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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 25, 2015 10:31:42 GMT -6
AFCA is great. My daugther has an event in Galveston during this year's event so not sure I"ll be able to make it down there. For those of you meeting up, be aware that when you are with Coach Vint things can get rather raucous. He's got fans everywhere. https://vine.co/v/eQtKJPQt3jaIt didn't get out of hand until we told the defensive guys they couldn't draw giant T's and E's to make their defense look better on the white board. I didn't realize they were going to take it so personal! They made an accusation that was something about drawing "upside down." I am still trying to figure out how that is possible... By the way, Huey, I still don't believe the story you told in Dallas last year at the Glazier Clinic.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 10, 2015 7:46:01 GMT -6
I like listening to guys who talk about building culture. How did they build their program? When I speak at state association clinics and only have an hour to speak, I typically talk something organization. At a couple of clinics this year I am talking about installing and practicing special situations including the two minute drill.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 4, 2015 13:30:00 GMT -6
Yes you do. At 4A in Texas, Enrollment just over 700. We have 14 HS Coaches, 10 Varsity and 4 Frosh. Varsity position coaches have the JV. We have 3 Jr. High Coaches (Short 1 Coach at JH) All of us are teachers except HC who is Boys AD. Myself and DC teach are assigned to both Jr. High Athletic Periods as well as the High School Athletic Period. We teach a reduced load. We will have about 140 in the program from 9-12 next year. Do you guys platoon players and coaches? Our varsity coaches coach one side of the ball, but our kids have to play both ways. We don't have enough athletes to two platoon. We are hoping this year to be able to get closer to two platooning. When I was at a 6A school we were true two platoon. Of course we had over 240 kids in the program.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 4, 2015 10:02:54 GMT -6
A couple of years ago, a college coach I know had just returned from the convention, and I asked how it was. He said, "Depressing...it was really depressing." I inquired as to why, and he said, "Because, everyone was looking for a job." My question is, as someone looking for one of those jobs (GA or the like), is it worth it to jump into a mess of others looking for the exact same thing? It's one thing for a D1 coach to take time to discuss Xs and Os, but it's a whole other matter to be hit up for employment. I would think that it'd be really uncomfortable for a lot of these guys. Then again, I guy I coached w/ went two years in a row, and he was able to wrangle a D1 GA position last year. Any thoughts on this? A lot of guys do this, but I think it all depends on your approach. My approach, granted I've only been 1 year and havent got a college job, is just to talk to coaches and build connections at the convention. I think it would be difficult to just go around slingin resumes and land a job, but you can meet guys and keep in touch and maybe it turns into a job later. Besides, if you don't go make those connections there are guys like your buddy who are out there peddling. The whole vibe I got from the convention was that there a lot of college coaches that aren't necessarily the best coaches, but they can sell themselves. Seems to me like playing that game is part of the price of admission. If I want specific scheme and X's and O's information I am going to a Glazier or Nike Clinic. The AFCA Convention is great for networking and catching up with old friends. The general session and Masters of Coaching Sessions usually provide a lot of great information on program building. The best X's and O's are when you talk ball with guys one-on-one. It is a great experience to meet people and talk a little ball with some guys we see coaching on Saturdays. One funny story from about 10 years ago when a guy saw Bob Stoops peeing in a urinal in the bathroom of the hotel lobby and tried to shake his hand and give him a resume. Coach Stoops took the resume, dropped it in the urinal, and Lou Browned it. The young coach who looked like he wasn't old enough to shave stood their dumbfounded. Another coach told him very politely the timing probably wasn't the best. There are a lot of guys there slinging resumes, and many of the coaches there are trying to move up in the business. College is a little more cutthroat than high school coaching, especially at the lower levels. There are a lot of guys that would sell their own children to get a D-1 job. I may head up Saturday and Sunday to catch up with old friends.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 4, 2015 9:50:34 GMT -6
I believe you have to be a school employee to coach in Texas. Yes you do. At 4A in Texas, Enrollment just over 700. We have 14 HS Coaches, 10 Varsity and 4 Frosh. Varsity position coaches have the JV. We have 3 Jr. High Coaches (Short 1 Coach at JH) All of us are teachers except HC who is Boys AD. Myself and DC teach are assigned to both Jr. High Athletic Periods as well as the High School Athletic Period. We teach a reduced load. We will have about 140 in the program from 9-12 next year.
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Post by Coach Vint on Nov 30, 2015 16:50:40 GMT -6
When I first started my career we had 3 coaches for 35 varsity kids and 2 coaches for 40 junior varsity kids. We had to be very creative with our practice schedule. As posted above we also had to be extremely detailed in our planning. Our practice was 24 periods of 5 minutes each. We had all of our kids go through indies together. We did Indy O for 3 periods. Then we did group O for 4 periods. When we went group we had the 2 JV coaches take the JV kids and the 3 varsity coaches stayed with the varsity kids. The OL and RB's worked inside run. The WR worked stalk blocking and 1-on-1 pass routes. We did this for two periods. Then we went 2 periods of OL working pass pro while the skill guys worked 7-on-7. Our OL coach was with the OL and our other coaches were with the skill guys. We usually left 1 extra varsity coach with the JV group.
We then went 3 periods of team. Each group provided their own scout. We then went four periods of specials working through all 5 phases each day. Then we went 10 periods of defense with a similar schedule. 3 periods of indy, 4 periods of group, and 3 periods of team.
This worked very well to get every kid coached up. We finished with a two-minute drill, goal line drill, or 3rd down competition putting our best against our best. We went our offensive emphasis for 8 plays then defensive emphasis for 8 plays. The JV was on one end of the field with the varsity on the other end. On Wednesday our JV provide a scout look for the varsity.
I don't know if this is the best way, but it worked well for us. Thankfully I am now in Texas at a school where we have 11 high school coaches in the building. I feel blessed to have been at a school where we didn't have the resources and he had to learn to use every tool at our disposal.
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Post by Coach Vint on May 4, 2015 13:14:06 GMT -6
With my QB's I use google docs to create quizzes. I typically have 5 to 7 questions and incorporate pictures into the quizzes. They complete the quiz no their iPhone/ipad, or laptop. Every one of our students has a macbook air which definitely helps.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 27, 2015 8:33:07 GMT -6
We did this a few years ago when I was a head wrestling coach. We had a parent meeting before tryouts started. We had 8 parents step forward to lead the charge. We voted on officers and recorded minutes. They wrote up by-laws and opened a bank account. I believe they used some stock forms they found online. I remember they had a couple of hurdles to get through opening a bank account. Once they got that done we held weekly meetings during the season and monthly meetings in the off-season. We kept minutes for every meeting. It was a small hassle, but ended up working out well.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 14, 2015 10:01:40 GMT -6
method for if you play both sides of the ball: each coach is assigned one position... i.e. a QB coach; a DB coach; an OL coach, etc. when the varsity is practicing offense with the offensive coaches the JV practicing defense with the defensive coaches. halfway through, switch This is exactly what we do. It allows us to get our best guys on the field on both sides of the ball. We also get to know and build relationships with the JV Players. HC and Coordinators stay with whoever is playing at home on Thursday. We have 4 Frosh Coaches and 10 Varsity Coaches. Frosh coaches stay with the Frosh during practice. Our varsity staff spends time with the Frosh during two-a-days. Once the season gets going the frosh coaches run that level.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 31, 2015 12:39:19 GMT -6
I've been at five schools here ad have never seen a coaches' game day dress code in our handbook. The only time I've ever heard an administrator mention our sideline attire was to say how good our new polos look (probably hinting that they want one). I'm sure that our state association has nothing to say on the matter. This is my second school in Texas and at both we have had a written policy on game day dress. As far as our coaches association, they are very strong and do a great job of representing our coaches and kids. When I was in the Bronx, New York, we wore khaki shorts and a polo. That was the expectation there. In Texas, the expectation is polos and khaki pants for varsity games. It was over 100 degrees a couple of times this year, and we wore khaki pants. Since I have been in Texas I have not seen a coach wear shorts on the sideline for a varsity game. It is not about coaching better or worse, or getting beat by a guy in jean shorts. It is about the professional expectations. Like Huey said, we represent more than just ourselves. We represent our kids, our school, our district, and our community. There are certain expectations for coaches, and professional dress is one of them. Now on Thursday Night's for sub-varsity games we will be in shorts and t-shirts. It all goes back to what your community expects.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 31, 2015 10:08:22 GMT -6
I am not casting stones, but I am about to be very honest. If you really don't care about the kids you coach, you just answered your own question. When your players say you don't care about them after high school, what they are really saying is you didn't care about them during high school.
Coaching is about much more than teaching a sport. The same way that teaching is about much more than the results of a state mandated test or whether a kid can calculate and algebra equation. It is about teaching kids to be the very best that they can be, and that they can do more than what they think they can. And it all starts with relationships. I watched my dad coach when I was growing up, and the love he had for his players was unconditional. He was a master at building relationships with kids that lasted a lifetime. Nick Saban says, teaching is about "inspiring learning."
It is much bigger than just sending a text to a kid or an email blast. It is about caring for the kid outside of sport. it is about learning about his home life and background. it is about learning their hopes and dreams and fears and goals. I talked to guys my dad coached 40 years ago and they talk about him in very high regard. And they never mention a win or a loss. They talk about how he helped them through difficult situations they faced in their personal lives. These are things that are not out in the public eye. Part of building relationships is about being available.
Many times I asked my dad why he taught and coached, and he never talked about winning and losing. He talked about giving kids something to believe in so you can impact them through sport, improving their life after sport. Do you care about the Jersey, or the Player wearing the jersey? Do you care about the kid as much when he is in ISS as much as you do when he is scoring touchdowns? Do you cast kids away when they make a mistake, or do you reel them in for a teachable moment?
If you don't really care, it is nearly impossible to build these relationships. It starts with wanting the very best for every kid you coach. It is about loving them unconditionally. It is about caring about them for who they are, not what they can do. It is about looking deep inside each kid and finding the gold inside. We can't give them greatness, they already have it. Our job is to pull it out of them. And again, it all goes back to relationships. If they know you care about them, and I mean truly care about them as more than a player on your team, they will play their hearts out.
Why is this important? Because someone has to fill the void that left by the absence of fathers. Most of the kids we teach and coach don't have a relationship with their father. For most of them, we are the only positive male role models they might have in their life. We may be the only adult male role model who truly cares about them and loves them unconditionally. Many of our young people are surrounded by adults who break promises. We have an opportunity to be someone they can trust.
One thing I have learned is to never, ever talk negative about a player in public. It does not do you any good personally or professionally. It builds a disdain and a distrust within your current and former players. Guys are going to talk and share information. Imagine what you would think if you ran into a former colleague and he told you your former boss said you were a lazy S.O.B. with no heart... How would you feel? What if that same colleague came up to you and said, your former boss said even though you didn't see eye to eye he said he always loved and respected X, Y, and Z about you... Which is more effective? If you are going to use an example of a former player, leave out the name. Or, bring back the former player to share his story. Let him educate your players. But never, ever say something negative about a former player, even if it is for an example without their permission ahead of time.
Tell your players you love them, then back it up with your actions. If they make a mistake, coach them through it. Tell them you believe in them, and remind them of this often. Ask them about their family... and then listen to what they say. Hold them accountable for their actions and explain to them how it benefits them in the long run to be held accountable. This doesn't mean berate them in public. It means privately talking to them about the behavior and telling them why you are holding them accountable.
Take 5 minutes a day, three days a week and have a character talk. Have a different coach deliver the message each time, and keep it to 5 minutes. Bring in former players to give the talk. This will be meaningful to the players.
But again, this all comes back to if you don't care. If you don't really care, then you may want to make a career change. If you don't care whether Johnny has food on the table, or you don't care whether Bill became a good father, then your players are right.
The biggest regrets I have don't have to do with a play call or a why we lost a game. They have to do with how I might have handled a situation differently. They have to do with the crappy example I set on handling adversity. They have to do with the stuff I said to and about kids. There are kids that I had a chance to impact and I chose to take the easy way out and break them down. Why? Because I didn't care. I had a chance to build them up and help them to believe in themselves. I let my ego get in the way of this opportunity.
There are some who would say this doesn't work. This is all kumbaya. That would be patently false. We coach our kids hard. We hold them accountable for every little detail. If we don't do something right, we do it again. But we try to do this without breaking them down. We work hard to coach with passion and enthusiasm each and every day. We bring energy and try to set that example for our kids. We don't sugarcoat things. We tell them the truth, but we do so with a twist about how it can change. We add that we believe in them. As John Wooden said, "a coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment." If you constantly break your kids down, they will play like they are broken down. More importantly, they will live their life broken down.
The best part about this is that change is a choice. How we coach is a choice. How much we care is a choice. I make mistakes each day. Yesterday I said something to a kid I had to apologize for. I told him I shouldn't have said what I said and asked for his forgiveness. He responded that he forgave me. We hugged. He said, "thank you coach." I told him I loved him. He repeated it back. Our relationship is now strengthened because of it. He knows I care about him, and I modeled for him what you do when you make a mistake. Some would say that showed weakness. I would tell you that something like that shows great strength. That kid can now use that lesson when he is a husband or father and makes a mistake.
That is the real goal. What can we do to build young men that will be great husbands and fathers? What can we do to help them achieve more than they once thought possible What can we do to help them believe that they can overcome adversity they will face in life? And that all starts with the relationships you build.
It isn't easy. It takes time. But it is worth it. You will leave a legacy that will last generations. You will have students and athletes that will look to you for advice for years to come. You will have guys that come back and visit and thank you for things you didn't even realize they caught. You will have guys come up to you that you may have had to remove from the program years ago tell you thank you for teaching them a valuable lesson. Not for kicking them out, but for the way you handled it because you cared. They may not have realized it at the time, but ten years later they see that you really were looking out for them. You will have them call you and say thank you for teaching them how to deal with the loss of their father.
When you send a text you will send it from the heart. You will check in on them from time to time. You won't reach out to every player per say, but you will reach out to some. You will reach out to them because you really want to know how they are doing. They know you are busy, and you know they are busy. But that thoughtful hand written note or text is meaningful if they know you cared about them when you coached them.
Coaching is not a job. It is a calling. I truly believe we are called to coach, and to use coaching to change lives. If you don't care about kids, then you may want to find a career that doesn't offer such an opportunity to impact them. Maybe look at being a banker or truck driver.
I am going to get off of my soap box. I just felt the need to share that, and it came from the heart.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 26, 2015 10:24:36 GMT -6
4A in Texas, Enrollment in the 600's. 125 FB Players in grades 9-12 and we have HC and 8 Varsity assistants (who also coach JV) and 4 Frosh Coaches.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 23, 2015 14:05:48 GMT -6
Steve Adazzio from Boston College was awesome. I saw him speak when he was the oline coach at Notre Dame. I took a ton of great information from his talk. Last month I saw Bruce Walker who spent several years at Missouri, and he was great!
Another good one is Scott Westering from PLU. He brings a ton of passion and energy to his talks. If you ever get a chance to hear Randy Allen from Highland Park in Dallas, he is another great speaker. Hal Wasson from Southlake Carroll is also very, very good. They both talk about character development. Chris Ross from Prosper HS in Texas is also very, very good. Randy Jackson from Grapevine HS near Dallas is another great speaker. Dub Maddox and Darin Slack are also outstanding! Allen Trimble from Jenks is very, very good as well.
The first clinic speaker I ever say was Jerry Campbell back in the mid 90's. After his talk he stayed for an hour and answered several questions I had about midline blocking. He later flew up to help us install the option and all it cost us was a plane ticket and meals. He became a mentor to me, and made several phone calls helping me get hired in Texas. Jerry has been a very successful coordinator on both sides of the ball in Texas, and knows his stuff. He would also give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 6, 2015 10:17:50 GMT -6
In Texas only 5A and 6A schools can have spring football. I am now at a 4A high school, and we cannot wear helmets until our 5th day of practice in August. We cannot use any equipment, including stand up dummies, sleds, or bags until the official practice start day in August. We cannot coach our kids in football outside of school hours until the season begins. We do, however, have an athletic period everyday where we can work football skills, but no equipment is allowed. We are not allowed to coach our players in 7-on-7 during the summer. We have a couple of parents that run our summer 7-on-7 program.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 16, 2015 9:35:59 GMT -6
We held our first leadership meeting yesterday. 14 kids in the group. We did 4 things. First we talked about why we were doing it, then we defined what we think it should mean to be a part of our program or what we want people to think about when they think of a football player in our program, we talked about leadership by example and I left it off with giving them an assignment to do the next two weeks involving self talk and rubber bands. That's awesome! What are you having them do for the assignment? It sounds very intriguing!
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 11, 2015 13:34:32 GMT -6
Twitter has some outstanding information being shared! I took a page of notes last Wednesday night. It starts about 8pm central time. Check it out tonight!
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 3, 2015 15:08:26 GMT -6
And leadership is not necessarily something you are born with, but it is something that can be developed. However, it can't be developed in everyone to the same degree. Like anything else, some are more inclined to be leaders than others.
My goal as a coach is to maximize the ability of our young people. I am not going to every sit by and say, "we didn't have good leadership." My question is, what can we do as coaches to improve our leadership? I believe you can develop leaders action and activity. To develop the ability to lead, you have to practice leading. You have to put your athletes in a position where they are going to lead others toward a common goal.
If you think about it, everyone is a leader. Every single young person in your program exerts influence on others. Often, the players we want to lead are not the one's leading. And the one's we don't think of as leaders are the one's exerting the most influence.
We want to do everything we can to develop our young people as leaders by giving them opportunities to lead. We want to develop their character to help them to lead their peers in the right direction. We want to put them in leadership positions and then provide them some stress to test their ability to lead under pressure. Then we coach them to improve. It is something that can be done very realistically, but it takes an investment.
You are either teaching leadership or you are not. It is really that simple. The worst thing you can do is sit by and do nothing. That rarely works.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jan 14, 2015 14:13:25 GMT -6
I am going to be speaking out there at the clinic in Everett next week and wondered if any coaches from coachhuey were going to be there.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jan 7, 2015 12:54:12 GMT -6
There are many, many great coaches on this board, and I have learned more football here than from any other source. Success is very, very relative, and is not solely defined by wins and losses. Regardless of whether you were 0-10 or 16-0, everyone has something to offer. Coach Huey and Tog and all the moderators do a great job of keeping this board as pure as it can be. Looking forward to the next 10 years of Coach Huey!
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 19, 2014 11:23:09 GMT -6
My philosophy is you play everyone on your sub-varsity teams. You play to win on Friday Night. We don't get paid to win on Thursday, but we do on Friday.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jun 30, 2014 22:24:07 GMT -6
Scripting helps me to be as efficient as possible. Scripting helps us to make sure we run our concepts versus the defensive looks we will see Friday Night. It helps us make sure we have run each concept from each formation we will use. It helps us to make sure we have scripted looks we need our QB to see to be prepared to check us into the right play. Scripting helps our players get into a rhythm. Scripting helps our coaches to coach more efficiently. Our script mirrors our game plan. Scripting helps us to make sure we aren't putting too much into our game plan. I can't imagine not scripting our practices. Each of our coaches are involved in scripting our practices. We even script our tempo. This helps us to make sure we work each of our modes. We coach from the sideline and signal during inside, pass hull, and team. Is it the best way? It is for us.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jun 22, 2014 21:53:09 GMT -6
In Texas we have worked hard to be out in front on the issue of concussions and player safety. Last year a law was passed limiting us to 90 minutes of full contact during practice each week. Do you know how many schools this affected? Very few. I don't know if there was a school in Texas this affected. We typically go out 10 minutes a week of full contact. We also have a concussion management team. Our team doctor is on that team. We always error on the side of caution. I don't think it does a disservice to anyone.
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Post by Coach Vint on Apr 4, 2014 11:52:39 GMT -6
Bring them on a trip to visit Texas HS Football... I don't get the point? Are almost all texas hs football coaches teachers in the building? Yes, in Texas you must be a full-time employee of the district to coach and a certified teacher, with very few exceptions. We have 16 assistants for football, we are all full-time teachers, and each of us has a second sport. We have three feeder middle schools each with 5 coaches who are full-time teachers. We have 2 athletic periods each day as do our middle schools. Texas is an awesome place to coach HS football. Our facilities are better than many 1AA and D2 programs. Heck, our stadium just had a $21 million renovation. I have been on the other side of the coin when I coached in the Bronx, New York for 8 years. We had 3 coaches that were paid by the district for coaching. We were all in the building. We were lucky to get a couple of more coaches hired as teachers and our booster club paid them for coaching. We then had 7 guys who were walk-on coaches who were professionals in the community.
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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 1, 2014 21:58:15 GMT -6
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 12, 2014 20:28:47 GMT -6
I wish I was going to be there. Had something else come up. A couple of our guys will be there though. Coach Ball got them helping y'all out. I may see you down in Houston next weekend.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jan 24, 2014 20:31:58 GMT -6
I went to Baltimore several times and it is always a great clinic. That clinic has always been one of my favorites.
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Post by Coach Vint on Nov 5, 2013 22:39:27 GMT -6
We upload and intercut our film after Friday night's gsme. One of our MS staffs enters data so it is ready for us Sat. Am. Coaches are in 8 to 3:30 on Sat. Kids are in from 9 to 11:30. Sunday we are in from 1:30 until work is done.
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Post by Coach Vint on Aug 25, 2013 20:52:43 GMT -6
We have four teams in our district that have played in ESPN games in the last couple of years. Odessa Permian, Midland Lee, Abilene, and Abilene Cooper are all powerhouse schools in our district.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jul 17, 2013 12:52:32 GMT -6
Ask yourself what caused you to peak to early. Most of it has nothing to do with schematics. Examine your practice schedule/weight program.
The first year we peaked too early it had to do with the fact that we weren't lifting to get stronger during the season. We lifted once a week very light. We also weren't running them the day after the game. We started lifting twice a week. We lifted Mondays and Wednesdays, and we made sure we recorded everything. The day after the game we did film and ran to get the blood circulating. It was a great time to work some non-contact leverage drills. We did film for 25 minutes (10 specials, 15 as position group), and had them 30 minutes outside.
We also started to shorten our practices as the season went along. We found our kids and coaches were mentally more alert when we kept them fresh. We simplified some things which allowed us to cut practice down. By week three we were going 20 periods Monday, 16 periods Tuesday, and 15 periods Wednesday. Thursday was 8 periods. I have talked to some guys that never go more than 18 periods. We were also never in full pads more than one day a week once the season started.
It is also important to break up the monotony. Find some things to do that will let your kids get their legs back and get back mentally. One Wednesday midseason we showed a movie instead of practicing. Our kids were mentally dead Monday and Tuesday. I don't know if it worked, but we had a great Thursday practice and played extremely well on Friday night.
Schematically, add a trick play each week and make sure you run it early in the game. Hayden Fry was a master at this at the University of Iowa.
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Post by Coach Vint on Jul 12, 2013 10:35:38 GMT -6
Grew up in Iowa where I played for a hall of fame coach. Coached in Iowa, New York, and Missouri before moving to Texas.
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