Philosophies (pffensive and Defensive)

I am a high school D-Coordinator and have coached since 1982. Here are some of the basics ideas of my defensive philosophy:
1.) Run a defense that allows you to take advantage of the different types of players you have from year to year and defend the various offenses you will see throughout the season. For most of my years that defense has been a 4-4/4-2. I believe it is very flexible and adjusts easily to other fronts. But the defense front you run is the least important decision. Just make sure it is a sound defense and that you thoroughly understand it.
2.) Stress Alignment and Assignment. It is amazing how well a defense plays if ALL the players are aligned properly and know what their responsibility is.
3.) Stress Tackling and Position Fundamentals daily.
4.) Stress relentless Pursuit. We never want to give up a big play. Many offenses will implode if they are forced to drive the field.
5.) Be Physical.
6.) Take away the offense's 6 best run plays and 3 best pass plays. Make them do what they don't do best.
Hope this is what type of information you were looking for. By the way, my offensive philosophy is to have our offense score on every possession and use 8 minutes on every drive.

get the ball as many times as possible to players who can score

After a horrendous 1-8 season (I'm not the HC), I have thought long and hard about what we need to do to get better.

I've come to the conclusion that it is better to have athletes than to not have athletes. So, rather than spending my offseason working on Xs and Os, I'm spending my time reading everything I can lay my hands on about improving the athleticism of our players.

The FACT is that Xs and Os are pretty overrated...If you have big, tough, physical kids who can run, you are probably going to win a lot of games. If your kids are small, weak, and slow, it won't matter if you have Charlie Weis and Bud Carson calling your O and D. You're gonna lose alot!

It's funny...I know coaches who will drive 300 miles roundtrip to learn how to run the spread option, but they won't take an hour to read an article on strength and speed training.

Xs and Os are certainly important and you have to know the game. But honestly, I really believe that whether or not a program has a successful season is determined well before August rolls around.

We use our computer scouting program to determine their primary plays. The number of plays (6 running & 3 passing) that you focus on isn't the main thing. But I have found, and repeatedly relearn that if you try to take everything away from an offense, you end up taking nothing away. I would also like to say that I agree 100% with Wildcat. Player development is much more important than x & o's. We had a poor defense this past season. But I know more x & o's today than years ago when we had outstanding defenses. Of course the biggest difference in those seasons are the players. Being a public school, we play what we get. Therefore, the primary way to improve is to make our kids stronger, faster, and smarter players.

<sub>The FACT is that Xs and Os are pretty overrated...If you have big, tough, physical kids who can run, you are probably going to win a lot of games. If your kids are small, weak, and slow, it won't matter if you have Charlie Weis and Bud Carson calling your O and D. You're gonna lose alot!

It's funny...I know coaches who will drive 300 miles roundtrip to learn how to run the spread option, but they won't take an hour to read an article on strength and speed training.</sub>

Wildcat/dgs, I agree 100%- but here in small public high schools, we can't recruit... so we'd better make chicken salad out of chicken**** if need be. That being said, we are much like coachcal in terms of philosophy. We do not have great athletes... a lot of times they are not good. BUT- it they LIFT, run, do agilities, plyometrics, LIFT more, eat right, work, and learn- they are convinced that they can beat most of the teams on our schedule because we outwork them. I don't know if we do or not, but our players think we outwork everybody... that is a big boost.
Scheme wise, we are probably easy to scout- and will run the same play 11 times in a row. Simple, ball control offense- and KNOW YOUR JOB.
Defensively we are similar- KNOW scouting report, don't do too much (2 fronts total) and fly to the ball. We emphasize your best plays (top 8), but also address "what else might they do in this formation?".
Special teams basically don't screw it up for the O (by turning it over) or D (by giving field position). We are very conservative here.

agree with dgs 100% on everything - great summation.

I believe the 'identity' / attitude is something that must be preached to the kids. Some may think it's hokey, but it's not about rah-rah stuff, it's about defining PURPOSE for the kids.

We tell our defense that they are there for one reason: SCORE ON DEFENSE.
Everything we do is predicated to getting the ball back and not allowing the opponent to maintain possession.

We approach our punt return package as the "Defense's Main 'Offensive' Play for a Touchdown".

On every play we must have hustle and rabid pursuit. We scold heavily for any "loafs" on the field no matter where they occur before the whistle.

is it pretty easy to use?

The Pro Scout program is relatively easy. Download the game onto the computer. Cut every play and link descriptions with it. Then retrieve the information by categories.

Like I said, schemes and fundamentals are important, but slow, weak, and small kids are simply not going to win many games no matter how well coached and fundamentally sound they are.


Well, in most states, there is only a handful of state champions! In Illinois, almost 300 teams participate in the playoffs. Only 8 will "win it all". With that being said, I would rather make a run with kids who are good athletes instead of kids who are average athletes. Typically, teams that win state championships have lots of GREAT athletes. I don't think that is a coincidence...



Of course! However, the game is won and lost by players, not coaches. Chances are VERY good that you will win if your players are better athletes than the other team's players. Of course there are exceptions, but great athletes beat good coaching MOST days of the week!

What is funny is that I think that we are somewhat on the same page with this philosophy. I know that in AZ as most states you are not recruiting your kids into your program, so you have to play with what you got. I agree that you are going to want to play with the best athletes, because your chances for winning the championship are a lot better.

I want to know if I understand you wildcat. Are you saying that you must work to make them better athletes in the off-season? So that you walk on to the field with better athletes?

Thats good, with the advancing of technology you never know though. Does anyone have any good I-formation plays? How about Shotgun stuff for passing?

I agree...unless the great athletes are a bunch of terds. I'd rather lose with great kids who work their butt off than win with jerks. Let me add a question to this discussion: As a coach, if you had to choose, would you rather play poorly and win, or play perfectly and lose? What is your goal as a coach...to win or get your kids to play to their maximum potential?

By getting them bigger, faster, stronger, and tougher, you are doing both!

Senator, I like you approach to the game. Great philosophy.