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Post by bignose on Mar 19, 2024 19:02:39 GMT -6
Playing for two teams is nothing new!
One of my old time mentors, many years ago, told me about his experiences playing football in a rural area of West Virginia in the late 1950's.
It seems that "Joe's" coach decided to punish him for skipping practice, and wouldn't let him go on a road trip with the team.
So on Friday night, Joe goes to a school across town, suits up, and plays for them. He runs for like 250 yards!
When the coach comes back from the road trip, the next day, asks Joe if he's learned his lesson! Joe nodded in agreement, the coach never found out about it.
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Post by bignose on Mar 13, 2024 13:13:12 GMT -6
Dating myself here:
Girdle? I had a belt worn inside the lace up pants with butt and hip pads. Thigh and knee pads worn in pockets in the pants.
I wore a jock under whitey tighties. I tried a cup, that looked like a recycled oxygen mask, but it rubbed me raw along my groin. Not a lot of fun.
Lace up front shoulder pads
Forearm pads. Yeah I had them and wore them. I was a center and a two handed snapper, my arms took a beating. I played in the era when extending your arms at more than a 45 degree angle was considered "illegal use of hands."
We were taught shoulder blocking and butt blocking. (For you younger guys the term "Butt Blocking" had nothing to do with your posterior. It meant that you aimed with your forehead at the defender, bulled your neck, and butted him.)
8 inch lace up shoes with 3/4 metal tipped cleats, just like Johnny Unitas! All games played on real dirt.
Suspension strapped two bar facemask until my senior year, when I got a padded helmet with a 4 bar cage.
Mix and mold mouthpiece. You had to mix two substances together, stick it in your mouth, and wait until they hardened. Was messy when you had the usual adolescent braces.
Sometime in the mid to late 1970's the kids stopped showering en masse after practice and games. It was when gay kids began coming out publicly......
I do remember some shower room hijinks from my early coaching days involving kids sliding bare assed naked along the wet tile floor, until somebody slid out the locker room door into the hall.
The funny thing is Pop Warner still has a "cup check" before games, including their female athletes.
Cowboy collars? Kids these days want to look like speed guys, not the thick necked, lantern jawed types of my youth.
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Post by bignose on Feb 26, 2024 14:38:40 GMT -6
Legal addiction since I played back in 1968......
Still need that fix!
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Post by bignose on Feb 9, 2024 11:40:07 GMT -6
Lou Holtz once described residents of Minnesota as having blonde hair and blue ears.
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Post by bignose on Feb 7, 2024 16:11:17 GMT -6
The A-B-C's of coaching
Always Be Courteous
X-Y-Z's
Examine Your Zipper
I think I got that from Tubby Raymond in a clinic presentation
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Post by bignose on Feb 7, 2024 12:10:56 GMT -6
I started coaching in 1974. I last played in 1968.
Always as an assistant, or scout.
I stopped coaching on the field after the 2021 season, but I am still actively working as a video scout, and consultant via Hudl.
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Post by bignose on Feb 6, 2024 19:09:14 GMT -6
The players will not remember what you said.
They will remember how you make them feel.
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Post by bignose on Feb 6, 2024 15:10:29 GMT -6
Never stop learning
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Post by bignose on Jan 28, 2024 11:52:53 GMT -6
I love rebranding!
I see so many teams who have converted to Spread Offenses that do not match their talent base, and I look forward to playing them!
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Post by bignose on Jan 24, 2024 8:09:40 GMT -6
We won a State Championship in 2010 running the Double Wing. We threw 3 passes in the game.
Fast forward a couple of years. The talent level dropped off a bit and we had some character issues with the kids we had. We brought in a new OC to introduce his passing attack with the hope of attracting more skill players. None of the new kids made any significant contributions, and as CS pointed out, they were selfish wide receiver types.
A couple of losing seasons, we fired the new OC, and we went back to a run oriented offense. The record improved and the HC stepped down. I moved on to help scout with another program.
The new HC introduced a Spread Offense. In the next 7 years they have had one winning season, this in a school that had .750+ winning percentage from when the school opened in 1973 thru 2013.
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Post by bignose on Jan 19, 2024 11:41:12 GMT -6
I graduated in 1969, last played in the 1968 season. Brand new High School, we practiced for the first season at a local National Guard parade ground because our fields weren't finished. No locker rooms, no showers.
Hose? You had a hose? We had a water dipper in a 5 gallon galvanized bucket of warm water.
Riddel suspension helmet? Yep, mine had 2 horizontal crossbars. I was a 175 lb. back up center. Every time I snapped the ball my jaw got tatooed. I have the scars to prove it.
My senior year: We are practicing our 2 minute hurry up offense, and for some reason I am in with the starters. The HC says: "OK you just gained 12 yards on the last play."
So I call for a huddle. The HC, a classic old school screamer, starts to tear me a new one for calling the huddle.
"But coach, the clock stops to move the chains when you get a first down."
The HC gave me one of those cocked eyed looks, turns his hat sideways and walks away.
That's when I knew that I was gonna be a coach!
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Post by bignose on Jan 17, 2024 16:33:39 GMT -6
We don't mix our varsity and JV squads.
Why try to teach the JV kids plays that are not a part of their normal offense, and then beat the hell out of them with bigger, stronger varsity kids? It wastes their time, and accomplishes very little.
With a team size of 35-40 kids in an average year, we don't go two platoon. We have about 15-16 starters and "All You Others."
The AYO kids form our scout team. They may not always give a great look from actual play execution, but I am more concerned about making sure that we are aligned and reacting properly, especially since our current rules are very limiting about the amount of scrimmage contact we are permitted to use.
For example, we used to play two Single Wing teams during a season. I'd take the AYO kids out while the starters looked at film, and I'd teach them the basics of the SW just to make sure that we are able to give the starter a decent look.
I color coded the positions on the scout sheets to minimize the teaching. It got to the point where the second team kids wanted to run the Single Wing they ran all week in practice in the game when we were blowing out one of the teams......just to show them how it was supposed to look!
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Post by bignose on Dec 22, 2023 20:27:00 GMT -6
Hijacked thread warning!
The sequel: "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman" wasn't as good a story.
Whereas "A Canticle for Leibowitz" had 3 separate well written story and character lines tied together as a history over a long period of time, this is a longer single tale that takes place somewhere during the middle segment of the original story's time period entirely, a little weirder, much angrier, not as good a story.
I kept reading it, hoping that it would get better as I went along.
It didn't.
Not up to the original, IMO.
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Post by bignose on Dec 22, 2023 17:00:07 GMT -6
If all you guys are "UC Flexbone Triple Option Guild" Journeymen - Does that make tog the "Overlord"? I am more like a canticle for liebowitz One of my favorite Sci Fi books! I am very impressed!
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Post by bignose on Dec 1, 2023 18:55:01 GMT -6
I would do a directional squib to my sideline (most teams want to return to their home side)even to the point of laying the ball sideways across the tee to get a crazy bounce.
I'd aim to try to get the ball down to between the 35-25, outside of the numbers, and send my fastest kids down on that side. We want them to field the ball and start the clock, or recover it ourselves.
In the event that the receiving team recovers, and they have time for one play, we would remind our kids that pass interference is only a 15 yard penalty, and we'd make sure that their stud was both pressed and covered deep.
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Post by bignose on Nov 29, 2023 19:19:48 GMT -6
My last couple of years coaching, on the JV level, my partner in crime was a very experienced, and very successful coach who had been away from actively coaching for several years, returning to coach his grandson.
Occasionally, he would revert to teaching a technique or use terminology that we hadn't used in 15 years.
Several times, I'd have to quietly pull him aside and say: "Joe, you can't do that anymore, they've changed the rules on that."
Example: he wanted to line up for an onside kick with 7 men shifting to one side of the ball. The last time he coached, this was legal.
Crack blocking, same sort of thing. " You can't blast in and earhole the DE. You've got to pull up and make contact with open palms......"
Or he say: "We've gotta run 45 Counter." Except that we didn't have 45 Counter in the offense, we had 47 Counter.
All done with the greatest of respect, of course.
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Post by bignose on Nov 22, 2023 17:29:18 GMT -6
What do you do to learn from film? I have access to all of the games from a team that runs a very similar defense to what I run and I want to learn what he is doing. However, I can't call him up since we play them he doesn't readily share his information. Are you drawing up the plays and what the defense did? Are you watching the film over and over again? I am just looking for tips and suggestions that I can use to learn what other teams are doing to improve my knowledge. I assume that your opposing coach has some teams in common with you. Look at his films and compare what he did to what you did. What worked, what didn't, and making exceptions for personnel, what would you do differently than he did. You can diagram plays, old school style on legal pads, and see how he aligned and reacted to various looks. As mentioned above by silkyice bring out your inner Belichick. If nothing else, it can give you a head start on upcoming opponents for next season.
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Post by bignose on Oct 20, 2023 9:00:11 GMT -6
Tim made this change about 12-15 years ago. He had a great athlete at QB and wanted to feature him in a way that he couldn't do with him under center in a tight DTDW formation.
He has run several formation variations in the backfield with various alignments of the Wing, TB and blocking back.
He sells copies of his playbook: Coach Tim Murphy on Google
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Post by bignose on Oct 20, 2023 7:04:57 GMT -6
Fyffe High School is running former DW guru Tim Murphy's Gun Wing (it isn't really a DW any longer). It is run out of a balanced line, most of the time. It retains most of his blocking schemes from his Double Wing Offense.
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Post by bignose on Oct 16, 2023 15:45:03 GMT -6
I was never a big "Gadget" guy (except for Two-Point plays). Did run HB Pass, TE Counter, Flea Flicker, Reverse-Fake Reverse from time to time. Might have benefitted from doing it more if for no other reason than our defense would've seen them more-been better prepared for "Tickeration." There was a book on "Trick" or Special Plays written a long time ago one of my former players used when he was a HC. Can't recall the title-author but maybe you can find it through Google or Amazon. blb:
That book you mention is: Directory of Surprise Plays for Winning Football. How and When to Use Them by Tom Simonton BookFinder.com lists used copies starting at about $8.00 with a couple of copies listed on eBay I was always partial to the "Hook and Lateral" since one of those helped us win a State Championship in 1997. We ran a version of this during my last on field caching gig, a couple of years ago with a JV team. We also ran Bruce Eien's: "Left Guard Special" from the DW (check it out his version on YouTube) as a 2 point play to reward a special kid.
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Post by bignose on Oct 15, 2023 12:56:02 GMT -6
My attitude was always: I enjoyed the kids. Some when they played, and some when they left.
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Post by bignose on Oct 14, 2023 7:29:42 GMT -6
Glorified game of "Tag, you're it" with pads.
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Post by bignose on Sept 11, 2023 15:31:21 GMT -6
I have written this before, several years ago.
Sometime in the early 2010's we brought in a new offensive coordinator. He was very hearing impaired but got by OK. We were on defense and he was positioned on the sideline about 15 yards past the LOS, looking into the offensive backfield, watching the play. There was a pass thrown close to him on the sideline, and we had two defenders and receiver go for the ball. I distinctly remember seeing him get so hard that his heels were pointing upwards, your proverbial "decleater." He landed on the track several yards away, uninjured.
The defensive spotter up in the press box with me, put his hand over his mike and said: "I guess he didn't hear that one coming."
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Post by bignose on Aug 11, 2023 17:50:54 GMT -6
One observation based on doing this for 45+ years is, especially on defense, after 4-5 plays, the kids just resort to sheer naked aggression and the techniques go out the window.
It's the old Mike Tyson line: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
The really athletic kids, who are bigger and stronger, can get by on this, but the average kid will need many, many reps, and game experience before the lights go on.
One thing that has greatly improved the teaching over the years is the use of video to show the kids on film what their mistakes were.
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Post by bignose on Jul 18, 2023 15:09:43 GMT -6
If you are waiting until just before your first organized practice of the season to test the players you are way too late! You need to test right at the end of the school year to find out what you are dealing with, and to set goals for the kids to accomplish in the preseason.
I always thought that a lot of times the testing led to disappointing results for me. You end up worrying about what you don't have.
I guess I reached the point where, while I wanted the kids to improve and work at getting faster and stronger, come early August, I'd rather have kids who could learn assignments and play hard, and I didn't have to waste time worrying how they tested out.
That kid who runs the 4.5 forty isn't as useful as the kid who runs the 4.9 forty if he is running in the wrong direction.
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Post by bignose on Jul 10, 2023 8:26:20 GMT -6
This seems to have the potential to be a lose / lose situation.
If you fail to supervise and something happens, you are in trouble, but if you supervise and someone asks: "Why are you watching kids get undressed?" You could also find yourself in trouble.
Just gotta try to keep things in perspective in today's climate.
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Post by bignose on Apr 20, 2023 13:20:39 GMT -6
Gorilla Tape, lots of Gorilla Tape
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Post by bignose on Apr 17, 2023 10:42:08 GMT -6
You don't want to punish the kids for having knucklehead parents.
Keep in mind the quote given to me by Coach Frank Rhodes, a former mentor: "During the season I wish they was all orphans!"
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Post by bignose on Feb 21, 2023 19:13:17 GMT -6
I had a coach leave a summer retreat practice when his wife called and told him that she was ovulating, and to get his butt home!
In a similar vein, I coached with a guy who told the kids that they could miss a practice if they were getting laid!
I have no idea how he confirmed this.
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Post by bignose on Jan 10, 2023 17:07:25 GMT -6
Georgia gave a clinic on how to beat the 3-3.
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