal. That means introducing yourself to the maintenance men/janitor and the secretaries in the office!! Get to know them by first name asap! Thank them, encourage them, make them feel part of the program. It's amazing what you can get done with these people on your side. And on the flip-side...how difficult life can be if they are not on your side Also, figure out the politics of the school as soon as possible. At the job I hired into this year as a first year teacher, (different from school I coach FB at) I learn more and more about who runs the place so to speak and which campers are extremely unhappy about who runs it. Critical piece of information they cannot teach you in college. Figuring out quickly who to trust and who not to trust is key. As fasterthanthefly said, getting to know the janitors and the secretaries is key to getting small, odd jobs done quickly and efficiently when you are in a pinch. Lastly, if possible, figure out which parents/families/board members have the most control. In the small, rural area where I teach, it is all about what your last name is and how much your parents make. If any one of these parents have a complaint it is you, the teacher's fault, not the student, parent, or administrator. This was a very very tough thing to figure out early on as the administration was very worried about making these people mad and I caught the brunt of it trying to make adults out of pampered adolescents. Moral of the story, figure these out first, then do what you are paid to do in coaching. That part should be easy. Getting everyone else in the building on your side will be the tough part.
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Post by jturner on Aug 8, 2012 21:51:06 GMT -6
This is pretty much us, except for our guys have played for 2-3 years. Add that in with the Athletic Trainer handing out concussions and doc visits like she gets a commission. (She doesn't get paid by the school, but by the local hospital.) We had a kid who had a bump on his arm and she sent him in to get an X-Ray. The player told me that the doctor basically laughed when he saw it, and told the player to get out of his office, because he was fine. We started out with 36 players at the start of 2 a days. We are now only going to be able dress 25 people for the scrimmage this Friday night due to injuries, and having 1 kid quit after getting a separated shoulder, and another due to losing his eligibility due to poor attendance. Even worse, the header and I get a text last night from the same kid who had the arm boo boo, saying that he was going to miss the scrimmage due to a church function. So as the OL/DL coach, I started out with 11 people who could play OL and 7 to play DT. After concussions and other miscellaneous happenings, I'm down to 6 OL guys and 3 DTs. I'm at a 1a school, so this isn't terrible, but the school we scrimmage is double our school size and has 60+ kids. Add that with the fact that we play a team that made it to the state semifinals in Week 1...FML In conclusion, it could be worse. Are you on my coaching staff? "Athletic Trainer handing out concussions and doc visits like she gets a commission." - Check. (although to be fair, since our 'come to Jesus' session she's been much better. That's a good story.) We had 47 kids on day 1, last monday. 27 at practice on saturday, 31 on monday...44 for the scrimmage on tuesday. Last friday 3 texted me telling me they wanted to miss practice to go to a church function - which was basically a swim party. I let them make their own decision, the skipped. I took their equipment. One's mother called me and didn't understand why I took their equipment because it was a church function. I told her "Jesus Loves High School Football and was disappointed the boys skipped practice to go swimming." - she responded "I don't think that's funny" and hung up. Damm...one less Christmas card this year... We are a D2 school (2nd largest in Ohio), we have just under 1000 kids in our school, less than 50 9-12 for football. We have 9 varsity linemen total. Skill kids out the wazu...but not really "skill skill" just skinnier kids who can't play O/D line. But we looked OK in our scrimmage on Tuesday. Not world beaters but better than last year. Though the bar from last year is more of a stripe than a bar. Stay healthy my friend. Thanks for the well wishes, and I must say that is spooky reading some of your older posts as we are going through the same things. I just wish my header had the same sense of humor. It would add more spice to the situation.
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Post by jturner on Aug 8, 2012 9:42:05 GMT -6
Man we looked so soft. Pillows hitting each other is best way to describe it. I don't ever recall a team so soft. 80% of my guys never played football. Been doing small groups all of july. I don't think these guys get big picture of football. This is pretty much us, except for our guys have played for 2-3 years. Add that in with the Athletic Trainer handing out concussions and doc visits like she gets a commission. (She doesn't get paid by the school, but by the local hospital.) We had a kid who had a bump on his arm and she sent him in to get an X-Ray. The player told me that the doctor basically laughed when he saw it, and told the player to get out of his office, because he was fine. We started out with 36 players at the start of 2 a days. We are now only going to be able dress 25 people for the scrimmage this Friday night due to injuries, and having 1 kid quit after getting a separated shoulder, and another due to losing his eligibility due to poor attendance. Even worse, the header and I get a text last night from the same kid who had the arm boo boo, saying that he was going to miss the scrimmage due to a church function. So as the OL/DL coach, I started out with 11 people who could play OL and 7 to play DT. After concussions and other miscellaneous happenings, I'm down to 6 OL guys and 3 DTs. I'm at a 1a school, so this isn't terrible, but the school we scrimmage is double our school size and has 60+ kids. Add that with the fact that we play a team that made it to the state semifinals in Week 1...FML In conclusion, it could be worse.
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