|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 10, 2014 8:45:24 GMT -6
I am the JV DC and OL coach at our HS. The other day, our HC walks into the office and tells us that we need to be more intense as a staff. He says that the game is physical and that we are soft as a program. His advice was to do twenty minutes of Oklahoma every day, tackling circuits every day, and then spend the rest of the time in team. No walk through days or sessions. He wants to do this with the Frosh/Soph. We are a two level program.
Am I way off base for thinking that is one of the stupidest ways of running a Frosh/Soph team that I've ever heard? I've been a varsity coordinator before and I've always been of the belief that it was the freshman staff's job to teach them how to block, tackle, and love the game. It was on me, as a varsity coordinator, to separate the kids who want a jersey from the real players by the time they got to varsity.
Since I've been here, the JV numbers have gone from 13 to 25 to 30 to 45. The JV record has gone from 0-10 to 3-7 to 5-5 to 7-3 with a league championship. The varsity record has went from 0-10 to 1-9 to 6-5 to 5-5. I think what we're doing on the lower levels is a major contributor to that.
I don't want to be insubordinate. But, I don't want to start doing forty minutes of heavy hitting followed by an hour of team every day either. My numbers are already depleted because every half way decent sophomore is on varsity. They pull up all these sophomores because they run off so many juniors and seniors. We currently have 25 players on varsity and 8 are sophomores. In the summer, we had 40 on varsity. What the heck. When I played here, we had 130 kids. 45 Frosh, 35 Soph, 50 varsity.
What do you guys think? Am I wrong in thinking my job is to teach them the game in a controlled setting? Am I being insubordinate if I don't follow that format? Should I keep doing what I'm doing because it's in his best interest even if he doesn't think it is? I might be job hunting soon.
|
|
|
|
Post by IronmanFootball on Sept 10, 2014 9:24:54 GMT -6
I think you're on the right path and you could coach in my program any day. I have the smallest team (ht/wt) every time out, and usually the less athletic. We don't/can't ram a bunch of pip squeaks into each other for 2 hours a day. We spend a lot of time seeing plays, dissecting plays, going over basic tackling (form/fit, angle), learning what different plays are and why someone does them, fundamentals, etc.
We "go live" for 30 min a practice. Our kicking game is thud, our angle tackle is thud, our form tackle is walk-thru (I clap out steps for them), our team period is live (20-25 minutes) our indy time is thud.
We try to stay off the ground 90% of the time Mon-Thur. We have 33 kids, 13 who can play the game, and 3-4 that could play for any of our competition. We manage 5-5 because we know what the hell we're doing. Do I wish we tackled better? Yes. But a lot of that is lack of in-game experience (3 seniors and 2 of those have never played before) and we just get run the hell over by some RB that's 6'1 190.
|
|
|
|
Post by spos21ram on Sept 10, 2014 9:29:55 GMT -6
I've noticed with our team is that our tackling is sub-par because we don't do much hitting at all in practice. Really only live tackling we do is with the linebackers in indy time for 10 minutes. I feel like we should be going live in team time for about 20-30 minutes a week. You can teach the basics of tackling all you want, but they aren't going to get good at it until they go live. Your HC is taking the more extreme approach, and yes, it's probably going overboard, especially if you have low numbers. He needs to have a happy medium. More live intense practices is fine, but you may lose some key players to injuries in practice where it could backfire a little bit.
|
|
|
|
Post by fantom on Sept 10, 2014 9:43:01 GMT -6
I am the JV DC and OL coach at our HS. The other day, our HC walks into the office and tells us that we need to be more intense as a staff. He says that the game is physical and that we are soft as a program. His advice was to do twenty minutes of Oklahoma every day, tackling circuits every day, and then spend the rest of the time in team. No walk through days or sessions. He wants to do this with the Frosh/Soph. We are a two level program. Am I way off base for thinking that is one of the stupidest ways of running a Frosh/Soph team that I've ever heard? I've been a varsity coordinator before and I've always been of the belief that it was the freshman staff's job to teach them how to block, tackle, and love the game. It was on me, as a varsity coordinator, to separate the kids who want a jersey from the real players by the time they got to varsity. Since I've been here, the JV numbers have gone from 13 to 25 to 30 to 45. The JV record has gone from 0-10 to 3-7 to 5-5 to 7-3 with a league championship. The varsity record has went from 0-10 to 1-9 to 6-5 to 5-5. I think what we're doing on the lower levels is a major contributor to that. I don't want to be insubordinate. But, I don't want to start doing forty minutes of heavy hitting followed by an hour of team every day either. My numbers are already depleted because every half way decent sophomore is on varsity. They pull up all these sophomores because they run off so many juniors and seniors. We currently have 25 players on varsity and 8 are sophomores. In the summer, we had 40 on varsity. What the heck. When I played here, we had 130 kids. 45 Frosh, 35 Soph, 50 varsity. What do you guys think? Am I wrong in thinking my job is to teach them the game in a controlled setting? Am I being insubordinate if I don't follow that format? Should I keep doing what I'm doing because it's in his best interest even if he doesn't think it is? I might be job hunting soon. OK, I think your boss is out of his mind but he's still the boss. |
|
bigcroz
Junior Member
Go STAGS!!
Posts: 356
|
Post by bigcroz on Sept 10, 2014 10:01:03 GMT -6
I too believe your boss is out of his mind. However, it is his program to screw up. If he wants his tree planted root side up it is your job to plant it as he wants. Just my opinion.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 10, 2014 11:49:54 GMT -6
Typical defensive week:
Tuesday
15 mins tackle circuit thud
30 mins indi thud
20 mins inside run live
20 mins 7on7 thud
Wednesday
15 mins indi thud
10 mins goal line live
25 mins team live
|
|
|
|
Post by spartandefense on Sept 10, 2014 16:45:29 GMT -6
Hitting each other endlessly is not intensity. Yelling is not intensity. Oklahoma drills should be done early in camp not every day during the season.
Intensity is generated by making things very competitive, eliminating long breaks (have kids move from drill to dril quickly), eliminating team teaching periods (nothing kills energy like one coach talking alignment to one guy while 40 guys stand around), and hustling. It makes practices shorter, you get more done, and it gets everyone involved.
|
|
|
|
Post by fantom on Sept 10, 2014 20:52:46 GMT -6
Hitting each other endlessly is not intensity. Yelling is not intensity. Oklahoma drills should be done early in camp not every day during the season. We haven't done Oklahoma Drill in years. |
|
|
|
Post by mariner42 on Sept 10, 2014 21:56:29 GMT -6
Hitting each other endlessly is not intensity. Yelling is not intensity. Oklahoma drills should be done early in camp not every day during the season. We haven't done Oklahoma Drill in years. I find that particular drill to be a good way to get some shoulder injuries. As to the OP, if the HC wants it, the HC gets it. However, I would try to make it documented (email is probably best) that you are worried about causing injuries and driving kids off with this new direction. Minor CYA and it at least expresses your feelings while still being a good assistant. Sorry for your situation, I know that would drive me crazy. Life of being a JV DC, am I right? |
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 10, 2014 23:44:57 GMT -6
Did Oklahoma today. Lost my starting WR and CB to a shoulder injury that he went to the hospital for. His mom is overprotective and the doctor said it's a minor sprain but wants to cover his butt by sitting him a week. Can't wait for tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 10, 2014 23:46:16 GMT -6
You guys are right. Boss is the boss. My job is to do the job the boss tells me to. I love the guy, but what the heck. Oh well. Gotta keep on trucking and keep a fresh depth chart on hand.
|
|
|
|
Post by dytmook on Sept 11, 2014 7:49:02 GMT -6
Reason I love my head coach. He is pretty hands off JV. We can do whatever we want within reason. On offense we run our schemes with some modifications as long as I don't change our overall rules and start running quads they don't really care.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 11, 2014 10:06:04 GMT -6
Reason I love my head coach. He is pretty hands off JV. We can do whatever we want within reason. On offense we run our schemes with some modifications as long as I don't change our overall rules and start running quads they don't really care. Our HC is a great guy and is typically pretty hands off with us. He's just prone to his emotions. When the varsity looks soft, we ALL are soft. When the varsity looks slow, we ALL are slow. |
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 11, 2014 14:10:34 GMT -6
Ohio, trust me when I say that "intense" was definitely the word he was looking for. He's talked to me at length about how good we are about coaching our guys up. He just thinks that our kids aren't gritty enough. Only problem, ALL THE GRITTY KIDS ARE ON VARSITY! I've got "last string Larry" and "wouldn't play if he was on a team of 11 Tommy."
|
|
|
|
Post by coachphillip on Sept 11, 2014 14:11:42 GMT -6
I talked to him about it, citing yesterday's injury as one of the reasons I've stayed away from that kind of thing with freshmen. He said to turn it up more. Is what it is. -_-
|
|
