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Watch how they play, not how they act...

As I sit here and watch the NFL Divisional Playoffs, it honestly amazes me the amount of trash talking and jawing that goes on between the white lines.  The extra shoves and pushes, the blatant facemask to facemask verbal spouting towards one another and heck even a fist flies every now and then. 

I completely understand the brutality of the sport and have no problem with the hard hits and great physicality that these players exhibit.  Some of the things that go on in the piles on that field are better left unsaid.  I was always one of the smallest players on the field, so I received my fair share of punishments while playing this great game, but it is all the crap, for lack of a better term, that goes on out there that really bothers me.

I am not writing this blog to say how things should change in the NFL, they are paid athletes performing at a high level for entertainment purposes.  That is all the NFL is right, entertainment?  These athletic specimens are out there to put on the best possible show that they can for the millions of people that are watching.  Professional sports are in existence to display the talents of these athletes.  Don’t tell the athletes that, they are obviously there to win championships, but they better look good doing it!

The actual reason I bring up the topic of how these players are behaving is because I am currently trying to develop the character of my high school athletes.  These are the exact type of actions that I am trying to eliminate in our players on the field.  Ninety-eight percent of the time our players act like that on the field during our games, it cost our team fifteen yards and sometimes more.  So how do you explain to your athletes that their actions are inappropriate when they see it every Sunday and sometimes even on Saturdays.

Watch how they play, not how they act… One of my favorite things about watching higher level football players perform is learning from them.  How they make cuts, keep their eyes up, see the gaps, spin, juke and play tough play after play.  I often times am watching a game and I will text some of my players and tell them to turn on the game and watch a particular player run the ball.  To have the ability to watch these superior athletes on the field each weekend is a learning opportunity for young players.  Watch how they play between the whistles not after.  I am not saying that there are not men of character out on those fields every weekend, because there are, but often times we see the negative behaviors over the positive ones. 

It is important to remember that your young athletes are seeing these behaviors on these broadcasts every weekend.  Remind them that while they are watching, pay close attention to how those athletes are playing football but pay no regards to how they are acting.  Not every big play deserves a celebration.  Not every tough run should be capped off by trash talking.  Just because you made a catch over the middle, does not give you reason to taunt the defensive back who was guarding you.  Your big hit was great, but standing over the man you just put on his back does not add to athleticism you just displayed. 

How do you handle players that taunt or trash talk?  What are fair repercussions to athlete’s behaviors on the field or in practice?  Is it competitiveness or just plain bad attitudes? Email me your thoughts... woodchuck2525@gmail.com

 

How do you evaluate a season?

In every job you have, there is more than likely going to be an evaluation process.  This is a critical element to learning from past experiences and hopefully growing, depending on your job, but always learning and becoming better.  One of the keys to success is to not become stagnant.  As soon as you do that, you are passed by your competition.  This is true in almost every profession.  

My question is, how should coaches evaluate their season?  Is it simply wins and losses?  Is it number of kids who go on to play at the next level?  Is it statistical growth from the previous year? 

My job previous to teaching was evaluated strictly on numbers.  My entire purpose was to grow from the previous year.  Lawyers are more than likely evaluated upon cases won and lost.  Teachers are evaluated on classroom performance and curriculum development and instruction.  CEO's on growth, secretaries on performance, doctors on health improvements and the beat goes on.  My point is that you can't evaluate every job in the same way.  I would even argue that you can't evaluate high school football the same way you would college, and college shouldn't be held to the same standards as pro football.  The jobs are completely different, even though the game is the same.

So let's narrow this down a bit, job specific here, this is a high school football team, now how do we evaluate our season?

Take 1... wins losses.

5 wins

5 losses

Take 2... statistical performance.

254 points for

267 points against

2184 yards passing

.594 completion percentage

20 TD's

14 INTS

11.56 yards per reception

1151 yards rushing

3.65 yards per rush

12 sacks

Take 3... growth (comparing this season to last season)

Red means we did not improve

Worse record

Lower points for

More points against

Lower passing yards

Lower completion percentage

Lower TD's

More INT's

Lower yards per reception

More rushing yards

Lower yards per rush

Less sacks

(only 1 statistical category listed did we improve upon)

The previous three takes, are perhaps better for college and pro teams to evaluate themselves upon.  Don't get me wrong, statistics and growth play a huge part in the development of a successful program.  If you asked me at the beginning of the season each year, would you be happy if you had a better record and better stats than the previous season, of course I would be happy, but that doesn't mean it was a successful season.

So how do you evaluate a high school football season?

It is simple, how many of your pre-season goals did you meet?

At the beginning of every season, the coaching staff and players should develop goals.  

Every leadership and coaching book I have ever read stresses the importance of goals and having quality goals.  Do not make winning the goal, according to Dean Smith, “making winning the goal can actually get in the way of winning.”  He talks about sticking to a philosophy and having realistic expectations of the players. 

When creating goals, it is important to set realistic, attainable goals.  If you went 0 for 9 last year, going undefeated the next season is not a goal I would set.  Rather, create goals that will lead to winning more games.  What was the reason for going 0 and 9 last year?  Improve upon that.  I never like making winning a priority.  I would rather the wins be a result of the philosophy and goals of the team and the staff.  Take Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide, currently the epitome of a winning program.   Nowhere in that locker room is it posted on the wall that they will win a National Championship the next year, they rather focus on playing by the principles of the program, and winning is a result of those principles.  Read more about one of college’s greatest coaches and his thoughts of goals and motivation here http://www.ncsasports.org/blog/2013/01/02/nick-saban-power-motivation/.

I have to be honest, we didn’t have a successful season this year.  It is not because of the numbers you saw earlier in this blog.  I could deal with all those statistics if our goals were met.  What is most disappointing is the fact that we didn’t have goals as a coaching staff to judge if our season was a success or not.  We never took the time to sit down with each other and lay out the goals of the year.  We asked the players to write their goals down, and talked to them about their goals, but we never created goals ourselves.  I said earlier that winning shouldn’t be the goal, rather the result of meeting the goals, well in our case this year, losing was a direct result of not having goals.  The blame is squarely on us for that.

Did you have a successful season?  Were your goals met or exceeded?  Did you learn anything about setting goals for the future?  I would really love to hear from you!  Email me: woodchuck2525@gmail.com

91 to 0.. Time to "adapt and overcome."

91 to 0… Let that soak in a minute… 91 points in a high school football game.  More impressively, 69 points per game, over 573 yards of offense per game and only allowing 7.7 points per game, 187 yards against per game, 11 interceptions, 10 forced fumbles.  As a coach I am in awe of these statistics.  I mean this is the most impressive group of stats I have seen in my life.  One stat sticks out the most, 33 yards of penalties per game.  That is the sign of a disciplined, well-oiled machine going out there Friday night after Friday night and doing their job. 

Those are the facts about a team, and coaching staff that beat another high school last week 91 to 0.  I am sure you have heard about this story in one way shape or form.  In this current state of America, we have nothing better to report about, than that of a cry baby parent filing formal bullying charges against a coach for beating her son’s football team 91 to 0.  As long as media is going to make this an issue, let me pile on and add my two cents as a coach.  After all, this makes for a wonderful blog topic, so thank you nameless parent who filed these charges.

First off, in case you didn’t read the last sentence of the previous paragraph, yes that reads, a nameless parent who filed these charges.  A nameless parent who, according to one newspaper, didn’t know what to say to her child when picking him up at the conclusion of the game because he was so dejected.  If the bullying was so bad, and you felt so compelled to file these charges against a head coach, name yourself.  Stop hiding behind the anonymity of the system.  Come out from behind the bubble you are living in and be an adult about it and address the situation head on.  If it meant that much to you to file charges, then step up be an adult and do it with a name and a face.  You really want to do something about bullying, the do something about it, don’t hide and complain behind a screen name.

Secondly, let’s identify what bullying really means.  According to www.dictionary.com, a bully is “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people.”  I don’t know this head coach personally, but I am going to assume that this man, who coaches high school football at the top ranked high school football program in the country, is not an individual that makes it a habit to “habitually badger and intimidate smaller or weaker people.”  This is a man who coaches youth athletics, who more than likely teaches at the same school, or at least is a powerful presence at that school.  I am just going to guess that a man in that position does not make it a habit to go “badger” kids.

Texas is the mecca of high school football.  To understand high school football in Texas is to live, breathe, eat, sleep, and urinate high school football.  It is the stage in which any movie that has high school football associated with it, is staged in Texas.  Stadiums seat tens of thousands of fans and are as pristine as many upper echelon college stadiums.    If you are a college recruiter for a major football program, you start your search in stadiums of high schools in Texas.  Google search Texas high school football stadiums, and prepare to be amazed.  Below is a picture of Allen High School Stadium as an example.  My point is this, if you don’t want your son to be exposed to adversity, don’t let him play sports, in fact don’t let him out of the house.  Life is full of peaks and valleys, and if not for the valleys, the peaks wouldn’t be worth the ride.  Buck up and get better.  Let this be a lesson that nothing in life comes easy, and if you don’t want to get beat by 91 points, work harder in the off season, make it a priority to never let that happen to you again.  You don’t file charges of bullying.  You encourage your son that life isn’t always going to be easy, you need to get up the next day, shake it off and go out there and get better so it doesn’t happen again.

There are different things you can do in different sports to help the clock roll when you have a comfortable lead.  This coach did all the right things.  He pulled his starters at the beginning of the first half, he ran the ball instead of passing, it was a running clock the entire second half.  As a coach you never, ever tell your boys to stop playing hard.  I don’t care if it is the third string, those boys are out there to compete, and if you are competing, you do it with all the effort you have.  When you get up by that much you start running the ball, letting kids play who otherwise don’t have the opportunity, but you never tell them to stop giving effort and you never tell them to take a knee. 

Bullying is a real thing; I see it happen all too often.  To throw this term around because your boy was sad they lost, is disrespect to those kids out there who are really bullied every day.  I will never tell you how to raise your children, but I truly encourage to you to teach your children how to overcome adversity, because in society today, young men and women need to learn that life isn’t always easy, they need to figure out a way to make it through it anyway and make the best of situations.  Sports are intended to be a great way to teach this, but not as long as parents are going to pull this crap.  You got beat by a much better team, tip your cap and make it a priority to get better this off season so it doesn’t happen again.

One of my favorite things to tell my students and athletes when they want to come up to me and complain about something that isn’t fair, I tell them to “adapt and overcome.”  Figure out a way to make it happen, and get to work.  If it doesn’t work, “adapt and overcome.”

It seems easy doesn't it?

It seems easy doesn't it?  

You would think that anyone could do it.  I mean, you have big, physical and talented kids, winning should take care of itself right? If you listened to anyone who has never done it, you would think coaching is the easiest thing in the world. 

The same can be said about a lot of things in life.  Teaching, public safety, politics, every job seems really easy doesn't it?  I mean looking at it from an outside perspective, to coach, you show up to practice, run some drills, let the kids knock some pads, go home and do it all over again the next day.  Game days are even easier, you show up an hour before the game, all the kids are already there ready to go, give them a good ole Vince Lombardi quote to fire them up a bit, get them yelling and screaming and they go out there and perform just like you draw it up.  Seems almost like you are stealing money, right? Think again.

When I first started coaching three years ago, I would read the newspaper articles online and go straight down to the bottom of the page where the general public can comment and read those to see what everyone thought about the game.  I took every critique, comment and concern to heart.  I truly thought that I could take those comments and do something to change the minds of people.  I didn't want people dissatisfied with something that happened.  I wanted every comment to be a positive comment and I wanted everyone to be proud of what goes on out on that field.  That was three years ago.

It is easy to watch the game and call out plays that you think would go for big yards.  It is easy to sit there and call out the defense that would stop the other team from gaining a single yard.  It is easy to know when to use your timeouts, go for two, onside kick, throw the long pass, run the sweep to the outside, stop running up the middle, sit a kid because he threw three interceptions, it all seems really easy doesn't it?  I have been guilty of this as well, it is hard to watch a game when things just aren't going right, it is hard to know that you have talented kids out there who aren't performing like they should be.  It is human nature to second guess, throw your hands up in the air in disgust when someone jumps off sides for the second time or gets called for holding that gets a huge gain called back. 

I mean how hard can this really be?  You have big talented athletes, just send them out there and let them eat right?

Just take a look at social media, you ever want to know how to do your job as a coach, there are millions of people on Twitter and Facebook who are begging to tell you how to do your job, it is amazing, you don’t even have to ask them!

When I played high school football fifteen years ago, it was in our blood.  We lived and breathed football during the season and most of the off season.  We were to practice thirty minutes early and stayed thirty minutes after.  We wouldn't dare skip a practice or film session, we didn't even try to walk on the field, it was always a jog.  It was always yes sir, no sir, and yes ma’am, no ma’am to everyone on and off the field. We respected our teachers, parents and referees.  We didn't have to be told something twice.  We weren't all big, we weren't all talented, but we cared and what we lacked in size we made up for with dedication and commitment   We put in more time and effort than you could ever imagine.  We respected the program, those who came before us and those who will come behind us.  Blood, sweat and tears were all shed in the hopes of winning just one more game and that final game, we can all remember like it was yesterday.  If I had to choose, I would have preferred someone tell me I suck, rather than I was undisciplined, or lacked effort.

Something has changed in the past 15 years since I played.  You didn't have to motivate me to play the game I loved. You didn't have to give me a new uniform to get me to play my best every night.  You didn't have to tell me to keep my jersey tucked in, that I should help my team mates up when they had been tackled, to give thanks to my offensive line for blocking when I kicked an extra point.  Something has changed. 

It seems easy to coach doesn't it?  To motivate kids, to get them to practice on time, to care about their team mates, to remind them to eat the day of a game, to hydrate, to not use profanities, to respect the game, the uniform, the program, the tradition.  

It seems easy doesn't it? 

The next time you want to be critical of a coaching style or technique, the next time you are watching a game and you question what a coach was thinking, or the next time you want to yell something from the stands at a game about how #89 is wide open, please take a second and breathe.  These are kids we are coaching.  They aren't perfect, and we aren't either.  This is a game we love and we are coaching your children because we love them and we love being a part of this tradition.  We don’t want to lose just as much as you don’t want us to lose.  We coach the kids to the best of our abilities and put in ample time to prepare these athletes to succeed. 

Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t, sometimes we are the windshield and sometimes we are the bug, but we always care.  We always want the best for your athletes.  We strive to help them in every facet of life.  Sometimes we have to be more father figures than we are coaches, but we always care.  If the day comes, and you are the type of person that has to put the blame on something, blame us the coaches.  That’s what we are there for; let the kids play the game.  Give us the blame that is fine, but remember how much we care about what we are doing out there.  We don’t give up as coaches, and neither should you as fans.

It seems easy doesn't it? 

Big game or just another game???

Everyone who has ever been involved in any kind of sport knows that there are games that you circle on your schedule when it is released.  Every big time coach you have ever heard speak reiterates the same message though, one game at a time!  I couldn't agree with them more, you have to take one game at a time, you absolutely cannot ever get ahead of yourself when preparing your athletes for the season, but there are still those games that you circle.

Why do you circle them?  We circle them because those are the games that you plan on being the "big games".  These are the games you will be tested by stiff competition, by great athletes, by large crowds, by a ton of distractions, by news station coverage and sometimes by a modified schedule to a usually common pre-game routine.  We circle them because we know that those are the games that will gives us an idea of what kind of team we really are this season.  We circle them because when it boils down to it, we live for these type of games.

The feeling is a bit different for big games.  We don't want it to be, but it is.  There is something in the air.  There is a buzz among the athletes, among the media, and certainly among the crowd the night of the game.  There is usually a calm before the storm.  There are usually a few reminders from coaches to the players, that this is still the game we play every week, nothing different, 4 quarters and hopefully at the end we have more on the scoreboard than the opposing team.  This is what we prepared for all week.  This is what you live for as a high school football player, the lights, the smells, the cheers, the hits, the catches, the runs, the oohs and the ahhs.  These games are circled for a reason, these games are the "big ones", or are they?

We still prepare the same, we still expect the same from our athletes and we still expect the same result.  We treat the circled games the same as every other game.  We set goals at the beginning of the year, and unless the game is a direct correlation to meeting one of those goals, there is no sense considering it a "big game".  Even if it does meet the criteria to play a critical role in our goals, we still keep it as routine as possible.  I remember reading Sean Payton's book "Home Team" and him addressing the issue of his Saints team playing in the Super Bowl.  He tried to keep everything as normal for the team as possible, but it just wasn't the same.  Sometimes it is impossible to keep everything routine, but the key is to not put the pressure on the players.  Keep a level head and keep working on goals set forth by the staff and team.

What are some of your keys to playing in those games that are circled on your calendar?  How do you keep everything routine, when you have a different schedule than usual?  Share some thoughts and experiences!  Would love to hear what other coaches have to say on this topic.

Practice Tempo

I am blessed to work with some of the best coaches on the high school level in the country.  At any time several of our coaches could be swiped up by college program, and make their staff better.  It is obvious in our preparation and in practice, that our coaches are committed to helping our athletes get better.

Today our practice was impressive.  The amount of energy displayed by the coaches and then translated to our players, was a sight to behold.  Which got my ever rambling brain thinking... Does every coach have this much fun coaching? I sure hope so!

Our practices are high tempo and high energy because that is what we expect from our athletes.  We run off a tight schedule and every coach has a practice plan so that we know exactly how many minutes to spend on the stations we are on, and where we are heading next.  There is very little down time during our practice for the players.  We usually have 5 to 10 minute blocks of drills and teamwork.  The scoreboard is our time keeper, lit up with the time remaining, and our team managers re-start the clock when time expires on each block.  We flow from block to block with no down time, helmets on, water on the fly, get to your next station quickly.  We usually allot 50 minutes for defense, and 50 minutes for offense with 10 minutes of water and break time in between.  

A few years ago, we didn't use the scoreboard clock, man were we missing out!  

We also have music constantly playing in the background.  It not only helps motivate the players, it simulates the potential chaos that could be Friday nights.  We play in front of some large crowds, and if the first time our players here the large crowds is on a Friday night, we haven't done our job as coaches.  The past couple years we have run a no huddle offense, which means calling plays from the sideline without a player running them in.  We have hand signals, large play cards and we often times yell to the players our audibles and play calls, so the music helps get our kids focused on the task at hand and helps them listen through the chaos.

High tempo, high energy, constantly moving constantly improving!  That is our practice tempo, what's yours???