|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 11, 2010 9:15:45 GMT -6
I just got off the phone with our ms coach, I asked him if he wants to help us on varsity /jv this season. He is considering it. I just look for people ....gooodguys Going into my first year as HC and as a staff we are GREEN. That said, everyone we're working with are honest, hard working, loyal, good dudes. I'm with you td: no matter what your business or job, good people are ultimately what makes organizations run successfully.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 10, 2010 11:18:11 GMT -6
Yes my players play multiple sports... Currently we have 107 kids on our 10th, 11th and 12th grade rosters (Rising 9th grade players I will not meet with until the spring). Out of the 100 kids or so we have: 14 play B-Ball 11 Wrestle 8 Track 6 Play baseball 3 LAx So yes around 35 - 40% of our players play a second sport.... I just tell them to set up a time before practice or after practice. We slot it in and I have the meeting. The meeting is around 5-10 minutes for each player. Preetty easy. So here's a question for you: do you mind coaches from other sports talking to your kids about their sport while in yours? Related but not the same, do you have kids come in and informally do football stuff while they are playing another sport? If so, is it cool that they are shooting baskets after football practice?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 10, 2010 9:23:00 GMT -6
One piece of advice for all HS coaches to try and remember, for sake of yourself as well as kids: Too much of a good thing, even football, is still too much. Sometimes "working smart" means, "Take a break!" The head dude that just retired gave me the same advice. He said once he took care of all the obvious end of the season tasks (putting equipment away, budgets, etc.), he'd take from Thanksgiving through the New Year off from football. He felt in his earlier years, he could grind away all year but as he moved on in his career he needed that separation to keep him fresh. I haven't necessarily heeded his advice but I can see the wisdom in it.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 9, 2010 18:05:46 GMT -6
bigm,
In your program, do kids play other sports? If so, do you meet with them while they're wrestling, playing bastketball?
Do you teach also?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 9, 2010 9:27:05 GMT -6
Is there a method behind your winter meetings? For instance, what are you looking to cover in your first January meetings as opposed to where you end up in late May/early summer?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 9, 2010 9:10:11 GMT -6
Do you have a general offseason timeline that you adhere to from season to season?
For instance, after your last game, do any of you give yourself time off before looking at film from last season or posting on forums?
Do you generally have a plan for the winter months, spring, etc.?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 6, 2010 11:36:30 GMT -6
How about Jimmie Johnson's Fed Ex laden breakdown of the national championship game last night during halftime?
"...And just like Fed Ex freight, Ingrahm will...and just like Fed Ex ground...etc."
Seems like a new low point in sponsorship and advertising.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 6, 2010 6:55:55 GMT -6
"One on one is one on none" for communicating the importance of connecting between qb/rec in cover 0.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 6, 2010 6:53:59 GMT -6
It doesn't cost much to make construction paper boards like "The Big Dipper Club" (recognition for doing 'x' number of dips) and listing kids' names on it. ................................................... Do all of you looking to "convince the kids" also lift IN season?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 5, 2010 11:30:45 GMT -6
As someone alluded to earlier, t-shirts are a great motivator...heck, I know kids that would chew glass for one. The nice thing about t's and hats is that they are also great advertisement for what you are trying to do. We bought t-shirts with our name, logo, and "fortified with iron" on them. If you do the t's, it's important to make sure that the weights are somewhere on there, otherwise it's just another program shirt.
I've also heard of, but never have done, "breakfast clubs" for athletes that are playing other sports outside of the fall.
Lastly, I took this idea from a post on here awhile back...we have a record board for 6 lifts that is further delineated by body weight. E.g. >149, 150-169, etc. This gives a 167 pounder a chance to get their name "published" just as easily as your Mac that's benching 305.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 5, 2010 8:16:45 GMT -6
One strategy I've taken with a kid that's a player but just doesn't seem to want to commit to the outside work is to finally tell him that I've bugged him enough, that I can't want it more than he does, that he's better than the effort he's giving but if he wants to be left alone, I'll leave him alone.
This approach is not even close to my main way of doing things (I'm a hallway recruiter and badgerer of the weight room) but every once in awhile it is just different enough to get a kid to buy in.
It's sort of like the kid in class that needs the attention and therefore does everything he can to do what you don't want him to do to get it. Sometimes, by removing your attention, it swings a kid back your way...obviously you can't run a program by ignoring your athletes but it is a different strategy to employ once in a great while.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 4, 2010 21:05:17 GMT -6
"High and tight" for ball security.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 4, 2010 12:35:25 GMT -6
When you reflect on your practices and instruction, what catchy phrases come to mind to communicate concrete directives for your players?
For instance, I know "better wrong than long" is a Demeoism regarding the mesh between qb/fb.
I'm not looking to necessarily debate the message (e.g. I prefer a long mesh and therefore don't like "better wrong...") just hoping to pick up a couple of nuggets from you dudes.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 2, 2010 18:13:02 GMT -6
red, I think I understand what you are asking. We are a spread offense that throws quite a bit so defensively we want to do anything to stop the run and force teams to play a passing game with us. We figure we can throw better than they can because we practice it more. It probably doesn't sound like you think it would. Being a spread team you might expect us to play a 3-4 or something with a 2 shell but we base out of an 8 man front defensively. Our thinking is we can't let the other team run and possess the ball for a long time. We want to get our offense lots of possessions, score some points and force the other team into our type of game which is passing, fast tempo and lots of possessions. As for special teams we are aggressive where we can afford to be. We try to block every punt figuring we always have the potential for a big play or at least disrupting the punter to force a bad kick. Worst case scenario we fair catch. But, on our kickoff team we always play with 3 safeties deep because the bottom line for the kickoff team is that they don't score. It's definitely a risk vs reward philosophy. We ask : Where can we afford to (or need to) be aggressive? and Where do we need to be conservative? I do think you are asking a valuable question as far as looking at how to match these types of things together. The answers are probably different for every program. Indian1: I most likely didn't articulate what I was really looking for as well as I could have but you seem to have sifted through my ramblings and hit the nail on the head...thank you. No doubt the philosophy will likely differ for each program but it gets my wheels spinning nicely to hear/read why coaches connect the phases the way the do. .
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 1, 2010 9:26:55 GMT -6
Not trying to be a jerk but does aggressive mean you throw more, blitz more, gamble more? The coach who says "We play press man to man on EVERY down" is aggressive but is he smart? Liek most coaches, I want to dictate what the other team does, but if my kids are physically out manned then I've got more important things on my plate like hanging on to the ball, running the clock, and trying to keep the wheels on. Am I aggressive? I guess I want my kids to be aggressive so they don't get their a$$es kicked. Great questions coach. What I was attempting to have answered is do you, as a coach, feel that you philosophically take the same approach to all three phases of the game regardless of what someone else would call it? Better yet, if you reflected on your style and approach for special teams, in your mind is it consistent with the other phases of the game that you control? This question came to mind because I know of a team that is very ball control and clock oriented but then tries to block just about every punt, is running reverses and fakes on returns, will fake punt and even throw in an on-sides kick throughout the season after a big score.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 31, 2009 12:27:43 GMT -6
Thanks for the points, I feel much better about myself now. I read that thread and it had more to do with "I think spread teams are soft so their defense must be too" followed by "we're spread and we'll punch you in the mouth" followed by your retort calling the argument moot due to lack of quantifiable evidence. Back to the point, if you're a power team but love to attack on first down with play action pass because of aggressive play calling, are you conversely sitting on defense and reading and reacting or going cover 0 and bringing the house regardless of your front? Do you sit in cover 3 all day and bend but not break but run fake punts more than most? Regardless of your scheme, doesn't your personal philosophy dictate the choices you make as well as your approach to the game? Ultimately, do you coaches out there feel all three phases of the game are guided by a common philosophy (attack, conservative, etc.) or do you deliberately choose to be aggressive on special teams but not with your "x,y or z" offense?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 30, 2009 10:44:45 GMT -6
If you run a very aggressive defense, do you do the same with offense and special teams or vice-versa?
I guess I'm wondering if you look at each phase independently or as part of a larger ethos for your team.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 22, 2009 7:57:44 GMT -6
Number of players is important but I think the number of coaches is more important. I work at a small school with an enrollment of 350 or so. This year we abandoned two platoon for the most part just because of some depth issues, but for years we were much better at it. In my mind, the shift occurred when we were cut from a six man staff one year, to a five man staff the following year, and a four man staff this year. If you're a school that can divide up and have indy's for offense and defense going on at the same time, than two platooning is a legitimate option in my mind. Otherwise, your second-tier kids that probably could develop into a player simply don't get as much indy work and thus, athleticism takes over. Thus, your back to playing your studs on both sides of the ball. Wow! You were able, with the appropriate number of coaches, to platoon with an enrollment of 350?! That's great. Did you essentially hold a draft for which side of the ball got which players? Was this determined before preseason? How did you determine the split?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 18, 2009 11:04:07 GMT -6
We have been a two platoon team for about 5 years now. We try not to have anybody play both offense and defense but if we have a stud we are going to use them as much as possible. There are a couple of ways that we have used players on both sides of the ball. If he is a full time 2 way guy he rotates between spending one full practice with the offense and one full practice with the defense. When we come together to do our team stuff against the scout team then those players would get their reps on offense and defense. We have also created packages(short yardage on offense, nickel on defense, etc.) where we use some kids from either offense or defense that fit what we do. We are a 2x2 team so we don't have any true TE's on offense so when we go to our short yardage(dble tite I) we take a couple of DE's and make them TE's and a LB plays FB. We keep it simple with only a few plays that they need know(iso, power, dive, PA pass) and we spend 10 minutes a day against a scout team working on that. It is probably not a true two-platoon system but is has worked well for us and has kept a lot of kids involved and I don't see us going away from it anytime soon. If you do go to a two-platoon system the weight room and offseason participation becomes an even bigger deal. You need more kids ready to play right away as well as some quality depth. We struggled with it our 1st year but the kids have really bought in since and it has worked wonders for us. What's your enrollment like?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 4, 2009 13:57:14 GMT -6
Interesting that most replies lean towards taking the ball.
Do most of your opponents do the same?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 4, 2009 9:09:36 GMT -6
Question came to mind watching Oregon take the ball after winning the toss last night (I think).
That said, it's tough to argue with deferring, holding your opponent to a minimal gain, having them punt and getting nice field position.
Most coaches in our area seem to defer after having one the toss.
If you choose to take the ball, do you do so as a matter of practice or only when you have it rolling offensively in a season?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Dec 1, 2009 8:54:03 GMT -6
Anyone hold their long practice in the afternoon/evening so kids can sleep until noon the next day?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Nov 30, 2009 12:36:54 GMT -6
What about if the facility is basically there (bleachers, tower, etc.) and you just install the turf?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Nov 30, 2009 12:35:32 GMT -6
Looking for pros and cons of each.
I like two-a-days b/c if a kid misses a morning practice for whatever reason, they can still stay on track with the appropriate number of practices for games by making the evening one. Also, it allows our installs and work to be broken into more manageable chunks.
For those of you that do either, why do you do so and what do you find to be advantageous about the way you do things?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Nov 30, 2009 12:27:07 GMT -6
Are these costs for just the turf itself (excavation, base layer, turf)?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Nov 24, 2009 11:26:57 GMT -6
Never underestimate the power of reflection when working with your potential leaders. Our athletes have seen hundreds if not thousands of leaders in their lifetimes already. Of course, this means they've seen good leaders, poor leaders, mediocre ones. To extend this, they too have been good, poor and mediocre leaders in their own lives.
I like to have kids reflect on what they think good leadership looks like, when they've seen it, how they knew it was good and so on. You can further the conversation with some introspection by having them reflect on what aspects of leadership they are successful with, what aspects they are unsure about, could use improvement in, etc.
The possibilities are endless regarding how you frame the discussion but whatever you do, ground it in your kids' experiences so that it has tangible meaning for them.
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Oct 21, 2009 8:31:01 GMT -6
Forget the plastic bag, thin sock, wool sock deal...get yourself a pair of Sorels!
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Oct 21, 2009 8:07:27 GMT -6
Thanks Coach Orr...do you know what else is on it? Also, do you know if that's always behind the coach during press conferences?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Oct 20, 2009 11:54:42 GMT -6
In the scheme of things, this isn't a very important or pressing topic given what UCONN's football team is struggling with right now, but during one of their recent press conferences I noticed a sign behind their lectern with various bullets like "Long Drives" and "Loafs (changes...)".
Does anyone know what these are? Are they landmarks to get to for the program? In game goals and objectives?
|
|
|
Post by Coach Bennett on Oct 13, 2009 11:23:29 GMT -6
I mean, even if you had a large field that your phys ed classes use...or, better yet, re-line a soccer field!
|
|