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Post by doubletight305 on Jun 20, 2022 5:22:44 GMT -6
Not necessarily apples to apples, but I played on a freshman team with 70+ kids. On far away road trips where we could only get one bus we had a travel team, so 20ish kids got left behind. By the time that class was seniors there were multiple starters that hadn't made the travel team as freshman. This is a huge reason why we want to keep kids around - we always have a couple of late bloomers. But there are other practical reasons to having those kids stay around and workout. First off, we have the staff to do it, we are lucky enough to have a dedicated S/C coach on staff that will happily work with those kids while everyone else is outside - I know this is not everyone's reality. Secondly, kids quit all the time, and unfortunely season ending injuries happen - if you keep those kids around then you transition those kids to the field as helmets become available. Lastly, keeping those kids involved will keep them from withdrawing and going to another school. We are a public magnet school in a very urban area where kids can choose whatever school they wish to enroll in; just in a 3 mile radius of us must be something like 8 high schools. Every kid in our building means more state funding and more teaching positions. Our football program is a big selling point to choosing and enrolling at our school, there will be kids cut that are solely attending our school to be a part of the football program. No principal will be happy to see his enrollment go down due to cuts - if possible we would buy an additional 50-60 helmets to accomodate every kid (and hire additional coaching staff as well). Once again, that last reason may not apply to everyones situation, but I think its safe to say that by rule of thumb you want as many people invested and engaged in your program as you can get.
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Post by doubletight305 on Jun 19, 2022 11:28:12 GMT -6
We are facing this problem now. Our county won't allow kids sharing helmets so for the first time ever we will hold tryouts. Currently have 130 kids in the program and we will need to cut down to 90. So the plan is to hold a combine-style tryout two weeks before the start of camp and pick the best 90 kids for varsity/JV. Thinking of having a weight room/conditioning group that doesnt get equipment but continues to work. Not happy with this situation one bit.
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Post by doubletight305 on Sept 2, 2020 11:37:58 GMT -6
When I took my current job in 2013 our entire program consisted of 32 kids, last year we had 96 and this year we will probably end up with 110-120 kids. We are in a very populated urban area with parent choice in regards to what high school to attend.
Here are a few things we did to be able to get our numbers up: 1. Changed offense from double-wing to spread RPO, I know its easier said than done but once we made this change it opened us up to a whole new level of athlete joining our program. 2. Social Media and graphics- make sure your team account is active on Twitter and Instagram. Follow some of the college programs around you and emulate to the best of your ability what they are doing for marketing. Try to find a coach or someone at the school who is halfway decent at graphic design. 3. Make it fun. If its not fun then kids won't play. Our kids genuinely enjoy coming to practice and workouts and being a part of the team. Let the kids take some ownership of the team culture. For instance, our kids love music at practice and at workouts. We let them pick the music (as long as its clean) and play it on our speakers on the field and in the weight room. Give the kids the ability to build the culture, your job is to put guard rails on it to make sure its headed in the right direction. Then, market the hell out of that culture.
I oversimplified this but those are some things that we feel have really affected our numbers.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 6, 2019 7:44:15 GMT -6
This is what I was referring too. The free transfer rule just makes the recruiting issue that much worse because its next to impossible to prove a 36.1 or 37.1 violation when theres nothing a kid has to prove in order to go to a new high school. Hahahaha, tight?? What a thread..... Brings me back to my original response.... f*** em. You cant do anything about it. Build relationships, be a good coach, let them know it's a mistake if they leave, and coach the ones you have really hard. We have the problem of the private schools recruiting, to the point they would be recruiting players AND coaches during spring 7on7 activities. We, all 17 public schools in my county, have severed all ties with the private schools. They still poach a few, but it isn't nearly as rampant. There are too many stories of us reporting recruiting and nothing was done to go into here. We still report, but we dont ever think something will be done. We've thrown up our hands, and just focused on coaching. Coach, That's all that can be done, concentrate on coaching. Treat your kids well, do the best job you can. One of the things we do, and its still questionable ethically for me is that we highlight the failures of previous players that transferred out. Guys, Recruitville High promised Billy a scholarship to a major D1 school... but look guys, he signed to the same d3 he would have signed had he stayed here. In fact I have had kids that have completely regretted their decision to leave us come back and address the team. Look, the issue here is not the legality of the situation. for me its the ETHICS. Can I call/text DM the linebacker from the school down the street and lie to the kid and promise him playing time and a division 1 scholarship (when hes really a D3 kid)? Yes, I can do that and will more than likely get away with it. The real question is SHOULD I do that? Your answer to that question determines what type of coach you are.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 5, 2019 8:03:45 GMT -6
Coach, i'm in Miami-Dade County....the epicenter of the wild, wild west. What we figured out is that if we invest our time in our freshmen class and show kids, parents and the community that we are improving our program and trying to help them get to college that we have a very low transfer-out rate. We've only lost 1 kid from last years team to another school, and he was actually kicked out of his magnet program (academic reasons) and sent back to his home school. It also helps that our school is probably one of the top academic public schools in the county and we are in a very nice suburban area. What keeps kids at our school is not just the athletics; its the school as a whole. I know that may be tough to improve as just a football coach but try to control what you can control (nice weight room, program exposure, uniforms etc.) And its tough explaining to people how it is in Florida, especially in urban areas. Principals, administrators and athletic directors EXPECT and ENCOURAGE you to steal kids. In fact I know of coaches that have lost their job because the didn't "steal" enough talent from the surrounding schools. Its really sad, its all about the "microwave' teams out here. Pop the talent in the microwave, out comes the championship team. No one knows how to build a program from the ground up anymore. Add in the fact that rarely is there punishment for being caught. Armwood (Tampa) beat some Miami team for the state championship a few years back while both teams were under investigation. By February, both teams had all wins erased for blatant recruiting. Miami's QB was dropped off at a hotel in the school zone and was picked up by a teacher every morning. There was no state champion that year. Armwood was even worse. They had 3 or 4 top-tier kids from all over Tampa play their senior year for Armwood. An OL from Orlando (an hour away) was on the team. The parents not only bought a condo in the school zone, but they legally separated to try and prove the kid was eligible to play. During the course of the investigation, the FHSAA found 9 (NINE!) other kids on the team who were not supposed to be here. Nothing happened to the coach. In fact, the superintendent literally stood by his side as he issued an apology. That, at least in part, is a crux of the problem. There is no punishment for being caught. Oh sure, they say you can get in trouble, but I know Armwood still got Championship rings for that year. The state records wont show a win, but thats just semantics. THAT'S why you cant control it. I'm not going to work that hard for a high school team or my $1600 stipend. I coach who comes out, I recruit the hallways, and I make my kids the best I can. Coach, that absolutely happens every year, almost everywhere in South Florida. 12 public schools (including mine) in dade county all from the large classifications (8A,7A,6A) have decided to go independent and form our own league and championship. We targeted schools that we know do things the old-style way. Now all of those schools (public, private and charter) that for years stole kids from us in front of our faces are having trouble filling out their schedule.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 5, 2019 7:44:17 GMT -6
For those of you who have to deal with this, especially us in Florida where its the wild west, how do you keep kids loyal to your program? How do you respond to kids telling you that they have other coaches talking to them? I've had 3 kids come in today telling me they are being recruited and one that just withdrew to go to our cross town rival. Coach, i'm in Miami-Dade County....the epicenter of the wild, wild west. What we figured out is that if we invest our time in our freshmen class and show kids, parents and the community that we are improving our program and trying to help them get to college that we have a very low transfer-out rate. We've only lost 1 kid from last years team to another school, and he was actually kicked out of his magnet program (academic reasons) and sent back to his home school. It also helps that our school is probably one of the top academic public schools in the county and we are in a very nice suburban area. What keeps kids at our school is not just the athletics; its the school as a whole. I know that may be tough to improve as just a football coach but try to control what you can control (nice weight room, program exposure, uniforms etc.) And its tough explaining to people how it is in Florida, especially in urban areas. Principals, administrators and athletic directors EXPECT and ENCOURAGE you to steal kids. In fact I know of coaches that have lost their job because the didn't "steal" enough talent from the surrounding schools. Its really sad, its all about the "microwave' teams out here. Pop the talent in the microwave, out comes the championship team. No one knows how to build a program from the ground up anymore.
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Post by doubletight305 on Feb 21, 2019 8:23:32 GMT -6
Not going this year, but had a blast last year. VERY underrated event, Great venue, amazing hotel. Great clinic talks, chalk talks and onfield demos. Looking forward to going in 2020
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Post by doubletight305 on Feb 21, 2019 7:02:30 GMT -6
10 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes not peak time. Close enough that I can "work from home" during my planning periods in the offseason. In fact its faster for me to drive to the main office than it is to walk from my classroom to the main office.
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Post by doubletight305 on Feb 14, 2017 8:13:49 GMT -6
No doubt...take the Week 10 bye, and definitely play a wing-t team week 1!! You either get a week to prep for playoffs, or you get to end a gloomy season early! We still have a week 11 game, I just fear that if at that point we are out of playoff contention we would lose the kids mentally before that game, which is a rivalry game. I'll be honest, I hate both weeks as a bye, last year we had a week 5 bye; right smack dab in the middle of conference play and it was great, but I am leaning towards taking week 10 off. Does anyone see any merit in essentially extending training camp by a week? A huge fundamentals week right before we hit conference play.
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Post by doubletight305 on Feb 14, 2017 6:58:26 GMT -6
Coaches - Need your feedback on this one;
Due to a scheduling quirk with our conference we can either take our bye next season during week 1 or week 10.
We play a preseason week 0 game, then Weeks 2 thru 9 are conference play. Our week 2 and 3 opponents are teams we can soundly beat however our week 4 opponent is a tough wing-t team.
My defensive coordinator would like us to play a week 1 non-conference opponent for evaluation purposes; maybe schedule another wing-t or run based team.
My offensive coordinator would like us to take the week off and work on what we do, almost an extended training camp.
I'm on the fence, I see the pros and cons of both. What would you guys do in this situation?
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Post by doubletight305 on Oct 18, 2016 7:17:22 GMT -6
So this is the conundrum we are facing right now. Tim Murphy Single wing for years, double wing before that and now we are transitioning to open enrollment. We are in a region where you can shake a tree and kids that run 4.5's will fall out, we are (arguably) the skill position capital of the country(except for my attendance boundary). So do I abandon an offense that has been so good to us for so long because we can bring some guys from a few neighborhoods over to play? Everyone that I have spoke to has told me to transition to a more spread look because doublewing/wing-t/single wing is essentially a cuss word in our county. Even tried and true wing coaches have transitioned, albeit with mixed results. I think the answer might be to be "spread", be "modern" but retain your identity (smashmouth power football). Does anyone have a list of examples, for me what i'm looking into is Hugh Wyatt's "open wing" as well as some Baylor stuff from previous years. Now every situation is different,if your the only show in town and the next closest school is 25 miles away then do what you do. However; as I type this from my classroom I can look outside my window and literally SEE the next senior high school, the competition. If your offense has been good to you, I think you would be crazy to make a change. If you are choking out 2-3 wins a year, 4-5 in an up year, I think it may merit discussion though. Especially if you are competing with schools around you to get kids. If you are the only show in the county or something, then I think by all means, do you. I was just looking to get a discussion going. At the end of the day my own position is that I wouldn't change what I do based off of the opportunity to bring in one or two receivers and a QB every few years. I saw this topic come up elsewhere and thought it would be an interesting talk though, and so far it has. As more districts opt for open enrollment I think this is a very important discussion that can affect your talent. My theory is that your offense affects your "brand" more than anything else. In my area (South Florida) that brand not only affects offensive kids, but defensive kids as well. They don't give a damn what defense you run because the assumption is spread= modern. That's my assumption based on the football culture in my area, could be different in other places Remember though, "spread" is a loose term. I think If I adapt my offense to 20 and 11 personnel it would change our "brand", but i'm still running power and counter all day. Our identity won't change, but we would be "spread". As a coach it just doesn't make sense, and actually I hate that it works this way down here.
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Post by doubletight305 on Oct 17, 2016 10:22:50 GMT -6
So this is the conundrum we are facing right now. Tim Murphy Single wing for years, double wing before that and now we are transitioning to open enrollment. We are in a region where you can shake a tree and kids that run 4.5's will fall out, we are (arguably) the skill position capital of the country(except for my attendance boundary).
So do I abandon an offense that has been so good to us for so long because we can bring some guys from a few neighborhoods over to play? Everyone that I have spoke to has told me to transition to a more spread look because doublewing/wing-t/single wing is essentially a cuss word in our county. Even tried and true wing coaches have transitioned, albeit with mixed results.
I think the answer might be to be "spread", be "modern" but retain your identity (smashmouth power football). Does anyone have a list of examples, for me what i'm looking into is Hugh Wyatt's "open wing" as well as some Baylor stuff from previous years.
Now every situation is different,if your the only show in town and the next closest school is 25 miles away then do what you do. However; as I type this from my classroom I can look outside my window and literally SEE the next senior high school, the competition.
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Post by doubletight305 on Oct 14, 2016 7:21:43 GMT -6
What do you mean by openly recruiting players? What about it that other people are doing is illegal? You gotta coach what you know, but if it's costing you players where's the uniqueness in your system getting you? Openly as in, calling/texting players, poaching from other high schools. To me there is a difference between having a player decide to go to your school because it is an attractive situation for them, or deliberately contacting a player on an opposing team and enticing them to come to your school. The latter is an epidemic in our area; the former is ethically correct in my understanding and what I feel county administrators want to happen with open enrollment. And as far as is it costing us players, it might very well be, but the main point is does the spread sell? In your opinions is it worth changing to a more "popular" offense given the circumstances that I have presented? Its just hard to give up on something that has been so good for us; trying to weight risk/reward
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Post by doubletight305 on Oct 14, 2016 6:42:34 GMT -6
Here is our situation:
-We sit on the county line between two of the most talented football hotbeds in the country.
-We are considered the top academic public school in our area.
-In order to compete with charter schools our county has implemented open enrollment for under-enrolled schools which we are one of.
- Our attendance boundary does not have a lot of football talent, however that talent is found a few neighborhoods down, well within busing distance.
- We are a middle of the road program that usually goes 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, like many of you out there we do well against teams like us but struggle against more athletic teams.
given this situation, what would you do to attract athletes to your school?
I refuse to openly recruit players, like so many of those around me do. Some have told me to change my offense to a more spread based system; we are a double/single wing team that usually finishes in the top 10 offensively in the county; however I would hate to lose our uniqueness in the area (only team running it).
Any thoughts would be appreciated, I just feel that we may have potential to make a jump.
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Post by doubletight305 on Jan 27, 2016 12:17:47 GMT -6
All it's doing is legalizing what has been happening here in south Florida for years. Its the wild west down here, kids transfer in and out as they please. The team that attracts the most talented mercenaries wins
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Post by doubletight305 on Nov 12, 2015 12:15:45 GMT -6
I truly believe that you can be "good" at both. However how you define "good" comes into play. Also, how you distribute your talent on your roster.
Personally we load up on defense, our best play there. I want them to be "good" in the conventional sense, stopping people, getting turnovers.
For us Offensively "good" means holding on to the football and having long and prolonged drives. "Good" is scoring at the end of a 15-play drive. We put our second best athletes (with exception at the tailback spots) on offense and live with it. For us scoring 24 points is "good", we win most of those games. I know some coaches that score 24 and they feel that the game was a disaster. So "good" is all relative
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Post by doubletight305 on Nov 2, 2015 8:55:02 GMT -6
HC/OC(me)-27 DC/DB-56 OL-24 RB-45 DE-29 DT-34 LB-28 ST-28
We have a nice mixture of older and younger.
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Post by doubletight305 on Sept 17, 2015 8:16:40 GMT -6
I try to go to whenever possible.
Looking for things that you can't easily discern from film:
Snap count Injuries tempo
I also think we get a better feel for the team's size and speed in person than thru film.
Is scouting in person a definite difference maker? probably not, does it make me feel more a little more comfortable on gameday? Yes.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 18, 2015 7:10:00 GMT -6
One of the best things we did was to put the trainers in charge of fitting all helmets and shoulder pads. Safer and easier for us as a staff. We do not use practice pants, just integrated girdles. So, we have no thigh, knee and hip pads to give out. We use wrestling/volleyball knee pads with shorts for practice along with the integrated girdles.. Makes it a lot easier. For games we just put a big barrel of knee pads out and they get a pair. Then they just throw them back in after the game. I'm intrigued by the wrestling/volleyball pads and shorts combo. I think it would cut down on laundry and overall "team stink" haha. Did you have any resistance from your athletic training staff or from anybody at all? Want to try this but fear that my over enthusiastic trainer might make a stink of it..
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 18, 2015 6:42:05 GMT -6
Exactly! In all seriousness 7 on 7 has its place and its merits but in my area of Florida some teams and coaches put too much emphasis on it. I'm all for the regulation of 7 on 7, down here the club team 7 on 7 business is just dirty. For example schools down here will have assistants run 7 on 7 club teams and then use that as a platform to recruit kids to their school. We forbid our kids from trying out for the club teams. You must be in Dade or Broward.. Why is it so easy for a kid to transfer from your program? Well, its easy to transfer to and from any program, it's the unfortunate culture here. We have been very lucky over the last couple of years to not have any transfers outside of legitimate home moves, but my kids are always showing me facebook and instagram messages from assistants from other programs enticing them with "d-1 offers" if they transfer over. But even the big time-nationally ranked teams out here lose quality kids year in and year out to other programs. We choose not to play the "recruiting game" and we are very happy to not deal with the "mercenary" players and the street agents.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 18, 2015 5:58:43 GMT -6
doubletight, If one of those kids from the club team would transfer to one of those coaches schools they would have to sit out a year. I really, really wish it worked this way, and i'm sure that in 99% of the country that rule is followed. But in our county this rule is never enforced, either by negligence of coaches/AD's or by falsification of "proof of address" documents. In fact, player transfers here are covered by the local newspaper in much the same way NFL free agent signings are, always a mention of them in team capsules in the season preview etc. Not saying that club 7on7 is the main culprit, but it exacerbates the illegal recruiting issue at least in my area. Im all for complete regulation by the FHSAA
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 17, 2015 10:42:30 GMT -6
My greatest fear with all of this is a drastic knee-jerk reaction from the NFL. Football will never be 100% totally safe; no sport is, but the NFL cannot come out and say that.
If a young marquee player or two (Russell Wilson, Cam Newton etc.) decides to call it quits early then the NFL will have to react from a PR perspective and that could be scary, like sport-altering scary.
My best guess is that they will try to regulate the max length of NFL careers and force players out after 4-5 years. Sounds completely stupid to us.. but to the general masses it could be seen as "the NFL taking a step in the right direction".
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 17, 2015 10:29:58 GMT -6
I think its a good thing for 7 on 7 to keep developing in Florida. They can do all the 7 on 7 work they want. Wont prepare you for Power, Counter and Wedge. Its not suppose to prepare you for counter , power and wedge... Exactly! In all seriousness 7 on 7 has its place and its merits but in my area of Florida some teams and coaches put too much emphasis on it. I'm all for the regulation of 7 on 7, down here the club team 7 on 7 business is just dirty. For example schools down here will have assistants run 7 on 7 club teams and then use that as a platform to recruit kids to their school. We forbid our kids from trying out for the club teams.
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Post by doubletight305 on Mar 17, 2015 8:12:18 GMT -6
I think its a good thing for 7 on 7 to keep developing in Florida.
They can do all the 7 on 7 work they want. Wont prepare you for Power, Counter and Wedge.
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