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Post by irishdog on Mar 3, 2024 13:35:40 GMT -6
If the NFL truly cares about the game as they SAY they do, they will find a way to utilize their influence in creating big-time college football into a developmental entity within their own structure. After all, isn't THAT what big-time college football has become anyway? Create and manage a way to underwrite the "league" of schools (the National Collegiate Football League?) and structure it in a manner beneficial to the schools and athletes choosing to be part of it, and for the "league" itself. Schools that cannot financially or philosophically choose to become a member of the NCFL remain as members of the NCAA with agreements to structure NIL to benefit the athletes and the schools for their futures, or restructure the NCAA period.
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Post by irishdog on Mar 2, 2024 18:50:43 GMT -6
At some point when an "old-school" coach retires, and he hears the trashing of what garnered his success, he tires of being "above board", and with nothing to lose he finally speak his mind. Good for him! Sure, many coaches say Coach Johnson was tough to work for, but I would bet numbers of coaches would also say that guys like Saban were also tough. Success for GT football was spotty at best. Prior to Coach Johnson Chan Gailey brought glimpses of it back, but it was Coach Johnson who woke up the echoes of the days of Bobby Dodd. Hopefully Brent Key can restore of some of that Johnson magic. The question is how does GT (And a lot of other schools that presently belong to Power 5 conferences) fit into the emerging model of D.1 football? They won't, and so will a bunch of others. A reckoning is coming to a large number of collegiate football programs that will affect their entire athletics department, and universities in general.
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Post by irishdog on Mar 2, 2024 11:54:18 GMT -6
At some point when an "old-school" coach retires, and he hears the trashing of what garnered his success, he tires of being "above board", and with nothing to lose he finally speak his mind. Good for him! Sure, many coaches say Coach Johnson was tough to work for, but I would bet numbers of coaches would also say that guys like Saban were also tough. Success for GT football was spotty at best. Prior to Coach Johnson Chan Gailey brought glimpses of it back, but it was Coach Johnson who woke up the echoes of the days of Bobby Dodd. Hopefully Brent Key can restore of some of that Johnson magic.
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Post by irishdog on Mar 1, 2024 21:42:52 GMT -6
Gilman varsity 5 man, and a Gilman youth 5 man. More useful for offense and defense. Had 2 Gilman popsicles for tackling, and 1 Gilman 2 man used by the RB's, TE's, and LBers. Didn't matter where I was, at what school, I ordered all my field equipment from Gilman. Because I was such a good customer I was always able to get a price break.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 29, 2024 21:47:07 GMT -6
Becoming a football coach was not on my radar after playing in college. I wanted to be a sports journalist. ESPN had just started and I thought THAT was the be all end all. Then...my HS football coach contacted me and asked if I would be interested in helping out with the freshman football team. I respected the man so much I couldn't say no. I got hooked, changed my major to PE, and 50 years later (after coaching college and high school ball) I just let God lead the way and wouldn't trade one day of it. Thought I was done, but because I loved it so much one of my best buds who just got a new HC job asked me to help him analyze stuff on Hudl, so...just like Michael Corleone said, "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in."
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Post by irishdog on Feb 29, 2024 18:32:02 GMT -6
Coaching To Change Lives. A character (leadership) curriculum developed by D.W. Rutledge and Dennis Parker. Both highly respected retired HS football coaches from Texas. Geared toward the football side but could be used for any other team sport. I was certified to teach the curriculum after I attended one of their workshops. It may be a little dated now, but it covered leadership, self-esteem, attitude, responsibility, goal setting, character, etc. Provided an instructor guide, workbooks, and CD's. Was an excellent resource for me, and used it a bunch. Not sure if it has been updated, or even available anymore.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 28, 2024 10:33:17 GMT -6
DLS cadence is Down Set Hit But it is more like Down..... SetHIT The snap is on HIT but they move on Set When we coached against them, we had our DL go on Set haha In practice, the scout OL and DL were engaged before the ball was snapped constantly... It helped and neither team ever got called haha There are multiple instances of players already being engaged before the snap in the Liberty Hill video too. I think it is a little bush league to be honest. I believe LH uses just a one word snap count. I think it's just a matter of those boys up front being coached to come off the ball on the first letter of the snap count. IMHO pretty impressive coaching that they can do that on just about every snap.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 25, 2024 17:47:06 GMT -6
Holy moly. This thread made me dizzy! I'm sure some AI geek will come up with something soon that makes Hudl and the rest look like amateur hour.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 22, 2024 8:47:37 GMT -6
Tell you one thing about the speed of the break/snap: this year the goal is for us to be even faster. We're going to be f***ing obnoxious about it. Good! You HAVE to be! I absolutely LOVED watching the LH Slot-T running on all cylinders. Attended and watched games for a number of years when I lived in Austin. Brings back fond memories of when I ran my Double Wing offense. Now that I'm retired, moved away from the blueberry, and live near Fort Worth I hope y'all might be playing someone up this way soon.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 21, 2024 22:47:21 GMT -6
I can't tell you how many times I've seen spread teams using motion snap the ball when the man in motion is going toward the LOS. Or how many times I've seen pass oriented offensive linemen literally tackle pass rushers and get away with it for most of the game. Or how often my DW fullbacks got their knees taken out by a defender lined up outside the free blocking zone when the FB is blocking on a Super Power. In each of those cases I always spoke with the officials prior to the start of the game to look for those infractions. Some crews paid attention, most crews didn't.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 21, 2024 16:15:52 GMT -6
I would have killed for in-school weight training. Spent most of my career at small high schools and no "athletic periods.' Only one school made an effort in scheduling an in-school class (only one period early morning) and not coincidentally was the best situation I experienced. Otherwise I had before school, or after school for off-season strength training. In-season was always before school in the morning (Mondays) for varsity, and after practice on Mondays for the youngins.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 20, 2024 17:13:59 GMT -6
I somewhat regret playing D3 ball. I accumulated A LOT of debt in order to play ball, which I was glad to do at the time, but it's 20 years later and I'm still on the hook for some of it. What caused you to accumulate debt? College expenses at a school whose only benefit to you was playing football? Time you could've been working? Or some other reason? Was football with an independent amateur club not an option, or not attractive for some reason? There are a number of public college/universities playing D3 football. A lot less expensive than private schools. WI, NY, MA, NJ, have entire D3 conferences made up of public universities that have reciprocal admissions agreements with surrounding states. If the student is an accomplished athlete from out of state, and is being recruited by those schools said student will have a much better chance of earning a priority admission. I had many boys who loved playing the game, were good D3 prospects who ended up in some of those schools, graduated, and had debt but not nearly as much as my guys who went to private universities.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 19, 2024 20:49:02 GMT -6
If you want to see CFB played by real student-athletes, go to games at your local D-III school. You couldn't be more correct. I know first-hand after coaching football and track at the Division III level that the athletes under my tutelage in both sports were TRULY student-athletes. I did have a few "scholly seekers" in football (not track), who thought they were better than D3 and used us as a stepping stone to a higher level, BUT...to their credit they did get accepted academically to a very competitive academic D3 institution, and DID get accepted at another competitive academic school at the FCS level. Proof IMO that recruiting might be able to measure height, weight, speed, jumping ability, arm length, etc. but it can't measure an athlete's character, nor heart.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 18, 2024 16:44:22 GMT -6
Oh well, **it happens. It's football. DE jumps offside and gets back, no flag, play resumes and QB throws game winning TD. Wait, there IS a flag, in the offensive backfield. HB flinched on the DE jumping offside, play called back. Refs. They get most calls right, and some calls wrong.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 18, 2024 11:45:47 GMT -6
I've seen tons of clips of Liberty Hill running this offense better than anyone. I've noticed two things though: - It seems like their 11 aren't even close to being set for a full second before the snap of the ball. Maybe 1/4 of a second at most. For anyone familiar, has this ever been addressed or clarified? Do the refs just default to "one moment?"
- Did anything ever come of this TD play where the ball was tackled, but the refs bit so hard on the fake, the ball carrier got up and "scored." (4:50 mark)
To the second bullet point: Was that ever addressed, or is this something they are still getting away with?
I'm not trying to belittle it honestly. These two points are just so bizarre that I was wondering what conversations or actions have been going on around them.
Appears to me there was a mishandled fake. Ball was on the ground (or laying on the guard). FB was knocked to the ground (good coaching by Hutto). FB seeing the ball grabbed it and took off. At that point officials would likely have considered it a fumbled ball behind the LOS thus allowing the TD. Nobody in the state that runs the Texas Slot-T runs it better than Liberty Hill. Their O Linemen have always been fast in getting their hands down, and the QB's precise with the snap. What happened on that play isn't something they plan, or get away with. It was just a fluke play that can happen in the game of football, and sometimes can happen more often with offenses that place an emphasis on misdirection.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 17, 2024 8:54:11 GMT -6
The term "student-athlete" can no longer be considered a "blanket" term in big-time college football. Yes, maybe in Division III where there are no athletic scholarships, and possibly in the IVY League where a prospect's talent can be "translated" into his academic prowess. "Fans" of big-time college football are more interested in QBR than GPA. Care more about 5 stars than gold stars. "Amateurs?" HA! Those are the guys playing intramural football. Historically the word "student" in the term "student-athlete" has long been a misnomer. There have been many colleges, college football coaches, and college football fans who have played a part in recruiting those football "mercenaries" who have taken advantage of the word "amateur."
Big-time college football today (NIL, transfer portal, MONEY) has become even more of a Big-Business than ever before. That's fine. But let's not pretend anymore that it is what it isn't. I still hold to the belief that the big-business of pro football (NFL) will find a way to strike a deal with the big-business of college football (ESPN) to create a semi-professional "collegiate" football league. Of course Big-Money will win out. At that point Colleges/Universities that can't afford the investment of that new European Club format will be forced to make a choice to either continue playing football at a scholarship level, or de-emphasize football, or eliminate football altogether.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 15, 2024 11:13:49 GMT -6
"Whatever everyone else is running on offense, run something different." In 1970 playing in a CA JC while most schools were running the football our HC had us throwing the ball all over the park. Played in 2 consecutive state title games winning one, highly rated in total pass offense in the state AND the country for JC football, QB was maybe 5'10 but accurate as hell, his primary receiver ended up at Oregon, one of our OT's ended up as a starter at UCLA, and our TE ended up playing for the Redskins.
That advice is what convinced me to run the Double Wing while most others were spreading it out and throwing the ball around. Our opponents couldn't figure us out, nor how to stop us primarily because they hadn't seen much of it, nor could simulate what we were doing as well as we did it during their practices. Same theory why some schools run option type offenses and are successful doing it.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 12, 2024 11:04:12 GMT -6
I have always believed if you can't gain 3 yards (whether run or pass) regardless of what down it is you don't deserve to win the game. Both teams uncharacteristically made a lot of mistakes. Unfortunately, the 49ers made more of them, and a very costly blocking mistake in OT that cost them the game. Additionally, the 49ers were much more effective moving the ball from under center than they were in the shotgun.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 11, 2024 14:40:20 GMT -6
I hear that the "new" term being thrown around now is "the...Room." Well...when I was a young guy coaching high school ball I didn't have ANY rooms, but did have THREE positions I had to coach, O Line, LB's, and Special Teams! Then, as a HC I was in charge of ALL the "rooms". When I moved up to D2/D3 ball as an assistant I was a "position" coach and used a bunch of different "rooms." My advice...Coach the position(s) you've been assigned and coach your ass off! I feel like this "room" stuff is a byproduct of people watching too much of that HBO drivel. You could be right! Maybe football "hipspeak"?
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Post by irishdog on Feb 11, 2024 12:43:41 GMT -6
I hear that the "new" term being thrown around now is "the...Room." Well...when I was a young guy coaching high school ball I didn't have ANY rooms, but did have THREE positions I had to coach, O Line, LB's, and Special Teams! Then, as a HC I was in charge of ALL the "rooms". When I moved up to D2/D3 ball as an assistant I was a "position" coach and used a bunch of different "rooms." My advice...Coach the position(s) you've been assigned and coach your ass off!
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Post by irishdog on Feb 10, 2024 9:40:32 GMT -6
Tuesday: Offensive emphasis. Full offensive practice with defensive indy along with other small-group defensive work (pod stuff, 7v7, inside run) tossed in. Typically a 2/3-1/3 split. Wednesday: Defensive emphasis. Full defensive practice with offensive indy and other small group offensive work plugged in. I preferred this as it gave us a little more time to clean up things we were struggling at. Same. Worked most of my career at small schools w/small staffs coaching both sides of the ball with small numbers. Gave us a chance to devote more time to each phase. We did both O&D on Mondays (fundamentals sessions only). Monday pre-practice in film sessions (review/preview). Remainder of Monday practices did ST/Conditioning and 30 minute strength (CORE) after on-field work. Tuesday: Offense and Punt. Finished w/30 minute D indy (tackling, alignment/assignment). Wednesday: Defense and Punt Return. Finished w/30 minute O, 10 minute indy - 20 minute Team (Red zone and 2 minute).
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Post by irishdog on Feb 9, 2024 9:09:11 GMT -6
I've been blessed to live/work in California, New England, Minnesota, Ohio, and now Texas. I was in California 30+ years ago. My family still lives there so...what it was back then is certainly NOT what it is now. Autumn in NE is exceptional, and I found the boys I coached in NE to be some of the toughest (physically and mentally) I have coached. MN winters were frigid and LONG, and the boys in Minnesota were a hardy bunch (for good reason!), and played with a ton of heart. OH had four distinct seasons, and the Ohio kids while a little rough around the edges were very coachable. Texas weather changes overnight and can vary greatly throughout the state. I coached in private schools in Texas where those kids gave you ALL they had ALL the time, but Texas football is Friday Night Lights, and FNL is all about the UIL and the public schools. Each of my stops had its pluses and minuses (some more pluses, some more minuses), but overall I'd have to praise the Lord for directing my retirement to Texas.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 8, 2024 9:52:05 GMT -6
there are some small districts in west texas that have teacher housing. could be some in east texas, but i don't know of any. i think midland isd may have some, or are working on getting some. or may have a housing allotment. i know they were working on something, because housing in midland when the oilfield is rolling gets ridiculous. even though salaries are (a lot) higher in the permian basin, housing is still a problem. There are a number of small rural districts in East Texas that own a home, and whose HFC's have/had that home provided for them and their families. Some have/had also provided a district vehicle for the HC. In some larger districts in Texas the HC salaries afford the HC the opportunity to purchase/rent/lease a pretty nice home! It's not like that everywhere in Texas, but it's not uncommon.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 2, 2024 17:38:46 GMT -6
I always felt we needed to be prepared, but also always felt that we needed to avoid "Paralysis by over-analysis." Using Hudl my videographer did our ODK during the game. Over the weekend I did the offense, my DC did the defense, my STC did special teams. Other assistant coaches watched film with us as a staff on Sunday evenings with a home-cooked dinner at my house first. After dinner we would watch film together using more eyes to see if there may have been something the three of us overlooked. Meeting usually lasted a couple of hours. Formulated game plans and introduced the plans to the team during Monday film session, and implemented them at practice. We also watched film with the team on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before and after practices. We concentrated on the opponent for that particular week. Wasn't interested in the following week's opponent. Only time we were interested was for district championship/playoff spot and post-season.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 1, 2024 15:32:25 GMT -6
Another thing to look at does the team improve as the season goes. Are the fundamentals better? Are they still playing hard. Do the players pick up the slight adjustments on the field better in the back half of the years than from week 1-2. I had a parent (who could be very critical at times) tell me that he always thought we played better over the second half of the season which he thought showed we had a good staff. (Thought sometimes it was a backhanded compliment though like we could not figure {censored} out for the front end of the season) I once got a weird compliment from a parent like that. Had a dad who was super critical of me and would send me an email every week with his criticisms from last Friday's game which I had never responded to. Near the end of my first year (we weren't good), he sent an email wherein he told me he had concluded I was a bad coach. He did however add that I was a fine young man (only like 23 at the time) and that he would be happy if his daughter brought home a guy like me. For the first time ever I responded, "what's her number?" That's hilarious! Did he give it to you?
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Post by irishdog on Feb 1, 2024 11:17:42 GMT -6
All of the above. But I've said it on this site (different thread?) that the guys who win with less talent, as opposed to the guys with great talent who win, are the coaches I have admired most in this profession. A number of them are the very guys who post on this site.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 31, 2024 17:55:52 GMT -6
Strapped them around players' waists and held relays in the 20 yard sand pit we constructed. Called it Sand Wars.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 29, 2024 15:59:40 GMT -6
IMHO big time college football as we have known it is dying or already dead. In the future the NFL will rule big time college football played in this country. No different than what you see in Europe with soccer. The same goes for basketball and hockey. The NBA and NHL will rule.
IF (BIG IF) the NCAA survives and sponsors football and basketball as team sports it will either be at the grant-in-aid/non-scholarship level or club level. Other sports, particularly the Olympic sports, will remain scholarship sports. NIL and transfer portal will be history in the NCAA, but not in the Pro/Collegiate programs.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 29, 2024 9:28:05 GMT -6
12 years, six programs, 2 different states.... 7 DI kids, 2 NFL kids (should have been 4). Interesting that there was nothing whatsoever I did at any point to contribute to their ascension (even being with them throughout their program career). Even more, there didn't appear to be any difference in THEIR contribution in practice or games that would've changed the outcome of their future (IMO). Those kids were destined for higher competitive environments as if Zeus, himself, had touched them in the womb. I've never had as much fun, never coached harder, never had more rewarding (outside the scoreboard) season than when I didn't have one on the roster, if that makes sense. Enjoyed a ton of success on the field WITH rosters full of DNA jackpots, but what we did on staff was hardly anything worthy of being called, "coaching". I echo that sentiment. Those higher level kids make coaches look like great coaches. IMHO it is the coaches who "win" with marginal talent that I admire most and consider to be truly "great" coaches. It is those guys who should receive COY accolades.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 28, 2024 13:21:12 GMT -6
1 OL FBS. 1 OL FCS. 1 DL FCS. 1 QB FCS. 2 OL D2. 1 TE D2. 1 K FBS. 1 K D2. 5 play D3, 2 play JC, and 2 play NAIA. All through a 50 year career. Had 4 end up going into teaching/coaching.
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