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MARCH 2005

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 29, 2005   "A hundred years after we are gone and forgotten, those who never heard of us will be living with the results of our actions." Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- RALEIGH-DURHAM --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- Next clinic will be Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - Saturday, April 2 at the Millennium Hotel, Durham. *********** Hugh, Regarding The post-game walkthrough/handshake - I can see a player getting out of control during a game. I think we have all seen that happen. An unsportsmanlike like penalty in our league is an automatic two game suspension for the fist offence, second offence and he or she is finished playing football, cheerleading, etc.... We feel there is absolutely no excuses for a player to take a shot physically or verbally after the game. That is like the old., "I'll see you in the parking lot" sh--. We had an experience where during the walkthrough handshake a player from the losing team talked sh-- to one of our players. Ok, but then he waited in the parking lot to verbally assault him and his mother while kicking the door of the mother's car in. Needless to say it did not go unattended. We called a special league meeting and decided that any incident that is related to a league sponsored game (cheerleading, etc), will be punishable and enforced by the league. If you talk sh--, throw a punch, or any unsportsmanlike conduct after a game, YOU ARE GONE. The coaches of the responsible team are also held responsible. I was under in impression that schools had a similar custom? In fact I think it carries all the way to the school related activity and home. If it's on school supplied transportation. Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey PS - The Grandmom would have had to have been my age, just add another 10 to it. (While it is generally-accepted high school practice that we will all shake hands, end-of-Stanley-Cup-series style, following each game, it is normally just a perfunctory, insincere thing. But it is quite noticeable whenever a kid cuts out and fails to do it. And at least in high school it is considered quite a sign of disrespect for an opponent (not to mention poor sportsmanship) when a coach does not meet his fellow coach at midfield for a post-game handshake. It is kind of amazing that we can become such blood adversaries when we have so many things in common. When I was in high school, we were actually expected to give a post-game cheer for our opponents, and while coaching in Finland I found that still to be the practice. There, the two teams line up on the 40's facing each other while their captains alternately lead their teams in a brief cheer for their opponents.Then, starting at one end or the other - the winning captains decide - the two lines circle past each other and shake hands. (I learned to say, over and over, "hyvää peli," which means, roughly, "good game." HW)) *********** I don't know what you think of author Tom Wolfe. All I know is that I have enjoyed some of his books, Especially The Right Stuff. Although I consider him a great writer I am usually left feeling a little depressed about the culture when I finish. He has a way of describing the narcissism so prevalent today in his characters that I find spot on. Anyway I just assumed that he was a goo goo lefty from Manhattan. I heard him interviewed recently and was most pleasantly surprised. He said he was at a Manhattan dinner party weeks before the election. The party was filled with all media and literary swells from the East Coast. The entire night he says was chock full of media types whining and bloviating on the need to "stop Bush". (that kinda blows my conception of the unbiased media doesn't it. Kinda makes me feel like the Police guy in Casablanca who was shocked, SHOCKED to learn there was gambling going on at Ricks as they handed him his winnings) Anyway Wolfe was biding his time until finally they got to him. When asked for ideas Wolfe replied "I think you should all vote for him!" Apparently the silence was deafening. Wolfe says they were looking at him as if he had announced he was a serial pedophile. Seizing on this "turd in the punchbowl" moment Wolfe goes on to instruct them that in reality the coasts are merely parentheses and that fly over country, the red states, are really America. Somehow I think his name won't be showing up on too many more of their invitation lists. He went way up on my list however! Dan Lane Canton, Massachusetts I like Tom Wolfe. To the liberal elites, he has long been the turd in the punchbowl, because he is close enough to observe them, and writer enough to skewer them. He sees the absurdity in the positions they take ("Radical Chic") and they have never forgiven him for doing so. He sucks up to no one. I think that "Bonfire of the Vanities" was an incredible story on many levels. He nailed all his characters, from the obscenely wealthy Wall Street Masters of the Universe to the opportunistic Al Sharptons. And to me he illustrated the frighteningly humorous absurdity of the juxtaposition in so many of our major cities of incredible wealth and appalling squalor. He is, I believe, a native of Asheville, North Carolina, which perhaps explains somewhat his understanding and appreciation of an America west of the Hudson. HW *********** I actually watched a little of the USA-Mexico soccer match Sunday - wanted to see for myself that hostile atmosphere I heard so much about. I missed the booing of our national anthem, and I didn't stick around to hearing anyone chanting "Osama! Osama!" To be honest, I didn't watch very long. It was, after all, soccer. Frankly, the most entertaining part of it for me was the Mexican National Anthem. It never seemed to end, like the one in the Danny Kaye movie set in some small fictional kingdom whose national anthem went on forever. Every time it seemed to be coming to an end, the band would get a second wind, and on it would go. I almost died laughing at thought of some little American teenage wannabe rock star trying to sing that one before a ball game! *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I just received your o-line tape "A Fine Line" and think it is great! Just like your other tapes. I wanted to ask you about two things on the tape that got my pulse up. One, Could you explain the shotgun type snap that is at the end of the tape? Is that one or two hand? Two, You got my heart beat up when you said "I am working on a shotgun package". I am a single wing coach that uses many of your principles such as your o-line blocking and just the idea of you putting out a single wing type video is awesome. Glad you like the tape. As for the snap: it can be made one- or two-handed. The way Jock Sutherland of Pitt taught it, I was told, was to put the hands on the ball, thumbs together near the back of the laces and flip the ball end-under-end by flipping the hands. It is important not to put much weight on the ball. (1) it's easy for the center to do without having to spend a lot of time working on a spiral (2) you get a tumbling effect which actually (Sutherland thought) seems to make the ball easier for the back to see and catch and (3) I suspect - it is harder for the center to make the dreaded too-high snap that all single-wing and shotgun coaches fear. I have had a lot of luck with the end-over-end center snap, for tight punts and shotgun. Place both hands on the ball, thumbs together, thumb tips near the back of the laces, middle fingers along the side seams. Reach forward as far as possible but keep the knees bent and tail down. This will do two things - it will keep the center from putting too much weight on the ball (which results in his dragging it along the ground), and it will keep his snaps low. To snap the ball he just flips his wrists - his wrists must not come back past the point where his elbows hit his knee pads. (This is very important, because if he follows through all the way the snap will go too high). The wrist-flip gives the ball slight (actually, end-under-end) tumble, which makes the ball very easy for the back to handle. HERE IS WHAT POP WARNER, A GUY WHO KNEW A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE SINGLE-WING (HAVING INVENTED IT), WROTE ABOUT THE CENTER SNAP: "On offense the center should stand with his feet well apart, one foot somewhat farther advanced than the other, and both feet well under him so that he will rest little or no weight on the ball. His tail should be low and his back straight. if he uses the end-over-end pass he should rgasp the ball somewhat back of its center and on its sides. If using the spiral pass, he should have one hand more under the ball and the other farther forward and toward the top of the ball. Either method of passing the ball to the backs is good form. The end-over-end pass is the easiest to learn and the easiest for the backs to handle, and repeated timing wioth a stopwatch has shown that the simple end-over-end pass is just as fast in getting the ball to the punter as is the more intricate spiral. The spiral pass from center has absolutely no advantages over the end-over-end method as far as I have been able to determine, and I never encourage or teach it; but, as I stated above, either method is good." Glenn Scobey Warner, "Football for Coaches and Players," Stanford University Press, 1927 *********** With all the talk about airline delays, it is important to know that nearly half of all delays are accounted for by five airports: LaGuardia, O'Hare, Newark, Atlanta and San Francisco. *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, I am an enlisted service member currently serving overseas in Germany.  I have served two and half years and have 3 more years to go in the army and I am researching possible career opportunities once I get out.  I've been playing football since before I can remember it seems like and have a great love for the game.  I played DT in High school and was an all area stand out for three years despite my size (5'8).  I achieved this mainly due to my understanding of the scheme, technique, and just plain love of the game.  One of the fields I am looking into is pursuing a coaching career at the High School or small college level.  What type of suggestions would you recommend for a young person that is really interested into getting into this field and wants to succeed?  What are some professional development clinics or courses that you might recommend?  Are there any entry level positions or other opportunities that might supplement no college level playing experience that you know of that are helpful in breaking into the college coaching game? If possible could you share a little bit about how you started out?  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you. SPC Matthew Steele Hunter, Network Analyst/Operator Army Network Operations and Security Center - Europe Dear SPC Hunter, It was nice to hear from you. To get right to your main question, you didn't mention whether you had a bachelor's degree, and/or whether you were anywhere close to getting teaching credentials. If you are able to teach, you are as good as in. Most high schools in America would love to be able to hire a guy who can teach (especially something other than PE, because PE jobs are in short supply) and coach. And if you have aspirations of coaching at a small college, a bachelor's degree will be a requirement. That is, unless you have a job which enables you to support yourself while alos providing you with the time to coach (and coaching is VERY time-demanding). And coaching itself, despite what NFL and major college coaches make, is not well-paying. Very few high school head coaches make more than $5,000, which isn't a whole lot of money when you realize that for most of them, being a head coach has become an all-year job. They are doing it beccause they love it, and I gather you have that sort of passion as well. I wouldn't let the fact that you haven't played college football deter me in the slightest. My experience has been that most college players don't learn a whole lot about coaching while they are busy practicing anyhow, and once practice is over, most of them are outta there. It seems to me that a student manager might be in at least as good a position to learn about coaching as most players. The nature of football is such that there is no formal way to acquire football coaching knowledge and skills. It is done the same way that people in the Middle Ages learned stonemasonry or metalworking - through apprenticeship. The lucky guys get to serve their apprenticeships under good coaches. This is a major reason why certain head coaches seem to "spawn" other coaches. This means that you need to find a head coach willing to let you work for him as a volunteer assistant (or intern, if you will) in return for the privilege of learning under him. The benefits to you are that you will learn, and you will get experience, and you may wind up with a paying job on his staff, or, failing that, a great reference. The importance of references can't be overstated. Football is a highly-networked profession. NOBODY in a position to do otherwise hires a guy right off the street, or just on the strength of a resume. In your case, when you know what your plans are, I would suggest that you contact as many high school and small college coaches in the area you expect to be located in the States. Explain your situation to them. Impress them especially with your strengths, which since you are in the military would certainly include good work habits, organization, ability to work as a team member, and an understanding of the chain of command. Those things are at least as important to most good coaches as football knowledge, because they already know football and know the way they want things done. They're not looking for a genius who can come in and change all their thinking. Offer to do whatever is needed, in return for the chance to learn. Let them know your availability for work also. Be as honest and upfront as you can be. No coach is going to assign responsibilities to an assistant who makes it a practice of coming up to him the night before and saying that he won't be able to make the next two practices. Of course, getting back to my original point, if you have your teaching credentials, or if you can get them, you are golden. *********** The OC (of our team) feels very strongly that his system can only be run by smart players, players with "a feel for the game" as he calls them. He also firmly believes that once the system is installed he can call any given play (even if it has not been run in weeks) and the players should know it and execute it flawlessly. We almost always run plays in games that we either did not practice or practiced just once or twice (the whole week). On this team I coach special teams and the o-line. The first weeks of practice I drilled the line and taught them, to the best of my ability, the zone scheme. As the season progressed (5 games) our practices became more scheme-oriented and less and less technique was practiced. I know this was partly my fault, but I guess I was going with the flow. During practice the adjustments for the next week were hardly ever run or even walked, the OC only told the players what to do (and he expected them to not only remember but execute them as well. This has been the m.o. for the team for the last 4 years (this is my second). Because of my position I can only disagree but I still have a job to do so I shut up and do it. Our HC is the D coordinator and he pretty much has no idea of our strong philosophical differences. It is not the system or play calling that bothers me, it is just the way we prepare (or not) for games. Do you expect your players - even the QB - to adjust during the game to something he has not seen during the week? Your input is appreciated. I probably should watch what I say because these things have a way of getting back, but what the hell - I think after more than 30 years of coaching and 25 years of teaching I know players better than that, and frankly, if that is how that coach measures intelligence, God didn't make too many of those "smart players." It is not enough just to give players a playbook, or an overview of the system, and then assume that they can run anything I want them to run, on demand. That is a copout. That ignores the coach's major responsibility, which is not to strategize, but to teach. Like all coaches, I am a strategist, but I am also a teacher, and a teacher knows there is a lot more to learning than just explaining something to a kid and then, without any drill or practice, expecting him to know it weeks later - and when the predictable happens and he doesn't know it, blaming the kid because he isn't a "smart player." Lemme put it this way... before I'll run a play in a game, I'll have seen it repped - successfully - in practice. Many times that week. Over and over. If I don't have confidence in our ability to run a play consistently well in practice, it is scratched from the game plan. For me, and for many coaches I know, the purpose of a week of offensive practice is to "peel the onion" - to eliminate from our game plan those plays that we don't have confidence in, and sharpen those plays that we already run well. *********** I spent much of spring break last week reviewing all of the Dynamics videos.  In one of them you showed 58/49 C from spread and it looks like a great play, but I am curious if you have used that play successfully with other formations.  One reason that play intrigues me is that we may be a bit shaky at fullback next year, and we play some very good defensive ends.  It seems to me that the C blocking with the guard (where we should be solid) kicking out DE might be a valuable resource if we aren't very solid at B-back.  It also seems that the 58/49 C would be a nice play to use in conjunction with the 88/99 g-reach.  That combination would, theoretically, give defensive ends fits!  Your thoughts? I haven't run 49/58 for a few years, but it is a good play, and I can see taking a look at it if you know you won't be strong at B-Back. That is essentially what we are doing already with our Lead criss-cross, in which the B-Back leads through while the guard kicks out. And, depending on how tough your QB is, you could work out the timing on the Super Power so that he and the B-Back double-team the DE, similar to the old single-wing blocking. And you could "G" block on the playside and lead the B-Back through. You lose the Double-Team at the point of attack, but what good is that if your B-back is weak? *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 25, 2005   "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." General George S. Patton, Jr    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- RALEIGH-DURHAM --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- Next clinic will be Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - Saturday, April 2 at the Millennium Hotel, Durham. *********** A QUICK SHOT BETWEEN SESSIONS AT LAST WEEK'S L.A. CLINIC... *********** A survey by something called International Communications Research found that 37 per cent of those surveyed say they use the Internet to follow the NCAA tournament while at work, while 58 per cent say they follow it on TV. But before you put too much faith in the accuracy of the results... only 7 per cent admitted that they took part in office pools. *********** Coach Wyatt, Just wanted to give you a little update from the situation I sought your opinion on last spring with regards to my oldest son and my ex-wife's insistence that he get involved in sports. I managed to hold her off for another year, and after watching my son grow up a bit I decided to sign him up for little league baseball. Hopefully this doesn't sound too much like the "everyone wins, trophies for all" approach that is common these days. If It does, chalk it up to my lack of writing ability. Anyways, I don't want to push him into or away from any particular sport, I've just stressed to him that no matter what sport he chooses, he's required to finish the season… no quitting allowed. Well, last night was (his) first ever little league baseball game. I have tried very hard to not be a stereotypical little league dad. (which I've discovered, now firsthand, that you don't have to look very hard to find!) We've talked extensively about the team being more important than him, at this age having fun being more important than winning, getting better at the basic skills etc. etc. etc. Normally at his practices I don't say anything to him , just watch, then and afterwards I ask him if he had fun and tell him I am proud of him. I also don't want to "performance parent" and appear to be more proud when he does "good" than when he does bad…(I've discovered that is a major problem with most parents) So anyways, the game ends last night, we go home, have dinner , shower up, pajamas on, story time and sit down with the whole family to say prayers… I lead the family through some general stuff, than everyone has the opportunity to say their own personal prayers… I was a little nervous thinking about what he might say. I could only imagine it would be something like "Dear God, thank you for my team winning" or "Dear God, thank you for helping me get two hits." You know, the kind of stuff that is usually important when you're six. Instead, to my shock, his prayer was "Dear God, thank you for letting me care about the other team and please let the other team win at my next game so they can feel as good as I do." Needless to say, I was speechless… ahhh… Victory with Honor… NAME WITHHELD *********** I received the following from Jud Blakely, a youth coach in Mobile, Alabama. Jud is an Oregon State grad and a Vietnam combat vet. He has visited me at Madison High and watched us practice, and he and I have found over time that we have quite a bit in common - especially philosophy (gray areas? What gray areas?). I think that what Jud has written about his philosophy as regards his youth football program is magnificent. I would be proud to claim the words for my own, and with Jud's permission I am glad to share them with other coaches, many of whom will take the time to read them and understand them, and will benefit from doing so. ST. DOMINIC - Junior Football 2005 * * * Football is a team experience…and no team experience can be better than the sum of what the players and coaches put into it. The core value of being part of a team is Integrity of Effort. In the Marine Corps, this is the meaning of the motto Semper Fidelis…which is Latin for "Always Faithful." Always. * * * The Integrity of Effort At every level&emdash;from SD's Bantams to SD's Seniors&emdash;the game of football is keyed to planning and to practice in preparation to play…but even the players who "love" to play football don't really "love" to practice. For most of them, practice is only a tolerable chore&emdash;just a simple (and unloved) job of work. And yet…nearly all of the experience of football takes place in practice. As a matter of time spent, we practice football ten times more than we play football in a game…but most of what a player does in practice is repetition of the few crucial things he works to master&emdash;the few crucial skills he's responsible for. If the experience of football is to have a larger and more significant value for your son, then it lies within his understanding of the Integrity of Effort. This has nothing to do with his particular set of skills as a player. It has everything to do with his particular desire to meet his obligations as a member of a team. The Two Obligations As coaches, we have two Obligations to measure up to. As players, your sons also have two Obligations to measure up to. Obligation One is knowing well what to do…why to do it…when to do it…and how to do it. Obligation Two is the Doing of it…in drill after drill…in play after play…in game after game. At any level of competition, the game of football is not recess. If nothing else, the laws of physics turn football into an experience of impact…velocity…and balance. Your son will have to collide with someone else's son again, again, again, and again in practice…and he'll be hurt if he fails to know what to do. As coaches, we will teach the lessons your son must come to know and master to play football as well as he can. We will insist that your son know the Right Things…and we will insist that your son do the Right Things. As coaches, if we fail to insist on that, we will betray your trust and betray your son's trust. The Joy of The Game At this age, your son's a boy, he isn't a man. As coaches, we don't expect and we won't require or demand that he behave like a man. Even so, manhood is what your son is being educated to achieve…and no boy just becomes a man as a result of getting older. True Manhood is about the Integrity of Effort. With that in mind…"fun" is for recess. As coaches, we believe the experience of football must be predicated on the higher and more significant and serious aim of your son earning the reward of Joy. This is unrelated to winning. Joy is cultivated by rising above our fears in order to attempt what must be done. In football, what your son must do will always be done within the context of a particular play…on offense and on defense…and most plays "last" between 5 seconds and 10 seconds. Each play is an all-revealing verdict on how well the boys have come to master both What they must do and How they must do it. That Elevating Spark We gain self-confidence by learning how to confront both the difficulties and adversities of life without being ruled by the burden of what we fear. No one is without fear. As coaches, we can't eliminate the fears that may affect your son…but we can guide him into doing what must be done despite such fears. In other words, we don't want him to pretend he has no fear. We want him to learn how to think above the level of his fears and to perform above the level of his fears. If he knows what to do…and knows how to do it…then your son has mastered the tools of the head. But they are not enough to achieve Joy. Joy is what he feels at his utmost effort in doing what must be done within the context of each play in each game…as well as within the routine grind of each drill of each practice. He cannot feel the elevating spark of Joy unless he has also come to master the tools of the heart&emdash;of then Doing what he must do. Projectiles in Motion As coaches, we are teaching your son how to succeed&emdash;and survive&emdash;as what amounts to a "projectile in motion." This is why he wears a helmet and pads. But no one can pull the trigger on this human projectile but him. He decides on each play in each game whether he will ignite his utmost effort…or not. As he learns how to give all his knowledge and all his desire to each play and to each drill&emdash;to give his utmost effort&emdash;he will come to feel, again and again, that elevating spark of deep satisfaction…which is Joy. Over time, what your son feels&emdash;a growing of self-respect&emdash;will reward him with a sense of Pride. It's fashionable to believe kids can acquire what we call "self-esteem" if only we save them from falling short and, thus, feeling like a failure. But your son cannot make the passage from boyhood to Manhood if we prevent him from knowing how to meet failure and master the tools of the head and the heart. Simple and Flawless A football team is really a puzzle with a number of pieces on both offense and defense. Each of the pieces is a kind of "sub-team"&emdash;such as the linebackers and down linemen and corners on defense…and the center/quarterback and running backs and receivers and down linemen on offense. There are more. The less complex an offense, the more it depends on flawless execution. Sure, no offense works if the players fail to perform their jobs…but an offense with less complexity is less likely to be fouled up by mental errors. Time spent in practice is spent more on execution of basics, not dealing with more variables. As coaches, we want practice to be focused less and less on learning the "tools of the head" and more and more on developing the habits that go with learning the "tools of the heart." We want your son to get better and better at the few things he must do well&emdash;must carry out with utmost effort&emdash;play after play. Coming off the ball The experience of success in football is pretty much defined by which team "comes off the ball" most effectively…and is able to "out-execute" the other team. In other words…by which team explodes most effectively and sustains most effectively&emdash;by which team is able to give its utmost effort most often. As coaches, we assure you…that team will be ours. Each boy will master the skills and resolve he needs in order to know what to do, then carry it out. This doesn't mean we'll always win. It does mean we will always give our utmost effort…and means that your son will, indeed, earn that elevating spark of Joy. I read that to my wife, who also thought it was wonderful. What makes her tribute especially meaningful is the fact that she spent 30 years as an elementary school teacher. She knows kids and she knows parents. Her reaction was that after reading this, parents would be able to feel confident that their kids were in the good hands of people who have a clearly stated mission - one whose aim is much more than winning games. She did suggest - based on long experience with what happens when you provide written materials to parents - that he consider first delivering the material to them orally, in an address (at a parents' meeting, say), and then giving them the transcript for the keeping. I think that makes good sense. Those words are too good to be handed to parents and then given - at best - a cursory reading. I wish all coaches would take the time to think about what they're actually doing - and why - and put it down on paper. And make it public. It would get many of them on the right track, and it might chase some out of the game. I am currently reading "Dodd's Luck," the autobiography of Georgia Tech's great coach Bobby Dodd, and Coach Dodd really seems to be the sort of coach who espoused the principles Coach Blakely is describing. People at the time (the 1950's) marvelled to think that a person could actually believe those things and still win football games. *********** Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Barry Bonds is a "universally polarizing figure, in ways that even Muhammad Ali wasn't" (when he was refusing to serve in Vietnam). Please. Could we not mention those two people in the same breath? The only point on which Bonds can "polarize" people is that there are those who contend that his cheating has rendered bogus anything he has done over the last five years or so, while there are some who say "so what? - he's still a great baseball player and would have been great even if he has been juicing," There is no dispute - none whatsoever - over whether he is a miserable human being (he is). He has not, to the best of my knowledge, ever done or said anything publicly that hasn't been for the purpose of promoting himself or insulting others. Ali certainly was polarizing, and not only because of his portraying himself as a conscientious objector to avoid serving ("I don't have anything against no Viet Congs"). He became a "black Muslim" when in many whites' eyes doing so was tantamount to declaring war on all whites ("the white devils"). And he was a loudmouth braggart ("I am the Greatest!"), the prototype of today's "look at me" fools. Ali may have been "polarizing" in the things he believed and the things he said. But few people ever disputed his straight-up, non-artificially enhanced ability. The guy was good. He fought every man who came down the pike, and beat them. And with the possible exception of the second Sonny Liston fight, where in my opinion Liston took a dive, nobody - no-o-o-o-o-body - could ever claim that anything about Ali's career was not on the up-and-up. *********** Some time back, I printed a letter from Bill Murphy, a Chicago youth coach who in his other life is a Chicago cop. Coach Murphy wrote that he'd been assigned to narcotics, which meant that there was less likelihood of his being shot at. He wrote me recently, and just before he signed off, added this... PS Also, you can tell your buddy who laughed when I told you that I like narcotics better because I have not been shot at in awhile, that I finally got into a shooting this past Friday. Some little joker tried to ram his car into me - and a light pole. I jumped, shot at him, and sh-- my pants all in one swift athletic move. Must have been all the years of doing the damn Carioca drill that paid off for me. The joker hit the pole instead of me, and even though I have spent 12 years training to shoot, I hit nothing. I mean nothing! So I am getting some SEVERE ball busting for missing a frickin car, at frickin point blank !! (In my defense, I was in full self preservation mode). The Joker takes off and runs like the wind, but my partner and I eventually catch him. So Joker decides to fight my tiny partner. I can't blame Joker because I'm 6'3" 240, and my partner is 5'6" and 168. What a HUGE mistake. This guy is a former Golden Gloves boxer and currently trains Ultimate Fighting Contestants in some kind of karate stuff, plus he teaches street survival at our Police Academy. Coach, I saw stars when he hit Joker square in the head. One punch, out cold. Took two of Chicago's Bravest, (CFD Paramedic's) several minutes to get him up. Score 1 for the boys in blue.... So tell your buddy, believe it or not and as demented as it sounds, I've missed this stuff, it's sure starting to get fun again. *********** In far northeast Oregon, sheep and cattle ranchers are getting nervous. Mighty nervous. The wolves are getting closer. They are already in Idaho, the next state over. The Snake River, down at the bottom of Hell's Canyon, still keeps them over there, but as the wolf population continues to grow as it has, with the help of legal protection, younger wolves are going to widen their range. Oregon ranchers know that it is inevitable that wolves will make it to their side - back in the 1800's, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce made it across, so wolves can, too - and it is just a matter of time until they are snacking on the ranchers' livestock. This, I should point out for those of you who think that ranchers live out there for the fun of it, can be the difference between profit and loss. What to do? Why, shoot the bastards, I can hear you saying. But not so fast - clear on the other side of the state, in Portland, "activists" sit in their warm, cozy coffee shops and coo at the thought of all those neat wolves someday roaming across the state, just as they did before the evil white man came to these shores and destroyed everything. They have far more compassion for the wolves than they do for the ranchers and the families they support in the most rugged of ways. They have made sure that it is a federal offense to shoot a wolf. Unless, of course, the rancher can show proof that a wolf has been preying on his herd. Notify the feds. We'll come out and inspect the carcass of the dead cow or sheep (if the coyotes haven't gotten to it first) and if we see the need, we'll prescribe a way of "controlling" the predator. (What - a scarecrow?) It is useful to note that such livestock killings occur in the remotest of places. Roads are few and far between, and federal agents cover enormously wide territories. It can take them days to respond. It is common knowledge among people who live in those parts that one means of dealing with those realities is called, simply, "Shoot, shovel and shut up." (As rocky as the soil is, noted one rancher, "Shovelling is the hardest part.") Which brings me to Iraq, and the fact that a US Marine, 33-year old 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, is accused of shooting two unarmed Iraqi suspects in the back. Lt. Pantano's unit had stopped the Iraqis as they tried to drive away from a house that the Marines had been ordered to search. First it was the cops, who have pretty much gone from "stop or I'll shoot!" to hot pursuit, to handing out McDonald's gift certificates to fugitives if they'll please - pretty please - turn themselves in. Now, it's happening to the people we've sent to "war." We expose them to an amorphous enemy who kills in sudden and unexpected and inhuman ways, then charge them with murder if they dare take aggressive action. What's a soldier to do? Why, the same thing we expect our ranchers to do. Is that asking too much, when we're dealing not with wolves, but with real human beings? I know, I know, some of these "human beings" bomb indiscriminately and kill American solders, but it's not their fault! Just like wolves, they are merely doing what comes naturally, and just as it's the ranchers' fault for letting their animals graze on the wolves' land, it's George W. Bush's fault for putting those soldiers in harm's way. I propose that whenever an American soldier can make a convincing argument that he needs to harm an "insurgent" in any way, he fill out a "Predator Control" form and submit it to his commanding officer, who will forward it to the Pentagon, which will relay it to the State Department, which will submit it to a special thirty-three member United Nations Predator Control Committee (UNPDC), one-third of whose membership will be appointed by the US and its allies, one-third by Al Qaeda, and one-third by "neutral" countries such as Canada, Mexico and France. The UNPDC will meet in Switzerland the first Monday of every month to rule on all such requests. (Requests must be submitted in English, French and Arabic at least 10 days prior to each monthly meeting in order to get on the agenda.) Upon receipt of written notice of approval by two-thirds of the Committee, the US soldier may use force if all other means of predator control, including relocation, have been exhausted. On the other hand, there is always "Shoot, shovel and shut up." *********** I got this in the mail. It was, based on what I could see, well-travelled... How old is Grandma? Stay with this -- the answer is at the end -- it will blow you away. One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born, before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens. Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man hadn't yet walked on the moon. Your Grandfather and I got married first--and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, 'Sir' -- and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir." We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions. Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege. We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent. Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins. Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started. Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends--not purchasing condominiums. We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey. If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk. The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam. Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 but who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby. "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store, and "software" wasn't even a word. And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.....and how old do you think I am ???"..... I bet you have this old lady in mind...you are in for a shock! Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time. This Woman would be only 58 years old! Ahem. I hate to carp, but much of this is bogus. I suspect that someone got hold of something written about Depression-era folks, and tried updating it. I am OLDER than that 58 year-old granny, and the lowest I can ever remember gas being was 19.9, and that was during a "gas war." We didn't listen to "big bands." Yes, Glenn Miller's music made a brief comeback when they made a movie about his life (and death), but Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were far in the past. Yes, we listened to the radio, but what we really listened to were the "new" 45-rpm records. Rock and roll - first mostly black, then increasingly white - became HUGE in the mid-50's, when we were teenagers. Fats Domino was the biggest thing on campus my freshman year in college- 1956. Grandma was about 10 then. How could she have grown up and not known about "rock?" $600 Chevrolet coupes? Maybe. Depends on how old they were. But "Who could afford one?" Lots of people. Lots of young people. In 1958 I bought a 1953 Ford Mainline. Paid $400 cash. The 1950's weren't the Depression. Granny would have been about 10 when I was graduating from high school. I don't know where she grew up, but WE sure knew what "making out" was. *********** Please tell me I didn't imagine all that Alabama stuff... There was a nice feel-good article in our local paper about Mike Price's recent visit to Washington State and Bill Doba, his former assistant who is now the Cougs' head man. And as I read, I came across this: "Price, who left WSU for Texas-El Paso after the 2002 season..." *********** On slightly the same subject, Oregon State researchers told reporters that their research into "homosexual sheep" (recall the recent kidnapping) was an attempt to help the state's ranchers deal with the fact that some 7 per cent of their rams seem to prefer to consort with other males. I know that you're thinking, "well, duh - it is Oregon", but the sheep-ranching part of Oregon is definitely not the Oregon where same-sex couples go to "marry." The point for the ranchers is that they don't want to waste a lot of time or money (or ewes) turning poofter sheep loose in their fields. Oh - and the researchers say they prefer not to use the term "homosexual" in referring to sheep. That's a term best applied to human behavior, they say. *********** A sure sign that the barbarians have taken over... Portland is known as the City of Roses, and for years the big event around here has been the Rose Festival, which takes place sometime in late spring. Its culmination is a big parade, which from time to time has actually been televised nationally. Reigning over the parade is the Queen of Rosaria, a young woman chosen from the Rose Court, a group of "princesses" representing every high school in the city of Portland. The biggest event besides the parade itself has always been the crowning of the Queen in Memorial Coliseum a week before the parade. I know it's hokey, a throwback to the days when Portland was a small, isolated outpost, but for years, little girls in Portland aspired to be Rose Princesses, and - who knows? - maybe even the Queen. For weeks leading up to the Rose Festival, the various schools would select their princesses - one school per day, a different school each day - and the crowning of the princess at each school, at a big, all-school assembly, would make the news on all the TV stations as well as the daily newspaper. But this is, after all, Portland, where for many a woman's place is at the altar exchanging vows with another woman, and over the years the Rose Festival has taken a few hits. For one thing, the selection of the Court doesn't get the coverage it once did. The Rose Court not diverse enough to suit you? This year, ten of the 14 young women selected represent one minority or another. Not too bad, in a city whose public schools are at most 33 per cent minority. That good enough? Problem solved. "Princess" sound too sexist? Why, let's call them "ambassadors" instead. That good enough? Problem solved. The girls, dressed in their formal evening gowns, used to stand on stage and curtsy to the audience. Women are not subservient. What do you think women are, anyhow? Slaves? No more curtsying. Problem solved. And this year, to show how the Rose Festival has "evolved" (in the words of the local newspaper), they really broke water - er, precedent. Roosevelt High School's "ambassador" is the unwed mother of a seven-week-old baby. Cute. The grandfather of one of the other competitors quite rightly asked the same question you or I might ask. "I am talking about competing in something that is like Miss America," he said. "How can she be a role model to other young women in the community?" Ha. Old fart. He's being judgmental. Doesn't he know that this is the Twenty-First Century, where tolerance excuses everything? Answers Roosevelt's principal, who obviously is non-judgmental, and very tolerant (and probably thanks kids for coming to school), "Our community will only be tolerant when it truly reflects the makeup of all its parts." If that's true, and if enough others agree with him, I expect next year's Rose Festival talent competition to include street demonstrating, automatic weapons proficiency and meth cooking. Problem solved. *********** Coach, I'm in the market for a new computer, whose primary purpose would be as a coaching computer (playbook, video editing, cd burning, team webpage, team newsletter etc). Although I do not yet have a digital video camera I want to be ready to do video editing once I do (plus one of our assistants has a camera that I will borrow). I am considering getting a laptop as well - because I want to be able to bring the computer back and forth from home to school. I have an IBM compatible, but am considering switching to a Mac (after reading up on your website and in general). What should I be looking for? I know there is the iBook and then there is the PowerBook, and for both there are three or so different levels with more memory and faster speeds etc. I'm not really good with the technical side of computers, but I'm no dummy either. I learn on computers mostly by doing (I'm not bound to real the manual too deeply). Are Mac's really that easy to use? Is it close enough that I could figure out how to use the other applications that I currently use (word, powerpoint, etc.)? Any info in addition to what is on your site would help. The iBook will do just about everything except burn DVD's, but if that's what you want, you want a laptop with the "SuperDrive," (which burns and plays CD's and DVDs) which means you will need to get one of the more expensive PowerBooks. They all come equipped with iMovie, which is about the easiest video-editing program there is, as well as related programs called iMusic, iPhoto, and iDVD (for authoring DVDs). And also something called GarageBand, which if you are musically inclined will enable you to "create" something on the order of what passes for "music" today. As for the ease of operation, it isn't tough to learn the Mac Operating System (OS X) which is pretty slick. And the sucker just doesn't crash! And if a program should get hung up, you can "force quit" that single program without having to shut down the whole operation and reboot your computer. If you are a confirmed Word user, Microsoft makes an Office version specifically for Mac (Office 20040 and although it is relatively expensive, it is available at a special "educator's price." I have it and it is really good. Apple does make a similar program called Appleworks, which does just about everything Office can do, at a lot less (around $100). I use it for all sorts of things, including drawing plays for my playbook. I wouldn't tell anyone else what to do, but I have been an Apple user since 1985 or so and a Mac user since 1990. I am now on my 9th Apple computer and my 8th Mac and I will never change. *********** I know that that the post-game walkthrough/handshake that most of us routinely - if insincerely - do ("nice game... nice game... nice game... nice game... etc., etc., etc") takes place in hockey after the final game of a playoff series, but I think that what we do originated in that most unsportsmanlike of games - soccer. Now comes news that in San Francisco, high school girls' soccer teams have turned the walkthrough into something of a postgame cat fight, complete with slapping and other unpleasantries. So the school administrators, acting as expected, have said, well, if that's the way you're going to act, why, we're just going to have to do away with the post-game walk-through altogether. From now on, when the game's over, you'll go straight to your sideline, and from there, presumably, to your bus or to your locker room. Uh, I think there was another, far more obvious course of action: FROM: District Athletic Coordinator TO: All girls' soccer coaches and players SUBJECT: Post-game walk-through It has come to my attention that there has been a lack of sportsmanship at your games. Please consider this to be an order to make sure that all coaches and players conduct themselves at all times as (pardon the sexism) sportsmen. That includes the proper expressions of sportsmanship during the post-game walkthrough. Failure to conduct yourselves as sportsmen will result in immediate suspension of your team and forfeiture of all remaining games. It is not fair for us to ask taxpayers to fund sports programs on the basis of their serving "educational" purposes, such as promoting wholesome values, and then to permit coaches and players to act like animals. For those of you who cannot comply with this quite reasonable order, may we suggest you try community soccer? *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 22, 2005   "Don't ever ask a player to do something he doesn't have the ability to do, because he'll question your ability as a coach, not his as an athlete." Lou Holtz    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- Next clinic will be Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - Saturday, April 2 at the Millennium Hotel, Durham. *********** LAST WEEK'S MOST TELLING QUOTES FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BASEBALL... (1) "Maybe I'm old fashioned. I remember when players didn't get better as they got older. We all got worse," Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, for mer major leaguer and first man to pitch a no-hitter in both leagues. (2) "I didn't come here to discuss the past." Mark McGuire, once known as MARK MCGUIRE (a chemically-enhanced "Mark McGuire") *********** The LA Clinic, held in Beautiful Downtown Burbank was one of my most enjoyable ones. The turnout was unexpectedly large, and pushed the capacity of the rather small room I'd booked. I enjoyed listening to John Torres tell about his approach to coaching - especially coaching the Double Wing. He and his assistants have put up some impressive stats with their youth team in Central California - how's 14,000+ yards in four seasons sound? He listed the things required for the Double Wing to work: (1) Belief in the System - you have to believe in it yourself, and you have to sell it to the kids. (2) Have a cadre of loyal assistants (Ahem - Coach Torres mentioned my advice in "Installing the System" - if you don't have a loyal staff, do it yourself - and noted that when he first started coaching the Double-Wing, "My only loyal assistant was my wife!" (3) Complete confidence that you can score on any defense (4) Sound fundamentals. He said that every single day, without exception, his team "Blocks for 10, tackles for 10 (minutes)." He said that he really noticed improvement toward the end of the season. (5) Organization - make sure you have practice plans ready, and show them to the kids. It convinces them that you are organized. (6) Be prepared - he especially referred to scouting. How not to be successful? Simple - (1) don't dump it because you think it's not working, and don't change it for a playoff game because you think it won't be good enough - "dance with what got you there." (2) Don't dabble in it. "Too many people dabble in it." Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, he said, but there are a lot of guys who dabble in the Double Wing, and as a result, they aren't very good at it. Coach Torres noted the system's adaptability - he has run the Wildcat ("with my two big fullbacks side by side!") and he has run a Jet series ("People say 'you changed your offense1' and I tell them, 'No we didn't. It's just a different series.'" He also mentioned the fun aspect - kids like the Double Wing. When he was chosen to coach an all-star team, he at first debated whether to run the Double Wing, then finally went with what he knew - and ran it. He said the funniest ting was that "other kids, (from other teams) wanted to run our wedge!" Pete Smolin spoke from an unusual perspective - he ran the Double Wing, then got away from it, then came back to it. Said Coach Smolin, "If you have players, you can run anything you want. If you don't the Double Wing's a great offense." Coach Smolin now coaches at Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California. When I first met him, he was coaching at Glendale High, a school with a once-proud athletic tradition that "diversity" has not treated kindly - 90 per cent of its kids now speak a language other than English at home. (Did I mention that Coach Smolin has deadpan standup comedy talent worthy of Stephen Wright? He said that when he first stepped on the field at Glendale as an assistant, it was time for spring practice, but all he could see on the field was "a bunch of soccer players." He asked the head coach where the football team was. The head coach said. "That is the football team." He asked, "Where's the varsity?" And the head coach said, "That is the varsity.") Coach Smolin took over as head coach, and did a respectable job in a very tough league. Interestingly, it wasn't Coach Smolin's record that led to his falling-out at Glendale - it was his offense. Winning wasn't enough - they wanted a cherry on it. Next stop - Pasadena City College, where he was offensive coordinator. At Pasadena, by his own admission, he had the players. Likewise at Bassett High in La Puente, his next stop as head coach. Ooo-whee did he have some kids there. But the previous coach had run the Double-Wing - and not so well at that - and he felt that it would not be well received if he continued with it. Taking advantage of the talent on hand, he won two conference titles and was named conference Coach of the Year. But other factors led to his taking a job at Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary, a small Catholic school. Apparently, there was a certain lack of structure in the previous program, and when Coach Smolin announceed that players would have to be there for spring ball or they wouldn't play in the fall, there was resistance, and he wound up with only four seniors on his team, none of whom had played a down of varsity ball. He started out running the same offense he'd run at Bassett, but things did not get off to a promising start - after losing the first seven games, six of them by four touchdowns or more, it was, as he put it, "a bad situation. I was getting ready to pack up all my stuff in boxes. We had to come up with something fast." So he and his assistants got the kids together on a Saturday afternoon and installed the Double-Wing, and next week, the difference was astonishing. His kids jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead, and coasted home to a 35-20 win. After starting out 0-7, Cantwell won three in a row, before losing to another Double Wing team. Coach Smolin said he loves the kids he works with, and he's looking forward to next season. "We unpacked our boxes," he said. *********** I had to deal with a flight delay on the way home from Burbank Saturday night, and didn't get out of there until about 10:30; meantime, the airport lounge/restaurant closed at 7 PM (!). But I made good use of the time by taking the Hilton Airport shuttle to their restaurant where I had a decent meal, a couple of beers, and an interesting talk with a couple of guys who really knew their basketball. One guy was in on a pool in which 12 guys put up $1000 each and drew five teams each and a 13th guy put up $800 and drew four teams. He noticed that I was wearing a Tennessee shirt, and we got talking about that since he was from Memphis and went to Memphis State (when it was still called that). He said he heard that Bobby Knight was being rumored as a candidate for the Tennessee job! Meantime, although Knight's reputation is being sanitized and he is being depicted as "more laid-back," I read in the LA Times that when UCLA's Ben Howland went to meet him and shale hands at midcourt before their game, Knight sat on the bench and ignored Howland. Now, unless there is something in their past, that was Knight at his churlish worst. *********** I have to laugh at all the "Nanny" shows on TV now, filling a definite need brought on by two phenomena of our culture - (1) there are a lot of bratty kids because (2) there are a lot of pussy parents. Years ago, when I was coaching in Finland, some of my players who were schoolteachers in their real lives said that it was against the law for parents to spank kids, and ever since that law had passed, they noticed that kids had become unusually snotty and defiant. Not in the US, I thought. Not here. We're not about to turn our country over to a bunch of feel-good socialists. American parents are ashamed to let their kids act like brats. I remember the faculty meeting when one of those feel-good socialist types tried to tell us that spanking was on the same continuum as child abuse - how spanking was often the reason why kids grew up to be violent. Our ag teacher, a guy named Lee Sederburg, was like the rest of us, about half-paying attention, but he snapped to full alert when he heard that, and he said something about sparing the rtod and spoiling the child. The woman responded that she'd never been spanked, and Lee fired back, "Maybe that's your problem!" And then I remembered the day they arrived at our school. The class that one of my fellow teachers called, "the first class that's never been spanked." You could tell the difference. So here we are, as desperate parents their unruly little bastards over to professional nannies, who will charge them to do what grandma and grandpa gladly did for free, simply because it was their responsibility to the family, the community, and the kid himself. And besides, they'd be appalled at the thought that neighbors would see their kid misbehaving. What nobody really appreciated was that fact that Grandma and Grandpa saved the rest of society - schoolteachers, coaches, law enforcement - a lot of headaches by acting as the first line of defense against monster kids, *********** A reader from Wisconsin, who has noted the recent creation of Panels of "Experts" by some school boards, primarily, it would seem, for the purpose of looking over coaches' shoulders, wrote this delicious satire. I would love to give him credit, but he thinks it might be wise for him to stay undercover... Due to the complaints the administration and school board has received about unequal playing time and favoritism, the following policy will be immediately put into effect. Board Coaching Policy I. Organization A. Each sport will have a panel of "experts". B. "Experts" will include administrators and board members. Their expertise in all areas automatically qualifies them. Other "experts" may be community members, people outside the community, people in the media, people that use the internet, and people who happen to be in the taverns. C. All parents are "experts". Absentee parents will be considered "Super Experts" D. No coaches or athletic directors are "experts". There is no question that they do not have a clue on how to run a team. E. No qualifications are necessary to be an "expert". People who have played any sport 20+ years ago or watch it on TV will make them a "Know-it-All Expert." "Know-it-All Experts" and their opinions will be given more weigh by the panel. F. "Expert" meetings maybe be held but attendance by the "experts" is not necessary. Everybody should know what they are thinking and realize that they are right. II. Responsibilities of the "Expert" panel A. The "expert" panel, being all knowing, will not be responsible for anything. Criticism does not encompass responsibility. III. Responsibilities of the coach A. Develop a sports program which includes: practice schedules, practice outcomes, inseason conditioning, out-of-season work-outs, scouting, game planning, gametime adjustments, treatment of injuries, organization of equipment, media relations, relations with other people involved with their sport, and any other items necessary to run a team. B. The above and anything else must meet the approval of the "experts". The coach will not be allowed to use their own judgment because of Section I, Article C. The coach will not be told if they are not meeting the expectations of the "experts" by the "experts". All communication with the coach will be through memos and second, preferably third parties. C. The coach is responsible for the athletes. The athletes will however have unlimited freedom and suffer no consequences for their actions or inactions. D. The coach is responsible for the parents of the athletes. The parents have the same rights as the athletes. IV. Rights A. "Expert" Panel rights 1. If the coach does not meet the expectations of the "experts", the coach's ability, character, and name can be trashed by the "expert" or their representative. The more public the trashing, the better. 2. The "experts" have the right to interfere with the coach's coaching during games and practices by yelling at the coach and the players from the sidelines. 3. The "experts" can call for the immediate firing of the coach or to have the coach's head examined. 4. The "experts" can call for the coach to be tied to a goalpost or backboard and have rotten tomatoes thrown at them. The coach must supply the tomatoes and tape. 5. The "expert" panel has all other rights not given to the coach. B. Coach's rights 1. The coach has absolutely no rights. See Section I, Article C. V. Savings Clause A. An "expert" can never, ever be wrong. If it appears that they are wrong - they were misunderstood *********** Next time send a reporter who understands... In basketball at least, there are few rivalries as big, as bitter, as nasty as Duke-North Carolina. I am a Duke dad, and I can remember at my daughter's graduation, noting on the program that the graduates would exit to"The Blue and White." ("Must be the alma mater," I thought. Probably something on the order of "Pomp and Circumstance." Was I wrong. Turned out, "The Blue and White" is the Duke fight song, and as the graduates marched out triumphantly, there came a point in the song where - as one - the graduates pumped their diplomas in the air and yelled, "TO HELL WITH CAROLINA!" and then the music continued. It works both ways. I know Carolina grads, too, and I have NEVER heard them say anything good about Duke, even grudgingly. So I had to wonder what numbnuts reporter was in Charlotte covering the Duke-Mississippi State game. North Carolina was playing at the same site, and Charlotte being pretty much Tar Heel country to begin with, and North Carolina being a far bigger school than Duke, with far more alumni in the area, most of the seats in the place were occupied by Carolina people. Billy Packer even commented on that during Duke's earlier game against Delaware State. He said something to the effect that Charlotte is a North Carolina town, and "North Carolina people despise Duke." So here is the game coverage: "Duke shot just 38 per cent, had 16 turnovers, and almost lost what should have been a pro-Duke crowd (huh?) when the game was tied, 50-50 with less than five minutes to play. Because rival North Carolina played in the first game, and Tar Heel fans snapped up almost 18,000 tickets in the Charlotte Coliseum, the crowd shifted to the Bulldogs late." I've got some advice for that guy's editor - call him in to your office and make him prove he was at the game. I doubt that he was. That crowd didn't shift. No Carolina crowd would EVER be "pro-Duke." That crowd was on Duke's case from the opening tip, and it really started to howl when it smelled blood. *********** The Terry Schiavo case is heartbreaking, and I thank the Lord I am not in the position of her family members. But it seems to me that the people who are saying, "she's a vegetable - pull the plug" - are the same ones who argue that we can't execute someone because he may have killed a dozen people but he has the mind of a four-year-old. *********** NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND... I near wet myself laughing at all the pompous crap coming out of the recent governors' conference, at which numerous state executives pledged to increase academic rigor in their states' high schools. One of the key words we kept hearing from these space cadets was "accountability." (Translation - put more heat on teachers to get non-performing kids to perform.) But while the governors pontificated and talked tough, down on the ground teachers were doing their damnedest, as usual, to deal with the reality of insurmountable objects thrown in their way by indolent, indifferent parents and the people who excuse them. Now, they've started to deal with their students' lack of a simple work ethic by thanking them for even showing up. Educators, wrote the Portland Oregonian in an article about "poorly-performing" schools, are "trying to be more sensitive to the issues low-income families face and build more personal connections with parents so they will trust the school more. They no longer punish children who fail to complete homework." Conditions at home, says one educator, may prevent kids from doing homework ("What do you call homework if you don't have a home?"), but at least teachers can make sure kids learn while they are "safe and warm" at school. (It reminded me of a very wise teacher I once taught with, Bob Parsons, who said that where some kids were concerned, all we were really doing was "keeping them warm and dry.") Work habits? Remember them? Remember the importance of being on time? Forget it. Says a teacher at the school, teachers have stopped asking kids "Why are you tardy?" Instead, she said, "They go through so much before they get to you in the morning. We need to say, 'We're so glad you're here.'" Not that these kids will ever be employable, but just imagine the workplace in 10 or 15 years - "Thank you for showing up for work today. That's two days in a row for you, so here's your platinum medal. Oh - and an oak leaf cluster, because you were almost on time both days." No Child Left Behind. No - not as long as we hold up the bus long enough. And then thank the kids for even getting on. *********** Finally went to one of those "How to stop the DW" presentations for youth coaches and it upset me that the main point was to cut the FB to disrupt the play. The coach told us that this was OK b/c we don't play Federation rules, but my buddies and I still questioned the ethics of this tactic at the youth level (after the presentation and in a nice way). I also really enjoyed the other youth O-line talk I went to where the coach said that if the ref didn't see or call the holding, then he guessed it wasn't holding.....right. Rick Davis, Duxbury, Massachusetts *********** Army's Joe Steffy at 78 is the oldest living winner of the Outland Trophy, awarded every year to the nation's outstanding lineman. In a recent interview, he was asked by Justin Rodriguez of the Middletown, New York Times Herald Record, why he had chosen West Point in the first place. He answered, "I transferred from Tennessee after my freshman year because I knew I would get drafted anyway. Everyone thought (World War II) would last until 1949. Then, they dropped the A-bomb and that was that." (That was August, 1945. So much for the War lasting until 1949.) *********** It was the sheerest of coincidence, but perhaps you remember my writing that one of the most memorable parts of my recent visit to the Dr. Martin Luther King shrine in Atlanta was reading about his recollection of the time when, after he had been asked to assume leadershiop of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he feared for his life. He said that he prayed for guidance, and heard an inner voice tell him, "Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever." And not much later, right there in Atlanta, a woman put her trust in God, and a man who had already murdered (sorry - allegedly murdered) four other people spared her life. *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 18, 2005  "An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of bullsh--." General George S. Patton, Jr.    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- This Saturday's Los Angeles-area clinic will be held at the COAST ANABELLE HOTEL - 2011 W. Olive Ave - Burbank - 818-845-7800 NEXT UP: Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - Saturday, April 2 at the Millennium Hotel, Durham *********** Coach Wyatt: Reading the recent NEWS commentary about school boards, dancing, fired teachers, and the like and how the Board of Education in any particular place will usually side with the parents first, I was reminded of something I heard back when I worked in the public sector. Several years ago I was required (along with everybody else where I worked) to do a harassment-sensitivity workshop. The only thing that I really remember about the whole thing was that the legal expert who spoke to us said that in most cases, it's easier to fire somebody than fight a lawsuit from another employee claiming harassment, because the employer has a better chance of winning a wrongful termination suit (which may or may not be filed by the terminated employee and would be for a smaller sum of money) than a harassment suit. The same logic holds true in a school board setting: It's easier to fight the workers (teachers) than it is the complainers (parents). The lawsuit gamble applies. The organization stands to lose less money on a lawsuit from a wronged teacher than a student or parent who claims he/she was done wrong. In a litigious society where the accused loses even if he/she wins, common sense is thrown out the window. It's a cliche, but it still holds true: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Dan Polcyn, Gallipolis, Ohio That nails it. That, and the fact that the teacher won't sue anyhow, because they're not going to fire him/her (almost impossible to do in the case of a tenured teacher), and the coach can't sue because he/she hasn't been fired - merely "non-renewed." And as a school superintendent once told me, he almost always had to cave, because even though they knew they'd win, they didn't have the money to even fight! So his strategy was to avoid awsuits at all costs. *********** You know that there is a parallel universe out there, one totally unknown to you, when you read something like Sports Illustrated's interview with Illinois guard Deron Williams: "Denae (my daughter) is two. I live with her and my girlfriend, Amy, in the building next to where the team lives. I take Denae to the park, and we swing and slide. She also likes to play with our pit bull." *********** This being my first year as head coach, I really don't have an idea of what type of agilities and stretches to do.  Last night I thought I'd look at the "Practice without Pads" video and I was really shocked...there it was...everything I need.  Talk about a the right thing!  I have a question though...Which do I choose from?  It seems that there isn't nearly enough time to do all those drills and still get in repetitions.  We only have 2 hours per day, 4 days per week.  Can you give me an idea of what kind of timeline I should use?  I know that it is just a guide, but I want to be prepared as much as possible (like you say in the video) as early as I can. Coach- We don't do all those things every day --- but in the course of a week we probably will cover everything. Also, once kids have mastered those drills, they go a lot faster. With two hours to practice, I'd spend maybe 35-40 minutes or so on the everydays (the stuff shown in the video), 35-40 minutes on offense (including punting) and 35-40 minutes on defense (including PAT defense and punt return/block). And 10 minutes on conditioning. Make a little time in there for fun, too. Five minutes of fun at the end goes a long way. *********** I always marvel at guys who are so into self-celebration that they'll make a tackle and jump up and celebrate - with their team losing, 28-0. So there was a kid from a school called Oakland - OAKLAND, for God's sake! (quick- tell me where it's located*) - down on the floor muggin and tuggin'. Muggin' for the TV camera and tuggin' on his shirt to let the whole world (okay, okay - the handful of people watching) see the lettering on his shirt - OAKLAND, Baby. Well, whoopee doo. Get a grip, dude. Yeah, you just won a basketball game, but it's not like you turned the college basketball world upside-down. What you just did was beat Alabama A & M, to slip into the 64th spot in the NCAA tournament. Save your celebration for the next game - it's against North Carolina. You beat them, you will turn the college basketball world upside-down. (*It's located in Oakland County, Michigan - suburban Detroit.)  *********** I wrote, of Coach Earl "Red' Blaik, "Perhaps the most famous game he was involved in while at Dartmouth was the so-called "Fifth-down" Game in 1940, in which Cornell, winner of 18 straight and ranked number 1 nationally, was down 3-0 in the fourth quarter, and facing an upset. But in the confusion and excitement as Dartmouth fought furiously to defend its goal line against a final, desperate Cornell drive, a last-minute official's mistake gave Cornell a fifth down. Taking full advantage, the Big Red scored a touchdown with two seconds remaining to pull out a 7-3 win and remain unbeaten. Dartmouth players realized at the time what had happened, and so did most reporters covering the game. So did Blaik. But when Cornell's athletic director and president viewed the game films on Monday, they recognized the officials' error, and to their everlasting credit, conceded the win to Dartmouth, ending their team's 18-game win streak and toppling them from their place atop the national rankings! (Imagine that happening today?)" The "Fifth-down Game", and Cornell's chivalrous conduct after learning what had happened, is often cited as an example of the kind of sportsmanship that is sadly missing from today's sports. But as often is the case, there is another point of view, and it is well argued - by Dave Nelson, who served for years on the NCAA Rules Committee, and wrote "Anatomy of a Game," the history of football's rules. He maintained that Cornell's action was incorrect, and as a result "has mistakenly become the standard of conduct expected by teams who win by officiating errors." He wrote... "The 1940 rule was the same as it is today: the team with the greater number of points at the end of four periods is the winner. Cornell and Dartmouth violated the rule and it has haunted institutions who play by the rules ever since. "After the Dartmouth-Cornell game, whenever an official errs on a victory or defeat decision, there is a hue and cry that the team that benefitted from the error should violate the rules of the game and offer the game to the loser. NCAA institutions are required to play by the NCAA playing rules and it is not possible for an institution to award a game to the opponent when the final score is not in their favor. "One of the joys of a college football game is its finality and the lack of an appellate system. Like the rest of football, an official's error is just one more "rub of the green" that is part of a total education. The rulemakers of yesterday may have had the foresight to envision the instant replay, and concluded that appeals would endanger the game's character." In other words, life isn't perfect - or perfectable - and that is one of the things that football teaches. *********** Maybe you've heard of Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett is a wealthy man. How wealthy? Second only to Microsoft's Bill Gates, as a matter of fact, as America's wealthiest man. How wealthy? He is the major shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, whose closing price on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday was $89,900. That's per share. (Look it up.) But for all his money, he doesn't live in Beverly Hills or Greenwich. He lives in Omaha. Nebraska. Now, maybe it's because a dollar goes further there... I'm joking. He lives there because for all his wealth, he's a Nebraskan. Which means he's a regular guy. Hard to be a pompous ass in Nebraska. And I just read that his favorite meal is "a T-bone steak and double hash browns at Gorat's." At Gorat's! Whoa! I've been there! The last two summers, when I've gone to Holstein, Iowa to work at a camp there, I've flown into Omaha. And both times, as soon as I got my luggage, Brad Knight, the coach at Galva-Holstein High, and I headed for Gorat's (4917 Center Street) for a steak dinner. In a city that's famous for its steaks, Mr. Buffett certainly has his choice of places. And he chooses Gorat's. Amazing. Nothing wrong with his choice, you understand. The steaks are very good, and so is the service. The prices are reasonable, and the atmosphere is nice, in a family restaurant way - definitely not your Morton's or your Ruth's Chris. It is not fancy. Which says even more about the kind of guy Mr. Buffett is. Maybe he was that guy sitting at the next table who had to borrow a five from us so he could leave a tip. *********** Bill Dwyre, in the Los Angeles Times, wrote of the eulogy delivered at Glenn Davis' funeral mass by Jim Hardy, former USC and NFL player. Hardy noted there was "far more substance to this man than jockstraps and cheers from the crowd." Hardy told of a day years ago when Davis' stepson, John Slack, had won a 100-yard dash in a high school meet. HIs time was 9.9, not too bad. But when Davis heard him bragging to friends, he challenged the young to a race. The youngster pointed out that Davis wasn't wearing track shoes, but Davis insisted. Dvis won the race, and then told young Slack that in the future,he should let his performance speak for itself. After Davis' death, Hardy said, Davis' family received an e-mail from West Point with this message: "We brought Glenn Davis to West Point to make him a soldier. He was already a gentleman." *********** There's something wrong here... I was thumbing through the new Sports Illustrated when I came upon what appeared to be an article about the McDonald's All-Star game. It turned out to be one of those too-cute "special advertising features" that was really a paid McDonald's ad, but it was interesting enough, and then I started going over the rosters of this year's game, scheduled for March 30. As usual, I looked to see if there were any Washington kids on the team. I mean, shoot - they play pretty good ball up around Seattle, so many one of those kids is one the West team... But hold the phone - there were three Washington kids on the 12-man roster. Right now, I should be saying "Ahem!" and tossing a little crap your way, but I know better. Are you kidding me? And only two from Illinois? And one from Indiana? And - strangest of all - only one from California? I looked at the East squad. There were only two kids from New Jersey, two from New York, and two from Georgia. There was another one from Indiana, which gave the Hoosier state a total of two. Bow down to Washington, as the Huskies' fight song says? Get serious. Something is definitely wrong here. *********** Weirdest story of the week - or almost any other week - came out of Corvallis, Oregon where, once again, an Oregon State football player is in trouble with the law. This time, though, it's not a matter of assaulting somebody after hours in a Corvallis dance hall. Nothing that simple. Ryan Siegert, Beavers' sophomore defensive lineman, was pulled over at 1:30 AM last Friday by a Benton County sheriff's deputy ande cited for going 60 in 25 mph zone. Asked to submit to a breathalyzer test, he blew .14. And then there was the matter of that animal in the back of his pickup - the one that was bouncing all over the bed of the truck as Siegert sped around sharp curves. It turned out to be a sheep. A 200-pound ram, to be specific. At first, Siegert said he and his friends found it beside the road, but then he admitted that as a prank, he had rustled it from a pasture where it was being held along with other sheep at an OSU research facility looking into - there is no way I could possibly make this up - homosexuality in sheep. *********** It seems there are a few stages in a coaches career, writes Coach Gordon Walters, of Durham, North Carolina 1. Rookie----intimidated and realize they don't know a thing about the game, but always say "this is how you do it"--with a demonstration 2. Dumbass- ones who are beginning to think they know a lot and can learn only from a few great ones 3. Oblivious- "I am ready for a head coaching job" these people are going to reinvent the game 4. "Wow, how did we get beat"? 5. "How did he do that"? "Not that he is better than me or anything, but I would love to have some of his video to see how he did that. (I am still much better than him.)" 6. Lightbulb stage- "He might be better than me" 7. Enlightenment stage- "I don't know anything about this game... How did you do that??? At least these were the stages for me-----and if there are any stages out there beyond 7 ---I want to stay in 7--- this is the most fun that I have ever had coaching--- Thankfully I am in stage seven and I am loving being in stage 7 and learning everyday. (Pretty good - I told Coach Walters it reminded me of Dan Jenkins' "Ten Stages of Drunkenness.") *********** Former Portland Trail Blazer strong man Maurice Lucas is now a Portland businessman, and he was asked recently to comment on the NBA's problems with, um, "bad conduct" by its players.. He conceded that the league in general, and the Trail Blazers in particular, had some serious problems. But there is hope, he says. There is hope because of the increasing number of "relatively well-behaved" foreign players in the league. Said Lucas, "These domestic players better straighten up and fly right." Glad he said "domestic." He certainly didn't mean "domesticated." The amazing thing that he hit on was the way things have been turned topsy-turvy - it's the foreign players who bring to the NBA traditional American values of hard work, coachability and team play. And it's the "domestic" guys who speak a strange language and espouse values alien to our culture. *********** Coach Wyatt, Thanks again for another great opportunity to learn from you and the other coaches in Atlanta this year. It was really neat to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones as we all shared our experiences from the last season. One common theme that keeps sticking out in my mind is the true versatility of the offense and the need to adapt what you can do to the kids you have. Concentrate on the "how" and the "who", not the "what" as I believe you put it. Nice to see, too, that there is a growing circle of DW coaches in FL, I hope to have the opportunity to see some their teams in the coming season. Of course, all of the coaches at the clinic are such great guys who are willing to help each other out. This makes it so much fun and worthwhile. You are correct, too, about how the audience at your clinics has evolved to the point that many could share valuable experiences. I suppose if you asked for volunteers to take the marker and show what they learned for just one play or formation and go around the room we could have been there all night. But, I am sure this is not just typical of Atlanta. If there ever was one "mega-clinic" from all your stops I suspect the feeling would be the same. The DW fraternity is a great thing to be a part of. Best regards, Lee Griesemer, Chuluota, Florida *********** With the hiring of Tyrone Willingham to head its football program, the University of Washington became the first major college to have black men in charge of both their football and basketball programs. (I know, I know - political correctness requires that I say "men's basketball." So sue me.) Lots of people know about Coach Willingham, but I suspect that the Huskies' basketball coach, Lorenzo Romar, is not so well known. He should be, and if his basketball team continues to win, he likely will be. Actually, even if they don't continue to win, he still has a chance of being well known, because the Huskies, models of fiscal sanity, just gave him an EIGHT-YEAR contract extension. This, mind you, is the school that will have the best-coached football program in American next fall, if you base that on the fact that Washington will have three head coaches - Willingham, Keith Gilbertson and Rick Neuheisel - on the payroll. *********** One of the most memorable parts of my recent visit to the Dr. Martin Luther King shrine in Atlanta was his recollection of the time when, after he had been asked to assume leadershiop of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he feared for his life. He said that he prayed for guidance, and heard an inner voice tell him, "Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever." *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 15, 2005  "Half the doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class." Al McGuire    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** A GET WELL QUICKLY to my friend, General Jim Shelton, recovering from shoulder surgery at his home in Englewood, Florida. (JShelton8@ewol.com) *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- The Philadelphia clinic will be held at the Radisson Hotel, King of Prussia, PA. For those needing a place to stay, there are all sorts of accomodations at all price levels in the general area. The Twin Cities clinic will not be held this year. *********** THE LA CLINIC is this weekend, at the Coastal Annabel Hotel in Burbank. Guest speakers will be John Torres and Pete Smolin. Coach Torres has coached youth teams on both coasts. He has been running the Double Wing since 1998, and has coached championship teams in both Southern California and Northern California. Coach Smolin will be speaking from the perspective of one who has been a Double-Winger, then fallen off the wagon, then returned to the fold. At Glendale High School he ran the Double Wing (even hosted one of my clinics), but then he moved on, first to Pasadena City College and then to Bassett High in LaPuente, where he ran some other things. Now he is entering his second season at Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High in Montebello, and a Double-Winger once again. CLINIC INFO *********** One of former President Bill Clintons' surgeons said that his recent surgery was so successful that the prognosis was for "even better than a full recovery." Better than a full recovery? What could that mean, I wondered? The only thing I could figure was that when he got home from the hospital, he'd find that Hillary had moved out. *********** I heard Duke's J.J. Redick, one of the best free throw shooters in the country, tell ESPN that when he steps to the free throw line he has a ritual he goes through - he locates himself precisely in the middle of the free throw line, spins and bounces the ball a certain way, and then, before he even looks up at the basket - "I say to myself Phillipians 4:13 - 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'" *********** There is no one in sports I respect more than Coach K, so it was with a sense of "Oh, no - not you too?" that I watched him pretending to be discussing his philosophy of coaching but actually pushing the American Express card. Granted, he did miss out on a pile of money when he turned down the Lakers to stay at Duke, but he is not exactly homeless and destitute at Duke, and commercializing his position in such a public way just feeds the animus of sports fans who already resent him and the Duke program for the incredible success they have enjoyed. *********** I had to laugh when I read an article pointing out that if you were going to fix a basketball game, you'd be wasting your money trying to bribe players or coaches when you could go right to the officials. No kidding. I mean, they make so many inexplicably bad calls as it is, who would ever get suspicious? But I don't agree with those who say that the best way to prevent fixers from getting to officials is to pay the refs more, to - presumably - put them further out of reach of temptation. Apart from the fact that I have my suspicions that this argument may have been started by the officials themselves, I have to take issue with it on two points: First, paying our congressmen nearly $200,000 a year plus every perk immaginable has scarcely made them immune to bribery. If anything, it has made them more hungry - the old French saying is "appetite comes from eating." Second, college basketball officiating doesn't pay all that bad for a part-time job. According to the Big Ten supervisor of officials, refs in most major college conferences make between $700 and $800 a game, plus $150 per diem to cover meals and lodging and ground transportation (air fare is provided). Placed in the context of a high school coach, who earns - maybe - $5,000 a "season" for what now amounts to a year-round job, it's hard for me to sympathize with a bunch of part-timers who can pull down $6000 a month or so during basketball season. *********** Still on the subject of corruption in sports... Mike Tice makes more than $700,000 a year to coach the Vikings, and I know the NFL has its rules about scalping and all that, but I have a hard time getting excited about scalping in the first place, and the Super Bowl tickets that Tice is accused of scalping were a legitimate perk of his job. He should have just given the tickets to his brother-in-law or his cousin and let them sell the tickets and settle up later. If he did, in fact, scalp the tickets, he'll almost certainly get fined by the NFL, which sees nothing wrong with selling tickets with a face value of $200 or so but can't imagine anyone so criminal that he'd resell them for five times that. Meantime, for Tice's sake, let's hope he reported the extra income to the IRS. *********** While experts on the subject wonder what can be done to improve the life prospects of inner city black kids - especially boys - a little kid in the latest Nike ad says more about the real nature of the problem than any expert can. I suspect the kid is not a stellar performer in the classroom. He has, um, some diction issues, and PE doesn't appear to be his favorite class, either, because at a time when we're worried about obese kids, he looks as if he's a several glazed doughnuts on the far side of anything resembling good physical condition. Yet he's a cocky little f--ker, and he seems to be delivering a lecture to someone - I suspect it's Michael Jordan - about how someday he's going to be even better. (Is this what we get from all this self-esteem garbage?) The tag line of the Nike spot is, "Will You Be the One?" (Presumably, the next Michael.) Great idea, Nike. Inspire young American kids to think that out of all the millions of kids in America, they will be "the one" - the one in a million that makes it to the top. Screw the classroom, guys - drop everything and concentrate on basketball, because you're going to "Be the One!" And the others? The millions who aren't? The ones that spent all that time dreaming about being "the one?" The ones who never bothered with homework, and told their teachers to f--k off, because they were going to "be the one?" What about them, when reality hits them? When they find out - too late - that they aren't "the one?" Will that be our fault, again? Will we, in mainstream society, be blamed once again because we "failed them?" Will we be asked to spend more billions on "programs" designed to give those "children" the basic skills - at age 20 - that they blew off when they were 12? Thanks, Nike. Great message. *********** In doing a little research on Ara Parseghian, one of the greatest of the great Notre Dame coaches, I note that he came in at a time when Notre Dame was down - really down. Down far deeper than the Irish football program is now. Consider this - during the Frank Leahy years from 1941 through 1953 (with two years off to serve in the Navy in World War II), the Irish had six undefeated seasons and won four national championships. When Parseghian arrived in South Bend in 1964, 10 years had gone by since Leahy retired, and during that time the Irish had had only four winning seasons: the best of them were in 1954 and 1955, the first two year after Leahy left, with Leahy's left. In the five years prior to Parseghian's arrival, Notre Dame hadn't had a winning season. Coach Parseghian knew that the campus was hungry for a return to glory days, and he set out to "Wake Up the Echoes." One of his first moves was to open up his first spring practice to all comers, not just scholarship athletes. And to instill in his defenders the importance of getting as many tacklers on the ball carrier as possible on every play, he paraphrased the Declaration of Independence: "Life, Liberty, and the Happiness of Pursuit." The incredible turnaround job that he did at Notre Dame may be matched, but it will probably never be topped: in his very first year, the Irish came within a minute-and-a-half of the national title, dropping the final game against USC, 20-17, to finish 9-1. In 1966, Notre Dame would finally win a national title, their first since 1949, and in 1973, they'd win another. *********** Hey Coach, I was reading your News this morning and a couple of things sparked my interest. The first was the issue regarding the school "dances" and how the parent felt that the schools were taking all of the fun out of going. I teach ESE math here at Belleview and all year I have been getting, "Coach, Algebra ain't any fun!" To which I usually respond, everything in life is not a party and sometimes you have to do things that yu don't want to simply because you are supposed to to them. I never really could figure out where all of the kids were getting the idea that school was supposed to be fun all the time. I mean, I did pretty well in school and I guess, for the most part I enjoyed it, but I would not go so far as to say that my high school classes were "fun". Some classes had their "fun" moments, but I generally went to school to because I was supposed to and they also let me play a really cool game called football while I was there. After reading your News, I now know where the kids get the idea that school is supposed to be a party all the time. I'm starting to believe that the parents desparately want school to be fun for their kids so that the kids will actually go to school instead of staying home with the parents. God knows (oops, I don't know if I am allowed to use the G word on a public school's e-mail system) most parents look at the schools as babysitters and don't have the stones to tell their kids that they are going to school, they are going to do their work, they are going to study, and are going to behave properly while at school. As far as the Pledge of Allegiance issue goes, I guess I have been lucky. Both schools that where I have taught say the Pledge daily during morning announcements. I have never really had a problem with any of the kids standing for the Pledge. I have kids that refuse to say it, but they at least stand (of course, I insist on this). I tell them that I can't make them say the Pledge but I can make them stand for it. In fact, last year, the teacher across the hall had a kid refuse to stand for the Pledge, so she came over to my room and got me. I promptly read the kid the riot act and pretty much had him shaking in his un-tied shoes. That was the last time she had any problems with that student. I suffered no ill effects from my actions and even if I did, would do what I did again. On a side note, my oldest son, Donovan (6), attends a Charter School K-8 and was selected just last week to lead the entire school in the Pledge of Allegiance during the morning anouncements. He was so excited that day and couldn't wait to get to school. Did you happen to catch Bill O'Reilly last night? He had a couple of anti-military recruiting people on the show. One guy refused to answer any of Bill's questions directly and merely wanted to spout his political agenda on national TV. Of couse, Bill allowed no such thing. The guy apparently has a 17 year old son so Bill asked the guy if he would encourage his son to serve in the military. The guy responded by saying that he would not because that decision would not serve the best interest of his son. The other one, some lady with some Grannies against the military or some other stupid name, was ridiculously dressed and basically said that she is not against the soldiers and that her group supports the soldiers but, she wants them all to be back home safe and sound instead of deployed in combat situations. Of couse we all want all of our young men and women who are serving our Nation to remain unharmed and to be able to one day come home to their families. She is saying that she wants the military and supports the military as long as none of the soldiers are ever sent to war. Isn't that a bit like saying that you support a law as long as it is never enforced. Okay, my Friday morning rant is over now. Regards, Donnie Hayes, Belleview, Florida *********** Coach- If I may comment on the failure of many schools to effectively deal with bad behavior from kids (whether it be dancing or anything else). It seems to me the problem lies often in school boards. Now this is only an opinion, coming from a young guy who has never been on a school board or really dealt with them that much. BUT - it seems to me that administrators fear parents. And from personal experience the only reason I ever "fear" parents - is because I know that fairly often administrators back parents rather than teachers (although I have been lucky enough the last two years to have been backed up by our administrators on a few occasions). Now - I have worked for good administrators and bad in my short teaching career. But even the good ones, it often seems, "fear" parents as well. And I have a sneaking suspicion that they back parents because the school board backs the parents rather than the administrator. Seems to me there should be requirements for being on a school board. #1 - You must have worked in a school at one point in your life (whether as a custodian, cafeteria worker, teacher, administrator) #2 (maybe) you shouldn't have any kids currently in school (to avoid conflicts of interest - i.e. my little Suzie will just die if there is no dance). Just my thoughts John Dowd, Oakfield, New York *********** At our coaches meeting last night we got word that (our conference) is considering adopting a rule that all blocks below the knees are illegal...some babble about safety from a team with inept coaching no doubt...if that were to happen the shoeshine block would be illegal in our conference....last year we ran the super power extremely well and I wonder how effective it would be just with the O adjustment...any comments? The shoeshine block is one thing. Bad enough to eliminate that - but it probably also means that your offensive linemen will not be able to fire out low or crab block. I assume that in return, the muckety-mucks will outlaw submarining defensive linemen as well. You can't take away an offensive weapon without counterbalancing it with restrictions against the defense or you are taking it on yourself to change the game. Local groups quite rightly determine who is eligible to play and who plays where and how much he plays, but I caution against their tinkering with the rules of the game itself, however good their intentions may be. Wiser people with a lot more invested in the game than a handful of part-time youth football administrators in one small town deliberate at great length before making rules changes that affect the game, and they don't always get it right. In effect, when they took away blocking below the waist, they MAY have made the game safer, but they also took away one small weapon that the smaller player had against the bigger player. As for running Super "O" instead of Super Power - don't sweat it. It will work. You will be fine. *********** "FOUR DIE, BUT PC, PRISONERS' RIGHTS BOTH OKAY" - For some reason, the headlines didn't say that, last week, but they should have. Four people, including a judge and a sheriff's deputy, were killed when an accused rapist overpowered the deputy escorting him into the courtroom, stole the deputy's gun, and held the people in the courtroom hostage before opening fire. As I read further, I gnashed my teeth. Only the day before, two hand-made knives had been found in the prisoner's shoes, and extra security was called for. So here this guy was, being escorted into the courtroom by one deputy - one female deputy. According to reports, she was 5-1, 130. This is extra security? Yeah, yeah, I know - women can do anything men can do. Don't we get fed that all the time? It's nice to say, and it makes some people feel all warm and fuzzy, but it's not the real world. Of course women can be doctors, and airline pilots, and engineers. Coaches, too. More power to them. But there are some really bad people in the real world, and our government's job, first and foremost, is to protect its law-abiding citizens from those bad people. I saw the prisoner, and he looked to be a pretty well-built dude; I doubt that there are a whole lot of women who could have restrained this guy, mano a mano. Maybe two of them. Maybe. But certainly not one tiny, 5-1, 130 pound person, male or female. And then I read on. Not only had the guy's subsequent escape been facilitated by his being allowed to change from prison orange coveralls into street clothes just prior to his going into the courtroom, but, in accordance with Georgia law, he was not handcuffed, because the sight of the cuffs might unduly influence the jury. Sheesh. Go ahead and put everybody in the courtroom in danger, but don't for one minute imply that an accused rapist might be dangerous. Guaranteed that if you do enough digging, you'll find the ACLU behind that law. So, because in our insane system, which prizes Political Correctness and prisoners' rights over the "domestic tranquility" that our government ws established to provide, we not only assign the guy one escort - a small female escort at that - but we fail to handcuff him. And four people are dead. It occurs to me that maybe the female deputy was also part of the design not to unduly influence the jury. Maybe seeing the guy being walked in by a petite woman would dispose the jury to feel more kindly toward him. I mean, if the guy had been escorted in by two hulking guys who looked as if they had just barely missed making the cut with the Falcons, the jury might have thought the guy was dangerous. Which gave me an idea. Maybe, using that same reasoning, Michael Jackson should be escorted into the courtroom by a Cub Scout. No, wait... *********** Good afternoon Coach: It's been far too long since I wrote or contributed to the site, but still read you twice a week, without fail. I was at a big football clinic last weekend with many top college coaches there to speak. One was Coach DeBerry. Great speaker, as most are. One point that struck me was the fact that while he doesn't pass much during the game he devotes 50-60% of his offensive practice time, and reps, to the passing game. Because, when he wants to or needs to, he wants it to work. I believe to many coaches, including myself, spend too much time repping the run game in practice. So when we really need it in a game, it doesn't work worth a damn, and then we say, "see that's why I don't throw the ball." Great stuff on Glen Davis. Only a blurb here as well. It's to bad we are so short sided on historical events and people. We should take more time to relive great people and/or events from the past. Take care, David Livingstone Troy, Michigan (To be honest with you, I understand what Coach DeBerry is saying, but I get the idea from watching Air Force lately that it's possible they haven't been spending enough time on their bread and butter. I don't think they'll ever be anything more than a mediocre passing team, and in the process, I think they're in danger of becoming less of a kick-ass running team than they used to be. HW) *********** George Will is one of my favorite columnists. He knows his baseball, too. While rightfully ridiculing Congress for its latest publicity-seeking stunt, bringing in baseball players to testify about steroids, he points out that one of them, Jose Canseco, may be a little less than credible... In his book, Caseco says that in Spring training, 2001, "I hit a double, and when I got out to second base, I got a good look at Boone (Mariners' second baseman Bret Boone). I couldn't believe my eyes. He was enormous. 'Oh my God,' I said to him. 'What have you been doing?' 'Shhh," he said. 'Don't tell anybody.'" Great story. But false. But say this about baseball - they do keep very good records. And there is no record - anywhere - of Canseco ever reaching second base in the five games ge played against the Mariners that spring. Oh, yes- Canseco also mentions something that happened in "Game Six" of the 2000 World Series. But the 2000 World Series only went five games. *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 11, 2005  "The most valuable gift you can give someone is your time." Woody Hayes    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- The Philadelphia clinic will be held at the Radisson Hotel, King of Prussia, PA. For those needing a place to stay, there are all sorts of accomodations at all price levels in the general area. The Twin Cities clinic will not be held this year. *********** Earl "Red" Blaik - Chapter 3 - The Storybook Team By Hugh Wyatt At the first practice of 1944, Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik remembered telling his players, "I expect you to be the greatest team in the history of West Point." They wouldn't fail him. For the third year in a row, the incoming Plebes were outstanding - maybe the best ever. In the group were no fewer than six future All-Americans, people such as Barney Poole, Dan Foldberg, Arnold Tucker and DeWitt 'Tex' Coulter. Plus a stocky South Carolinian named Felix Blanchard, and a Californian named Glenn Davis. Blanchard, nicknamed "Doc" because he was the son of a small-town doctor, would earn football immortality as "Mister Inside," combining with Davis, "Mister Outside," to form perhaps the most celebrated pair of runners in football history. Blanchard, called by Blaik 'the best-built athlete I ever saw,' was six-foot, 210, extremely strong, and capable of running a 10-flat 100-yard dash, an impressive speed for any football player in those days of cinder tracks. Blanchard originally enrolled at North Carolina, where his play as a freshman against the Tarheel varsity was so impressive that one observer, a former coach at Northwestern and Wisconsin, said, 'I have seen all the great fullbacks. This boy will be the greatest.' However, too heavy for his height to qualify for Carolina's V-12 (pilot training) service football program, he instead enlisted in the Army, and subsequently won an appointment to West Point, where in addition to being a bruising runner with great speed, he punted and kicked off, and was, in Blaik's words, 'a terrific blocker and tackler.' Davis was only 5-9 and 170, but he was an exceptionally gifted athlete. He established the all-time record in the Academy's rigorous 'physical efficiency' test. As a center fielder on the baseball team he was so good, according to Blaik, that Branch Rickey of the Dodgers would gladly have signed him were it not for his service commitment. In the winter, he played basketball and, when time permitted, ran indoor track. In the spring, he fit in track appearances whenever possible - sometimes immediately following a baseball game - and in 1947, ran the fastest times in the East in both the 100- and 220-yard dashes. According to Blaik, "there could not have been a greater, more dangerous running halfback in the entire history of the game, and on this I put no qualifications whatsoever." In addition to his lightning quickness as a runner, Davis had great hands and was a good passer. So loaded with talent was this team that Blaik had two equal units - one consisting mostly of plebes - that he used interchangeably. The Cadets opened the 1944 seasons with four lopsided wins, before having a mild scare, trailing Duke 7-6 at halftime, before earning a hard-fought 27-7 victory. The real challenges - Notre Dame, Penn and Navy - lay ahead. No Blaik team had ever beaten any of the three. In fact, Blaik's teams had yet even to score against Notre Dame, and as for Navy, Army had now lost four straight to the Midshipmen. Blaik wanted desperately to beat those teams - so much so that on the day the Cadets played lightly-regarded Villanova, he and a group of assistants went instead to Baltimore to watch Navy and Notre Dame play, leaving his team in the hands of assistant coach Andy Gustafson. At breakfast on the train to Baltimore, a fellow diner recognized Blaik, and reminded him that the great Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne had once done the same thing Blaik was now doing; that while Rockne was on the road scouting a future opponent, the Irish were upset by Carnegie Tech. One of Blaik's assistants, sitting opposite him at the table, said he watched the coach turn pale at hearing the story.  Blaik informed the gentleman that he himself remembered the incident well; in fact, he had seen Rockne at the game in question - it was, in fact, an Army-Navy game. Unnerved, Blaik got up left the dining car, his breakfast left uneaten. As it turned out, he had little reason to worry - Army defeated Villanova, 83-0. As for Notre Dame, Blaik's players were ready - so ready, as Blaik recalled years later, that their thirty-minute scrimmage on the Wednesday before the game - two equally talented units pitted against each other in practice - was "the best football I ever saw." Notre Dame fell behind early and elected to throw the ball, a tactic that backfired as Army intercepted eight Irish passes, triumphing by an astonishing 59-0. With a war going on and good news scarce, Blaik heard from excited Army men all over the world. For many of them, the frustrations of past losses to Notre Dame had made beating the Irish a cause even more important than beating Navy. The result even had an effect on the war itself. Before the Battle of the Bulge weeks later, English-speaking Germans, posing as Americans, had been infiltrating American lines. Dressed in uniforms taken from captured American officers, using artfully-forged identification and possessing all the necessary countersigns, they were creating confusion by giving conflicting orders to American units. What began to expose them was a question posed by a suspicious M.P., who asked one of them, "Who won the Notre Dame game?" The bogus "American" had no idea what the M.P. was talking about, and he was taken in for questioning, and subsequently shot. Other imposters, similarly unable to provide an answer known all too well to every true Army man, were exposed and rounded up, and the problem was solved. Next on the Army schedule was Penn, and the Quakers fell, 62-7, suffering their worst defeat in over 50 years. Finally came Navy. After dropping their first two games by a total of only nine points, the Midshipmen had run off six straight wins, defeating Notre Dame, Penn, Purdue, Duke, Penn State and Cornell. They were ranked Number 2 in the nation, right behind Army. Although the game was originally scheduled to be played at Annapolis as had been done two years earlier, it was moved to Baltimore in an effort to sell war bonds. The move was a huge success: some 70,000 people attended, and bought almost $60 million of war bonds. With the top two teams meeting in the last game of the year, and service personnel all over the world tuning in, it is quite conceivable, as Blaik claimed, that there was more interest in this game than in any ever played. After Navy scored to pull to within 9-7 going into the fourth quarter, Army went to work, marching 52 yards, to extend its lead to 16-7. Blanchard personally gained 48 yards on seven carries. The clinching score came late in the game, with Davis, on a play called "The California Special," sprinting 52 yards to make the final score 23-7. As Blaik would later reflect, "I know that there must be a moment in every coach's career which surpasses all others for him. I suspect that when it comes, he is aware of it, knows it has not come before nor will again. I believe the number one moment for me came in that victory of Army's greatest over Navy's greatest in Baltimore." An indication of the impact of the victory came in the form of a wire from General Douglas MacArthur, otherwise busily engaged in fighting the greatest war the world had ever seen: THE GREATEST OF ALL ARMY TEAMS. WE HAVE STOPPED THE WAR TO CELEBRATE YOUR MAGNIFICENT SUCCESS. Greatest of all  Army  teams? Maybe the greatest team ever. The unbeaten 1944 Cadets were unanimous national champions. Outscoring their opponents 504-35, they averaged 56 points a game, and allowed a total of just five touchdowns all season. No team scored more than seven points against them. Six Cadets were named first-team All-Americans. Blaik himself may have said it best, in a souvenir booklet put together just for the members of the team and people attached to it in an official capacity: "Seldom in a lifetime's experience is one permitted the complete satisfaction of being part of a perfect performance," he wrote.  "From her sons, West Point expects the best - you were the best. In truth, you were a story book team." Earl Blaik's biography *********** I included the above chapter because Army football great Glenn Davis died Wednesday at the age of 80. His passing received at most a paragraph or two in the back pages of most sports sections, but there are still some of us who can remember when he was one of the best known players in all of football. In his Army career, he scored 59 touchdowns (43 rushing, 14 receiving, 2 on punt returns). His career rushing average of 8.26 yards a carry (358 carries for 2,957 yards) is still a college record. It is doubtful that anyone in football history has ever been this highly thought-of: in three years of varsity competition, he won the Heisman Trophy once, and twice came in second. In 1944, as a sophomore, he set a new a college record, scoring 20 touchdowns, but finished second in the Heisman ballting to Ohio State's Les Horvath. In 1945, he finished second to Army teammate Doc Blanchard. In 1946, he won the Heisman. Mr. Davis will be buried in the cemetery at West Point. I will make it a point to pay my respects the next time I am there. He was half of my "LOOK AT OUR LEGACY" question back in November, 2000 --- Can you identify the two players? (HINT) They were both runners; (HINT0 they were nicknamed "Mr. Inside" and "Mr. Outside"; (HINT) they each won a Heisman Trophy (HINT) One was named Felix and was a native of South Carolina who went to high school in Mississippi; the other was named Glenn and was a native of California. (HINT) in 3 years and 27 games as college starters, the only game they didn't win was a 0-0 tie with #1-ranked Notre Dame ANSWER: The two players are the legendary Blanchard and Davis - Felix "Doc" Blanchard and Glenn Davis. (Read more about them ) In terms of the way they dominated their competition - winning all but one game (a 0-0 tie with Notre Dame) over their three years the Army teams they played on (1944-45-46) were three of the greatest in college football history. I just had to call my high school coach, Ed Lawless, back in Pennsylvania and ask him what he remembered about those Army teams. Ed played at Penn back in the early 1940's, right out of high school, and after leaving to join the Marines, returned to Penn and played against Army three times. He told me about the Monday night in 1944 before the Army game, when the Penn players met as they did every week to hear the scouting report, and their scout, a coach named Horse Hendrickson, began to tell them about Army. He had just seen the Cadets destroy Notre Dame, 59-0, and it was clear to the Penn players as he delivered his scouting report that he was in awe of Army - embarrassingly so, in the opinion of the players. He started out by saying, "Gentlemen, I don't know how to tell you this..." and then proceeded to tell them, play by play, man for man, how powerful, how mighty, how unbeatable this Army team was.   "There's this guy named Blanchard," Ed remembers him saying. "You won't believe this guy." This went on, Ed said, until at length, when the scout finally got to the end of the first period of his play-by-play, Penn head coach George Munger cut him off.   "Okay, that's fine." He said. "That's enough for tonight." Ed remembers Army being the first team he had ever seen employ motion - "They'd send that damn Davis in motion (out of the full-house T-formation they normally employed) and run him downfield and either have him run a hook or a hook-and-go."   I asked Ed if he recalls Army as being particularly hard-nosed, and he said, "Oh, God, yeah," and told me about the team getting together on the sideline before the opening kickoff for a few final words from Coach Munger. The coach was a no B-S kind of guy who evidently had an idea of what was about to happen, and Ed remembers him telling is starters, "Do your best and protect yourselves, and I'll get you out of there as soon as possible." That didn't do a lot for Ed's confidence, and he remembers waiting for the kickoff and looking over at Tony "Skippy" Minisi, the other return man, and thinking, "Kick the ball to Skip. Please, God. Kick the ball to Skip." I didn't ask him who had the privilege of returning that kickoff into the jaws of death, but I do know that the final score of the game was 62-7, Penn's worst defeat in 50 years of football. *********** Not every football fan worships the Heisman Trophy. Not even every Heisman Trophy winner... Wrote Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times, back in December... Glenn Davis sits curled up in a family room chair, swallowed in sweat pants and thick jacket and, rather amazingly, a smile. The man known as Mr. Outside has spent most of the last seven months inside, battling cancer, alone with his family and his 1946 Heisman Trophy. Um, where is his Heisman Trophy? "Don't have it," he says. Don't have it? "Gave it to my high school," he says. Gave it to your high school? "Drove it over one day and dropped it off," he says. Dropped it off? "When I got there and they saw what I had, they wanted to arrange some ceremony, but I just handed it to the principal and left," he says. One afternoon several years ago, Davis got to thinking about where it all started for him, and the answer was high school - Bonita High School, in La Verne, Calif., where he played four sports and played on CIF championship teams in football and baseball. So, he told Plaschke, he simply picked up the phone and called the school office. The conversation, he recalled, went something like this: "Anybody going to be down there today?" "Yes, why?" "I'm going to bring something over." Davis' second wife Yvonne - he lost his first wife Harriett after 43 years - said she was "overwhelmed" when she realized what he was preparing to do. She knew what that statue was. She was the widow of another Heisman Trophy winner, Alan Ameche of Wisconsin. "I was sitting there and he's bringing out the Heisman Trophy and we're going to the school and ... I was overwhelmed," she told Plaschke. And the school? A Heisman Trophy in its trophy case? "I don't think there's too many high schools in the country with a Heisman Trophy in their possession," Principal Bob Ketterling told Plaschke. "People walk by and do a double-take." Plaschke, indredulous, asked Davis... The most recognizable trophy in American sports and you just gave it away? He looks over at his shrugging son, down at a coffee table containing two lit candles and a cocoa tin, around a La Quinta, Calif., duplex lined with books and knickknacks, a man who has lost 60 pounds still enveloped in warmth. Davis smiles at me, as if any columnist foolish enough to drive across a desert in search of the Heisman would never understand. "It's just a trophy," he says. "It's not a life." Nothing, he told Plaschke - no trophy, no All-American recognition - could possibly equal the satisfaction of playing three years of college football and never losing a game. "None of it was as important to me as winning, ever," Davis says. "You could have the rest of it, the awards, all that stuff. Why else do you play but to win?" *********** Writes Christopher Anderson, of Palo Alto, California - College Football News had Glenn Davis #59 on their Top 100 Players list. But I'm suspicious - they had Ron Dayne at #12, and Tom Harmon at 77. I really think that any great ballplayer from the single-platoon era needs to be bumped higher than almost any one-way guy. At least they put Red Grange at number one. There are those who contend that unlimited substitution and the Age of the Specialist it created - when passers, runners and receivers could concentrate narrowly on just one skill, not to mention not having to play on defense at all - killed off any meaning the Heisman might have had as an award to the "best" football player in America. I am one of them. Matt Leinart, this year's winner, is a hell of a passer (not even a quarterback, really, because Norm Chow called the plays for him) but I have this gut feeling that you might have to hide him on defense. Ron Dayne? Ahead of Tom Harmon? Get serious. How can you respect any other selection those guys made? They're probably all in their early twenties, and all they know is what they see on NFL Films. I mean, do a little homework, fellas. (If you know what homework is - or did you pay somebody to do your work for you in college?) *********** Regarding the recent release of the report claiming that 56 per cent of NFL playerd are overweight, the LA Time's Chris Dufresne writes, "this 'shocking' report also concluded that jockeys tend to be small and most hockey players are excellent players." *********** At a recent meeting of sports business professionals, it was suggested that the NBA try to improve its ugly image by arranging for its athletes to stick around the teams' cities in the off-season, performing various good works. That's a laugh, said former Portland Trail Blazers' executive Jon Spoelstra. In Portland, he noted, the challenge has always been to get those guys out of town as soon after the season as possible. *********** Northwest Airlines recently announced the start of service from Detroit International to Latrobe, Pennsylvania's Arnold Palmer Airport, named for a well-known local product. Northwest is also honoring another Latrobe product by starting all flight numbers to Latrobe with "33," the number that since Prohibition ended has been found on the label of Rolling Rock Beer. The first flight into Latrobe, on April 4, will be NW 3333. *********** In your Playbook, for "TIGHT RIP 77-POWER", are the Rt. Guard and Tackle's assignments correct? I thought in power they seal off instead of kicking out and tackle blocking the corner. YOU CAUGHT ME!!! The rules on 77 for the backside guard and tackle (in this case, the right guard and tackle) are WRONG as printed, CORRECT as drawn in the play drawing. The rules, as you probably gathered, are those that apply to lead 47-C. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. (EVERYONE PLEASE NOTE -- PAGE 58 --- GREAT PLAY! MAYBE YOU'VE BEEN WONDERING WHY IT HASN'T BEEN WORKING AS WELL AS IT SHOULD! MAY APOLOGIES. HW) *********** First there was the high school in New Jersey, where the punk kids thought it was cool to rattle their teacher by sitting down during the national anthem, then videotaping his (correct) angry reaction, and posting it on a left-wing Web site. Then there is the phenomenon known as freak (or, in some quarters, phreak) dancing. Since you may not be up to date on teen culture and you're probably too smart to be caught dead chaperoning a school dance, let me briefly explain: Out on the dance floor, in full sight of everyone, the girl bends at the waist, while her "dance partner" (a male) grinds his, er, groin against her, uh, bum. In a less coarse time, this sort of activity was given a compound name (the first part of which was "dry"). It was not done in public and did not fall under the category of dancing. Freak dancing has become so prevalent in these parts that one Vancouver, Washington high school, tired of dealing with it, has cancelled all but a couple of formal school dances. The principal, whom I happen to know, says he and his staff have better things to do than deal with parents angry because their little darlings were kicked out of a school dance. School leaders seem to be oblivious to the fact that the practice might be considered tasteless at best, disgustingly vulgar at worst. Said the senior class president (a girl), "You're basically looking at us and telling us our culture is wrong." Well, duh. Actually, my dear, what they're "bascially" telling you is that the school already has a culture - and you've gone outside its bounds. But just in case those of you who aren't involved in education wonder why "No Child Left Behind" will never work until it places the responsibility for a kid's education smack where it belongs - on the parents - it is eye-opening to hear the comments of a parent who serves on something called the school's Shared Leadership Team. "Let's get real here," he told the Vancouver Columbian. "If you don't like your kids doing it, don't let them go. (Does this guy have a daughter?) They're just kids. They dance. It's been like that since the beginning of dancing, period. (Really? Where was I?) Some of them are old enough to go into the military, and they can't dance." He complained that grownups are taking all the fun out of school. "You keep limiting things at school," he predicted, "kids aren't going to want to go to school." So how do you get your kids away from kids with parents like that? Where do you send your kids when you don't have the money for a private school, but you want them to be around other people who respect their country and don't believe in simulating intercourse at school dances? Charter schools, anyone? *********** Hugh, You may have read about recent hackings into business-school websites by applicants. A version of the story is here: http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=16478&repository=0001_article Apparently kids had hacked into the admissions websites to discover their admit/deny status. MIT for its part has said they will reject all applicants found to have undertaken such an effort. Two things: These are the people who want to run our major corporations? And the scary part is, the ones who will run the corporations are the ones who didn't get caught! *sigh* Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (You can't teach children that truth and morality are relative things; you absolve them of personal responsibility by creating a culture in which anything bad that happens to them is someone else's fault; deny them nothing; teach them they don't have to answer to any authority, and then reinforce that message by jumping to their defense any time a teacher or a coach - or a police officer - catches them lying, cheating or breaking the law; replace "In God We Trust" with "Everybody Deserves a Second Chance", and not expect many of them to turn into corrupt politicians and business leaders. In addition to secularism and the cult of the child as center of our universe, I do contend that the lack of influence of the armed forces is at fault to some degree. The declining presence of military veterans in government and in business - in which things such as right and wrong are expressed in absolute terms and people are held to strict accountabilkity - permits the growth of a culture of moral anarchy in which nothing is wrong if you don't get caught. Right is right even if nobody's doing it, and wrong is wrong even if everybody's doing it. Think about your part in all this, coaches, the next time you're tempted to tell a kid, "It isn't holding if you don't get caught." I mean, if this is what you're teaching, can we really justify having your program? HW) *********** Coach Wyatt - Great stuff the last two weeks !! The Bobby Dodd and Ga.Tech stuff was great !! Georgia Tech probably has the most under-rated glorious Football tradition in the Nation, probably an all-time Top 10 program in terms of History and tradition!! No doubt would make the All-time top 20, I think they were the first Program To play and then later WIN all 4 of the classic major New years Day Bowl Games ( Rose,Orange,Sugar,Cotton ) also at one time they were the only school to have 3 consecutive coaches to Win 100+ games ( Heisman,Alexander,Dodd). Coach Ga Tech is a rarity in the South ? they are a southern school with an Urban "Northeast" campus ? (BC,Pitt,Cuse Temple ? ) Coach I Highly recommend the book Dodd's Luck, I think you will enjoy it, Bobby Dodd is a Funny bastard in it !! some great stories. Coach also Great Stuff on Maryland !! a lot of old-timers around hear remember when Tatum brought one of His powerhouse teams into Fenway Park 51? 52 ? I think and those Two big G-D Modzelewski Brothers pounded BU and Aggainis through the Fenway Floor. Big Mo and Little Mo, two mean Slavic SOB !!! !! Yikes , They are on my All-time ALL SLAVIC TEAM !!! With Chuck Bednarik as my captain - the Meanest Toughest SOB,to ever grace a gridiron, An American Original and a Hero to Boot !! Coach - Up the Park Lunch last week, to congratulate Mike Doyle (the owner) on the re-opening!! Thank Christ it hasn't changed !!! Like my father said If you are one of these Joe Blows that keeps his boat or has a summer home in Newburyport ,or Plum Island and haven't been there till August, you would think Mike just gave a Place a renovation (only the shell is original), but Doyle Shocked us immediately !!! To add to his collection of Top Notch memorabilia, Doyle went out and found (or stumbled across) a pre-season program from 1956 ( I think ) N.Y. Giants Vs. Baltimore Colts at Braves Field (B.U.'s Nickerson Fld) George Shaw was listed as the starting Q.B. and there was some back-up from Louisville a Kid named Unitas !!! LOL !!! or as my father thought it was UNA-TASS, !! Where the Hell Doyle gets this stuff ? I don't know ?!! That Irish SOB is amazing !!!! See ya Friday Coach - John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts (Right on - GT was the first to win all the then-major bowls. As for Southern "urban" campuses - Tulane and Vanderbilt would probably qualify, too. Learned about "Dodd's Luck" while I was in Atlanta. I located a copy and it is on its way. Bednarik, although Slavic, is not Polish, but the Modzelewski brothers, Dick and Ed, are. No one who knows his football history should be surprised at the outstanding football players in the Polish Sports Hall of Fame. (http://www.polishsportshof.com) *********** If you can't lick 'em... Don't! An Oregon football coach is in trouble with the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission after he was accused licking a player's bloody knee. Evidently the coach had given his team some sort of pep talk about having to play while hurt, and mentioned licking wounds. When a kid noted that one of his teammates had a bloody knee, the coach then evidently - with the kid's permission - knelt down and licked the knee. Apparently it was no big thing to the kids on the team - another player said that the coach appeared to be "joking around", and that the athlete with the bloody knee wasn't offended by the actions - but police (who evidently have real crime well under control in that town) got involved when a mother complained. The coach has been placed on probation by his school district and ordered to take a class on "bloodborne pathogens." Hmm. I can recall telling kids who had little boo-boos that they should do exactly what their dogs would do - lick them. But I sure as hell never offered to do it for them. *********** As of today I accepted a position of Football Recruiting consultant with the Crossroads Academy & V-5 institute of Moore, OK. The academy was founded in 2001 and offers a one year post graduate college program for males leaving High School with a 20 ACT or 3.0 GPA. The program focuses on teaching men to be leaders in the college and business world. My primary responsibility to the Academy is to recruit a football team for the 2005 season, if we are successful in fielding a team I will fill the role of offensive coordinator. (coach wyatt: I guess you know what we will be running!) This is a very late start to recruiting and we have set a deadline for recruiting commitments at May 15. If we can't fill the roster by that time we will play in 2006. We will play a college schedule consisting of 7-10 games agianst post grad, and division III opponents. For more information on the academy www.crossroadsacademics.org if you have a graduating player you would like to recommend the information will be appreciated. We are concerned more with recruiting men of charecter and high academic success than athletic skill. We will find a place on the team for the less talented player who meets our academic and charecter requirements. Gabe McCown, Piedmont, OK-USA < dwfbcoach@hotmail.com > *********** Hugh, I think you pulled punches with the fellow who feeds the crappy high school program. Being young and foolish, I might have told the guy the high school coach was an egomaniac who cared more about being the boss than what was actually important to his program. (Then again, maybe I've been spending too much time around professors like this.) I do think it helps for the middle schoolers to know the system going into ninth grade, but that's no help if it's some lameass spread-em-out video game offense where no one learns the basic skills, just ad hoc survival tactics. My instinct would also tell me to stay out of his pressbox, lest he think he was doing me some kind of favor and use it to blackmail me. On another note, the coach who wants to bring on a new OC seems like a shoehorning issue. Seems it would be more productive to let the assistant help gameplan and such, but leave the offensive control with the HC, and then maybe next year the asst could move to the OC position. All us coaches need a break somewhere, but setting up a guy to be uncomfortable with the system sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I can speak from the engineering world, where young engineers get little pieces of projects or verification of larger pieces. His supervisor is in close contact to massage out any mistakes before they cost the company. When you've shown your mettle, they let you have the permanent pen. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California Uncommonly mature observations, both. Yes, I did pull some punches. (What the hell is happening to me?) I do like Real World analogies, such as the one from the field of engineering. To be frank, as someone who believes that the title should come AFTER the person has proven his worth, it constantly amazes me that youth coaches, especially, seem so obsessed with the NFL organizational structure that they think they absolutely HAVE to have so-called coordinators, regardless of their qualifications or experience. People who wouldn't think of falling asleep with a novice driver at the wheel will turn over their entire offense to a guy who is learning on the fly. Sink or swim, so to speak. As often as not, it is the whole team that sinks. *********** Enjoyed your write-up about Jim Tatum on the web site. You showed remarkable restraint in your reference to Ronny Waller! It is funny how little attention Tatum gets when the subject of great coaches comes up. Guess Bud Wilkinson overshadowed everyone during those years. His premature death from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever probably also robbed him of some more prime years that may have allowed him to gain greater notoriety (he caught it before it had really been identified as a disease, and from what I hear, he was dead within days of catching it). Interestingly, when we went to the ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of Maryland's 1953 national championship team, we sat with Dick Nolan and I asked him if I could write an article about him for the Coffin Corner, which is the newsletter for the Pro Football Researchers Association, the group for pro football history geeks I belong to. Anyway, over the course of several months, I talked with him a couple of times putting the article together, and it just ran a few months back. He was quite gracious and interesting to talk with, though like many men of his generation, was reluctant to talk too much about himself, so it was sometime difficult getting him to open up. I've attached the article in case you're interested...unfortunately, the newsletter came out before his son got the 49ers job so I couldn't include a reference to that. Finally, I clipped the Baltimore Sun's coverage of Chuck Thompson's death, and if you're interested I can send you a copy. My memories of him are primarily of sneaking my transistor radio under the covers and listening to Orioles games on WFMD when I was supposed to be asleep. I can still belt out the lyrics to the National Boh "Land of Pleasant Living" jingle. Also, I recently bit the bullet and ordered the history of minor league football book that was published several years back, and can send you copies of pages on SFL (or, excuse me, SPFL), WFL, IFL et. al. Send me your mailing address if you're interested...I can't seem to find it. Hope all's well by you. Don Shipley, Washington, D.C. (Don Shipley is the son of the late Dick Shipley, a player on Jim Tatum's national championship Maryland team. Dick was my coach for two seasons of semi-pro ball, and he had a great deal of influence on me as a coach. HW) *********** Near the end of last season, Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry posted a banner in the locker room that read in part: "I am a Christian first and last. ... I am a member of Team Jesus Christ." Uh-oh. Academy leaders asked him to remove it, saying it was inappropriate. Now, responding to criticism of his traditional postgame prayer, Coach DeBerry said that he would give consideration to discontinuing that practice as well, but pointed out, "this is our foundation and this is what we're all about in Falcon football. I don't think you separate religion from normal, everyday life. Football, academics, military training -- everything -- all encompasses everything. Religion is a part of life." The Academy Superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Rosa, said DeBerry can continue to lead postgame prayers, provided they do not promote a particular religion. (Or, even more important in this day and age, so long as they don't offend anybody.) God knows we wouldn't want Coach DeBerry to do that. Coach our young men. Prepare them for a life of service to their country. Win if you can. But above all - never, never offend anybody. "He understands he has a right to express his beliefs," said the Supe. "But any type of coercion isn't allowed... He is the last guy I think that wants to offend anybody." *********** Scarcely noticed in passing was the retirement of Marshall's Bob Pruett, one of the best, and least-sung, coaches in America. He did a fantastic job in leading the Thundering Herd from Division I-AA into the MAC, and becoming an immediate contender. How many other coaches of "mid-majors" have been able to recruit - and develop - two such outstanding young NFL QB prospects as Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich? *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 8, 2005  "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live." Martin Luther King, Jr.    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- The Philadelphia clinic will be held at the Radisson Hotel, King of Prussia, PA. For those needing a place to stay, there are all sorts of accomodations at all price levels in the general area. The Twin Cities clinic will not be held this year. *********** I just got finished watching - for maybe the fifth or sixth time - the video "Field of Honor - 100 Years of Army Football." It is now almost 15 years old, but much of it is timeless. It was produced by Steve Sabol, of NFL Films, which means it is extremely well done. I would recommend it to anyone. Obviously, 100 years of Army football couldn't all be covered extensively in an hour's running time, so director Ken Shiel chose to "post-hole" - to dig deeply at key points. Needless to say, the Blanchard-Davis era gets its deserved attention. So, too, does the great Lonely End team of 1958, and the post-West Point combat bravery of the Lonely End himself, Bill Carpenter. Although, true to its title, it is a football video, Shiel never strays too far from the main purpose of the United States Military Academy, paying tribute to the bravery of the numerous West Pointers who served their country in its wars. One segment, on Don Holleder, is personally meaningful to me; I have made it my cause to try to keep alive the memory of Major Holleder and the Black Lions who died with him in Vietnam, and I have since come to know two men who served with him - one, Tom Hinger, the medic in whose arms he died, the other, JIm Shelton, a retired general and former Delaware football player who scrimmaged against Holleder in college. Both "Doc" Hinger and Jim Shelton are interviewed in the video. (The Battle of Ong Thanh, in which Major Holleder was killed on October 17, 1967, is the focus of David Maraniss' great book, "They Marched Into Sunlight." Maraniss' biography of Vince Lombardi, "When Pride Still Mattered," deals extensively with Lombardi's time at West Point, and Colonel Blaik's influence on him.) Of course, the football action - especially the old black-and-while clips of the Blaik teams - is great to watch, but to me the greatness of the video was the way it captured the true meaning of the Army football experience. There are many poignant moments. As a longtime high school coach myself, the tribute that then-coach Jim Young paid to his seniors at the conclusion of their final practice before the Navy game has great meaning to me. Most inspiring of all was hearing great men such as generals Monk Meyer, James Van Fleet and Garrison Davidson - they were all still alive then - talk about the importance of Army football in their lives. As many times as I have watched the tape, I still choke up when I see old General Davidson, nearing the end of his life, holding a football given him by one of his teams after a win over Navy more than 50 years before. He looks down at it in his gnarled hands and, fighting back tears, says, "This is my most prized possession." *********** Chuck Thompson died at the age of 83. Back in the mid-60,s, we worked together.. Okay, okay - who's kidding whom? Yes, our paychecks both came from the National Brewing Company, of Baltimore, but I was just a young marketing executive, and Chuck was the Voice of the Colts and the Orioles. (We sponsored the Colts and owned the Orioles, and we hired and paid the announcers.) In Baltimore, unless your name was Unitas or Robinson (Brooks or Frank) you couldn't be any bigger than Chuck Thompson. To us Colts' fans, it was always a HUGE letdown when after a season of listening to Chuck call the Colts' action (those were the days when it was league policy that only away games were televised), the playoffs would come along, and the games would be picked up by one network or another, which meant that instead of Chuck Thompson, we'd have to listen to some dull-ass neutral play-by-play guy, who may have had a great voice and all that - but who gave a sh--? We didn't WANT a neutral guy with a great voice! We wanted Chuck Thompson! He was our guy and the Colts were our team and - he KNEW THE COLTS! So we'd have to listen to some doofus who hadn't done his homework or, worse still, had done only a little, and there he'd be, telling his national audience things about OUR COLTS that WE already KNEW, for crying out loud (I mean, who the hell DIDN'T know that Gino and Alan Ameche were partners in the restaurant business?). Grrrr. The best thing about Chuck Thompson was that Chuck was not just a good guy. He was a great guy. A really great guy. There were no airs about him. He was friendly with everybody and had time for everybody. When the Orioles were in town and he got a chance, he'd stop over to the brewery and go out to lunch with us. He was a person of great character, who admired character in the athletes he associated with. When I once told him that my son - who was maybe seven or eight at the time - liked the Angels, he arranged for me to take him into the Angels' dugout before the game and meet some of the players. (Those were the days when many baseball players were non-jerks.) I recall especially two guys named Rick Reichert and Bobby Knoop being nice and considerate. I had mentioned to Chuck that my son really liked Jim Fregosi, but Chuck just said, "you don't want your kid meeting him," and that was that. I never did find out why, but Chuck Thompson's word was good enough for me. *********** Next time you think about giving a liar a second chance... So the University of Washington, caught Rick Neuheisel in a bare-faced lie when he told his athletic director he was going over to Sun Valley to play golf with some buddies, but actually slipped down to San Francisco to interview for the 49ers' job. Like fools, they decided to let him keep his job, although, as they said letter, "putting him on a short leash." But sure enough, he lied again - this time to NCAA investigators - and this time the UW canned his sorry ass. But in doing so, they failed to dot all the "i's" and cross all the "t's", and as a result, it's going to cost them dearly. No one disputes the fact that Neuheisel lied - twice - but between them, because of their legal bungling, the UW and the NCAA will pay Slick Rick almost some $4.5 mill to settle his wrongful termination lawsuit. *********** The president of the University of Colorado resigned, and I don't think it was over Gary Barnett and the so-called sex scandal in connection with football recruiting, either. I suspect it had something to do with this creep Ward Churchill, the professor who's been touring the country picking up speaker's fees by telling adoring left-wing audiences that the victims of the World Trade Center attack had it coming. "Little Eichmanns," he calls them. Which gives me an idea for a reality-TV show... a bunch of relatives of World Trade Center victims compete to be President of the University of Colorado for ONE DAY ALONE WITH WARD CHURCHILL. *********** Coach, Just because I haven't written in a while doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention. Naturally I continue to enjoy your site and your keen insights into football and the idiosyncrasies of our world. It's been a great run for me as a sports fan, staring last year with a Patriots Super Bowl win, then UConn winning both men's and women's national basketball championships, then the Red Sox finally winning the World Series (Thank you Lord!), and wrapping up with another Patriots Super Bowl. Oh, and throw in the UConn football team winning the Motor City Bowl. Damn, winning sure feels better than losing. And no one knows losing quite like a lifelong Red Sox fan. Unless it's a Cubs fan. I don't know if this is something you'd like to pass along to your New England area readers, but the UConn coaching staff is putting on a free two-day clinic for high school and youth coaches on March 25 and 26. Here is a link: http://www.uconnhuskies.com/AllStories/MFootball/2005/02/25/20050225.html All the best, Alan L. Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island *********** It was pointed out in rebuttal to my comments on John Chaney that besides his putting out a hit on an opposing player, he has done - and said - some pretty hateful things in his career. For example, before playing Cincinnati, he said publicly that he "hated" Ohio (and also, I believe, Ohioans) - because Ohio (gasp!) voted for President Bush. To tell the truth, I let it pass at the time - along with earlier, similar derogatory comments by Phil Martelli of St. Joe's - because I considered the source. I mean, a major college basketball coach? Commenting intelligently on politics? Please. On anything other than basketball? Gimme a break. Other than on the subject of their own sport, it is amazing how many big-time coaches are total twits. As a whole, I can't imagine a group of people less informed, less qualified to comment on political issues, than major college (or pro) coaches, unless it is actors and actresses. Unlike the Hollywood types, though, most coaches at least know their limitations, and are smart enough to stay off the subject of politics. So Chaney isn't. At least he hasn't threatened to kill the President. Yet. I still think, however, that overall he has done a good job at Temple and deserves to keep his job. *********** Coach, I have been running your version of the double wing for 8 years now. 3 years on the high school level and now 5 years on the middle school level. In 5 years we have compiled a 31-2 record and put up some great offensive numbers. Well today I received an e-mail from the the high school coach whom we feed. Before I share the e-mail let me give you a little bit of the High school's current situation: the school is 4 years old and has been competing for the last 2 years at the varsity level. In those 2 years they have won 1 game and also changed offenses both years. I have an idea of sort of compromizing and maybe implementing their defensive terminology. Here is the e-mail: (----), the way things are starting to look, (your school) will be our feeder program.  I was wondering if you be interested in coming over and talking with our staff about some of the things we try and teach our kids both offensively and defensively.  I know that you have been successful at the middle school level with what you teach.  I just know that from being other places the middle schools have run what the high school has run.  In the past this was not possible because you were sending kids to (the other HS) and us.  I am glad to have a coach like you in our system because I know you know the game of football.  Thanks and I look foward to hearing from you.  I would also like your help on Fridays this year.  Up in the box helping us. I read the high school coach's letter, and I can't be sure whether he is hinting that you should run what he runs (if he himself knows what that is) or if he is asking you to share your offensive know-how with him. If it is the former, I wonder whether he is within his bounds by addressing you directly. It seems to me that you might want to contact your AD (or your principal) and point out that in the overall scheme of things, it is far better for the HS for you to be sending them kids who are well-coached and expect to win, than it is for you to be teaching any specific system. Now, if the situation were reversed - a successful HS program and a struggling middle school program - I would expect the HS coach to share what he knows with the middle school coach, and at the very least "strongly suggest" that it would be in the best interest of the kids and their coach for them to adopt his system. But I don't think that what you are doing in your program is in any way hampering his program, nor is there anything you can do right now with your eighth graders to solve his immediate problems. Dealing with you in this manner is, it seems to me, a diversionary tactic, an attempt to draw attention from the fact that the high school program is in trouble. I frankly think that at this point, he has bigger fish to fry than worrying about what offense the eighth graders are going to be running. If he doesn't start winning with the kids he already has, he won't be around to coach those eighth-graders by the time they get to be varsity players anyhow - and then all your changes would have been for naught. Excuse me if I didn't read it correctly. If what he is suggesting is that you show him what you've been doing, then I'd say he is a wise person, and I know you will be of great help to him. If he needs any convincing, bring him to my clinic! *********** I want to pass something by you.  I interviewed for and was given the position of head coach this year.  I'm excited for the upcoming year.  I have a devoted assistant coach from last year that I want to promote to Offensive Coordinator.  He is really comfortable with the Wing-T and has had experience running it in years past.   He's willing to go whole heartedly in the DW, but is unsure of what it's about.  I am very comfortable with the Double Wing, but I don't want to be second guessing his decisions as to what we're running. I know that the two Offenses are very similar, so my main question for you is "can we run the Wing T with the same success as the Double Wing?"  I know the decision is up to me as to which we'll run, and he's fine with me telling him "we're running the DW", but like I said, I want to concentrate on the entire team (O and D) and let him do his thing and not have to worry about techniques and if things are getting taught correctly.  Is there a way to run the Wing T with the same ease of play calling as the Double Wing? What I'm hoping is that he will learn how to be an effective "Coach" and not worry about the type of offense he's running.  I want him to be confident in what he's doing, and not unsure of what he's doing.  I'm comfortable with letting him run Wing T and I know it is very successful.  I guess I need to feel like I'm doing a good thing in letting him learn and run what he's comfortable with instead of pressuring him to run the DW since they are very similar.  What's your take?  Looking forward to your response. My take on this is always - how comfortable are you with letting someone else have that much responsibility, when ultimately, it is your responsibility? My thought would be - assuming that you have been using my terminology - let him run the Wing-T, but insist on using my terminology and line splits. That's essentially what I do! Go ahead and split an end if you want. That way, he can run the Wing-T, but with the tight splits, you will eliminate blitzing, you will be able to pull the backside tackle on powers and counters, and you will be able to wedge. And by retaining your terminology, you at least know and understand everything that is going on, and if there should ever be any problems - things do happen, you know - it will not be so difficult for you to step in. *********** Coach, During the post AFC championship game week coach Belichick waxed poetic on the genesis of his coaching style and philosophies. I was interested to learn that his inspiration was Paul Brown. He said that  modern professional football methods all flow from Brown. Practice styles, game plan, scouting, film study, were all Brown innovations. He also stated that during WW2 many of the best football minds were gathered together at the Great Lakes maybe? For some reason having to do with the war effort. He said there was an explosion of football innovation coming from these days. Do you know anything about this? It sounded interesting. His father Steve is a salty old bird. The old USNA coach was asked by a Boston media outlet what he thought of his son surpassing the post season record of the "greatest football coach in history" Vince Lombardi. He sneered at the reporter while stating that Lombardi wasn't a great football coach, he was great leader of men. He added nothing to the innovation or dynamics of the game. It was funny to see the reporter speechless. Hope to see you at the New England area clinic. Dan Lane, Canton, Massachusetts I agree with Bill Belichick that more than any other man, Paul Brown is responsible for creating the modern form of football that's played today. He was a true innovator. A lot of his thinking was formed during World War II, which truly was a time of great innovation. What a lot of people don't know about World War II is that, while very, very few healthy young men escaped service, many football players "served" in places where much of their "training" consisted of playing football. In those benighted, manly, pre-soccer days, it was still believed that football training complemented military training. Needless to say, there was considerable competition for spots on those teams, with hundreds of guys from various colleges competing for a few dozen spots at each base. To that assemblage of talent, add the cross-pollination that occured when coaches from different colleges and coaching staffs came together to coach them, put them in an environment where there isn't quite the emphasis on winning that they'd experienced at their colleges, and you have an atmosphere ripe for experimentation and innovation. (Having coached overseas, I have had experience with the latter factor, and I can tell you that you are far freer to try new things in such a place.) Brown, who went into the Navy as the head coach at Ohio State, came out as the head coach of the brand-new Cleveland Browns (named for him). He assembled a powerhouse team at Great Lakes Naval Training Station - his 1943 team defeated mighty Notre Dame, 19-14, in the final 30 seconds of the final game of the season, depriving the Irish of what would have been their first unbeaten season since Rockne's last undefeated team in 1930. He was on the Cleveland payroll for the last year or so of his Navy service, and lined up several of his players to become future Browns. Two of them - quarterback Otto Graham and fullback Marion Motley - became Hall of Famers. If you can get hold of it, his autobiography, "PB," is a great read. Paul Brown is/was a giant of our game. He was a great success at Massillon High School and Ohio State. His Cleveland Browns of the AAFC were so good that in effect they destroyed their league because they crushed all competition. His Browns won the NFL title in their first season in the league. And he started the Cincinnati Bengals and helped force the complete merger of the AFL and NFL. In "PB", he tells it all, and doesn't hold much back. Agreed on Lombardi - not a "great coach" - if innovation is the standard by which we judge great coaches. No question, though, Lombardi was a great leader and motivator of men. Rather than an innovator, though, I would call him a simplifier - a distiller. He had the ability to reduce the game to its essence and to get the right people in place, and to get those people to believe completely in him and in what he was doing and to work his plan; and he had the self-discipline to stick with the plan and strive unceasingly for perfection. That's what made Lombardi special - there are few real "innovators," it seems to me, but there are still more people who fancy themselves innovators, than there are people able - and willing - to achieve success the way Lombardi did, sticking to the basics and doing them better than anybody thought possible. No disrespect to Steve Belichick, who like many contemporaries of Lombardi may have had some issues with him, but that, to me, makes Lombardi a "great coach." Paul Brown was a very cerebral person. He had all of Lombardi's qualities, plus the vision of a true innovator. Come to think of it, maybe we'll say that some day about Belichick the Younger, too. ******* I just wanted to know, besides for pulling the guards what are the other benefits of having such small if any splits for the front 7? Coach- If you want to have to deal with penetration and blitzing, open up your splits. Then try running any kind of a wedge play with "normal" splits. *********** Coach Wyatt, I have enjoyed and learned a lot from your website.  There is a wealth of information for the coach and/or student of the game.  I have an on-going project and hope to do some writings in the future and hopefully be published some day.  I especially have an interest in South Carolinians who have done well in sports.  The late Jim Tatum was born not too far from where I live.  I have  gathered information regarding his life and coaching career wherever I can.  I have seen him mentioned on your website.  Do you have any resources or could direct me to information.  I am amazed he accomplished so much in a short life.  His time at Maryland was incredible.  He had 6 All-Americans on one team (1951).  Look forward to hearing from you. Best regards, Danny Brackett Dear Danny, Glad you enjoy my website. For someone who accomplished what he did, it's hard to find much about coach Tatum. He sure left his stamp on the state of Maryland. I lived in Maryland during the 1960's and got to know some guys who had played for him on his national championship team - Dick Shipley coached me in semi-pro ball (and later coached against me), Ron Waller was my boss in the AFL, and Bob Pellegrini was on his staff. I lived near Jack Bowersox and in the same town as Dick Burgee. I worked briefly for a guy named Bob DiStefano who was one of his earliest QBs. Dick Bielski, one of his fullbacks, was an assistant with the Colts. When I worked in the beer business, Bob "Shoo-Shoo" Shemonski, a running back, worked for our distributor in Laurel, Md. I never met Dick Nolan, who played HB and DB on those teams, but he went on to coach in the NFL, and his son, Mike, a University of Oregon grad, is the new coach of the 49ers. Those guys really seemed to revere Jim Tatum. Maryland has had some good teams since, especially under Bobby Ross and Ralph Friedgen, but Jim Tatum got them a national title. There is some biographical information about him in "The History of American Football", by Allison Danzig. It was published in 1956, when "American Football" meant "college football," and pro football was just something a guy played until he got on with his life's work. If the history of football interests you at all, it is a book you ought to try to locate. It's kind of interesting that just last night I was watching some of the 1954 UCLA-Maryland game, when UCLA defeated the Terps, defending national champions, in the Coliseum, 12-7, after Maryland shanked a punt from their own end zone with under two minutes to play and the Bruins punched one in. Hope that helps some. *********** Lessons coaches can learn from history... (1) When you're down - really down - and you think you'll never come back - An Englishman named Robert Rhodes James wrote a book about Winston Churchill's life prior to 1939 entitled "Winston Churchill: A Study in Failure" But in 1939 it was Churchill, while the US stood on the sidelines as all of Europe except England was vanquished by Hitler's forces, who rallied the English people to stand fast. For his incredible leadership, many consider him to be the greatest of all Englishmen. (2) In case you are surprised that your efforts seem to be unappreciated by those you serve - In 1945, after Churchill had masterfully led England through World War II, a grateful nation voted him out of office. *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 4, 2005  "I do not object to people who do not want to do it my way. I just tell them I will make it possible for them to do it their way somewhere else." Bud Wilkinson    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** CLINIC UPDATES--- The Philadelphia clinic will be held at the Radisson Hotel, King of Prussia, PA. For those needing a place to stay, there are all sorts of accomodations at all price levels in the general area. The Twin Cities clinic, which has already been rescheduled once, will not be held this year. I will be giving a private clinic that weekend. There will be no further changes to the schedule. *********** Notes from Atlanta... With the better part of a day to spend, my wife and I first headed for the Martin Luther King, Jr. shrine. Last summer, I was shown the area, but it was late in the day, and I was unable to get into Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where young Martin was raised - where his father, affectionately know to his parishioners as Daddy King, was pastor for 30 years. Talk about the will to go on - even after his son was killed, even after his wife was shot to death as she sat at the organ, Daddy King continued to minister to his flock. This time, I was able to get into the church. What a feeling, to imagine those hot summer Sundays, when people crowded into Ebenezer to hear Daddy King. I can picture the people fanning themselves. I can see them after church, admiring young Martin. I can just imagine the hopes and dreams he carried for his family and the congregation as he found himself alternately leading and being swept along by the momentum of the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King's tomb, nearby, is a place for reflection. I believe I wrote once before that its peacefulness seems such a contrast to the turmoil in which he found himself, from that day in 1954 when he was asked to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott, until the day in 1968 when he was shot in Memphis. The visitor's center provides a good look at the life of Dr. King, as well as a look at the segregated South he grew up in. I do think that the subject of the indignity of segregation could have been expanded on, but on the other hand, perhaps it is best not to further inflame passions with scenes of a bygone time. *********** When I go out of town, I always enjoy walking around the neighborhood where I'm staying, but even though this was the fifth straight year I'd put on a clinic in the same general area of Atlanta - College Park, actually - it was the first time I'd ventured off in the direction I did. A few blocks north of the main drag, Virginia Avenue, I found myself looking at a lush, green playing field in the middle of an all-weather. Atop a hill on the other side of the track was a huge, three-story brick building. I asked a fellow working nearby what it was, and he said it was the "new elementary school." Then who, I asked, did the field belong to? Woodward Academy, he told me. "Doesn't look like they get many people to their games," my wife noted, looking at the small grandstand. Ooo-wee - was she wrong. Our walk took us past the elementary school, and now we could see the football stadium. Rather nice, with a football field "between the hedges," a la the University of Georgia. That other field we'd been looking at was the track stadium. Next to it was the baseball stadium, which looked as if the people from the Masters' come over every week or so to tend the grass. The more we walked around that campus, the more impressed we were. It is definitely the equal of any New England prep school, as nice as any private day school I've seen anywhere. Later, I learned that Hank Aaron's children have gone there, and Amy Carter as well. Clearly, while lesser schools debate whether they dare tell students not to wear lewd or suggestive clothing, Woodward Academy graduates are already light years ahead of the hoi pollloi in dressing for success. Boys wear blue blazers, khaki slacks, and shirts and ties. Red ties. Girls wear blazers and khaki slacks. Even the grade school kids, out at recess, were playing touch football in their shirts and ties (they'd taken their blazers off). There was one apparent concession to the dress code - I did see a lot of kids walking around in their red letter sweaters. Until 1967, Woodward Academy was known as Georgia Military Academy, and its military tradition was reflected in the memorials to its fallen graduates erected on the main walkway into campus. Check this out - a school that graduated classes of 100 or so lost 84 men in World War II, 13 in Korea, and seven in Vietnam - a total of 104, if I counted correctly. Think of it - in the space of less than 35 years, that one small Georgia School lost the equivalent of one full graduating class. *********** Next stop was Georgia Tech. I barely remembered it from a visit there in 1965, when I attended an IBM sales school, but I vaguely remembered it as an urban university along the lines of a Penn or a USC. But other than the traffic on the main throughfares which surround it, and the scarcity of parking spaces (which seems to be a condition of college campuses anyplace), Tech, despite being wallking distance from the heart of a major city, does give one a sense of "campus." The football stadium, once known as Grant Field but now named Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field, is one of the most historic of all football venues. It is right on campus, wedged in so tightly that the upper deck on its east side actually overhangs the street the runs outside. Capacity is up around 55,000, and if you should ever come across some tickets to a Tech game, I would suggest you park the car someplace far away. I did ask a lady in the athletic department about where they put all the cars on game days, and all she did was was roll her eyes and say that big donors get parking places. The Tech sports museum, on the ground floor of the building that houses the athletic department offices, is, as befits one of the nation's leading technological institutions, high-tech: touch a screen to see a video of Tech football highlights; touch another screen to select the decade. The football displays are arranged according to coaches, and Tech has had some good ones, starting with John Heisman (yes, the Heisman) who will never go down in history as a great sportsman - he was the coach when Georgia Tech beat little Cumberland College, 222-0. Say that slowly. Divide 222 by four quarters and you've got four ass-kickings! After Heisman came Bill Alexander, and after him came Robert E. Lee Dodd, better known as Bobby Dodd. (That's Coach Dodd in the portrait.) "In Dodd we trust" was the motto of Tech people, and at a time when there were only four real bowls to go to, and the Rose Bowl was tied up by the Big Ten and the then-Pacific Coast Conference, scarcely a year went by that Coach Dodd didn't have them in a bowl game. There have been other good ones as well. There was Bud Carson, and Pepper Rodgers, and Bill Curry. And a guy named Bobby Ross, the current head coach at Army, who won 'em a national title in 1990. And George O'Leary, who probably should never have left Tech. While visiting Tech, you've got to catch the Varsity Drive-In, host to generations of Atlantans, and every bit as strong in a day and age dominated by giant chains as it was when it started up in the 1920's. Legendary as the world's largest individual outlet for fountain Coca-Cola, the Varsity leads off its menu with the "naked dog" (that would be "nekkid" to some old-time southerners), one with nothing one it. Rumor has it that at one time a hot dog with mustard was called a "Yankee dog" (yellow streak - get it?). (www.thevarsity.com) The Ross years were good ones at Tech The Varsity's main location The Atlanta skyline looms behind the stadium SCENES FROM THE ATLANTA CLINIC... Above Left: Kevin Latham tells about his first year at Columbia HS; Above Right: Larry Harrison tells about his run to the title game The brain trust at Columbia HS, Decatur, GA- L to R: Head coach Kevin Latham, Offensive Coordinator Fred Braswell, QB Evrick Hall Larry Harrison, the first QB in the history of Columbia HS, Decatur, GA, meets Evrick Hall, the school's latest QB These guys hosted my first-ever clinic, in Mt Vernon, Indiana back in 1997 - they're now at Lake Region HS in Lake Wales, FL- John "Stump" Mitchell, offensive coordinator, and Greg Meyers, head coach Three of my favorite coaches shared experiences from this past season with the coaches in attendance at the Atlanta clinic. At left, Steve Jones, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, told of his Greyhounds' fantastic run to the Class 5A title game. To give an idea of how big an impact his team had on the Gulf Coast, he showed us several newspaper pages like the one at the far left. The Ocean Springs playoff run was such a big story that it pushed the Mississippi-Mississippi State game off the front sports page! Kevin Latham, a championship middle school coach in an area that takes all levels of football seriously, told of the things he learned in mking the jump to head coach of a high school - one that had scored just one offensive touchdown the year before! He brought along his QB, Evrick Hall, whom I had the privilege of working with last summer. Evrick is busy right now with track. Can't call him a shirker - he runs the 400 and the 300m hurdles! Larry Harrison was the third speaker. Larry spent 25 years as a highly successful youth coach, before making the move to the HS level in 2003. After learning that the head coach doesn't always appreciate it when your offense performs well, le left and took over the program at Nathanael Greene Academy, a small private school in Siloam, Georgia. In one year - with NO assistants - he took NG to the state title game. L to R - Coach Wyatt, Evrick Hall, Kevin Latham, Larry Harrison Some of the crew outside Malone's, the preferred "breakout" room: L to R: Donnie Hayes, Belleview, FL; Chris Diuguid, Belleview, FL; Larry Harrison, Snellville, GA; Jody Hagins, Summerville, SC; Lee Griesemer, Chuluota, FL *********** And then there was my visit to Knoxville... Never having been to Knoxville before, never having seen the University of Tennessee, I decided to spend an extra day while back east, driving to Knoxville and flying out of there on Monday morning. I was not disappointed. I guess the campus itself is nice enough, but who would know? The University - I do not say this with any intention of sounding derogatory - struck me as being one huge athletic complex surrounded by some college buildings. You name the sport, and Tennessee has the facilities for it. World-class, too. Track? The Vols have an outdoor track stadium that appears to seat 10,000 or so. Indoor track? It's the old field house, where they used to play basketball - it's got to seat 12,000 or more. Swimming, baseball - Tennessee's got it. We even saw a lacrosse game going on. From the colors of the opponent's uniforms, I guessed that it was either Vanderbilt or Wake Forest. But don't bother booking Neyland Stadium just yet - there may have been a dozen onlookers on the sidelines. Basketball? Whew. There are 20,000-some orange seats in that place. Just imagine - Tennessee's women's basketball program draws bigger crowds (and makes more mone) than many Division I men's programs. There was a cheer competition going on, and all my wife and I wanted to do was look inside. Paying to get into a cheer competition didn't interest us. Providence showed up in the form of three teenage boys, undoubtedly dragged along to watch their little sisters, who pushed open an emergency exit so they could catch a smoke. Just like I used to do at the movies years ago, we ducked inside, took it all in, and then headed off to Neyland Stadium. The stadium is located where Peyton Manning Pass dead ends at Phillip Fullmer Way. I am not kidding. There is a street named for Johnny Majors, one named for Pat Summitt, and another named for (basketball player) Chamique Holtzclaw. And of course, in addition to the stadium, there is Neyland Drive. (or is it Neyland Road? I forget.) Try getting inside that big 'un. It is locked tight. At all times, I was told. Furthermore, according to my informant, the people in charge of the grounds are "downright nasty" about letting people in on that sacred turf. It is quite a climb around the stadium. At one end, you are at field level, barely above the Tennessee River just across the street. By the time you get to the other end, you are about at the top of the lower grandstand. One day, I'll get inside. Sunday night, we watched the NASCAR race in the hotel bar. It's a lot of fun watching a stock car race in NASCAR country. Monday morning, we flew out. The airport is new and quite nice. It is not a major airport, but it is served by jets, and it offers non-stop connections to all major airlines' hubs. As a quaint reminder that you are in Tennessee, they've dispensed with the usual airport chairs in front of the picture windows. Instead, they've got rocking chairs. All in all, other than the UT athletic facilties, the thing that impressed me the most about Knoxville was the friendliness of the people. Hey - in Knoxville, even the airport security people are friendly! Clockwise, from upper left: Thompson-Boling Arena, the home of the Lady Vols; Vol shortstop Condredge Holloway, more famous as the first black man to quarterback an SEC team; Looking down Peyton Manning Pass to Neyland Stadium and the back of the press box; Neyland Stadium from across the Tennessee River; Neyland Stadium from outside Thompson-Boling Arena; the intersection of Peyton Manning Pass and Phillip Fullmer Way (if you look closely you can read the street signs) *********** Coach Wyatt, I'd thought I'd pass this along. The AAAA Georgia Football Championship was won by Warner Robbins High School this past year. This is not surprising by itself. The school has won several state championships and was selected as the Nat'l Champs way back in 1976 when they had James Brooks, Ron Simmons (an all American at Florida State )and Jimmy Womak who was Hershel Walker's fullback at UGA. The coach of this year's team is a guy named Brian Way who played for Warner Robbins in the late 70's. I met Brian at Georgia when we both lived in the same dorm. I remember Brian saying that he was going to become a teacher and a coach back in his hometown. After serving as an assistant coach for 18 years, Brian was given the head coaching job. In his first year as head coach he won the state championship. I can't think of anyone else who would be so loyal to their town and school. Warner Robbins runs the wing t and I recall seeing them run one hell of a buck sweep. Best Regards Dan King Evans, Georgia (He is a fortunate man, to be able to coach in his hometown but - even more important - to do so successfully. I can't imagine many things sadder than to finally get to coach in your hometown or at your alma mater - and then get fired. HW) *********** The Portland Trail Blazers finally handed Maurice Cheeks the black spot. He is gone. What a damn shame - no more putting up with coddled, semi-barbaric, overgrown children, protected by guaranteed contracts; no more having to deal with the suits in the front office who, like a principal who undercuts a teacher, consistently make covert deals with players whenever you try to discipline them; no more listening to those suits telling you who to play. Hey, wait a minute - sounds like maybe he's coming out of all this the winner. He gets to walk away from this train wreck of a franchise. He's still young and healthy, and he's got their money. Go, Mo, go! Just one thing that rankles me - back in May 2003, when the Sixers were looking to replace Larry Brown, Mo - who played his entire career in Philly - wanted the job, and so, we all heard, did the Sixers want him. Trouble was, the Blazers' management wouldn't let him talk with the Sixers. *********** I go back and forth on the subject of John Chaney, but when it's all said and done, while I deplore what he did, I'm on his side. Let me start by laying my biases right out on the table - I admire the guy. And I think I understand him. We are Philly guys and we are near-contemporaries. Blame segregation (there wasn't a black kid in my school, and such was our culture that it never occured to any of us that there was anything wrong with that) for keeping me from ever getting to know John Chaney the first time around (or a Bill Cosby for that matter - Coz went to Germantown High School, at the same time I was going to all-white Germantown Academy). But that doesn't mean that we don't have a lot in common. I haven't lived in Philly since I went away to college, but when you learn your sports from demanding coaches who believe that sarcasm is a valid coaching tool (if they ever stop to think about such things as "coaching tools"), and you grow up playing those sports in Philly's super-competitive atmosphere, where results are all that matter, it stays with you. It'll be 30 years this May that I've been on the West Coast, and I'm sure its laid-back, go-with-the-flow attitute has gotten to me some, but I know that there is a certain abrasiveness about me that all the niceness in the world can't conceal. John Chaney, too, is a product of his upbringing. Of course, he had it a lot tougher than I did. My family was by no means well-to-do, but I had the advantage of being white in what was then a highly-segregated city, and of attending a private school on scholarship. I was taught that I could be anything I was capable of being if I worked hard enough - that's a hell of a far cry from today's "you can be anything you want to be" crap, but it's far more , I'll wager, than anyone ever told John Chaney. John Chaney grew up black, in a true ghetto, went to public schools that were almost totally black, went to a historically-black college, and did his first coaching in a black inner-city junior high and a black inner-city high school, before moving on to Cheyney State, a historically-black college (yes, Pennsylvania had such a thing). Even Temple, located smack in the middle of the North Philly ghetto, has more in common with the other places where he's worked than it does with any of the schools it plays. Since his latest episode, there have been obvious comparisons with the Woody Hayes incident, but I think there are far more differences than similarities in their actions. I think the major difference is that Coach Hayes acted impulsively, elbowing a Clemson player as if to say, "How dare you intercept that pass?", while Coach Chaney acted with premeditation, as good as warning people that he intended to "send a message" to the officials that they were failing to call what he said were illegal picks that St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli was (by implication) teaching. But there is, too, the fact that Coach Chaney used a "hit man" (whom he referred to in the timeworn basketball tradition as a "goon"), and the fact that while Coach Hayes threw a harmless shot at a guy wearing full football gear, Coach Chaney's actions resulted in an opposing player's suffering a career- ending broken arm. (Best not even to think about what might have happened if the player had been left paralyzed for life.) Coach Chaney has clearly done something that has no place in a sport, and he deserves to be punished. So punish him. And not a self-inflicted short-term suspension, either. Maybe even make him sit out next season. But don't terminate him. Just remember that if you throw out John Chaney, you throw out a man who truly cares about his players as more than basketball-playing robots, who holds practices at 7 AM, reasoning that if they have to get up for practice, they'll be less likely to sleep in and miss class. What's interesting here is that with all the focus on John Chaney, no one has had the cojones to ask, "Is John Chaney right? Are the officials letting St. Joe's get away with doing something illegal?" Or, more to the point. "If it's going on to the extent John Chaney claims, doesn't that mean it's being taught?" I've been in situations myself (what Double-Wing coach hasn't?) where officials have outright refused to enforce the rules. How many times have I wanted to say, "If you aren't going to call holding (or cutting our blockers below the waist), could you please let me know what rule WE can break without penalty?" Which brings up my disgust with coaches who teach deliberate circumvention of the rules. ("If they don't call it, it's not holding.") Not that I am in a position one way or another to say that Phil Martelli has been doing that, but he has been strangely silent during this whole brouhaha. Come to think of it, if something good has come of the whole incident, it's that John Chaney has managed to shut Phil Martelli's mouth, which (Martelli also being a Philly guy), is no small feat. *********** Coach, Since the last time that I wrote, we lost our semi-final game, the wheels really came off. We made every mistake we hadn't all year. No matter what it was a great run, and my guys worked hard all season. Right after the season I recieved a phone call from my high school and they offered me the head coaching job. I graduated from Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, Ca. So, I will be finally going home. My coach, John Maffucci has returned as the A.D. for a few years, he has been there a total of 48 years! We, are trying to pull the pieces together again. The president of the school graduated from West Point, and is a combat vet. As you can guess the first thing I want to do is sign up Army and Navy Academy for the Black Lions Award. Yours, Bert Ford, Los Angeles *********** No doubt many of you have read that there is an "obesity" problem in the NFL. Well, duh. I mean, who hasn't seen some of those offensive linemen - there are now 300 or more 300-pounders in the league - and wondered why there haven't been any heart attacks out on the field? Knowing the pressure that's put on those players to get bigger and bigger, regardless of the health implications, I thought immediately of the nuts out here in Portland who have been picketing outside restaurants that serve pate de foie gras, a rather tasty spread ("pate") made from the livers of geese, made fat by being force-fed. But no - those people are only concerned about cruelty to animals. They don't give a sh-- about human beings, football players, and the toll that force-feeding is taking on their lives. And then I remembered McDonald's... If lawyers can go after the Golden Arches with the insane argument that they're "making our kids fat" by hooking them on tasty, inexpensive food, then what's keeping them from taking on the NFL, whose 300-pounders send subtle but very effective messages to high school and college athletes that if they want to play in the Big Time, they've got to get fatter. *********** When a student at Brick Township High School in New Jersey refused to stand for the national anthem - despite the teacher's clearly saying that he expected the class to do so - the teacher, a Mr. Mantel, pulled the kid's chair out from under him. Haw, haw! Now that, I'd like to see! But wait - I can see it. On a left-wing, anti-establishment web site. A buddy of the kid videotaped the teacher doing it. And all the hate-America, question-authority, take-down -the-government, give-aid-to-the-insurgents types are writing in, foaming at the mouth at the very thought that this "coach-type" would dare to ask a kid to show respect for his country. It has all the earmarks of a set-up, since the teacher appears to have a reputation for being "strict" about standing the the national anthem (which I guess means that unlike the other weaklings that we find on every faculty these days, he wouldn't let them sit it out). Why else would the videographer have his camera at the ready? So far, the young perp who tried to sit out the anthem has been suspended, along with the cameraman, who was susprised to learn that it was a violation of the teacher's constitutional rights to videotape him without his permission. (My recommendation would have been to make them clean the urinals at the nearest Veterans of Foreign Wars post.) No word yet on what has happened to the teacher, but you can be sure that the kids' parents, who obviously have never spanked the little bastards, will soon be filing a lawsuit. Perhaps they'll even get the ACLU to represent them. I do know that the lefties are posting the school board's and the high school's addresses on their sites, for obvious reasons. May I suggest that those of you with stones, those of you who love your country, take the time to register your support for the teacher? Brick Township High School, 346 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick, NJ 08723 (732)262-2500 Brick Township Public Schools, Board of Education, 101 Hendrickson Ave, Brick, NJ 08723 (732-785-3000) (I called both the Board of Education (732-262-2500) and the high school (732-262-2500). Very respectfully - remember, the lefties don't know how to be respectful - I identified myself and told them where I was calling from. I told them that I am retired teacher and that I have been seeing this problem growing among our young people, and while I was unable to comment on the actions the teacher took, I could understand his frustration and I wanted to weigh in with my support. I added that I hoped that at a time when our brave men and women are doing the dirty work, fighting terror in nasty parts of the world, the district would have the strength to stand tall on this very important issue. To my surprise, the high school secretary told me, "Believe it or not, most of the calls we're getting are in support of the teacher.") *********** "*I rather doubt that 10- and 11-year old kids are running triple-option the way the wishbone was originally designed to do," Wow -- what a nice way of telling the guy "they need to get real!" -- I was already smiling when I read his comment that they were running the wishbone, then I get to your comment and just crack up! People really confuse the "formation" with the "offense" don't they? of course, so did I before I hooked up with you! Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** Regardless of how you feel about the death penalty... Isn't it amazing that the American Psychological Society that used its authority to argue that 17-year-old murderers lack the maturity to be held fully accountable for their crimes is the same American Psychological Society that not so very long ago argued that pregnant teenagers are sufficiently mature to obtain abortions without parental consent? *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) March 1, 2005  "Freedom of speech does not imply a right to an audience." Dr. Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, Stanford University    2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS NEXT CLINIC- LOS ANGELES, MAR 19 --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** Sorry about the lack of a NEWS page on Friday- I got caught out of town with a new computer and when it came time on Thursday night to update the page, things just didn't work as planned. *********** The Atlanta clinic may very well have been the best ever. There were outstanding coaches from Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina. One coach called it "reinvigorating," after having to stand alone and defend his system, to come to a place where you can share a day with other coaches who have been through the same thing. Many of them have been to the top of the mountain - two of them, Steve Jones of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and Larry Harrison of Siloam, Georgia's Nathanael Greene Academy, played in their state's championship game this past season. Coach Jones' kids gave it their all, but finally fell in the title game to South Panola, which wound up being ranked #4 by USA Today in its final poll. I commented that the rankings were purely subjective, and that South Panola might very well have been the Number One team in the country. Quipped coach Jones' offensive line coach, Bobby Ferrell, "That night they were!" *********** More on Friday - including photos - about the Atlanta clinic, about my visit to Atlanta and my return home by way of Knoxville, Tennessee. *********** Next clinic after Atlanta will be in Burbank, California, at the Coastal Annabel Hotel. (This will be my first clinic in Southern California in three years.) *********** The Hempfield Area, Pennsylvania School Board met Monday night, and despite impassioned pleas from parents and players alike, voted to let their earlier decision to fire head football coach Bo Ruffner stand. The vote was 6-3; for what it is worth, all three women on the board voted to open the position to applicants. Coach Ruffner told the local newspaper that he was undecided about re-applying for his job. Inside words is that the coach was relieved of his duties because of parent complaints: by the parent of a player he'd thrown off the team during the season, and by the parents of a handful of others who openly expressed sympathy for their banished comrade. My suspicion is that at some point, one of the aggrieved parents hinted at a lawsuit, based on the allegation that because of the coach's action, someone's son was being deprived of a chance to win a college scholarship and go on someday to NFL fame and fortune. School districts everywhere panic at the thought of such a lawsuit - any lawsuit - because unlike the "loser pays" system employed in many other countries, in our legal system, even if your case is solid and the lawsuit is frivolous, you still have to pay to defend yourself. I have sat and listened to a school superintendent say that at all costs, he wanted to avoid a lawsuit - not because the district would lose, but because it was so strapped it couldn't afford to defend itself! *********** If you are a regular reader, you know about the Black Lions, and if you have made your way around the site, you know about Clark Welch - described by those who fought with him as a "soldier's soldier." General Jim Shelton has nominated him for the Medal of Honor for his incredible feats of courage at the Battle of Ong Thanh more than 37 years ago. The battle was the focal point of David Maraniss' book, "They Marched Into Sunlight," which is soon to be made into a movie by Universal Studios. Now, roducer/director Rob Kenner is shooting a documentary, to be shown on "American Experience" this fall, dealing with the battle. He has already conducted numerous interviews with American survivors of the battle, and now he is on his way to Vietnam to shoot more footage, including a "re-creation" of the battle. Accompanying him, as a "technical advisor," is Clark Welch. This is Clark's second return to Vietnam since his days as a warrior, and in the following letter he has written to his comrades, it is especially interesting to me to note his feelings about his former enemies, men who were once sworn to destroy him. His regard for his one-time mortal enemies, now described as "fellow warriors," points out how shallow and pathetic are the attempts of some of today's athletes to make sporting events into contests of hatred. Dear Friends, I am going back to Vietnam 24Feb thru 8Mar, with the "Rob Kenner Films" crew to see Col Triet and Cpt Lam again and watch the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN) Theatrical Brigade "recreate" the battle of Ong Thanh, that we fought (with more real stuff) 17Oct67. Should be interesting - as a "technical advisor" I will do what I can to ensure Rob Kenner knows the truth; we will see what the "American Experience" TV show looks like when it's finished and shown in Oct 2005! There are too many other things that can happen to a film being put together for me to even think I can "make it right". In any case, the real truthful ending is not a good one - I wish I could change that! I fly Ft Myers to Newark to Hong Kong on Continental, then into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on Cathay Pacific. Will arrive Saigon at 2330 25Feb. (US East Coast is 13 hours behind Vietnam, so will be 1030 the 25th here.) I will stay at the Duxton Hotel, Saigon, (others are at the old Continental where I stayed before, but there was no more room at the inn.) with trips up-country to the battle areas and TV taping at studios in Saigon, huts up-country, and at the battle site. When all is done I fly all day 8Mar on United from Saigon to Hong Kong to Newark to Ft Myers, arriving home at 1930. Will be real glad to see Lacy and our little del Sol! Plan to meet there again with Colonel Triet, then the commander of the 1st Regiment, 9th Infantry Division (our 1,200 man enemy that terrible day). He is now an old, revered, Communist official living quite modestly but comfortably in Saigon. Will also meet again Captain Lam, then the VC commander responsible for the base camp the 1st Regiment was occupying (Captain Lam commanded 200 guerrillas that day). Captain Lam is living now with his second family (first was "killed by the American B-52s") in a dirt-floored hut only a kilometer from the battlefield that his family has owned for hundreds of years. They both said to me three years ago when I visited with David Maraniss "On that day all 1,400 of us fired at the Americans from 1000 until 1200, then we stopped and moved on - all of you were dead." In admitting that they also had taken terrible losses, Colonel Triet said softly "on that day, no one won." I did not fear or hate them then, I did not feel they were insignificant or even wrong, I do not fear or hate them now - they were our country's enemies then. Now we can be friends, fellow warriors. I am looking forward to seeing them and their families again! The visit will be good, we soldiers will not need the interpreters, we will all be glad to see the others, glad to see that we are still alive. We were doing what we thought was right, on both sides; we were carrying out orders, on both sides; we were so very young and so very tough, on both sides; we were incredibly brave, on both sides; and we suffered unbelievable losses, on both sides. I will be glad to see and honor again Colonel Triet and Captain Lam - good, tough, brave men! *********** Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson has had some good guards - Steve Kerr, MIke Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry, Gilbert Arenas - but when asked about senior guard Salim Stoudamire, he said, "I think he's the best we;ve had, when you consider both ends of the court." Arizona's Player of the Year his first three seasons, Stoudamire has really caught fire lately. It is something of a minor miracle that he has stayed at Arizona, and made it most of the way through his senior year. He has been, uh, a bit of a head case. Well, more than a bit, actually - just this past December, Olson had to suspend him for a game. A senior! It may be purely coincidental, but his play does seem to have improved since his return. In 'Zona's current six-game win streak, Stoudamire has made 29 of 48 three-pointers. He made nine against Oregon State last Sunday. Many are calling him the best outside shooter in the country. When asked whether the suspension made a difference in his play, Stoudamire denied it. "That did nothing," he told the Arizona Daily Star. "People thought it did, but it did nothing." Olson disagrees. "How many times in the past," he asked, " did you see him miss his first shot and have his nose dragging on the floor and thinking about the shot he just missed instead of thinking about the game? If he hasn't changed, then I guess I just spent 47 years in the wrong business." *********** Randy Moss to the Raiders, eh? I'd better watch what I say. A few years ago I wrote something that evidently offended someone in Raider nation, and... AIYEEEEEEE!!!! *********** My mother-in-law still lives in Philly, and although she just celebrated her 97th birthday, she is sharp as a tack. And she loves her Iggles. She also loves to send me clippings from the Philly papers. I found one article she sent me, written by Don McKee, expressing what I suspected Philadelphians had been saying- Reid's fault for letting all that time run off the clock. (McKee wondered whether, since the Eagles had been in control of every game but one - an end-of-season game in which, having locked up the wild card spot, the Eagles slackened off and got blown out - Philly might not have even had a two-minute plan.) Reid's - or McNabb's - fault for McNabb's not running more. (McKee noticed that, too.) In the midst of all their sorrow, McKee suggested that Eagles' fans give thanks to those other NFC teams who beat the Eagles in the three previous NFL championship games - by keeping the Eagles out of those three Super Bowls, they kept them from being the Bills. *********** A study by the University of Rhode Island has found that teenage drivers are less likely to use seat belts than other drivers. Stop the presses! But wait - now that the study is over, and we've all learned the astonishing fact that teenagers are more likely than adults to engage in risky behavior, what about the researchers? With their jobs finished, are they going to be laid off? Surely there must be another government grant out there to pay for a study showing that teenagers are more likely than members of the general public to experiment with drugs. *********** This past Saturday, college basketball coaches wore blue wristbands, to call attention to something called National Sports Wagering Awareness Day. I wonder who paid for them. 2-to-1 says it was Mandalay Bay, 3-to-1 it was Caesar's. *********** With the NCAA basketball tournament selections coming up, look closely. There will be a lesson in there for those of you calling for a college football playoff, one that will (its supporters argue), "decide once and for all" who the "true national champion" is. Consider the very real possibility that with 65 spots to be filled, Georgia Tech, a defending national finalist, playing in possibly the toughest league in the country, might not be selected to play in this year's tournament. In its place would go teams whose records might be better than Tech's, but were built on the backs of far weaker opponents than Tech has faced. Many of them will get "automatic" berths in the tournament, as the champions of their conferences. Such is the way the NCAA works. Which is why there is a BCS - because they really are trying to get the best teams matched up (yes, I really do believe that they are trying), rather than trying to share the wealth the socialist NCAA way. Top to bottom, the ACC may be the toughest basketball conference. North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke have been in the top ten most of the season. But because they are so good, and because the rest of the teams cannibalize each other, they are the only ACC teams with winning league records. Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are both 7-7, Maryland and Miamim are both 7-8, and N.C. State is 6-8. You get the idea. When you play in a tough conference, one in which even a cellar-dweller like Clemson can beat a very good team like Maryland (which, it should be noted, has twice beaten Duke), you are going to pick up some losses. And as a result, because of some formula called the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), it is possible that there may not be a place in this year's tournament for Maryland. Or N.C. State. Or Miami. Or Georgia Tech. This RPI thing is so screwed up that the latest one had Georgia Tech ranked behind teams like Gonzaga (very good club - might win five or six games playing in the ACC), Vermont (might win a couple), Southern Illinois, Miami (the Ohio one), Pacific, Nevada, St. Mary's, Wichita State, Holy Cross, Buffalo and Louisiana-Monroe. Now, as champions of their conferences, Pacific and Holy Cross - to pick two teams with excellent records in lesser conferences - will get automatic tournament berths. But what if they don't win their conference tournaments? By agreement, the tournament champion - not the regular season champions - gets the conference's automatic spot. Which means that if the RPI is taken into account, Pacific and Holy Cross might still go, as at-large selections. And the likes of Maryland, N.C. State, Miami and Georgia Tech could stay home. Please. Does anybody seriously believe that Pacific's 16 conference wins over the likes of UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo can be compared with six or seven wins over ACC opponents? Wanna make somebody laugh? Tell them that Holy Cross' 13-1 league record against such as Army, Navy, Lafayette and Colgate could get it an NCAA bid ahead of a 7-7 ACC team. Okay, okay - somebody's going to get shafted. Happens every year. But if there are 64 - or is it 65? - spots to fill and still people get shafted, what's it going to be like when there is a D-IA football playoff, and a tournament selection committee has to cut the field down to eight? Or even 16? Sentimentally, I loved Utah and Boise State and I rooted hard for them both this past season. But really - how can you go totally by a team's record without taking its opponents into account? Please don't try to tell me that either Utah or Boise State could have stood up to Big Ten, or SEC, or Big 12, or ACC competition, week after week. It is easy to take shots at the BCS, but if there were a football playoff, the NCAA would be in charge, and I don't think the NCAA would be loved, either, once it got involved in an attempt to "determine a true national champion." Mark my words - with the NCAA in charge, the day would come when the old share-the-wealth business started in football, too - when the champion of the Sun Belt Conference got an automatic berth, while the second-place team of the Big 12 stayed home. Think it couldn't happen? In the NCAA, the major-conference schools (the BCS schools) are outnumbered by the little guys. The ones who bring in the bucks are outvoted by the ones who want some of the loot. It's not unlike the United Nations General Assembly - Upper Volta's vote counts the same as the US'. There are a lot of Upper Voltas in the NCAA. *********** Regarding a recent letter... Our league just shifted weight limits.   They lifted the weight limits for 9-10 year olds to 120.  My son is 9 and 65, if he is lucky.  The old weight limit was 100.  I really think that the weight disparity is too much.  What are your thoughts? Coach -- I really understand this parent's concerns -- (my son) Austin has always been that "65 lber" -- However, it gets back to the weight vs age discussion.  Would you rather force that 120 lb kid to play with 12 yr olds?  THAT'S when someone will get hurt...my experience is this -- first of all, I'm sure that the "weight limit" in this league isn't the same as the "ball carrier weight limit"... my guess is that the ball carrier limit for 9-10 yr olds is in the 100 lb range -- But -- even if not, on a per team basis you won't have many 120 lbers on the team -- AND -- quite frankly, most of the kids that big at that age won't be very athletic.  They'll normally be the guys you put filling a gap on defense..and as far as getting hurt by one of them falling on the smaller kid, at least in football they have PADS!  I bet that 65 lb kid thinks nothing about the size of his friends when they are out wrestling in the yard...I know my boys don't...anyway,,,I would much rather them raise the weight limit than force the exception "big kids" into an older weight group -- that's what happened to me when I played Pop Warner and I got crushed!! just my 2 cents -- haven't given you much feedback lately!!  ;-) See ya in Denver -- Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas I have always tended to see it your way, until I started thinking about soccer moms. You are looking at it like a dad. But far too many kids are being raised by single mothers, whose only thought is keeping their little ones lifetime-free of pain and discomfort. *********** Hello Coach Wyatt: My name is Pat Diodati, I am a good friend of Michael Rossetti, the coach from Toronto, Canada.  We came down to one of your clinics in Buffalo a couple of years ago and I have been hooked on the double wing ever since.  Coach Rossetti takes care of the offence and I take care of the D.  I was wondering do you have any good reading material that incorporates defensive drills, and systems.  I was also wondering if you could pass on any reading material that deals with being a head coach (high school of course).  Coach- I think that there are several excellent books that I would recommend. Coaching Football Successfully, by Bob Reade Complete Linebacking, by Lou Tepper There are several books published by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) One that deals with coaching in general is The Football Coaching Bible--- http://www.afca.com/lev1.cfm/48 Go also to AFCA Coaching Books --- http://www.afca.com/lev2.cfm/327 There are other good ones on that page as well - one that you must have is Defensive Football Drills *********** Q. In the double wing is it absolutely necessary that the O-line block with "picks in the pecs" or can we implement more punch and hand blocking with this offensive system?  A. So long as you get the first punch and you make contact with the pads and you stay "welded" to your man - and you don't hold - it's not important to me what you do. It is important, however, to understand that a great risk you take in overuse of the hands is that you and the player might develop a "one-punch knockout" mentality and lose sight of the importance of sustaining the feet. Many people don't understand: "you block with your feet." *********** Dear Hugh, How are you? Finished up our awards banquet last saturday. It was a big success all the way around. The "Black Lion" got a standing ovation. February 19th 2005 was Proclaimed Coach Leonard N. Patrick Day in Miami Dade County by our Mayor. Amazing what a few wins will do!! Now I have my own day!!! Angel Quial won Player of the Year in Miami Dade County an award given by the Miami Touchdown Club. A great honor. Leonard Patrick, Miami, Florida *********** A friend who coaches wrestling wrote me to tell me that where he lives, wrestling coaches "reach out" to football coaches, but football coaches act as if wrestling - and wrestlers - don't exist. I wrote back to him to say that I have an idea why... From some football coaches' perspectives, there are certain negatives to wrestling. I have seen them all, and I have come to see that in the proper context, those negatives can all be positives. First of all, there is the near-paranoia of too many wrestling coaches - an antisocial, chip-on-the-shoulder, us-against-them mentality forged, I suspect, by having to play second fiddle to basketball. Considering the influence a coach has, this stuff infects his kids. I have had to work with such coaches, and it wasn't a pleasant relationship. But more recently, I have worked with some very good wrestling coaches, who understood that wrestling was part of the overall picture. Positive for me: the really good wrestling coach promotes the values of his sport without making comparisons, and takes advantage of the close contact he has with his wrestlers to teach them valuable life lessons. Then, there is the perception that wrestling is a selfish activity, one that focuses on the individual and not the team concept. And it is true that many kids who gravitate to wrestling are not into the team thing. The positive side of that for me is that a kid learns that he can't expect someone else to do things for him or cover up for him - "if it's to be, it's up to me." Good wrestling coaches work hard at promoting the idea of the individual being a part of a team. And then there is the obsession with losing weight. I must say that I had a hard time dealing with anorexic-looking kids, seeing a football player who played football at a well-conditioned 210 wrestling at 178, especially when in my weight training class I was able to document numerous cases of a loss of strength during wrestling season. The positive, for me, is that if "pulling weight" isn't overdone, the kid understands the meaning of hard work, and learns to make the connection between hard work and success. And there is the year-round aspect of wrestling. Some wrestling coaches are into monopolizing their kids' lives by pushing a "wrestling comes first, last and always" mentality. Throughout the year, good wrestlers train during the week and take part in a freestyle tournament every weekend, causing frequent clashes with even the least-demanding of football requirements. I do think that the trend to year-round participation in one sport is a perversion of the idea of sports. But my positive is that immersion in a healthy, masculine activity under the direction of a coach is far superior to playing video games, or hanging out at the mall, or skateboarding. Just letting you know what the thinking is, from one who once thought that way. *********** Hi coach, I coach youth football. The past 3 years i coached 8 and 9 year old kids and we ran a double wing offense , and we were very successful running it, played in 3 championship winning 1 in 3 years. I now have a chance to coach with an organization that runs the wishbone. I would like to know is there much difference in what i need to prepare for? Do you recommend any books to read? I still would like to implement some doublewing as a part of this offense. Which tapes do you recommend that I order to present to my new coach when we meet to start talking about the offense? I want to be prepared. I did not mention that the kids on the team will be 10 and 11 years old. I look foward to hearing from you . There is all the difference in the world between the wishbone and the double-wing. To prepare yourself, I would think that it would be best to immerse yourself in what is being taught and how they are teaching it, so that you are able to jump in with both feet. I rather doubt that 10- and 11-year old kids are running triple-option the way the wishbone was originally designed to do, so it might not be worth your while to do that much outside reading, but there are a number of decent books and clinic articles on the wishbone, most of them published in the 1970s and early 1980's. I think that the best book ever written on the wishbone is "Installing Football's Wishbone Attack," by Pepper Rodgers and Homer Smith. There are a number of our plays which you can run from wishbone formation, or by "breaking the bone" and putting one of the backs on the wing. But I would suggest you first gauge their interest in running any Double-Wing before buying any of my tapes. If you do get into it, you will need the Dynamics of the Double Wing package - videotape and playbook. *********** Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, which really makes him the co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607   "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about. --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)