Blocking rules/styles in run game

"I can't help it if all you will be is a lower level coach. "

Ah Kw, your egotistical nature is showing thru. Its really a shame that you completely miss the boat when it comes to what coaching is all about. Just because the refs dont see it or call it doesnt mean its legal or ethical. Do you think the kids dont know that you are breaking the rules?...sigh... and just because i coach at the jr high , frosh or even pee wees doesnt make me any less of a man or coach than you. I know I effect my kids in a very positive way.

I am really shocked that a man of honor and integrity , who call himself "coach", conducts himself the way you do. Its simply not necessary to take pokes at someone elses coaching level. I too work very hard and support a family of 5 on one salary while managing to keep doing this coaching that I love so much., .... really. by the way, I have a published article too...big deal. (GridIron Coach)

Tell me how to coach the zone scheme, i dont, (because my ignorance leads me to believe id have to hold cloth and chest plates and use my face mask too) but i want you to teach it to me in such a way that WOULD NOT INVOLVE HOLDING. its that simple. you have yet to answer to that simple task. I said this would be controversial and it is...you just keep saying "if they dont call it"....well, we could punch, kick, pinch and bit too but we dont.


Hey Merry Christmas by the way.

KW,

In what issue of "gridiron strategies" is your article??

Thanks,

John

No Kw, nice try, I didnt lose my job at all, I simply resigned this year. Its often best for a coach like me, who has tons of energy and passion to separate himself from a situation before it deteriorates. I did what I said I would do in my role, I turned around the worst of teh worst programs and left. Interesting how many will assume that means I was fired. I did lose a job at a prior location when i refused to change my offense from the single wing to the multiple pro I (why change, the kids loved it, we were 17-1 over two seasons and numbers were up, meanwhile the varsity was struggling to find their identity changing offenses weekly)...thats called conviction. ...., they offered me a demotion to the 8th grade position but I wasnt interested because of the treatment that i endured. Now, I dont mind sharing that because someone can learn from it...btw, despite my interesting coaching situation I have two varsity head coaching job interviews...how about a personal race to see who gets a state championship first...you vs me. College guy who can walk into a job vs jr high guy who needs a miracle to just get a job...btw, i never played college football. That should really make you smile. Will be a fun gentlemens bet.

Once again great that you are respected etc. thats good, but why the need to poke at lower level coaches? are you in some way superior because you get to coach college players? have you ever coached kids that dont know their left from their right? have you ever tried to teach a boy who is suffering from Aspergers syndrome to be disciplined when a linebacker threatens to blitz his gap? Have you ever had boys show up to practice with their pads in upside down? or had players cry in the parking lot and refuse to get out of their parents car? Have you ever had to explain what a "corner back " was?....There are many things a college coach will never have to deal with. Have you even had to deal with parents asking you why "lil johnny" isnt playing quarterback? I respect what you do, i would think itd be nice if you could respect the many youth coaches and middle school coaches, and frosh coaches and "lower level" high school coaches and what they do. sharing your knowledge is great, do it with umph and pride...but not with that lame "ive seen your type come and go" ego. Its not pleasant really. Heres a simple suggestion....

a) i post "this is going to be controversial, you cant really use zone blocking without holding"

b) you respond "hey, coach calande, I respectfully disagree, at such and such a college (you havent revealed that yet) we use the following techniques and are well within the rules of the game....try this, try this and use these drills to promote the desired techniques...if you have more questions please read my article etc etc etc....

c) works much better than ...."thats ignorant, youre a lower level know nothing" (essentially thats what im hearing)....

anyhow...

Again, who cares how long I have coached? I started in 1989 and have been a student of the game since the mid 70s. It wouldnt matter if i had coached 3 years or 30, id find your statements offensive. Using the word "ignorant" was simply provacative, so when you state that IM stiring the pot, perhaps you should look at some of your posts. We WERE HAVING a very nice discussion on this if you recall. Notice how Tog has similar views on the techniques but hasnt offended me at all..... I dont wish to read your entire article, but I would like you to answer my question here on the forum, on how you coach the use of the hands without grasping and holding onto the dlinemen. Thats the part im interested in ....you said my statement was ignorant so I am begging now, for the third and final time that you describe to me how to control the dline without holding onto them in a zone scheme....pretty straight forward and something you must have described a thousand times to your many new college recruits. My comments are no more stupid or ignorant than the ones you posted on the double wing forum, posting about an offense you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT because, as you admitted yourself, you have never even heard of Don Markham...so, ignorance is something that we are both familiar with...notice, no one on the double wing forums (dominated by youth and small high school coaches ) called you "stupid" or "ignorant"....we did try to enlighten you by inviting you to watch some dw video though as I recall.

finally, im here to learn and have some fun talking football...if i have an opinion based on my experiences that are different from your own, great. Real coaches know one thing, there is not a best way, or an only way, just "whatever works" ....whatever works is then broken down further into "whatever works for our age group and ability level" and again into "legal" versus "not legal". I stand by my comments until someone explains to me how its done without holding/grasping/grabbing.

Gotta respect a guy that sticks to his principles and the DBL. Wing and 46. I teach hand placement inside coach "C", not grabbing cloth. In fact thats kinda one of the ten commandments of line play." The guy who gets his hands inside first is on his way to winning the battle. Thats why so many coaches work on aiming points, hand replacement fighting drills and good footwork, balance and counters to the final escape off the block moves, stuff like that! These are all principles of zone type blocking or any type of drive blocking. I'll bet you this and I'm not a huge guy, if I can get my hands inside of yours and bench(not grabbing cloth), I'll drive you or at least screen you away from the ball carrier and if you shift your weight to try and escape, I can throw you to the turf without ever grabbing your jersey or beltbuckle or whatever! Try it on someone- It works!

Los, (climbing off soap box now) I know...we teach hands like that as well sometimes for post blocks and we finish with the hands. but yes, i do believe that the ethics are lost in some coaching that goes on...i realize that at the college and pro level that this is the norm to grab and dance...and of course it trickles down ...I remember going to my first clinic weekend...i was so jacked to be around all of the big name coaches...i sat thru several college oline clinics on the first day...all i got 0ut of it was "move the linemen, get the big push, hold them as long as possible and deal with the linebackers later"....seemed that was the theme...wrap em up and run with em, let the back make the cut. ....It really bothered me. Guess it still does. I believe in using hands to finish a block but I do like good clean shoulder and flipper blocking...really get into the defender. We obviously coach for angles and double teams and also combo off to backers...but we dont grab cloth or breast plates or hold in any way. Fits the mentality of the double wing well.


btw, the "king of boards" drill we do really does demonstrate how important that "first one with the hands inside" wins idea...funny though, jr high kids cant lock out....too weak.
Thanks for posting without any nonsense about my level, experience etc.

okay

now we are talking calande

similar vein here

I was always a face and hands guy, have been since I played. When I first started coaching, I asked the varsity DL guy why no one shoulder blocked or flipper blocked anymore, and he said "too easy to shed" Then he explained it to me physically. I was interested in other ways of doing things and wanted to know about the flipper and the fist and forearms, and just plain old shoulder blocks.

Obviously the tight splits you use help with the shoulder blocks, but do you find teams playing off those blocks? Or is it something they hardly ever see and don't know how? Thus giving you the advantage?

lets see

low
run feet
double teams

sounds a lot like zone blocking

trucks don't try and fight off of you when you try and push them, they don't try and push and pull and rip to run to the ball

so,

if i was blocking a truck that did those things, I would be doing so with my hands

we want seperation when we lock them out and bury them on their back

that makes the whomper when you land on them hurt them that much more.

Here is a basic synopsis of the surface we coach.

we teach the kids the fit first and work backwards pretty much like anyone....

the fit for us is at belly button height, the shoulder, earhole and flipper surface make contact with the defender, not the upper chest or hands. the blocker has his fist placed across his chest as if he were holding a pick and punching it into himself. the elbow is kept high as its extended to the side....the blocker is to keep his neck bulled, head up and eyes to the sky, contact is made with the top of the shoulder pad.... he is to turn his head into the defender and pinch the defender in a vice grip made by his neck (ear hole) and elbow of the flipper....his off hand is in a fist and punches either to his own peck to make the blocking surface bigger or to the hip of the defender. We do not pump the off arm as we run thru the man....we coach the steps to get "same shoulder same foot" contact...provides lift in the block ... power.

I suppose the type of block is "shoulder block" while "flipper" is the term we use as a method to describe the blocking surfaces...shoulder and flipper. make sense?

Honestly Tog, i havent looked for it....had to wrap gifts and build toys "adult assembly (and heavy drinking) required" ...It literally took me 5 hours to build and place decals on this "Escalade" car that my inlaws got for my kids...then theres the battery issue...everthing has locked down batteries...and batteries that need to be charged...its unreal...i dont remember my toys being this complicated.

Coach "C", Ive never been to a clinic in my life(well except for the time a met this girl on a bus and!@#? never mind) I just read a lot, watch good video demos and talk to you guys and then come up with something the players can understand and put to real game practical use! I've never been a big fan of doing things someone elses exact way but read between the lines and get the important stuff! For a lot of us it goes back to how we were trained to do certain things! Kw might tell me wrong but shoulder/flipper blocking are about the same thing to me! Both work better when you throw a good forearm in there first.

Yeah, clinics are either like watching paint dry or a great time depending on whos doing the show. I gave a two day clinic two years ago that was "full contact" for the coaches lol...we did lots of drills that i put my kids thru and ran our dw plays and that sort of thing...very active type of clinic...i think thats the way to go...we also did the chalk talk and guys that knew the stuff were bored im sure. most coaches say the afterhours stuff is where real football begins...a great clinic to go to is the single wing coaches conclave in wilkes barre pa. started off with 12 guys...its grown and im sure its got to be the best sharing of information ....coaches make copies of all kinds of stuff for each other....i got half my coaching library at that clinic ill bet.

You know, come to think of it, we were taught to grab our own jerseys back in the day to keep your wings from flying out while blocking and especially when pass blocking.( unless you were cutting the defender!) We used shoulder blocking but kinda like tackling you should get the facemask in the numbers then slide to the side you wanted to protect. I just never got to the slide part and tried to just drive dead center and not waste my initial advantage by making an extra move! But since I don't have much of a neck anyway, nobody ever noticed it had been compressed a couple inches. Ouch!!