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Post by nstanley on Nov 25, 2018 15:25:04 GMT -6
Has anyone uncovered reasons for poor performance in road games (including neutral site games) & use that information to effectively improve their road performance? What have you evaluated & did you improve your road results with this information? We have hit a wall in turning around a very poor program & most of it involves performing well on the road. In the last five years, we're 20-3 at home & 11-15 on the road (including neutral site games). Over that span, we're averaging 42.3 points/game at home & 29.4 on the road. Defensively, we have given up 11.4 points/game at home & 21.25 on the road. Our young team was terrible on the road this past season (0-5 & outscored by 11 pts/game) & good at home (4-0 & outscored opponents by 34.75 pts/game). We keep the same routine on the road as we do at home: 5:00 - 5:20 Walkthrough on the game field 5:30 - 6:10 Dressing time in locker room & athletic training services 6:10 - 6:15 Head coach addresses team in locker room 6:15 - 6:55 Game warm-up (dynamic stretch, special team skills, off/def position skills, team offense, & final coaching points) 6:55 - 7:00 Starting line-ups & national anthem 7:00 Kick-off Is it an advantage to cut down your routine on the road due to travel time? For example, our kids are not in "absolute" football mode until 5:00 for home games but may feel the need to get in "absolute" football mode when we load the bus at 4:00 & will have an extra hour to focus on the game. If we cut 15-20 minutes out of our routine for road games, do we gain less burn out? Just grabbing straws at this point. This is very similar to what we did for a long time. When I became the head coach, I cut this down for any games that were nearby. We tried to dress at home if our trip with around 30 minutes or so and wouldn't walk through at the game field but rather at home before we got on the bus. My goal was to start pregame at 6:10 for special teams/early groups, etc. We'd head back in to the locker room at 6:45 and come back out at 6:55. For long distance games which we played quite a few of, we would try to arrive at the site 2 hours before. I would have loved to done the Kevin Kelley thing and just show up right before the game and roll straight out to the game field but with all the variables such as bus troubles, etc., I like to plan for an arrival 2 hours before kick-off. For these long games, we always would try and find a place along the way to eat pregame meal and have a walkthrough.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 22, 2018 12:14:30 GMT -6
We traditionally did a Mom's night on Wednesday and then dads came into the locker room at halftime on game night. We had traditionally had a noise parade on the night of the game that the players weren't allowed to participate in, so they moved it to Wednesday (no volleyball or soccer games) and added a bonfire. I was okay with the kids participating in it.
What I did catch flack over was not allowing members of the homecoming court to be in the halftime ceremony. I have a mother to this day who would probably shoot me if she knew she could get away with it. A lot of prevention can be done by prepping your activities director about what you need. The problem we had late was an inexperienced person who had a tough time saying no. It made my job much harder.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 24, 2018 14:49:55 GMT -6
Our staff has traditionally gone to a Glazier clinic and enjoyed them...the down side for us is travel (7 hour drive)and the general expenses associated (days off for travel/food on the road/hotels/gas).
Other option is the 2 Universities in the area= the schedule is difficult for teaching and those are at least 3 1/2 hour drives and we don't run the base O or D of either of those teams. Fun trip, great coaches and some awesome information but not exactly in our wheel house.
This is leaving us with putting on our own clinic and bringing in people we want to hear...so far we have struck out getting quality coaches to commit. The coaches issue is the same issue that we have- travel.
So we are looking at a college visit or visiting a HS that has at least one side of the ball the same as us. What methods have you used to find those coaches/schools that would be willing to host a staff for a Saturday/Sunday visit?
Thanks
My suggestion for what it's worth is to take advantage of the online resources out there to get an idea of what your staff wants to focus on and then fly/drive someone to you to do a deep dive. I did this a lot when I was the head coach of a program 3 hours from any clinics or colleges. I also had a majority of assistants who were walk-ons so getting them to take time off to go to clinics was difficult for two and three days, etc. We got a ton of info from our in-house clinics. I couldn't afford to bring in five coaches to do a two day clinic but I could pay for flight, hotel and two days of in-service from really good coaches. I had an 8A state champion coach from Florida two years, a 10 x state champ coach from Kentucky a TXHSFB Coach of the Year all to my high school and a Natioanal HS FB coach of the year all to our school in Central Oregon. I saved on the cost too by inviting other staffs to join us. I charged like $200 to bring the whole staff and we'd usually get 4 or so other local schools to join us.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 20, 2018 10:47:43 GMT -6
Something I shared with a friend the other day is to think about it in terms of a business. You have to have multiple sales funnels in place for kids, meaning that you have to approach your potential players in a variety of ways. Something that might attract a kid to play such as new uniforms or multiple helmets may not move the meter for another kid. How do you find out what attracts kids? Do market research. Interview kids, do surveys, etc., then experiment, then evaluate and then repeat.
Something else I think many of us overlook is to continue to recruit players once they are on our team. This is something that I heard Boise State does really well. E-business experts say you need to have multiple sales funnels in place for your current customers as well. The idea is the same, kids have a choice (to play football or not) and so we can't treat them like they've joined the French Foreign Legion.
It doesn't mean we compromise our standards worrying that we'll lose kids, just like sometimes businesses lose customers who don't fit their avatar. But, it's important not to take a kid for granted, as if he doesn't have a choice.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 17, 2018 9:50:02 GMT -6
caling kids, "p", using the "f" word, "mfer".....thoughts? your policy with coaches on your staff (hcs, ads).....general thoughts I wrote a blog post about this recently because I had some coaches whose behavior rather than trying to elicit a desired effect was more about showing everyone how they felt. I tell my coaches that I know there are times where we slip up, or lose control and say something we shouldn't. But cursing is indefensible if I end up in a meeting with a parent and the principal--especially if we are not just cursing in front of kids but at them.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 15, 2018 15:45:15 GMT -6
For those run heavy offenses out there (wing t, DW, SW, flexbone, wishbone, etc.), does anyone NOT go to 7 on 7's? If not, what would you do with your 10 contact days (legal practices)? Thinking of just tacking them on to the beginning of camp, giving me 2.5 weeks to install and master before the pads come on. Have always coached under spread coaches so we 7 on 7 all summer, practice all summer for the 7 on 7's along with lifting. We would try to schedule into two or three throwing days. Typically a school in the next town would have a two day tournament we would attend and then I'd try to either get together with other schools during the summer or get another passing day in. We also hosted a team camp where we'd get four nights of skelle in. I found it valuable from a defensive perspective. Also, it allows you to experiment. As were an UBSW team, we ran all of our bread and butter pass concepts from the wing but also spent time experimenting with our spread package and answers for 3rd and long, end of the half/game plays, etc. What I found is that we were more effective passing from our base formation than from spread, to the point we beat REALLY good passing programs in 7 on 7. Were we better at passing than they were. No way but, it gave us confidence that we COULD throw the ball if needed.
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Post by nstanley on Sept 16, 2018 8:58:35 GMT -6
We had two coaches in the box. One on the offensive phones and one on the defensive. The offensive coach was to give info only: distance to go after each play, alignments of the dl, and who made the tackle the previous play. I had other coaches on the field watch linebackers or their secondary. I had someone chart our play calling on the field as well.
Defensively, we'd chart their offense, help identify formations and whether or not the defense was aligning properly and then of course, provide the DC on the field feedback on if someone was getting "kilt" or not following their assignments, etc.
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Post by nstanley on Sept 6, 2018 19:09:20 GMT -6
If you decline to run the clock, can the refs just run it anyway??? In Oregon, it is a decision that varies from league to league I believe. I don't think you have a choice.
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Post by nstanley on Mar 8, 2018 14:20:41 GMT -6
Craig Howard (RIP) at Southern Oregon University (and Tim Tebow's HS coach) used to say they have one sentence philosophies for each unit: Defense--"We are an attacking, swarming defense that gang tackles and makes big plays." Offense--"We are a spread, no huddle offense that plays at a ludicrous speed and with pinpoint precision." Special Teams--"ATT=EKG: Attitude, technique and time = excellent kicking game."
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Post by nstanley on Dec 23, 2017 23:13:41 GMT -6
I think outlining a process that you want to follow is probably more important than an outline of what you want to accomplish over the next several years. I try to think about what we want to ultimately accomplish as a program and then identify the things we need to do to achieve those outcomes.
The most important question that we ask is, "What can we do in the present moment that will get us closer to where we want to be as a program?" I try to identify our core principles, performance fundamentals, daily focus, weekly focus, season milestones and then the big picture outcome based goals such as making the play-offs, etc.
Try to focus on developing systems that will take care of the issues that you need to cover. Develop systems for recruitment, retention, staff development, fundraising, off-season weightlifting, feeder program support, etc.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 3, 2017 9:36:08 GMT -6
I have seen other schools replace their team room lockers w/ nice open lockers w/ lock boxes, etc. by having alumni purchase the lockers and recognizing the donation with a name plate, etc.
Has anyone else done this and if so, any suggestions on companies to go through that won't cost an arm and a leg but still be classy? We'll have to do the girls team rooms as well of course so we're talking a fair amount of lockers.
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Post by nstanley on Sept 10, 2017 18:30:39 GMT -6
Idk what my deal is because this isn't usually a problem, but almost exactly after practice started in August, I've been unable to get any kind of good sleep. I wake up tired almost every day. I take melatonin + zinc/magnesium, try to practice good sleep habits, work out early in the day, been avoiding caffeine for most of the summer, but I'm just not rested. I'm not particularly stressed, I'm not waking up terrified of Friday's opponent, but football season has wrecked me and it's not even a month in. Ordinarily my go to sleep cure is the affections of a lovely lady, but I'm currently on a drought due to dating a gal who wants to take it SLLLOOOOWWWWWW. Suggestions? Thoughts? Weird voodoo solutions? briancain.com/blog/bc141-dr-james-maas-sleep-the-missing-link-in-peak-performance.htmlCheck this out.
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Post by nstanley on Sept 4, 2017 11:52:35 GMT -6
I know this should be in Technology section but I think it could belong in General too..... We are thinking of doing an online meeting this year on Sundays- with one of the many apps/websites out there- just to go over a few things from the previous game and initial game plan thoughts for the new opponent- and then meet on Monday's after practice to solidify things. I've never done this before but like most staffs we have some challenges at times to meet on the weekends. Has anyone done this and if so, WHAT APP/Website would you recommend as being the best or easiest to use? We have used Google Hangouts in the past. I also would do a screen cast w/ the app s creencast-o-matic and basically do a 10-15 minute scouting report on our opponent as well as an AAR on our last game. All coaches would be assigned a part of the opponent's gameplan to put together a scouting report and we'd curate a folder on Google Drive w/ all that information. Between coaches putting together playlists on HUDL and sharing them, the Scouting Report folder on Drive and the screencast I shared with kids and coaches, we could have a pretty good online meeting and all be on the same page.
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Post by nstanley on Feb 3, 2017 10:21:06 GMT -6
I was thinking put all 3 presentations on 1 disc sell it for 10-20 bucks Should i do this? If so all 3 on 1 or do them individually? how much? I would do it. Really, I'd set it up so you just deliver it via dropbox so you don't have to make discs. I like to pick up stuff like this even if I don't run a particular defense/offense/etc. so long as its reasonably priced. If you have a screencast w/ video that is basically a digital version of your presentation, I would sell them separately for $10 each. If they are just power points, I'd bundle them for $10. Either way, I'd do it and I would buy it.
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Post by nstanley on Feb 2, 2017 14:16:39 GMT -6
coachplaa does a great job of this and I think you can find his in I think the 2012 Nike COY Notes. He also had a DVD where he talks about it. We have looked at doing this (have a pretty good outline) and I think we're going to start this in the spring with a focus on our summer program. We'll do it with an incentive program along with the threat of a conditioning test for those who don't meet the standard we set. Once we have that in place, I think we'll expand it to the winter and spring. I wanted to roll it out this week but, with winter sports already 2/3 of the way done and our kids scattered (lots of 2-3 sport athletes) I thought it would be better to do it heading into spring ball and summer conditioning and then continuing after next season.
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Post by nstanley on Jan 30, 2017 23:45:42 GMT -6
This is what we did: - I explained to the kids exactly what we were trying to do.
- I created a Google Form that asked a bunch of questions such as, "How would you like your opponent's to think about the way you play?"
- Once you have the responses, I just grouped the similar values together.
After we had some values, we selected core values to spell out the name of our mascot "PANTHERS." We made the kids be able to recite our core values before they got their helmet decals. I made posters with the core values on them as well as pennants that went in their spirit packs. We had coaches talk about them at the start of most practices especially early in the season.
We ended up w/ too many. Jeff Janssen outlines five or six basic categories in his book on championship culture. Results, relationships, character, etc. I think I'd try to pick one value for each of those categories. You may find that you only want two.
Really, we have two main core values: Relentless Effort and Selflessness. Our program motto is "Hoka Hey," which means, "It's a good day to die." One the one hand, we ask our kids if they knew this was their last game, practice, etc., how would they want to play it? On the other hand, we want our players to die to their selfishness and be willing to sacrifice what they want for what is best of the team. We talk about these more than the others but we do talk about all of them.
Hope that is helpful.
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Post by nstanley on Dec 17, 2016 13:04:59 GMT -6
Nope, won't be reading. I went to Colleyville Heritage and I can't ever support cross-town rival GHS...(just added to cart) “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” -Sun Tzu
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Post by nstanley on Dec 10, 2016 11:32:27 GMT -6
How have/will you implemented some of his stuff into your program? We borrowed a ton of what is in the book this past season (got a limited copy off of Amazon in August). Primarily creating core values for our program and "selling" them at every opportunity.
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Post by nstanley on Dec 9, 2016 11:29:13 GMT -6
I had a principal once tell me, "don't put anything in an email that you wouldn't want written on the front page of the New York Times." I have some coaching buddies with a warped sense of humor, and I get tempted from time to time. But I always try to keep her words in mind. I share with my coaches that we need to follow the "Dick Cheney" rule which is don't write anything down that is negative or that you wouldn't want read back to you on the witness stand. That means email, texts and social media. If you have a difficult conversation you want to have or something critical to say, or you want to vent, do it in person, on the phone or in another way that won't come back to haunt you. Do I faithfully adhere to this 100% of the time? No but, I do think just being aware of it helps control my response most of the time.
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Post by nstanley on Dec 9, 2016 0:08:18 GMT -6
I was really unhappy with our special teams periods w/ all the kids standing around so we went to a specialists period where we have guys kicking/snapping/holding/QB warm-up/etc. while the rest of the team runs kick-off/punt coverage drills or ball security/turnover drill.
I think it really helped our team as we both were better at securing the ball, returning punts as well as getting strips and fumbles.
Also, for defense, we run two scout huddles. One full 11 man and one skelle. It allows us to run a ton of plays w/out having a ton of players. The defense has to really hustle while we're going w/ two huddles.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 30, 2016 18:20:02 GMT -6
I found that if we wore practice pants early in the season, we got into game shape quicker. What we've done the past two years is start the season in practice pants, then put on shorts (w/ 5 point girdles and knee pads) around week 4. It brings a nice psychological lift as the kids feel lighter.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 19, 2016 11:12:27 GMT -6
I agree that doing a lot of research into the struggles and successes of the program is vital to getting started and not wasting time on getting things turned around. Since there are a lot of different reasons for a losing program from demographics to coaching to administrative support, etc., I'll focus more on general things you could/should do. In no particular order: Develop core values for your program. We follow Brian Cain's MVP process in our program and I believe that it has led to a lot of growth in our coaches and players. Deciding what your mission, vision and principles are is the foundation of your program. I wrote a quick blog post about how we implemented core values into our program that might be worth reading. Remember once you have core values, you have to sell and reinforcement at every opportunity. Change the way they operate. When I took over the program where I'm currently the head coach, I tried to change everything about the program that I could to give kids the message that this was a new program and it wouldn't be business as usual. We changed the helmets, purchased "homecoming jerseys" with player names on them, played music at practice, split the staff to O/D only, started new traditions, etc. There are going to be some things you change that are really important to you but, I would look for arbitrary things to change that are mainly superficial that you can use to signal a shift in the program. Coaches. You have to start with a core group of coaches who are loyal to you and the program. This is increasingly difficult for coaches who are coming into a new job from the outside. Bringing coaches with you is ideal but in lieu of this, you really have to be careful about who you hire. Build relationships. My friend Randy Jackson says, "Your kids have to want to lay down in traffic for you." You and your assistants have to be intentional about building relationships with each and every one of your kids. This has to be something you sit down and outline. You can't have rules before relationships. Rebuilding a program is a pretty big job so finding a model/template for organizing your thoughts is valuable in my opinion. I would suggest using the Nine Characteristics of a High Performing School as a Model for you to outline your program. Another model that I was taught by a mentor of mine what what he called the "four fundamentals" of a good program: - Fundamentals of Motivation (Kids; Parents; Student Body)
- Fundamentals of Planning (Schedule, Weight Program, Fundraising, Equipment)
- Fundamentals of a Progression of Teaching (Offensive/Defensive System; Practice Planning)
- Fundamentals of Coaching your Coaches
Either of those work to serve as a good place to start sketching out what you want to do with your program.
Hope this helps.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 15, 2016 16:20:55 GMT -6
I am looking to get my first head coaching job soon. It will be an AD/Hd football coach. I am wanting to put together a year round plan. Does anyone have something like this so I have a place to start? Thanks eightlaces.org/football-coaching-manual/This is a manual for $14 on Coach Fore's website that Coach Steinberg has put together. I think it provides a good starting point for you.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 10, 2016 13:11:22 GMT -6
Incorporating classroom time, looking to add this Monday as a review and install time About week five or so, we started Monday's practice with film and a meeting and cut down on the time on the field. We have a smaller group this year so a lot of our players are getting a ton of time on Fridays and we've used Mondays for more of a mental day. To shorten Monday's meeting, I've gone to creating screencasts on Sundays and sharing them with the kids using the HUDL messaging function. Since most of the kids get the notification and link on their cell phone, they can watch a quick 5-15 minute video without much effort on their part.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 10, 2016 13:05:15 GMT -6
How many of those sleds do you guys have? There are at least two things we are changing 1) higher emphasis on turnovers on both sides of the ball 2) working kickoff return/hands/strange kicks more Those two things killed us this year. We instituted a "specialties" period during practice this past season around week 5. It has been huge for us. Basically, we have kickers, snappers and QB's work for between 5-7 minutes a day while the rest of the team is either doing a kick-off/punt cover blocking drill or a ball security drill. We've also included a lot of ball security/turnover circuits in our defensive practices. This has been very positive for us this season.
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Post by nstanley on Nov 1, 2016 19:27:19 GMT -6
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Post by nstanley on Oct 29, 2016 23:55:30 GMT -6
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Post by nstanley on Oct 19, 2016 14:43:59 GMT -6
Here is what I borrowed from my mentor who is nearing 300 career wins. After the season, I set up shop in a classroom or meeting space for about 30 minutes after school each day. Kids come by and meet for 5 minutes. If I haven't seen them by Thanksgiving Break I hunt them down or schedule a specific time. We ask the following questions: - How do you think the season went for the team?
- How did the season go for you?
- What do you see for yourself for next season? (i.e.-I want to be a starter, all league, etc.)
- What do you need to do this off-season to accomplish that?
- Is there anything you'd like to share that you think we could do to make your experience better?
The interviews provide two things mainly: 1) Ideas for how to make the program better (team meals, team camp, gear, etc.) and 2) Information to hold kids accountable in the off season. If you're looking for an "80/20" approach, I think this is a good model. I'm sure there are other ideas out there that are more comprehensive that are helpful too.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 16, 2016 16:00:16 GMT -6
I have always subscribed to the following when selecting a scheme:
1. Be good or be different. If you don't have the personnel, expertise, resources to run a system and be the best at it in your area, find something that makes you tough to prepare for.
2. My experience with having less talent/numbers than the competition, is that wing offenses allow you be flexible with your talent and help you out-execute the opposition. Misdirection and deception is also a big advantage to Wing schemes.
We run the single wing and one draw back has been that we're not flush with traditional QB's and receivers (one reason we went that direction in the first place). The question is whether we lack them because of the system we run or do we have to run the system we do because we lack them?
I do know that there are spread teams in our league that are struggling with numbers despite the fact they've been running their systems for several years. There are so many moving pieces to building a program that the offense you run is just one part of why kids come out and why you're successful.
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Post by nstanley on Oct 15, 2016 16:17:25 GMT -6
My suggestion with any coach who wants to go from being an assistant to a HC is that you need to do the job before you get paid to do it. As much as you put into the Freshman program, there a 1001 things that a HFC at the varsity level needs to be aware of. Finding a program where you can have an increased role, etc., would be at the top of my list if I were in your situation.
Find a program where you can be a varsity assistant or a coordinator in the JV or even Frosh program while also coaching at the varsity level. Start developing a notebook/google drive/Evernote collection of the ideas you want to make apart of your program. Find a mentor who is willing to share time and information about not just schemes but culture building, communication, fundraising, equipment management, coaching coaches, etc.
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