A lot of coaches like talking Xs and Os, which is the easy part of coaching. The scheming and game planning is the chess match we all signed up for and love to do. However, as head coaches we take on a little more than just the scheme these days. When you get your shot to be a head coach, for most of us, we don’t inherit a program that wins and is used to winning. Most times, as new head coaches, we take over the challenging program, one that has not won or doesn’t do so consistently. This presents us as coaches with an entirely different challenge aside from Xs and Os. What I am hoping to do in this blog is present young coaches, like myself, with insight on what worked for us in turning a program around, and diving into practice organization as well.
As a new head coach at a school that is not winning, you have several challenges. Our main one is structure. I really believe that discipline solves many issues. When you arrive at a school most often you find that there has been a lack of accountability. Now discipline can refer to many things and you must choose your battles as a coach, but one thing I believe that is paramount is to establish a set of clearly defined expectations and routines. Young adults are looking for discipline and structure. Discipline is not yelling and screaming.
I was at a program that did that as an assistant and all you got were underachieving, beaten-down players who were scared to make mistakes. One of the ways we did this was to establish clear guidelines and a discipline matrix. Every player was handed a manual that clearly outlined what it takes to be a “Mustang”. We posted that online for the parents as well on our team website. We had every player read, review, and sign the consent page at the back, as well as their parents. Second, we established clear routines. We set a schedule and followed it. We didn’t leave players guessing. Every coach in our program had a schedule every day and we were on the same page. That seems simple, but when you are not winning, the first thing you do is try different things, you have to have the courage to stick with your plan and know it is right, even in the face of criticism.
We posted our daily schedule on our website as well. Most times our players did not even need to check the site because they knew from expectations what was going on. Third, we established firm, unbending consequences to rules. For example, if a player misses turning in his weekly grade repor, he knows that Tuesday afternoon he will be completing our “Fence Line Run”. If he tries to skip study hall, the player will sit at a desk and study on the 50-yard line during practice. This sends the message to our team that grades are #1 in our program and they will be held accountable. Fourth, we established an incentive program for our athletes. I stole this idea from Coach Jeremy Plaa at Downey, HS (CA). We use Pride Points. We award players “Pride Points” for a variety of activities such as earning A’s in class, community service, camps, workout attendance, fundraising, and many other activities. Players use these points to earn rewards. The rewards range from keeping their jersey to first choice of equipment. Fifth, we established toughness within our program and did not accept anything less. We train to develop mental and physical toughness. We did activities such as having the US Marines put our guys through their Combat Fitness Course. We did not allow our guys to back off or back down from any challenge we put forth. Sixth, we made competition a premium. During our off-season training, we provided opportunities for our guys to compete every week against each other. We use “Platoons” and have competitions between them each week. We hold an event the players look forward to every week called “Mustang Wars” on Thursdays to end workouts. Our guys will compete with their “platoons” in events and we keep track of all the results.
Finally, a major component to developing our program was changing the way they had practiced. The team had multiple coaches in the last decade, so practice procedures were unclear due to all the turnover. We implemented a No-Huddle, Spread attack. Initially we had planned on using the Air Raid scheme, but due to our personnel, we transitioned quickly to a fast paced Zone Read attack. In practice, we emphasized tempo of practice and coaching on the run. We rarely slowed the pace down. We wanted our assistant coaches to coach off film or sub a player out to coach him on a mistake. We attempted to platoon our players, but we did have certain players who played both sides of the ball. There is zero down time for our guys. For example, during special teams we have our special teams coordinator running the drills with the assistance of 1-2 other coaches. The rest of the staff took all players not involved and got back into group drills, such as pursuit, go, routes versus air, etc. It was a rare occurrence to see a Meade player standing still on the field. However, in general we tried to have players practice their position 5 days a week. Here is a generalized example of a typical game week organization:
SATURDAY POSTGAME SCHEDULE 11/3/12
- Coaches Arrive – 7:30am
- Players Arrive – 7:50am
- Players Strength Workout (Bell & Leach) – 8am
- Varsity Staff Film Breakdown
- JV Staff Hudl Tagging Previous Game
- Film (By Unit) – 8:45am
- JV Staff Continue
- Corrections – Previous Game
- Next Opponent
- Players To Field – 10:15am
- Special Teams Shake Out – 10:30am
- EOP – 11:15am
- Opportunity Assignments (Rolls, Tower Run, etc.) – 11:20am
- Head Coach Email – 7pm Sunday (Final Plan, Schedules, Depth Charts)
Weights:
LOWER BODY WEIGHTROOM: 3×8 Superset 1 – Squat with Pull Ups, 50 Twisties
UPPER BODY WEIGHTROOM: 3×8 Superset 2 – Bench with 25lb Plate Twisty, 50 Sit Ups
Conditioning: 10-Minute Run
Shake Out Schedule:
1) Special Teams: Corrections – 15 min.
2) Special Teams Call Outs – 10 min.
3) Special Teams Adjustments – 20 min.
THURSDAY PREGAME PRACTICE AGENDA 11/1/12
2:15 – TEAM MEETING (FILM OR GAME PLAN REVIEW)
3:30 – FLEX
3:45 – SCRIPT
4:35 – SPECIAL SITUATIONS
5:00 – EOP
THURSDAY PREGAME SPECIAL SITUATIONS TO COVER 8/30/12
1. 2 Point Plays
2. Punt – Regular, Quick Kick, Fake
3. Punt Return – Block, Clamp, Safe
4. KO – Pooch, Squib, Onside, Surprise
5. KOR – Left, Right
6. Onside Recovery Team
7. Hands Team
8. PAT/ FG – Kick, Fire, Fake
9. FG Block
10. Hail Mary
11. Heartbreak
12. Clock Play – Spike & Kill Time
13. Take A Safety
14. Gadgets
15. Victory Defense
16. Victory Offense