Position Changes?

During the last two weeks high school coaches around the country have been preparing their teams for the first game and I hope all is going well for all of you. I know from experience that many of you have been moving guys around a little bit trying to find that right combination. Good coaches seem to have a knack for getting their personnel in the right spot. It has to be a place that benefits the team as well as the player. Maximize talent, ability, giving your athletes the best chance to be successful.

I remember a time many years ago when we really needed another inside linebacker and as a staff discussed at length on a solution. We decided in preseason to move an outstanding D tackle to inside backer. For two weeks we worked with him confident that we he could handle it. He was about 6-1 200 pounds and moved well. Our first game came against a very good opponent and we had him ready as we could. It was a disaster, he was lost. When I watched the film it was even worse. I talked to him and we both decided it would be in the team's and HIS best interests if we moved him back to tackle. We lost that opener but went on to a fine 8-3 season.

Many of you may be in the same position right now. Perhaps you need to move a player from the backfield to the line. That's the toughest move of all. To a high school kid that's like being banished to Siberia. Communication is key in all position changes. First, talk to the young man and let him know what you're thinking. Explain why this will help the team and talk up his strengths to let him know why you think he can handle it. Tell him that "we'd like you to give it a try and see how it goes." Give him plenty of encouragement but monitor the new change closely. Keep communicating with the athlete and get a feel for what he's thinking and feeling. We might think this is an easy move but remember, he's still a kid.

Football is the ultimate team sport and requires an unselfish attitude from all. It's our job as coaches to keep hammering away at that theme to get everyone on board. We still need to keep the game fun but yet give everyone the best chance to be successful. It can be a tough line to walk sometimes. Chiefpigskin.com

And They're Off!

All across the country high school football is getting underway. It's an exciting time, isn't it? Optimism flows everywhere and all teams are still undefeated. I talked to a coach today who coaches at a small high school (290) and he said, " For the first time ever we have no real holes in our defense. Usually we're hiding at least one linebacker or corner but not this year. We're thin, but solid." Yep, optimism is the order of the day.

Now if you're like me you're probably saying, "We've got two weeks to get ready, how am I going to cover everything we need to get ready?" You look at your list and get overwhelmed. Alignment, responsibilities, technique, coverages, blitzes, fronts, stunts...and that's just defense. Offensively it's the same kind of content except multiple formations, motions, the run game, pass game...you get the idea. Then of course, blocking drills, tackling drills, agility drills, and weight training. Oh, and don't forget special teams, they win and lose ballgames. Punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return, PAT, field goal, onside kick and hands team. All this needs to be ready for game one. How does a coach get to all of this? Remember, you don't need all of your offense and defense installed for the first game. Just the base. You can always put more in as the season goes along every week. Just know your base, believe in it and do it well that first game. Maybe one trick play? Yeah, maybe.

On a side note, have you seen the new $49 million high school football stadium in Allen, Texas? It's got to be the most impressive new high school stadium I've ever seen. Take a look on Maxpreps.com. They are taking some criticism over their priorities. But I've found that schools that have great athletic facilities usually have great academics too. It shows a community cares about their education all around. Also the first week of the season will have some great match ups that I'm looking forward to. Notre Dame and Navy play in Ireland as well as several high school games as preliminaries. Loyola (IL) goes against Jesuit (TX) on Friday night in a match up of high school powers.

Well, it's going to be another exciting season and I know we're all looking forward to it. Good luck to all of you coaches and to your teams. http://www.chiefpigskin.com/

Playing Hard

I heard a college coach the other day talking about his first spring ball scrimmage. He told his players that the only thing he would be evaluating is how hard they play. Not how well they knew their plays, or how correctly they lined up, or even how well they executed, but only how hard they play. That just shows the importance of getting your guys to play hard. But what does that really mean? Does it mean playing hard 75% of the time? 100% of the time? Or getting most of your guys playing hard all of the time? Of course, that would be the goal,100% of your players 100% of the time.

So it just got me thinking about this subject (it seems like I do that a lot), just thinking about things. I started thinking about the overall goal of playing hard. In my mind that would be when all eleven guys are playing hard on every play of the game. Let's say your team has seventy five plays in a game, half on offense and half on defense. Of those seventy five plays you evaluate how many times in that game you actually got all eleven guys playing as hard as they can. Now I realize that could be very hard to measure. It would have to be subjective as you watched the game tape. But let's say after watching the tape you determined that of the seventy five plays, you found that there were ten plays that all eleven of your players played as hard as they can. How good is that? Maybe just getting eight or nine to play hard every play is pretty good, I’m not sure. Then, those three guys that kind of “took the last play off” played like crazy the next play, but two or three guys that played hard the last play took this next play off. There were also ten plays that ten out of your eleven players played as hard as they can. Or, let's say you had five plays in a row that only six or seven guys played as hard as they can. What is actually realistic? So I guess what I'm asking is what would be a realistic goal to determine how hard our team is playing and how many of you out there actually put a number on that? Heck, high school coaches can only watch so many hours of film, we have a full load of classes to teach. When I was coaching I never really sat down and evaluated this number. So, I would be curious as to what the norm is out there. Have any of you ever evaluated this number and determined how it can be quantified?

There are tons of great resources on www.chiefpigskin.com but I don’t recall anything on this subject area. Perhaps some of you can share your ideas here or on Chiefpigskin. Anyway, I’ll just keep sitting around thinking about things and in particular football. That’s what I love anyway!

Footballs Impact

You think football coaches have a lot of influence? Heck yeah, we all know the positive impact a good coach can have on a large group of young men. A lasting impact over a lifetime. But I was reminded of the influence football and football coaches have had in other areas as well.

I was reading an article in the Champaign News-Gazette in which new Illinois football coach Tim Beckman was quoted about his practices. Beckman said, "Our typical spring practice is going to be fast. Constant coaching. We'll coach from stretch to that last whistle. We're going to coach effort. We're going to coach football. We're going to coach enjoying this game we are blessed to play. We're very organized. It's all on paper and ready to roll. Our coaching staff knows it. I'll be as gung ho as ever. We're going to compete in every drill we do. Our practices are fun. They’re fast, but they're fun. You're going to work your tail off. When we get off that field after two hours, they're going to understand they worked for two hours. There's no downtime. We don't have that."

Now I know that's pretty typical for most football practices. But it does point out the fact that football coaches are among the most organized and time efficient people out there. They have to be. How else do you get 100 guys ready to work in such cohesive units? And that knowledge of time management has spilled into other fields as well. I know when I was a head wrestling coach I borrowed some ideas that I learned on the football field. I tried to have a well-organized, fast-moving practice to really challenge kids.

But it appears baseball has learned from football also. I was listening to the radio the other night and Mike Shannon, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals was talking about how spring training these days is much different than before. "I think baseball has learned a lot from football coaches," said Shannon, "the way they become much more organized with no wasted time." I thought that was a pretty good compliment to football coaches and I know other areas of sport and even business have learned from the football world. I think we can all be proud of the positive impact that football has had in many areas of our society. And the thing is, we just keep learning on how to get better. That's what makes sites like Chiefpigskin.com so great. There are hundreds of free videos to help coaches keep learning and keep getting better.

Patience

There was a kindergarten teacher who was getting her students ready to go home for the day. She noticed that one little boy was struggling with his cowboy boots. He was having a hard time getting them on, so she decided to go over and help him. She pushed and pushed, he pulled and pulled, finally, she got the boots on. The little boy looked up at the teacher and said," They’re on the wrong feet." So she took the boots back off of the little boy. She pulled and pulled, he pushed and pushed, and finally they got the boots off. She switched the shoes to the other feet and pushed and pushed as the little boy pulled. Finally, they got the boots back on. The little boy looked at the boots, then looked at his teacher and said, “These are not my boots." So, the teacher helped him get the boots back off with much pushing and pulling. When they finally got them off the little boy looked at the teacher and said, "They are my brother’s boots. My mom told me to go ahead and wear them today”. So the teacher helped the little boy put the boots back on. She pushed; he pulled until they got the boots back on. She took the little boy over to get his coat on and helped him with his coat and put on his hat. "Where are your mittens?" she asked. "They’re in my boots," replied the little boy.

Patience is required of a kindergarten teacher. Heck, patience is required of all of us. We need to have patience with our own children, our spouse, friends, and coworkers. And we certainly need to have patience with our team when the season is not going as planned. Or, maybe the season is going like you thought it would. You knew it was going to be a long year. Either way, this is the time of year when we are tested. Not everyone is undefeated or only has 1 or 2 losses at this point. For every 7-0 team there is an 0-7. For every 6-1 team there is a 1-6, and so on. I’ve been on both sides and believe me; I know how tough it is to hang in there with many disappointments.

But the fact is we have to keep coaching, keep teaching, and keep doing things the right way. The kids deserve that, and they’re watching us. So my encouragement to you is to be patient and stay the course. When all is said and done, you won’t be sorry. By the way, I’ve noticed on Chiefpigskin.com that some of the teams doing documentaries are struggling. Not all are winning every game. Real teams, real life, and we’re all in it together.

For the teams that are winning, it’s getting exciting. The playoffs are just around the corner and I can’t wait. Good luck down the stretch!

How To Survive an Anaconda Attack

From a 1970’s Peace Corps Manual

1. Do not run. The snake is faster than you are.
2. Lie flat on the ground, put your arms tight against your sides and your legs tight against each other.
3. Tuck your chin in.
4. The snake will begin to nudge and climb over your body.
5. Do not panic.
6. The snake will begin to swallow your feet first.
7. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.
8. When the snake has reached your knees, reach down, take your knife, slide it into the side of the snake's mouth between the edge of its mouth and your leg. Quickly rip upward, severing the snake's head.
9. Be sure you have your knife.
10. Be sure your knife is sharp.

I like those last two instructions. Be sure you have your knife and be sure your knife is sharp. Now I really don’t know if these were authentic instructions from a Peace Corp manual but it illustrates one thing; when going into the jungle, you’d better be prepared. You’d better be prepared for being a coach, for being a father, for being a husband – heck, you’d better be prepared for going to the grocery store. And you’d darn well better be prepared for the season coming up just around the corner in August. Players are in the weight room, camps are rolling, and coaches are meeting. Everyone is in preparation mode and I always found it kind of exciting just getting ready for the season. In fact, there were times as I began to prepare and thought of all the scenarios we had to be ready for, I sometimes got overwhelmed.

We can’t be prepared for everything, there are situations that come up that no one could have anticipated. But how we react to those situations can be the difference between a win or a loss. Especially in high school if a starter gets injured we may have just lost a position on offense and defense. We may have just lost our wing player on the PAT team and we may have just lost our contain man on the kickoff team. By losing one player we just had to replace four spots on the football team. You get the idea.

Here’s hoping that all of you coaches out there are having a wonderful summer and that all preparations are being made. Take some time with the family and don’t neglect those opportunities that come along at improving yourself and being prepared to being a better father and husband as well as a coach. We’ll talk about that sometime and don’t forget to check out www.chiefpigskin.com for more ideas on being prepared for the season. By the way, has anyone out there ever had to follow those instructions to survive an Anaconda?

Staying on the Trail

I take no pleasure in watching any good man take a fall-I still believe coach Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State coach is a good man, but he made some obvious mistakes. I am saddened by the resignation of Tressel at OSU. How the heck does a guy make such poor decisions and lose his dream job? I can imagine his thoughts and tears as he cleans out his office. Does he have to pay the consequences for his actions? Oh, sure. But I'm not going to criticize, there will be plenty of people that do that. Besides, I’ve made my share of mistakes, worse than Tressel’s. I'm not going to rant about all of the other issues that come up with this subject. Yes, the money in college football has become too big. Yes, there is too much pressure on college football coaches to win. The pressure to win overcame Tressel’s good judgement. Yes, the recruiting has become ridiculous. But those are all other stories.

The point is this; we are all one bad decision from losing our dream job or our steps to our dream job. We're all one bad decision from losing our reputation. We are all one bad decision or step away from losing our family. Don't take anything for granted, don't get complacent in where you are.

We've all got to stay on the trail, the good trail of life that God has intended for us. Off the trail is all kind of temptation, glitter, and shortcuts. After Tressel made a mistake (or two) he tried to fix things by taking a shortcut instead of being honest. Shortcuts are tempting. The short cut led to a disastrous patch of underbrush and thistles that became so entangling it cost him his job. We've got to stay on the trail-not get sidetracked-not take shortcuts. When we do get off the trail, and we all do at some point, we must admit our blunders and honestly get back on the trail. We won't be sorry.

The Trip That Never Was

I think for the most part I did a pretty good job of spending time with my kids and family and doing some fun things. I suppose we could all do better, but there is one particular instance that has always bothered me. In fact, it’s bothered me a lot over the years. I have always been a big baseball fan and my son also loves baseball. The idea came to me one time that my son and I should take a baseball trip for about a week or two during the summer. Now this was when my son was about eight years old and I figured we had the next few years to make this trip. He would be the perfect age. This was back in the mid-to-late 80’s and baseball games were still much more affordable than they are now. Here was the plan. We would travel during the day from baseball town to baseball town, get tickets and see a ball game, then spend the night in a nearby state park campground. By leaving early in the morning we could travel to the next city, get a campsite, and then head to the ballpark. After the game, go to our tent (yes, tent) get some sleep, then do it again the next day in another city. This way, we could catch a lot of ballgames in different cities, see a lot of different parks and spend the night camping. The whole idea, I thought, would be an affordable trip. Not only affordable but a lot of fun too.

I figured we would head out for the East from central Illinois and then loop on back to the Midwest. As I looked at the map it looked like we could hit cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, New York, and come back visiting St. Louis and then back home. Oh yeah, we could visit Cooperstown in New York and see the Hall of Fame. In this way we could get some good father-son time together, travel to some great cities and ballparks, and campout at night. I thought it was a great idea and really believed we would get it done someday.

Of course we all know how busy football coaches can be in the summertime. We had our summer camp, we had weight room supervision, seven on seven games, and of course coaches meetings. On top of that, if www.chiefpigskin.com had been around, I would've been learning more football. Besides all this I was a driver education teacher and so I taught a lot of driver ed. in the summer. Some people think that teachers have the summer off but I sure never did. I was always very busy with other things.

Before I knew it my son was 10 and we still hadn’t taken the trip. But I told him someday we would. And I meant it. Before I could blink he had turned 12 and we still hadn’t taken the trip but I assured him that SOMEDAY we would. The next thing I knew, you guessed it, he had turned 14 and it was his turn to start playing high school football. Now he was just as busy with football as I was. And guess what? We didn't take that baseball trip I planned on all those years. By this time we were in the early 90’s and it just didn't get done. It's one of the things that I look back on now with regret. We should've taken that trip and I’m still convinced it was a great idea. I guess the moral of this story is to take time out from that busy schedule to do something different and fun with kids.

Years later when he was in college, my son and I took a cool trip together over spring break and had a great time. Maybe I’ll tell that story sometime. But you know what? I’ve got three grandsons now and I’m starting to get this neat idea…