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Post by Coach.A on Jun 11, 2019 11:39:17 GMT -6
We were evicted for their radio and tv crews.
When you say "TV Crew", do you mean the game was broadcasted on television? If yes, why not track down a copy of that film?
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Post by Coach.A on Jun 10, 2019 19:05:42 GMT -6
Hello all, the title says it all. What are some non contact competition drills (like Oklahoma drill, downs, 1st and goal at the 10, etc.) that you use to get your guys competing everyday in your program? We have a non-contact camp coming up next week and I am trying to get some ideas. If you have some specific ones for lineman and skill guys that would be great. Thanks guys! This one of my all-time favorite drills. Big shout-out to davecisar for sharing this. The Deer Hunter GameI like it for many reasons: - It's great conditioning
- Good opportunity to do some realistic COD and starting and stopping
- It's a lot of fun
- It encourages teamwork. The "hunters" have to work together
- It's HIGHLY competive
I have only played the game with the Nerf balls a few times. Instead, we just play "Tag" and call it "Cops and Robber". I mark off a playing area (usually about half a football field). There are usually 3-4 "cops". They have to work together to take all the "robbers". We will put a stopwatch on the cops and create an incentive or have a prize for the team that captures all the robbers in the least amount of time. We also create a prize or incentive for the last remaining "robber" in each round. Also a good idea to give each team of cops about 2-3 minutes to discuss strategy prior to the round beginning. Coach, could you provide some more detail on this Deer Hunter game? The link you provided doesn't work.
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Post by Coach.A on Jun 10, 2019 7:22:17 GMT -6
I would argue that the vast majority of the teams with losing records do not have losing records because of their X's and O's. More often than not, teams struggle due to a lack of talent and/or poor team culture & leadership.
How many genius coordinators have we seen struggle as head coaches? Would you think twice about buying a offensive resource from a guy who won multiple championships as an OC, but struggled as a head coach?
That said, I do understand where you're coming from. I think it's a bold move for a coach to sell a "system" when he has not had proven success with it.
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Post by Coach.A on Jun 7, 2019 16:35:12 GMT -6
Our numbers have increased steadily over the past 3 years while many of the schools around us have seen a decline. Here are some of the things that have worked for us:
1. We put effort in to promoting/marketing our program through social media. I never had any personal social media and was very skeptical of using it for our program, but I am 100% confident that it has helped grow our program. I don't pretend to be an expert in social media, but I think we do a very good job of making our players feel important through our social media platform. We "overhype" every positive thing they do through our Team's social media...for example if a kid hits a big PR in the weight room we will post it. If a kid in our program wins an academic award, we post it, etc. We try to stay very active and in the "media cycle" throughout the entire year. We post almost daily about any and all things related to our program. For example if the new shoulder pads we ordered arrive, we'll do an "unboxing video" and talk about how great our equipment is.
2. We have significantly reduced the amount of time we spend practicing and meeting. We almost never have lunch time Team meetings anymore. Our Monday practices are now just helmets and only 1 hour long and 20 minutes MAX of film. Thursday practices are only about 1.5 hours now. There are other factors at play, but it seems like the less time we spend practicing/meeting, the better we get.
3. We've made a great effort to get parents more involved in our program. Anytime parents have a positive experience, they will sell your program in the community. Tailgating, BBQ's and post game parties are huge for developing this sense of community in your program.
4. We use a bunch of ridiculous props and awards to make the game more fun for our players. Weekly players of the game get very realistic foam weapons for awards (Offensive player of the game = Sword, Defensive player of the game = Battleaxe, Specials = Spear, Hustle = Spiked Mase), We have a pick axe for interceptions, turnover chain, WWE style Championship belt for hardest hit, etc. We had a Team DJ play music at some practices last year. We crank an Air Raid siren after TDs. Admittedly, most of this stuff is ridiculous, but it all comes back to having fun. They're kids and they want to have fun.
There are so many more fun alternatives available for kids these days, so you have to compete to offer a 'more fun' product.
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Post by Coach.A on May 28, 2019 7:36:58 GMT -6
My 2 cents, the rah rah buzzword bs that comes from coaching Twitter is an embarrassment to our profession. It's all self promotion in disguise. With that said, culture is extremely important. In my experience, guys who are buzz word hashtag coaches are also facemelter guys. The local hashtag coach around here is a 5 wide empty guy with a noodle armed qb and they suck, but hey they dominate the other teams in the area on Twitter. Right down the road from him is a 35 year veteran wing t coach who probably doesnt know what Twitter is but his team lifts like crazy all year round. The first coach has buzzword/twitter culture and the second has a real, effective, team culture. JMO I agree that much of the social media promotion is over-the-top and the self-promoting coaches usually makes me cringe. But social media marketing can be done tastefully and it can help grow and brand your program. I'll be the first to admit that some of the stuff on our Team's social media account is over-the-top ridiculous but it is almost always done to promote our student athletes, volunteers and program. Our players love it and it has really helped sell our football program to the community. Most regions have seen a drop in football participation numbers lately. If you aren't promoting your program, athletes can be pulled to other programs and/or other sports & extra-curriculars. I think it also helps combat against people trying to eliminate football. It allows us to show all the great things our football program does for our community and students. We've seen clear and consistent growth in participation numbers since we started marketing our program on social media 3 years ago. I'm not a fan of our societies obsession with social media, but it is a reality. Adapt or die.
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Post by Coach.A on May 27, 2019 8:45:18 GMT -6
I haven't read the entire thread yet and maybe what I'm about to write has been posted... I can't help but think about this inversely from the way the OP has presented it, particularly because our team, community, etc continues to battle it. Our "culture" is affected by our scheme and therefore prevents us from reaching our maximum potential. I believe kids are more savvy than they used to be. There's more information being passed around which allows kids, etc to form ideas and opinions of their own. In short, it's hard to explain to a group of kids, parents, etc that absolutely hate running/watching old school wing-t when they know there are modern variations that are "cooler" and more successful/relevant. We're talking about players that can cite the Auburn's of the football world and question "why we don't?" Our players are true 2 way guys and I'm just the DC but I can tell you it is way more challenging managing the psychological mind F@#$ these kids face during games because we struggle on offense AND they hate playing in it at the same time. All this to say I definitely believe that there are times when your culture better be in order or your job will be a lot harder and even risk possibly losing your team altogether. Interesting, we found that a recent switch to the Wing-T helped IMPROVE our offensive production, culture and the excitement around the program. There were definitely several other factors at play in our Program's growth, but I think the Wing-T has facilitated this growth rather than hinder it.
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Post by Coach.A on May 18, 2019 8:43:09 GMT -6
If you have larger resistance bands, doing on an individual tug of war competition is a great one. Two start off inside the resistance band facing away from each other and try to pull and drag each other. It's a lot of fun. Tried that one, somehow it slipped off of one kid as he was clawing and climbing on the ground trying to win and smoked the other kid in the thigh...that was a quick exit from the competition books! We used sled harnesses for this tug-of-war competition. A bit safer and our players really enjoyed it.
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Post by Coach.A on Apr 24, 2019 7:23:40 GMT -6
Sure it does. It's part of being a good coach. It's what good coaches do. Then you've never taken over a program that hadn't won a game in five years before you got there. We have taken over over a program that won only 1 game in 5 years, and I agree that you need to dig much deeper than traditional on-field coaching duties to elicit change. If you're insinuating that " just coach your kids" also entails developing community relationships, getting families involved, marketing your program and creating a Program vision/identity, developing/teaching leadership throughout the school year, fundraising, developing a strength & conditioning program, etc., then I guess this is just a semantics issue. We were fortunate to experience significant success, but it would not have been possible without the strong administrative support we received. Our administration shares our vision for the Program and they are philosophically aligned with our coaching staff.
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Post by Coach.A on Apr 22, 2019 13:16:03 GMT -6
If I had to simplify my answer, I would say our emphasis on building Team culture is working for the following reasons:
1. Our off-season workout attendance is at an all-time high
2. We have more people than ever wanting to be a part of our Program (players, staff, parents, and community members)
3. Players are now holding each other accountable. We can still improve significantly in this area, but just the fact that it's visible now is a major milestone for our Program.
It has taken us several years to get to this point and I think we still have significant room for improvement.
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Post by Coach.A on Apr 20, 2019 12:50:39 GMT -6
Our principal just offered to purchase a washing machine and dryer for our athletics program. We'd be using the machines mostly to wash game uniforms and other cloth equipment. I was also thinking about getting our Start / Spec classes to do a daily or weekly laundry for our players items as well (under shirts, socks, etc.).
I have no idea about what kind of machines to buy. Our principal told me to provide him with 3 quotes (a higher end model, a middle of the road model, and lower end model). Can anybody offer some advice on what types of washing machines and dryers would be best for our football program?
Thank you in advance.
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Post by Coach.A on Apr 2, 2019 18:30:53 GMT -6
I believe the transfer rules DO protect the vast majority of student athletes, albeit indirectly. Transfer rules help create parity by preventing "super teams" from forming through recruiting. They prevent corruption through recruiting that undermines the integrity of amateur high school athletics.
If recruiting and transferring were allowed, you would see many teams fold...mainly teams that don't have recruiting resources or amenities to attract top recruits. This would lead to fewer opportunities for student-athletes to play football. Furthermore, it would undermine many of the life lessons that we try to teach our student athletes through football.
I agree that the existing transfer rules may not be ideal for a very small number of individual athletes, but I believe this is a necessary drawback to protect the system as a whole.
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Post by Coach.A on Apr 2, 2019 14:44:53 GMT -6
We use thegraphicedge.com
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Post by Coach.A on Mar 17, 2019 10:27:15 GMT -6
Coach A is a "culture" coach who doens't know jack about Xs and Os. His coaches are solid role models who have strong relationships with the players. The players love football and lift almost religiously. His staff, while clueless about the latest spread RPO quadruple options people are running, are good at coaching fundamentals of blocking, tackling, ball security, etc. He does the goofy teambuilding activities and speaks in Tony Robbins' motivational quotes like some goofy internet meme generator. However, their schemes are extremely simplistic and pretty easy to scheme against: they sit in one formation and run the same 3 plays over and over all night long. Coach A romps every every time. Pizza Party after the game! Wow! People sure love talking about me in this thread! In all seriousness, I obviously know that "Coach A" is a hypothetical person in the above scenario, but there are some shocking similarities. 3 years ago we switched to an almost "idiot proof" minimalist Wing-T offense. Very basic X's & O's. It was also around that time that I stumbled across Randy Jackson's resources and eventually his book "Culture Defeats Strategy" that was referenced by the OP. I thought the book was EXCELLENT and it was exactly what we needed at that point in our Program's journey. We applied many (not all) of his strategies for building culture and I 100% believe that they worked. We have overachieved significantly the past 3 years and went undefeated this past season and won a provincial championship (state championship). We beat a higher ranked opponent 45-12 in the championship game. The past 2 seasons have been the most successful in the school's 51 year history. Our JV team also went undefeated this past season. Our varsity Team should be even better next year. So far our off-season strength training participation numbers are at an all time high! We are set up for sustained success and I believe Team culture is the driving force behind this.
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Post by Coach.A on Mar 12, 2019 21:48:18 GMT -6
In "Sabanese" the phrase "trust the process" means to NOT worry about the scoreboard and instead just focus on doing your job at the highest level.
Basically, just worry about winning the next pitch. I think it makes sense in that context.
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Post by Coach.A on Feb 25, 2019 10:15:24 GMT -6
Searched the Big Game site and couldn't find it. Do you have a link?
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Post by Coach.A on Feb 10, 2019 20:00:14 GMT -6
A simple one we did that got positive feedback was Family Appreciation Night. Players gave their away jersey to their fathers to wear. Before the game, each player gave their mother a rose and a hug. We played "We Are Family" over the sound system while this happened. We got some great photos and the mothers loved it!
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Post by Coach.A on Jan 16, 2019 22:18:27 GMT -6
If admin were to approve steroid testing, where would it stop? Would they test for students using adderall (illegally) to improve test scores? Would they also test drama and band students for use of beta blockers during auditions?
All of these drugs are considered performance enhancers in their respective competitive areas (athletics, academics, auditions).
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Post by Coach.A on Jan 10, 2019 8:57:58 GMT -6
We've had horrible issues with Riddell. New game pants/jerseys ripped and torn the first year. This past year (year 2) was even worse. We had a jersey last year where one of the letters got ripped off the front of the jersey. Instead of giving us a new jersey, they "repaired it" but didn't replace the letter. They were not willing to stand by their product. I will never get uniforms from them again. Extremely disappointing. What style of Riddell jersey did you buy? We have the Riddell motion fit jerseys and we're very satisfied with the quality of the product.
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Post by Coach.A on Jan 8, 2019 20:55:31 GMT -6
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Post by Coach.A on Dec 10, 2018 15:57:08 GMT -6
What does a regular teacher (that doesn't coach anything) make in Texas?
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Post by Coach.A on Dec 2, 2018 9:57:57 GMT -6
Not college but you should get Steve Jones from Kimberly High School in Wisconsin. He will give the best program building talk anyone will hear. I MUCH prefer to listen to high school coaches speak on topics of scheme and program building. I do enjoy watching the college and pro presentations about fundamentals...they tend to have better practice/drill video compared to high school coaches. But when it comes to schemes and program development, the college and pro guys are living in a different world.
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Post by Coach.A on Nov 26, 2018 16:17:26 GMT -6
We purchased the Soundboks 2 this year. It's amazing! For a $900 price tag it sure as hell better be amazing! Thankfully we didn't have to use the football budget to purchase it...but yes it is amazing!
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Post by Coach.A on Nov 26, 2018 13:45:50 GMT -6
We purchased the Soundboks 2 this year. It's amazing!
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Post by Coach.A on Nov 18, 2018 9:36:00 GMT -6
I don't know why response was not recorded, but this -State associations make deals for money, and you have to play with the money balls -Unless the refs hand you all the balls you need for the game, play with what you brought. They don't want to be the arbiter of this, or they are actually going to do their job. Here's what I don't understand... Our association made a deal with Baden (not exactly the most popular football brand). Baden recently came out with a new "QB1 Leather Football" and much cheaper composite version of this exact same QB1 football. You'd think Baden would want to feature their top of the line leather football on this big stage instead of their less expensive (and lower quality) composite version of this ball. Add to that, almost all teams at this event used a leather football throughout the regular season and playoffs. We will be fine either way, but I know a few other teams at this event who throw the ball a lot are rattled. Plus it's calling for rain/wet snow, which isn't a good mix with composite footballs. Doesn't seem like a very good marketing decision by Baden.
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Post by Coach.A on Nov 17, 2018 12:56:56 GMT -6
Just found out that we are being forced to use a composite football (not leather) at our Provincial (State) championship game. Like almost every other region, we've been using a leather football all year.
Does any other state use a composite football in their state finals? This seems very strange to me.
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Post by Coach.A on Oct 14, 2018 9:16:07 GMT -6
We have a bye in the 1st round of the playoffs.
How would you guys approach this week in terms of practice planning?
Would you take a day(s) off?
Would you make practices shorter?
Greater focus on game film throughout the week?
We know we're playing either Team A or Team B.....do you practice 1 day against Team A's offense and defense, then the next day against Team B's systems?
Any insight would be much appreciated.
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Post by Coach.A on Sept 15, 2018 10:24:16 GMT -6
Great Win Coach! Is your entire team in VICIS helmets?
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Post by Coach.A on Jul 31, 2018 20:32:25 GMT -6
Ontario, Canada:
First practice is Aug. 27th (we can go full equipment on day 1)
First game is Sept. 7th
School starts on Sept. 4th here.
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Post by Coach.A on Jul 24, 2018 12:00:31 GMT -6
We have a job rocker. It is great, but when you turn it loud the sound quality is poor...and it isn't quite loud enough for a full football field. I think we're going to buy this in a couple weeks: soundboks.com/
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Post by Coach.A on Jul 10, 2018 15:54:21 GMT -6
And what software did you use to create the digital media guide?
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