1. Losing attitude: "We just don't have the athletes..." Players pick up on that and lose confidence in themselves. Apathy takes over. Everyone, coaches and players alike, stops putting forth their best effort. Losses follow and just reinforce this mindset. The idea of "winning with less" consistently feeds into that. I don't like it. The thing is that most schools raw talent pool will look more or less identical to the other teams in their district or region. It's how they develop their talent that determines who's bigger, faster, and stronger on Fridays, not genetics.
2. Star Player Syndrome: "I know Johnny All America is a total PITA, but we need him if we're going to win!" These teams finally get a big time athlete and are so afraid of losing him that they kiss his @$$ no matter what crap he gives them. Everyone else sees it. No one respects the coaches. Discipline falls apart. Instead of a football team, you have the Johnny All America show. Respect has to be earned, not given. When you tell your players that, remember it works both ways.
3. Poor Offseason Routine: It all starts in the weightroom. Inconsistency or lack of intensity in the weightroom yields the same on the field. The bad programs either have very low weightroom participation or the players spend more time loafing than they do lifting. It really has little to do with"facilities" and everything to do with a lack of creativity and attitude.
4. Inconsistent Coaching: This is a true program killer. It could be re-drawing the weight routine every few months based on some new idea, inconsistent discipline, or frequently going to different systems on the field to take advantage of your talent. It's not about having the perfect system, it's about having a system that works. You've got to stick to your guns. Of course you'll have to constantly tweak things to get better, but if you're frequently making wholesale changes to your system, you never had a system to begin with.
5. Lack of Organization: A football coach at a struggling program has to be a salesman. Everyone in the community is telling these kids they can't win. Often there are some great athletes who should be coming up through the feeder system (if there even is a feeder system) but get sent by their parents to better programs nearby. There is no fundraising apparatus in place, no community involvement, no marketing, etc.
Winning makes these things easy, but all this stuff is easier to put together and control than a winning season.
6. Focusing on Wins and Numbers: Ever notice it's always the losers who talk about how their goal is to win X number of games next year, or focus on how "one of the few bright spots" of the season was some statistic or individual record? You can't guarantee anything specific on the field, so instead focus on doing things the right way to prepare for it. When teams do that, the winning takes care of itself.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
"Good to Great" by Jim Collins
“Good is the enemy of great.”
Level 5 Leadership (p.39)
• personal humility and professional will – ambitious for company/not themselves
• set successors up for even greater success
• display modesty, are self-effacing, and understated
• fanatically driven – resolved to overcome any obstacles
• workman-like diligence – more plow horse than show horse
• attribute success to factors outside themselves; blame themselves for any failure
• are rarely dazzling, larger-than-life people
First Who … Then What
• get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, then figure out where to go
• WHO questions always come before WHAT questions
• be rigorous in people decisions
o when in doubt, don’t hire – limit growth to ability to attract right people
o when people changes need to be made, act – make sure not just in wrong seat
o put best people on biggest opportunity, not biggest problem
• teams need to consist of people who debate vigorously in search of best answer
• compensation does not motivate
• people are not your most important asset, the RIGHT people are
• being the right person has more to do with character traits than knowledge or skill
Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
• process to greatness begins with confronting facts of currently reality
o one of the primary ways to de-motivate is to ignore the brutal facts of reality
• create a culture where people have the opportunity to be heard by:
o leading with questions, not answers
o engaging in dialogue and debate
o conducting autopsies without blame
o building red flag mechanisms for info that can’t be ignored
• spending time trying to motivate is a waste
• Stockdale Paradox: Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever that may be.
Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity with the 3 Circles)
• Intersection of:
o what you are deeply passionate about
o what you can be the best in the world at
o what drives your economic engine
• not a goal, strategy, or intention; it’s an understanding
• what can you be the best in the world at – also, what can you NOT be the best at
• know one big thing, and stick to it
• The Council: Ask questions –
o Dialogue and Debate -> Executive Decisions -> Autopsies and Analysis
o all guided by the 3 circles … process to get hedgehog concept
Culture of Discipline
• disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action
• disciplined in respect to the 3 circles and Hedgehog Concept
• allows for freedom and responsibility with in system
• “Rinse Your Cottage Cheese” – details details details
• stop doing lists are more important than to do lists
Technology Accelerators
• carefully select technologies – thoughtful and creative
• use technology as an accelerator
• crawl, walk, run
Flywheel and Doom Loop
• looks dramatic from the outside, but is just a cumulative process from the inside
• no single defining moment
• pattern of buidup and breakthrough … turn by turn
• alignment (motivation) follows from results and momentum – not the other way around
• Doom Loop -> companies don’t maintain consistent direction
From Good to Great to Built to Last
• Need guiding principle and core values for enduring greatness
This is good stuff and falls along with my philosophies. I never really understand why so many coaches always seem to be begging or "getting" players to play. If you've read any of my posts you know that I am of the "no one is necessary" philosophy. This ideal conflicts with what many people feel is how to build a program.
You win with people not players not athletes. I would rather lose the game with good people who I know have worked as hard as they can and achieved whatever W/L record we end up with. In my mind, you go out on that field and you play as hard as you can, as long as they will let you play and at the end you look up at the scoreboard and if you have enough points you win, and if not you don't. But if you've played the way I described you haven't lost you have gained.
"Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, then figure out where to go."
Level 5 Leadership (p.39)
• personal humility and professional will – ambitious for company/not themselves
• set successors up for even greater success
• display modesty, are self-effacing, and understated
• fanatically driven – resolved to overcome any obstacles
• workman-like diligence – more plow horse than show horse
• attribute success to factors outside themselves; blame themselves for any failure
• are rarely dazzling, larger-than-life people
First Who … Then What
• get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, then figure out where to go
• WHO questions always come before WHAT questions
• be rigorous in people decisions
o when in doubt, don’t hire – limit growth to ability to attract right people
o when people changes need to be made, act – make sure not just in wrong seat
o put best people on biggest opportunity, not biggest problem
• teams need to consist of people who debate vigorously in search of best answer
• compensation does not motivate
• people are not your most important asset, the RIGHT people are
• being the right person has more to do with character traits than knowledge or skill
Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
• process to greatness begins with confronting facts of currently reality
o one of the primary ways to de-motivate is to ignore the brutal facts of reality
• create a culture where people have the opportunity to be heard by:
o leading with questions, not answers
o engaging in dialogue and debate
o conducting autopsies without blame
o building red flag mechanisms for info that can’t be ignored
• spending time trying to motivate is a waste
• Stockdale Paradox: Retain absolute faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever that may be.
Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity with the 3 Circles)
• Intersection of:
o what you are deeply passionate about
o what you can be the best in the world at
o what drives your economic engine
• not a goal, strategy, or intention; it’s an understanding
• what can you be the best in the world at – also, what can you NOT be the best at
• know one big thing, and stick to it
• The Council: Ask questions –
o Dialogue and Debate -> Executive Decisions -> Autopsies and Analysis
o all guided by the 3 circles … process to get hedgehog concept
Culture of Discipline
• disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action
• disciplined in respect to the 3 circles and Hedgehog Concept
• allows for freedom and responsibility with in system
• “Rinse Your Cottage Cheese” – details details details
• stop doing lists are more important than to do lists
Technology Accelerators
• carefully select technologies – thoughtful and creative
• use technology as an accelerator
• crawl, walk, run
Flywheel and Doom Loop
• looks dramatic from the outside, but is just a cumulative process from the inside
• no single defining moment
• pattern of buidup and breakthrough … turn by turn
• alignment (motivation) follows from results and momentum – not the other way around
• Doom Loop -> companies don’t maintain consistent direction
From Good to Great to Built to Last
• Need guiding principle and core values for enduring greatness
This is good stuff and falls along with my philosophies. I never really understand why so many coaches always seem to be begging or "getting" players to play. If you've read any of my posts you know that I am of the "no one is necessary" philosophy. This ideal conflicts with what many people feel is how to build a program.
You win with people not players not athletes. I would rather lose the game with good people who I know have worked as hard as they can and achieved whatever W/L record we end up with. In my mind, you go out on that field and you play as hard as you can, as long as they will let you play and at the end you look up at the scoreboard and if you have enough points you win, and if not you don't. But if you've played the way I described you haven't lost you have gained.
"Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off, then figure out where to go."
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Look & Arrow Flare
I would use the "look" or "now" pass here. No one else besides the X and the QB need to know this; in fact, you package it with run plays. The QB either makes an eye-gesture or a hand-signal behind his back to the X. The X takes one hard step up field (or almost in place, but sell taking off for a step) and the QB just steps back and throws the ball.
This way if the corner is off and the OLB is no threat, you get the ball out and tell your receiver to get upfield and get at least 5 yards. If he's a real good one he might even break the tackle. The beauty is it's not even an audible, all your other guys stay in the run play. You see this a lot in the Pros; it's a good concept. All you need to tell your QB is that the corner should be off to where we can get at least five yards. Tell him he's a thief and we're just looking to steal yardage.
As for thought process on the hitch/audibles/etc generally, I use the FEWAX approach for coaches but for the players it is much simpler. To start with, I don't go crazy with audibles. Generally, it is to get us out of a bad play: if we have a lengthy play-action pass on and they are in a blitz, we need to get out of it. If they are overloaded we need to flip the play or get into something else. (For a veteran QB we can package plays, but that's another matter entirely.)
But as far as getting in and out of quicks whenever you have 8 in the box I wouldn't really mess around with that too much unless you specifically package plays together.
As a final footnote, I like to use the spacing concept to the multiple receiver side and have the X run a hitch. The QB reads hitch to the frontside spacing (can also do this with stick). This puts the X one-on-one, and if they take it away you have a frontside flood. (This site has other info on spacing.) This is more of a called play though.
One thing that I've noticed Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma doing this year in the quick game on the split side is to have the WR angle in for 5 yards and sit while the back swings.
They especially like this combo on the backside of "stick."
Oklahoma ran that combo several times the other night vs. OK State.
This way if the corner is off and the OLB is no threat, you get the ball out and tell your receiver to get upfield and get at least 5 yards. If he's a real good one he might even break the tackle. The beauty is it's not even an audible, all your other guys stay in the run play. You see this a lot in the Pros; it's a good concept. All you need to tell your QB is that the corner should be off to where we can get at least five yards. Tell him he's a thief and we're just looking to steal yardage.
As for thought process on the hitch/audibles/etc generally, I use the FEWAX approach for coaches but for the players it is much simpler. To start with, I don't go crazy with audibles. Generally, it is to get us out of a bad play: if we have a lengthy play-action pass on and they are in a blitz, we need to get out of it. If they are overloaded we need to flip the play or get into something else. (For a veteran QB we can package plays, but that's another matter entirely.)
But as far as getting in and out of quicks whenever you have 8 in the box I wouldn't really mess around with that too much unless you specifically package plays together.
As a final footnote, I like to use the spacing concept to the multiple receiver side and have the X run a hitch. The QB reads hitch to the frontside spacing (can also do this with stick). This puts the X one-on-one, and if they take it away you have a frontside flood. (This site has other info on spacing.) This is more of a called play though.
One thing that I've noticed Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma doing this year in the quick game on the split side is to have the WR angle in for 5 yards and sit while the back swings.
They especially like this combo on the backside of "stick."
Oklahoma ran that combo several times the other night vs. OK State.
Monday, December 1, 2008
"Plan for Success" that I give to all of our players and parents:
Copper Basin Football
Vision
A vision is made up of long-term goals, and our vision for the future of Copper Basin Football is to build a successful program. We define a successful program in the following areas:
1. A successful program has a winning season every year, regularly competes for the region title, and goes to the playoffs.
2. A successful program has a top-notch, dedicated coaching staff.
3. A successful program has an academic advisor and tutoring program, has a 100% graduation rate, and sends kids to college every year.
4. A successful program produces leaders who are men of character, integrity, and courage.
5. A successful program has great facilities and equipment and is always upgrading.
6. A successful program attracts parents and kids and has enough participation for a ninth grade and J.V. team.
7. A successful program is closely affiliated with all of its feeder programs.
8. A successful program has strong community support and financial backing.
9. A successful program has the support of the student body, administration, faculty, and staff.
10. A successful program generates enough income to fund itself and allow for growth.
Vision
A vision is made up of long-term goals, and our vision for the future of Copper Basin Football is to build a successful program. We define a successful program in the following areas:
1. A successful program has a winning season every year, regularly competes for the region title, and goes to the playoffs.
2. A successful program has a top-notch, dedicated coaching staff.
3. A successful program has an academic advisor and tutoring program, has a 100% graduation rate, and sends kids to college every year.
4. A successful program produces leaders who are men of character, integrity, and courage.
5. A successful program has great facilities and equipment and is always upgrading.
6. A successful program attracts parents and kids and has enough participation for a ninth grade and J.V. team.
7. A successful program is closely affiliated with all of its feeder programs.
8. A successful program has strong community support and financial backing.
9. A successful program has the support of the student body, administration, faculty, and staff.
10. A successful program generates enough income to fund itself and allow for growth.
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