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Post by irishdog on Jul 22, 2023 10:58:05 GMT -6
I am retired now, but will answer for one of the schools I was the HC:
1. Twin Cities 2. 725 3. 55 4. Appx. 5K 5. Appx. 25K 6. 2500-3000 7. Every 4 years 8. Spirit pack includes 2 t-shirts, pair of shorts, hoodie 9. 2 t-shirts, 2 sideline polos, jacket 10. 6 Varsity, 3 JV 11. 9 12. 3 13. Once before the season, once after the season (clinic), once at the end of the school year
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Post by irishdog on Jul 20, 2023 17:06:04 GMT -6
Tested right before Christmas break. Tested right before Spring break. Last test was right before school was out. These were done to show them their progress in the weight room. We also tested the skills in the 40, and the bigs in the 20. Skill players would run 3 40's and record best time. Bigs would run 5 20's and record best time. Never expected our big kids to run more than a mile on any one football play, but expected them to sprint 20 yards on EVERY play.
We met 4 days per week in the summer (3 lifting days and one 7 on 7) (90 minutes each lift session). Skills lifted 60 minutes and 30 minutes on the field for Passing game install. Linemen would lift 90 minutes. Linemen would play "air ball" on 7 on 7 days. We did that for 7 weeks. Basically asked them to give us 5-6 hours per week. Highly encouraged them to be there but not mandatory (state association rule). But... if they showed up they signed in. In August we pretty much had a good idea who we could count on immediately, who we could count on eventually, and who we knew would fill out the JV roster for awhile. Most of the guys showed up in decent football shape, a number were in good cardio shape (summer basketball, baseball, lacrosse, etc.) but not necessarily in good football shape, and some weren't in any shape.
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Post by irishdog on Jul 12, 2023 9:41:33 GMT -6
Hazing and other shenanigans don't always occur in the locker room. True, but the locker room is a place where players are meeting en masse, under our jurisdiction and supposed supervision, yet for some reason rarely supervised. If it occurred somewhere outside of our direct jurisdiction, then we have less of a responsibility for it; if it occurred somewhere where we have active supervision but just didn't notice, then at least we were in position. But to put our players in a place where they under our jurisdiction, yet unsupervised (and openly unsupervised) leaves us as coaches open to accusations of negligence if such hazing occurs. I can think of no other specific location that meets such criteria, and that is why I focused specifically on the locker room in my question. Now maybe it doesnt need to be monitored, and thats why I asked the question; but where else do you see that meets these criteria? Summer. School breaks. I was with my wife attending a broadway play that my eldest daughter was performing in when I got a call from my Principal telling me he received a text from a student letting him know that a couple of the football players were bragging about a "team ritual" they held at a party. Risque. I hung up and texted my team captains letting them know I would be meeting with them and their parents the next day. Problem solved.
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Post by irishdog on Jul 10, 2023 22:25:30 GMT -6
I always had a coach IN the locker room pre-post practices, pre-post games. Our office was next door to the locker room, and the only window looked out to the gym. He/they (or I) would stay in the locker room until EVERY kid cleared out. One of us would also stay until EVERY kid was picked up by a parent/sibling/relative/or family friend. We also had a "fifth quarter" win or lose after home games where the parents of the players and cheerleaders fed all of them at a local burger joint. You'd be surprised how fast the boys would get dressed and out of that locker room to attend that function! Also helped with the timing of the staff get the unis in the wash, burn game DVD's, contact local media, and head off to our own local watering hole.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 27, 2023 11:44:32 GMT -6
I love Boombahs but I have had some that were actually uncomfortable. But if I put a different insole in they were OK. Lately I know I cannot go wrong with Hokas or Nike Pegasus. Hokas! Great shoes! Tried wearing them for coaching but continually rolled my ankles, so I went back to the NB golf shoes. Only wore the Hokas for casual outings. Less of a chance to hurt my old @$$.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 26, 2023 12:42:35 GMT -6
The school installed speakers in our weight room but I couldn't tell you the make. The boys thought they were good. Careful how you go about music though. I would tell my boys playing music would solely depend on their intensity with the workouts. Also...I let them use their music lists, BUT...the lyrics of ANY song could not disparage, demean, degrade, or be derogatory in nature. Definitely NOTHING vulgar! Surprisingly they would come to me and ask me to listen to their lists first, and again...surprisingly...I only rejected a few songs. Once, and only once, did a kid try to slip a list past me. No music for the remainder of the workout that day. The team wasn't upset with me...but...they let that kid know his place, and that it wasn't cool with them. So you guys listen to all instrumentals? Ray Coniff.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 24, 2023 13:24:20 GMT -6
I found out early in my career that "less is more!" S&C three days per week (M-W-Th) 90 mins. ea. day, 8-9:30. 7 on 7 (T) 5-7. Basically told the boys I would need them for appx. 8 hours per week during the summer. Four weeks in June. Three weeks in July (our state association called for a Dead Week the last week of July). Never had to worry about "family vacations" because they always had Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off. Most took their vacations during Dead Week.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 24, 2023 13:10:06 GMT -6
i wasn't aware that they listened to anything that doesn't violate your guidelines. or that's the way it was where i was. Their parents were grateful for my guidelines. Met most of theirs. But like most parents today (and even when I was a kid) what the boys listened to on their own time likely didn't meet mom/dad's approval, or mine. But at least we all tried to point them in the right direction while under an adult's supervision.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 23, 2023 19:17:12 GMT -6
I’ve heard there’s a brand of water proof hiking shoes that are good. Don’t know the brand. Also heard golf shoes are good but pretty pricey. As a big guy myself, with wide feet, I bought a pair of NB golf shoes to play golf. Forgot my coaching shoes one day and wore my golf shoes. Caught hell from the staff and the kids but NEVER wore any other shoe for coaching the rest of the season, and still used them for golf!
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Post by irishdog on Jun 23, 2023 19:07:00 GMT -6
The school installed speakers in our weight room but I couldn't tell you the make. The boys thought they were good. Careful how you go about music though. I would tell my boys playing music would solely depend on their intensity with the workouts. Also...I let them use their music lists, BUT...the lyrics of ANY song could not disparage, demean, degrade, or be derogatory in nature. Definitely NOTHING vulgar! Surprisingly they would come to me and ask me to listen to their lists first, and again...surprisingly...I only rejected a few songs.
Once, and only once, did a kid try to slip a list past me. No music for the remainder of the workout that day. The team wasn't upset with me...but...they let that kid know his place, and that it wasn't cool with them.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 20, 2023 17:51:38 GMT -6
I’m coaching middle school right now. I’m in the process of starting my own family and was thinking of the following questions 1. When would you let your son play football? 2. If the organization your son played for had bad coaches and did nothing to curb them, how would you handle it? (My thought, change orgs) The game is changing. I wouldn't worry about those questions right now. However, if I had to make that decision today my first question would be is my son even interested in playing, and if so have a heart to heart with him. My next move would be to find a reputable organization with good coaches. Next, I would go watch teams in that organization practice and watch some games. I might have to do that with more than one organization. Finally, if you aren't satisfied with what you see and hear about the youth football in your area look into having him attend football camps for youngsters. Same thing. Find a good camp with good coaches and do your research!
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Post by irishdog on Jun 20, 2023 17:07:23 GMT -6
I marked different but worse, but not because of any particular game style/penalty changes or technique differences. My take has nothing to do with football. Kids today don't (as a whole) know how to collision their bodies, or even fall down. They don't know how to fall off a bike, roller skates, or how to tumble. They aren't taught those things and when they even try to 'rough house' aren't allowed to do so. We played tackle football everyday on the play ground. Full blown football without pads. We did it in the morning waiting for the 1st bell. During recess. During 'PE'. If we didn't have time to divide up teams, we played Kill the Man with the Ball. We also played games like King of the Mountain/Dock. I had a pair of boxing gloves and we take an egg timer and box. We used to practice our favorite 'wrasslin' moves on each other. When were actually were taught a skill or discipline in PE, it included things like tumbling and wrestling. In HS my freshman year we had a full 3 week unit in gymnastics; dive rolls, flips, etc... I'm not trying to impress anyone with a back in the day story, but when is the last time 3rd graders were allowed to allowed to roughhouse at all on the playground? Tackling involves a collision. Those are not natural, you have to learn how to brace the body and use certain points of impact. That is a great analogy. Those days were a different time, and for many reasons boys were raised differently than most are today. Our society has changed and so have the expectations of parents of many young boys. I can't tell you how often in the last 15 years of my coaching career I had to teach boys how to fall down without injuring themselves! So yes, much of how tackling is taught now is based on safety. Many parents are over-protective of their boys because of what they read, hear, and see on a daily basis through the various media outlets that saturate the airwaves with negative assessments of the game itself. Our leaders (and heroes) even disparage the game so why would a young man choose to play it? In reality the game at the youth and high school levels has NEVER been safer to play than it is today. That is the challenge that coaches face in trying to get parents to allow their boys the opportunity to even experience it for themselves. I'll say it. BACK IN THE DAY boys wanting to play football was the rule...not the exception.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 20, 2023 11:54:37 GMT -6
With the new tackling technique being taught one can't help but arm tackle! It is why we focus more on developing upper body shoulder and arm strength now than before. Still do a ton of lower body (squats, low back stuff, etc.) in the off-season, but in-season lifting is spent on upper body.
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Post by irishdog on Jun 17, 2023 12:53:06 GMT -6
Just have to watch pro football to validate how bad their fundamentals are. O Linemen hold just about every play (pass AND run). WR's can't block, and if they by chance they do make a block it's because they hold. RB's (if they are even used) have forgotten how to block, or how to carry the ball if they run. There are a few RB's that do a good job but overall their fundamentals are bad. Don't get me started on tackling! One word...ATROCIOUS!
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Post by irishdog on Jun 16, 2023 17:21:58 GMT -6
I know there is another section for threads on 6-8-9 man football but the last post on it was in Jan. 2022. Trying to stay current so I thought I would ask on the General section if anyone has access to 6 man playbooks. Offense and Defense. I would appreciate any help with this so if y'all have experience in 6 man please send me a PM. Thanks!
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Post by irishdog on Apr 26, 2023 11:22:52 GMT -6
Coach Prime has basically done what many old school coaches did years ago. It will take him a couple of years to rebuild CU into relevance again, and when they are I'm sure others will start pointing fingers and wondering if he did it legally.
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Post by irishdog on Apr 26, 2023 11:01:41 GMT -6
What we have known for years has no longer anything to do with high school sports, competitive levels, etc. It will have everything to do with the haves and have nots. According to Footballscoop.com: "Endeavor, the parent company of IMG Academy agreed to sell IMG to a Hong Kong based private equity firm in a 1.25 BILLION - ALL CASH deal. BPEA EQT will fold IMG Academy into another company it owns, Nord Anglia Education, which manages more than 70 private schools around the globe." This, coupled with the NIL and Transfer Portal in college football, and how pro football is structuring players and coaches contracts, has completely changed everything we have known and loved about the game. Gentlemen, the future is now. Sad times for all of us indeed.
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Post by irishdog on Mar 9, 2023 8:07:13 GMT -6
Yes, those days are over and for many of the reasons mentioned in the above posts. Also, why those things have changed is because of a lack of TRUST, a lack of LOYALTY, a lack of PATIENCE, and the social environment of INSTANT GRATIFICATION. Parents don't trust the coaches. Administrators aren't loyal to the coaches. Neither group is patient with a coach in building a solid foundation. And finally there are more kids today that have been raised in an atmosphere that teaches them if it's too hard...quit.
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Post by irishdog on Mar 4, 2023 16:27:41 GMT -6
Have had the privilege to coach in CA, NH, MN, OH, and finally TX.
CA had a wide distribution of athletes, especially in SoCal. Frankly, HS ball in the Central Valley of CA had the environment and atmosphere of HS ball in TX, but not necessarily a lot of big-time talent. Good QB's are a dime a dozen in CA.
Surprisingly, while the lack of big-time talent and resources was scarce in NH I felt those kids were some of the toughest, hard-nosed kids I have coached.
There were a number of schools in MN that had great facilities, coaching staffs, a plethora of bigs with talent in the outstate, and a bunch of good athletes in the Twin Cities metro. But...Because of the weather the schools only play 8 regular season games and EVERYONE makes the playoffs (hey, it's Minnesota).
Ohio schools were hit and miss with resources, talent, and game atmospheres and environments. Some of the larger city schools better than others their size and a number of smaller rural schools, but a many larger city schools were lacking in comparison to a number of smaller rural schools that had better resources, game environments, and talent than some of those larger city schools. Private schools rule in Ohio.
Texas on the other hand...well..."Friday Night Lights" is what it is truly all about. From small 6-man schools to the largest Class 6A schools the passion for playing football is incredible all over Texas. MOST of the schools in Texas have incredible resources, facilities, and coaching, and most of it is found in public schools. When you think of high school football in Texas it's all about public schools. Private schools in Texas are NOT football factories like private schools elsewhere. Talent can vary around the state with gobs more athletes located in and around DFW and Houston. You'll find really good kids in Austin and San Antonio, but each region (Texas is a huge state) has their fair share of talent (especially East Texas, West Texas, and Central Texas).
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Post by irishdog on Feb 25, 2023 20:23:50 GMT -6
Bad things I learned from HC's I worked for that helped me become a better HC for my staff: 1. Wasting time. 2 .Paralysis from over-analysis. 3. Talking but not listening. 4. Lecturing but not teaching. 5. Micro-managing, not trusting the coach HE hired. 6. Always barking, not mentoring.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 20, 2023 20:54:31 GMT -6
I know a guy, older, retired who had that type of interest I mentioned in my original post. The school had hired a young head coach to turn their program around who took the job for about a couple of months, and then abruptly left for an OC job at a larger school. They asked the older guy (who had been a successful head coach for many years) if he would be interested in taking the job on an interim basis. He told them no but advised them that he had another experienced guy in mind who had worked for him that he highly recommended, and that they should interview him. They did, they hired him, and in turn he hired the older experienced coach in the capacity he had originally been interested in. In two years the program was turned around and the older experienced assistant coach finally retired permanently and was replaced by a really good younger assistant.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 20, 2023 16:28:01 GMT -6
Find an older experienced coach who would be willing to serve in more of an advisory capacity. Guys who have been through the battles, and the grind, who are either retired, or close to it who want to help out, provide experience, and contribute to rebuilding the program. Guys who aren't necessarily interested in titles. Guys who just want to coach and have some pocket money for gas. Guys you can lean on and learn from, who could offer ideas on practice formats, off-season programs, communications, the X's and O's, scheduling, equipment purchasing, funding, etc. Guys who more than likely can answer most of the questions being raised in this entire thread. Yes, there are a number of them out there.
I was fortunate in one school to have someone like that who provided some keen insights into many of those items, and more importantly into the community that helped me tremendously.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 13, 2023 17:02:39 GMT -6
Actually saw KC run a couple of counters!
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Post by irishdog on Feb 6, 2023 20:38:47 GMT -6
I've turned around 4 programs. Two were places that used to be good and had fallen on hard times, and two were places that had never been good. There's no secret formula or magic elevator. A few things that have worked for me over the years: 1. Don't waste time on seniors that aren't buying in. Move on from them. Play younger kids. 2. Don't compromise on your principals, but be flexible in implementing them. In my current position, I got hired the first week of June. At the first team function we held, there were 18 kids. Numbers stayed low most of the summer. The kids that were there, and the coaches I retained, kept telling me that more would show up when school started, which was the week of the first game. This had been allowed by the previous 3 head coaches. I said ok, I'll put up with that for this year. After the season, I made it clear what the expectations were going forward. One kid tried to test me in year two and I did not let him play. Haven't had an issue since. had I been a hard ass year on, I might not have had enough kids to finish the season (we went 7-5). 3. Put your players in the best gear possible. Get a Nike or Under Armour contract with BSN. Every program I took over had an inferiority complex because the facilities and uniforms sucked. I couldn't fix the facilities right away, but I could fix the uniform issue. Very much in agreement with the seniors in year one. At the first school I turned around in year one there were 8 returning seniors. When I told them we would start taking care of our freshmen instead of hazing them, and hazing would no longer be tolerated, two of the 8 quit and transferred out. The other 6 were great kids who bought in and contributed a ton to building the foundation of the program. Although we only won one game that year 3 of those seniors came back in year three to help me coach the team that made it to the state semi-finals.
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Post by irishdog on Feb 4, 2023 15:04:34 GMT -6
Most suggestions listed on this thread are true, and valuable. From my own experience I turned around two programs that were "down", each one different from the other.
One had a rich history, successful, all-boys Catholic school of 600 with a 60 man roster playing in the highest division in the state. Within the 10 years prior to my arrival the school was hit hard by the recession. School almost closed. Forced to merge with the girls' school and a parish school to stay alive. Enrollment went down to 300 co-ed. Still played in the highest football division in the state (tradition) along with all other sports and getting killed (exception basketball). Not much of a weight room and strength program. Football team had won 5 games in the 3 previous years before I was hired. The new Principal who hired me supported my views, and supported my decisions on how to change things. Within two years we moved down a division in football only. Built a weight room. Participation numbers improved, and won 5 games. In years 3 and 4 we played in two consecutive state semi-final games and won the City championship.
The other school had not experienced a winning season in the 11 years prior to my hire. The school had all the resources but administrative leadership for 9 of those "down" years was scarce. In the two years prior to being hired the school administration changed for the better. Again, the school president, principal, and AD were 100% behind me. Since the resources were already there I focused on the schedule, the coaching staff, building numbers, and the X's and O's. Decided on an offense that conference foes had never seen. Developed an identity on offense. Defensively went to a 4-2 look that most opponents had not played against. Developed an identity on defense. Those two moves excited the players, and they brought more players into the program. I coordinated the offense, and found a firebrand to coordinate the defense. In year 1 we played for the conference championship. Year 2 we won it and made the playoffs. Year 3 won the conference championship again and advanced to the section championship. Year 4 lost in the conference championship but still made the playoffs and won the section and lost in the regional. The following year went to state.
Long story short. Do your homework first. Know the overall history of the school, and what caused the "down" years. Some schools falter, others struggle. Create your vision accordingly.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 18, 2023 22:03:48 GMT -6
I had an old Admin tell me once that the football teams performance had nothing to do with how the school year went. Of course, he was an ex-basketball guy and hated football. Our AD and Supt were former music teachers. Do the math. I left after two years I bet they had a helluva fine arts program!
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Post by irishdog on Jan 18, 2023 11:42:02 GMT -6
Former University of Tennessee school president Joe Johnson once said, "Athletics, and football in particular, is the front porch of the university." Even in any high school I have worked in (and I have worked in a number of them) that statement has always held true.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 16, 2023 21:36:55 GMT -6
We played in a 7 on 7 "league" sponsored by a local DIII school every Tuesday evening in June. Two fields split in half (2 teams playing on each half field). Two games per evening for each school. Games started at 5 pm. 30 minutes long. Limited to 8 schools. $250.00 per school (paid for officials and college personnel). No swag (each school wore their own 7 on 7 shirts). College had their concession stand open for teams/spectators.
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Post by irishdog on Jan 14, 2023 10:22:33 GMT -6
Yeah, this is all kinds of dumb. 1 - Hardos who don't know anything about proper training shouldn't be implementing programming 2 - Creatine is a lame excuse, it's honestly the most thoroughly studied supplement in the history of science 3 - The kids were almost certainly in poor shape and likely detrained from Xmas break, which really brings us back to #1 4 - irishdog , that song is called Flower by Moby and it's a banger. Those workouts are awful though. 5 - Rhabdo, in my understanding, comes from way too much volume in too short of an amount of time for someone who isn't ready for that kind of work. Again, see #1. Also, I've heard that when the big muscles get fatigued and smaller muscles have to do more than their normal share of work, that'll lead to rhabdo. FFS, just read 5/3/1 and leave the stupid 'mental toughness' type crap in the dumpster where it belongs. Thanks for the clarification. Those "workouts" were used at the end of the main sessions to promote physical/mental team building. We didn't end every session with those workouts. Sometimes we engaged in what we called "team wars" (tug-o-wars, sled relays, tire relays, etc.).
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Post by irishdog on Jan 13, 2023 15:48:08 GMT -6
Used to have my boys do a push-up workout and other days an ab workout, both to music. Song was called "Bring Sally Up, Bring Sally Down" and it was killer. Some days the ab workout would be straight leg lifts, some days it would be crunches, some days it would be alternating leg thrusts in and out, some days it would be Russian twists. Some days the push-ups would be regular, some days it would be diamond push-ups, some days it would be wide arms, some days they would pause on the up and pause on the down. We would conclude our upper body days with the push-ups, and end our lower body days with the ab workout. Done during our summer strength phase.
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