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Post by raider92 on Apr 8, 2024 12:41:48 GMT -6
Lets discuss this hypothetical..... Is it better to be different at something you only know the basics of? Something that is new to you that you are willing to learn, but are not an "expert" at like the single wing or shotgun double wing. or Run something you know the ins and outs of really well, but you do not have the players to beat alot of the teams that you have to play because they are simply better than you? Like a generic 10/11 personnel offense. I'll go with option 1. Agreed, I'd make the argument that no system is so complex that a decent coach couldn't learn it and make it work if he was trying to implement something that would set his team apart from the others in his area For example, a guy who wanted to switch to the wing-t could post a handful of times on this site, read 2 books, go to 1 clinic, and have more than enough info to put the system in What we do is not rocket science
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Post by raider92 on Feb 8, 2024 14:34:31 GMT -6
Ive been infatuated with the Northern Rockies since I was a kid and always have wanted to move out there but I just cant figure out how people afford to live out there. The wife and I went to the Outer Banks a few summers ago and loved it, I looked into moving there and it was the same thing. All of the housing is either rental property for vacationers or a huge step down from where we live now. Those who bought 15-30 years ago got in at a good time.
The house I grew up in (3/2 in west Denver) is a good enough house... it would probably go for 210-250 or so here. Comps in the market (same neighborhood) are selling for 750-850. It's crazy.
The same deal in Montana. We had a track meet last year and I was talking to a coach of a Montana school who told me they bought land 15 years ago that they could in no way afford today.
To be honest, I've turned down two jobs in the past 6 years simply because I didn't think it was a smart financial move based on housing costs. If everyone could afford Missoula no one would live anywhere else Edit: and I say that as a guy who definitely cannot afford Missoula
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Post by raider92 on Feb 8, 2024 13:18:08 GMT -6
I used to coach against a guy who was at the same school for like 50+ years as DC and then HC
I asked him about what the key was to sticking around that long and he told me not to worry about it because I wouldn't be.
He wasn't being rude, he went on to explain that the stress, demands, workload, etc., was so much more significant now that there wouldn't be any more guys like him in the future.
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Post by raider92 on Feb 6, 2024 12:41:52 GMT -6
Don't put on a clinic on the field. Coach them on the run and fix it in film is probably the best advice I ever got. I like this too: Unironically Michael's advice to Dwight is probably the best advice I ever received. "Stop sucking"- that's what the coach I played for and later coached under told me when I asked him for advice upon taking over a bad program. Don't do the obviously dumb and detrimental things that sucky teams do. Have a solid plan on O/D/ST + in the weight room. Maintain a disciplined and structured program. Be a good role model, etc. Just don't suck Or as Michael put it "don't be an idiot"
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Post by raider92 on Feb 1, 2024 16:32:55 GMT -6
That's hilarious! Did he give it to you? Better yet - did SHE? It should come as no surprise that it was his last email!
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Post by raider92 on Feb 1, 2024 14:45:29 GMT -6
Another thing to look at does the team improve as the season goes. Are the fundamentals better? Are they still playing hard. Do the players pick up the slight adjustments on the field better in the back half of the years than from week 1-2. I had a parent (who could be very critical at times) tell me that he always thought we played better over the second half of the season which he thought showed we had a good staff. (Thought sometimes it was a backhanded compliment though like we could not figure {censored} out for the front end of the season) I once got a weird compliment from a parent like that. Had a dad who was super critical of me and would send me an email every week with his criticisms from last Friday's game which I had never responded to. Near the end of my first year (we weren't good), he sent an email wherein he told me he had concluded I was a bad coach. He did however add that I was a fine young man (only like 23 at the time) and that he would be happy if his daughter brought home a guy like me. For the first time ever I responded, "what's her number?"
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Post by raider92 on Jan 24, 2024 13:19:13 GMT -6
I'm a damn good recruiter of the hallways, its one of my best skills. I can think of 3 pretty big time athlete basketball players that everyone in town swore would be incredible football players that I've successfully talked into coming out to play football
All 3 were big {censored} who added nothing to our team despite being great athletes.
In my experience, any kid who can be talked into playing football on the promise that you'll throw him the ball is not going to help you
Conversely, the kids who actually can come out and help the team, big bodied kids who can play/provide depth on the OL and DL, dont give a $hit about playing in a spread offense.
We've had a few skill guys come out and help the team but they were wrestler types who played running back. Never once have we added a kid who was a difference maker at receiver which is, presumably, the only type of kid that would really care.
I do understand the argument when it comes to getting a QB to come out, but any kid who's on the fence about playing is not somebody I'd trust to be my QB anyway
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Post by raider92 on Jan 12, 2024 14:38:14 GMT -6
I agree that youth football is, in a lot of cases, more trouble than it's worth.
The danger here though is this; once they ban youth football they'll start coming for high school football. The onward march towards utopia never stops.
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Post by raider92 on Jan 2, 2024 20:58:19 GMT -6
The amount of kids—who have access to food, mind you—that don’t eat is astonishing. Agreed This. If there was one variable that's currently out of my control that I could micromanage it would be how much our players eat. Its unbelievable how big the contrast in physical development is over 4 years between guys who prioritize it vs rhose that don't (or more accurately, those that probably can't in a lot of cases). We have our young guys follow starting strength to a T when they come into the program and we had one skinny kid who's mom got fully on board with the GOMAD recommendation. Kid gained 65 pounds and went from a borderline starter on the freshman squad to a varsity starter as a Sophomore. Realistically, the kid was just an OK athlete but he reached a point of relative physical maturity much quicker than his peers because of the way he committed and it gave him a massive leg up on his classmates who were better athletes but didnt develop until their junior and senior years
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Post by raider92 on Nov 29, 2023 14:29:06 GMT -6
I fix everything on the field. Always. Theres a lot of educational research out there about how many good reps it takes to unlearn something when you learn it wrong. Its a lot.
That's also why we dont go 100mph in team time. We take our time and fix it. Once we know our jobs and can execute we will go faster and can correct things in the film room.
If a coach messes it up imo you have to fix it. 90% of the time it's your fault as HC if he is teaching it wrong in which case I typically apologize to the coach, and then explain how I want it. This gives the coach an out so he doesnt look bad in front of the kids, solidifies that you're in charge and make the decision, and shows a lot of humility.
If the coach KNOWS how it's supposed to be taught and chooses not to teach it right then hes not going to be coaching past that practice unless he changes his tune.
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Post by raider92 on Nov 24, 2023 11:09:19 GMT -6
During the regular season we saw a lot of TE/Wing formations. With that we saw Wing-T, Gun Wing-T,and 11P under center with zone blocking as thier base run game. Those were the number one formation we had to defend which was different than years past. In the playoffs we lost to a Power T program and that is the trend right now in Minnesota. In the semi-finals across all six classes there were six teams running the Power T. Another one bases out of 32P with the Bone or Power I. I'm not in the state but have friends coaching there. As an outside observer the Power T takeover in Minnesota is fascinating to watch My DC friends in Minnesota don't think it's as cool as I do
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Post by raider92 on Nov 21, 2023 10:02:14 GMT -6
How is it safer? If you tell the refs you're taking a knee they (at least in Illinois) tell the other team to lay off. Not physically safer. Just saying that if you fumble the snap under center the ball is right there. Either team could recover it. If you fumble a shotgun snap, you have time to recover. You also have to line up correctly and have someone behind the qb in gun snap in case of a long snap. If you are an under center team, stay under center. If you are a gun team, stay in gun. If I did both, I would choose to be in the gun to take a knee. What to me is risky, is being 100% gun and then going under center to take a knee in a one score game. This is also why it drives me nuts when officials throw a hissy fit and force our guys to lay off on a kneel down. If a spread team is taking their very first UC snap of the game to kneel it down we should at least be able to come off the ball and ensure that they actually get the snap secured. Alas, most officials here act like you've committed a war crime by touching anyone when they're kneeling it
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Post by raider92 on Nov 11, 2023 23:39:19 GMT -6
The 3 best hires I ever made were all guys who had never coached football before but they were good dads, hard workers, and cared about the kids.
You can teach them all the football stuff they need to know but you cant make them good people
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Post by raider92 on Nov 9, 2023 12:47:09 GMT -6
YES. Most wear jeans or sweats anyway. Jeans? True story, I once had a big farm kid who's mom wouldn't let him play football. After a lot of working on her he finally got the OK. He walked into the weight room (straight off the farm) on the day we were maxing out excited to tell me she had said yes. I told him we would gladly take him and he was now part of the team. I looked up a few minutes later and he had taken me literally. The kid was maxing out his squat in his jeans, work boots, and a tucked in Case IH t-shirt. Keep in mind this kid had never lifted a day in his life. He was hitting 315 like it was nothing in jeans and boots. He ended up being a pretty good OL/DL as you can imagine.
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Post by raider92 on Nov 3, 2023 7:47:12 GMT -6
I taught resource sped and imo the "learning disability" diagnosis is just code for "doesn't like school and doesnt have much structure at home" in most cases.
I've almost always been able to coach those guys pretty much exactly the same as anyone else because as coaches we should be simplifying things across the board anyway.
If the kid really does genuinely struggle to get it then super clear rules are the best tool I've found. Give them an either/or even if the rule isnt 100% perfect for all scenarios it will be better than a kid who's clueless
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Post by raider92 on Oct 10, 2023 9:35:14 GMT -6
I'm generally pretty forgiving of most everybody, and especially of coaches, but how in the world does this dip$hit keep getting jobs? The same reason Rick Petino's back in major D1. Guys who can win get lots of chances. I could understand a college picking him up on staff or even a smaller school hiring him as an HC to make waves but I just can't believe high school administrators, who's only priority is to avoid involving themselves in scandal, continue to do this. And here I've got 2 really great ACs who are awesome guys, awesome teachers, great family men, involved in their church, etc., and have missed out on HC opportunities that were given to grossly unqualified/scandal-plagued candidates. Frustrating
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Post by raider92 on Oct 9, 2023 14:11:16 GMT -6
I'm generally pretty forgiving of most everybody, and especially of coaches, but how in the world does this dip$hit keep getting jobs? What administrator wants to stick their neck out for this guy who has repeatedly done this garbage?
It'd be one thing if all of it was in the realm of improper football conduct like recruiting but this guys got marriage stuff, tax evasion, etc., ect. (Not that the football related issues are ok). How anyone could think he's a good person to put in charge of young people is beyond me; a pretty clear pattern has emerged that the guy feels himself to be above any rules or consequences. you can be sure the stuff hes gotten caught on probably doesnt even scratch the surface of the stuff he gets away with.
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Post by raider92 on Sept 17, 2023 10:40:04 GMT -6
I suspect that wont be the last hit of that nature an opponent dishes out on a Colorado player.
Deions brought a lot of attention to the program and it's inevitably going to rub some folks the wrong way.
I have a feeling if a Colorado player had hit a CSU player like that Twitter would be calling it "swagger" and "intimidating" and a fair result of "making things personal".
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Post by raider92 on Sept 16, 2023 10:58:48 GMT -6
2 weeks into his tenure and we are asking if a Ferentz-like tenure would be a success for Deion?
If he coaches for 25+ years and ends up 3rd all time in big ten wins then yeah, I'd say he's been successful. The guys couldn't be more polar opposite. Deions recruiting acumen probably means he has national title potential in the right job but does he coach up ball as well as Ferentz? Not a chance. Almost no one does.
What remains to be seen is how all that talk and bravado holds up after you've gotten mauled at the LOS a few weeks in a row as may happen when they run into USC, Oregon, Utah, etc.
It's been interesting. I think hes incredibly uniquely suited to this new era of college football. An era that guys like Ferentz, and a lot of guys on this board, may not like as much unfortunately.
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Post by raider92 on Aug 16, 2023 11:50:44 GMT -6
Hey guys, does anyone have a particularly good way of making playbooks or position manuals? Computer programs? Power point?
I'd like to find an online program where I can compile everything assistants need. Something I could hand to a new guy so he has the basics.
Thanks
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Post by raider92 on May 30, 2023 11:10:51 GMT -6
One of the best lessons I've learned as a HC is that black and white rules are ammo for overly litigious busy body parents. Keep rules vague and give yourself some wiggle room to respond to scenarios as they arise.
Imagine being a program with 5 straight state titles and you're spending your time in May/June worrying about this instead of working on your 6th straight title
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Post by raider92 on May 30, 2023 10:19:55 GMT -6
This only applies to players who could be back for 2023 but are choosing not to be, correct? My first thought is that I'd probably give them their rings. They were on the team and contributed, they deserve it. On the other hand, if that's been the rule for 5 years then he needs to stick to his guns. Either way, if you're setting rules regarding state title rings then you're doing ok, talk about first world problems Or, he could recognize its been a stupid rule for the past 5 years. I would disagree a bit on the "doing ok". Yes, the football success seems great, but in terms of the job he is supposed to be doing in my opinion, he is failing miserably. If your rule gets thrown out the window the first time it gets tested then you didnt have a rule, you had a suggestion. The guy obviously had some reason for making the rule at one point. Like I said I think it's a dumb rule too, but if everyone knows the rule then it is what it is and it's a dangerous precedent to throw rules out the minute they're challenged for the first time. My point was that if they're setting rules on state title rings they're winning state titles (multiple). Not a lot of idiots doing that. The lesson here for all of us is to never paint yourself into the corner having to enforce a stupid rule because once you're in that spot you're damned if you do and damned if you don't
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Post by raider92 on May 30, 2023 9:29:31 GMT -6
This only applies to players who could be back for 2023 but are choosing not to be, correct?
My first thought is that I'd probably give them their rings. They were on the team and contributed, they deserve it.
On the other hand, if that's been the rule for 5 years then he needs to stick to his guns.
Either way, if you're setting rules regarding state title rings then you're doing ok, talk about first world problems
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Post by raider92 on May 15, 2023 9:24:14 GMT -6
Varsity Assistant high school coach in SW Georgia Do you get any flack for being that active on a Sunday? I'm in the midwest and I know we would catch holy hell if we had kids on the field on a Sunday. If we get it here its surprising you wouldn't experience the same, or more, push back in a "Bible Belt" state
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Post by raider92 on May 9, 2023 11:05:58 GMT -6
Used to work Saturday and Sunday all day breaking down tendenies and then developing the plan. However, I think most teams you play would be willing to do an early film exchange, like a couple weeks prior to your game week so you can both get a head start and not have to deal with the tedious tasks during the weekends and can actually work on what matters and spend time with family. If they don't want to do an early film exchange, you can probably get their film from other avenues. You can divide the work amongst your staff and since it's not as high stakes and you're not dealing with the post game day issues, clearer heads are often plugging in the data Monday-Thursday a couple of weeks before you actually play. So for example, Opponent 1- You can only exchange scrimmage film so nothing you can do about that. Opponent 2- You exchange scrimmage film during week 1 and break that down during the game 1 week. Opponent 3- You breakdown their scrimmage during game 1 week and 1st game during game 2 week. And so on and so forth. This is where having a league pool is really nice. Everyone gets everyone else's film as soon as it's in the pool. If your district/conference doesnt do it already I'd highly recommend contacting the other coaches and getting it going
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Post by raider92 on May 9, 2023 10:23:08 GMT -6
We meet on Sunday evenings around 7pm so that its after supper and kids are winding down. We only meet for about an hour and a half and its usually focused more on improving practices and fixing our own issues than it is on opponents.
Our defensive staff may meet a little longer as they've got more opponent-specific stuff to work thru.
Our offensive gameplanning meeting is usually about 5 minutes long. We try to predict how the opponent will line up to our Wing-T and then say "ok, we will run Wing-T against that." It's honestly a huge benefit. Theres no complex game-planning theres just executing the system and calling plays as the system dictates.
As far as weekend meetings in general I feel much more comfortable at least having a short face to face on Sunday but we could easily do the same thing on Monday morning if we needed to. We don't go outside for Monday practices we just watch film and lift so we essentially do what a lot of folks do on Saturday on Monday. We balance that out by hitting a lot more on Tuesday-Thursday than most programs do anymore.
I've gotten a lot of feedback from coaches over the years about hating doing the all day Saturday stuff and saying they wouldnt coach if they had to do that. Take that for what it's worth
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Post by raider92 on Mar 7, 2023 11:26:03 GMT -6
I think Georgia deserves some mention for how rapidly it has become an elite football state. There's always been good football in Georgia but over the last decade or so it has become a legit tier 1 type state along with TX/FL/CA.
I watch a ton of HS football and I'd say more or less there is really good football everywhere. What seems to change most state to state is the depth, both of talent on individual teams and the number of good teams, as well as the top end talent that the elite programs have. A lot of that can be tied to passion for football. More passion = more kids out and a bigger pool to draw talent from as well as more physically developed kids as passionate kids are going to in the weight room more.
One of the things that I always found interesting back when I coached college football was how little it seemed to matter where a guy played HS ball. We had big time studs from TX and CA that came in as coveted recruits and were just average college players, or even subpar players. We also had local guys from small towns in the midwest who were just "good" high school players who ended up being good or great college players and much better than the "studs" that we recruited from elsewhere.
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Post by raider92 on Mar 6, 2023 12:29:13 GMT -6
As a HC here in UT I make like $4000 pre-tax. I've heard stories of guys being paid under the table by parents/boosters/etc... but assistants it is about 1500-2000 pre-tax. The under the table stuff is always a fun topic on the rumor mill. There was a HOF coach near where I grew up who was rumored to have been getting paid $100,000 a year on top of his official salary plus a brand new truck from the dealership every year. Not sure if the $100k was legit or not but I know for a fact he drove up to practice in a brand new F150 every season I made $3,000 to be the varsity HC and my assistants made about $1,800. We only had 5 assistant positions so we used booster funds to pay 2 additional coaches. Here's another fun idea; compare your stipend to the varsity golf coach. My first year as a HC I was making less than half what the varsity golf coach made. I ran weights 4 days a week 52 weeks a year and ran a program of 60+ guys all year round. He showed up for literally 5 weeks in the spring and worked his short game or scrolled Twitter in the clubhouse while his 10 kids dicked around on the course for an hour or so. It's insane that any of us do this
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Post by raider92 on Mar 2, 2023 12:17:44 GMT -6
Much like the other posts the best defenses I've ever encountered have been loaded with talent and played cover 0/man free.
I think more interesting though is teams that are great defensively without out-talenting everyone. There are 2 wrestling powerhouses in the area here who are always incredible on defense. You midwest guys know; kicka$$ wrestlers make kicka$$ defensive players.
One of them is 4-3 Over team and plays Quarters with a Solo trips check basically every down. The other is a 5-2/5-3/Bear team and plays 0 or Man Free every down. Both tackle unbelievably well and are really tough defensively even in years when the overall talent is just average. Both have been consistent playoff teams and have made some deep runs but dont have the top end talent to really score much against the best teams in the state. Their defense gives them a chance against anyone though.
Having a truly great wrestling program is, along with the weight room, unbelievably effective at raising the floor of a program. It would take a calamity on offense for them not to finish above .500 with the kind of defenses they put on the field every year.
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Post by raider92 on Feb 15, 2023 11:38:31 GMT -6
Starting to see this more in major college football. Georgia and Michigan know how to load it up. At the D3 level North Central ran over everyone with a TE and H backs on the field a lot. Rushed for over 350 a game. Even seeing teams in our area start to get away from the spread formations and back into the I. We play a multiple formation pro-style team (think kind of like Iowa) where they run a ton of wide zone but dress it up with a ton of different motions with PA off of everything. Total PITA to prepare for. In my DC days the toughest game prep I ever had was a pro style team who used 12/13/21/22 personnel groupings to run IZ, OZ, Power, Counter, and Pin and Pull toss. They motioned, shifted, or both, on every play, had an effective drop back game, and had absolutely devastating play action stuff that was totally new every week because they could get into any formation imaginable. Just lining up properly to everything felt impossible and made us revert to the most vanilla calls we had. I will say however, when they couldn't get that run game humming they had a really tough time. The play action wasnt as effective and their dropback game was much more designed to take advantage of soft zone coverages on early downs. (Not that any of that is unique to pro style offenses but was notable because of how unstoppable they felt when it was humming)
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