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Post by wolverine55 on Jun 10, 2021 5:37:45 GMT -6
I asked what they were doing for four hours 5 days / week. Lift (this spring they just did bench, TBDL and back squat... no super sets, aux's or variations), condition (lots of gassers), agility (this spring was just the L Drill & shuttle on repeat LOL) and a full practice after (indy, 7on7, team, etc). If a coach can't get his team coached up and ready to play without all that nonsense, maybe he doesn't have the teaching and leadership skills necessary to be a head coach. Just sayin'. Here's one of the best lessons I learned: Just a few years back I took over this program. We had 2 DBs who had been starters the year before and who were supposed to be pretty good players. Both were in family situations where they were gone the entire summer, something beyond the players' control--we didn't get to work with them all summer. They were both there when official practice started. They were never lost, never out of place, ready to play from day 1. Both made all-conference, both were stellar players all season--including game 1. It made me rethink some things. Ironically, my example involves two DBs as well. This was the summer of 2013 and our starting safeties were about all we returned from the year before as we were senior-heavy in 2012. Then, these two each made a 7 on 7 and almost nothing else all summer. As we were having our last staff meeting before official practice started, our HC said, "Guys, I know we're all a little down on Patrick and Bryce right now. Just remember they're two of our best football players." And, they were just fine by week 1. About a year ago, I bought a house and Patrick's wife was my realtor actually!
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Post by wolverine55 on Jun 2, 2021 14:24:52 GMT -6
I don't have numbers to back this up, but in Iowa it seems like there are more late openings than normal. We had a relatively routine season playing in August, September, and October but it seemed like a ton of openings popped up in May.
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Post by wolverine55 on May 24, 2021 8:51:46 GMT -6
Most of my experience is at small schools and even then it has not been the coaches responsibility to do any of those, except at one job we did have to line the field and set up the markers. I was a JV coach and we basically did that while the varsity coaches were putting the varsity players through pregame practice on Thursday.
Even when I taught and coached at a school of 1600, we only had one AD and coaches didn't have to worry about these things listed.
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Post by wolverine55 on May 5, 2021 7:10:08 GMT -6
This may be a silly question, but for those of you who say "some schools around us do, some schools don't", do you simply ask them about Saturday practices? Is this something that comes up in conversations at clinics? Reason I ask is I obviously know our program currently does not meet on Saturdays. I literally couldn't tell you if the 9 teams on our schedule do or don't.
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Post by wolverine55 on May 4, 2021 9:31:22 GMT -6
Our school board approved a $500 bonus last night for all employees "due to the additional stress caused by COVID" this school year. I'm not going to lie...I'll still take the money, of course, but this has actually been one of my easiest school years ever.
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Post by wolverine55 on May 4, 2021 7:35:06 GMT -6
I've been at three places where we've met on Saturdays. The first job our conference played freshmen games at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. So, for especially the home games, most players and coaches would have been there to watch anyway so it was easy for the varsity to come in on Saturday mornings. I was a freshmen coach getting ready for the game so I can't vouch for how productive the varsity film and walk through sessions were.
At the other two places, I never felt our Saturdays were anything but a waste of time. I will fully admit that was probably the fault of our staff for not being prepared but these were also pre-Hudl days so we were watching the film with the kids and seeing things for the first time ourselves.
Currently, we do not meet Saturdays and haven't in years. At my current job, so many kids have Hawkeye tickets and/or take college visits on Saturdays I'm not too sure we would have a productive Saturday session even if we tried.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 30, 2021 12:23:51 GMT -6
A-11 talk led me to googling "Kurt Bryan" which led me to an article that mentioned the A-11 was banned in 2009. Remembering the talks on here and seeing it was banned that long ago made me feel very old...
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 20, 2021 12:20:17 GMT -6
This situation is an outlier, but I worked at a high school in Illinois where the high school and elementary systems were two different districts. So, at just the high school, which was 1600 kids, we had a superintendent, a principal, 4 assistant principals, and an athletic director.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 20, 2021 9:41:13 GMT -6
1. Support for athletics and coaches. Understand the importance of extra-curricular activities for student well-being. 2. Respect for the hierarchy. They're the top man on the totem pole and should only be dealing with the most serious of situations. 3. Consistency across the board. When a good policy is in place, stick with it. If there's issues with a policy either change it or scrap it. #2 especially. I've worked in my current district for 9 years now (one year as a coach only and now this is my 8th as a teacher and coach) and it absolutely astounds me what some people take to the superintendent.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 18, 2021 13:51:45 GMT -6
It can suck, but as someone who was enrolled in high school when our basketball coach was fired for really no reason and then at my first teaching job the basketball coach was fired for really no reason, the coach in question honestly just needs to move on. Even if this coach is rehired, it'll last one year and then the board will get better, more concrete "evidence" and then fire him next year anyway.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 16, 2021 19:42:25 GMT -6
"Wall of Ass" to refer to what the playside blocking should look like on power/counter. That's back when we emphasized horizontal push more than vertical push. We don't teach reach blocks this way anymore, but back when we bucket stepped on them a coaching point was "Lose ground to gain ground" meaning we could give up some penetration as long as we got the DL reached.
Not really a technique thing, but I played for a college coach who called a 4-4 defense "Flop." It stuck in my mind because I haven't heard anyone else refer to a 4-4 as that since.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 16, 2021 9:39:42 GMT -6
As the last several posts have detailed, I would think the first step would be to ask the staff member you want to join you if he's interested. If he's not, you know to move on and you've probably already avoided any drama, if there would have been any to begin with. Then, if he's interested and if you KNOW you can get him hired at your new school, you tell the current HC ASAP not so much as a control thing, but as professional courtesy so he can then start trying to find a replacement.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 14, 2021 8:04:17 GMT -6
This may not be what you're looking for since it was only one week plus state restrictions may apply depending on where you coach, but at a previous job we had a freshmen-only football camp the first week of June. This was to introduce the basics of our systems and give them time to work on things with just their class in attendance.
Now, admittedly one of the reasons we did this was because so many of them played youth baseball that we wouldn't have seen many of them at football after that first week anyway. So, after that, the freshmen were expected to come to morning weights and then whatever on-field workouts they could.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 7, 2021 10:12:27 GMT -6
I thought a QB could throw the ball away outside the pocket...is that something just Iowa adopted? Or am I having a moment here?
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 4, 2021 9:40:13 GMT -6
To answer the question, I don't know if I want to totally get rid of the offseason, but I would prefer a "dead week" to be turned into a dead month. Iowa offers baseball as a summer sport and if we did June as a dead month for other sports, a lot of conflict would be eliminated.
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Post by wolverine55 on Apr 4, 2021 9:38:25 GMT -6
We seem to be in the minority, but soccer is a spring sport in Iowa. I love it because we get a few skill kids and normally a kicker that we wouldn't otherwise have.
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Post by wolverine55 on Mar 15, 2021 9:52:41 GMT -6
I used to think watching film of the next opponent on a Thursday or Friday was a distraction. The last two years I started at least my special teams breakdown on those two days. Amazing how much more relaxing this made the weekend having that done already.
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Post by wolverine55 on Mar 15, 2021 5:52:23 GMT -6
Back in 2005, as soon as a game was over, we would put a film in and we had a tower that copied that film to 4 or 5 DVDs at one time. We thought we were gods of technology!
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Post by wolverine55 on Mar 12, 2021 8:31:37 GMT -6
I'm not going to lie: if I had to brew coffee with Bang just to stay awake to watch film, I would just simply not watch film, lol!
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Post by wolverine55 on Mar 10, 2021 10:07:28 GMT -6
Also, does watching film just bore you? I used to like it, but I've been here for six years and we don't have a lot of staff turnover at our school or elsewhere in the conference really. There's nothing that anybody that we play is really doing that we haven't already seen them do. It makes me kind of disinterested honestly. We have one of our biggest rivals with a new HC this coming year though, and another in the conference who turned over their staff last year and will be in year two with their new systems, so finally should see some different things. I actually enjoy watching film way more in the offseason than season. I don't watch much this time of year...20-30 minutes a week tops. But, during the season, it just feels like one more thing you HAVE to do and it's genuinely one of my least favorite parts of coaching.
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Post by wolverine55 on Feb 25, 2021 8:03:33 GMT -6
I coached with 2 guys who played for him when he coach in Alabama. School was successful under him and things have gotten worst every year until now where they are the doormat and struggle to win one game each season. They love him and swear by him and wish he never left. Seems to me like the epitome of what is wrong in sports, but everyone has their supporters, and some people want to win at all cost. I'm guessing he coached somewhere before Hoover? Hoover has still been doing well, at least based on a quick check on maxpreps. I will say, though, I'm not surprised at that sentiment. A lot of what guys like this do to get in trouble are things that don't effect personal relationships with players. Not saying he's right in any regard or shouldn't be punished; I'm just saying it doesn't surprise me former players would feel this way.
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Post by wolverine55 on Feb 16, 2021 12:40:24 GMT -6
Before adjusting the schedule, yesterday was supposed to be the first day of practice in Illinois. Most of the state has several inches of snow on the ground and windchills were around -20.
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Post by wolverine55 on Feb 13, 2021 12:47:01 GMT -6
Also, special teams can still be done. Our very first day of fall practice (we had a somewhat normal regular season here in Iowa) was moved inside due to lightning. So, for specials that day, we did punt team and repped the heck out of the protection scheme and installed one of our fakes.
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 21, 2021 12:51:25 GMT -6
Back in 2005, I joined a staff that at the time ran an inverted bone offense. I got hired early enough to where I spent the whole summer with the program, but one of my first assignments was to present our power play to the rest of the staff. They were learning the offense as well, but they were ahead of me as they had studied it all winter and spring. My HC said that having me present on power (and then later sweep) was intended to catch me up and he was right. It greatly helped me learn the new offense. I love this... bad thing is I have had asst before that would quit before doing this because they could not do it. While not everyone should be experts on all aspects of the play or scheme... all should have a basic understanding and then be an expert on their position's job on the play ... Great way to develop staff... I feel that while going to listen to other coaches at clinics is important... meeting with your own staff to discuss details is vital to success To be fair, it was sold as a learning opportunity for me from the beginning. The HC or maybe another staff member (too long ago to remember for sure) did ask me a couple questions that stumped me...but that was part of it as well as we were all learning a new system.
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 21, 2021 8:59:27 GMT -6
Back in 2005, I joined a staff that at the time ran an inverted bone offense. I got hired early enough to where I spent the whole summer with the program, but one of my first assignments was to present our power play to the rest of the staff. They were learning the offense as well, but they were ahead of me as they had studied it all winter and spring. My HC said that having me present on power (and then later sweep) was intended to catch me up and he was right. It greatly helped me learn the new offense. Coach, that's an awesome idea! I'm one of the things I'm kicking around is what could I do that is creative/presentative like what your had to do, though maybe on a little smaller scale. By present, I mean that I simply had a dry erase board, lol! But, I had to draw up all rules and responsibilities for all 11 players. So, I truly was presenting. Don't know if that HC would have me do something more formal now or not!
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 20, 2021 8:38:10 GMT -6
Back in 2005, I joined a staff that at the time ran an inverted bone offense. I got hired early enough to where I spent the whole summer with the program, but one of my first assignments was to present our power play to the rest of the staff. They were learning the offense as well, but they were ahead of me as they had studied it all winter and spring. My HC said that having me present on power (and then later sweep) was intended to catch me up and he was right. It greatly helped me learn the new offense.
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Ethics
Jan 18, 2021 13:17:28 GMT -6
Post by wolverine55 on Jan 18, 2021 13:17:28 GMT -6
I vote all unethical...but I sort of appreciate the cleverness of 3 and 4. I've never even heard of those techniques, if they can be called that.
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 17, 2021 13:40:42 GMT -6
Alot of Kevin Kelley's stuff, i think his screen game is the best in the nation and can be added to most offenses. But I've also really been watching a lot of their film (or what constitutes as film) to try and disect their passing game. Another big one has been Jeff Mullens Big O System. I really like some of the more nuanced aspects of what he coaches in regards to practice time and practice focus, particularly their goalline and backed up stuff. Plus his pass game is really simple and is boiled down to three categories of reads which i like. He is the Pulaski Academy HC, correct? Does he have any material on just screens or are you learning/watching screen game amongst his other stuff?
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 4, 2021 10:27:08 GMT -6
Im with you, i had too many LBers one year and begged the dc to take em on the dl (and started winning more when he finally did). But theyve grown into a big time program, so it may have worked out. I still cant stand it, but we live in a world where a coaches ability to “recruit” (nee poach) talent is important. Citing players youve had go to college may be more important to job security than winning games And the irony is that colleges don't care what position a kid plays in HS. The coach who I referred to that started this whole discussion swears he used to get messages from college coaches saying, "Man, I like that kid. I just wish we had some film of him playing (insert position here)." I was skeptical, as were many who replied to his tweet.
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Post by wolverine55 on Jan 3, 2021 13:36:16 GMT -6
I find value in discussing things on twitter and have come across several good ideas I've tried to implement or tried to get our OC/HC to implement. I will say, however, I've been a little turned off the last few days. I read a tweet from someone that basically said that if you were playing a kid in a spot to help you win games as opposed to where he projected to play college ball, you were a selfish coach. The tweet plus how many responded agreeing with the tweet was a big turnoff and therefore my twitter time has been WAY down the last several days. I have been on a coaching staff where that was our philosophy-play them where they project at college. School is in the heart of southern california so you are fighting to keep your players from being poached. Selling mom and dad is the number one tool of the usurper coach, so you have to respond in kind to keep them at bay. I imagine bragging about it on twitter is just a way of protecting your own players from getting poached or trying to attract others. I guess in this circumstance it's understandable. The most talented team I've ever coached had maybe 5 or 6 recruitable kids total, so I probably just have a hard time relating to the concept of taking college translation into account.
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