Lessons Learned as an OC

i think the basic thing would be to plan practices accordingly with what you are going to run in the game, this may be common sense, but I don't want to spend 15 minutes running the same play over and over again, when you may only run that play once or twice a game, i would want to stick with the base stuff that you KNOW you will call the most in the game and plan the percentages of plays to be run in practice to be similar to what you expect to run them in the game

this sounds simple, lots of people mess this up though

I agree completely. Be very confident in what you are going to do Friday. Don't change too much. Make sure your plan is sound. Determine which defender you are going to attack.
Try to determine what your base plays are going to be and run them most of the time in practice. I just never understood why coaches run a play 4-5 times in practice all week long and then expect to run it well 14-15 times in a game.
Lastly, I don't run a play we have not worked on in practice. Kids are creatures of habit and most are not comfortable with doing something different in a pressure situation in a game. Just my thinking.

IM both the OC and the Dc of my team...here are my golden rules...

PRACTICE

1) practice time is your only friend- dont waste one precious minute of it practicing stuff you arent going to use in a game.
2) break down your plays into their smallest parts, let the players master their assignments both physically and mentally before practicing live.(doesnt matter what you know, matters what they know)
3) put the parts together and mesh it thru slow mo, half speed full speed. NO RUSH TO GO LIVE OR SCRIMMAGE, FOLKS WHO SCRIMMAGE ALOT DONT KNOW WHAT TO PRACTICE.
4) rep it rep it rep it- video tape it and review nightly to improve daily, never stay the same.
5) test it against every front and stunt. prepare by down and distance too. introduce your kids to pressure situations in practice.

pregame- make sure you have at least one backup prepared for every position. Make sure every coach has an assignment other than to just watch the game.

game time OC

1) DONT GRAB BAG. have a game plan, stick to it and make them stop you, dont second guess yourself. Keep calling the same play until they can stop it.

2) dont assume an "alignment" will stop your plays. In other words, coach against the kids on teh field, not the other coach.* "8 in the box" doesnt mean squat if they cant get off blocks and pursuit to make tackles.

3) dont call plays you havent practiced.

4) call your best plays in the big situations. Always be aware of what players are in the game. (both sides of the ball)

5) give the ball to your "gamers" in big situations

6) score alot, but dont run it up.

7) be a master of clock management, in fact, stand next to an assigned clock management coach.

8) dont believe that you cant score quickly with the run game.

9) pass on run downs, run on pass downs (traps, counters)

10)forget being "balanced" and move the ball in whatever fashion works best for the kids on your team.

"If it does, he
knows that my next question is, "What are we
cutting out?". That's our rule- if something goes
in, something comes out. You only have so much
practice time and the kids can only handle so
much, especially in a short time."

perfect. I spoke to our varsity oline coach yesterday...he doesnt yet have a copy of the varsity playbook and new blockign schemes....im nervous...I am with you on that 100%, my oline knows my backs will learn more "plays" (backfield window dressing) then they learn "schemes". this is important. Dont know why but some guys will run like 8 different dives and expect the oline to be able to block other things like, veer, trap, power, short trap, wedge, counter, short counter, inside zone, outsize zone, waggle, sprint, slide, man, blah blah blah...I remember listening to state champ lecture on power football. his team "always uses less than 10 blocking schemes". think about that. you know, and i know, those kids must be able to apply their rules and make adjustments with calls in their sleep.

FINALLY, AND THIS IS HUGE FOR US OLINE GUYS, IF YOU HAVE 12 SCHEMES, AND PRACTICE FOR 2 HOURS (LIKE WE EVER GET TWO FULL HOURS FOR OLINE) THATS ONLY 10 MINUTES PER SCHEME.

Of all of the things I have read on the various boards those lessons may be the best.
It is a great game if we don't screw it up. Keep It Simple Stupid!!

Ace "I pee" Freely

maximus- 5Ps of sucess
prior preparation prevents poor performance

Prepare Prepare prepare

the one thing I do that helps us imo is I script everything I can in practice whether its skell, inside drill or whatever.
This keeps the tempo in practice going and it wont bog the period down trying to decide on what to run on the next play.

During preseason practice at end of week I have a spread sheet of formation, plays etc. I can tell you the exact number of reps for each we had that week..that way being a dummy like me I wont call a play on that big 3rd and 5 that we repped maybe one time..seriously though scripting and giving copies to all offensive coaches keeps them on task without them worried about 'what we got on this play' they know and can be ready to watch for their area

Coach 123456...
I basically have 2 main columns on the front of my playsheet=
Openers -1st and 2nd down plays
and then my 3rd down situation sheet

the openers is a list of plays I know I will run in those situations runs, playaction, and good first down passes [some of this is based on scouting and some on philosophy]usually my bread and butter stuff with the different formations I want to run them out of

I normally try to have at least 2 pre selected plays for 3rd and long- usually 2 go for its and a couple of conservative calls

the main bulk of my 3rd package is centered around the 3rd and 4-9 areas [statistically the most common 3rd down situations] here I try to package plays that compliment one another like a series etch-again have some conservative calls in case the situation arises

3rd and short I will have 2-3 runs and 2 passes

During the season on Wednesday and Thursday we have a 3rd down period where we give situations and go through these...so the kids know if its 3rd and 3 they will have idea that probably its 46 power is coming

How to determine which play"
depends on scouting but mostly depends on what your guys do best..The plays that our guys run best [hopefully all of them] is going to be my 3rd down calls..

Finally sometimes the best laid plans go wrong and you have to make some adjustments in the course of the game...

The thing to remember about coaching lower level teams is that you probably will not have a detailed scouting report on your opponent. Unless things are vastly different there than they are here, there will be games when you'll be going in blind. You probably won't have much of a chance to game plan.
What that means is that you'll need to stick, week to week, to a short list of basic plays and make sure your kids understand the rules for each, while you understand how to adjust each to something unexpected.
After that, playcalling at the freshman level becomes relatively simple: give the ball to your best runner over your best blocker and keep doing it until they stop you (or run your best pattern to your best receiver). When-if- they stop you know what you have to counter their adjustment.

yeah

the system needs to be complex enough to have that stuff available for the coaches and the kids need to understand what the heck is going on well enough for them to understand how you want to adjust things

and if they don't, you need to be able to find a way to show them

as Gunny Hiway says in Heartbreak Ridge "improvise, adapt, overcome"

Outstanding.
#6. Great advice. I agree completely.

#7. Last year my HC would get nervous when I would tell him that someone's band was about to start playing.

Number 11 - When the QB screws up, don't tell the head coach it's genetic. Don't do this all season and then during game 8 let the HC figure out that you are making fun of him because everyone calls the QB "his son"

And I didn't get too nervous.

Is that anything like a coach, right before going out for the K.O., telling a kid that the coaches' bathroom is really the HC Office and to go on in? And then telling the kid that the door is hard to open and to keep pushing and go inside?