The Passing of A Great One

Haven't had much time to write, but I wanted to share this one for sure.  My former head football coach, Dan Haley has passed away.  Haley, like many other coaches, was more than just a coach.  He was a father figure, mentor, and life-long friend to anyone he ever coached.  I had the pleasure of both playing under and coaching for, Coach Haley in the late 90's.  I learned a lot about, not only the game, but about how to treat players, and that a coach can give his players so much more than X's and O's.  Coach Haley, who has a very impressive record to say the least, was even more impressive when he was doing what he did and loved best, mentoring young folks.

When I first met Coach Haley, I had no clue what to expect.  He was a large man, but very humble looking, and then he spoke.  He had this booming voice, and he enunciated everything with perfection, despite having that traditional Kentucky drawl.  I've had several football coaches through the years, and worked for several others, but Haley was a guy that didn't speak at you, he spoke to you.  He deeply cared for his players, and he made that known, right up front.  He made no bones about the fact that you were his players, and that he was going to do everything within his powers to not only make you a good football player, but help to make you a good person.  I always liked that, and a lot of my coaching nowadays reflects that same dedication that Coach Haley gave me.

Some things Coach Haley taught me as a player were the triple option, to be detailed in your preparation for your opponent, the way defenses defend offenses, and how to properly execute a trap and a log block from the guard position.  There were countless other items he taught within the scheme of the game, but these I remember the most.  He was very no nonsense in his approach to the game, very business like.  There was time for fun, but when he was teaching, it was all business.  I liked this very much about him, as his professionalism was unparalleled by any coach I had before or since.  I liked the way he made me feel like I didn't want to just play for him, myself, or my teammates, but the fact that he taught us to go out and be the best it is at whatever is being asked of us.  It didn't matter if you were a scout team linebacker trying to give the offense a look, you go out and you do that to the best of your God-given ability to help the unit as a whole, and because that is how EVERY man should embrace EVERY task he's faced with.  This has stuck with me through the years, so much so, that I even just used it yesterday when talking with our third string quarterback about his lack of motivation.  Anyhow, Coach Haley taught me an awful lot on the football field.  I remember him taking over an hour to show our quarterbacks how to take the snap from center and to step properly on the inside veer play.  I truly credit my love of triple option football to Coach Haley.  He was an absolute master of it, and knew exactly how it should be run, and knew exactly what needed to be done to adjust it when it wasn't working.

Off of the field, Haley was a man who could talk your ear off about anything.  He loved when players would come by and see him in the off-season.  He'd talk til' you could'nt stand it anymore and then talk some more!  I always was ready when he sat down to tell a story, or just shoot the breeze.  I knew that hidden somewhere in his talks, was a message.  Every time he opened his mouth to talk to young people, there was a purpose to it.  I remember our running back, after getting a big first down run against our rival one year, jumped up and flexed his muscles, almost drawing a flag.  Later, on the next week, after we won (of course) and our coach was reviewing the film of the same run and stopped the tape (yes, it was tape back then) and said "<> was that really necessary?".  Our running back looked down, and then back up at coach and said "No sir, I was just in to the game and happy we got the first down".  Two plays later he fumbled on the 14 yard line, and again, Haley turned to the running back and said "Son, this is why you don't do what you did two plays earlier.  You need to learn to be humble.  Being humble is one of the greatest skills anyone can learn in life".  With that, he proceed on with the film.  I never saw our back draw attention to himself again the rest of the season.  He did fumble a few more times, but he didn't make the focus of the game on him, and again, that really stuck with me over the years.  When a player scored a touchdown, there were no end zone dances, you simply handed the ball back to the official and went to celebrate with your team.  Team was always important to Coach Haley, he was completely about it, and totally committed to making the team his and every body's main focus.  

Haley was also very, very detail oriented.  Me being an OCD cat like I am, took to this with earnest.  He was ALWAYS prepared.  I NEVER once went to a meeting, practice or film session and saw him unprepared.  I came in one time, as a young coach, who's job it was to break down the kickoff and kickoff return teams for our opponents, with nothing in my hands but a blank notepad.  He gave me an off stare at the beginning of the meeting, but that was Haley, he always did things like that.  When the meeting got to my part where I was supposed to get up and show what I'd learned, he stopped me about halfway through me drawing on the grease board and said "How do I know this is what they are going to do?".  I turned and said, "Well coach, I've watched three films and this is what they've lined up in every time".  To which he replied, "I know you know it son, but you haven't given us anything to look at.  All the other coaches have printouts for me to look at, what did you bring?".  I said "Nothing, coach, just my notepad."  He looked at me and told me he noticed it was blank and was wondering how I remembered all the stuff I'd watched on the film yesterday without writing it down.  I told him I had written it down so I could commit it to memory, which he liked, but didn't care for the fact that I didn't bring it with me.  After an awkward five minute exchange he let me continue with my presentation.  I felt humiliated, especially being the youngest coach on the staff.  I took a hell of a lot of ribbing anyways, but this was worse, this was the boss!  After the meeting he asked me to stay for a minute.  I just knew I was fired and hadn't been on the job but three months.  That wasn't Haley though, he saw a moment he could teach a young coach something and he used it.  Even with his busy schedule, he stopped and took 10 to 15 minutes out of his schedule to make me a better coach.  "You need to go into any endeavor you go in to, prepared.  When you come to a meeting next time, I expect handouts and notes.  I don't want any chicken-scratch either, I want nice illustrations and good notes on what information you are presenting."  The next week, I was on, I had handouts and a ton of data on my part of the game plan.  Once the presentation was over, even the old salty defensive coordinator came up to me and said "good job".  Again, Haley stopped me after the meeting and he looked me in the eye and said, "Way to take coaching son, good job", and turned and walked away.  He had that impact on you though.  I've never been unprepared for another meeting for the rest of my career, and I've been called "detailed", "OCD", and a "mad scientist" for my over-the-top attention to detail approach, but I will not change.  If Haley wanted it that way, and he coached me to be that way, then that's the way I'll be!

Yeah, that's me...

The part I really regret about writing this, is the fact that after I left coaching for Coach Haley, I never saw him again.  It's been 15 years since I've seen those glasses looking at me out from under that all-too-familiar skull cap he always wore to keep his bald head warm.  I really regret that.  I called him when I was interviewing for my first head coaching job and got him to send me a letter of recommendation.  With it, he attached a book he'd written, entitled The Difference Between Winning and Losing, of which I plan on sharing with you once the season is over.  He told me to read it, before I took my first job.  However being right up at the time of the deadline to apply for my job, I didn't get to read the book.  I actually didn't read it until after I got fired.  I sure wish I'd have read that book, I wouldn't have even applied for that first head coaching job.  The book is full of Coach Haley, and his perspective on the greatest game ever invented by man.  As I stated earlier, I plan on rereading it this off-season, and sharing with you some things I've taken from it, that will hopefully make you a better coach yourself.

If I could get one more chance to talk to Coach Haley, I'd thank him for helping make me the coach, teacher, and most notably the person I am today.  Coach Haley had a profound impact on my life and he will be missed by countless others.  Again, thank you Coach Haley for everything you did for me, and I promise, to stay humble.  See you over the goal post coach...

Duece

Today's the Big Day

Today's the big day!  I step back into high school football after a two year hiatus.  I can tell you this, I look forward to it with great anticipation, yet I'm very nervous.  A lot has changed since I worked where I'm at now, so I'm having to adapt to that, but hey, change is a good thing.  I'm looking forward to getting to work with some great young men, and having a chance to show my stuff again.

You've got to love spring football.  For those of you in states that do not allow it, it really is a shame.  We get 20 practices here, which even includes a game.  We will play an inter squad scrimmage and a full game against an opponent from around the area.  It is very good work, and allows you to evaluate your talent going into the fall.  To be honest, I've never put much stock in the game itself, but the game can be a big stepping stone when growing a program.  Winning that game is a good spring board going into the summer workouts, conditioning and camp.  I use it simply for an evaluation tool of where we are at as a team or as a unit (offense/defense/DL/OL etc.).

I'm back coaching the position I love, which is the secondary, and coordinating defense.  We'll see how this goes!  Here's a couple of motivational videos to get you going this morning.  Don't sit, get up, don't walk, run, don't wait, seize the moment!  Just thought I'd share this with you, and for those that are starting up spring ball around the country, good luck and GATA!!!!

Duece

So You Want to Be the Head Ball Coach???

There's more to this than you think!

This is the time of year when coaching jobs are opening up daily, and younger coaches are putting together their resumes and getting their interviewing skills polished up.  I think many, if not all young coaches aspire to one day be the head coach of their own team, and rightfully so, that's how our American society works.  We are taught from a very young age to attain the highest level of achievement possible, so wanting to be the "boss" is not a bad thing by any means.  However, what I think a lot of folks miss, is what is it, exactly that the head football coach does?  I'm going to go through some of my experiences, and then give my opinion on where I'm at in my career and what my direction is going to be.  Hopefully this will steer some of you in your decision as those jobs keep popping up on your state association's websites.

What Does it Mean to be Head Coach?
You need to sit down and ask yourself, what this means.  I used to think it meant I got to run my stuff, how I wanted it, when I wanted it, and if somebody didn't like it they could pound sand!  Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Being the head coach means entirely different things at different places.  Of the hundred or so guys I played college and high school football with, I know of nine that are currently head coaches.  Every one of their programs is different, and some quite glaringly different.  This is the top factor to keep in mind when selecting a job to interview for, in my opinion.  You need to ask yourself, and the school where you are interviewing, "What is the job description for the head football coach?".  You might be quite shocked that folks have no clue as to what the job description for a high school football head coach is.  Mainly they want you to win, period, and some places may have a clearly defined set of parameters that they want the head coach to live up to, which is much better than working for folks who have no clue what they want other than a "winner". 

Again, what does it mean to be the head football coach at a high school, or anywhere for that matter.  I think the number one thing young candidates forget is the scrutiny in which you will be judged.  Remember, all the good things that happen are because of you and the bad things are because of you.  It does not matter that little Timmy can't bench press 100 pounds and is your starting tight end, or that you have three FBS running backs in your backfield, everything will revolve around YOU.  This comes as a shock to many new coaches, and some simply can't hack it.  Society has deemed the job this way, you either get used to it and evolve with it, or you will certainly get tossed by the wayside when you can't cope. 

I will give you an example.  I have a buddy, who took over a decent program a few years ago, they had won a state championship in school history and they had been to the playoffs a few years before falling on down times and firing their third year coach (whose best record at the time was 5-5).  In comes the new coach, right about the time that a crop of talented young freshmen were making their way on campus, having won two Pop Warner regional championships and one Pop Warner state championship, these guys were loaded.  A lot of these players started as freshmen and sophomores as my buddy had a little "house cleaning" to do when he got there.  Anyhow, long story short, they played for the state championship two years ago and lost by one point.  They did with 7 kids that were signed to FBS scholarships, 7 kids who went to FCS teams, 2 that played Division II ball, and 5 that went Division III or NAIA.  The next season, when the cupboard was bare, this team that was 11-3 the year before, went 5-5 and didn't even make the playoffs.  The following season they went 6-4, but also missed the playoffs, and my buddy is now no longer coaching there.  The reason, he didn't run a successful program.  Was he a good coach?  I think he his, hell I coached three years with him, and I thought he was a fine coach, but what do I know?  Did he win with just talent?  Maybe so, but talent is part of the picture when it comes to winning.  I have always defined success as when coaching meets talent.  A lack of either, and you can kiss success goodbye.

So remember, just because you think that being the head coach is the "dream job" you will be viewed under a microscope when it comes to EVERY decision you make.  These are things, as an assistant coach, you don't always see on Friday nights.  Every eye is on your decisions, and the outcomes, without having any inkling of what goes into preparing a bunch of young men to play the game in a week's time. 

You are also going to find that being the head football coach, in some places, has little to do with actual football.  In the grand scheme of things, football will be less than half what you have to do at some places.  I have been involved in programs where the head coach had to do all or some of the things listed below:

• Fundraising- this might seem trivial, but I actually worked at a place where the football staff did no fundraising whatsoever.
• Field Painting- yep, everywhere I've been the coaches have painted the field.  I have friends who look at me like I have an arm growing out of my ass when I say this, but that's just how it is.
• Field Maintenance- Yep, you better believe it, be careful where you apply if you don't want to get those hands dirty!
• Practice setup- I have seen this done different everywhere I've been.  The best place, was where I worked as a DC for the first time, the coaches did nothing when it came to field setup for practice.  We showed up, coached and left...why did I leave????
• Strength and Conditioning- this too has been a 50-50 split where I've been.  Some programs have had S&C coaches on staff, while others did not.  Not a big deal, but it can be a further time suck.
• Booster- I worked one place that the requirement was for the head football coach to be a member of the booster club as well as attend all meetings that were held so long as you were not in season.  My last gig as an assistant coach, the guy I worked for didnt' even know the names of the boosters!  Again, this differs everywhere, and I prefer a happy medium of the two situations I listed.

Some other things, that aren't necessarily school enforced are listed below:

• Manager- that's right, you have to be the macro-manager of the entire ship.  You will be not only managing players, but assistant coaches as well.  Some guys don't see this, as they only see the X's and O's, but you are ultimately responsible for the daily managing of a football program, whose number could easily exceed 100 players, staff and personnel. 
• Counselor- yep, you bet your sweet ass!  I have had to counsel many a young man when it comes to problems, most not having a single thing to do with the gridiron.  Some coaches don't think about this, and it becomes a drag on the job, but in all honesty I enjoyed helping young people, so it didn't bother me.
• Coordinator- at both my head coaching stints, I was also a coordinator.  My first high school job I worked under a guy that was nothing more than a "figure head" coach.  Most schools don't have the money to spend on coaches, so having to coordinate is something you may have to do.  At the very least you might have to be a position coach, which isn't bad, but most coaches I know do have some sort of role as a coordinator on their team.  I even had a friend who was not only the head coach, but was also the offensive AND defensive coordinator where he worked.  Needless to say he was run ragged by the end of each season he coached there.
• Parent- whether you like it or not, to a lot of the players you coach, you will be more of a father figure than they've ever had in their life.  Not many books on coaching spell this out, but it is an ever-growing part of the job that we must realize, and it does take time away from the actual "football" that you could be doing.  This part of the job can also put a lot of stress on you as a coach, so be warned!
• Banker-most places I've been the coaching staff didn't manage there money, however in some places you will have full control over your account and your budget.  If you are not good at accounting, better find a staff member that is.  Also, if you are not good at budgeting, time to start getting better, especially since in most programs you need to get the most out of the dollar you possibly can!
• Problem Solver-this is a big one, because everyone will be looking for you to put out the daily fires within the program.  You need to be quick with this one, as untreated problems within, or game time problems need quick thinking and action in order to solve them.  In one way or another, you will solve several problems throughout the course of a single football season, can you handle that?

I'm sure there's more that I'm missing, but these are basically the "highlights" of what can be asked of a head coach either directly or indirectly. 

Some Questions to ask About the Job You are Interviewing

1. What happened to the previous head coach?  Was he fired?  If so what for?  Did he resign?  If so, why?  Sometimes these answers aren't obvious, but if you can get your hands on the previous head coach, you need to pick his brain.  See why he left, evaluate his reasons and determine if this is still the job for you.  Nothing says that you have to take the job, and it's still wise to interview, but you need to keep some of this stuff in mind during the application process.
2. What is the current staff like?  Are they staying or leaving?  Will they be loyal if you are hired?  Are any of them also interviewing?  Some of this you'll have to find out for yourself after the hire.  You can get a good judge though if you can meet the current staff.  Most high schools don't get rid of entire staff's (though I was a part of a major purging here recently), so you should be able to contact them.  If one is interviewing for the job, just realize he's at an advantage over you in that he's known, however he can become a bigger problem for you if you get the job.
3. What is the administration like?  Are the open and receptive to your ideas, or do they already have an idea of what they want to do with the football program?  How long has the current administration been at the school?  These are serious questions, because the administration is your boss, and you need to know who's running the ship.  Do they seem knowledgeable about football?  If they are is it to the point they would be meddling?  If they are not, are they open to learning about the game and it's impact on the school?  How is the A.D.?  Is the A.D. a "football guy", or is he involved mainly with some other sport?
4. How is the booster club set up and what influence do they have on the hire?  I have been at only one place where the booster club was present at the interview.  This place was terrible, because the boosters basically ran the school, and the football program.  If things weren't done to their liking you got a visit from them, and no head coach has lasted very long at that school.  You need good boosters, but not meddling ones.  Most are meddlesome, however some to the point of being annoying, yet you can get involved with some that are power hungry like I've been involved with.  The power hungry booster club is a recipe for disaster, I highly recommend avoiding them at all costs.
5. What is your budget?  Where does this money come from and how is it used?  I worked at a program that the baseball team kept the money for parking simply because they worked the gate.  THE BASEBALL TEAM!!!!  You got it, and yep, that football program wasn't very good either.  I also coached at a place where we kept the parking money and used it for charter buses to away games.  Nothing better than rolling up in a nice air-conditioned charter bus than the ol' yellow bird anyday.  You need to think about this one seriously because you need money to run a program, and to keep things nice and new to attract players. 
6. How supportive is the community?  This is a big one.  Not only do you need an administration that is supportive, but you will need to have not only parents on board, but local businesses as well.  Most, if not all, good programs, have tremendous support for their local high school athletics, so check this out before interviewing. 
7. What are the facilities like?  Are they in good shape and well kept, or in need of repair and revamping?  If they need to be revamped, is the A.D. and administration open to spending money to get the school's facilities on par with that of your competition?  What is the field like?  Is the football field in good shape?  Who maintains the football field?  You need to know this, because the answer to a lot these questions might be you!  You also need the freedom to keep up with your competition, especially in today's "instant gratification" society.  Kids want to go where it's cool and they can look good.  If you are entering a program that has a 30 year old weight room  and has been using the same jerseys for the past ten seasons, I would LOOK OUT!
8. How has the program been doing both recently and in the past?  Has this program ever been to the playoffs?  Has this program ever won any sort of championship (district, region or state)?  In the words of a former mentor, "Don't go where you can't win".  This is very important, as I know we all want to leave our mark and our legacy turning around that downtrodden team, but believe me, all you are doing is shaving years off your life with the stress you'll ultimately inherit.  Take a long look at the school's history and how things have been in the past.  Why are they this way?  If you can't put your finger on a solution, I suggest avoiding that job altogether.

So I've Got the Job in Mind I Want, Now What Should I Do?
The number one thing I would tell any young coach, is to have a plan.  I would have a three, five and ten year plan developed based on the questions you've asked, as well as the research you've done.  Be very detailed in your plan, describe how you plan on achieving your goals for the program.  Described any changes you would make, and be very descriptive about these changes.  Make your plan liquid though and adaptable, you never know what you might be up against. Sure a part of your plan is to be a state champion, but who's isn't?  Also, how attainable of a goal is that really?  Looking at an example of mine, I worked for a guy at a private high school, that was doing well why I was with my friend, enrollment was at it's highest, as was sport participation.  Things were going good until the recent economic decline, then numbers began to dwindle, as did the facilities because the school was not generating the revenue to keep the facilities up.  Wins dropped off and the coach was to blame, and ultimately got fired in what is now a six man football program that hasn't won a game in the past two seasons (my friend has not been there for five years now, and I've not been there for over ten).  One of the parts of my friend's plan was that the team would be competitive and win championships, which he did in his first six seasons at the school, however once the talent level decreased and numbers dropped, so did the record.  His plan wasn't "fluid" enough to cover the bad times.  We know as a coach, we are all going to experience these bad times, you need to have this built in to your plan, and what the football program will look like, and be trying to do during these times. 

In reality, winning should NEVER be a part of your plan, and I know this sounds stupid, but when you have to "run what you brung" in high school football, you need to be careful with stating winning as your ultimate goal.  This is why I refer to the movie Facing the Giantsbecause in this movie, the team's goal is altered and they actually start winning.  Now I know, that's fairy-tale bullshit to most of you, but if all you coach for is wins, you are a very hollow person.  I coach, for the betterment of the young men I coach.  I want them to be better fathers, husbands, and members of society, so that this great country can prosper.  That is actually in my mission statement for every program I've ever interviewed for.  I don't coach to win, winning is secondary to our ultimate goal of making better men out of our players.  I think that is what every football coach's mission statement should say, but what the hell, I'm biased!

When you present your plan, be ready for questions.  Actually, you should prepare to be questioned.  You have to realize that Columbus was probably seriously questioned when he set sail for the New World...so will you.  Your plan may be new or foreign, many folks may even use the age old axiom "That can't be done here".  Don't let them sway you, stay true to your plan and your goals for the program when presenting the material.  Answer the interviewers honestly, and if you don't know, simply tell them, I do not know the answer at this time, but if that situation every arises, I will figure out a solution to the problem.

Whatever your plan is, it should be about the program and the players, and how the program will benefit the players and the school.  The administrators want to hear how you are going to bring school pride into the school, how you are going to help handle some of the more "troubled" kids by using football as a tool to reach these young men.  This is where you need to understand that being the head coach is so much more than just football.  I don't think many guys figure this out until it's too late, and unfortunately I was one of those guys.

My future
I don't know that I will ever head coach again, to be honest, it's not been fun for me.  I don't like the daily grind of things that aren't football, yet I completely enjoy the daily grind of football.  I really enjoy being a coordinator, however, after being an interim head coach last year, and the guy I'm working for retiring here soon, I'm sure the opportunity will arise for me to take over the head coaching role at the school I'm currently at.  This will be a big crossroad for me, as I've enjoyed being a coordinator for over five years now, but there is something in all of us that says "I want to be the boss".  We shall see, but the way I feel currently is that I will more than likely turn down the job, and at that point try to get back into high school football.  Anyhow, I hope this was a rewarding piece of information for those that are currently seeking employment as a high school head football coach.  Don't take that title lightly, as there's more to it than most realize!

Duece

2012 In Review

Whew! Well, it's over. Having lost the league championship, yet finishing 7-1 on the season, many would say that was a great year. I think, however, that this past season has been one of the most unbelievable rides I've ever been on. I want to take time out to share this with you, and maybe you can see some of my shortcomings and some things we did to take advantage of some of our situations etc. Hell, analyze my situations and see what you'd have done differently, I'm all for that. Whatever you can take from this season, I'd be glad to, and whatever you can add, please, by all means shoot me an email at footballislifeblog@yahoo.com.

Lessons Learned
The first thing I learned is that the Unbalanced Single Wing (UBSW) is a pretty cool offense.  My hat's off to Dave Cisar's system as we were able to install it from the ground up and had great success with it.  We ended up having the Power series, the Spin series and Jet series in at the start of the season and never really added anything after that.  Our Jet series really came alive in the latter part of the season once folks had film on us and knew what we were going to be doing.  The other thing is the UBSW is one of the most fun offenses I've ever coached in (yes including Flexbone).  The simplicity of it is so simple, yet because so many folks have not seen the offense in decades, it creates quite a bit of confusion for the defense.  Anyhow, it was very fun to coach in, and I got numerous questions from parents, coaches and even the officials!

I have had tragedy strike during football season, but none like this season.  I've never lost a player, and I've never had this much tragedy strike.  Losing two parents, and a player in the span of four days was the most incredibly terrible thing I've had to witness as a human being.  Then having to put it all together and put it out there on the field was pretty tough too.  I was amazed at the resiliency of the young men I coached.  I actually think THEY helped ME deal with it all.  Then in the end, we lost a player to a very serious back injury, that may have ended his football career.  Thankfully enough, the young man will walk, however football is probably out for the rest of his life.  In all this tragedy I felt like the young men were able to keep it together, keep things in perspective and lose themselves in the game, exactly like I would have them do.  I can't say enough about the quality of the young men I coached this year, as our character shined through time and time again this season.

I have to learn to enjoy the season more.  I have just went through a 7-1 season, in which we set the record for best season in school history, and I feel as though we failed.  The season ended two weeks ago, and yet I cannot come to the realization that we did good, despite not winning our league title.  I'm not sure how you ever get over what we had happen at the end of the season where we come up short on a goal we set out to accomplish, but if you have any suggestions, send them my way, as I'm still hurting.

The 46 defense is a great defense, but it does have its limitations.  I found out exactly what those were this season.  The seven technique in that defense nearly got us killed this year and I didn't have that kid to fill that position.  A year ago, we in our league we faced no 21 personnel teams whatsoever.  The breakdown was as follows:

• 5- 10 personnel teams
• 2- 20 personnel teams

So as you can see the need for a dominant seven technique was not needed.  In comes the 2012 season, and boy look at how things change:

• 3-21 personnel teams
• 1- 11 personnel team
• 3- 10 personnel teams

Much different mix than a year before.  Anyhow, the addition of the tight end to the scheme really hurt us as I just did not have that player to sacrifice at the seven technique position.  Now, normally I'm a four man front guy, but I work for somebody and he likes the odd front, so I ran the 46 with 3-3 personnel.  Well, I moved to a true 3-3 for two games to try and stunt/blitz my way into some things, and I did not care for this at all.  The kids liked it, but we were sloppy with our execution of the blitzes and when you are sloppy in the 3-3, the holes show up BIG TIME.  So then I moved back to my old staple, the 4-2-5.  I played cover 3 with it and mixed in some man to man, and things started to tighten up.  Now I have the blessings of my boss, I get to run whatever I want next season.  Looks like I'm going back to the ol' 4-2-5!

Be ready for anything.  Here I was cruising along as a coordinator, and BAM, all of a sudden I got the head coach title slapped on me.   Three weeks before the season comes up, my boss, the head coach, has a mild heart attack. Now, I'm freaking out because this is a guy who has been a mentor of mine for years and is the epitome of a class act. Now I'm sitting there in a hospital room with him telling me, "You're it, go coach em' up kid". To which I dang near soil myself! Now, I've been a head coach in career twice, and I have to say this, I didn't care for it to be honest. The politics, the whining parents, the nagging administration, it just wasn't for me. I like my job as the defensive coordinator as I'm free to do what I want, when I want, and how I want. Sure, you do have some of that freedom as the head guy, but there's just too much political BS involved for my taste.  Anyhow, things went smooth and I didn't have much in the way of headaches from the parents, but then again winning cures everything.  Just be ready for anything, you never know what you will face, or what you will come up against.  In retrospect, looking back on the past season being able to do what we did with the tragedy we had AND an interim coach, I'm really quite amazed. 

Be ready for anything grasshopper...

Don't do too much.  I really put too much on my defense at times.  Our offense and special teams won us a lot of games, which is the EXACT opposite of how my other successful teams have won (in the past I've been more like UF is now).  Anyhow, winning is winning, so I'll take it, but not playing solid defense came down to me.  I have to do better in that department and keep less on the defense and just "let them play".

Special teams are special.  Our special teams unit single handily was the most outstanding unit on the field this season, with our punt team and kickoff return team leading all groups.  We returned a school record (and league most) 8 kickoffs for touchdowns this season.  Punting-wise we averaged 43.4 yards per punt in JUNIOR HIGH (yes, my punter was a stud) and we converted EVERY fake we attempted this season (four for four).  We only had to punt a grand total of 10 times this season, which is a third less than last season (34 times).  We did give up one blocked punt this season and had one bad snap, which was our total from a year ago, so we did not get better there.  We did not allow a single kickoff return for a touchdown as we followed the "onside every time" philosophy this year (that's after giving up 4 KOR's for touchdowns the year before).  Now, we did not have a very accurate field goal kicker, so we did not even have a field goal team, but we averaged a dismal 43% on our two-point conversions this season, which must get better.  All in all, I was impressed with our special teams, and our ability to flip the field position on our opponent was second-to-none in our league.

Get everyone involved.  Another lesson I took from Dave Cisar, was to get as many players involved as you can.  Our retention rate was unreal this season.  We had 44 kids show up day one, and by the start of the first game we had all 38 uniforms filled, and did not have to have cuts (we had three kids quit, one get hurt, and two others did not have the grades).  By the end of the season we finished our final game dressing 34 players due to injuries.  NOBODY quit after the initial 38 were selected.  This is after a season in which we finished with 22 kids after starting with 28 (four quit, 1 was kicked off, and 1 was injured).  Our ability to get everyone involved both in practice and in games was essential to this retention rate.  Another thing I implemented was the "Buddy System".  Each eighth grader was responsible for a seventh grade teammate.  They exchanged phone numbers and had to answer weekly questions about their partners in front of the team.  I think the Buddy System really helped our overall team chemistry and kept us from having individual "cliques" within our group of 38. 

Tackle everyday.  The head coach and I disagreed on this originally, but since implementing this in his absence he has seen the light.  We were AWESOME tacklers this season compared to last.  Last year it took three to four guys to slow a ball carrier up, whereas this season we had several guys make solo tackles.  On film, the biggest difference is that the first guy would get the ball carrier down instead of holding on why the others got there.  We literally tackled everyday for the first month of the season.  After that we tackled on Monday and Wednesday with Monday being full bore tackling stations, and Wednesday being fit and freeze only.  The last two weeks of the season we tapered off to just fit and freeze type drills on Monday only. 

Alignment and Assignment and Fit-and-Freeze drills are essential at this age.  I have always been a big team guy.  I want to see reps and I want to see them live.  Well, in researching practice methodology over the past few years, I have found the good ones don't do this.  They do a lot of FNF and AA drills instead.  I cut our live team time on offense in half this season and we rarely went live on defense.  Offensively we did FNF on Monday, with live team on Tuesday and all plays on air on Wednesday, which included simulating game situations.  Defensively, we did FNF on Monday, Inside Drill on Tuesday and Seven-on-Seven on Wednesday.  Now if a team we were facing had very little passing threat we would do a live defensive team on Tuesday and then do Inside Drill on Wednesday.  Special teams we did at least one live per week.  Early on in preseason we did all of them live, but as the season progressed we cut that down to 2 a week, then at the end we did not do any live special teams.  FNF really improved, not only our technique, but our younger players confidence as well.  There's a lot you take for granted when it comes to coaching and one thing was my players level of development, and boy did I undershoot it.  That was clearly evident from my coaching last season.  This season was much better as we took the approach that our players knew absolutely nothing about the game and we were starting at the ground floor. 

The No-Huddle offense is the way to go.  I have dabbled with no-huddle in the past, but not like I did this season.  Now we were no Oregon, but in our live team sessions we averaged about 25 plays a session, which is better than a play a minute.  We had two speeds, regular and 9-1-1.  9-1-1 was our hurry up stuff and we really did well with that.  In three out of our eight games we scored right before halftime using our up-tempo pace and the largest amount of time we had was 1:18.  In game three we scored on a four play 61 yard drive with 55 seconds left in the half and one timeout.  In game five we scored on a five play 77 yard drive with 1:09 left and two timeouts.  In game seven we scored on a five play 48 yard drive with 1:18 left to go and one timeout remaining.  These were points we'd not have gotten last season, and in games four and seven they were the difference in the game.  If you are still huddling, you are wasting a lot of time, and I don't mean in the games.  The benefit we saw from going no-huddle is not in the games, but in practice.  We doubled our reps on practice, by far and in the games you automatically have a two-minute offense built in.  We can't go hurry up because a lot of our players play both ways, but still, we went no-huddle to improve efficiency in practice time and eliminate wasted time. 

Things to Improve On

Practice efficiency.  There was still a lot of wasted time in practice.  Now, mind you, we were practicing for easily two-and-a-half hours a year ago, and cut that down to two hours on average this season.  Still, there are areas where we need to improve and be able to get these kids home at a decent hour.  I have pushed and pushed, but the coaches I have are not really taking to the up-tempo like I am.  I don't have the luxury of firing anyone either as I was glad to have the other two helping me.  Anyhow, I will continue to work with them and push for MAXIMUM efficiency until we get it.

Relaxing.  I have a tough time turning off football, and even though this is Junior High football, I still constantly watched film, breaking things down and even took things so far as creating scouting reports (our league allows us to scout and trade film).  I also have a tough time detaching from the game, even in the off-season.  I simply cannot get my mind off the game, and I have to, or else I'm afraid burn-out is coming.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Finding a kicker.  Holy cow, thank goodness we onside every time, or else I'm not sure what we'd have done.  Also, we could have used a couple of field goals, that thankfully didn't come back to haunt us during the season.   I need to learn more about the individual technique of kicking, as to be honest I'm clueless.

Getting over the wall.  Our player development went good for the first six games.  Then we seemed to hit a wall where nobody really improved except for the younger players.  This concerns me, because it's the second year in a row I felt this way.  I even felt as though some of our players went backwards in their development, which is a really bad scenario.  Several players plateaued about that time in the season, and our toughest games were towards the end of the season.  I need to find ways to keep the young men motivated for an entire season, and keep developing their skills.  I know there comes a point in the season where getting any better is slim to none, but you CAN improve at least a little bit every day...right?

Handling a loss.  My favorite quote is one I live by..."I hate to lose even more than I love to win".  This is me in a nutshell.  A win to me is a win, nothing big about it, you did your job, you won.  A loss is failure though, and unacceptable.  I have a hard time coming to grips with losing, and when you lose the league championship on the last game of the season when you've gone 7-0, it really becomes are a hard pill to swallow. 

Dealing with officials.  I guess I'm getting a bit crotchety in my old age, as I had a few of those yeller' hankies thrown on me this season.  However, I must say, our referees made the NFL replacement refs look like officiating scholars.  Anyhow, this does not bode well when teaching young men about dealing with adversity.  I'm sure that official did not need me to bite his head off, I should merely "explain" my point of view, rather than trying to stuff it down his throat.  Point taken!

Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?

Well, that's my 2012 in review.  I feel with what my little guys went through this season, and where they came from, it has been a success story.  I'd love to have a trophy to put in the case (believe me, we need one, that damn thing is bare), but the memories of this season will go down as a special one in my book.  I have to say, watching young men conquer adversity like this bunch did, was quite a site to see.  I only hope next year we can do the same...

Duece

P.S.- For those headed to the playoffs, now's not the time to let up, keep on keepin' on!!!  Good luck!

Great to be on the Gridiron Again!!!

Well, after a few days of practice, things are going awesome!  I can honestly say junior high ball is not what I remembered and to be quite honest I'm tickled pink just to be out on the field again.  This makes my 27th consecutive year I've been involved with football, and I honestly think, I love it more and more each day.  I think the thing we, as coaches, need to ask of ourselves when we are coaching and feeling in a rut is "Can I go on without being a part of the game?".  I honestly believe I would have struggled taking a year off.  Part of me felt relieved I wasn't coaching, but a much larger part of me was bothered by not being around the game, and most notably the young men's whose lives you impact. 

Today was especially great, as our numbers have increased into the fifties!  This is a school that finished with just 24 on the roster last season.  There's a certain excitement in the air, that you just love to see on a football field.  The kids are excellent, I've never been told "yes sir" and "thank you sir" so many times in my life!  We also have a little bit of talent too, and good chemistry, despite not having much experience.  Anyhow, the only negative thing looming ahead of us is that we only have uniforms for about forty kids, so we are going to have to have cuts, which sucks, but such is life!

I just wanted to share this little tidbit of information with you guys, especially those that may be down in the dumps or worn down a bit.  Can you function without the game?  Ask this of yourself, and see what the answer is.  I know I could, but I wouldn't be happy, was my answer.  Now, I'm so happy you couldn't beat the smile off my face!




Try gettin' that smile off!

Some good links to look at, a lot of bloggers have been busy here lately.  Smart Football has been loaded with everything from Tom Moore's new job, to the Run and Shoot's Go package and here lately the good ol' speed option.  Check em' out over there, some very good reading on all different aspects of the game.

Brophy, or the "Godfather" of football blogging as I choose to call him, has some very good stuff over at his blog on Noel Mazzone and the one-back offense.  His latest post has EXCELLENT video clips on Alex Gibbs and the stretch run game.  Good stuff brutha!

Becoming a Man For All Seasons has a very intricate view into defensive game planning.  For most of us, that is happening at a rapid pace right now, and even though in-season research is tough, this is a good read on the number one topic a DC should be looking in to right now.

Coach Hoover has a great post on ball security.  We worked some of his drills today with our running backs and I can tell you, we have a LONG way to go in terms of teaching ball security.  This is a much overlooked concept in teaching young running backs, but this is where the foundation must be set.  Check out the post, as usual Coach, you've done a great job explaining the foundation for which all running back's should be coached upon.




Doh!

A couple of new places I've found is DumCoach.com and Understanding the Trickeration.  Both seem like very good sites, worthy of looking at.  DumCoach is a forum geared toward youth coaches and schemes where Understanding the Trickeration is a good all around site with excellent explanations on offense, defense and special teams.  There are also some very good technical diagrams on that site to take advantage of.  Good job to both sites! 

Well, I'm off to plan tomorrow's practice, and thanking my lucky stars I have that opportunity.  Again, ask yourself the question I posed above and see just where you fit.  GATA!!!!

Duece

Something Shared...

This was shared to me before Parent's Weekend in college.  We were playing in a big conference game and our head coach shared this with us on Friday night prior to our Saturday afternoon game.  I don't know if it helped us win that next day or not, but I know it sure touched me, and it help motivate me.  I thought I'd share it with you as it's a good story nonetheless.  So here goes:

This was a story told by Bennett Cerf, a long-time sports announcer and was shared with me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Lou Little was head football coach at Columbia University. Prior to that, he held a similar post at Georgetown. One year there was a youngster on the squad who was no great shakes as a football player, but whose personality served as a morale booster for the whole team. Little was deeply fond of the boy. He liked the proud way he walked arm in arm with his father on the campus from time to time. If the team was far enough ahead, he even let him get into a game occasionally for the last few minutes of play.

One day, about a week before the big finale with Fordham, the boy’s mother called Lou on the phone. “My husband died this morning of a heart attack,” she said. “Will you please break the news to my boy? He’ll take it better if it comes from you.”

Little did what was necessary, and the boy went home sorrowfully.

He was back three days later, and came straight to Lou Little. “Coach,” he begged, “I want to say something to you that means an awful lot to me. I want to start in that game against Fordham. I think it’s what my father would have liked most.”

Little hesitated and then agreed. “O.K. son, you’ll start; but you’ll only be in there for a play or two. You aren’t quite good enough, and you know it.”

True to this word, Little started the boy — but never took him out. For sixty full, jarring minutes, he played inspired football, running, blocking and passing like an All-American, and sparking the team to victory.

Back in the clubhouse, Little threw his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “Son, you were terrific today. You stayed in because you belonged there. What got into you?”

The boy answered, “Remember how my father and I used to go about, arm in arm? There was something about him very few people knew. My father was totally blind. This afternoon was the first time he ever saw me play.”

Gentlemen, let’s let tonight be the first time they see us play.  Let’s let tonight be the first time our families see us play, and let’s let tonight be our night…together!

You never know when something like this will come in handy, so that's why I'm sharing.  I felt it was an awesome story.  Hopefully you can use it too and share it with your team as my coach did with me.

Football season is looming in the distance, hopefully you're ready!  If not, get up to speed with some new defensive posts over at Cripes!  Get Back to Fundamentals.  As usual, Brophy has put together some great posts (here and here) that will help you defensive guys dot your i's and cross your t's before the season.

Smart Football has an AWESOME article on the science of whether or not to go for two.  I find it hard to believe that an NCAA Division I coach, at the time of the game mentioned in the article, would make such a bonehead mistake, but he did!  I had a head coach that thought the exact same way.  Very good reading to start your season off with a game management topic. 

Also, remember it's very hot out there, keep those athletes hydrated and cool.  Football is Life, but it's not WORTH a LIFE, so don't push it too far as you start fall camp.

Good luck coaches!!!

Duece