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Post by s73 on May 31, 2020 14:44:10 GMT -6
What I gather from this is that, like most things, I've done a lot of good things and alot of not so good things.
I have prided myself as the "less s more guy" for years. No Saturdays, or 2 a days since 2004. I have also prided myslef on limiting contact for quite some time now and no condiitoning.
My philosophy has always been that practice IS the conditioning and we need to go HARD M - W.
However, taking the approach no 2 hard days in a row, I wonder if that has still been detrimental to an extent.
Years ago, I think we got away w/ grinding kids b/c they weren't practicing all summer and lifting year round.
Now that they most schools are, I think there is probably some merit to shortening practices and the grind.
Our W / L curve has stayed about the same since I started at my current job 11 years ago. We make the play offs on average about every other year, however, numbers have dwindled and injuries have risen. So I am definitely going to make this food for thought.
Another idea I have as a positive from covid is get to practice, get it down, get kids home earlier and then can have a 20 minute team zoom meeting w/ kids for film work. Now they had a chance to get home, get some food in them and can relax on the sofa in the comfort of their own homes while he discuss film.
Not a bad way to go for kids or coaches. Less time at school, more time at home never seems like a bad thing to me.
JMO.
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Post by s73 on May 26, 2020 21:10:28 GMT -6
Despite all the craziness of the last couple of months, and how much I disliked zoom/google hangouts for education (I am a SPED teacher so it was another barrier they had to overcome, but thats a topic for another day), one of the positives of all this was the amount of online coaches clinic content available out there to learn from for free. It seemed as if on any given day, at pretty much any time throughout the day, you could log on and find a live coaches clinic via zoom. I know there was some great coaches out there who stepped up to provide these clinics and I know several state coaches associations eventually started holding their own, including mine (Michigan). Even though I'm cautiously optimistic that by next clinic season, that life will be closer to back to normal then it is now. That is of course bearing there is no 2nd wave of this crap that some doctors predict. I could see more colleges and even some of the clinic companies like Glazier using the online format more often (less overhead costs, more availability of speakers just to start). What do you guys think? Live in-person clinics with dinners, beers, play drawing on napkins etc. will always have their place in the coaching world but could this be the start of a trend in your opinion? And for those of you who did attend zoom clinics these past couple of months, did you enjoy them? If so, who were some of your favorite speakers you heard? Did you watch these live or on channels? I know our state association and I am sure most others will continue to hold their annual state clinic in person for the awards ceremonies, dinners, and just the opportunity to meet up with old friends after the grind of a season but I will be curious to if some of the clinic companies will start going this route? *Cheap plug disclaimer* I took on the project of creating a YouTube channel for the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association and recorded approximately 35+ clinics that will still be posting daily at 9am during the week with new ones. (you can view that channel here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCN65bnLrEWUvnZrT0tW6o4QCoach, not to hijack your thread, but I wanted to throw out a positive I took from this whole thing & maybe someone else has mentioned this already but one HUGE positive I'm going to take from this thing is that I am going to use zoom meetings as a regular coaching tool. In the past I used to bring kids in on Saturdays, then I felt like they weren't getting much out of it so I stopped. But then you always run into when can we watch film. So, I went the whole "they can watch it on hudl" mentality. But of course, as we all know they don't. So then we wen to having our shortened walk through on Thursday and then did film afterwards as a reinforcement for the week before playing the opponent, but it felt very shoe horned in there and also took away our shortened day that I think we all looked forward to. So, I am going to shorten practice times going forward and schedule a couple of 15-20 minute zoom meetings through out the week with kids in the evening. Just a simple touch base, practice pointers, etc while we can all be at home. TO ME it will almost be like a supervised hudl session and frankly, I think it can be done efficiently where kids won't feel like it's a HUGE extra, especially if I can shorten practice time in general to get it done. I'm thinking mayne an offensive meeting on Tuesday for 20, defense on Wed for 20 and 30 minutes on Sat (15 review precious game and 15 scout opponents). Still get to sleep in on Saturdays while coaches prep film, go back to shortened Thursdays again and still get film study done from comfort of our own homes. Sounds good in theory anyway.
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Post by s73 on May 26, 2020 7:25:47 GMT -6
Good Luck!
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Post by s73 on May 19, 2020 19:03:38 GMT -6
I'm about to commit "visor guy" blasphemy. Visor guys, prepare your crucifixes and holy water, here we go. I'm calling BS on the RPO. Yep, I said it. Let me explain. Have been a flex bone guy w/ a sprinkle of wing t my whole career. Two seasons ago, my returning QB was coming off a terrible ankle injury and was about 70% or so physically where his running ability was concerned. So, I implemented some gun / RPO style stuff to limit his need to run. Well, IMO outside of maybe the bubble, I think it is almost impossible to read any routes post snap during the mesh. Routes just don't break open soon enough. Now admittedly, my experience and expertise (if you can call it that) is meshing the run and my experience is minimal w/ RPO. But I just don't see how it is physically possible to read routes post snap in the limited amount of time you have to mesh the back. Especially when you need to look the snap in. Basically, what I'm saying is I believe the RPO, no matter what anybody says, is almost always the QB determining what he wants to do pre-snap based on alignment / coverage. Otherwise, in the time available to mesh and read routes, I feel the RPO is basically myth. The kid is either guessing or pulling and throwing b/c, well....he's a QB and just "happened" to read the route as "open". Again, minimal experience at this so maybe I'm wrong but after teaching it, and filming it, I see almost no way even short routes can break open in the short amount of time it takes to mesh w/ a back. I may very well be full of **** but that was my experience. Half way through the season he got back into playing shape, we refocused on our "tried and true" and won out to make the play offs and our scoring total increased from 19 / game to 30. Again, maybe I'm wrong or taught it poorly but that was my experience. I’ve been the DC on a RPO team the last 3 years and we never read routes. We have a presnap that we can throw based on the corners leverage and we have a read. We read a LB if he steps up we pull and throw. If he stays we hand off the ball. To be clear, I was talking about pre snap v. post snap reads. Not a route per se. I am questioning the validity of accuracy on the post snap read. Here's an example of what I'm saying perhaps more clearly. Many times I have heard it said, that the run game is much quicker hitting UC v. the gun. I think few would argue that based on proximity from the LOS. MY point is that I believe a LB can take a couple of read steps and still effectively attack the run v. the slower function of the run game from the gun. Hence, the read steps "muddy" the read. It is difficult to make an accurate post snap read RPO due to the timing of the mesh v. the fill of the LB, it is a very "grey" read IMO. Furthermore, it is not enough time to determine based on that muddy read if the route will actually be open post snap. What I an saying is that I believe even post snap RPO's tend to be more "pre-snap" in the QB's mind whether we say it is or not. Hope that makes sense and as always, JME. PS - I do acknowledge the LB may get out a bit more slowly by being frozen or biting on the mesh, but I question if it is really anymore effective than regular playaction. Again, JMO.
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Post by s73 on May 19, 2020 13:25:45 GMT -6
I'm about to commit "visor guy" blasphemy. Visor guys, prepare your crucifixes and holy water, here we go.
I'm calling BS on the RPO. Yep, I said it.
Let me explain.
Have been a flex bone guy w/ a sprinkle of wing t my whole career. Two seasons ago, my returning QB was coming off a terrible ankle injury and was about 70% or so physically where his running ability was concerned. So, I implemented some gun / RPO style stuff to limit his need to run.
Well, IMO outside of maybe the bubble, I think it is almost impossible to read any routes post snap during the mesh. Routes just don't break open soon enough.
Now admittedly, my experience and expertise (if you can call it that) is meshing the run and my experience is minimal w/ RPO. But I just don't see how it is physically possible to read routes post snap in the limited amount of time you have to mesh the back. Especially when you need to look the snap in.
Basically, what I'm saying is I believe the RPO, no matter what anybody says, is almost always the QB determining what he wants to do pre-snap based on alignment / coverage. Otherwise, in the time available to mesh and read routes, I feel the RPO is basically myth. The kid is either guessing or pulling and throwing b/c, well....he's a QB and just "happened" to read the route as "open".
Again, minimal experience at this so maybe I'm wrong but after teaching it, and filming it, I see almost no way even short routes can break open in the short amount of time it takes to mesh w/ a back.
I may very well be full of **** but that was my experience.
Half way through the season he got back into playing shape, we refocused on our "tried and true" and won out to make the play offs and our scoring total increased from 19 / game to 30.
Again, maybe I'm wrong or taught it poorly but that was my experience.
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Post by s73 on May 2, 2020 11:59:32 GMT -6
You're preaching to the choir to a guy who's retired partly, at least, because of those things. You forgot to throw in fund-raising. I'm not against service projects but it is something else piled on. I don't disagree that it is something else, but I really don't think it has any effect on participation. Plus what is being piled on is probably WORTHWHILE. I am in the camp of, we didn't do it.. but as I posted, why the heck is there so much vitriol from the "too cool for school" posters (You guys know who you are...lol Football coaches with a cyber personality of a 14 year old goth girl) 14 YO Goth girl...classic
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Post by s73 on May 2, 2020 9:02:07 GMT -6
Seriously, this is not really a real topic, is it? Y'all are fricking football coaches...not cub scout troop leaders! 54695469 , @coachpithy (or grad17, or chcox, or 1862 or whichever evolution of yourself you are), and larrymoe I have to ask : Why the exasperation? You 3 have posted with a seeming indignation that trying to do good deeds is a foolish endeavor and that it is silly to do anything other than "coach football". I have to ask, where is the value in that? What value does improving someone's ability to get his/her second step on the ground faster than an opponent have in an environment that is supposedly tied into the school system? I am not suggesting that someone who chooses not to use his/her leadership position as a coach in some of the manners suggested is somehow wrong, but I just don't understand the indignation or exasperation directed at those who do. I don't follow the exasperated reaction either. I think it must be some insecurity related to not doing as much as others. I guess that's normal, but putting those down for doing it doesn't change anything. For the record, we do not do one. But maybe we should? IDK, it's something to think about. I certainly don't see the harm and I think can easily be scheduled w/o a tremendous amount of time taken away from kids / coaches. Something as simple as players reading to elementary kids once a month during their season for a class period. That doesn't seem too crazy or time consuming to me.
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Post by s73 on May 2, 2020 8:28:40 GMT -6
Just wondering who you guys look to emulate? As I get a little more seasoned I’ve realized there’s great value in believing in what I believe in and selling out on that/being true to who I am. However, I also like everyone else look to see how the “great” coaches and programs do it whether it be leadership, schemes, strength etc. Who are some of the coaches and programs you guys seek to emulate and why? I’ll start. I’m from Iowa and I would seek to emulate the the Hawkeyes. They maximize talent, they’re about hard work and being selfless. They’re simple with their schemes and just play hard for 60 minutes. Outside zone and pro style passing on offense, 4-3 cover 4 and cover 6 mainly on D. They don’t out scheme you-they try to put hit and out play you. Love some of these responses. FOR ME: Emulating similar hs programs has been more my style / path. I think they are easier to study, and you can develop a better sense of what typical hs kids can do. Personally, I have always questioned the validity of expecting our kids to do SOME of the things we see on tv. IMO, some of those kids are getting a scholarship or are professional athletes for a reason. FOR US, we like the flex bone style b/c I can study a system that tends to consist of success w/ lesser athletes and size which tends to be more the norm where I coach. I have also stolen many concepts from area power houses of like mindedness. As a result, we are triple option in nature while using a heavy dose of formations (easier to install than plays IMO) and we have really tried to improve our passing game from a high percentage stand point mostly b/c I will tend to be more 2 dimensional if the success rate is higher. Triple / zone dive is inspired by academies and the rest is from local schools and opponents who gave caused myself and others problems w/ this style of play. I also favor this approach b/c we differ from most hence causing people to be more specific in their prep for us.
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Post by s73 on Apr 15, 2020 18:48:16 GMT -6
Said before and I will say again. I hate when people in the stands who are not in the know tell me what to do when they don't know their a$$ from a hole in the ground, so I am not going to pretend to know what we should do.
I am sure that people who are studying this thing all day long for the last month are developing what they believe to be the best approach towards handling this thing given the information they have.
It's a lose / lose. Open too soon people die and everyone says we shoulda waited. Open too late the economy takes a dump and everyone says why didn't we open.
Hindsight is 20/20 & I hate being 2nd guessed so not gonna do it here.
With that said, I think what will happen is they will start a gradual opening, some people will die and it will basically be we cut our losses as much as we could on both sides of the argument.
As for this coach, just dumb. Can't be justified under the circumstances. My guess is he will act like he was just watching and really had nothing to do with organizing. Not sure that excuse will cut it at this point.
JMO.
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Post by s73 on Apr 8, 2020 21:42:38 GMT -6
Man I don't know anymore. After that freebee with Allacccess now I really don't know what to get. Anyone? I have X & O membership, have never been a member of the others so I cannot speak to it. Having said that, I like X & O, they have a lot of content and the subscription for a year was very reasonable. I want to say $99.
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Post by s73 on Apr 3, 2020 22:28:49 GMT -6
Yup... Special teams can be a PITA. Especially because it doesn't seem like any amount of time we put towards them is enough.A team in our division runs wall returns well; on KOR and PR. On punt and KO, we started preparing to defend wall returns in August; dedicated about 20 minutes per week to recognizing the wall, disrupting it, getting defenders behind it, etc..etc.. The week we played them, we had four, fifteen minute periods set aside to defend those walls. We still gave up a score on PR. The crazy thing about this. Sometimes NOT coaching them up in these situations works better than not. Coaching is definitely an art and not a science.
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Post by s73 on Apr 2, 2020 11:25:53 GMT -6
I voted defense. With that said, I always felt defense was tougher to prep M - TH but offense is more difficult on Fridays.
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Post by s73 on Apr 1, 2020 9:00:18 GMT -6
Given my druthers: I'd like to be able to line up, run 5-6 plays, win and goes home. But that is seldom the case. So I have to adopt the philosophy of: If you can't blind them with brilliance, you have to baffle them with bull$hit. Well said.
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Post by s73 on Mar 31, 2020 10:29:49 GMT -6
Perhaps, but I think the issue here is ease of contagion. It is said to be much more contagious than most other corona type viruses with a much higher fatality rate. I think these are the major issues. I don't believe the world would be choosing to shut itself down & commit economic suicide if the experts in the filed didn't feel the alternative was much worse. The world doesn't get to choose that. The bosses do. And the bosses get to choose the experts too. Time will tell I guess.
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Post by s73 on Mar 30, 2020 21:30:31 GMT -6
Alright, some transparency here: Not at all an expert at any of this and am only basing my next comments on what I think, have read, have heard, etc. Yes, everything you are saying is true, that we always have many deaths b/c of these types of things, etc. WHAT I UNDERSTAND to be the difference in this scenario is that we have vaccines, or treatments or familiarity w/ these other things, PLUS we have a greater ability to fight those things off due to immune system familiarity. There is no vaccine against most viral agents of pneumonia. When someone is said to have gotten "viral pneumonia", that means they got pneumonia from some unidentified virus. Sometimes a known viral infection of the respiratory tract, such as influenza, can progress to pneumonia. In the spring of 2018 I got a bronchiolitis (some would class it as a pneumonia) from what was discovered to be parainfluenza B. There's no vaccine for that. How'd I get infected? Who knows? (Might've been from one of my students, who had a sick baby.) We have a vaccine against bacterial pneumonia (which is caused by a particular agent that can cause other infections), and we have vaccines against epidemic flus; but for the most part we don't try to prevent the spread of viral pneumonia by trying to keep the virus(es) that cause it from being passed around. Instead we just assume such viruses are always going around, and try to keep people from being so debilitated that they get sick from them. Perhaps, but I think the issue here is ease of contagion. It is said to be much more contagious than most other corona type viruses with a much higher fatality rate. I think these are the major issues. I don't believe the world would be choosing to shut itself down & commit economic suicide if the experts in the filed didn't feel the alternative was much worse.
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Post by s73 on Mar 30, 2020 11:57:15 GMT -6
Just read that Great Britain was implementing 6-months worth of precautions... I know that their climate is different, etc...but that would put us through the end of September. I'm retired now, but just can't help thinking about the local team here in town. They're likely going to be the best team ever fielded by the high school - with a real shot at a state title - and may not even get to play a game. It's a shame... but what can you do? Maybe they'll consider doing a shorten season? Just league games + playoffs? One can hope right This is what I think will happen. Either we get a whole season or a shortened one. I think no season is possible but probably unlikely. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Mar 30, 2020 8:07:36 GMT -6
I think everything is up in the air and a lot beyond our control. Things need to get back to normal no doubt......but it's tough to talk about how inconvenient things will be for us as coaches and athletes in regards to football, when we see the thousands dying and the health care/front line workers having things in their lives turned upside down everyday. Have a co-worker from Spain, don't know her any better than saying hello in the halls. But....she emailed the staff a week and half back to say we all need to take this very seriously because her father who lives in Spain passed away and she obviously couldn't be there with him. She said she also has 3 other elderly relatives who are in quarantine with a positive result. My sister - in - law is a nurse in Michigan and is very concerned for her own well being and stressed at the work load they are having to endure right now. It's really a weird situation b/c the President refers to this as a war, but you walk outside on a sunny day & people are walking their dogs, no bombs are dropping, in my neighborhood everyone is trying to be a little more polite when we see each other (from a distance that is) so on the surface things seem "not that bad". But the reality is different, it's just not visible which I think gives some a false sense of security unless they are affected by this directly through their own health or the health of a loved one, or a loss of a job / wages / etc. Then it all becomes pretty real. I guess FOR ME, I hate it when a dad sits in the stands and runs his mouth second guessing all of my decisions b/c frankly he has no idea what's really happening in real time, not to mention what happens at practice, in team meetings, etc. So I prefer not to 2nd guess the EXPERTS who are dealing w/ this stuff. I don't want to be "the loud mouth in the stands". I will humbly do what the experts think is best b/c frankly I know that I don't know. As always, JMO.
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Post by s73 on Mar 30, 2020 7:54:20 GMT -6
school/football, follow a similar path.... we get back to school before june, and how many parents will say "im not letting my kid go and get sick". and what can schools do about it? not much, doubtful if anything. cant fail a kid because parents are scared. Im afraid we may follow a similar path in the fall, with or without a known vaccine. how many parents will say, "you play football and all that sweat and helmets and touching and shoulder pads and all that, hes not playing I dont want him getting sick". and who could fault that parent? touching on something else that was talked about, coaching stipends. i know none of us coach because of the money (unless your a big money state player, texas, georgia, parts of mississippi, alabama,panhandle florida and south carolina), what happens to those big timers making 100k and they dont teach a class and only coach football? Do they still get paid? isnt alot of their paychecks from boosters, say schools pay admin pay (11month AP pay for example is 75k) and boosters throw in 30k on top of that. if they arent fundraising to help pay the HC, because 'ball was cancelled, how can those guys justifibly get paid? hoping for the best, I sure do miss seeing the weight room and the green grass. ready for installs and some 7 on 7 and to hear some pads popping. but fellas,,,,,it sure dont look very good. right now. This is exactly how I feel. Would love to have football back but is it going to be something crazy / unmanageable? Rather not rush it and have a full return to normalcy rather than "shoe horn" it in for the sake of having football and it's all crazy. Not to mention, maybe some kids come out and parents are kind of against it, but let them anyway, but then maybe things aren't going great. Built in excuse now. I've been doing this a long time and the concussion situation has already changed the landscape of football so much, changing it even more could make this thing almost unrecognizable to what it was even 5-10 years ago. Maybe I'm being an alarmist, but I would rather take our time and do it right, whatever that looks like I can't say.
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Post by s73 on Mar 29, 2020 21:38:39 GMT -6
The worst polio epidemic in the U.S. was in 1916, with 27,000 cases and 6,000 deaths nationwide. Dr. Fauci was on TV today talking about the likelihood of "millions" being infected by this coronavirus, and the possibility of 100,000-200,000 deaths. If that's where the numbers are pointing as we get into the summer, getting through 2020 without high school football will be the tualeast of our worries. OK, those are a guess at the high end on how many might eventually (This year? Next? Over a decade?) get this type of viral pneumonia. In an average year, a million Americans go to the hospital with pneumonias, and 50,000 die of it. So in the coming years, some of those pneumonia cases and deaths will be from Covid-19. People were afraid of polio because it was causing serious cases in all ages, especially the relatively young. Covid-19, not so much. Alright, some transparency here: Not at all an expert at any of this and am only basing my next comments on what I think, have read, have heard, etc. Yes, everything you are saying is true, that we always have many deaths b/c of these types of things, etc. WHAT I UNDERSTAND to be the difference in this scenario is that we have vaccines, or treatments or familiarity w/ these other things, PLUS we have a greater ability to fight those things off due to immune system familiarity. With the current corona virus, if we took no precautions, due to no immune system familiarity, treatment, etc. the death toll would POSSIBLY be much like the Spanish flu of the early 1900's, not like the usual flu season. That seems to be expert opinion from what I understand. It is b/c of current precaution that it mirrors a typical flu season rather than that disaster from way back when. Again, not an expert but I do know Italy's mortality rate is almost 10% and they are no longer trying to treat anyone over the age of 60. That's a pretty scary situation. Anyway, JMO / understanding of current events.
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Post by s73 on Mar 29, 2020 8:25:22 GMT -6
Sure. But you do so by "just coaching!" You teach all the principals and lessons but you do it by coaching rather than being a cultural leader and pastor, etc... Hell, if a kid is late, you teach him about being on time and self-discipline right there (is: push-ups, sit on the bench, run a mile, whatever)... You don't have to have a curriculum written up by some social media guru. A kid said something inappropriate, you handle it then and there. You didn't have to role play anything or have a kid do a worksheet to learn that he needs to think before he says something stupid! That's what coaches do! They coach football and in the process of doing so, they teach things... Just coach! Stop all the other BS! I (me and my teammates) learned about respect, discipline, being on time, humility, etc...and I can't recall ever having been the recipient of a lesson about culture or whatever from our coaches. These things were just a part of what they coached. But, I understand, things change, I guess... Right , wrong or otherwise, I think football is the best "taught" subject in many schools. By extension, as a result, so are many life lessons. Which, b/c of these "lessons" is not necessarily a bad thing.
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Post by s73 on Mar 28, 2020 21:15:37 GMT -6
My fear is we have FB but at the first sniffle we have a "protocol" in place & then from week to week we don't know who we can play & who we can't. I want football but in a "normal" situation. If we have a new normal, IDK, could be pretty stressful.
We'll see soon enough I guess.
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Post by s73 on Mar 28, 2020 9:37:11 GMT -6
On the one hand I want FB as much as anybody. On the other hand, you start up and some kid gets it, besides the obvious health concerns, that would be an absolute mess.
Teams having to cancel games, practices, leaving schedules a mess.
If this thing passes and the experts think it's good to go then Amen. But, as Herbstreit said in the above article, might be wiser to wait until we have a vaccine.
Again, I want to coach as much as anybody, but do I want to coach in a situation where every time a kid has a sniffle we have to have some corona protocol to go with the concussion protocol and the whatever else protocol we already deal with?
What a confusing landscape we live in no?
PS - Working a semester w/ no sports in the fall? What a dismal experience that would be for all involved. Right / wrong or otherwise, sports keep a lot of kids in line and making better decisions in and outside of school than they would otherwise.
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Post by s73 on Mar 27, 2020 10:52:53 GMT -6
I've said this before and I'll say it again, I think we have done much of this to ourselves.
When I was in HS we had summer lifting and nothing more. I remember we couldn't WAIT for the season to start! Everyone was so jacked for that 1st day. And that was during the time of 2 a days.
Now that we have summer practice in our state and you have to do it to keep up, the 1st day just feels like an extension of what you're already doing and the enthusiasm seems to have waned quite a bit.
I always try to give us about 2 - 2.5 weeks off before the season starts to come in "fresh" but still, these kids have been seeing us all summer and it is not the same.
I would welcome a scaling back of things. Maybe contact allowed 5 days in June and 5 days in July w/ summer lifting as you please.
I think more kids may come back to the sport. But now that the genie is out of the bottle.....
On another note, it will be interesting to see how all of the Corona stuff plays out and if summer practice will be canceled or greatly diminished.
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Post by s73 on Mar 23, 2020 14:36:10 GMT -6
I have come to realize I cannot waste kid’s time. 3 hour and 1/2 my roster doesnt fully participate for 1/2 the practice so we can prep for a game is a waste of time for those kids. And its to much for the others. And we have coaches in the same boat. They just stand around and listening to 2 people give instruction for 2.5 hrs. And to be clear, they are not allowed to participate. At some point the old school approach is old when I consider there to be better ways to get kids and coaches involved. I do not pretend to have all the answers not even a little bit. One of the ideas is to get practice down to 90 minutes. That is spring ball and season. Get them in and out. That requires somethings to be reallocated your offseason. The other idea is to get kids on the field. A, b,c,d teams if necessary. But I have to get kids on the field playing meaningful snaps. Agreed 100%. I think the days of "football jersey prestige" are over. Was easier to come out just for the jersey when it didn't consume all year. Too many other options for kids nowadays. To some extent we are simply dealing w/ what many other sports have probably always dealt with. Times have changed and many of us probably need to change with them IMO.
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Post by s73 on Mar 23, 2020 10:03:56 GMT -6
I know this contradicts the "football is hard, I have a giant penis and those kids are pusses" vibe that most FB coaches like to present when they talk about kids not playing football, but some people- GASP!- don't like the sport or want to play it. And that's OK.
I would imagine that most of us played football because we enjoyed contact; we loved going out and hitting people. Blocking, tackling, shedding, running people over carrying the ball, etc..etc.. It's an essential part of the game. Many kids don't enjoy contact and it is hard for some of us to understand that. I imagine 90%+ of us coaches lived in the weight room because we wanted to get bigger, stronger and faster so we could pop people harder. Some kids just aren't built that way.
Hell, we've all had kids out for football that didn't much care for contact. I coached an 5'11'', 200lb RB two years ago who was all-conference for us carrying the ball. But, he refused to play defense; he hated shedding and tackling. He had no qualms burying his shoulder through people to pick up yardage but he wanted nothing to do with the defensive side of the ball. Most of of the staff (myself included) were frustrated with the kid for it but our HC/DC made a good point; "We're a better team with him carrying the ball and not playing defense than we would be if he wasn't playing at all. So, let's keep him out."
Just to piggy back on this, I'm old enough to remember being a fan of the 85 Bears, the NYG / LT defenses, Ronnie Lott, etc. Back in those days, I remember watching HUGE HITS on TV and jumping off my couch and Hooting it up! I think the style of play in general has changed, not as much "phone booth" contact. Then combine it with the new rules and fears of CTE, etc. I think this is a natural progression of things. Kids and their parents are not as culturally accepting of football as the time we grew up in it. So, I think in general, we are losing the "fence riders" or rather we'll always keep the FOOTBALL PLAYERS, but we are losing "the kids who play football". I think lower numbers are a new norm and the best you can do is market your program as best as you can. Winning helps obviously. But...in general I think we have been used to having the pick of the litter over past decades and now not so much. To an extent I believe we've done some of that to ourselves. Football schedules and expectations of the past are such that coaches have basically only catered to the FOOTBALL PLAYERS and not the "kids who play football". IMO, it's prob a good idea to refigure how to run our programs more efficiently w/ less time consumption. As always, JMO.
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Post by s73 on Mar 17, 2020 9:56:28 GMT -6
Spending this time to be closer with family. I have twin teenage boys and it's easy to get consumed in our lives and differing schedules and lose touch from time to time. Since this weekend we have made it a priority to play cards as a family, eat together, watch tv together, exercise together, pray together, call loved ones, etc.
Has been nice in many ways. I feel like I give so much time to other peoples kids, it's kind of nice to have some time with my own.
I think all in all if we approach this thing the right way we can come out better for it.
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Post by s73 on Mar 15, 2020 8:24:33 GMT -6
For those saying they have a laundry list to do, are you then anticipating an extension of the school year? Will you be paid over the suspension? I am anticipating the opposite- being called in to "work" and then completing a "honey do" list for the school system. I spoke w/ my superintendent on Friday and he said that he was closing schools due mostly to public pressure & we have no cases. It is prob inevitable that in the next 2 weeks we will have several confirmed cases. So his mindset is how does he justify reopening schools with confirmed cases when we closed w/ none. He wanted to wait. All this is to say, at least in our area, I expect this to be quite a bit lengthier then most expect.
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Post by s73 on Feb 20, 2020 8:54:47 GMT -6
Last year was the first year at a new school, i applied and interviewed to be the Var QB coach, after talking with the HC and the OC i decided to take the open job as the Frosh OC. The Frosh HC was our DC, he let me do whatever i wanted on offense. The previous Frosh HC the year before me moved up to the Var as an assistant. Now this year, that previous HC will be returning to the Frosh team as the HC and as the OC, last years HC/DC will remain as DC and i have been offered a position as the OL coach and "Run Game Coordinator". My question is how would you respond in this situation, keeping in mind that you have not really been in the loop for these moves, you simply woke up to a text stating essentially that this is whats happening. Additionally, i have been calling plays the last 5 years on one side of the ball or the other, i havent been a pure position coach in 6 years. If it's only your 2nd year I think you need to deal with it. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Feb 18, 2020 1:44:42 GMT -6
So, in my twenties I was a “get on board or get gone” type of coach. If a kid missed summer stuff, had a bad attitude, etc we were better off without him. As I got older, and through the influence of my HC, I’ve adopted the idea that we are the last stop before real life hits them in the face, and that you should rarely give up on a kid. That doesn’t mean you don’t hold them accountable, in fact, caring for them means you do......but you almost never kick them off. Second chance (with consequences)....again and again. Somehow, kids with behavior/laziness problems don’t effect our team moral.....the true cancers are the kids you have no justification to kick off, they are just selfish crappy leaders. Our worst years were entitled seniors who showed up to weights, worked hard, but were ultimately selfish. Anyway, back to the topic: anyone else have this transformation? Any one think I’m just a {censored}? Up way too late (napped earlier and can't sleep, hence I may see this later this afternoon and wonder what the he!! I was thinking lol). I have had a similar mentality and transformation. Essentially, I see FB coaches as some of the most entitled people despite the fact that we accuse kids of entitlement. I've been coaching for 23 years now (16 as a HFC) so don't "hammer me" for saying it. IME it's true. We expect kids to make FB #1 at all times. We expect them to drop other interests during Fb season more so that other sports IN GENERAL. Vacation over summer? Never. Can't lift in the morning even tho you are in season for BB / wrestling? Unacceptable. Want to attend open gym for another sport during FB season? Crazy! Point I'm making is we don't play well w/ other coaches but complain when other coaches don't accommodate us. Why? I suspect b/c we have been KING in HS sports for decades. More kids want to play FB than any other sport, we keep the most, get the most community interest, etc. HOWEVER, that has been changing in the last decade w/ CTE, etc. But I suspect it's also been changing b/c kids have so many other options than ever before. What I'm driving at is MOST coaches (smaller school, average talent coaches) probably need to get off high horse and be more flexible w/ kids. Doesn't mean you tolerate disrespect, just means I think we need to be more EMPATHETIC. Example, have a kid that came out last season, missed a lot of practices. Well, he lived 2 miles away and mom doesn't have a car. He also works to help make ends meet as mom is on disability. In the past, I would've held him to the same standards as anyone else. But the REALITY is he wasn't starting from the same place as other kids. He had significant challenges that others didn't contend with. FOR ME, this required some empathy and patience. It wasn't easy, was considering booting him several times, but in the long run I kept him and glad I did. It was good for him and nobody on the team saw his lack of attendance as something they should follow. All were pretty aware of his challenges. I think I did right by him. Again, all of this above is GENERALLY SPEAKING. All situations are circumstantial. But all in all I think we need to be more open minded to adapt to current HS FB climate. JMO. OMG what did I just write? LOL
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Post by s73 on Jan 1, 2020 21:16:09 GMT -6
One thing I am not opposed to doing and have done in the past, and believe it or not, has some value to it, is determine whether to condition or not based on the quality of practice. TBH, I've even asked kids what they think. To eval themselves. Haven't done it in a long time but when I did I almost always got an accurate response. Usually they were in agreement w/ coaches. At least then they see it as "yes we earned the break or no, we didn't". It also has helped me as a coach to really grow my respect for the kids when they are taking responsibility for a poor practice. You believe they are mature enough to self evaluate and take responsibility, but you don't think they would be able to adopt a "winner's sprint..we like to work" as opposed to "running is for losers" mindset? I am just looking at the mindset I believe Harbaugh was trying to instill. Obviously it has not been as successful as he wants (example, see my thread on their celebration of a win vs what proved to be a relatively poor Army team) Yep. I do.
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