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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 22, 2018 8:24:10 GMT -6
Great point Indian about trust. Trust from the kid to know his coach is doing what it takes to put him a spot to be successful along with the coach having trust in the kid to do what he is told in crunch time. From experience... you better have the trust of the parents... bc if those kids hear anti trust every day when they go home, eventually they will lose trust. Sux but true
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 21, 2018 7:52:24 GMT -6
Always have a why to any suggestion you give. And not just "because i like it"...If you think we should widen our splits or move to a head up tech... have a reason why, and make sure you know haow to incorperate it into the present scheme. I think this is pretty important. I think you could add to it two things. First: Defend your position well with sound reason. I think it was Schembechler's book (I could be wrong) but he said he challenged new ideas from assistants to make sure that they really believed in it. If they couldn't handle the pressure from the HC in staff meetings then they couldn't coach it well enough for their kids to handle it during a game. Second: After you have defended your position, if the HC or coordinator choose not to use your idea then move on and get back on the same page. Yes great points... understanding that every plan can be pencil whipped... have an answer and thought process... One of the biggest problems I ever had as a HC was I had an asst that wanted to install the favor of the week to our OFF and DEF every week bc it worked on TV or for the team playing our opponent. He wasn't a young guy either... had been a coord at a big school for years... But definitely be ready to defend your why with football reasons, not just bc you think so.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 20, 2018 8:23:14 GMT -6
Always have a why to any suggestion you give. And not just "because i like it"...If you think we should widen our splits or move to a head up tech... have a reason why, and make sure you know haow to incorperate it into the present scheme.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 19, 2018 13:52:05 GMT -6
Yea it needs to stop. At what point do you dismiss a kid from the team instead of putting up with continual problems? They get three shots: First unexcused absense: benched for a half. Second unexcused absence: benched for a game. Third unexcused absence: don't come back. During practice, it's the same deal and we tell the kids that if they're going to act like spectators, we will treat them like one. First behavioral problem/incidence of laziness/tardiness: warning Second behavioral problem/incidence of laziness/tardiness: sit out of the drill and benched for a quarter. Third behavioral problem/incidence of laziness/tardiness: sit out of practice/benched for a half. Fourth behavioral problem/incidence of laziness/tardiness sit out of practice/benched for a game. Fifth behavioral problem/incidence of laziness/tardiness: removed from practice and don't come back. Generally speaking, we'll have a one or two kids every year that will hit three-four strikes in an early, single practice, are told they're benched and they just quit. There's always a chit-storm with their parents but we stick to our guns with with it. It's the whole philosophical basis for our program; those that put in the time, are coachable, and work hard will play. Interested in this approach. I am all for hard rules and discipline. However, in the past, there have been times where I told a player to go home and get well. I understand it has to be a special kid to not practice and play well in game but it can and has happened. I guess my question is..... Are these guidelines flexible, and if they are how is that different that what others do that don't seem as cut and dry??? And Im not just asking the quoted poster.... Im asking all that have hard line rules like this... Do you follow the miss 1 practice = miss one half always??? no exceptions??? I understand you listed UNEXCUSED ABSCENCES... But If kid isnt there he isnt there period regardless of reason. The theme I am getting is that practice is a must... I AGREE... But its a must regardless of reason missed, isn't it??? Im rambling now so ill see how responses go lol
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 19, 2018 12:17:06 GMT -6
If respect is the motivator... Players will do things bc they want to regardless of consequences... If fear is the motivator... Players will do things bc they don't want the consequences...
Eventually the fear of consequences becomes less bc players don't care or become numb to them.
Both will work, but respect works longer.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 14, 2018 9:13:07 GMT -6
I have had 2 dads coach for me as volunteers. They were both great. They both did things that were vital to the program. Only once did I have a hint of a problem, and it wasn't a problem. In a game, I got on his kid pretty hard (he was a great player and it didn't happen much), and he came over and started making an excuse. I simply looked at him and asked, "are you a coach or a parent right now?" he walked away and later apologized. Where I coach, staffing sometimes is hard to come by. If you can get a hard working loyal guy, dad or not grab him.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Feb 8, 2018 10:26:22 GMT -6
Too late not to go all fan boy in this thread so... Didn't the Colts start the whole deflate-gate saga? I bet Kraft wanted to stick it to them and the owner so he kept throwing money at him to stay till he said yes. And I wouldn't be shocked if he gave the ol "Bills getting old and might not be around much longer so..." whisper in his ear too. These guys are ego maniacs too, they all think they are the magic bullet that will turn each team around. Just like us HS guys we have all the answers for everyone else problems. I don't buy him getting nervous about failing or that crap. I don't know anything about the guy but the older I get and more cynical I get I hate to say it but if you're that worried about family life and being around you shouldn't be a coach at a high level. I think this was a huge TROLL job on the COLTS for that exact reason. We will never know but I believe he was never going to INDY
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Post by cwaltsmith on Jan 11, 2018 9:17:47 GMT -6
IMHO, this is where games are won and lost when the talent level is close to equal. In about 75% of high school games talent is not equal, but when it is the team that can make and execute the best adjustments wins. Execution is the biggest part. Most guys have the knowledge to make adjustments, but having players that can understand them and carry them out is the hardest part
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Post by cwaltsmith on Dec 11, 2017 7:36:30 GMT -6
I like starting with the bread and butter or play couple of plays that you base everything off of. Fundamentals before that obviously, but install the play you run the most first
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Post by cwaltsmith on Dec 7, 2017 9:37:12 GMT -6
lol I didnt really know how to define it lol. What I meant was ... The quick release, strong arm, fast feet, all of that doesnt mean anything if decision making is bad. I like acebacks process of trying to help them with decision making but it is the most important trait IMHO
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Post by cwaltsmith on Dec 7, 2017 8:58:58 GMT -6
Confidence & Great at decision making. Put best decision maker that can play at QB
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Post by cwaltsmith on Dec 5, 2017 14:14:03 GMT -6
My own son who is 11 gets mad at me bc I harp on him about this subject. I tell him its bc I deal with so many guys that aren't tough. And some that if they were they could play at the next level. The old question are you hurt or are you injured comes to mind. Everyone is hurt... winners find a way.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Nov 15, 2017 11:33:50 GMT -6
This is a good topic... and some great responses....
Some other things that I look for from an offensive perspective is: Is safety agressive? Do they tip their roll: Do corners bail hard?
From a defensive perspective: Gotta know who/what they like on 3rd down? sometimes who is more important than what... odd formations? Olinemen tipping plays? WR tipping passes and runs?
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Post by cwaltsmith on Nov 8, 2017 11:24:02 GMT -6
I think you can... because anyone that has it has learned it... However, I think that it is a process and won't be an overnight thing. I believe alot of what we deal with as coaches with kids today is, alot of kids don't know how to deal with failure on any level because parents have tried to protect them from any kind of failure their whole life. Im guilty myself with my own kids. If a guy a whipping you and he bigger and stronger. You have 2 options give up and continue to get whipped, or figure something out to neutralize his stregnthes. Kids struggle with this sometimes bc on other problems parents figure it out for them Just my humble opinion but I believe it can happen
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Post by cwaltsmith on Nov 3, 2017 9:58:31 GMT -6
DYNABODY does great work. They work with you on the money and payment as well. Website is www.Dynabody.com Guys name is HEAVY.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Nov 3, 2017 9:23:16 GMT -6
I completely understand where you guys that are "just coach" are coming from. I would rather "just coach" than have to deal with the extra stuff. And, yes, off season is right around the corner. I'm not interested in doing character development curriculum to be the look at me guy, or touchy feely, or whatever connotation you have about the people who use the stuff. What I see is a ton of kids without a father making decisions that affect their lives outside of football. Yes, I can coach them hard, love on them, build relationships with them, etc...the reason I'm looking into it is to see if it's worth investing that instead of all off season time to the weight room. I'm glad that you guys that can "just coach", "just coach", but there's a large population of coaches that don't have that luxury that have to deal with mentally weak individuals who think being coached is being criticized. Bottom line I'm trying to look under every stone I can possibly look under to make sure the young men that leave me are going to better society. I know I can do that through "just coaching" but I've only been at one school where "just coaching" was enough to get through to them. Totally agree with this. In some places, you spend more time managing behavior and heading off problems in kids life than you do on field coaching. I used to pride myself in telling folks that we treat every kid like they are our on in our program. I don't believe I can do that anymore, simply because alot of kids don't have the same raising so I can't hold them to the same standard of know how that I would my kid. Some of these kids are raising themselves literally starting at age 8 or 10. If that isnt their situation then you have others who have never experience failure on any level because their parents protected them from it. I think some of these programs could possibly help with those.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Nov 1, 2017 7:50:00 GMT -6
Depends on how many times they are sent to me for misbehaving--at some point, yes, put them on the road. There comes a point where you're not helping them. If you've given them expectations, you've given them consequences--running, loss of playing time, sitting out games--and they continue to do the same things, then 1. they don't care what you say 2. you can't count on them 3. they are a detriment to your program 4. they aren't going to change 5. you're not "saving them" you're enabling them 6. At that point, get rid of them. I'm very clear with mine---we have expectations on the field, in the school and in the community. If you can't meet them, there will be escalating consequences that will eventually result in your dismissal. There is that point where trying to save them all will cause you to save fewer of them. And yes, behavioral expectations include the offseason. I'm not going to start back at square one with teaching football and I'm not starting back at square one in teaching discipline. It's an ongoing process. If I don't follow through with discipline and expectations in the offseason, then let's be honest--I don't really care about the players other than what they can do for me on the field and I probably should find something else to do. As long as I keep them in my program, they are my problem 24-7 for 365---.and for many of them it extends after they finish high school. I have coached at 2 schools with constant behavior problems. I felt like because these kids didn't have the proper support at home that I needed to keep them around and give them a good influence and work to change them. In both places it came back to bite me. Now some kids do need help and can be changed, but some don't care. I take this approach now and will for rest of my career. As long as they are trying to help themselves and arent a detriment to team I will keep them around and help. The minute they stop trying or hurt the team, they are gone. Most kids will learn more by having to sit and watch for a year than coddling. I have heard "well if i kick him off he will start running with the wrong crowd". If he starts running with wrong crowd, he was going to anyway. Ill quote a movie "REMEMBER THE TITANS", Herman Boone... "your not helping these kids ... your crippling them for life. The real world doesnt coddle... well wait, now days maybe.... thats another subject for another board lol.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 25, 2017 12:51:26 GMT -6
It was a 6 A (BIG) school. He retired last year I think after over 30 years of coaching... Very respected in our state. He said it wasn't a long meeting. Said it was just a drop in say hello intro kinda deal. He was big proponent of it, said it helped build that relationship... showed he cared.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 25, 2017 11:40:48 GMT -6
We also had a coach in our state tell at a clinic a few years ago that he visited the home of every player to introduce himself and meet the parents or gaudians
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 25, 2017 7:50:00 GMT -6
IF YOU LOSE THE PARENTS IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY CONVINCE THE KIDS aND YOU LOSE THEM TOO!!! This is often true but there was an extremely successful coach who pretty much mentored me that was the opposite. He would say if I win over the kids, then I've won the parents. The kids will beg their parents to not interfere in the coaching. Not always true, I know, but I saw it first hand. I agree it can happen that way... and several years ago this was even more true... but this generation on kids and helicopter parents is a little different IMHO... agree it can be done without parent support, but I think trying to get them on your side is better no days especially.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 25, 2017 7:21:20 GMT -6
I am going to try to shift this topic from what parents and players can't do to what we expect and hope they do. Gonna give each parent a questionnaire of 4 questions and keep them. Questions will be...
1.)list a measurable goal for your son and this team for this year... 2.)What do you want your experience as a parent to be this year.... 3.)What can you do to help create this experience for you and others?? what can coaches do?? 4.)If goals can't be reached, what do you want your son's experience to be like?
Not sure I like #4 100% bc of the negative context it suggests about not being successful, but I think trying to get parents to start off positively and lay out what you would like from them is a better way to go.
I learned from experience...
IF YOU LOSE THE PARENTS IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY CONVINCE THE KIDS aND YOU LOSE THEM TOO!!!
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 24, 2017 13:55:57 GMT -6
After Friday nights, I help with my son's 11-12 youth team on Saturdays. A kid for the other team twisted his ankle and his coaches were tending to him so refs sent players to sidelines for water. I was talking to one of our players.... ref came over and said coach they have to take a knee and you cant coach during an injury. I looked confused and asked if that was really a rule? he said yes its a rule in the rule book. I laughed and turned to talk to the kid again. He threatened to flag me if I didn't stop. I hate the whole take a knee crap anyway. that guy is gonna feel the same whether i'm on knee or standing. We got yelled at by our parents in the stands last year (HS Varsity) because an opposing player got hurt and we didn't take a knee. She approached the HC and demanded that we take a knee when i kid gets hurt. We told her this aint peewee football and we don't take a knee. She flipped out. To make it worse they talked to the president of our school and he had to "address the issue" with the coaching staff. I recieved a formal letter from a spectator after not taking a knee on Friday night... Lady said she was embarrassed to be from our town bc we didn't take a knee lol
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 24, 2017 7:27:48 GMT -6
After Friday nights, I help with my son's 11-12 youth team on Saturdays. A kid for the other team twisted his ankle and his coaches were tending to him so refs sent players to sidelines for water. I was talking to one of our players.... ref came over and said coach they have to take a knee and you cant coach during an injury. I looked confused and asked if that was really a rule? he said yes its a rule in the rule book. I laughed and turned to talk to the kid again. He threatened to flag me if I didn't stop. I hate the whole take a knee crap anyway. that guy is gonna feel the same whether i'm on knee or standing.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 13, 2017 8:19:40 GMT -6
Love what brophy says. People want to be involved and love to see the players involved. I cant stand the social media hashtag flooding, however I think you have to do some of it for the kids... Dumb or not, they live on social media and connecting with them helps.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 11, 2017 8:49:43 GMT -6
I worked at a school in a large metropolis that serviced the homeless community. I would say the living condition for many of these families was that they would get a few families together, pool their money, and rent a motel room for as long as they could. Then bounce around between this situation, a shelter for a few days, another motel, etc. Despite this I would have students be absent many times due to similar situations (mom went to the casino and din't get back until early in the morning was a common one). I think of those parents every time I read posts about "kids these days"- most of those parents were born in the 60s and 70s and yet look how they behave. Kids these days comments are coming from coaches. 90% of us coaches were the "model" players. Not that we were perfect, but we were the guys that made workouts, didn't miss practice, studied football, knew our assignments, really cared, etc. Coaches compare the average kid to themselves and forget their friends/teammates who missed practiced or blew assignments, etc. I came to this realization about 2 years ago. I used to pride my self on treating every kid like they were my own. I would tell parents in my parent meeting, that I was going to treat their kid as if he were mine. Problem with that is most haven't been raised like mine. I'm not perfect but try to do and make kids do right. Alot of these kids not only haven't been taught that missing practice is bad.... they have been taught by example that missing isnt a problem and not communicating isn't a problem because their parents miss and don't communicate. Its definitely not the same job it was 10 to 15 years ago.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Oct 10, 2017 7:03:10 GMT -6
Ive been on both sides of this. As an asst, I have felt like nothing I say matters. I have also been a HC and an asst has told me I dont listen enough. As the asst, their isnt much you can do alot of times. As the HC I told my asst this....I Wont to listen, I want input. I want my assts to grow into HCs one day if that is what they want.... BUT input is not just random thoughts or pieces of football knowledge that are thrown out there in meetings without follow up or basis. If you think we should give a 3-3 look this week, tell me why, and tell me how we can fit it into what the kids have been practicing all year. I cant stand it when a guy comes in and says run X bc it was on TV saturday or sunday
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Post by cwaltsmith on Sept 28, 2017 10:43:04 GMT -6
Guess I go against the grain when it comes to this. We are multiple in what we do on defense. I want answers to everything we see, and because we are multiple we have answers. I'm not going to prepare for Flexbone like I would Wing T. Or DTDW like I would spread. They are all completely different. One week we might play 4-4 cover 3 the entire game because of the offense we're playing. The next week we might be running 3-4 quarters. It's not a different defense. It's the same kids, running the same defense we've ran since day 1. If that's not your style, whatever. We will never get out coached. It would be my fault if we lost because I did not put my kids in something that gives them the opportunity for success. The only way we are going down is BFS, as a coach I don't have a simple fix for that. If we lose because of BFS, I can sleep at night. We didn't have the cats, that simple. If I didn't run something that gives us the chance for success, I failed as a coach. If I ran the offense I would have the same mindset. Multiple yet simple. I absolutely want to give multiple looks. I think you have to now days, every defense and offense has weakness. If you stay in same, other will eventually exploit. What I was trying to say is the following. We are a 4-2-5 or 4-4 cover 3 base. Our corners rep covering deep 3rd all camp all summer all year. We can play quarters or 4 deep, because its the same principle. However, we do not ever rep 2 read. Therefore if asst coach came in and suggested 2 read as answer to what we are facing I would shoot down fast because IMHO you cant be good at something on Friday night that you havent repped but 3 days. We play an over and an under front. But techniques are the same for the DL just lining up on a different OLINEman
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Post by cwaltsmith on Sept 26, 2017 12:01:31 GMT -6
I had a couple of asst that would come in every Sunday and want to change off or def and do what hurt the team on the films we had. I finally told them that I love input, but do not suggest anything that we don't practice. What I mean is... if we are not gonna put stuff in that we have never practiced. That doesn't mean we cant make adjustments. If we normally play an outside shade on the OG and you suggest moving to outside shade of OT and play same tech, I'm all for trying. But don't suggest shifting to all DL 2 gapping when we haven't repped in a single second in practice. However, Ive been in your spot as assistant. I decided to leave. If you stay coach the heck out of whatever your given.
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Post by cwaltsmith on Apr 18, 2017 10:47:02 GMT -6
I have experienced both sides. And as stated relationship does play a roll. I tell my asst in the first meeting this:
If you always agree with me I dont really need you, but on the other hand I don't need a coach that disagrees constantly. That endangers the common vision IMHO. I enjoy the questioning of ideas. It makes me be more prepared bc I have asst that ask the whys and hows. But If you question everything I will begin to get the idea that you dont ever thik I have a good idea and that means one of us needs to go!
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Post by cwaltsmith on Apr 4, 2017 7:35:50 GMT -6
I like to try and start 22 if possible and if not... as many as possible. But imho 2 platooning with 40 is near impossible. I like having as many "starters" as possible, it helps with buy in and gets more kids out. However, in nut cutting time... best kids better be out there
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