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Post by Coach Vint on Mar 6, 2019 14:02:59 GMT -6
In Texas most of us are on dual contracts. Our teaching and coaching positions are tied together. If we get fired or non-renewed from one we get fired or non-renewed from the other. If you are not a good classroom teacher you are probably not a good coach. You will be let go from both. If you are a poor coach and a great teacher, you will be let go from both and have to reapply for your teaching position, if there is an opening.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 19, 2019 13:31:52 GMT -6
In Texas many are done with bond issues. We had a $15.6 million dollar stadium renovation that the voters approved as part of a bond. At the last school I was at our indoor facility as built as part of a bond issue.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 19, 2019 11:38:24 GMT -6
It is vital to educate your kids on the process and the different levels. We educate them on what "scholarship" means and help they and their parents understand the investment they will make financially. We educate them on private and public universities and the difference in cost. We discourage kids from having to take out loans. We do, however, celebrate every kid. If we have a 6-2, 240 pound kid signing with a D2, we celebrate. If we have a 5-8, 200 pound kid going to a D3, we celebrate. I don't care what level it is, we celebrate out kids. Why would we not celebrate a kid going to a D3 school? Because it costs money and doesn't give a full ride? If he and his parents make that choice, and they get to use football as a catalyst to get educated, good for them. What I won't have is us acting like it doesn't matter. If it matters to the kid, it matters to me.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 18, 2019 10:18:49 GMT -6
I coach in Texas. I have coached for over 45 years (39 at the high school level in 5 different states). I worked in public schools, private schools, and religious schools. In big schools, and small schools. I've coached as a volunteer, and for stipends as low as $500.00, and stipends as high as $5,000.00. Honestly...only ever looked at my stipend as an additional incentive to do something I truly loved. Each state I worked in had different approaches to summer. From NO football activities (strength training only), to what we have in Texas. Frankly...less is more. Like many of you I put myself (and my coaches and teams) through the "grind") Thinking all the while that they felt the same way about the game as I did. As the years went by I noticed more and more how difficult it was becoming for me to hire guys like me. More and more the players were not like me. And in recent years it became more and more evident that things just weren't the way they used to be. It took me awhile, but toward the end of my career I re-discovered the reason why I was so drawn to the game, and why I loved the game so much. It was fun. I asked myself was my passion and drive to grind a reason why the game was becoming so difficult to manage? Was it so important that I had almost virtually sacrificed my family for it? So...I took a chance, and a leap of faith. I stepped away for a couple of years and re-evaluated. It was absolutely the toughest way to go, but absolutely the best thing I did. My outlook on the game, its relevance, its importance, its demands, and its place in my life, and the lives of those it involved came back into focus. It NOT about "keeping up with the Jones' ." Instead we'll live by the motto: "It's not the amount of hours worked, it's the amount of work put into the hours." We'll eliminate a ton of unnecessary time and gain a ton of renewed interest, energy, and enthusiasm. So will my coaches, and so will my teams...and oh...by the way...we'll still win a lot more than we lose. It will be fun again. A lot of wisdom on this post. We work hard. We do work a lot of hours. I don't feel like we are in the office to say we are in the office, or to do something because someone else does it. When we start doing that I am out. Irish is exactly right when he says it's the work put into the hours. Be as efficient as possible while getting everything completed at a high level. Things become a grind when you get bogged down doing things that take time but have no bearing on impacting kids or winning games. When you sit around the office to say you are working, it's time to go home.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 13, 2019 14:33:13 GMT -6
The balancing act is the toughest part. There is no easy answer, and what we do requires a tremendous time commitment.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 12, 2019 10:52:38 GMT -6
I feel like I've dropped the ball not having core values and a mission statement for our program written down. We have our normal stuff we talk about daily and what we focus on. But I'm looking to narrow it down and make is something the kids can remember. Would any of you mind pasting your mission statement and core values to this thread. Just wanting to get some ideas. Thanks I love how everyone loves to bash people for talking about culture because they don't believe in talking about culture. We talk about culture. We have a mission. Your mission and vision are for the coaches. Core Values are for everyone. They don't need to posted, but they damn sure need to be lived. Here you go OP: Our core values are simply what we want to live by to help our kids to be the best they can be in athletics, academics, and the community. That is our mission. Our core values lead us to this. What does it take to be our best in those three areas? Core Values: Toughness, Respect, Enthusiasm, Accountability, and Love. What does it mean? Mental Toughness. Bigger than ball. This is the ability to overcome adversity without a drop in enthusiasm, attitude, and effort. You keep pushing through when bad crap happens that might not be fair. Respect- You respect people not for who they are, but because of who you are. Enthusiasm- Enjoy working hard and bring energy to things that you don't like doing that help you be more successful. Accountability. Hold each other and yourself accountable to being your best. We have standards of performance. If you screw up, we will hold you accountable. If we don't meet the standard, we will have a reteaching period and accountability. Love- We love you as much on your worst day as we do on your best day. It ain't fluff and it aint some soft a$$ sh*T. It is who we are. Do we tweet it? Yup. Do we scream it from the rooftops? Yup. Does it help us be better coaches? Yup. Does it affect our players? Yup. I talk about it at clinics because I believe in it. Some guys don't have a call sheet. I do. Just because you don't doesn't make you any less of a coach. If we can teach these values in the weight room, in the locker room, on the track, and on the field, we will win more games and impact our kids with lessons that will help them in life. I have never had a kid thank me for teaching him how to read an invert, or how to combo a 1 technique to the linebacker. But many kids have said, thank you for teaching me to believe in myself. Putting a sign up with words won't impact kids. Making kids memorize words won't mean anything. Believing in something and living a certain way will impact kids. Holding them accountable to meeting the standards will help them be their best. If you want to put up a sign, put up a sign that says don't fumble the damn ball. Live your core values and mission. Post them or don't, but make sure you know who you are and that everything you do will affect your program.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 11, 2019 18:41:42 GMT -6
I don't get all the damn cynicism and negativity. I enjoy being at summer workouts. I have been in districts where we got paid well to be there. While it was nice to get paid, not getting paid hasn't changed how much I am there. Each of our coaches volunteers to spend 8 days of the summer at school for two hours. We might get a very small stipend for being there. We are there for a couple hours in the morning. I like being around the kids. It did not get into coaching to get rich. I love the competitive aspect and the impact we can make as coaches. It is all about the relationships we form and then helping kids accomplish more than they thought possible.
I am at our summer workouts every day I am in town. I feel guilty sitting on my patio at 9am when I am in town, knowing our kids are busting their tails. Some say we are working for free. Working for free is bailing hay and not getting paid. Being around our kids for a couple hours in the summer a few days a week is fun. But when I am on vacation, I am on vacation.
We are going to do two 30 minute session each week after our strength and conditioning which is typically 90 minutes. We will coordinate what we do as a staff as guys will be on vacation at certain points. We are going to run it like a practice depending on which coaches are in town. We will work some indy drills and group drills.
Our basketball kids and baseball kids will get the other hour with those sports. It is a good thing. I also believe we need to build in some breaks for kids and coaches, but anytime we spend with our kids is a positive.
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Post by Coach Vint on Feb 11, 2019 18:23:37 GMT -6
Will be at Baltimore Feb 8-9 and then North Jersey Feb 15 Good seeing you in Baltimore, and fired up for North Jersey this week!
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 28, 2018 23:36:52 GMT -6
We went 12 periods O and 12 periods D, 2 periods specials up front, and 2 periods of specials in the middle with s 2 period break. Worked well for us. When varsity was on O JV worked D.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 17, 2018 10:18:58 GMT -6
What if they teach good, but different, technique? What if they were teaching a great wrong arm technique, but our defense boxed everything? They are learning good technique, but is it our technique? Is it what we do in our defense? We want them to learn our drills and our technique so we don't have to reteach that to them.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 17, 2018 10:15:18 GMT -6
It all must be vertically aligned. From how we stretch to what we install, to how we teach it and drill it, to buzz words, to off-season, to grade checks. Everything is aligned. When they get to us they already know the system. We are 100% aligned with our feeders. Those coaches know the expectations. The coordinators and head coach are assigned to their campus during their athletic period. They learn it from the bottom to the top. I will disagree with the word "must" here. I think it falls more under the "why not, if you can" umbrella than "we need to do this" since countless teams have achieved great success without any alignment of programs below Frosh. Sure, it doesn't hurt, but I don't think you will win championships in 2023 because 7th graders lined up in your "bronco front" in 2018 as opposed to someone else's "Jaguar Front" or because they ran bucksweep a couple of hundred times. We will have to agree to disagree. If my district opponents are running the same system in 7th and 8th grade and I am letting my junior high coaches do whatever they want, the opponents have an advantage. Their kids are not learning the system from scratch. Three years ago we played the #1 team in the state in the 2nd round of the playoffs. We were in our firs year here and their staff was in their 10th. Their kids run the same system from their youth football leagues through junior high, all the way to the varsity level. It showed. The longer you learn a system, the more you coach the details and adjustments. We will have a better chance of winning state in 2023 because our middle school kids are doing things our way. If they do it another way we will not have as good of a chance. This year our 9th grade kids were in year three of the system. They started learning in 7th grade. Day one they knew how we stretched, and they could line up and run our base offense. Of course we didn't run everything from day one. Our freshmen coaches followed the frosh install schedule. Every year kids learn your system and run your stuff with your terminology, the more you are ahead when they are playing at the varsity level.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 14, 2018 13:31:54 GMT -6
It all must be vertically aligned. From how we stretch to what we install, to how we teach it and drill it, to buzz words, to off-season, to grade checks. Everything is aligned. When they get to us they already know the system. We are 100% aligned with our feeders. Those coaches know the expectations. The coordinators and head coach are assigned to their campus during their athletic period. They learn it from the bottom to the top.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 10, 2018 18:49:16 GMT -6
It is transformational. It will change who you are as a coach and as a man.
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Post by Coach Vint on Dec 2, 2018 21:18:52 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. Steve is a heck of a ball coach and a great guy!
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Post by Coach Vint on Nov 7, 2018 9:27:16 GMT -6
IMO, coaching always matters as we're trying to put our kids in a position to COMPETE, regardless of whether or not we feel the game is winnable. Yes, we all pucker up a bit when you watch film on a team that's loaded with studs and execute well but we're still going to coach our a--es off in an effort to make it a competitive game. And, we also understand that, if we're fundamentally sound and prepared, it only takes a few mistakes by the opposing team to get us a win or at least get us close to one. This! Always prepare to be your best. That is the lesson in all of this. If you get a break, or your opponent makes a mistake, you might find a way to win.
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Post by Coach Vint on Nov 5, 2018 9:34:28 GMT -6
If coaching didn't matter we wouldn't waste time coaching our guys. The goal is simple. Work hard to develop your kids to make the most with what they have been given. We want to develop them to compete at a high level and become the best version of ourselves and our team that we can be. The scoreboard then takes care of itself. Genetics play a role, but there are plenty of teams with great genetics going 4-6. There are also teams going 8-2 that are beating people with better athletes.
January to August is the most important time for building your program. What you do then has a huge impact on what you are able to do during the season. Coaching matters during the season, most definitely. But there are some teams that you could play 10 times and lose to 10 times. We are still going to prepare to win. And there are teams we would beat 10 out of 10 times. We are going to prepare for them the same way. Who you play should not impact your preparation or your mindset. We don't worry about what we don't have or what Odessa Permian has.
I have been in the boat where every week we were going to be physically outmatched. It isn't fun. But we went into each game with a plan to win. We prepared to win. We won some we shouldn't have. We were competitive every week, and probably overachieved. Hell, the best coaching job we did we went 4-6. We probably didn't have the athletes to win even one game.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 25, 2018 10:18:04 GMT -6
I can't believe I just wasted five minutes reading this. I try not to criticize coaches for what they do with their kids when it doesn't affect whether I feed my family. If it doesn't effect our program do whatever you want. I don't care. Photo bomb it. Tweet it. Snap chat it. I have much more to worry about-- like winning a district championship and playing in Arlington in December. I'm going to get back to building a culture while we row the boat while chopping wood carrying water. Whatever it takes.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 16, 2018 12:01:17 GMT -6
It's just foreign to me that one sport begins practicing before the previous sport is over. Basketball practice starts during football. We will be playing football into December with several varsity basketball kids on our roster. They love both sports. Once they finish football they will go to basketball. In the meantime, some young guys get varsity experience. Both our football and basketball teams are top 10 in the state.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 16, 2018 8:57:22 GMT -6
We have a simple rule. If you quit one sport you have to run 25 miles before you can play another. And you can't join their season until your current season ends. Basically you can quit, run, and wait. Every coach is on board with this as it helps everyone.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 8, 2018 11:34:50 GMT -6
We have three Thursday games, and those weeks I am going to go watch one of our later opponents play. I want to get there for warm-ups if possible. This gives you a chance to see their specialists warm-up. I may only stay a half, but seeing someone live and in person gives you things you cannot see on film.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 4, 2018 11:46:55 GMT -6
Here is an update. www.burlesonstar.net/news-local-news-texas-news-sports-elks/district-executive-committee-rules-football-incidentSounds like the kid is suspended until several conditions are met. This should not be condoned or justified, but I don't think assault charges are necessary. Where would we draw the line? Every time targeting got called, or someone took a crack back block we would be in court. It sounds like Waco is taking the steps they seem necessary. I don't like when people outside our program criticize how we handle things inside our program, so I won't criticize them.
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Post by Coach Vint on Oct 3, 2018 10:56:53 GMT -6
At the 44 second mark you see #76 slam the kids head to the turf and throw at least one punch. There is no place for it. That isn't "toughness." We have had kids talk crap on social media and call out our kids during the week. We will see you Friday night. You can't hide. But everything will within the rules of the game. This isn't. It hurts our game. Period. I am not going to criticize the coaches from either school because I don't know what they said or did before, during, or after. But what happened on the video is not something to condone or justify, and definitely should not be celebrated.
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Grades
Oct 3, 2018 10:48:00 GMT -6
Post by Coach Vint on Oct 3, 2018 10:48:00 GMT -6
When I was coaching in NYC the rule is pass 4 classes and gym. Our school policy was a 75 average and pass all classes. We never lost a kid. Kids will rise and fall to the level of expectations you set and the support you provide.
We hated it when the principal put it in place. But we sold our kids on the fact they shouldn't ever fail. We scheduled more tutorial time into our week. We were very proactive with teachers. The policy was set, so no sense complaining about it.
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Post by Coach Vint on Sept 19, 2018 8:39:27 GMT -6
One of the greatest things you can see from upstairs is when an opponent gets hurt. A couple weeks ago our box guys saw our opponent's corner getting taped up while we were on defense. We went right at him on the first play as he was still limping. We also spend a lot of time looking at personnel on Saturday and Sunday. If we know a team has a backup that is not very good, I want to know when he is in so we can attack him.
For defensive guys personnel is vital. Is it 12, 11, 10, 21, 22? This helps them to make calls.
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Post by Coach Vint on Sept 17, 2018 13:09:24 GMT -6
We had a couple of guys come through last week who got out of coaching but like to stay close to the game. They watched most of practice and sat in on meetings. We didn't have much time to talk ball with them. Last year we visited a couple of local schools after we were knocked out of the playoffs. We watched practice to see what they are doing. Typically during the season guys won't have much time to talk. And some guys will not let you come by if they don't know you.
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Post by Coach Vint on Sept 17, 2018 13:05:16 GMT -6
We have specific roles in the box. 1 coach charts offense, another charts defense. We have a guy watching the far side secondary and a guy watching far side box. They identify the front and draw up defensive looks. We have a coach on defense watching the far side receivers. Another guy on defense calls out the personal grouping, down and distance, and run/pass percentage. He has to be sharp. Depending on how many guys you have in the box you can adjust assignments. I have a guy charting our offensive plays, and I have him read the last series back to me quickly. I ask another coach to give me fronts and coverage. What I want from them is to paint a clear picture of what the defense is doing. They must be disciplined to watch their assigned area and not watch the ball. Do you have a form you use to chart? Simple excel spreadsheet. Play number, down, distance, hash, yard line, formation, motion, play, result. I have another guy charting touches, big plays, bad plays, again on an excel spreadsheet. You can create one in 5 minutes with what you will need in a game.
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Post by Coach Vint on Aug 15, 2018 13:08:57 GMT -6
We have specific roles in the box. 1 coach charts offense, another charts defense. We have a guy watching the far side secondary and a guy watching far side box. They identify the front and draw up defensive looks. We have a coach on defense watching the far side receivers. Another guy on defense calls out the personal grouping, down and distance, and run/pass percentage. He has to be sharp. Depending on how many guys you have in the box you can adjust assignments.
I have a guy charting our offensive plays, and I have him read the last series back to me quickly. I ask another coach to give me fronts and coverage. What I want from them is to paint a clear picture of what the defense is doing. They must be disciplined to watch their assigned area and not watch the ball.
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Post by Coach Vint on Aug 13, 2018 10:36:46 GMT -6
I worked with a jack wagon once who wanted to use fear and intimidation in everything he did. He was arrogant and did everything he could to be a bully. The thing is, he treated the best players really well. He didn't bully any of the offensive or defensive linemen. He bullied the 3rd string DB who was 5-5 and 120 pounds soaking wet. He lost all his assistant coaches and ended up getting fired. I don't know if he learned anything from it as I haven't talked to him in years. He was a damn coward.
We hold our guys accountable. We coach them hard. But we don't berate them or harass them. We don't question their manhood. I look back to my first few years in coaching and I thank God I had a head coach who put me in check and taught me to be a builder. The sad part is the worst of our profession is what people see on TV.
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Post by Coach Vint on Aug 13, 2018 9:27:51 GMT -6
Each situation is different, and each kid is different. How can you best get him in the program without sabotaging the program for years to come? Are you building a program for longevity, or trying to win right now?
Twenty years ago we had three seniors who didn't come to summer workouts. All were returning starters, two were returning all district players. One was a 6-5 TE, one was a 6-4 tackle, and the other was a 4.5 skill guy. We spoke with them almost daily in the summer and told them they had to be at workouts to play. They never thought we would cut them. We did. We went 5-5 and probably could have made a good run. That was our third year. Never did we have a kid skip workouts and think he could play varsity. We felt that was best for our situation long-term. Would we have liked them to play? Yes. But it would have meant sacrificing our long-term success. Football is about more than talent, but talent certainly helps. We try to find a solution for every situation, but sometimes kids make that nearly impossible.
On the other side, a buddy of mine needed to win or he was going to be fired. He didn't have a very good team. The superintendent told him he needed to win 6 games and make the playoffs to keep his job. He let a couple of very athletic kids come out and he did not necessarily hold them accountable. They were very good and he won 8 games and won two playoff games. He got to keep his job. Without those kids he would have been fired.
Each situation is different. Do what is best for your kids and your program. Personally I am going to try everything I can to find a way to get athletic kids in our program.
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Post by Coach Vint on Aug 13, 2018 9:04:29 GMT -6
The big thing you can take from this thread is that there are a lot of right ways to structure your Monday practice.
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