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Post by fkaboneyard on Feb 5, 2018 11:09:46 GMT -6
With Tom Brady they had a strong chance to win. With Jay Cutler they could have just gone into the locker room early.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Feb 1, 2018 13:07:03 GMT -6
The "guy" says that you can't get a plow horse to out run a race horse. But couldn't you argue you that you can't get a race horse to out plow a plow horse. I think when it comes to toughness and enthusiasm that you are dealing with terms that are ambiguous. What they mean to one coach, they may not mean to another coach. One coach may say a player is ENTHUSIASTIC because he shows up ready to put in the work in the weight room no matter what. Another coach may say that his player is TOUGH because he never misses a workout even though he has other things he could be doing. When it comes to football, give me the horse that does "his" job. Pretty much what I was going to say, only a lot more eloquently than I could say it.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 25, 2018 10:58:03 GMT -6
I was told that you should always dress for the job you want to have so I'm going with a sweatshirt that has the sleeves cut off and an air of irritable superiority a la Bill Belichick.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 22, 2018 13:35:46 GMT -6
Website says "Products using Q30 Technology have not yet received regulatory approval and are not available for purchase in the United States."
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 22, 2018 12:36:03 GMT -6
In my experience these kids have parents that are the biggest handful. Blackballing the kid before he comes out is a sure way to cause yourself a headache. If he can do the work and not be a problem he's in my program. If he's a problem I'm on him like stink on a monkey.
In all the years I've coached I think there is only a couple where I loved every kid on the team, seems there is always at least one that is a steaming pile that I wish would go play another sport.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 22, 2018 12:17:37 GMT -6
I think cost may be an issue on the letterman jackets, they're $350+. When you add up all the awards & patches that go on them you're looking at over $400. I got one for one of my sons but the others don't/didn't care.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 16, 2018 16:39:27 GMT -6
I coached at a private school that got new uniforms. At the beginning of the season the HC had every kid pay a $100 uniform cleaning fee which was to cover the entire season's uniform cleaning. There were 42 kids on the team, so $4,200. He asked all of the staff who wanted to clean the uni's, said they could keep the $4,200. One guy that was lazy, always broke and always seemed to be out of work jumped at the job.
First game of the season was an away game played on a terrible grass/dirt field in the high desert. After the game the HC put all the uni's into trash bags, cinched them up and gave them to the Lenny laundry guy. Lenny went home and put all the bags into his garage and left them there until Thursday when the HC said at practice, "Where's the uniforms? We were going to give them out after practice?" Lenny got a panicked look on his face and said, "I'm still working on them." HC was pissed, he knew something was up. Lenny made an excuse to leave practice early and went home to work on the uni's. His wife called the HC and said, "Lenny can't finish washing the uniforms, he just took them out of the bag and the smell makes him throw up. You will have to come get them, they are on the side of our house." The HC went over and got them and had his own wife do the washing which, as you can imagine was pretty bad since they were sitting in plastic trash bags in a hot garage for a week. Lenny was an old high school buddy of the HC and it ruined their friendship. Lenny had already blown all the money and wouldn't give it back, he never even came back to the school.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 16, 2018 11:00:54 GMT -6
When I was in high school we got new uniforms and the HC told us, "After games you will leave your uni's here and we will wash them, we can't take the chance that your mothers will ruin them." After the first game the coach collected them all and did the wash. He used the wrong chemical and destroyed them, we had to go back to using the old crappers. Ha!
The programs I've been at the kids handle practice and the school (read - somebody the coach pays) handles game uniforms. The away uni's are white and cleaning them is a terrible job after playing on a grass/dirt field. It's not uncommon for the person washing those white uni's to quit after one week.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 9, 2018 22:57:14 GMT -6
A mistake is packing your home uniform for an away game. Throwing a football at your position coach and challenging him to a fight is a deep character flaw.. If you don't kick off a kid for that I have to wonder what it would take for a kid to get the boot. I agree with you but on one occasion in my career I wish a kid would have jacked a coach. The kid was a great kid. Made a mistake. The coach kept riding him. The kid said yes sir and kept playing hard. The coach wouldn’t let it go. The kid makes another mistake next period and the coach goes “that’s why your girlfriend cheated on you.” The kid shook it off but one of the assistants pulled the coach aside. I couldn’t believe it. When we got in the locker room, a couple of us told him he was out of line. He didn’t think so. The head coach had no clue it was even said because he was calling plays from the sideline. Some coaches are just dickheads. The kid wouldn't have to worry about that coach, I'd already be whooping his ass.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 9, 2018 16:13:11 GMT -6
My HC kicked a kid off who was a 4-star recruit. He threw a football at his position coach and challenged him to a fight. He ended up transferring to another school, taking two teammates with him, and winning a division title. When I've talked to my HC about it, he said he regrets it. Not because the kid won a division title (and we wouldn't have had a chance that year even if he stayed), but because removing somebody simply for making a mistake is the wrong message and changing the social order by removing an alpha has a ripple effect. A mistake is packing your home uniform for an away game. Throwing a football at your position coach and challenging him to a fight is a deep character flaw.. If you don't kick off a kid for that I have to wonder what it would take for a kid to get the boot.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 9, 2018 13:35:38 GMT -6
I would do the same if it was against school/team policy. Absolutely hands down. What they do on their own time is their own decision, but it sounds like this player was caught either at a team function or on school grounds. He was caught on the bus with a dip in (a big red neck dip I might add) with the can in the open, on the way to a play-off game. Tough call but the right one. Kid fought the law and the law won. One thing I always tell my guys, you don't want to be a cautionary tale for the future players in this program.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Jan 2, 2018 22:37:00 GMT -6
A few years back our HC tore into me for suggesting we hook a certain kid playing defensive tackle because he was getting absolutely destroyed. This took place at halftime when there were no players around but most of the coaching staff was. The HC was a prig about it, took some personal shots at me and then said, “Fine, we’ll go with your suggestion, you watch how this works” as though I was making the most insane suggestion ever. We were getting our asses kicked by the other team (our rival – a school where he had once coached) so I chalked his behavior up to that and let it roll of my back. The other coaches were quietly telling me, “He’s out of line”, “You shouldn’t allow him to talk to you like that”, etc. He implemented my suggestion and it actually worked. It wasn’t the only reason but it was a big reason we came back and beat the other team in a nailbiter. I know that if I had gotten into a wang measuring contest things would have gone sideways and we would have not won that game.
Two weeks later at a Wednesday practice we were running team and he started hollering at me, I mean completely losing his mind, because our D linemen weren’t two-gapping. From the day this guy took over the program he preached, “We’ll never have the athletes to two gap, anybody teaches two-gapping and they will be gone.” It was so contrary to everything he had ever said that I thought he was joking and I started to chuckle. He didn’t take that too well and started storming over to me. I said, “Coach, as long as you have been here you’ve said we’ll never two gap.” He said, “I changed it yesterday, if you had been at practice you’d have known.” Now, I was a volunteer coach but as dedicated (if not more) than any of the paid staff. And he knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t be at practice the day before because my toddler daughter was having surgery. So several “MF’s, don’t you ever question me and my commitment, if you knew how to manage a staff you’d be 13-0 every year, I’ll shove this whistle up your ass, etc.” he apologized. And then kissed my rear the rest of the time I coached for him.
I was willing to break him in a practice not in a game. Still, doing either in my opinion is not healthy for a team. Do it in private or in a coaches meeting, don’t do it in front of a bunch of high school kids because they don’t really have the ability to put things in context.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 27, 2017 0:05:36 GMT -6
Not making a criticism, just raising a question. Do you think a kid benefits physically from playing his senior year of high school, enough to warrant finishing 12th grade? I realize MD's athletes are not the athletes I typically see but there is a significant transformation in the athletes from 11th to 12th grade in the programs I've been part of.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 17, 2017 23:46:56 GMT -6
Turns out, dad wasn't bluffing - he, his staff and the school are actually gonna be sued over this. The coach told me, "I can't believe this guy" and was looking for sympathy from me. I said, "I don't mean to be a prig but I can't believe you can't believe the guy is suing you. The dad was a d-bag before his kid got hurt, what did you think was going to happen? There's never any upside talking to a parent like that. If you talked to most dads like that about their kid they'd probably end up throwing down." He said "Maybe, but I'm going back to coaching basketball." I said, "Good luck with that." Funny how he thinks another school is going to hire him to coach when this is over.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 14, 2017 15:06:11 GMT -6
This would be funny if it weren't so sad. The pussification of this country accelerates every day.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 14, 2017 11:43:05 GMT -6
I'm not sure which is more disgusting, the syrup incident or the coach sticking his dork into a bun at the team bbq.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 7, 2017 10:41:49 GMT -6
Fshamrock, that sounds awful. Glad you made it out of that dumpster fire.
We need another thread just for "Banquet Stories" - I know there are some doozies out there, I've even got a couple.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 6, 2017 17:47:29 GMT -6
She sounds like the little league mom that wants to make sure her kid gets an award.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 5, 2017 16:02:07 GMT -6
We always encourage all the players to attend the awards night and tell them it's going to be a great night whether they were a star or a scout player. At the programs I've been in we always talk about every single kid, JV and varsity. Somebody puts a video together and every kid is included in it, whether they play a lot or a little. Every kid is acknowledged in some way. Still, there are always some kids that don't show up. In my experience, those kids are the turds that weren't really dedicated during the season so it's not surprising that they don't show up after the season. There's really not much you can do about it other than encourage them to be there.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 5, 2017 15:53:10 GMT -6
Excuse the long post, I’ll try to be brief…
Private school, total of about 50 kids on varsity and JV. Kid (“Donald”) began playing football at the school as a 7th grader (MS program) and then tailback on JV as a 9th grader last year. He had some initial success on JV but eventually lost his spot because he couldn’t hold onto the ball. Also, he’s very fast in a straight line but can’t cut unless he comes to a near complete stop. This past year (as a sophomore) he began the year on JV as tailback and was doing well. He was quickly pulled up to varsity when the team was bitten by the injury bug.
The kid played in a couple games and it was clear he still had a long way to go. He worked hard in practice but struggled to remember his assignments and was afraid of contact. The HC has twin sons who play Mike & Will linebacker spots. He always told his sons (and the rest of the defense) to “dial it back against Donald, we need to ease him into this...” After playing in a couple games the injured starter was recovered so he was given his starting position back. The starter kid is lazy but he’s the best athlete on the field, maybe the county, at any given time. After the 7th game of the season when Donald didn’t get much playing time his dad cornered the HC and exploded on him. “Donald is the best athlete on this team, he should be the starter. I watch practices, he’s the hardest worker on the team, you play favorites, etc. etc.” The dad is a screwball with a long history of know-it-allism. The HC initially tried to explain the facts to dad but he wouldn’t listen. Among other things, HC told him, “your son is afraid of contact, I have to tell my defense to go easy on him during practice, I can tell them to go 100% if you want” to which dad says, “You f’ing liar, they’re going 100% already.” HC says, “They’re not but they will from now on.”
Following Tuesday at practice running team the Mike & Will just hammer the hell out of this kid. They weren’t trying to hurt him but they are very good and Donald pretty much pauses whenever he makes a cut which makes him a sitting duck. Kid was just getting destroyed while dad stood on the sidelines watching. Not hard to see it coming, eventually the kid gets lit up and is seeing stars. Dad hauls him off the field all the while hollering, “You did this on purpose, I’m going to sue you.” Turns out the kid has a grade 3 concussion and neuro says he can’t play football ever again. HC told me today that he, the rest of the staff and the school are being sued by the dad.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 5, 2017 12:18:31 GMT -6
As others have said, I think you teach toughness by having players physically prepared through weight training & conditioning and by making sure they proper technique.
I don't think you can really teach nastiness, though.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 4, 2017 0:17:06 GMT -6
Khan Academy...once they take the test Khan Academy is actually tied to the College Board in some fashion and the kids can send their test results from the College Board to Khan Academy and they will evaluate their test for them and design a practice guide focusing on their weaknesses. It's honestly not a bad little deal and it's free. Kids just have to want to get online and FOCUS. +1 to this. Khan will make your kid better but just like football (and anything else in life) they have to want to get better.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Dec 3, 2017 1:26:27 GMT -6
This thread could go on for page after page and you could spend hours poring over it. Or you could just get yourself a visor.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 30, 2017 11:58:27 GMT -6
If only the Giants coaching staff had spent a larger portion of the past off-season changing the culture of their program this would not have been an issue. Perhaps if they'd have taught the Giant players how to tie a tie or change a tire, this problem could have been avoided. So many cultures to change, so little time.... Keep riding that joke, it will eventually be funny.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 30, 2017 10:35:08 GMT -6
The Giants have decided to treat the rest of the season like preseason. Eli couldn't have been classier. I read that, when told he could start to preserve the streak, he said, "That cheapens the streak, I don't want to do that."
McAdoo is a goofball and probably isn't considering that the rest of the team is watching how he is treating the guy who has always been a team player. If he'll do it Eli, he'll do it to them. As the saying goes, not everybody is treated the same but everybody should be treated fairly. McAdoo is making it clear he doesn't subscribe to that theory.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 28, 2017 13:30:24 GMT -6
I was the JV head coach and my OC (his name was Archie) was awful. Didn't know the system, didn't know which plays or players to go to in a given situation, just an all around goofball. I'd often correct his playcalling which drove him nuts. I had a really great DC and he hated the OC's guts. I swear, I was like Dr. Phil all season keeping the two from killing each other. The players loved the DC and they hated the OC, to the point that they'd clown him when he wasn't around. I hated it and I always put a stop to it but kids are gonna be kids so that's what they did.
When our offense was on the field the DC would focus on his defensive guys, getting them prepared for when they'd go back in. When our defense was on the field Archie would freak out and just indiscriminately yell things like, "Watch the pass! Watch the run! It's going to number 26!" The DC and I were always trying to get him to shut it, but he wouldn't. Finally we were in the championship game and it was a dogfight. We had a kid we nicknamed "Stones" that was our middle linebacker that was literally 4'11" and 105 lbs but the toughest motherhumper on the field at any given time. Time was running out and we were trying to shut down their final drive and finish. Our DC was calling out instruction to a couple kids, adjusting them and the OC was hollering, "It's a sweep! No, it's a screen, gotta watch the screen! QB keeper!" and finally Stones just yelled, "ARCHIE, would you shut the eff up so we can hear?!?" It was said at the perfect time, split second where there was no noise and you could hear it throughout the stadium. Everybody died laughing, even the officials. Stones said it and then got right back into it and made a play. We went on to win. It's one of my favorite football memories of all time.
So to the point, what makes me rage - frigging coaches that don't know what they're talking about yelling at kids during the game.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 27, 2017 12:27:40 GMT -6
Seems like Ohio, California and Florida would make up the lion's share of the teams. calpreps.com/2017/ratings/National_all25.htmI think it would be interesting to see a true national champion but as you said, allowing teams to compete for a state championship would also be fun to watch. At this point there are some very good programs in California that won't even sniff it as long as MD, SJB and Centennial are around.
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 27, 2017 10:18:09 GMT -6
Two years ago I was a JV head coach and I had issues with the HC. The knowledgeable guys on this board helped me wrap my thick head around the fact that it was his program, not mine, and I should support him or GTHO. Once I learned that lesson I was a total team player and I really enjoyed working for him. It wasn't until after the season ended that I learned from some parents and the AD that the HC threw me under the bus for an issue that was entirely his fault (he and I fought hard about it). I resigned immediately which was difficult because two of my sons, a senior and a freshman, were still in the program.
I thought my coaching days were over but a local public school asked me to come coach for them which I accepted. About mid summer the old HC came knocking and put the hard sell on me to come back. The more I declined the harder he pressed until I eventually told him outright, "Your football knowledge is incredible but it isn't nearly enough to cover your lack of integrity and other character flaws. I wish you luck but I would sooner stick my head in a vise than come back and work under you."
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 16, 2017 15:34:03 GMT -6
We had a kid, heck of a football player, show up to Monday practice on crutches and sporting a knee brace. He said he & his mom got T-boned in a car accident over the weekend and he had "badly damaged" his knee. We were crushed, just about to make our playoff run and this kid was a playmaker at defensive end. The next day at school he was in a lunchtime basketball tournament going ALL OUT. When the game was over he walked over, put his knee brace back on and hobbled away on his crutches. Our HC grabbed him and said, "WTH is going on? I thought you were in an accident and your knee was hurt?!?" Kid says, "That's just what my mom told me to say because we're suing the other driver. She said a P.I. might come to practice or games so I can't play."
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Post by fkaboneyard on Nov 15, 2017 14:23:10 GMT -6
Teacher appreciation is great because it tends to get the whole faculty on board, including the foot draggers.
When I was at a private school we did Middle School Football nigh. Between the JV & Varsity game we introduced the middle school kids. What seemed like something that would be ho-hum turned into a big deal. It got kids and, more importantly, their parents excited about the program and greased the skids to get them into the high school program.
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