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Post by s73 on Feb 3, 2015 6:36:21 GMT -6
overwhelmed starting out? No doubt....tons of interesting pieces of information on systems, schemes, drills, technique, coaching points, football 'celebrities', etc the chore is to get to a point of perspective where you can frame/compartmentalize what you will encounter in the coming seasons. You will find yourself filling up a ton of these over the next seasons. draw it up, rep it in your head, and always be thinking, "how am I wrong"? The biggest mistake in coaching is thinking you HAVE THE ANSWER. This is why you want to find a mentor, someone who will challenge you or call you on your {censored}. You may have a great idea, but you need a voice (if it isn't your own) that says, " Nope, that won't work and here's why..." (and then process where the roadblocks are at). The 'overwhelmed' feeling comes from knowing you have to PRODUCE and be able to perform when you meet your players again. You can't show up and give them the same answers or the same line from the day before. As an athlete, that is what we are conditioned for (what you did in yesterday's practice won't be enough for TODAY's practice...you can't coast or you'll get eaten alive). This is natural, but use it to make yourself better. This is so true. I have MANY more notebooks than I have even books about FB (and I have ALOT of those too). I would suggest that before you even study other offenses and defenses, start to pen your programs offense and defense to paper v. various looks you will see through out the year. These are great mental reps IMO. Maybe watch some film of the many defenses you guys see and draw up variations of the things that you guys do. This will show your header that you are putting in the mental work and trying to show him that you are thinking about how to improve at THIS job. It's a great way to play mental chess w/ yourself. I attacked and defended myself probably hundreds if not a thousand times on paper before I ever called my first play in a real game. IMO it's best to strategize in the privacy of your own home before you do it on the field. JMO. You can map out all the best & worst case scenarios in a notebook and then when it happens in a game you will have the feeling of "I've seen this before". Once you get to that point and start to become a HELPFUL voice to the current staff IMO that's when you know you are growing. Its a long process, but it's fulfilling the first time you recognize the adjustments that need to be made. JMO. Good luck and enjoy the journey. Best job in the world.
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Post by s73 on Feb 2, 2015 0:12:00 GMT -6
I have to say I disagree with the coaches suggesting you can sneak these guys in on special teams. Offense I agree with, but special teams generally result in substantial changes of field position, or points. Especially on the kickoff team. Ideally, if the game is in hand, I like to try to play young players and third stringers on offense more than defense. Better to go three and out and punt than get gashed up and down the field. If they really can't play a lick, I try to keep them off defense if I can help it. I have similar philosophy but see it the other way. I prefer to put lesser kids in on D when the game is in hand but will rarely do so on O b/c I have a fear that they will miss their block and get somebody hurt. If I do put them in on O then I do as others have said and run the other way. ST - I agree w/ above posts. Can sneak them in on KO and PR, little else. JMO. PS - As a side note, I have found that lesser kids that do play ST have a tendency to go a little harder b/c that is their only "time to shine". Has not hurt us as much as I originally feared. But you do have to be very smart about it. Our staff has discussed this at length several times before we put a lesser kid in their, weighing the pros & cons. Pros being it gives starters often times a much needed breather v. cons, well, those are obvious but we've been lucky. Has not really hurt us. If it does we pull them. The few "lesser" kids we have on special teams are always backed up by a starter. First sign of trouble they come out. They also know this, so again most of those kids will give us what they got. Just my experience though.
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Post by s73 on Jan 30, 2015 8:56:12 GMT -6
M- 630 ish T & W 7 TH - 630 ish (after team meal) F - depends on game S - 9- whenever we finish (has been as early as noon and as late as 230) Sunday - I just like to come in on my own and work until I'm comfortable w/ what we're doing. FOR ME, I find that the more comfortable I am w/ what we're doing the less stress I feel during the week. So FOR ME, it's just a watch film thing until I feel comfortable. No time frame. Has actually been kind of therapeutic to be alone in my office. I NEED to tune out "the noise" of the season periodically.
Just started doing the Sunday thing this past season. I don't even see it as work really. More of an afternoon activity.
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Post by s73 on Jan 18, 2015 23:10:39 GMT -6
We do a summer youth camp. We have a youth night as well where the MS kids lead our team out onto the field. We have also had kids help coach, work the chains at youth games.
Have given out gear to youth coaches and have offered youth clinics (although they have not always taken us up on this).
Our MS has our playbook and runs about 60-70 % of our O & D.
We also have a booth at our 8th grade orientation night & ask interested kids to sign up for football w/ their names and contact numbers. We play a highlight DVD during this.
In the Spring we meet w/ incoming freshman who are interested in playing football and give them summer camp pamphlets and offer them the opportunity to come lift w/ our HS team once a week through the Spring as an introduction to our weights program.
With all of this being said, sadly our numbers have dropped like most I suspect. We have a few kids that I know of that have expressed interest in playing but have told me that their parents won't allow it.
But we keep "knocking on the door" periodically, not enough to be pesty but just enough to remind them we are here.
Also like to raid the soccer team for kickers. We don't "steal them" we have worked out a partnership w/ our soccer coach that they come and kick for us at practice either before or after soccer practice. This gives us a couple of extra kids in the program who can focus on kicking and still do their full time sport.
Outside of this, not sure how much more we can do that will be fruitful. I personally think that classes in general tend to fluctuate. Our senior & freshman classes are solid our junior and sophomore classes have been very lacking. Hoping for another good one coming in.
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"Best"
Jan 18, 2015 9:11:24 GMT -6
Post by s73 on Jan 18, 2015 9:11:24 GMT -6
I know when I was just starting out we had a coach in our area who ran the wing t and nobody else did. He was destroying everybody.
As a newbie I wanted to learn everything I could about the offense b/c I thought it was a magical elixir combined w/ some solid coaching & you would be unstoppable.
Well, as time went along & I got older and actually saw this guy lose some games, etc I realized that he WAS a good coach, but he also coached what he KNEW real well and he has the biggest enrollment at his school in the area by several hundred.
I think anytime their's a dominant program in somebody's area they tend to think "that's the best stuff out there".
After time (sometimes years) I think guys start to learn it's a combination of factors.
I'm sure some of these guys float in and out of this board everyday. Hence the questions.
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Post by s73 on Jan 16, 2015 23:28:42 GMT -6
I'm interested in the policies that your football programs have regarding parents. We were fortunate this year with an above average season and the number of parents who tried to provide input or exert control over our program was astonishing.... And I've only got 24 players! Most recently, a group of parents went to our school board and succeeded in getting our girl's basketball coach fired mid-season for a lack of success after 1.5 years as the head coach. I feel like I need a new parent policy that covers all the bases and removes the parent's teeth...and I know that many of you at larger programs have a lot more experience with this than I do. So my question is, what is your game plan for dealing with troublesome parents, and do you have a written policy that assists you? Thanks in advance for your replies. I approach my job the following way, take it for what it's worth. First, totally agree w/ being proactive. If there's even a HINT of an issue I'm going to fill the admin in with MY SIDE of the story before any player or parent can hit them up w/ any distortion. The old saying "you never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression" still holds true IMO. Secondly, through effort and determination I am trying to do the best job that I can. As a result, I have convinced myself that there is nobody better for THIS job than me. I truly believe that if I believe this and carry myself this way that others may see this also. May or may not be true but it gives me peace when my head hits the pillow. Lastly, I love coaching but I have reached a time in my career where I can live w/o coaching. As much as I love it, I will not coach for an admin that does not want me. They just have to say the word. I don't feel this in a confrontational way but rather I have contentment at this juncture. I don't want to be the guy who's chasing after the girl who's not interested. That just becomes pathetic. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Jan 3, 2015 11:33:48 GMT -6
The money these schools received for playing in this game is more than most programs fundraise in an entire year. It's hard to turn money down that you know the program could use. Plus most kids would love the opportunity. Only problem is, at what point does it feel like your using the current players as pawns to receive more money that most of the varsity kids won't benefit from. I know those teams and coaches aren't thinking that way, I would hope not anyway, but it can appear that way at times. Now, this is pure speculation, but the school's who agreed to it probably don't even need the money and just like the notoriety and feel it's a good experience for the kids and coaches. I would think you would start by asking your kids if they want to do it. Have a meeting, lay out the deal and then have a vote on whether or not they want to play. If they don't want to play, you don't play. Knowing my kids, they would probably love to be able to play in it and I would love to coach in it. Regardless of the $$. Plus, all of you are saying "What if we lose"? What if you win? What greater cap to your season to not only win your state, but beat one of the best teams in the nation? What about other sports ? Technically your season is over. What if you're the Bball guy who patiently waited for a month & even cheered you on while you went on to win the state title game. Now your season's over and he's ready to get going with some of his guys who may be on your team. Same with the wrestling coach. Now you want to say hey man, can you wait a little longer while we play in this exhibition game ? Plus, I think parents should have a pretty big say in this thing to, based on the fact that their kids have already played an additional 5 games and now are asked to play another one ? I don't think this thing is as simple as "the kids and football coaches wan to". JMO.
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Post by s73 on Jan 2, 2015 22:39:45 GMT -6
Not to mention the fact, it's so hard to win a frickin' state title. Then you FINALLY do it and the seniors & the staff got to the top of the mountain and get to go out winners and have a parade and........wait, we proved we could win the state, now let's challenge ourselves AGAIN ? To me it's like you cross the finish line in a marathon and just as you raise your arms in exhausted victory somebody says" betcha can't go another 5". Just don't see the appeal. If I win a state title I'm spending the whole off season reflecting and reliving and reminiscing and EMBELLISHING THE HELL OUT OF THAT SEASON!!!! Just sayin'. I don't know about the other teams, but I know the team that was from Utah wins titles regularly, with very little trouble. Maybe these teams are just looking for a challenge? The Utah team took Bishop Gorman into overtime early in the season. That's a big deal. They also took the school they played in this "bowl game" into overtime. They lost both, but they can hang their hat on the fact that they can compete with the nationally ranked big boys. I also think when you run a good program, you have an "anybody, anytime, anywhere" attitude. I know if I were a senior on my way out, I'd want one more game. I get what you're saying but since we haven't won one yet I'm not looking to put the cart before the horse. I also think those "anyone, anytime, anywhere" attitudes tend to be backed up by a whole lotta D1 dudes. Not too many guys w/ that attitude are showing up to the gun fight w/ pocket knives. Pretty easy to feel good when your Jimmy's look like Saturday afternoon Joe's if you catch my drift. I guess what I'm getting at is I think you can run a real good program and still have some contentment. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Jan 2, 2015 22:21:08 GMT -6
I thought it was entertaining to watch, but not worth it. If I was asked to play in it I think i would take my state rings and stay at the house. I would hate to see any of my guys get hurt playing in a game that doesn't count for anything. Not to mention the fact, it's so hard to win a frickin' state title. Then you FINALLY do it and the seniors & the staff got to the top of the mountain and get to go out winners and have a parade and........wait, we proved we could win the state, now let's challenge ourselves AGAIN ? To me it's like you cross the finish line in a marathon and just as you raise your arms in exhausted victory somebody says" betcha can't go another 5". Just don't see the appeal. If I win a state title I'm spending the whole off season reflecting and reliving and reminiscing and EMBELLISHING THE HELL OUT OF THAT SEASON!!!! Just sayin'.
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Post by s73 on Dec 30, 2014 15:28:55 GMT -6
I think you're minimizing the role of the off-season strength & conditioning program in creating a team that 'doesn't crumble on 4th and goal'. Having a great S&C coach is absolutely key to having a great program, in my book. And I would also add that I'm of the opinion that it's not about getting players to 'run through a brick wall for you', but rather for each other. Not minimizing but moreso focusing on the mental psyche of teenagers... Coach if you can figure that out, write a book on it & sell it! You'll be a billionaire! Coach, I don't say that mean spirited. I just know that in the last 5 seasons we have competed for the division title in the last week of the season 3 times. The other 2 times we STUNK! I approached all 5 teams the same way. Now the 2nd guesser would say you should've approached these other 2 teams differently. But the reality is, both teams were not real talented, not great work ethic and really just played football b/c it was their senior year and they were "supposed" to b/c they were seniors. I think as much as anything that coaches get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose. IMO the best thing we as coaches can do is set up programs that give kids the opportunity to be successful. It is still their responsibility to take advantage of those opportunities. We certainly can encourage them and some of them will find that motivating. But when the rubber meets the road ultimately they must make these decisions themselves. Again, JMO. PS - I'm sorry if this comes off as "preachy". Not my intent. In my career I've had kids that were foaming at the mouth during a speech they were so amped to get their hands on somebody and kids during that SAME speech where I was about to put a mirror under their nose to see if they needed to be resuscitated. Motivation is really an intrinsic trait in my view.
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Post by s73 on Dec 30, 2014 13:50:47 GMT -6
Vince Lombardi had a conversation with a reporter once in which the reporter said "you are such a great motivator. What's your secret?"
He replied, "I surround myself with people who WANT to be motivated".
I can never remember EVER in my playing career wishing the coach would do more to MOTIVATE ME. I always saw it as an internal responsibility. Coaches NEEDING to motivate players has become a more recent and disturbing trend IMO. Not say we can't help, but if the expectation is that it's all on us then that scares me.
I love the saying "the harder you work the harder it is to surrender". This to me echoes the sentiments of mattharris. If those guys are willing to work their butts off in the off season, then they have a bigger stake in the in season. I have seen this first hand in my career.
JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 29, 2014 10:30:47 GMT -6
8-11:30 M-T. Weight room/sprints/drills/7on7 Maybe some Friday and Saturday 7on7. Pads in the summer overrated. I actually like shoulder pads in the summer and hit quite a bit. Pretty physical in the summer actually. We do this b/c we want to see who can hang in terms of upcoming juniors as well as maybe some seniors who maybe couldn't cut it the year before but worked in the off season. To me the summer is evaluation time and in our style of play physicality is important. I especially like being a bit more physical in the summer than maybe most b/c our kids have a ton of time to heal up before the season starts. This is where we differ. Where I think we are similar is that once we hit the season and I think it has been established that our kids understand "what it takes" to play varsity football, then we scale back a ton. Usually by about the 3rd to 5th week (old school guys get ready to clutch your chests, lol) we actually rarely go more than shoulder pads and helmets anymore. I think this is about the time that we need to start worrying about being healthy and it also seems to lessen "the grind" of the season for the kids. I find that this has actually helped us be more physical on Friday nights b/c our kids seem to feel better. Not as banged up through the week. Different strokes I guess. I can see it both ways. We are a smaller school so I would rather get the physical work in early so we can evaluate early on and then stay healthy during game weeks.
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Post by s73 on Dec 28, 2014 12:01:06 GMT -6
How in the world do you think it's too much when you (maybe not necessarily you guys in this thread saying it's too much) ask kids to come to 4-6 hours of football a day in the summer or ask them to lift 2-3 hours a night November to May? But one more game where they get a free vacation to somewhere they may never get a chance to go to is too much? I, and my kids, would love to play in a game like these. I don't do any of those things. In fact, I haven't done 2 -adays in over a decade. But, I see where you're coming from. It's a reasonable perspective. I just don't like the fact that HS sports are becoming a national platform much like college athletics, except we have many of the problems with few of the perks. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 28, 2014 10:46:46 GMT -6
I just think its too much. Our society/media/culture has glamorized high school football way too much. The whole thing just irritates me. I watched one drive of it today. It's high school football. I don't know. I am sure someone will disagree with me, but this wonderful sport we all know and love (high school football) is changing and I don't like it. Combine this with the pageantry of "Signing Day" and it just sickens me. I am a football junkie, but even I think this is just too much for high school football.
Again, maybe I'm cranky from being cooped up in the house the past 2 days with bad weather, but this is just stupid. Could not agree more with you dubyah. Personally I think it's cable TV / internet driven. I mean, recruiting agencies are all over the internet. ESPN is always yappin' about their top 100. They have televised 7 on 7 nowadays in the summer for cryin' out loud. It's absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention all the sports radio and football "break down" shows nowadays like ESPN's playbook where they bring you "inside the game". It's like crack for former washed up football players named "dad". Now they think they actually know the game. But as long as their is $ to be made it will continue.
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Post by s73 on Dec 27, 2014 15:22:41 GMT -6
Men, I write to you today with a heavy heart. Last night one of my player's mother died due to complications from a surgical procedure. I have called and talked to him and his father who are remarkably composed given the circumstances. My question [to any and all who have thoughts/ideas] is what might be something we could do to support this young man and his family. I have thoughts of my own, but I was looking for additional ideas that you might have heard of or done in this type of situation. Whether it is a public display, or a more personal touch, I just want this kid to know that we, and his teammates, care about him and his family. Thank you in advance for your thoughts. -Shock Coach, I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. My heart goes out to that family. I once had a players mom die about an hour and half before one of our games several years ago. Believe it or not the player and his father came to see me before the game to let me know they would not be attending. I could not believe they were worried about it. We won the game and signed the ball and dedicated the win to his mother. I had my captains deliver it to his home. His father called me. It was very moving. We also had the school send flowers, etc. We attended the funeral. Everyone wore their jerseys as a show of brotherhood. His mother had always wanted to see him play football but had not seen any of the games b/c she was too sick. He buried his jersey with her. It was EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL. He also brought the signed ball to the ceremony. Basically I told him to return on his own schedule and that we would do what we could for him. My heart goes out to you. Not a lot you can do to soften that blow. I think the biggest thing is that you show that you care.
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Post by s73 on Dec 27, 2014 11:50:22 GMT -6
In general yes. Tweaks occur after evaluating game film. If we need more time in one area over the other then changes can be made.
But in general, it's my conclusion the consistency on the practice field more often than not leads to consistency on the game field.
JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 23, 2014 20:27:52 GMT -6
Coaches, Here is the situation. We are going into our second year as a staff in a program that has always been mediocre to awful. The year before our arrival, the team went 5-5 ending their year losing by 60 to the eventual state champs in the playoffs. The 5-5 team had some ok talent, but the coach was smart, saw what was coming, and got out of dodge. Jump to this past year. We went 1-8, but were competitive in all but 2 games and could have won any of the other 6 we lost. The culture has been sour. We have a young group, the group that we need to build around being very negative. "If coach so and so were here, we would have won state for sure" blah blah blah. We have a football class that we use for speed training, and have our lifts after school. The kids whine about it and don't work hard. I know that if you see it happening, you either coach it or tolerate it. Wondering what kinds of things those of you who have had success in changing culture have done? I've always been a big believer in the idea that how YOU CARRY YOURSELF is the #1 precursor to how people will respond to you. I know I'm not Vince Lombardi and I know I have some kids who don't like me, but I can tell you one thing, they know who's in charge and they know what the boundaries are. If they are mocking you like you said in another post, then I would say IMO, you guys need to bring the hammer NOW! My guys just know that unless it's out of mutual fun, that just ain't happening. I definitely don't have all the answers, but this one's easy. The calfs need to learn REAL QUICK who the bulls are! JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 21, 2014 17:31:28 GMT -6
We are much like the above. We want a Dr.'s note or if it's something the kid told me well in advance.
One thing I would like to add that has made a difference for us is that if you are going to miss a practice you must also come see a coach in person whenever possible. This has cut down on a lot of the "bench warmers" going home "sick" at the end of the day.
In the past some of these kids would be in school & then go home "sick" & send a text or have a teammate say "so and so wanted me tell you he's sick" or he had a project to work on or what have you. That is unexcused. Even if he saw the nurse, & she excused him, b/c he did not come and tell me. To me this common courtousy. We also implemented the rule that if you can finish the school day then you can practice. I tell them nothing better for your immune system then some fresh air and exercise.
We do this b/c IMO if the kid is unwilling to see you to tell you why he can't make it then the chances are the reason is not very good or untruthful. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 20, 2014 9:55:35 GMT -6
8 years, all at the HS and it's not about titles that help you get there, but learning from people and working for the right people. Whip, COULD NOT AGREE MORE! My 1st season as HC I THOUGHT I was ready. It took me that 1st year to realize that just b/c you can draw it up on paper doesn't mean you can coach it. I didn't realize the importance of all the little details. After 2 seasons I became the "networker" of the universe. Calling successful like minded guys from all over. It was EXTREMELY helpful, and shortly thereafter we became a competitive / play off program. Since then, whenever I get a chance, I network with other coaches & staffs. I consider this more valuable than any clinic. Nice post.
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Post by s73 on Dec 20, 2014 9:38:33 GMT -6
7 years, all HS.
Thought I was ready for 1st HC gig, but I was not. Took me 2 more years to figure it out. Fortunately, the school I was at was so bad we still improved despite me not being ready.
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Post by s73 on Dec 19, 2014 21:02:14 GMT -6
Deceased, most likely Lombardi. Living ? That's a tough one. Part of me wants to pick a guy I could learn from, the other part of me wants to pick a young Ditka in hopes he'd get into a bar fight just so I could share the story
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Post by s73 on Dec 19, 2014 19:12:20 GMT -6
I think I do a nice job of simplifying things for our kids.
I need to do a better job of coordinating the booth w/ the field. We need to be more specific about what we are looking for from play to play, etc.
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Post by s73 on Dec 15, 2014 13:45:22 GMT -6
For me it's spontaneous and I believe in doing it SO LONG AS it does not interfere w/ being productive.
I like what groundchuck said about know your team.
On a side note: I also think that while messing around at practice can lighten the mood & be fun, there's nothing more fun IMO than having a good team that has a really focused, well executed practice. Just one of those rare days when it just seems like everybody's on, coaches and players.
That to me is the most fun.
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Post by s73 on Dec 8, 2014 6:48:41 GMT -6
I would use the 1st week similar to what somebody above said.
First week, less about opponent, more about us. Improve fundamentally! More indy and group work, less team time. Spend time on things you've had problems with. Maybe a particular look or something like that. Could even shorten practice if you feel the kids need to be "refreshed".
Second week I would treat like a normal week and use the extra time to prep. maybe add a wrinkle or two but I would be very careful not to do too much out of the norm as I think this can get you into trouble.
Third week same as second but maybe focus a bit more on 90% of what you're going to be doing.
I personally would not ficus on 2nd opponent as they do not matter if you don't beat the first. Besides you still have 9 days. more than normal to prep for them. JMO.
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Post by s73 on Dec 5, 2014 19:02:23 GMT -6
Coach can you explain how you incorporated the 6 second play, 50 second rest concept in practice. This is very interesting. Also, why does it shorten practice? Coach, It's not necessarily that we incorporated "4 seconds and 50 seconds of rest" so to speak, it's more like being conscious of what you're doing during drills and team time. etc. I coach the line, so we are going to be explode into the sled and drive but for a very short burst. Not elongated. We want all of our drills to be short and explosive. We want our team time to be slightly faster that what the game averages say so that we are equipped for Friday night's pace. We don't want long drawn out sprints or extended jogs. Things like that. As a result, we don't schedule any time for conditioning, I tell my coaches to make all of their drills short, explosive and intense and that it's their job to keep these kids engaged at a high level and mentally and physically prepare them this way. As a result, this has saved us practice time that we may have used on conditioning so we could either emphasize more teaching and drill work, or as the season progresses we can cut practice a bit shorter and save the kids bodies a bit. Hope this made sense. I have found IN MY EXPERIENCE that practicing this way has improved OUR performance.
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Post by s73 on Dec 5, 2014 18:21:01 GMT -6
I found this quote on this board regarding a similar topic.
"My team is a September team. We come out of the gates hot and start a downhill slide in November, not necessarily losing but just not playing well. I'm not sure what the problem is but I have a feeling the team is mentally drained. We are going to cut practice time down and even start our off-season training later. I don't know if that's the answer but for 3 years we have under achieved late in the season & to do nothing different would be assuring the same result."
This is us in a nutshell. We had a staff meeting last night and we went over our season, how our offense/defense/special teams were, what we did wrong as coaches/players and how we can improve, and looked at practice organization/structure and how to make it more efficient.
At the end, we discussed how in mid to late October we always hit this plateau point where we start to go downhill/remain the same, instead of playing our best football at the most important time of the year.
We were a quarter-final team that went 6-4 overall, 4-3 in conference. We beat every team we were "supposed to" but any of the tougher teams in our area we lost to. To start the year we went 4-1 and had a close loss to the top team that will win their 4th championship in a row on Saturday. 2 weeks later is that "plateau point" and we lay an egg against another good team, but not as good as the 4-peater.
We're great in the off-season but I'm tired of being "Off-season Champions". We have tough summer workouts and feel we do really well there, we also have done team camps in the past. We plan on dialing back a little bit and giving the kids more of a break in the summer before football starts (eg: Keep workouts going, but giving ourselves a 2 week dead-period where we are not allowed to contact one another right before Fall Camp)
Sorry for the partial rant, but any ideas on how you guys peak at the right time and play your best football of the year in the playoffs?
I listened to a collegiate speaker at a very accomplished program about a decade or so ago, and the gist of his lecture was that the average FB play lasts about 4 seconds and the average rest in between was about 50 seconds when you factor in resetting the ball, time outs, etc. So his whole thing was you should practice in "game like" conditions. We have tried to do this ever since and have found that it makes for shorter, more intense practices and does away w/ alot of the old school "drudgery" like excessive conditioning. I also personally believe that teaching kids to hit is HUGE when they are younger. But by the time they reach varsity FB IMO, you can scale it back quite a bit to save their bodies and keep them healthy and again IMO they actually play harder and tougher on Fridays bc they are not beat up from practice. I feel this approach has helped our kids to continue to improve through out the season. It's not for everybody but I thinks it's a solid approach to look at based on your concerns. PS - Personally I feel like many FB coaches (including my former self) tend to be guilty of excessive amounts of hitting and conditioning bc "that's the way it's always been done" without evidence that it actually improves performance. I feel our peformance has improved when we went away from some of that stuff.
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Post by s73 on Dec 3, 2014 11:08:18 GMT -6
I am a huge believer of the old adage that you win in the off season. I'm also in a smaller school. Not nearly as small as your but small compared to our competition, which means we struggle with depth comparatively.
So we have taken the approach of creating weight training teams in the off season. We figure we can't always leverage a kid with competition in season but hopefully we can push them all to be the best they can be in the off season.
We also try to talk up competition by position with our opponents. Telling them things like we don't need you to be just the best at your position on our team. We need you to be the best at your position on our whole schedule. Then you can truly impact your team and your season.
None of it works 100% of the time but we hope it can work enough to make some difference.
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Post by s73 on Nov 16, 2014 11:54:54 GMT -6
I am leaving after this year. After I tried to stop caring and decided to keep my mouth shut and just follow orders I felt were bad, the HC and his chosen successor warmed up to me. They started coming to me asking for input and our relationship improved, even though we kept doing an offense and defense of the week for the last 5 games. It was weird. Now they're saying the other guy may not get the HC job despite some family connections and some people are encouraging me to apply for it after I spent most of the past 3 years getting thrown under the bus and blamed for our 1-29 record since I came here. I'm not going to do that, though. All year long, I felt bad because I thought we were letting these kids down. Then the players pull this stuff and it was clear that a lot of them never really cared and the ones who did gave up once senior night was over. I'm going to move on, but is there anything a staff can do differently in this situation? I don't know what we could have done besides win a few games to keep the players interested. The last 2 games, we may as well have just canceled the rest of the season. All I know is if they don't finish in good standing at our school they get no end of the season recognition at all from our athletic dept. That means no letter, certificates, no attendance to banquet, etc. Although it sounds like that may not be a deterrent for your guys bc they maybe just don't care, it has been a deterrent for our guys to finish when a season gets tough.
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Post by s73 on Nov 14, 2014 22:08:59 GMT -6
Has anyone here ever attended the Naval Academy Coaching Clinic? Does it run the same time as Spring practice?
Is it a good clinic? Worth distant travel?
Thanks for any help you can give.
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Post by s73 on Nov 10, 2014 18:33:33 GMT -6
One point I did not see in this thread (unless I missed it, then my apologies) is that if you are really doing your job correctly then IMO you shouldn't need anymore additional evaluation than what you are already doing.
I evaluate our season through end of the season staff sit-downs, as well film review and study through the off season, clinics and meeting with like minded successful staffs in the area. What are 16 year olds who watch a minimal amount of film comparatively going to tell me that my position coaches, AD and myself along with other seasoned staff members from around the area can't tell me?
If I watch a play and the scheme was faulty bc we didn't have enough blockers at the POA then I need to look at scheme. If, on the other hand, we have the blockers but the play didn't go, then I need to look at technique and the drills we used to teach the technique. If tackling sucked, then I need to review practice schedules and see how often we practiced tackling. If you are truly being thorough, then IMO player evals are simply window dressing. You are simply doing something that "sounds good" but really doesn't make a rip of difference. Again, JMO.
Furthermore, they could even be harmful bc make no mistake, while some kids are responsible, other kids will write the eval with a personal agenda. It's not out of the realm of possibility that receivers want you to throw more bc it's best for them, but not necessarily best for the team. Running backs want to run more for the same reasons. Now I have MORE DATA that I have to delineate? For what purpose? Next year will I really be a better program for it? Or did I just find another way to do more work for the sake of doing more work bc sometimes that is what we Fb coaches have a tendency to do? Again, JMO.
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