*********** Don't know who those guys calling the Pitt-Utah game on Versus were, but they were godawful. The play-by-play guy must have forgotten that the game was on TV, and we could actually see the action, because he gave it the radio treatment and wouldn't STFU. On Utah's first offensive play, as Utah's QB stood back there in shotgun position, he actually said, "Wynn, barking out the signals..." *********** Pitt-Utah was a helluva game, by the way - but I sure would like to get my hands on the a**holes who passed the rule a few years ago allowing coaches to call time out unbeknownst to anyone else on the field, just by notifying and official standing next to them. *********** I don't understand Pitt. They got Dion Lewis, one of the best backs in the East, if not the country, and he scarcely touched the ball in the fourth quarter. Okay, I understand that a good part of the time they were coming from behind, throwing the ball to win the game or at least get into position to kick a field goal. But then they got into overtime and instead of giving the ball to Lewis, they went instead with the pass. And on first down, their freshman QB, a very good kid who will win them a lot of games, and he underthrew an out route which Utah inercepted. Game over. I won't be in Pittsburgh to ask why, but I'm sure there's a sportswriter or two who will do it for me. *********** You can only keep your sets tuned to so many games, so the one that I decided had to go was Minnesota at Middle Tennessee. Do I need to repeat that? Minnesota AT Middle Tennessee. Yes, I know - Middle Tennessee is the best team in the Sun Belt. But having said that, WTF is a Big Ten team doing playing at a Sun Belt Conference school? So it was only by chance that I caught the score - 17-14, Middle Tennessee, in the third quarter - and I was on it. And what I saw was Minnesota take the ball near the start of the fourth quarter and put on a power running clinic, first driving close enough to kick a field goal, and then driving for the winning score. The final score of 24-17 wasn't exactly reflective of what proved to be a physical pounding, because Minnesota finally downed the ball on the Middle Tennessee 10 starting with 1:30 left. Minnesota not only has a dcent-looking ground game, but they have a beast of a fullback, a kid named Hoese, who's actually allowed to run the ball. He picked up several key first downs, and scored all three touchdowns. *********** Coach Wyatt, It is always a treat to read your “News” blog. I was particularly interested in a brief piece you had from 31 August 2010. It was the following: In New York State semi-pro ball, the Troy Fighting Irish are now 7-1 after a win over the Oneida County Titans. Writes offensive coordinator Pete Porcelli, who has been running my Double Wing exclusively from spread formation, “ had over 600 yards of total offense - 508 on the ground and 95 thru the air. Everyone touched the ball!” If the Fighting Irish are running “ . . . exclusively from the spread formation,” how are they handling the blocking on the Super Power? Secondly, do you know what other “adjustments” they have made in blocking assignments? Thanks and keep up the great work. Mike O’Donnell As always with spread, you can't run Super Power. So they run Super-O, and hinge with the backside tackle. You nearly always find a defender in a "5" tech on the tackle and you double-team him with the tackle and wingback. If that guy is too wide to Double-team, you can seal down to the inside with the tackle and kick him out with your B-Back, or... You run 4-x or 5-x. You can't run 6-G or 7-G (no TE) but you're getting just about the same thing with 4-X and 5-X, either leading the playside wingback through or bringing him over the top for the inside LBer. In running a counter, your playside tackle often has to take a man by himself because there is no TE there to double team. Otherwise, pretty much exactly the way you'd expect them to run things. *********** What do you do when your team is just flat in practice...my kids just didn't have it last night despite my "cajoling"....even tried to finish up with one of their favorite hitting drills that involves everyone and everyone gets to carry the ball, etc....uninspired. It's been a while since I was a head coach and had a team appear to be "flat." I'm not sure what that would look like. Maybe it's not something I've ever noticed. Maybe my expectations are different. All I really care about, frankly, is whether we're getting the things done that we need to get done. That is something that I don't leave to chance. It starts with organization. That's essential to teaching, and I guarantee you, I was a damn good classroom teacher. I know what I have to teach and how I'm going to teach it and - very important - how I'm going to make sure that what I've taught has been learned. I don't confuse teaching with testing, although a lot of coaches do. They're the ones who throw a couple of kids into a full-speed drill before they've really taught them the skills they need. They are giving them the test before they've given them the lesson. And - very important - I know how much time I have in which to teach it. Next comes leadership, and that's a subject all its own. I don't fire a team up. I believe that's the job of the leaders. I do believe that I may have some God-given talent in this regard, but I think I can spot leaders and help make ways for them to lead. Even when I've taken a job late, it's been possible to find and develop leaders in a fairly short time. There is no magic formula, but the best place to start in a high school program) is with seniors. I've never had a group of seniors that didn't want to lead. I believe in developing a continuous process of turning responsibility over to them. I believe that when they realize that I'm giving them increasing responsibility, they really do believe me when I tell them it's their team. As they progress, I will ask their advice on key matters. This, by the way, is one reason why I work like hell to avoid having to deal with first-year seniors. They are really in limbo, because for the most part, they are just in it for themselves, and really don't understand the dynamics of a team. In my experience, few of those guys are ever going to be of much help on the field, and fewer still will assume any leadership role. There is great potential there for disgruntlement. With the entire team, I do everything I can do foster a businesslike atmosphere - that we have a job to do and we've got to get the job done, and here's how we have to do it. This doesn't mean that we don't have fun. We laugh a lot. But there's a time to laugh and a time to get serious, and they know that the job comes first. That's an important thing for kids to learn. Finally comes clear communication of what we have to accomplish. I believe in setting a tone every day before we go on the field. My teams never go out onto the field without my giving them a little talk - emphasis on little. No more than five minutes. I hit on the things we have to get done that day, and how we're going to go about it. (I never post the schedule on a board - I think it's too impersonal and gives the bitchers, if there are any, something to get them started. Besides, my schedule seldom varies, so they all quickly get to know the general order of things.) I am brief and concise, because that way they will better understand me. I do believe that I am enlisting them in the effort - that I am getting across to them the idea that we all are in it together. This get-together also ensures that they are all ready for practice, because when I start to talk, they are expected to be seated and dressed. Taped if that applies. I cut them no slack on that. No one will be putting on his pads or pulling on his jersey when I am talking. When we go out, we go out together, just as we do on Friday night. I detest watching kids go out on the field early and then just laze around, sitting on their asses waiting for the coaches to show up. When we go out on the field, we all go out on the field, and practice starts. Again, I can't say that I have answers for your situation. This is a roundabout way of answering, but I think that through organization, team leadership and clear communication I have been able to maintain a pretty consistent workplace attitude. *********** A great site reveals this season's uniform changes... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/100830_college_football Not many changes in that I’d consider an improvement. In the past, it’s been the places where winning is not a tradition that have been most willing to ditch tradition, but now, even Ohio State and Alabama have their price. Biggest problem for designers – the vanishing sleeves. There’s not much sleeve left on jerseys anymore and what’s left is often tucked under the shoulder pads, the better to display the old deltoids, so any attempt at striping looks idiotic. Stripes that went around the biceps on the original versions are up around the shoulders on the retro jerseys. One possibility that Nike seems to have hit on with some retro Oregon State unis has been to put the stripes around the bicepts - on the performance-wear undergarment. A secondary benefit there is the covering of tattoos. Second biggest problem – shrinking shoulder pads. With few exceptions, players are wearing the smallest they can find. Not a lot of room up top for TV numbers. Third problem - white sweat sox are all but gone, replaced by a solid-color from knee to shoetop, giving many players the prancy-prancy look of ballet dancers. More from the Nike site. http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/usnikefootball/en_US/rivalries2010#landing You will possibly note that Nike makes the decision when and where its foo-foo uniforms will be worn, which is usually in the team’s most-watched game of the year (Ohio State vs. Michigan, Oregon State vs. Oregon). *********** Coach, My local high school football beat reporter in Connecticut posted the following link on his page entitled "More proof that ESPN is conducting a hostile takeover of High School Football" http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/28/2988867/local-media-coaches-riled-by-espn.html Enjoy. Best, Matt Oravetz Saw that. It disgusted me. I love some of the stuff that ESPN delivers, but I sure don’t care for the way it delivers it. Putting Craig James (speaking of disgust) aside for the moment, ESPN is, after all, Disney, and Disney World is where the Pop Warner Super Bowl is played, and ESPN has the rights to NFL Monday Night Football and the NFL bankrolls and controls USA Football, which includes Pop Warner, which... You get the point. It’s a f--king octopus. The only thing missing in the puzzle is the high schools, and ESPN is obviously in a race with somebody, somewhere, to stage a playoff for a "mythical national high school championship" among the various elite programs that it has been promoting through games like this. Meantime, regular appearances on ESPN will assure that certain schools remain among the nation's elite... ("If you're looking for exposure, you do know that we're going to be on ESPN twice next season, right?") Don't forget the unholy alliance of ESPN and its symbiotic relationship with its recruiting service. Also, ESPN's planned reach deep into the local sports scene in major metro areas, as it takes aim at the local papers. Then there is the great advantage of being designated a Nike school. How could Nike (or adidas or UnderArmour) possibly pass up the chance to outfit a team that's going to be being seen all over the country? Meanwhile, the rest of us poor schlubs in our little towns with our Class A high school teams can only dream being on ESPN with the High and the Mighty schools, and will just have to content themselves with winning the homecoming game and the occasional district championship. And I, like a damn fool, fully aware that the ESPN/recruiting services axis threatens to undermine everything that's great about high school football, sit back and enjoy the games. Thanks for thinking of me. *********** In a small Western Pennsylvania town, several football players were suspended from the team because of “inappropriate text messages” that they sent over the summer. The superintendent says the incident didn't involve sexting - sending sexually explicit pictures. Hmmm. Since we’re not talking pornography, I’m guessing it involves cyberbullying/hazing. WTF else could it be????? *********** Coach - (A local high school ) recently had several players get in trouble with the law. One received a DUI. All were on the field Friday night. The coach does not realize what damage he has done. The kids now think if you are a star you can do what ever you want. That is what the kids are saying. Agreed that this sets a horrible example. But more to the point, I can't believe that that school district is so far behind the times that discipline for a DUI is left in the hands of the coach. *********** Next time someone in a suit gives you some crap about poor turnouts for football, tell him/her that the problem goes well beyond football. Let them know that thanks to the Holy Trinity of (1) Fast Food and soft drinks, (2) video games and (3) the reduction of high school PE, there's a lot more at stake than just getting kids off their asses and out for sports. And then show them this article… http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/us/31soldier.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Clay Harrold, Head Football Coach North Cedar High School, Stanwood, Iowa Got to love the way that runner has his inside hand on the back of his big pulling tackle. He's out of reach (and sight) of any tackler, and in a position to break either way. HW *********** There are few things I love more than college football. But between the college ADs – increasingly a bunch of suits with no football in their background - and their craving for money, the shoe companies and their greedy marketing, the TV networks and their desire to stage games whenever and wherever they want, and the pernicious influence of the NFL, I can see all the things that I’ve come to love about college football taking a back seat to all the things I deplore. Think they can’t ruin a anything as big and strong as college football? Think again. NASCAR’s doing it right now. There’s got to be tens of thousands of loyal Carolinians, both North and South, guys who supported them back in the days when drivers were named Buck, and Cale, and Junior. Now, NASCAR’s gone Big Time, no longer running at places like Rockingham and North Wilkesboro, no longer appealing to guys who drive pickup trucks and eat pork barbecue and work on their cars in their spare time. Think it can't happen to football? Look at what’s happening at West Point. A football game in Army’s Michie Stadium is consistently on any list of sports events you need to see at least once in your lifetime. Between the beauty of the US Military Academy itself, the brilliant colors of the autumn leaves, the blue of the Hudson River and the thrill of knowing that this is sacred football ground, it is a wonderful place to watch a football game. But what the hell – money’s money. So next year, Army will play all of its “big” games someplace else, and only four (4!) home games on their hallowed home field. They're not exactly blockbuster games, either: San Diego State… Northwestern... Tulane... Fordham (WTF?) Good luck making advance plans to go to the game from any distance. If you can find a game on there that the TV guys won’t juggle around, right up to the last minute, be sure to let me know. 2012 offers season ticker holders an extra game at Michie, a MAC-lite package including Northern Illinois, Stony Brook, Kent State, Ball State and Temple. The one “big” home 2012 game, against Air Force, is scheduled to be played in the Steinbrennerdome, aka Yankee Stadium. Ah, the beauty of the Bronx in the fall, the late afternoon sun reflecting off apartment buildings. Since I'm already started, it's hard to stop. I keep thinking of more ways in which the powers that be are working to make the game unrecognizeable to its hard core: Uniforms, designed totally with the retail market in mind, changing from game to game according to the whims of apparel companies… traditional leagues in disarray, and long-time rivalries trashed … games played at “neutral sites” far from either team’s campus… game times routinely listed as “TBA” until the TV guys finally decide the day and time on which you're allowed to watch your team play … cookie-cutter offenses. Want more? How about the exponentially-growing list of criminal offenses by “student-athletes” who wouldn’t even be allowed close to a college campus if they had to apply as normal students… Kids leaving after three years… Coaches earning CEO-like pay thanks to coolie labor whose sole reimbursement is something called a scholarships, nearly worthless to non-students incapable of doing college-level work… Recruiting services and recruiting sites and personal coaches who convince high school players to forget about their teammates and think more about themselves; agents who do the same thing for college athletes … “Offers” being made to eight graders, and “Commits” prior to senior year… Where and when will it stop? Or will it? *********** That enviro-nut who held hostages at Discovery Channel headquarters? The one whose website referred to human babies as “parasites” on the planet, and called for a moratorium on births? He’s in heaven now, of course, but if he had it to do over again, I’d advise him, rather than screwing around with a TV network, to head instead for the headquarters of the NFL or NBA (leaving the bombs home this time) and demand vasectomies be performed on all professional athletes who’ve sired more than one illegitimate child with more than one baby momma. Latest in a long line of examples: Jets’ cornerback Antonio Cromartie, “father” of eight children by at least six baby mommas in five different states. *********** Coach Wyatt, Do you have any information or suggestions regarding substituting minimum-play (non-starters) players in youth football? Hi Coach- BIG problem for lots of youth coaches. I do believe that if a kid comes to all the practices and does everything asked of him he has earned an opportunity to play in a game. But I shake my head when some youth coaches tell me that they HAVE to play every kid an equal amount of time - whether or not they come to practice that week. I'm assuming you're talking about kids who just aren't very good, but you could be talking about kids who aren't able to protect themselves. The usual place to play minimum-play kids is on offense because, to be blunt, you can often hide kids someplace on offense, but it's pretty hard to hide them anywhere on defense. I can think only of a free safety - very deep - if he might be in some danger, and nose man if he's able to deal with contact but just not very good. One way to handle it - if you have a LOT of players - is to have a full second offensive unit, and coach 'em up and let them know they'll stay in the game until they turn the ball over or give it up on downs. You can't do this on defense, because they'd only be on the field for one or two plays, until the opponent scored, but it is possible for even less gifted kids to learn to run a few plays presentably. A friend in California, a very good coach named Richard Scott, was able to do this successfully when he found himself with way too many kids to substitute them individually. If you only need to get few kids into the game, and you happen to be running my offense, you can get one of them in their at a split end position (LEE formation left, ROY formation right), and you can get two of them in by running from SPREAD formation and splitting them both. You might be surprised at how effectively you can run my system with two split ends. (Remember Lou Holtz' adage: if you split a man out, even if he has no arms they'll still send a man out to cover him, but just to be sure, throw them a pass every once in a while.) Another way is to substitute for the motion man whenever he's just being used as a diversion. You can call one player RIP and another one LIZ and send him into the game to go in motion. Tough deal. I wish you well.
*********** Pacific University, in Forest Grove, Oregon, is back at it again. After discontinuing its football program following the 1991 season, it’s getting ready to restart football, kicking off this coming Saturday against Puget Sound. Colleges struggling with declining male enrollment (a bigger problem than some of you may realize) should take careful note: Pacific, with an overall enrollment of roughly 1500, had nearly 140 guys out for football. More than hundred of them were freshmen. That's at least 100 young men who likely would have been going someplace if Pacific hadn't afforded them the chance to play football. This year’s freshman class, 500 strong, is believed to be the largest in school history. And, added the Pacific AD, "Football has everything to do with it.” *********** What a great first weekend of football! I saw all or parts of nine high school games, from Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Mississippi and California Best team, in my opinion, was either Hoover, Alabama, Euless (Texas) Trinity or Brandenton (Florida) Manitee. Grant High of Sacramento could be in there, too, but it was hard to tell whether their opponent was in the same class as the teams Hoover, Trinity and Manitee beat. Best game was Pearl, Mississippi vs. Brandon - two nearby schools with a tradition of chanting "eat dirt" at each other. The game was won in OT on a spectacular play by Pearl QB Devante Nichols, as clever a triple option operator as you'd ever want to see. Asked after the game if he said, "Eat dirt, Brandon" he said, Oh, no sir, no sir. I was too happy. I was giving God the glory." Next best game was between two San Antonio area schools, Madison and Steele. They featured two great runners in Steele's Malcolm Brown, a Texas commit, and Madison's Aaron Green. Brown is big and strong and fast. On one 80-yard run, he broke five tackles. (I ran it and reran it to make sure.) Green is smaller, but very explosive. Best player had to be a kid from Rock Hill, South Carolina Southpointe High named Jadeveon Clowney. Damn near unmanageable at DE. I was impressed by running back Shaq Thompson, of Grant. And Manatee's Mike Blakeley scored three touchdowns and threw for a fourth against Plant, one of the nation's top teams. Most surprising result was Olney, Maryland Good Counsel's win over Cincinnati's St. Xavier. St. Xavier took the opening kickoff and drove right in for a score, then shut Good Counsel down for three quarters of play. But the kids from Maryland, ranked Number One in the DC area, finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter, and then returned two St. Xavier passes for TDs in the final five minutes to win, 21-6. *********** "The Boys of Fall" was pretty good. Lots of good shots for those of us who know and love their football history. Lots of good footage of real HS kids. But I'm not going to trip all over myself in praise. I can't give it five stars because of the pro influence (Madden and Parcells, for example), and because the song’s lyrics repeatedly refer to "knockin' heads and talkin' trash." The "knockin' heads" could be dismissed as football jargon any other time, but not now, when our game is in peril because of well-meaning peoples' concerns about concussions. And "talking' trash," as if that's just an accepted part of our game, and not something insidious that crept in from street ball? Please tell me what that has to do with all the good things we tell people our game promotes. Damn. Is there nothing we can do to keep that “culture” from infecting our game? *********** In New York State semi-pro ball, the Troy Fighting Irish are now 7-1 after a win over the Oneida County Titans. Writes offensive coordinator Pete Porcelli, who has been running my Double Wing exclusively from spread formation, “ had over 600 yards of total offense - 508 on the ground and 95 thru the air. Everyone touched the ball!” *********** A Midwest HS coach who is new to my system writes, “I forgot to tell you how much the pancake drill has helped us stress physicality and finishing blocks.” *********** WTF? Sports Business Journal reports that as part of a $50 million “Back to Football” campaign, the NFL has signed up more than 5,000 schools for a program called Back to Football Friday. The idea is that on Friday, September 10 - the day after the opening game and before the first weekend of games - schools and offices across the country will have NFL “pep rallies” and can win prizes for their efforts. There are 1,800 “school events” planned, in 49 of 50 states and in all 32 NFL markets. Cool. Let’s let the kids out of school out so they can all celebrate the NFL’s opening weekend. (Hey – there’s a new Gap store opening in the mall next weekend. Can we have a pep rally for that, too? Hey, wait a minute - don’t we have a game of our own tonight?) Meanwhile, in less fortunate countries, children are forced to stay in class because they don’t yet have NFL-sponsored “pep rallies.” They will all wave to us as they pass us by educationally. *********** Back in November of 2007, Allen St. John wrote in the Wall Street Journal…
This past Saturday morning, the last one around here before the high school season starts, I made the rounds of some local high school practices. A couple of them had intra-squad scrimmages going on. As expected , the trend is to mimic the Big Boys, which means a lot spread/shotgun. Pistol, especially. Gawd, some of them looked awful. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, the head coaches are inexperienced, and most of them don’t know anything else. They haven’t served significant apprenticeships under successful head coaches with solid systems of their own, and the spread shotgun is easy to pick up. It’s everywhere – at all the clinics and in the clinic manuals, on TV round the clock - and in video games. Most of the new guys are so green they really don’t know where to go to get something else. Besides, that entails learning, which can be a long and laborious process. So why not just lift what obviously works for Oregon, and Boise State, and West Virginia, and Nevada, etc., etc? Why not just run their plays? Well guys, I’ll tell you why not – because Oregon, and Boise State, and West Virginia and Nevada have been able to recruit players to run their systems. Their passers can put the ball on the money; their receivers run exact routes and they don’t waste plays by dropping passes. Their quarterbacks and receivers know exactly what they’re looking at defensively and how to react, and so do their offensive linemen. Oh – and their coaches know WTF they’re doing, and they know how to teach it. And they have the time to teach it. And they know how to troubleshoot it when things go wrong, or when they see something they haven’t seen before. This sort of offense does transfer well to certain high-profile high school programs, and occasionally to smaller high schools, when they’re blessed with once-in-a-generation talent. (Or when they can recruit.) But even the really good teams can become so dependent on a great quarterback that when they lose him, they become very ordinary. A case in point happened this past Friday night, when nationally-ranked Plant, Florida lost its quarterback early in the game against Bradenton Manatee. The kid is really good. He’s already committed to Alabama, and when he was in the game, the two teams appeared well-matched. But when he went down, Plant didn’t have a backup of comparable ability or preparation (how many teams do?) and the result was a blowout – a very good Manatee team beat anotherwise solid but punchless Plant, 48-10. And what I saw Saturday morning was no Plant. I saw a team that couldn’t even snap the ball back successfully. The QB was probably 6-1 or -6-2, and yet he repeatedly had to jump for the snap, and lost the ball five times as a result. The running game was largely ineffective. The line took enormous splits – that’s what they see the big-timers doing - and couldn’t protect their gaps. From a pistol set, they actually tried to run a triple option. As if the triple is just another play in the grab-bag. The result was sorry - the ball wound up on the ground. I’m guessing that I saw them throw a dozen passes and complete - at most - three of them. I was looking at one more in a long list of teams that will do the politically-safe thing and attempt to ape successful spread teams, but will fall short. Way short. How would you like to be the defensive coordinator on this team when it repeatedly goes three-and-out, as it undoubtedly will? Do you realize how quickly your defensive unit will be back on that field again when the offense throws three incompletions and then punts? Do you realize how little time will haverun off the clock? What if this happens, series after series? Better to line up in full house and run dives and quarterback sneaks. But, of course, that's not cool. *********** Hugh, Had to deal with a bad situation last night. We had a JV kid leave early for (another sport) practice. We ran him and told him it can't happen again. It did. We ran him and told him he'd sit a half of the first game and next time he should just hand in his gear and choose (the other sport). He told the coaches he couldn't make our scrimmage because of a (other sport) tournament. I took a stand. He handed in his gear. Mom and Dad aren't happy. Luckily the AD has my back. Been a real pain though - they might go to the superintendent. I will survive, but its the last thing a Varsity coach wants to deal with right before a scrimmage. It really took the wind out of my sails. On a positive note the Varsity has been a dream so far... for the most part. We have tremendous senior leaders and we have total buy in. Now we just have to win some games! The kid and/or his parents violated my number one rule: The Team Comes First. Religious Events, Important Family Functions and School take precedence, of course, but otherwise, no personal matter can be allowed to interfere with a kid's commitment to his team. As soon as you step outside that Holy Trinity (faith, family, school), you lose your standing when you say a kid can go to a tournament and then the next kid says he has concert tickets, or another one wants to stay home and play X-Box with his cousin who's visiting from Michigan. Another one has a chance to spend a week elk hunting with his grandpa. Yet another one has piano lessons every Tuesday afternoon. Every one of those other activities is important to a kid or his parents, but they have to be put aside because of the requirements of football. Otherwise, you are going to have to tell them that a sports tournament , which isn't important to them at all, is more important than their concert, which maybe they've been waiting months to attend. What's important to one kid (and the kid's parents) is not important to another. There have to be excused absences, of course. But for the good of the team, unexcused absences can't be tolerated. Like so many kids, he either wasn't listening when you talked about sacrifice, about commitment, or didn't really understand, or didn't want to understand. I get the impression that this has gone on in the past, and it might be indicative of the sort of attitude toward football has that led to all those losing seasons. I believe you had to take a stand, and I'm glad that you've had a chance to discover that your AD will stand up for you. Today's parents can be very selfish and narcissistic, and they insist on having it all. Bad timing? People like that have zero concern about their kids' teammates or respect for their kids' coaches. The only grounds on which those parents could take it to the Supe would be - did you inform the kid that the next offense would be a firing offense? That you did. FWIW - There is a very good chance that it's DAD's ambition you're f--king with - not to mention a big part of his social life - and he gave the kid no choice. In my opinion, when you sense a situation that could wind up with your having to kick a kid off the team, you need to look further down the line and give Dad the warning, too, in front of the AD if possible. At the least, you need to give the AD a heads up. Maybe you did. If the AD chooses, he can pass it up the line. But ADs don't like surprises, and they need to be forewarned. In my experience, I have found it works well for all concerned to let kids know in no uncertain terms that missing a practice will mean missing a game, and missing a second practice will mean missing two more games. I once made a mistake and softheartedly (and softheadedly) sat a kid out for just one half. ("The team needs him," blah, blah, blah.) Not only did the kid's replacement do just fine in the first half, but in the second half, when I put the transgressor in, he rewarded us by pussing out on a tackle and letting the opposing QB go all the way for the winning touchdown. *********** Hi Coach, HI Coach, Nice to hear from you. I don't know how to answer your question other than to say that my playbook is a meat-and-potatoes, technical book for coaches, and the video that accompanies it illustrates the plays with several hundred clips from games. To the extent that my playbook contains a complete, ready-to-use system, with every player's assignment, I think it is an "instructional" book, but you may disagree. It does not, however, deal with coaching philosophies or sea stories. My NEWS page, which I have been publishing for more than 12 years, covers that aspect of it. Hope that helps. *********** Alan Goldenbach of the Washington Post described the scene in Washington, D.C. Friday night as the Coolidge High team took the field for its opening game: Cameras followed Natalie Randolph as she emerged from a long tunnel leading from Coolidge's locker room onto the football field. A boom microphone hovered over her head as she coached her first game for the Colts. A news conference followed with more than two dozen media members asking her what it meant and how it felt for a woman to lead a Washington-area football team for the first time. Oh - Coolidge lost to Carroll, 28-0. I have stayed away from this story because from the start it has been a media circus. None other than Himself, His Honor the Mayor, showed up for the news conference announcing her hiring. ESPN, never one to pass up a story, has been all over this one, and has made significant donations to the Coolidge program. Anybody sense a made-for-TV movie? Unfortunately for ESPN and all those of you who believe in fairy tales, who believe this bullsh—about being able to be anything you want to be, it could get ugly. Yes, we can all achieve our dreams – provided we have the ability. But there is something else, too – it’s called paying your dues along the way. Inner-city schools do not usually have the best of facilities, and they don’t normally get much attention, and suddenly Coolidge makes a hire that couldn’t possibly be justified if the new coach were a man, and the attention of a nation is focused on one inner-city school. I have a feeling that there are some long-time coaches in DC high schools who have paid their dues, who have labored in obscurity and made do with substandard facilities, and are eager to extend a warm, football welcome to the newest member of their group. *********** Hi Coach, Just wondering, who gives the signal to the center to snap the ball on your fake punt wedge? We plan to use that this fall. Typically, it is the punter, because he gives the signal when to snap on punts. His first job is to check and make sure that we have enough men, and then to make sure everyone is set. http://www.coachwyatt.com/WEDGEonPUNT/WEDGEonPUNT.mov *********** Looking for some advice. Last night my son who is a Sophomore dislocated his shoulder in the 4th Quarter. He is 6’3” but only weighs 170 so that may have contributed. My question is this. In your opinion should he try to return this year or wait until next season and just rehab the shoulder? As an FYI. He plays wide receiver and strong safety. He does not start but he is on the kickoff team. (We played a weak team so we kicked off a lot last night and he had 6 special teams tackles and 2 in the game before getting hurt.) But - here's where it could inconvenience you - I would find the very best I could find at treating sports injuries, which in your case would mean in (where the state university is located) . I know that's a haul from (where you live), but you're dealing with your own son in a time of urgency (for him at least). I wouldn't hesitate to call the (state university) football office and explain my predicament and see who they recommend you see. I have found that an orthopod who deals regularly with athletic injuries - and with healthy young people - is better able to balance the possibility of long-term damage with the youngster's desire to play than the one who deals with people like you and me and our injuries. I think that in general the local practitioner tends to be overly conservative in approach, and doesn't take into consideration that fact that a kid has better recuperative powers than the average patient, and may be able to return to play without long-term risk. The one who deals with college athletes on a regular basis understands this better, and will be better able to tell you whether it's just a matter of your son's having to deal with a little discomfort, or whether it's best for him to take the rest of the season off - or maybe it's possible to rehab for a period of time and see how it responds. I wish you and your son the best. I'm sure that this is discouraging and I hope it turns out for the best. In the meantime, there might be some way he can stay close to the team and make himself very useful - maybe by keeping charts for the coaches, or videotaping practices. *********** It always amazed me when I taught - this is 10 years ago, now - how few kids read anything. Anything. What also amazed me was that high school kids actually enjoyed being read to! I would read to them and they'd sit and listen; and then I'd pause and we'd discuss things. It was as if they had no idea what the written word sounded like, and so they were incapable of "hearing" what the author intended. *********** Good Morning Hugh, Goodness, I had a moment of nostalgia watching those North Beach clips. That really was a heck of a coaching job and I think of that time often. From the classic: "It was the best of times it was ..." . What might have been for them if they had only understood the meaning of the word commitment--I truly believe the next couple of seasons they would have been really good!! My wish is that I get to coach with you one more time--giving what I know and learned I would take what we did there and make you an even better assistant. Thanks so much for that chance and that opportunity it was the "Best of times it was..." Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay, Maine *********** I had some dumbass from another team film my practice. Is this against high school rules? I can't imagine any state that allows a team - or a representative - to film another team's practices. In Washington, although you may videotape another team's games, you may not videotape its practices. I once started to videotape an upcoming opponent's intrasquad scrimmage and was informed by their AD that even though it was in their stadium and under the lights and advertised and promoted in the community, technically it was a practice, and although it was open to the public, and as a resident of th community I could stay and watch, I was not permitted to videotape it. Made sense to me. It is definitely considered a serious breach of coaching ethics to watch another team's practice (it's called "skunking"), much less videotape it. If there's any consolation, he probably didn't have a good enough vantage point to get much of any use. *********** Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England. I don't care who you are, buddy - without a pass, you can't be in the press box... Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the son of the founder of the Steelers, the late and much-revered Art Rooney. Dan Rooney has been a close confidant of NFL commissioners. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The NFL's rule requiring that minority candidates be interviewed for any NFL coaching vacancy is named the Rooney Rule in recognition of his work on behalf of minorities. Oh - and at the present time, he is the US Ambassador to Ireland. But Saturday night, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he was talking to people in the press box at the New Meadowlands Stadium before the game when a press box attendant told him to leave and return to the private box where he was sitting because he lacked the proper press box credentials. Hmmm. Maybe we should put that attendant in charge or border security.
*********** They keep speculating about how the McMinnville Medical Mystery could have happened, and on Thursday the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) doctor gave us what amounted to an "it's rare but not unusual" explanation. Right, Doc. So how come I’ve been involved in football as a player or coach since 1950 and I hadn’t heard of a single case until this week? Nobody I’ve spoken to has, either. And yet at one high school, in one town in Oregon – and no place else within 1,000 miles - some 40 kids had symptoms of this previously unheard-of syndrome. 13 of the kids were hospitalized, and three of them required surgery. The doctor hasn't come close to explaining convincingly how this problem, rare or unusual, could have happened to even one kid, let alone so many kids in just one place. Heat? Come on. Football players have worked out in intense heat for generations. Exercize? Gimme a break Are you telling me that this is the only group of kids that have ever done pushups to excess? Lack of water? Make me laugh. Yeah, we all know you should drink plenty of water. No doubt about that. Yet why didn’t this ever happen back in the days when our coaches even wouldn’t let us near the water bucket? When we’d wring out damp towels just to get a few drops of moisture out of them? So what’s left? Hmmm. Is that an elephant I see over there? *********** In Oregon, full contact is prohibited by the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) during the first three days of sanctioned practices. Yet during the summer, from Memorial Day until July 1, no OSAA rules apply, so teams routinely issue pads and helmets in June, then attend “contact camps,” where they take part in full-contact scrimmages. Says Dr. Michael Koester, chairman of the OSAA’s Medical Aspects of Sports Committee, “Those kids step off the bus, put their pads on and start whaling on each other. Why do we have that OSAA rule in place versus why do they have no rules in place at the football camps.” Back home from camp, for many schools the contact work continues through July. For coaches in the northwest, and many other places in the country, football has become a year-round monster. I don’t know why more coaches don’t listen to Tom Smythe. He has long been opposed to summer football. That includes camps, combines and 7-on-7. But what would he know? He’s 70 years old. Yeah, right. And for my money, he’s the best high school football coach in the Northwest. He’s won three Oregon championships in the state’s highest classification - in 1987, 1997 and 2001 - and now, in the second year of a major rebuild, it won’t surprise anyone if he’s in contention again this year. In six years as head coach at Portland’s Lewis and Clark College, a small, private, liberal arts college with high academic standards, he posted a remarkable 29-25-3 record. If anybody would benefit from year-round football, it would be Tom Smythe – he was among the first in the Northwest to advocate spread-it-out, pass-first football. Way back in the 1970s, when Mouse Davis was run-and-shooting it at Portland State, Tom Smythe was doing the same at Lake Oswego’s Lakeridge High School. When he and I played against each other in 1983 (he won), he was already an old master of the passing game. Yet in an article in the Portland Oregonian at this time last year, Smythe said that he reminds his players that he has a few state championship trophies in his den, “and not one of them says ‘Summer 7-on-7 Champion.’” He says, “The whole thing has escalated to where some programs scrimmage all summer. I mean, they issue full gear and they’re practicing and scrimmaging each other, and then the OSAA says, ‘Well, we can’t govern everything.’” Lamented Dr. Koester: “The OSAA doesn’t have the mechanism in place to enforce things during the summer. It would have to be enforced at the school level. Coming from the state superintendent’s office, coming from liability insurance carriers, coming from somebody with a bigger stick than the OSAA would be ideal.” I’m unable to understand why schools can’t see the potential liability issue here. I guess it’s going to take a serious injury to a player, and the discovery that the school’s insurance doesn’t consider summer football to be a “school activity.” *********** Coach I am having a dilemma as we started our 1st day of full contact and have our 1st scrimmage on September 9th and we are having real issues with center/Qb exchange. I am at the point of trouble shooting it until tomorrow and scrapping it and go full bore into the wildcat. 1st I need to make sure we are doing everything we can with the center QB. Thumbs in contact with the center. Thumbs together fingers fanned wide. What am I losing going to Wildcat versus the conventional under center? Coach, In my opinion you are not losing much and you are gaining quite a bit more deception. The only possible drawback is that it is hard to have a quick passing game because the QB has to look at the snap and can't concentrate on coverage. I've attached a short presentation that I use... http://www.coachwyatt.com/whythewildcat/whythewildcat.mov Let me know if there is anything I can help with. *********** With Bobby Bowden’s recent announcement that he was not exactly fired but he was, indeed, “forced out,” my thoughts turned to Joe Paterno… I like Joe Paterno and respect him and all that he's done, and I hope that he will go out with honor and dignity, and on his terms. I'd expect that one of those terms is the right to designate his successor. I'd be shocked if it weren't. My take, based on interest more than inside knowledge... Over the years, Joe has passed up several opportunities to anoint his successor and step aside gracefully. I suspect that it was the failure to take advantage of one of those opportunities that finally persuaded Jerry Sandusky, the Lions' highly-successful defensive coordinator, that it was time to retire. Many of us on the coaching scene had a lot of respect for Sandusky and his work and believed he'd be the guy to replace Joe. Then there was Fran Ganter, the offensive coordinator and another long-time State assistant. I'm not sure of the timing, but I think his best chance may have come at about the time the State program hit bottom and people were calling for Joe's head - not exactly the right time to be telling people who you want to succeed you. Not that Joe was about to bail when things were tough, anyhow. And now Fran Ganter is working someplace else in the athletic department. More recently, it's been Tom Bradley, the defensive coordinator. He could be an excellent choice, too. Presumably, Sandusky and Ganter grew tired of waiting, and Bradley probably will, too. Lately, Jay Paterno, who's been serving as quarterbacks' coach, has been getting a fair amount of exposure in the media. You don't suppose...? I have no reason to doubt that someone qualified to coach at Penn State is capable of being a head coach, but irrespective of Jay Paterno's qualifications, there are grave dangers in Joe's even suggesting that his own son succeed him. Things could get ugly. The Bobby Bowden-Jeff Bowden story comes immediately to mind. Joe can't be unaware of how that played out. It would be nice if a Penn State guy could succeed him, carrying on the long line, but Joe has not exactly been a Hayden Fry or Bill Snyder in spinning off large numbers of assistants who've gone off to become successful head coaches themselves. The very staff stability that Joe has fostered and has provided his program with such consistency has also meant that a relatively few of his assistants have left to head their own programs. One successful head coach with Penn State ties is the Indianapolis Colts' Jim Caldwell, but he lacks successful college head coaching experience (he was not particularly successful at Wake Forest, admittedly never an easy place to win), and now he's probably out of Penn State's price range, anyhow. Another is Rutgers' Greg Schiano, who spent a year as a graduate assistant and five years as an assistant at Penn State back in the 90s. Should State go "off-staff" for Joe's successor, he would seem to be a great choice. Temple’s Al Golden certainly bears watching. He’s a Jersey guy who lettered three times at Penn State, captaining the 1991 Nittany Lions team. He was a GA at Virginia under long-time Paterno assistant George Welsh, and between stints as linebacker coach at Boston College and defensive coordinator at Virginia, he spent one season at Penn State as linebackers coach. Taking over at Temple in 2006, Golden’s first team went 1-11, but last year’s Owls were 9-4, and this year they could be even better. Few people now remember Joe's predecessor, Rip Engle, but he was a heck of a coach in his own right. He turned a solid program over to a young Joe Paterno, who had played for him at Brown and then worked under him at Penn State for 16 years. The ironic thing is that when Engle announced - well in advance - his intention of retiring, the transition to Joe was almost seamless, one of the smoothest and most successful in the history of college football. Now, sadly, Joe appears unable to hand off the reins in the same way. *********** Hugh, The debate over how to align the Big (12) Ten's newly-created divisions reached a new level of acrimony last week when people from Michigan and Ohio State made statements suggesting the possibility of (a) putting OSU and UM in different divisions, such that they might rematch in the Big Ten championship game, and/or (b) moving The Game to midseason instead of late November. Needless to say, this produced a huge amount of hugh and cry. Personally I think both moves would devalue the game tremendously. Florida State-Miami has been OK, but Nebraska-Oklahoma hasn't been what it used to be and most of the SEC's rivalries are in intra-division and better for it. This could have been a strategic PR move, to float a trial balloon so offensive that they can come back with a better but still weak "solution" that would have been unpalatable as an opening move. Christopher Anderson, Arlington, Virginia *********** Thank you, Peyton Manning, for giving the NFL poohbahs a demonstration Thursday night of The Law of Unintended Consequences… How exactly, with the referee and umpire now taking a position behind the deepest back, is the QB supposed to know when the ball is ready for play, without turning and taking his eyes off the defense???? *********** Jeenius Jon Gruden, after the Colts’ Bob Sanders was penalized for launching himself and taking a dirty shot at a defenseless Packers’ receiver (hit him in the back, long after he’d missed the ball): “That’s the only way Bob Sanders knows how to play.” Um, isn't that where coaching comes in, Jon? Otherwise, it's a damn shame, because he’s a pretty good player. If only somebody had been there during his formative years to teach him how to play the game by the rules. *********** Speaking of Jeenius Jon... he was talking about Donald Driver, from Alcorn State. Now, wouldn't you think a guy as smart as Gruden would pronounce the name of Driver's school correctly? It's AWL-corn State. Don't be tricked by Gruden into thinking it's OWL-corn State. *********** Recently, Legendary New York Giants QB Charlie Conerly was inducted posthumously into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame. This is no trivial honor. He joins an illustrious list of great athletes who served in the USMC, such as baseball players Hank Bauer, Roberto Clemente, Gil Hodges, Tom Seaver and Ted Williams; boxers Ken Norton, and Barney Ross; Basketball players Bobby Wanzer and Jo Jo White; golfer Lee Trevino; two-time Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias; and football players Angelo Bertelli, Art Donovan, Eddie LeBaron, Ernie Nevers, Leo Nomellini and Ernie Stautner. I spoke with Mrs. Conerly not so long ago, and she said that she and a niece were on hand for the induction at Quantico. She said that the Marines treated them like royalty – they sat at the Commandant’s table, and were guests at a reception at the Commandant’s home. I don’t bring up the topic of her the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s failure to include her late husband – who has many times, by highly qualified people, been called “The best football player who’s not in the Hall of Fame” – but it does come up from time to time. During his career it was his good fortune to play with eight men now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame – Roosevelt Brown, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Tom Landry, Andy Robustelli, Y.A. Tittle, Emlen Tunnell and Arnie Weinmeister – in addition to many “almosts” such as Kyle Rote and Roosevelt Grier. But his good fortune may also have hurt his chances to make the Hall of Fame because of the belief in some quarters of a New York GIants' bias among HOF voters. The 2007 Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame induction was interesting because of the four inductees, only one was still living. There were Dodgers’ great Gil Hodges, Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli, and the 49ers great defensive linemen Leo “The Lion” Nomellini, all deceased. And there was 86 year old Bobby Wanzer, five time All-NBA guard. (Yeah, yeah, I know – basketball is so much better now. Basketball players are so much better now. But Bobby Wanzer was the first player in NBA history to shoot over 90 per cent from the free throw line in a season, and only six players in today's greatly-expanded NBA managed to do it this past season.) “I want to welcome you back to the Corps,” Marine Corps Lieutenant General James Amos said. ‘‘Some of you may have been away from the Corps for sometime, but we haven’t changed; we’re still here. And we’re here just like we were for your father or your grandfather or, in your case Bobby, just the same way we were when you were a United States Marine. ‘‘Once you’re a Marine, the DNA takes,” Amos said. ‘‘This generation has become tattoo crazy, but in the Marine Corps, besides those physical tattoos, you get one tattooed on your heart – the title United States Marine – and it never goes away, not even when you retire. You may not shave every day, but every day you’ll look in the mirror and say, ‘Good morning Marine.’ And that hasn’t changed. And it’s the same with all our inductees. They were tremendous athletes, but in their heart-of-hearts, that tattoo was always there, that Marine Corps DNA took, and they always were and always will be United States Marines.” Said Wanzer, ‘It’s wonderful to be surrounded by so many Marines again, but I don’t know if they’d recognize me as a Marine anymore. The Marine Corps gave me a lot. I was an undisciplined kid when I first joined, so I learned to take orders, team play, and discipline, things that being a kid from New York you never get. The best part was when my daughters asked, ‘Why the Marine Corps?’ I said it was because athletes have egos and want to be the best, so I had to go to the finest outfit.” ***********Coach, Yesterday in practice we ran 88-Brown A Throwback - and the safety picked it off. We were practicing it against a 4-4. My question to you how do we prevent that...who do I have the QB read to prevent that interception. I have taught him on his 4th Step to plant and hit the throwback back route. Coach, This is not a play that is always "there." It isn't a good call until it is a good call. In other words, when the corners are rolled up close, and when you run 88 Super Power or you throw 88 Brown, the safety is moving in the direction of flow, it could be a very good call. We normally occupy the safety on 88 Brown by having our X-End run a "backside choice" based on what the safety does: he starts out running a skinny post, and if the safety rotates he stays on the post; but if the safety hangs, the end breaks off his post route and runs what we call a "Dig," trailing across at 12 yards or so behind the linebackers. On "Throwback, this should be enough to occupy the safety. But even without that, I'm willing to bet that the receiver (the A-Back) contributed to the interception by not sufficiently stretching the coverage, by not getting as much width as he could. This is a fade route, and width is every bit as important as depth. The idea is to get outside the 3-deep umbrella. Running this correctly takes a fair amount of work, because receivers all want to get upfield without also getting wide, breaking the umbrella. To help the receiver get started correctly, I want to make sure his first step is a crossover step with the inside foot. If his first step is flat, his second step will be, too. Then, I want to make sure the receiver knows where the ball is going to be thrown. I tell the QB to throw to a spot - to take four steps and and plant throw to the spot, putting the ball just inside the sideline at 20-25 yards (maybe less with younger kids) - regardless of where the receiver is! I tell the receiver that if he wants the ball he'd better be there, because that is where I'm telling the QB to throw it. The QB must throw to that spot. He is NOT to throw to the receiver, because the receiver can lead him into trouble: if the receiver doesn't stretch the coverage, the safety will get there. Bingo. It's possible, too, that the QB caused the problem by holding the ball too long. First of all, because he doesn't have the A-Back blocking for him on the backside, as usual, he has to avoid a sack. But also, it holding the ball too long means that the receiver might outrun the QB's arm. And worst of all, it also takes away the element of surprise: the longer he holds the ball, telegraphing his intentions, the more ground a safety will be able to cover. It takes work, but if the QB throws to the right spot, the throwback won't be intercepted. And if your receiver runs to the right spot, it will be a touchdown. Here's a couple of examples: first is 88 Brown Throwback: It's a TD but it's almost intercepted by the safety because the A back isn't near wide enough. Plus, it’s not a great call against a 2-deep secondary because the safeties are set wider; second is 99 Black Throwback: It's a better-executed play but the pass is dropped. I'd still like the receiver to be wider. In both cases, note how fast the QB gets it off. He doesn't waste any time back there. He's only a split-second from being sacked.
Franjo added, "I have always admired the Steubenville coach. He plays as many kids as he can and he begins subbing on second and third series. "As a result, he rarely if ever starts over with empty cupboard. He always has experienced players returning. I have never understood why coaches don't practice this. In Ought Eight, I coached 6th-7th-8th graders and played them all. I figured that I had a first team coming back. But, I had to resign my heavily remunerated position. The teams I left went undefeated for three years. "Last year (and every year) I saw a team losing by 30 late in 4th quarter and the coach still had his first team, senior laden, in the game. Unbelievable. I will never understand that philosophy. Ever. "And, I have seen teams leading by 30 late in 4th and the coach still has most of his first teamers in the game." *********** Good Morning Coach Coach Glad you agree with my approach. I appreciate the assessment of simple, straight forward and logical. I think back to my college playing days - to a system that I couldn't figure out. So, like other guys, I suspect, I often faked it. When I became a coach, I thought back to my college experience and figured that there had to be a way for players to understand. Really understand. Agreed on man for man. Teaching zone can suck up a lot of practice time. I also like the no huddle system you use. I was really impressed with the “coding the game plan” tab. It did raise a few questions. I will ask the questions but I understand if you prefer not to answer all of them...leave them wanting more! Here goes… What is the color code for the plays? Some are red and some are green, what do the colors mean? Answer: Red and Green don't mean a thing, and they aren't necessary. They are just additional ways of calling a play, because a play in the Green column can be called by the number of the column (say, "1-20" but also by the color ("RED 20"). They might be easier for some players to locate on their play cards. What is 99/88 GTO? Logic would say it is a blocking scheme per your naming convention but there is nothing in the hymnal about a GTO Scheme. Answer: "GTO" is a form of sweep blocking that I rejected some time ago. Forget it. Does “follow” mean the same thing as “keep”? I have a great athlete at QB and plan to run him as often as possible. Answer: "Follow" is a tag that means that the QB will carry. All blocking remains the same. Only the QB and the back who normally carries are affected. The carries out his usual assignment, but instead of handing off, he keeps the ball, following the normal running back through the hole (or around the end). The normal running back becomes the lead blocker. EXAMPLE: "6-G FOLLOW" Answer: "Keep" is a tag that also means the the QB will carry. Again, all blocking remains the same, and again, only the QB and the back who normally carries are affected. Now, though, the normal running back on the play will do something else. Maybe we will flank him or send him in motion as a diversion. EXAMPLE: "RIP 88 POWER KEEP" Utah Cal Gold and Omaha Art Green, I understand the over and under out of wildcat, I understand both wings to the same side, what does Gold and Green mean? Answer: "Gold" and "Green" were codes for Wildcat sets. But as the Wildcat evolves, realizing that this is inconsistent with my use of colors for passes, I "retired" Gold and Green. Now, my normal Wildcat set, with the B Back on the right, is "CAT." If I want the B-Back on the left, I say "LYNX" (a cat name beginning with an "L" . "Links" also happens to be German for LEFT). What is 3 Charlie/ 3 George? Again I assume charlie is a fold block, what is George? Answer: "Charlie" is a fold block with the center going first; "George" is a guard-tackle fold block with the guard going first What is your Silver formation? Answer: "Silver" has been retired Thanks Coach! The ability to take something complex, break it down to the simplest terms and make it executable by even the youngest football players is exceptional. I think back to my very successful high school football days and all I did was execute assignments without knowing the big picture. I transferred in as a sophomore to a very good program in Texas, but no one on the staff took the time to teach me the system. In hind site now as I look back I have figured it out. My boys who play for me now know and understand the entire system and the rules. It is so much better when they understand the process and the logic. I wish I had coaches that taught the way you do. I marvel at how smooth a properly run double wing system works versus some of the teams that line up in a “double wing formation” yet don’t pull anyone. I talk with some of these coaches and there is no system per se in how they execute their system. You have done a great job of taking a very dynamic system and making it easy to understand and teach. Thanks again. Best Regards, *********** Midway through the third round of the recent LPGA Safeway Open, Julie Inkster was just three strokes back of the leader. Should she manage to win, Inkster, 50, would be the oldest woman ever to win a tour event. But while waiting to tee off at the 10th hole, she first gave an interview to the Golf Channel, then put a weighted doughnut on a club and took a few swings with it to loosen up. For that, she was disqualified. See, the rules of golf prohibit use of any practice devices during rounds, and they specifically mention weighted "doughnuts." But here’s the really interesting part – the violation was reported by someone watching the tournament on the Golf Channel. An e-mail or phone call to tour officials, and a review of the video, and that was that. It’s not the first time that a rules infraction has been spotted and reported by a TV viewer. (I don’t know how these inspector-types know where to call to make their reports. I almost went nuts trying to find a way to contact ESPN, back when they kept giving Craig James face time to tell us all how he and his families were victims of that evil Mike Leach.) Wow. I thought about all those times I’ve pointed at the set and shouted, “That f--king Number 62 is F—king HOLDING!!!” and it hit me. Look - we all know that as widespread as the players on a football field are, and as adept as they’ve become at cheating, the officials can’t catch everything. Face it - they could use a little help from fans. Voila! Based on the way this seems to work for golf, I’ve figured out a great promotion for the NFL Network. Here’s how it works: Instead of indignantly screaming at their sets, fans will report infractions that they see on TV. They'll have ten seconds from the end of any play to text their call to a number displayed on the screen. (The ten seconds are counted down on the screen.) First they'll text the offending player’s number: in this case O62 for number 62 on offense), And then they'll text the violation: @ - offensive holding; # - defensive holding; $ - illegal procedure; % - offside; & - illegal contact; ? - offensive pass interference; + - defensive pass interference; ! – helmet-to-helmet contact … you get the idea In this case, for example, I would text “O62@” And if a certain specified number of similar texts were to come in during the time allotted, the penalty would be called. Everybody wins: The viewers are involved. REALLY involved. The integrity of the game is enhanced because cheaters are more likely to be caught. The NFL Network has a great way of attracting viewers. The phone companies all benefit. The NFL charges viewers for each text message. The only people who lose out are the poor schlubs in the stadium. They'd have to wait. Screw them. They don’t count anymore, anyhow. Oh. I did leave one penalty out. Taunting or excessive celebration. The text symbol for that would be So if you're watching Cincinnati, be prepared to hit "O85*" and "O81*" a bunch.
*********** I happened to catch ESPN’s feature on this summer’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction, and it didn’t take me long to say, WTF? One player. (Andre Dawson.) One manager. (Whitey Herzog.) One umpire. (Doug Harvey.) Wait. Out of all the greats who have played the game and haven't been elected - only one player? But you got room for a f—king umpire? Gimme a break. Nobody ever went home after a game thrilled to death by the great balls and strikes the umpire called. Nobody ever took the afternoon off because Doug Harvey was going to be behind the plate. Yeah, umpires are important. So are scoreboards. So is home plate. *********** After golfer Jim Furyk overslept and missed a pro-am, resulting in his disqualification from a tournament, the New York Times had an article on “Players Who Couldn’t Get to the Game on Time” http://onpar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/players-who-couldnt-get-to-the-game-on-time/?th&emc=th *********** Here's a nice preseason preview of a Black Lion school in Lakeland, Florida – Victory Christian Academy and its coach, Jeff Schaum… http://polkpreps.com/2010/08/victory-christian-football-preview/
*********** In McMinnviille, Oregon, a small city about 30 miles southwest of Portland, 14 high school fotball players had to be hospitalized and three required surgery to relieve swelling of the triceps muscles caused by a condition known as “compartment syndrome.” Essentially, a muscle group swells and becomes too large for the sheathing (fascia) that surrounds it, and the resultant pressure and intense pain can only be relieved surgically, by cutting into the sheathing. In extreme cases the disorder can result in kidney damage. From the Internet:
It all came about when the first-year head coach at McMinnville High School brought the entire team to school last Sunday (the 15th) for an “immersion camp,” a full-week devoted to various things including, one would presume, team-building. It is a big story local right now and it’s either going to get bigger (if an investigation reveals that the coach did something dangerous) or it is going to die out, as high school football gets into full swing. Contributing factors, in addition to unusually heavy stress on the muscles (check: in this case, it appears that the kids were required to do an inordinate number of pushups and chair dips); heat (check: it was in the 90s outside, and they were inside a non-air conditioned building); dehydration (check: the kids say they were not permitted to drink until they “finished the workout” whatever that means); and possible use of “supplements” containing creatine (No check: mere conjecture at this point.) Although a few parents have expressed anger at the coach, they do not appear to be in the majority. Random thoughts: The kids were inside the school – I presume that means the gymnasium - without benefit of air conditioning. (Few schools in the relatively cool Northwest have air condiitoning.) It was at least 90 degrees outside. According to the local physician who also serves as the team doctor, it was 115 degrees inside. (Although the school superintendent say that there was no thermometer inside). It does sound to me like the sort of combination of heat and humidity - the latter created by all the kids' working out - that in most states would require schools to cancel practice for the day. Although the coach said he was instructed not to comment, he did manage to make one statement that I think he’ll come to regret, telling the Portland Oregonian, "I didn't know it could get that hot in Oregon." Uh, Coach – that’s what newspapers and radio stations and thermometers outside banks are for. Not to mention the fact that you've been here all summer (he relocated from California), and it was a lot hotter than 90 degrees around here just a couple of weeks ago. The incident had its start on Sunday, August 15, a week and a day before the officially-sanctioned start of football practice in Oregon, as part of what has been described as a weeklong "immersion camp." Oregon has a state-imposed "dead period" from August 1 until the first official day of practice, during which time coaches cannot be engaged in any football drills with players. But conditioning drills are not proscribed, and most coaches do make use of the three-week period to condition their kids. I’m not aware of other coaches who have gone to the extent of a week-long lockdown of their kids prior to the start of practices, and I personally oppose the way high school sports compete with each other to see how much of their kids' summer vacations they can deprive them of, but I don’t know that there's anything illegal about it. Any coach knows that even under the most favorable of conditions, much less conditions conducive to heat stress, kids need to have frequent access to water. I'm quite sure that a lawyer or two will check carefully into that aspect. What, exactly, was the point of obsessing on one particular muscle group (the triceps?) Other than team-building, what was the point of such intensive workouts? Was it to weed out kids – to work them to the point that some would quit? *********** Mention “Pacific Northwest” and people who know a little about this part of the country break out the tired old jokes about rain. Fact: It rains a lot along the coast. The rainiest place in the lower 48 is on the Olympic Peninsula, in northwest Washington State. Fact: The further inland you get, the less it rains. The Coast Range (which runs the length of the coast (duh) separates the very, very rainy coastal communities from the not-quite-so-rainy areas where most of the Northwest’s people live, in cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Salem and Eugene. Fact: The Cascade Mountain Range runs north-south the length of Washington and Oregon. In the valleys to the west of them, in places like Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Salem and Eugene, winters are rainy; to the east of them, in places like Yakima, Bend, Tri-Cities and Spokane, it is rather dry, even desert in many places. Fact: In the cities west of the Cascades (on the “wet side”) we get a lot of gray, dreary, rainy days all winter long. But we don’t get an unusual amount of rain! We have a lot of rainy days, but in terms of actual rainfall, we don’t get any more than any typical eastern seaboard city (such as New York). Fact: On the Wet Side, it rarely snows, and when it does, the snow doesn’t stay around very long. Fact: Our summers are dry sunny and quite pleasant. Like many old-time Northwesterners, we don’t have air conditioning. We have had maybe a dozen days this summer with temperatures over 90 degrees. A 95-degree day can still be pleasant because of our low humidity. Rain? We had a few drips of water fall from the sky Sunday - maybe enough to count as rain. If so, it would end a 50-day stretch (since July 2) with no measurable rainfall. *********** A youth coach writes… “At this moment I am in my 3rd hour of the USA football coach RE- CERTIFICATION test!!! after paying my $25 dollars!! While the information is useful and informative I can't believe they are charging $25 dollars!!! It is a requirement nationwide for all pop warner teams to have at least 1 certified individual on each team!! Wow, $25 per team, flag all the way up times how many??? thats a lot of cash!!” True. But the NFL needs the money. *********** You wrote, "Without them, we're just another bunch of guys standing on the sidelines yelling ‘BLOCK SOMEBODY!’” Sounds like I'm not the only one that finds "block somebody" highly offensive! Gabe McCown, Piedmont, Oklahoma *********** There was a great story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about a long tradition of sandlot baseball in the small Southwestern Pennsylvania town of Mill Run. *********** THE REDSKINS’ ALBERT HAYNESWORTH (following last weekend’s exhibition game against the Ravens): I'm a ninth year pro. I don't think I should have been out there in the third quarter.” THE REDSKINS’ MIKE SHANAHAN, on being Albert Haynesworth's coach for the first time: "One thing for sure that is clear to me is that Albert has gotten away in the past with playing without practicing. That will not happen under this regime. If he's going to play, he's going to practice, and that is the same with every player here. The days of him playing without practicing are over. And that, to me, says it all.'' *********** In 1989, I was in Kingsville, Texas to broadcast the Portland State-Texas A & I game. Texas A & I (now West Texas A & M) had a dynamite little running back out of Houston named Johnny Bailey. They had a few other decent players, too, including a defensive tackle named John Randle, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career with the Minnesota Vikings. But the guy who struck fear into a very good Portland State team was Johnny Bailey. He had a good game that night as the Javelinas won. I recall saying something brilliant to the effect that Johnnny Bailey would have a decent career in the NFL. Well, duh. (Back then, the cliché was “he’ll be playing on Sundays.”) A three-time Division II Player of the Year, he rushed for 6,320 yards at A & I, making him only the second college running back – after Pitts’ Tony Dorsett – to run for more than 6,000 yards in a career. He rushed for 2,011 yards as a freshman, becoming just the third college running back to go over 2,000 yards in a season. Drafted by the Bears in the ninth round in 1990, he played six seasons in the NFL. He played 81 games and scored nine touchdowns in six seasons in the N.F.L., two each with the Bears, Cardinals and Rams. In 1992 he averaged 13.2 returning punts for the Cardinals, and made the Pro Bowl as a returner. His 95-yard punt return for a touchdown in his rookie year is still the longest punt return in Bears’ history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Johnny Bailey died last Friday of pancreatic cancer at the way-too young age of 43. *********** Wonder why people like T.O. and Ochocinco dominate the news? Don’t blame them. They’re simply satisfying – along with the media – our desire to stargaze. Writes Jake Halpern in the Wall Street Journal, “The stargazing instinct may even be primal. Researchers at Duke University, led by Prof. Michael Platt, have recently shown that rhesus monkeys will actually give up food to stare at the pictures of dominant monkeys in their group.” *********** Just one way in which soccer undermines what America stands for… Back in April, while preparing for the World Cup, a guy named Danny Jordaan, CEO of the World Cup and a former member of South Africa’s parliament, visited a school in Harlem, and told the kids, most of them black, “The only Africans in this world who are not playing soccer are the African-Americans, so if you want to be true Africans, you must play the sport of Africa.” WTF? “True Africans?” Not so fast, Mister. If I’d been next to speak after Mr. Jordaan, I’d have said, “Welcome Mr. Jordaan to our country, but don’t listen to him. You live in America, and he wishes he could, too. The only ‘Africans’ who enjoy true freedom are those lucky enough to live in America, a nation where they can choose to play many sports. You are Americans, and in America you can not only play soccer, like Africans, but also sports that most Africans can only dream of playing.” *********** (From a new Double Wing coach) Coach, This offense is limitless it seems. It is limitless, and that puts a lot of pressure on you and your staff not to do more than you can execute very, very well. You lose a lot of the offense's effectiveness when you begin to sacrifice repetitions of a relatively small number of plays in the interest of doing more things. First, get very, very good at the basics, and then look at one thing that you can do new or differently each game. And if you can't do it very well in practice, junk it, because you definitely won't do it well in the game. *********** Last I checked, Warren Buffett, of Omaha, Nebraska was the nation’s wealthiest man. He doesn’t live in a fancy house or drive a flashy car (he doesn't have a chauffeur, either) and he doesn’t frequent fancy restaurants. I’ve eaten at Gorat’s, the Omaha steak house he favors. Nice enough place, great steaks, but nothing elaborate. After I asked, the waitress showed me the table where he likes to sit. No big deal to her. He's not the celebrity type. To the people at Gorat's, he's just Mister Buffett. He made his money the old-fashioned way, and expected his son to do the same. When his son was 19, his father gave him a sum of money: “enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.” Enough, in other words, to support him while he pursued a career in a field of his choosing. But not enough for him to sit on his ass and live off his father’s wealth the rest of his life. *********** I read another one of those feel-good stories about a college kid who’s been looking really good in preseason drills, despite a shaky high school career. “I was getting in a lot of trouble,” he said. “I’d sneak out of my house at night and do things I couldn’t even think about doing now.” He didn’t even play high school football until his senior year, because he was never academically eligible. Says he “fell in with the wrong crowd.” But here’s the worst: the kid had a father at home. Where was dad all this time? I’m guessing he was busy making excuses, or brushing up on his stupid clichés, which he’s now trotting out. Stupid Cliché Number One: “He always had a good heart.” Yeah. Just like any inner-city mother will tell the police that her son didn’t run with a gang. Stupid Cliché Number Two: “He just lost his compass for a while.” Gimme a break. I got news for you, Dad. That's your fault. Until your kid can make his own way in life, it’s your job to be his f—king compass. *********** A shootout in Pittsburgh neighborhood put inner-city youth football in jeopardy… http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_695203.html *********** Knowing that the path to the Pac-10 was closed to it, and knowing that a Mountain West (MWC) team stood little chance of ever winning a national title, BYU's move to leave the MWC and become an independent makes some sense. Provided, of course, they can find major conference teams with open dates in the heart of their conference schedules. As an independent, BYU has no conference members to share bowl money with. The Cougs, provided they can navigate their way around the bowl prearrangements and find an attractive bowl to play in, get to keep it all. I can see the Cougars as being very desirable to a bowl. They “travel well” – they have a strong following. BYU would make an attractive addition to any conference that can afford to put political correctness aside. At least in the West, BYU has a large loyal following wherever it goes, and would make a nice addition, I think, to a Big 12. BYU would have been a far better addition to the Pac-10 than Colorado, but political correctness stood in the way. In fact, other than the loss of a decent rivalry in Colorado-Nebraska, the Big 12 would come out way ahead by what would amount to ditching Colorado and adding BYU. One big problem with all this, though, is that now BYU finds itself in the position of having to shore up the WAC, a crumbling second- or third-tier conference, simply to provide schedules for its other sports, including one not-so-minor sport – basketball. (Somehow, I don't see crowds of Cougar fans packing the Marriott Center to watch Idaho, or Louisiana Tech, or San Jose State.) *********** BYU certainly started off its life as a football independent on a bright note, announcing a home-and-home series of games with Texas in 2013 and 2014. *********** Reconsider Pac-10 expansion? I wish. *********** I speculated a short while ago that there might be fewer holding calls in the NFL as a result of the league’s moving the umpire to a spot in the offensive backfield – 12 to 15 yards off the line and to the left of the QB. But to my surprise, I discovered that it might not make all that much difference: since 1994, the referee, positioned at the same depth as the umpire but to the right of the QB, has called more holding penalties than the umpire. *********** “As an old quarterback, I truly believe football improves fitness, coordination, self-discipline, sense of accomplishment and overall well-being. It is no panacea to society’s problems, but football teaches important life lessons, including dealing with adversity, developing a strong work ethic, learning the value of teamwork and building character.” Jack Kemp - Quarterback/Congressman/Cabinet Official
*********** BYU plans to drop out of the Mountain West Conference, going independent in football, and hooking up with the WAC in all other sports. In my mind, BYU, with a national following and the ability to compete in football year-in and year-out, would have been an ideal candidate for the Pac-10, along with Utah. I’ve said previously that I can’t see Colorado adding anything to the Pac-10, but the BYU-Utah rivalry would be an outstanding addition. Alas, it was not to be, owing to one BIG problem: BYU is a Mormon Church school, and the Church (actually Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) actively opposed to gay marriage in California. With four of the conference located in California, the conference had to be afraid of the political repercussions of even discussing extending an invitation to BYU. Damn shame. BYU might want to reconsider, at least in terms of its non-football sports. At just about the same time BYU made its announcment, two WAC schools – Fresno State and Nevada – appeared ready to jump to the Mountain West. Following on the heels of Boise State’s move to the Mountain West, the MWC looks pretty doggone strong, while the WAC is weakened tremendously. *********** The Bills played the Colts in Toronto and drew... empty seats. Wow. Just like a real NFL city. Maybe the folks in Toronto have been hearing so much about the possibility of the Bills eventually moving there that they're practicing for the day when the BIlls will be their team, and they'll get to pay full price for preseason games just like real NFL season ticket holders. Hey, NFL - Canadians aren't the chumps you thought they were. They'd still rather watch a regular season CFL game that means something than a preseason NFL game that means nothing. *********** Good Afternoon Hugh, We are three practices into the season-- good work ethic and spirit. This is going to be the perfect team for the DW approach. We do not have a senior lineman but the kids are working hard and we should be able to move the ball ( 70 kids out for football). I was talking to the staff about being able to run as many as 50 variations of plays in a single session and got a lot of push back -- you wouldn't have a copy of one of the scripted offensive play sheets we used at North Beach would you so I could show them that it is in fact possible? I tried to locate one of my copies and of course could not find it. I did talk to them about wrist bands etc and how to get a lot done in a 45-60 minute team time. It would be great to show them a copy of the real thing. Would it be possible to email me a copy? If you could that would be great. I sure can appreciate your comments about using the numbering system to the coach who did not think his young kids could learn it. The system works, is logical, and easy to learn. Heck we still talk about the "farthest back from the point of attack" It really is the best way to go!! Last but not least your video playbook stuff is absolutely the best and that is the way I would go in the future. Once you put one together and do some marketing you will not be able to keep it in stock. I have showed the one we used at North Beech to our staff and they rave about how good it is!! With your talent for graphics and technology an updated version would be a sure winner. Jack Tourtillotte - living in Boothbay, Maine - coaching in Gorham, Maine *********** I had a coach write me to discuss the issue of shirttails hanging out. I personally hate the sloppiness of the blouse look, but good luck keeping those shirts tucked in. Anybody who's coached today's kids knows it's a constant battle - for those coaches who choose to fight it. Watch college basketball players sometime. The rules require them to keep their shirts tucked in, but the instant the game's over - out come the shirttails. Seen all those kids walking down the street with their tee shirts down around their knees, like skirts? It's teenage fashion, the same thing that drives all those bizarre Nike re-designs. Going against what we oldtimers like, fashion-wise, is part of a teenager's job description. I coached at an inner-city school and it was a daily struggle. Maybe they couldn’t get it out of their heads that out on the football field they weren’t saggin’. The old half-length shirts we used to use (they called them Schimmel-length) are outlawed. Now, the best we can hope for is the form-fitting shirt with the short tail being pushed by most manufacturers. (When I was in college, our game jerseys had long tails that actually buttoned together below the crotch. Not that they didn’t have their drawbacks, but there was no chance of them ever coming out.) *********** In “How Life Imitates Chess,” Russian Chess Master Garry Kasparov takes on the question of whether success in chess – or any other sport – is more a matter of talent or of hard work. His answer? Maybe the ability to work hard is itself a talent. *********** Hey Coach, I hope things are going well. We are getting ready for out 1st ever varsity football game here at Cannon. I wish I could tell you that things were going swimmingly, but we have been hit hard by the injury bug. Actually, it’s more like a wildfire in a dry prairie with gale-force winds pushing it along. Here is the list of injuries: Starting QB – broken metacarpal (thumb) on throwing hand (needs surgery – 6 to 10 weeks) We don’t even know when our QB hurt his hand. He said that his hand hurt after practice 2 weeks ago and trainers thought that maybe it was a sprained thumb. The really bad thing is that, as you know, we are a small school and all of those guys listed above (except for the QB) are 2 way players. So, in reality, we are down about 9 starters. Tami has been sure to remove all sharp objects from the house. We are trying to patch things up as best we can. We currently have a freshman that has run the offense for 2 years and a soph. that is new to the school as our QBs. The freshman knows the offense better than the soph., but he is not a running threat (our starter was a serious threat running the ball) and cannot throw real well. The soph. is okay with the base stuff, but is a better athlete and can give us back some of the QB keep stuff, he can also throw a bit. We worked really hard this summer on our passing game and had become very, very good at it and that is all gone. We are hoping that we can keep it together for the first half of the season and sneak into the playoffs and then get our starters back for a playoff run. I am trying to have a real strong “glass is half full” outlook on things right now. I feel really bad for our kids. They really came together this summer and worked hard as a group. We have a roster of 36 kids and we consistently had 26-27 kids at workouts 4 days each week. They have really bought in to what we were doing to get them ready physically and we had a good shot at a run at the State Title. Anyhow, my question is this. Is it legal for the offense to line up with the ball at the end of the LOS and have the snapper have an eligible number? Please say hello to Connie for me. Have a great day! Donnie Hayes, Concord, North Carolina At a time when you should be all excited about the upcoming season and your first varsity game, it's distressing to hear of all your problems. About all I can say in consolation is that it's been times like this when I've stumbled across some so-called "innovations" that I would never have bothered with if things had been going smoothly. Here's something I've screwed around with, based on an idea passed on to me several years ago by a youth coach in Texas named Greg Cotharn.
It is perfectly legal. The ball does not have to be snapped through the "center's" legs. As you can see, once the ball is in the "A" or "B" back's hands, you can run a lot of the offense. And, of course, you can flip the formation. The "QB" is eligible, but the player next to him is no longer eligible. Let me know how it goes. You may actually have some fun working your way through this! *********** If you like craft beers, and we’re seeing them in more and more out-of-the way places, beware of wolves in sheeps’ clothing. Many of them are faux craft beers, put out by the foreign giants that now control the industrial beer market and want a piece of the little guys’ action, too. Don’t be fooled by Blue Moon. Coor’s (now Molson-Coors) first introduced Blue Moon in 1995. Or Leinenkugel’s. Leinenkugel’s, once a small, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin brewer, has been owned by Miller (now SAB Miller) since 1988. Anheuser-Busch (actually, a Belgian company now known as AB Inbev) has not stood idly by, either. Not content with dominating the market with Bud (“an American lager”), it’s also acquired a 40 per cent share of Portland’s Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, and a 33 per cent share of Seattle’s Redhook Brewing. As a result, Widmer’s brands, especially it’s top-selling Hefeweizen, are available on both coasts, and Redhook even has a brewery in New Hampshire now. *********** After reading your site today I had a technical question regarding helmets. Your blog refers to helmets popping off of heads at the NFL level. I have noticed the same thing at the college level too. When I talked to some folks regarding this issue I was told that some of the new helmets are designed that way to prevent neck injury...are they mis-informed? I am not aware of this. It could be, but I am skeptical. There is a reason why all college and high school players are now required to use four-point chins straps, and that is to keep the helmet on the player's head. I haven't seen or heard of any suggestion that this might be reversed. And in checking the how-to-fit videos produced by the manufacturers I find this to be a common theme. "If the helmet moves (on the player's head) proper fit has not been achieved." Properly fitted, there is no way a helmet can come off - and go on - these NFL players' heads as fast as they do. (Just one more way the NFL - through its USA Football puppet - disserves the ordinary coach with its do-as-we-say, now-as-we-do preachiness.) *********** OMG--- while on the Internet to check out helmet-fitting videos, I came across this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf-qgqLqzds&feature=related Damn. Don't let your kids' mothers see that. With "Coaches" like those, soccer doesn't need to do any promotion. Are any of you allowing this to go on in your practices? Are any of your kids' coaches allowing this to happen? If those were your players, do you think that you could face a good lawyer in a courtroom and convince a jury that had just seen that video that you put your players' safety uppermost? That you had properly prepared your players for high-speed football collisions? That before you put them in a full-speed tackling drill you had gone over and over the rules, and the reasons for tackling with the head up? If those were your sons, would you subject them coaching like that? Could you sleep at night? Just as bad – read some of the comments below the video. They'll give you the creeps. *********** Hugh, -The helmets popping off came up last night. We had a kid who showed me how he didn't have to unstrap the helmet because he could pull it right off. I told -I hate to sound like an old fart but I am surprised by kids these days. We were doing catching drills and one of them shouts "coach you suck at throwing!" The At least they call you "Coach." The lack of any sense that they have to prove themselves, to earn their stripes, is a result of the Great Self-Esteem Movement. And also of today's "we're more like best friends" parenting. Good luck. You'll still have some good kids. And you'll still have some influence on the rest of them. *********** Prince Charles of England had a few things to say about the self-esteem movement and the weenies it's been creating... “What is it that makes everyone think they are qualified to do things beyond their technical capabilities? This is all to do with the learning culture in schools. It is a consequence of a child-centered system which admits no failure and tells people they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities… without ever putting in the necessary effort or having natural abilities.” *********** Still on the Self-Esteem Tragedy... Mel Levine, a professor at the University of North Carolina, is not a fan of the collaborative education movement, claiming that it has damaged an entire generation of students. Without what he calls a strong sense of what they’re good at (and what they’re not), he predicted back in 2007, members of this Generation Y would be in for quite a surprise on their first day on the job. (Note: this has already begun to happen, and these marvelous children are devastated to learn that the boss doesn’t tell them hourly how wonderful they are. HW) “They expect to be immediate heroes and heroines,” he told Rebecca-Segall Wallace in the Wall Street Journal. “They expect a lot of feedback on a daily basis. They expect grade inflation, they expect to be told what a wonderful job they’re doing.” *********** Still more on the Self-Esteem Tragedy... Observing today’s graduate business school students, Daphne Atkinson, vice president of the Graduate Management Admission Council told the Wall Street Journal, “Another challenge is the sense that it is either irrelevant or meaningless to ‘pay dues.’ It can be disappointing to find out that you won’t be president of the company in two years.” *********** I know that a lot of teams are going to zone blocking what is your take on zone blocking? Please go easy on me Coach. Coach, A lot of teams are going to the spread offense, too. That’s their choice. But if by "teams" you mean Double Wing teams, my advice to you would be to let them go and dig their own graves. If you drive a Ford, you don't put Chevy parts in it. The key to our offense is our blocking schemes. They were developed long before I came along and they've stood the test of time. Without them, we're just another bunch of guys standing on the sidelines yelling "BLOCK SOMEBODY!" *********** On the subject of the questionable reliability of “facts” on Wikipedia, there’s the case of author Tom Wolfe, who was said to have responded to rumors of his death by calling Larry King and saying, “I ain’t dead yet, but give me a little more time and no doubt it will become true.” Totally false, wrote Wolfe. First of all, he said, “I wouldn’t have a clue as to how to call Larry King.” Second of all, “I wouldn’t have called him, in any case. I would have called my internist.” And finally, “I wouldn’t say ‘ain’t’ even if I were singing a country music song. In fact, I have posted a $5,000 reward for anyone who can write a song containing the verb forms ‘am not,’ ‘doesn’t,’ or ‘isn’t’ that makes the Billboard Top Twenty.” *********** A “diversity consultant” (that's quite a layoff-proof industry they’ve got for themselves, eh?) quoted in the Wall Street Journal advises some ways of avoiding “sexual-orientation” issues in the workplace. One of them is “Always assume there’s a gay or transgender person present." Even in the Marines? *********** Coach Wyatt, It is recognized that you have an "attitude," with good reason, concerning NFL wide receivers. It is also recognized that your system does not utilize receivers as do other systems such as the Spread Option. If you were a college offensive coordinator or head coach, how would you recruit receivers? Jim Franklin Reasonable question. There are several factors that are measurable, others that are observable and many that you can't know (personal) without knowing the person. Measurable: speed... agility... jumping ability... strength Observable: ability to run routes and get open... ability to catch... ability to run after the catch... ability to block Personal: character... consistency... responsibility... toughness... intelligence... coachability... unselfishness (desire to put team ahead of self; willingness to block; willingness to run decoy routes) It's in the latter area that in my opinion the pros and major colleges either fail to dig out the answers, or else know the answers but delude themselves into thinking that any personal deficiencies will be offset by a player's "talent." Or, saddest to contemplate, there just aren't enough guys with the necessary "measurables and observables" who can also pass the personal test. Most wide receivers are such divas that I can't imagine being a college offensive coordinator or head coach and having to recruit them, much less coach them. Maybe if I'm good God won't make me spend eternity having to do that. *********** I was a little confused on blocking assignments for the 88 super power on the 3-3-5 since they are stacked on the tight end? Does the tight end protect inside gap first or does he block the defender that's on? Coach, On powers, you need to treat this as a GAP defense and be blocking DOWN across the front. The mistake a lot of people make is thinking that they should base their assignment on where a guy lines up, rather than where he is when the ball is snapped. When the ball is snapped, in all likelihood there will be a man - either a lineman or a backer - in every player's inside gap. Including the TE. Therefore, the TE assumes a man in his gap (as does everyone else) and makes an OFF call. And at that the playside wingback comes over the top and blocks first backer to the inside. And the B Back aims at the TE's near hip and runs along that track and blocks out on whoever appears past the TE. Whether it's a LBer or a lineman, it doesn't matter. Fortunately, this is something you can work on in a half-line situation so you can play "good against good": run plays to the right without your backside linemen and TE, letting them serve as your playside defenders. *********** What do you find works better wings in 3 pt or 2pt? Or is it just personal preference? It's personal preference, although my preference tends to be 3 point, because then all my wingbacks and ends use the same 3-point stance and that's the only stance I have to teach. In the evolution of things, though, I have become quite set on having my wingbacks squared-up to the line of scrimmage. *********** http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100816/ap_on_sp_ot/us_ramadan_football_4 - Great story about kids at Fordson High, in Deaborn, Michigan, most of whom are Muslim, having to practice late at night while observing Ramadan. Good for them. They're American kids playing football! I'm for America and I'm for assimilation, and what is more Americanizing and assimilating than kids playing football? *********** Mike Leach has joined CBS College Sports as an analyst. I was sorta hoping ESPN could sign him and pair him up with Craig James. *********** A young woman - a Florida graduate - was fired by an Arkansas radio station because she wore a Gators hat to a Bobby Petrino press conference. Petrino answered a question she asked and then said, "And that will be the last question I answer with that hat on." Tsk, tsk. So many people think it's (sniff, sniff) so said that that poor young lady was treated so cruelly. Of course, she had the right to wear that hat. She also had to understand that doing so - while working for a radio station that calls itself "The Voice of the Hogs" might have consequences. (If she didn't, someone failed to prepare her for the World of Work.) Hey, folks. You don't embarrass your employers. She says it was raining when she left her place, and she picked up the hat “by mistake” on her way out the door, but if you believe that a young woman never stopped to check her appearance before leaving the house, you’ve never known a young woman. That we have a nation of clueless, tone-deaf people like this, who don't understand how deep peoples' feelings can go helps explain why so many people see nothing wrong with putting a mosque within two blocks of the (former) World Trade Center. But this was the Southeast, where football means as much to people as our national honor. *********** Hugh, Quote: The judges? I dunno. But I'll bet none of them ever saw Sammy Baugh in action. Or Joe Perry. Or Tom Fears. Or Steve Van Buren. Or Emlen Tunnell. Or Chuck Bednarik. Or Night Train Lane. Or Bobby Layne. Or John Henry Johnson. Or Y.A. Tittle, Sam Huff, Frank Gifford and many, many more! Y.A. is the reason I'm a NY Football Giants fan to this day.....he was a tough "son-of-a-gun"! Go Giants! Tough? Yeah, Y.A. was tough. But how about the guy he succeeded, Charlie Conerly, who spent a little time during the 40s with the Marines in Guadalcanal? Wouldn't you like to sit down over a couple of beers and try to whittle our list down to 100?
*********** The NFL Network says it's soon going to be revealing its Top 100 Players of all time. Gag me. Another one of those arrogant attempts to impose somebody else’s opinion on us as if to shut off all disagreement. Argument over, peasants. The judges? I dunno. But I'll bet none of them ever saw Sammy Baugh in action. Or Joe Perry. Or Tom Fears. Or Steve Van Buren. Or Emlen Tunnell. Or Chuck Bednarik. Or Night Train Lane. Or Bobby Layne. Or John Henry Johnson. Actually, getting a little more modern, probably not too many of them saw Jim Brown, or John Unitas, or Frank Gifford, or Lenny Moore, or Gino Marchetti, or Yale Lary, or Merlin Olsen, or Deacon Jones, either. I could go on and on, well past 100. I've seen an awful lot of players since I started following the NFL in 1947, and I possibly couldn't cut the list to 100, simply to adhere to the constraints of some arbitrary number. Come to think of it, who will be making the cuts? The kind of people who could wait more than 20 years to recognize Floyd Little? Based on the promos I've seen, I’m guessing that some of the judges are going to be celebrity types. Yeah, right. Like I'm really going to defer to the opinions of such noted football historians as Burt Reynolds and Spike Lee. ******* Between the rain and the fog, Ocean Shores, Washington and the surrounding area, known collectively as the North Beach, goes days at a time without sunshine. Even in summer. And this summer has been an especially gray one. So, noting a recent forecast of several rare sunny days in a row, Tom Scanlon, editor of the North Coast News, offered readers some helpful tips: For those heading out to the North Beach, or those locals who have not been exposed to the “Daytime Star” in quite some time, here are some helpful hints:
*********** Don't like Oregon's uniforms? Tough. Mock you may, you old farts, but they're not designed to please you. And today's college players happen to love them. ESPN polled 135 major college players players on an assortment of topics, including who has the best uniforms, and Oregon was a runaway winner. Of all the college uniforms, the Ducks' were the favorites of 53.7 per cent of the players polled. One guy, described as "a Big Ten star," said, "I don't even have to think about that one. I almost wanted to transfer there just for those uniforms." *********** Donovan McNabb looked good. Kevin Kolb looked okay. Too early to tell. *********** The Eagles’ broadcast crew, consisting of a nameless play-by-play guy plus former Eagles’ great Hugh Douglas and long-time NFL front-office guy Charlie Casserly, set a new record for non-stop chatter unrelated to the game taking place. Surely there was one play that they actually described at the time it happened, but otherwise it seemed an intrusion on their Guys’ Night Out.. At one point, play on the field was stopped for several minutes while officials reviewed a controversial play. Not once did they STFU to acknowledge what was going on. And as if those three weren’t enough, from time to time they’d send us (kicking and screaming) down to the sideline to watch the bimbo chat with a long series of players. These were not just voice-over interviews either, allowing us to watch the action while they chattered away. The camera stayed on them as the game went on somewhere off in the distance. Who wouldn’t rather watch two people talking than see football action? *********** Who was that blowhard on the NFL Network at halftime of the Dolphins game? He kept saying “Vee-Wye” for Vince Young. Wow. He must be a close personal friend of THE Vince Young to be callin’ him by gang namez. Never mind. Just found out. His name is Jamie Dukes. Can somebody tell me how to program my mute function to work whenever he comes on the screen? *********** The Dolphins’ owner came on and blabbed and blabbed at halftime. This is the guy who said not so long ago that he was going to make his team's football more entertaining because, after all, his market was South Florida, where people are way too sophisticated to pay to watch a mere football game. Sure enough, the first words out of his mouth were, “This is South Florida… people expect to be entertained…” So what did he give the people? How about a 10-7 game? Dolphins had somewhere close to 200 yards of total offense. How’s that for entertainment? Lotsa unfilled orange seats showing, though, so maybe the word won’t get out so fast that it was one dull-ass game. *********** Gee – as bad as the Dolphins’ were offensively, you’d think we’d have seen that there Wildcat offense they claim to have invented. *********** You also wouldthink they'd take a good look at Pat White. Well, they did - he got into the game at the two-minute mark. With the ball on his own 20. On the mud of the baseball infield. *********** The Seahawks’ backup QB, David Whitehurst, looked better than Tim Hasselbeck. A LOT better. *********** The Bills really sucked. And on top of that they weren’t very interesting or exciting. Punted on a fourth-and-a-foot near midfield. Hey – maybe it is just an exhibition game, but you can't be too careful. *********** Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, on the other hand, successfully pulled off a fake punt (a pass by the punter) on fourth-and-five. *********** I guess this year’s league-wide interview format is going to be a shot by a ground-level camera looking up at the participants. *********** The Colts wore throwback uniforms. Quite a throwback, to the original Colts, who were BAD… REALLY bad. Wearing old dark blue helmets with horseshoes on the back, they were 3-9 as an expansion team in 1953. They were 3-9 again in 1954 and 5-6-1 in 1955. In 1956, they changed to the white helmets and put the horseshoes on the sides. They were only 5-6-1, but they were showing signs of becoming the team that would be an NFL power for the next 15 years or so, because along with the white helmets, they found themselves a QB: midway through the season starter George Shaw went down and was replaced by a rookie named Unitas. *********** Hey – what happened to those adorable black slacks that made NFL officials look so... so metrosexual? *********** Now that the NFL umpires are no longer behind the defensive line, there is only one official in the picture on the typical play. *********** You tellin’ me those NFL umpires are going to be able to call holding, positioned as they are, off to the side and behind the offense? You don’t suppose this is just one more way to try to give offenses a goose, do you? Oh, well – in exchange for being able to get away with more holding, the offenses will have to give up using the umpire to work picks. *********** Tired of hearing this yet? A USA Football-trained coach makes the game safer… and more fun Promote safer football… Become a better coach… At USA Football.com Give… me… a… f—king… break. Right. Under the guise of USA Football, the NFL, that paragon of good sportsmanship, that exemplar of good fundamentals, is going to teach youth coaches how to coach. How much you wanna bet the next step is some attempt at certification ("Hey moms - make sure you insist that your little boy's coach is USA Football-certified!") The camel of Big Football sticks its nose deeper into the tent. *********** Big-Time Brandon Marshall dropped the two passes thrown to him on Saturday. T.O. is noted for his drops. The list goes on. So why aren’t receivers charged with drops? Why are receivers’ drops any different from errors in baseball? Don’t know whether to charge the receiver or the quarterback for an incompletion? Since long before instant replay, baseball’s official scorers have done a decent job of deciding between hits and errors. It sure would be interesting to see how some of the classic loudmouth, self-promoting receiver types stack up against the lesser-paid guys so dismissively referred to as “possession receivers.” And while we’re at it, if pitchers can be evaluated on the basis of earned and unearned runs, a function of the “support” their fielders give them, why should quarterbacks’ ratings be marred by incompletions – and interceptions - that are clearly the fault of a receiver? Don’t tell me the NFL is concerned about the effort of having to revise passers’ ratings because of the need to be able to compare passers from different eras. Big Football has never had any compunctions about lengthening the regular season, knowing full well that every time it did it was diminishing the efforts of runners who set their records in an earlier time, in shorter seasons. (Remember when rushing for 1,000-yard season was like hitting 50 home runs? Come to think of it, remember when hitting 50 home runs was like hitting 50 home runs?) Every bit as bad as baseball’s juicing the ball, lowering the pitcher’s mound and moving the fences in, Big Football cynically rigs the rules in favor of the offense in general and passing in particular, then disingenuously boasts about the bloated passing and receiving statistics that result. And don’t tell me that they can’t introduce a new stat such as drops. The NFL operated successfully for years before 1982, when it first began keeping track of sacks. Now, they’ve become a hallowed part of the game, a way of objectively comparing defensive (and offensive) linemen. Yes, yes, I know – the NFL loves to promote its more flamboyant characters, many of whom happen to be receivers, and drops are a "negative" stat. But for every receiver who might suffer bruised dignity, there’d one less quarterback shafted by having incompetent receivers. And besides, if it would shut up just one receiver… *********** The Cowboys had two different players called for holding on the same play. And on top of that, the guy I was specifically watching was also holding. Flagrantly. Wow. Three guys holding on the same play. What a coincidence! Unless… unless… unless, of course, they’re teaching it. You think? Naaah. *********** The Cowboys' offense is bad right now, but they'll be okay as soon as they figure out that they need to put an eligible number on whoever that "Number 77" is, that guy that they keep having to announce on every other play that he's eligible. *********** Poor Stafon Johnson. Kid nearly kills himself dropping a barbell on his neck, then makes a great recovery and earns a spot on the Titans’ training camp roster. In the Titans’ first preseason game he gets a chance to carry the ball - and dislocates an ankle. *********** Rare enough to see punts blocked in the NFL, but two of them in two nights? Sheesh. In both cases, the blocker came clean because a back failed to protect his inside gap. *********** I have one comment on Jon Gruden in the booth: I sure hope he gets another coaching job. Soon. Maybe Tony Dungy will be nice enough to get nack into coaching and build up another program and turn it over to him. Soon. The guy goes non-stop, combining Madden's ability to say the same thing three different ways, with the authoritative arrogance of - God help us all - Howard Cosell. *********** Give ESPN this much, though - on the one hand they give us Gruden, but on the other, they had only one sideline interview, that with LaDainian Tomlinson, and it didn't interfere with the action on the field. *********** When the Jets and the Giants play - in their brand-new stadium - and the game is close, and the house is half empty (would an optimist say "half full"). for the entire fourth quarter, you'd have to say that New York fans are wise to the NFL's "preseason" scam. *********** Giants-Jets halftime: hard to believe Monday was Frank Gifford's 80th birthday *********** No doubt you've noticed how in the NFL, which is going to help youth coaches make the game safer, helmets pop off routinely. And when they do, the players pop them right back on again. There's no way that those guys are wearing the helmets as recommended by the manufacturers. (Seen their instructional videos, cautioning us to make sure helmets fit snugly?) Seen how many NFL player don't bother to fasten their chin straps? Now that they're about to be skewered by lawsuits claiming that various infirmities of retired NFL players can be traced back to concussions they suffered years ago, you'd think that the high and mighty NFL would first make sure its own house is secure before telling young coaches how to coach "safer" football. And as I type this I see Eli Manning's helmet fly off. Hmmm. Could the bloody gash on his head have been prevented? *********** You tell ‘em, coach. Steelers’ defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau,71, speaking at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: “Age is just a number.” *********** Dear Coach, I was wondering how you teach blocking vs 7-1? More specifically, when the Center has on-away responsibility, say on a Super Power or C play, should he reach away to the player lined up in the B Gap, even though it's a far reach, or would it be better the have the TE scramble him (more likely a better result)? A 7-1 is not all that different from a 5-3 except that with the 7-1 the "OLBs" are now linemen. Your TEs will likely have men on their inside shoulders. If they can get past those guys to block the men in the B gaps, you can block as usual, but if those B gap men start to pinch, you may have to call "DOG" (or whatever you say) and down block. At least be ready for it. A 7-1 defense can be vulnerable to counters because the MLB will likely to with initial flow and he may not be able to recover, even if he's not blocked. Hope that helps. *********** There are 20,000 high schools in the US, and 2,000 of them - 10 per cent – account for more than half of all dropouts. *********** Coach, I received your book and DVDs. Can't wait to get into them. I notice right off the bat that play numbers are much different than we've taught in past. We use digits to name the BACK (1st #), then the HOLE (2nd #). Your 1st # tells the B Back (we call it #3 Back) where to block and the 2nd # tells where the ball is going. This will be very difficult to train our 5,6,7 graders I fear since most have been in the system for at least a year or 2 and are programmed to our play number calling. I plan to deviate and use our number system but all else equal. Have you heard or addressed this in the past? Coach, You underestimate your kids and you underestimate yourself. If I may say so, you do the kids a disservice by locking them into something simply because that's what they've been doing. In my experience, they are not locked in to the extent you may think. Kids are quite resilient and capable of learning new things. They are not nearly so stuck in their ways as older people (who frequently need to get out of their comfort zones). If this were the problem you suggest it is, Windows would never have been successful. We would all still be using MS-DOS (if we even used computers). I have addressed this many times in the past 13 years and I simply tell people that I can't coach their team. It is their choice to deviate from my system as they wish, but I must advise them that because I am kept plenty busy helping people with whom I am able to communicate effectively, from the point where people choose to use another language, they are on their own and I can't help. My system is most effective run "right out of the can," as has been proved by hundreds of coaches. In my opinion, the inability to speak the same language will keep you from running the Double Wing as well as you can. Since you can't have seen the main video yet, why don't you take the time to go through it and see the logic of the system? (Trust me, I used to run the old "3 Back at the 4 Hole" system myself. It is as old as the hills and it is not well-suited to teaching a misdirection offense. *********** Hi Coach, Hi Coach- Short answer- Your playbook is the most recent. Long answer - Since its publication, I have done a fair amount of "evolving", and my main means of communicating those things has been through my annual clinics. In other words, another edition is long overdue. I have actually been using a "video playbook" (on DVD) to teach my teams. I am debating whether this is the way to go, rather than a book. What do you think? Glad to hear that things are going well. *********** Shouldn't he have cleared this first with NFL headquarters? John Madden, who works for the NFL now, told USA Today, “The way the game is played today, you have to have a quarterback, And there are not enough quarterbacks to go around. There are 32 teams and there are not 32 quarterbacks that can play the game the way it has to be played.” Wow. That’s like a guy in the White House saying, “You know, this Health Care Reform sh—is really going to screw things up!” *********** Coach, I bought your ENTIRE set of tapes 7 years ago when I was the Head Coach at Brookside High School. Problem is now, you can't even find VHS players. I figure you probably have a data base of coaches who purchased your system. I was hoping to get the same tapes on DVD. Do you do anything price wise for coaches who have already purchased your tapes but have it on VHS tape but need it on DVD? I hate to spend all that money for a second time just because VHS tapes have been phased out. Thanks Hi Coach- I understand your problem. Hard to find even one tape deck for sale at Best Buy. If you mail us the tapes we will upgrade you to DVD for $15 off the price of each one. One way to do it is to (1) notify us by e-mail that you're requesting the upgrade then (2) mail us the old tapes, then (3) order the items via PayPal at the price advertised. We will then ship the DVDs along with a rebate for the difference of $15 per item. Or, you could send us a check (or PO #) for the discounted amount ($15 off each item) and accompany it with the old tapes. Hope that helps. *********** Even in a football-crazy part of the country, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, football faces competition from year-round sports... http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1155399824?bctid=541442749001 *********** From my NEWS in 2001 - A coach wrote me recently asking me to recommend some books on coaching. There are lots of older books that I would recommend, including "Football Principles and Play," by Dave Nelson and "Football Coaching" by John McKay. Unfortunately, there haven't been too many published in the last 20 years by successful college coaches that are much help to other coaches. Mostly they're a compilation of stories, and more often than not the coach himself has had little to do with the actual writing. I would, however, put Coach Bob Reade's book, published in 1994, right up there with the best I've read. Coach Reade won three state titles at Geneseo, Illinois High, and four consecutive NCAA Division III national titles at Augustana College. How's that for credentials? His book is entitled "Coaching Football Successfully," by Bob Reade, 1994
*********** By now we know of the tragic death in Alaska of former Senator Ted Stevens and several others. The crash will have an impact on three college programs. One of those killed was William Phillips, a former football player at Evansville and father of three major college football players. The three sons, all of them graduates of Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown Prep, are Andrew, a senior offensive lineman at Stanford, Colt, a sophomore tight end at Virginia, and Paul, a freshman tight end at Indiana. A fourth son, 13-year-old Willy, miraculously survived the crash. *********** January 9, 2011. Mark it on your calendar. You may not believe this – I didn’t, at first – but on that date, somebody’s going to be playing in the first-ever Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. I know you won't believe me, so you'll have to check it out on the Internet. *********** Coach, I have used the Demo Deck to help teach the kids in practice and it is a good teaching tool. The kids seem to be really picking up the playside blocking. I am pretty confident that it is going to help us this season. Thanks for a great but simple idea that’s going to save me many headaches down the road! Mike Benton (I consider this to be a strong endorsement, from a true professional who has been running the Double Wing for over 10 years at two different high schools and has presented at my clinics. HW) *********** I don’t know how I fell into the habit – maybe ADHD or maybe just plain short attention span - but I always have a few books going at any time. I just finished one, entitled “Gridiron Gauntlet,” by Andy Piascik, a series of interviews of some of the first black players to play in the modern NFL. Many of them are men I remembered from the time – Joe “The Jet” Perry, whom I once met when I was living in Baltimore and he was finishing up his career with the Colts; George Taliaferro, who by today’s announcers would be considered the NFL’s first black quarterback – he was actually a single-wing tailback, but today, they’d call it the shotgun (or Wildcat), thereby making him, with their slim knowledge of the game, the quarterback; Charlie Powell, who actually gave up pro football to pursue a career as a professional prizefighter – he was such a good boxer that he fought his way to become number one contender for the heavyweight title, but never got a shot at champion Floyd Paterson; Eddie Bell, who as a kid growing up in Philly I remember because he was also a Philly guy, and after becoming one of the first two black men to play football at Penn, then a national power, also became one of the first black members of the Eagles. They’re old men now. Some of them have died since the book was published (2009). Their words describe a world that fewer and fewer people are alive today to recall – a world in which daily life for most black people, even professional football players, was a continuing string of reminders that they were less than equal to whites, reminders that might pop up, unexpected, at any time: One player, one of a handful of blacks on his college team, recalled the time his coach, up to then a nice enough guy, said, “Boys, we had a good practice, and I’m giving you the rest of the day off. The last one to the gate is a “(N-word) baby.” The player said he and the other players, in the excitement of practice being over, took off at full speed; he got about halfway to the gate before suddenly pulling up and saying, “Oh, no, what did he say?” Most of the indignities they had to deal with were off the field, not on. They speak highly of most of their white teammates, coaches and even owners, but most of them, back in the days when NFL teams would play exhibition games in the segregated South, had stories to tell about having to stay in separate quarters from their white teammates. And once games and practices were over, the two races went their separate ways. Ironically, this had a side benefit for the black players, because they grew close with black players from opposing teams, and often, having to stay in a blacks-only hotel meant the opportunity to meet and socialize with black entertainers and black athletes in other sports. One exception to the rule of separate socializing by race was Charlie Powell, who recalled his friendship with Lions’ Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne:
These were men who, thanks to their ability and their mental toughness, and often a tiny bit of good fortune, had the opportunity to play in the NFL at a time when opportunities for black men to do so were severely limited. They were rarities of their time. With the exception of George Taliaferro and Joe Perry, these were not big-name players. Certainly, unlike today’s players, none of them made enough as a football player to take care of him financially for the rest of his life, but they all managed to care out successful careers in a variety of fields. An astonishing number of them enjoyed long, happy marriages. For one who enjoys football history and finds it refreshing to get a glimpse of a seldom-told side of it, “Gridiron Gauntlet” is a good read – and an enlightening one. *********** Coach, Have you ever heard of such a thing? The coach in charge of Special team ask me to look at what he printed out off of the internet. I was wondering if you have a clip of this actually being done. I for the life of me can't picture what is supposed to take place. This is the link that he referred me to: http://www.johntreed.com/placekickpunt.html Thanks, Jason Clarke They are talking about "punting" by placekicking. Perfectly legal, as the author, Jack Reed, points out. I know Jack Reed - very bright guy with some good ideas. I happen to disagree with him on the advisability of this one, for five main reasons: (1) In my opinion, blocked field goals are more common than blocked. The place kick comes off at a much lower trajectory than the punt. (2) Few placekicks, even with a running start, stay in the air as long as punts (3) You have to devote every man possible to protect placekicks, which means that you can't cover them (4) In punt formation, the punter or his personal protector can check to another play or another style of protection if he sees the defense lined up a certain way; there isn't much chance for the holder or kicker to do that. (5) You're pretty limited as to what you can do other than placekick; from our punt formation, we can run 90 per cent of our base offense. I have demonstrated that I am willing to do some unconventional things that others may question, from the offense I run to my reluctance to kick off high and deep. But I steer clear of things so unorthodox that they are sure to provoke the geniuses in the grandstands, without providing any significant benefit in return. *********** Coach, You will get a kick out of this. The audacity of some people never ceases to amaze me! At the Linfield Team camp, we (La Center) scrimmaged Ridgefield. The format was 10 plays/10 plays/10/10. They did not score on us. We scored 4 times on them (might have been 5 times). Then the JV went 15/15. They did not score, and we scored 3 times. So it is safe to say that we thumped them pretty soundly in that format. Following the scrimmage, the Ridgefield Coach went absolutely bonkers on his kids - screaming at them for about 10 minutes and then making them run windsprints for I honestly don't know how long as we left the field. Fast forward to July, when all of the baseball "all-star" teams are playing in tournaments all over the place. It seems that kids from Ridgefield and La Center all play on the same all-star teams. The Ridgefield kids started talking some trash (nothing major) and told the LC kids what their Coach said about our program. According to these kids, and backed up by some conversations with parents, the Coach said he was glad that Ridgefield is in the same league with LC now so they can play every season because "anyone who runs the Double Wing is either stupid or lazy, and those guys (us at LC) are both!" Good grief. Why would a coach give the other team that kind of locker room motivation?? DJ Millay Coach, That is so unbelievably ignorant. First of all, he obviously doesn't know much football, and he doesn't know that he doesn't know. And second of all he certainly doesn't know Ridgefield football or he'd know - and respect - the fact that the 1995 Ridgefield team won the very first state title ever won by a Southwest Washington team (it’s only been done once since). And it won it running the Double Wing. That team went undefeated (13-0) and didn't have a close game the entire way. They won the championship game 44-30. For the record, they outscored opponents 615-136. (Lazy, stupid teams don’t average more than 47 points a game over a 13-game season.) During one stretch, they won four league games by scores of 61-0, 51-7, 70-0 and 50-0. In those games, their starting backs were done by halftime. (Talk about lazy kids – get a bunch of quick scores and then kick back!) No, it wasn’t a modern-day passing offense. Two of their running backs ran for close to 2,000 yards each. Their quarterback, Ryan Greear threw only 29 passes all season. He could throw. I know. I coached him. "Ryan could have thrown for 2,000 yards, easy," Ridgefield head coach Ozzie Osmundson remembered. "A lot of people asked, 'Why don't you throw the ball more?' Well, you blink your eyes twice and you're up 28-0. What do you want us to do?" The coaches and players from that team and the people in the community who remember what they accomplished would be highly offended to hear what some fool - whose offense is so potent that last year's Ridgefield team was one of just two teams to lose to a league rival in the last two years - had to say about people who run the Double Wing. *********** Hey Coach, Hi Coach- Based on what you describe, this might be a good situation to go to Wildcat. I think, though, that you don't want to give your kids the idea that you are going to a new offense, but that this is just one of the packages you have - one of many ways you can run it. I think I would start out with the basic Double Wing, teaching the numbering, etc., and then say, let me show your our Wildcat series (or package, or whatever). And then you show them how you line up in "CAT", with A and C Backs as usual, QB on the left and B-Back on the right. When you flip QB and B-Back, you say "Lynx" (B-Back Left). And you show them how you can run 88 Power (with a handoff to the A-Back) and also Rip 88 Power keep (A back motions to outside and QB carries) and then 88 Power Follow (A back leads through and QB follows him through). And soon you will find that for most plays you don't really need an A Back, so now your "A" back can move around - to "ALLEY" if you want to flank him wide left, "ART" if you want him just a yard outside the C Back or "ARTIE" if you want him flanked wide right. Also "ARBY" if you want him back of the RIGHT B GAP (a blocking back in single wing right) You will be surprised to find that if you line up in ALLEY CAT or ARTIE CAT you will still be able to run almost anything in your package. If the A back is not particularly good, at the very least people will still have to cover him. If he is a player, you can find ways to get the ball to him. For example, even if he is flanked left (ALLEY CAT) you can send him in Rip motion (on the flash of the QB's hands) and hand him the ball on sweeps or powers (or use him as a diversion). Hope I haven't confused you. Thanks a lot. Your advice has been very helpful. You've given me some insight on some things I haven't thought about before. I'm not really worried about our kids; they like the Wildcat. The way we've approached it, they see it as just a different way to run what we already run. In our situation, I've got a kid who is a legitimate double threat; he is a very good passer, as good as I have seen at this level. I want to take advantage of that especially since our passing game was our weakness last year. One last question: if you try to run Wildcat and under center at the same time, do you feel like you are practicing two different offenses when it comes to practice time? Does one take time from the other? Are you better off execution wise being all under center or all Wildcat or have you found you can blend them well? We have one hour of offense per day (state rules limit our practices to two hours). I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. I can do it and you can, too. I think the trick is not to waste your linemen's time repping the plays with the entire team. I would suggest about at least 20 minutes of line together/backs and ends together and then 40 minutes team, or maybe even 30 minutes group/30 minutes team. You can do a lot of things and get a lot more reps if you keep the backs and ends separate as long as possible; but at the same time you have to have the team work that you need for timing purposes. For sure, keep your center with the backs and ends. His exchange responsibilities are much more important than his blocking responsibilities. (And also put a man on his nose as much as possible.) And, of course, simplify your package and don't spend too much time on pass plays. It seems to me that a lot of the passing stuff can be done before or after practice on their own. If the kids want to pass more, they’ll put the time in. If not, no problem. *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I am sold on no motion and to be honest I was having problems this year with the pass plays because of the no motion. I had 10-12 year olds. I was asking Greg Koenig and he told me to ask you:) I purchased your playbook way back (I think its been more than 10 years!!) but most of the plays have motion. I was wondering what youth passes you recommend with no motion? Or what adjustments do you make to Red/Red and 58 Black O?? BTW, Greg calls Red/Red "88 Brown" now with the no motion. I try to find the simplest way for the kids and "NO MO" was a big help this year so it is very important for me to fix the only weak spot in our playbook. I am anxiously waiting for your 2010 clinic DVD set just because of this. Greg mentioned you had a whole power point presentation on the no mo pass plays. Will this be included in the DVDs?? Coach, I really appreciate any help, Coach, Since I no longer run 88 Super Power and 99 Super Power using motion, it made sense to me to give the pass that they set up (formerly Red-Red/Blue-Blue) a more appropriate name - 88 Brown/99 Black. First of all, it reinforces in our B-Back's mind the importance of blocking exactly as he does on Super Power. You don't want him taking a couple of lazy steps and squatting there, which forces the QB to pull up. And also, it eliminates one more bit of verbiage for our linemen to have to learn, because now 90 per cent of our passes employ Brown or Black blocking. We may or may not use motion with most of our plays, but we NEVER use motion on Super Power and we seldom use it on 88 Brown/99 Black. When we do use motion on 88 Brown/99 Black, it is usually very quick (Rip-Stop/Liz-stop) and doesn't change the assignment of the motioning wingback (hinge and block backside). Sometime,s we will motion that wingback across the formation as an extra receiver. 88 Brown/99 Black are my staple passes, and they can be tagged with any number of alternate routes (for example: 88 Brown X Post, 88 Brown A Screen Left, etc) Here is a clip of 99 Black. http://www.coachwyatt.com/99blackNBandWB/99blackNBandWB.mov My QB is told to run his Super Power steps and then flatten out and sprint until/unless he has to pull up. In the first case, 99 Black 1-3, the QB has to pull up because they have blitzed the playside corner. This puts extra pressure on the QB, but he knows that it means that they can only cover the short out (his primary receiver) with an inside linebacker, which isn't possible. In the remaining instances, 99 Black 3-1, the QB is looking to throw to the wingback running he “3” Hope that helps. As you can see, we do things a bit differently and an update of my playbook is probably way overdue. *********** A friend of mine in Canada called to tell me, excitedly, “There’s some guy on YouTube who’s talking about the Double Wing as if he invented it, and I guarantee you – it’s your stuff!” Hmmm. I don’t think there’s any question where the offense came from. First, the coach has bought my materials. Second, his snap cadence is “Go! Ready Hut!” And the clincher: he runs a play called “Super Power.” But does he give the impression that it’s “his” offense? I dunno. You decide. Here’s the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwgPfZBhmRw
*********** Oregon’s new John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student-Athletes is a sight to see. A big glass box called “The Jock Box,” the Jaqua Center was named for a late Oregon alumnus who was a founding board member of Nike. It cost $41.7 million – a staggering $1,100 per square feet. Needless to say, some on campus are horrified. “Forty million dollars buys a lot of new faculty, reduced class sizes, better facilities for the rest of the campus,” whined the president of the UO Senate. Eat your heart out, guy. It was entirely paid for by one man, Nike founder Phil Knight. Replied a university spokesman, “The building was a gift. When someone buys you a birthday present, you don’t ask them how much they spent for it.” *********** On August 9 more than 30 classes of Yale football players gathered in New Haven, Connecticut to celebrate the 80th birthday of their coach. Offered the chance to stay at Miami under Schembechler or go to Yale with Pont, he chose to go to New Haven, and two years later, when Pont left to become head coach at Indiana, Cozza was prepared to accept the head coaching position at New Hampshire. He was persuaded by Yale AD Delaney Kiphuth to hold off on his acceptance for 48 hours to enable Kiphuth to talk with a few people. Before the time was up, Cozza was offered the Yale job. (Such was the way things were done back in those days before search committees and affirmative action, back when professional athletic directors, brought up in the business, ran the athletic departments and took full responsibility for their hires.) Yale wasn’t much better in 1966, finishing 4-5, but Cozza had introduced his first recruiting class, a host of talented sophomores, including an all-state quarterback from Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High named Brian Dowling and a big, fast running back named Calvin Hill, and once things started to click, the Bulldogs ran off 16 straight wins spanning the 1967-1968 seasons (the latter ending in the infamous 29-29 tie with Harvard.) *********** My friend Lou Orlando in Boston, who played at Yale many years after I did and had the good fortune to play under the great Carm Cozza, passed along numerous tributes to the great coach by his former players, leading up to their celebration of his 80th birthday Monday… ... As I write my own tribute to Carm Cozza in celebration of his 80th birthday, I have only one question: In the 309-year history of our esteemed University has anyone ever looked better in a Yale cap? Carm was wearing his “Y” cap when I first met him in 1972. As an unheralded prospect out of suburban St. Louis, I was, at best, a faint blip on Yale’s recruitment radar. I had come to New Haven to visit my older sister and decided to stop by the football office. I did not expect to meet the head coach and was surprised when I was escorted into his office. At the time, Carm was well on his way to becoming a legend and the impression he made on me that day remains indelible. First, I should note that my high school football coach, whom I dearly loved and respected, was a rotund, avuncular man who reminded his players every day of the season that nothing was more important than being good to our mommies and daddies. With his square jaw, serious sideburns, commanding voice and that cap, Carm cut a more imposing figure. If my beloved high school coach was Benjamin Franklin, Carm was General George Washington. I remember thinking: this is a warrior-statesman and I would die to play for this man. My first impressions held true. In style and substance, Coach Cozza was a class act all the way. I was always proud to say that I played football, not just for Yale, but for Coach Cozza. I think all of his players felt that way and still do. Carm is one of the most impressive people I have ever known—measured by his strength of character, integrity, competitiveness and compassion. Although Carm could radiate intensity, rarely did you ever hear him curse. Even in the heat of competition, he was a gentleman. And he expected such conduct from his fellow coaches and team. As clichéd as it sounds, Carm’s belief in all of us, as players and people, truly made us better, on the field and off. ...Prior to my junior year, in the summer of 1983, I did not want to return to Yale for a semester as my family had just started a business and my father suffered a heart attack. Reluctantly and at my father’s direct orders, I reported to camp and fractured my collar bone during the first 7 on 7 drill. Minor complications ensued as well as a four day stay in the hospital. Every morning, someone tapped my wrist, said good morning, checked on how I was doing and went off to practice, Carm. I decided to take a personal leave that semester. It seemed like fate, but before I did, Carm summoned me to his office. We did not discuss my role on the team or what my physical status was, Carm wanted to make sure that I was going home for the right reasons and I had to give him my word that I would be back to get my education, not to play football. Leaving his office, in tears, I knew I made the right decision. ... "Cream rises to the top" - My name for Coach's welcome back speech to us at Ray Tompkins Hall where he laid out the team goals and what was expected of us for the coming season. "Cream rises to the top" was Coach's answer to our unasked questions regarding playing time and the depth chart. Upper ... I can't believe it has been 26 years since I first met you during a visit to Yale during the winter of 1984. I have such wonderful memories of my 4 years at Yale and more specifically of my 4 years with the incredible group of men of the Yale football team. I have one memory which stands out above many other cherished memories. After graduation I was hospitalized with blood clots and was more scared and anxious than I ever was on a football field. Alone in the intensive care unit was way more intimidating than any of our Ivy League foes. When you visited me you were remarkable. You told me you had talked to the doctors and assured me I was going to be ok. You called my parents to make sure they knew I was in good hands and was going to completely recover. And you told me to call if I needed anything. After you left I felt better both physically and emotionally. I knew everything was going to be ok. Coach had said so. ... "An army of lions led by a lamb will always be defeated by an army of lambs led by a lion.” The first time I heard this ancient proverb, inspired by words from Alexander the Great, was in a Middle East war zone. A determined young Palestinian fighter was paying tribute to a commander not much older than himself. The second time I heard it was at a black tie dinner in New York City. Calvin Hill was speaking about his college football coach. “Perfect,” I thought to myself as Calvin recited the proverb. He had captured a quintessential quality in a coach we all love—the ability to inspire confidence in his players and a belief that the day belonged to Yale. ... Carm was a very clever recruiter. He would call my home every Saturday morning in the late Winter and early Spring. I played baseball at the time and Saturdays were practice days. My mother would say Coach Cozza had called and that he would get in touch with me during the week. Then I would hear from line coach, Russ Wickerham. After about two months of Saturday morning calls, I assumed I was simply someone on a weekly call list and Carm sat in his office and went down the list each weekend. In April, when it became time to select a college, my mother – who knew nothing about football – leaned over at Sunday dinner and told me, “Go play for that nice Italian man who calls me every Saturday.” Italian fathers always tell you what to do – and you sometimes listen. Italian mothers whisper in your ear and you have no choice. Only later – more than 25 years later – at the celebration for the refurbishment of the Bowl, did Carm tell me that he knew I played baseball every Saturday, but his Italian background told him that the best way for me to come to Yale was to recruit my mother – and he was right. Less than 18 months later, my mother’s instincts rang true because Carm’s influence on those he recruited went well beyond the four corners of the football field. Yale was undefeated and ranked 20th in the nation, poised to play on ABC before a packed Harvard stadium. My father passed away on the Wednesday before the game and I left school to make the funeral arrangements. It was a time of grief and uncertainty for me. On Thursday evening several of my teammates came to Long Island. They asked me if I wanted to fly to Boston on Saturday morning, play, and return for the funeral on Saturday evening. Carm would arrange everything. It is difficult to put into words how important that offer was for me. It told me that my teammates and coaches – in the midst of preparing for one of the biggest championship games of their careers – cared about me, supported me, and that life would go on. ... Fall 1989 – Three games left in our undefeated season. The accident. Tuesday night. We were struck by a drunk driver on our way from practice to training table. Unbelievably, I was the only player seriously hurt. Bob Bennet, my roommate and defensive back, suffered a concussion. I was thrown through the windshield and suffered a broken nose, shattered upper jaw, several teeth were torn out, broken lower jaw and dislocated my elbow. Carm did a nice job recalling the accident in his book. I don’t remember much of the next few days, but Carm recalls that when I regained consciousness in the hospital, he had already been at my bedside. And although it was difficult to talk, my first words were “I’m sorry”. I really hadn’t done anything wrong. We were hit by a drunk driver who ran a red light. But those words tell you how I feel about Carm Cozza. About how we all feel about Carm Cozza. You never wanted to let him down… That’s why I believe I was able to check out of the hospital on Saturday morning and get on the field and help the team beat Cornell. And then do it again the next week against Princeton and win the Ivy Championship. Carm showed us how to be men. He was and is the man that we want to be. A great husband, a great father, a great man. I love you Coach. Thank you for so much more than you or I could ever know. Your effect on all the men of Yale football has been passed on to thousands. You truly have changed the world ... As I mentioned at the top, Carm has been there for me and my teammates in so many ways over the years. Whenever I've stopped by his office at Ray Tompkins House, one of the first questions he puts to me, after I've caught him up on my family and my career, is whether any of my teammates are in need of help. I know that my friends on those great teams of the late 1960's feel blessed that our great coach is there for us, so available, and so free with his time. My best experience in setting up one of my meetings with Carm occurred in September 1998, when my high school senior daughter visited Yale for an interview at the Admissions Office. I called Carm's office the morning before the interview, and suggested that, instead of spending time cooling my heels up on Hillhouse Avenue during my daughter's interview, I would stop by his office for a chat. Carm's response was quite revealing--he said "----, I'm happy to see you, but what I'd really like to do is speak with your daughter." Well, with an offer like that, what could I do--I immediately said that we would walk down to his office as soon as the Admissions interview was over. When I told my daughter that Coach Cozza would be on her itinerary the next day, I sensed that she was excited to meet my great mentor, but a little puzzled that someone with as little interest in sports as she would be talking with such a football icon. At this time, I was really concerned that my daughter might actually decide to chart her own course and not go to Yale. I was therefore slightly concerned that maybe, just maybe, her sitting in the great oak-paneled office might be laying all the boola-boola stuff a little too thick. But, during the thirty or so minutes she was with the great Mr. Cozza, I tried to allay any fear that she might defect with the fact that she now was in the presence of the hands-down greatest recruiter in the history of the Ivy League. Well, sure enough, Carm's magic was still working that day, a couple of years into his retirement. (My daughter) emerged from her talk with the Great Man with that look in her eyes, and once again, when it really counted, Carmen Louis Cozza had sealed the deal. ... Carm always stood at the 30 yard line for end of practice sprints during two-a-days. This one practice he was not there even though he had been at practice. Another coach took over his "sprint duties" until we noticed an ice cream truck being driven onto the field. And who was driving the truck - Carm! greatly counteracting a lot of physical and psychological fatigue. ... Senior season (1977), we are on our way to an undisputed Ivy title. We have a bit of a rough patch mid-season: losing a game to Miami of Ohio due to silly mistakes after we largely dominated them, then during a tropical storm in an incredibly sloppy muddy Yale Bowl we lose to Dartmouth 3-0 the following week. Much later that night after the severely disappointing loss to Dartmouth as we are polishing off our fifth keg during an impromptu post mortem players meeting, we impose on our humble Captain, Bob Rizzo, and insist that he must confront Carm and tell him to open up the offense a bit. (Ah yes, the lawlessness and audacity of the 70's). The Captain's meeting with the Coach does not go well. Carm is furious, and he has no reservations about sharing that fact with us. He lays down the law, instructs us on the proper role and authority of coaches vs. players, and generally kicks our butts for the rest of the season. He is totally vindicated as we proceed to win out, running 28 right and 28 left fifty times a game. Coach Carmen Cozza...that's a lot of "c's"...as in caring, compassionate, competitive, constant, courageous, and in control. Thank you, Carm, for four outstanding years at Yale, for the wonderful coaching staffs and teams you assembled, and for the opportunity to interact and remains friends with an outstanding cast of fine athletes and gentlemen. ... In New Haven, the Italian-American elders have a great saying: “that guy is all crust and no pie.” Well, Carm was all pie, and we are all outliers for having known him. *********** The following appeared, year after year, on the cover of Yale playbooks...
Carm Cozza *********** Bob Fenimore was a great football player in the postwar years at Oklahoma A & M - now Oklahoma State - and he died last week. In searching for more information on him, I came across this great interview with him, done sometime in the last few years... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9STzXE9nsE8&feature=related
I believe I mentioned last time that gas is expensive in Canada - converting out to about $5 a gallon. So, I should point out, is beer - in the neighborhood of $22-$25 for a 12-pack. I can only imagine what tobacco costs. (See how "free" Canada's free medical care is?) I should point out to those who've never been to Canada that Canada is metric: speed limits are in kilometers per hour. I learned while in Europe to multiple times .6 to convert to miles per hour: 50 kilometers per hour is really about 30 mph; 80 kilometers per hour is really about 50 mph. I also had my first dish of poutine, which seems to be something of a national dish - french fries, mixed with cheese curds, topped with gravy. I gather that it originated in French Canada, but now I'm told it's found everywhere in the country, in one form or another, in every sort of restaurant and carry-out place. *********** I watched some of the Hall of Fame inductions only because I wanted to see and hear Floyd Little. So I sat through Jerry Rice’s stupefying “speech” – which he read… and read… and read… zzzzz That's how much I wanted to hear Floyd Little. I’ve been a fan of his since I was in college in New Haven, Connecticut, and he was a standout at New Haven’s Hillhouse High School. I continued to follow his career at Syracuse, and then with the Denver Broncos, and I always thought he was a sure Hall of Famer. It took him way too long to get there, and over the years he had a thing or two to say about the selection process. I’m not usually a fan of self-promotion in any form, but in this case, especially after seeing some marginally-qualified recent retirees inducted, I sided with Floyd Little. And this year he finally made it, and lemme tell you – his speech alone was worth the wait. It was stirring, to say the least. My wife said, “I think he’s given a speech or two before.” I said, “If he hasn’t, it’s time he started.” He introduced his family, and what a tribute to him they are. His three children are all college graduates. He has, it was obvious, been a loving father – been there for them. He thanked his father and mother, and mentioned his brother, who served two tours in Vietnam. (“He’s a hero.”) He mentioned Ernie Davis and Jim Brown, who wore number 44 at Syracuse before him, and Ben Schwartzwalder, the great Syracuse coach who, because it served the purposes of the story, was wrongly portrayed in “The Express” as something of a racist. And he concluded by challenging everyone who could hear him: “Don’t listen to the naysayers.” *********** Emmitt Smith did a great job, too, showing a lot of class in singling out his fullback, Moose Johnson: "You took care of me as though you were taking care of your little brother." *********** Some Hall of Fame game. What a stinker. Tens of millions of dollars in playing and coaching talent, and all they can come up with is three lousy field goals, a defensive touchdown on an interception return, and one measly offensive touchdown. That is, if you call a two-play, two-yard drive an offensive touchdown. The punt return that set it up was easily the play of the game. For the record, the Bengals, with an offense featuring the two most boastful players in the game – and in a league full of braggarts, that’s saying something - didn’t cross the 50 until 3:28 left in the third quarter. *********** Who in the world does those hideous Pro Football Hall of Fame busts? Kings have killed sculptors who turned out better work than that. Is there even one that remotely resembles the honoree? I sure hope they've all got names on them, because if anybody should ever break into the Hall of Fame and rearrange them, they'll never get the busts back where they belong. ("Hey! Where does this bust of Walter Payton go?" "Idiot. That's Sammy Baugh." "You're both wrong. It's Paul Hornung.") *********** Dear coach Wyatt, My name is Phillip Ketterman. I am from Temple,Texas a question that i would like to ask is, I love the slot-t offense. I'm not sure if you have ever heard of that offense but I also like the double wing offense. I know that running multiple types of offenses may hurt your team more than help it but I just wanted to know if there was a way to mix both offenses without hurting the team more. Thank you very much Hi Coach- In answer to your question, I would imagine that one major obstacle to marrying the two concepts is the spacing - our lack of splits and our fullback's being closer to the QB. That, more than anything, is what sets us apart. Otherwise, we have a lot in common. I would imagine that you are using wing-T principles in your blocking. And we often line up in a slot to on side or the other - or both. *********** Another chapter in the never-ending story of the Invasion of the Men in Bras… So.... Went to coaches meeting tonight. Refs held up (State) High School leagues rule book and proclaimed it to be the Gospel when local rules do not apply. They suggested we buy our own copy and get familiar with it. After the meeting thought it would be a good idea to let them know some of the common mistakes I have seen over the years. I started with the free blocking zone. I told them my TE frequently get called for an illegal block because new refs think the zone is between the tackles. They ( head of refs ) said, "It is between the tackles". I grabbed his rule book and showed him it was 4 yard either side of center. He said, "You shouldn't be teaching little kids to block below the waist." I used to think guys got into refereeing because of a love for the game. I now think it is a way for men with small d--ks to have some sort of power in their lives. (Name - and state - withheld - because he has to coach this season) *********** In the process of turning the Eastern Michigan program around, Ron English, the head guy, had to let 25 players go, for reasons mostly associated with academics and conduct. Only then could he rebuild. He told Ann Arbor.com, "If you go to Detroit right now and you buy one of these old houses, are you going to try and refurbish it or are you going to knock the thing down and start over? You're probably going to knock it down and that's what we did. We said, 'We're going to take a hit here, but we're not going to tread water. We're going to knock the thing down and start over." "We wanted to recruit football players that love football," he said at MAC media day. "I felt like we had a lot of guys who really didn't love football." So what’s he looking for? "We wanted guys that had a father in their background," he told the Detroit News. "A guy that's raised by his mom all the time, and please don't take me wrong, but the reality is that you've got to teach that guy how to be taught by a man." Whew. It’s a good thing he’s a black man, because even so, he's going to catch hell for speaking the truth. Whoops. NO sooner do I write that than he's apologized. Sort of. "What came out is not the way I intended for it to come out," he told the Detroit News' Terry Foster. "And I apologize. I want to apologize to all the single moms out there who read that statement. What came out in print was not my intention and it is not my belief. It is too bad that it puts the university in a bad light but I am the head football coach here and I represent the school." Noting that he himself was raised by his grandmother, English said that just because he wants players with a man in their life doesn't mean he doesn't want a kid with a single parent. He was merely saying that he wants kids who have been either raised by men or coached by men, and cited many instances of single mothers wanting to make sure that their sons were coached by men. "I have coached a number of kids with a single mom in their lives and they've said thank you for being in my kid's life," English said. *********** The Troy Fighting irish defeated the Lydonville Tigers 35-14. Troy had over 350 yards rushing and 27 yards passing. Andre McAuley C back, had over 100 yards rushing and Jahmel Tarver and Neil Keels both playing A back, had over 100 yards rushing. Troy plays the 6-0 Buffalo Gladiators August 21st in a league showdown of unbeatens Pete Porcelli, offensive coordinator, Troy Fighting irish (Coach Porcelli, who has been a successful high school coach running the Double Wing mostly from tight formation, is running it from spread with the Fighting Irish.) *********** In an interview, Texas’ linebacker Brian Cushing says he’s “pretty positive” that he knows the reason for his positive test for performance enhancing drugs. "Everything points to that overtrained athlete syndrome,'' he said. "I'm pretty sure it is. I'm pretty positive. I didn't take anything. It's not a tainted supplement. So all roads lead to that.'' “Overtrained athlete syndrome” supposedly can occur when athletes train intensely for long periods and then stop, resulting in a testosterone imbalance. It would be a trifle easier to believe the guy if he were Tim Tebow, but rightly or wrongly, Cushing’s past includes allegations of steroid use both in high school and at USC. It’s worth noting that no NFL player has yet been able to squirm out of a suspension using this as an excuse. *********** God help today's poor classroom teachers and the angry moms whose kids' names they misspell. (Checked some of the spellings lately? They’re enough to strip the gears on your Spellchecker.) Now, a 49ers’ rookie informs the team that his name is not Navorro Bowman, as he was the whole time he was at Penn State and as he was when drafted, but “NaVorro” Bowman. With a capital "V." He told the Niners that that was his mother’s request. Sincerely, Hu’Gh Wyatt *********** I still hear from time to time from people asking me why we tackle above the waist, instead of lowering the shoulder and hitting the man low, helmet on the ball, wrapping up the runner's legs, blah, blah, blah… I try to be as patient as possible, but after all these years, it is discouraging to think that there are still guys teaching kids to go in low, ducking the head. And the TV bozos with their sick definition of what a “great hit” is - and the pros who try to get on ESPN by exciting the TV bozos with their “great hits”- don’t make things any easier. So it was gratifying to open the latest edition of Coach and Athletic Director (formerly Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director) and read a feature article on Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, for my money one of the top coaches in the business. Iowa’s defense, under the direction of defensive coordinator Norma Parker is not too bad, to put it mildly, and Coach Ferentz attributes a lot of the Hawkeyes’ success to the way they teach tackling. They teach it the way I've taught it for nearly 30 years. Check this out...
I'm sorry - what was that you were saying about tackling down around the knees…? *********** Coach, I just read your news section and what to you recommend the best sweep to install. I honestly have not given the sweep the time of day, but I will need to this season to take advantage of the speed we have and to add to the arsenal. Thanks in advance, Coach, It's great the way the sweep and the power complement each other - when they are pinching into stop Super Power you hit them with the sweep - and with just a step or two of motion it's on them before they can react. Plus the motion really opens up "G" and Trap 88/99 G-Reach is now the only one I use... http://www.coachwyatt.com/88-99greachpractice.mov I can run it from slot, spread, over, under and from right and left formation and split (without motion) and - by tossing the ball - I can run it from I and Stack. (Also toward Bull and Bear.) *********** With the Broncos’ Elis Dumervil, possibly out for the season with what’s described as a “torn chest muscle,” you have to wonder if there might be a point of diminishing returns where strength training is concerned. Has anybody else noticed how many of these unbelievably strong NFL players miss playing time because of various pulls and tears? *********** Greg Koenig, of Beloit, Kansas, sent me an article about Kansas’ having to rewrite the lyrics to their fight song, now that their age-old rival, Nebraska, is leaving for the Big Ten. Hahahaha. And then there are schools that have had to change their alma maters to accomodate coeducation. US Naval Academy Alma Mater (Revised in 2004)
US Military Academy Alma Mater (Revised in 2008)
Penn State's alma mater was changed in 1975 ("International Year of the Woman)
Not that it mattered to generations of Penn State students who once stood at football games as the band played the alma mater and joined in by singing
Those were the days before modern technology. Presumably, the g-d words now appear on the giant screen *********** College Football Hall of Fame inductee and Ole Miss All-America halfback Charlie Conerly was posthumously inducted into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame August 6. This is especially pleasing to me because in researching an article I wrote about Charlie Conerly a few years ago, I got to know his widow, Mrs. Perian Conerly. She's quite a lady. Once, while her husband quarterbacked the Giants, she wrote a syndicated column on football, and she takes great pride in being the first female member of the Football Writers' Association of America. We still speak every couple of months or so. She lives in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the town where she and Charlie grew up, and listening to her talk, with that fantastic Mississippi accent, is like listening to beautiful music. Charlie Conerly had the good fortune as a teammate to play with a great number of players who are now in the Hall of Fame. But as a candidate for the Hall of Fame himself, he has suffered from being a part of such a star-filled cast. And fewer and fewer are the people who saw him play, and claimed that he was the "Best Player Not to be in the Hall of Fame." *********** It's all about the kids. Milwaukee schools have had to lay off up to 400 teachers. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Teachers' Union is resisting the school district's move to eliminate Viagra coverage (cost to taxpayers: $786,000 a year) from the union's taxpayer-paid medical plan. Yup, it's all about the kids.
Bill and his wife were in Los Alamos recently to present the award. Bill writes, "I'm on the left, Ronnie, my wife, Nate Robbins, the Award recipient (aiming for the Air Force Academy), and his retiring head football coach, Bob Scott." *********** Hugh Sorry to hear about Ed Burke’s passing. Hopefully we can continue to help keep the Black Lion memory alive. Sounds like you’ve had a busy summer. Jan and I managed to get a little vacation in (trip to Cape Cod and Washington D.C.) before our summer ended. I’m not coaching this year – JUST being an athletic director – but we are still very much a BLACK LION team. I still have parents asking me if Steve Goodman and General Jim Shelton will be coming back again. Also, our pre-season game this year will be against my old school, Coral Springs Christian Academy, and their new head coach is one of my former players – George LePorte (Black Lion of 2003). He is also running the Double Wing so hopefully we will be able to “slow them down” as I know you just can’t STOP the DW! Thanks as always for your help, support, and encouragement. It is not lost on me at all that you were a big part in my choosing coaching as a profession. I’ve been doing this now for 30 years - so I only have about 20-25 more left in me! I tell people all the time that I am Living the Dream. Hope your season is a great one! Take care. Jake Hi Jake- Thanks for the note. Ed Burke will be a hard man to replace. But with real Black Lions like Steve Goodman and Jim Shelton, and coaches like you, the Black Lion Award will live on. I'm not coaching this year either, it appears. It's not as if I can't use the time profitably, and I do have a team or two that I can help on a (very) part-time basis. I'm definitely not done coaching, so I'm glad to hear that you're also taking a page from my book and planning a long coaching career! When you played for me, I never realized that I might be making an impression on you - when you're a younger coach you tend not to think about those things - but if I had any influence on your decision to become a coach, I am grateful. It has to be very gratifying to you to know that one of your former players - one of your Black Lions, yet! - is now coaching at Coral Springs! That is obviously a tribute to George's character and upbringing, but also to your ability to recognize good character in others and to model it for your young men. Enjoy your season! *********** Coach, How do you teach the Gap, On, Area Late progression for the offensive line in the power scheme? I feel like the kids are making it into a Gap, On, Down scheme and we are missing some LB run through that we should be picking up. Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it! Coach- To reinforce the idea of ANGLE... LATE! Almost anything, including "OKAY, THEN - JUST F--KING STAY THERE!" will work. I have had some success with having the uncovered lineman take a jab step with the outside foot and repeat the "READY-HUT!" (about one second) before angling. Some places I've gone we've simplified teaching by sending guys in Rip motion that way - motion starts on the lift of the QB's foot and the QB says "GO" when his foot hits the ground. Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes.
The great thing about this book, in my opinion, is it teaches us the geniuses of football didn't start with Bill Walsh. We do not respect history nearly as much as we should in covering and watching this game; too often, we all disregard football history and those who made it. We think of the the sixties Packers as prehistoric. But there were great thinkers, such as Tiger Ellison, with great ideas, before that. The stories Tim Layden tells in this book will peel back the layers of the game for you. If you love the game, or even like it, Blood, Sweat and Chalk is a must-read, and I don't say that because I work with the man. And I don't say it because the author, Tom Layden, actually devotes a couple of pages to giving me credit for introducing the Wildcat. (Maybe that will settle it?) True, he does call me "slightly eccentric" (what? only slightly?) but in fairness he also calls me call me "a true pioneer." Whoa - in a book that deals with the originators of the single wing, the wing-T, the wishbone and the West Coast, I'm in over my head. No, I say it because it's a great look at the origins of the great offensive trends in the history of the game. Also because the author actually devotes a couple of pages to giving me credit for naming the Wildcat and calls me call me "a true pioneer." Better get your copy before I buy them all to give to my grandkids.
It is with great sadness that I note the passing, on Thursday, August 5, of Colonel Ed Burke, President of the 28th Infantry Association and one of the founding members of the Board of Advisors of the Black Lion Award. Ed was untiring in his efforts to keep the men of the 28th Infantry - the Black Lions - connected, and he was an enormous help to me in helping to establish the Black Lion Award. In his roles as "the man" with the 28th Infantry Association but also the Society of the First Infantry Division, Colonel Ed Burke came as close as any man can come to being irreplaceable. He was a great American - a Black Lion in every sense of the word. May he rest in peace. *********** Not long after mentioning that Boothbay, Maine lobsterman and long-time football supporter Danny Kaler was gravely ill, I received this news from old friend and long-time Boothbay coach Jack Tourtillotte... Danny passed away Sunday night. No news yet on funeral arrangements but you can be sure the whole town will turn out. Football, the community, and life have lost a good friend and you can be sure he will be missed by all those who knew him. Jack I am sad and sorry. In the brief time I knew him, he proved to be a very memorable person. He was a real "Mainer" - truly "Boothbay." My sympathies to his family. *********** Coach, Here's a link to an article that has some good info. about 6 man ball... http://www.americanprofile.com/article/36276.html. It was started in Chester, NE in 1934. Stephen Epler, the man credited with inventing the game, was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and passed away in 1997. Joel Mathews *********** The University of Central Florida’s “institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport,” a who-asked-you? Bunch if ever there was one, has given its highest grade for racial and gender diversity to… (drum roll, please)… the WNBA. *********** Coach, Ran this year's clinic from "Practice Without Pads" right out of the box. Kids really enjoy bulldozer and towel tug of war. I have 30 kids this year so I have to run 2 full offenses with all different kids. I lined both offense up last night, one to my left and one to my right. Put in 88SP coaching both at the same time. I had my assistants work directly with them and I roamed back and forth tweaking on the run. Dennis Cook, ***********Hugh, I've had the good fortune recently of being asked to explain "our system" to JFL coaches in two different programs. This was not clinic talk. It was sit down at lunch and talk football man to man. Handing over the entire playbook and saying "here's what we do and here's why we do it." The great thing about doing something like this is it forces you to evaluate and re-evaluate what you do so you can answer the "why" questions. You have to know yourself, which I think puts you on a more solid foundation, especially at this point in the summer. Great thing was, a D-III coach sat in on one of the conversations, kept asking questions like "these blocking rules work for everything?", and in the end said "I love this offense. It's simple, sound, and lets your kids play (fast)." Thanks for the consistent and persistent advice and encouragement you give all of us. Todd Hollis That's a great story. Take our system and throw in your combination of know-how and enthusiasm and you've given those coaches something that they can teach their kids and their kids can run, not simply something that the high school coach runs and wants them to run, too. The D-III coach's comment is priceless! Good luck. I know you start soon. *********** On Aug 3, 2010, at 3:24 PM, Corcoran, Jason wrote: My name is Jason Corcoran and I am a head coach and president of a youth program in Lynnwood, Washington. Football in Lynnwood is quite famous for high school football futility. Many long losing streaks and 6 different head coaches during my 10 years at the youth level. This is area is not unlike many suburban communities we service many kids from hard working families that are often nomadic apartment dwellers. I started as an assistant coach in 2000 within 10 minutes of the first practice the head coach sent the kids on a lap and turned to me and said “That is all I got. You got anything to add?” I was hooked as I am a passionate competitive guy that loves teaching kids a subject they choose to learn about. We were a rag tag bunch finding players at parks or talking to parents at the grocery store. We were the lovable losers. In 2002 my second season as head coach we joined a new league and were consistently at a size and athletic disadvantage. That brought me to the Double Wing and specifically you. I bought Dynamics and the playbook and by midseason I was running power, wedge, trap, counter and red red. The DW complimented us as the underdog offense for the underdog program. Over the years we became a complete DW program. Over the last 3 years my teams have averaged over 30 points per game and a record of 24-7 playing for 2 championships. Last season 3 of our 4 teams played for championships (we won 2)! During the years I have met with many of the coaches at the high school. I always make it a point to meet the coach and offer support give them a chance to talk to our kids and parents. Well it happened again this April Lynnwood High School hired a new head coach. Within weeks we had spoke he is young and high energy he runs the spread option. He has come to our camp and helped out. Did some training for our coaches on his offense and defense. He is a very smart football coach from all I can tell. He seems to appreciate our position as youth coaches and wants to have a relationship with our program. I have to admit I was excited to learn about his offense especially the offense de jour the “Spread Option”. I immediately felt the need to help the high school by teaching our kids the new approach to football. I have studied and done my homework. I watched videos and saw the dominant running game of Oregon and West Virginia I was all set to cheat on the double wing! Then I spoke to a couple of my closest friends who have coached with and have supported me over the years. They went with me to meet with his staff and hear the pitch. We all think it is great offense. After the meeting we got to talking about how we would attack this 4WR system. Now with the season upon us I have real concerns about this system at the youth level. If you don’t have a legitimate threat to pass to the outside receivers I think the moving the ball could get real tough. I don’t think I know the offense well enough to be able to install and troubleshoot. What do you think is the right thing to do? Go all in spread all the way and learn on the go? Run DW core and a series of Spread look to master few concepts? I really want to support the new staff in any way I can. Any advice you have would be appreciated. My belief has always been that you coach your kids and your kids only and do the things it takes to make them successful. That is the only reason to do the things you do. You do not do things to please a group or parents or unhappy assistants. Or the local high school coach. You obviously have hit on the right combination of things, and I see no reason to change. You have by all accounts shown the new man courtesy. In my opinion, he has jumped the gun by requesting that you run a system that, yes, West Virginia has run successfully (but not, I might add, Michigan - what does that tell you about the need for the right talent?), but he has yet to do himself. Without putting down the new head coach, he has yet to demonstrate that he will be around for any length of time. If he is unsuccessful, he will be gone. If he is successful, he might skip. At this point I would not recommend hitching the youth program to a high school program that may or may not make it. He is really putting the cart before the horse. He has more pressing problems of his own right now than whether the local sixth graders are running his offense. His ability to keep his job is not in any way going to depend on what offense you run. Once he is successful, there will be plenty of off-season work - camps and 7-on-7 - in which he'll have the opportunity to teach kids his offense. But don't tell him all this. Tell him exactly what you just told me. It makes perfect sense to me. And graciously offer to run a few pass plays from spread formation. OUR spread formation. Don't change your offense. This guy could be gone in a year or two. Not to be a smartass, but given that high school program's history of futility, it would be reasonable to ask, knowing what this particular group of kids can do, and do well , why the high school coach isn't looking at running your offense. Best of luck and KEEP COACHING. *********** An actual exchange that took place recently… July 28 I wonder if you’ve had a chance to look at my resume. Teacher/coach applicant Jul 28, 2010 I'll take a look today and get back to you tomorrow or Monday at the latest. Principal 8/4/2010 (a week later) Wondering if this is a dead issue and would appreciate some guidance as to what is happening. Coach ----- is waiting on me in regards to the JV Football coaching position and I don't want to hold him up any longer. Thanks Applicant Aug 4, 2010 Sorry for the delay. We just made the decision to forward another candidate for the position. For our purposes, he met certain teaching criteria that were pretty important. I appreciate your interest in the job and wish you the best in the future. Principal Aug 4, 2010 --- sent to me Hugh, Education speak for "he has a MA teaching certification and you don't"...never got an interview...and the fact that I had to "ping" him to get an answer after he said he would get back to me on "Monday at the latest" tells me I didn't want to work for him...Learning very quickly that the education sector is a whole hell of a lot different than the business world...so for now I'll concentrate on (my job) Coach, To put it bluntly, education administration is largely populated by a bunch of gutless, witless self-important turds who couldn't make it anyplace else except the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is not to say that there aren't good principals and good superintendents. When you luck out and find one who's worth a damn you'd better stay with him forever! Hugh *********** Last Sunday, as part of my duties as a member of the West Point Admissions Field Force for Washington State, I spent the afternoon at Fort Lewis, Washington assisting with what are called Cadet Fitness Assessments. Passing the Cadet Fitness Assessment (CFA) is required of applicants for all the service academies. It’s the same test for all academies, and it consists of a one-handed basketball throw (from a kneeling position); pull-ups (bent-arm hangs are optional for females); shuttle run; situps; pushups; mile run - in that order. Things were run like clockwork. All events were timed and measured by soldiers from Fort Lewis, and took place in precise order, with a precise amount of recovery time between events. The prospective cadets were rising high school seniors, more than 30 of them on this afternoon. They were divided up into groups of three, and each group was accompanied throughout the test by a Field Force member. My assignment was to accompany - and support and counsel - Dylan Hyder, Alex McKenna, and David Richardson, three oustanding young men and potential officers. It was exciting for me to watch the way they “bonded” (sorry for the sociobabble) as the tests progressed, encouraging each other all the way. Dylan Hyder is a wrestler, and it showed. He maxed out on both the pushups (75 in two minutes) and situps (95 in two minutes). The highlight of my day was the mile run. They agreed to run together as a team as far as they could, and that they did. In an event in which a time of 6:43 is considered average and 5:20 outstanding, they ran 5:36, 5:38 and 5:40. I volunteered my wife for duty, too, and she wound up with three great kids, too - two young ladies and a male rugby/football player. (For more info: http://www.usmma.edu/admissions/PDFs/CFA_Instructions05.pdf)
*********** Hugh, I bought your video a couple years back. This year I'll finally be able to install it since I have the cooperation of my staff. Quick question, I'm sure you get this question all the time. It seems hard to teach our tacklers to keep eyes to the sky when they're going to get run over by a running back who drops their head and tries to run through them. I can teach our RB's not to but most teams we play against (8th graders), have always been taught to lower their shoulders and tilt their head up and run through the tackler. Am I missing something? Coach, Been asked it a bunch Answers: (1) 99 per cent of tackles are not head on. The runner rarely has the opportunity to run over a tackler; (2) an aggressive football player does not squat stationary and wait for a ball carrier to run over him. (3) it is very difficult for a player to lower his shoulder and tilt his head up *********** Yeah, but did you say, “Please?” In Spokane, on the far eastern side of our state, a guy who happens to be running for Congress (a Democrat, if you have to know) told police that he was assaulted by a man. Seems he'd asked the guy to perform oral sex on him, and with that, he told police, the guy grabbed him in a bear bug and threw him to the ground. Apparently, the guy’s violent reaction came as a surprise. According to the police report, the candidate said, “I don’t understand. I asked him nicely.” *********** There are 43 schools in Oregon Class 6A. This season, only nine of them will play on grass fields. *********** Caution Gallagher fans – do NOT rush the stage. That’s what a woman did at the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro, Oregon - and she wound up breaking an ankle. If you haven’t seen Gallagher perform, much of his act consists of smashing various foods with a giant mallet (“Sledge-O-Matic”, he calls it), making an enormous mess on stage – and in the first several rows of the audience, many of whom cover themselves with plastic sheeting. Gallagher himself warned her not to, but the woman insisted on making her way toward the stage. Unfortunately, she never made it there, slipping on, according to the Portland Oregonian, “remnants of creamed corn, honey, fruit, marshmallows and sauerkraut, among other food items.” The show was held up briefly as the woman was attended to and then helped away by paramedics, as the audience applauded her. Doesn’t sound as if there are any hard feelings. According to the story, the woman cheered Gallagher as she left. *********** Isn’t it hilarious the way the soccer guys like to play wannabe Brits, using arcane soccer terms like “pitch” and “nil?” And calling soccer teams “FC?” I almost split a gut recently, when I read about a Portland-area team winning the national “U-18” (there's another soccer term) championship. The team’s name? East Side United Liverpool Red. WTF? *********** Hello coach, my name is ----- -----. I'm a second year double wing coach and this is my first year at ----- High School . First thanks for all of the great knowledge that you provide on this GREAT offense and coaching in general. I think the most important thing I've learned from you is your idea of what's most important from your assistant coaches, LOYALTY. I plan on running super power off tackle, counter off super power, FB & QB trap, wedge, keep, roll out and an outside sweep. My question is do you think it's sound to run the rocket toss sweep without running jet sweep with the hand off which I think takes more work? I plan on using the traditional double tight double formation as well as your slot formation. The plan when running the slot is to off set the FB both strong and weak, use the TE's to get unbalanced and use heavy rocket toss with FB and QB trap with some occasional vertical passes. Do you think this is sound? Any suggestions for plays out of the slot formation? Thanks again for all of your help. Coach, Nice to hear from you. You appear to have a good enough package, but with the Double-Wing, more than most offenses, it's every bit as much how you do it as what you do. Not all Double Wing coaches will give it the attention it requires. (And, of course, what kind of players you have.) I hope I'm able to help, given that I don't really know your or your kids or whether you are a stickler for really coaching the fine details. In answer to suggestions that he branch out from pizza, John Schnatter of Papa John's has said: "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." I can tell you that slot has many advantages, and we can run just about anything from it that we run from double tight/double wing. I would suggest, however, that at your stage of learning the offense you really shouldn't take time away from the basic stuff to do more than run it as anything more than a diversion. Same with an offset fullback. I think at this point you and your staff need to force yourselves to stay on mission and not to try to do too much and concentrate on being as good a Double Wing team as you can possibly be. The answer is not more plays, it's getting better at running what you're already running. The beauty of simplicity is being able to troubleshoot - to find out what's going on and fix it. To understand how to attack a defense. You will find that the more things you try to do, the harder it is to follow that philosophy. I personally believe in finding one sweep and staying with it so it can be run as well as possible. I want a sweep that can be run from tight, slot or spread, and I want a sweep that can be run by a wingback or by the quarterback, I want a sweep that can be run from direct-snap, and I want a sweep that fits right in with everything else we do. For me, the jet sweep is easy to run, and it is a nice surprise play, but otherwise unless you have great speed and a decent passing threat, in my opinion it is easy to defend. The rocket sweep either has to be an orphan play, or you have to build a series around it, which means taking time from the basic stuff. Either way, I personally, and coaches I work closely with, have found it to be a high-maintenance play that requires more time than it's worth. Hope that helps.
*********** The MLS (major league soccer - talk about an oxymoron) All-Star Game consisted of the league all-star team playing a real major league soccer team - Manchester United. Other than the fact that they were playing soccer, it wasn’t a bad idea. Like the International League All-Stars playing the New York Yankees. The MLS has been doing this for a few years now, and what the hell - anything’s better than what the other sports dish out in their All-Star games. Football? Players outdo each other in faking injuries just to avoid playing in the Pro Bowl. Basketball? There’smore defense in the slam dunk contest. Baseball? What was once a highlight of the summer is now the answer to the question “what goes on after the home run contest?” Seriously, do they really think players (or the fans) give a sh—which league will be the home team in the World Series? *********** A friend sent me an article about the University of Texas’ going after a Midwest high school for trademark infringement – essentially, copying the Longhorns’ logo. (Or coming close.) He asked, quite sensibly, if that was all that Texas had to worry about… I wrote, Texas is made to look silly here, but they have a lot at stake. They have a lot invested in their trademark, and in order to retain the right to profit from it, the law requires that they "defend" their mark against any unauthorized use whatsoever. At least two schools that I know of have had similar issues with high schools - Pitt with its Panther and Wisconsin with its unique "W." I'm sure that for every small-town high school that UT goes after, there is a dozen Chinese tee-shirt manufacturers turning out Longhorn knockoffs. Coca-Cola has fought for years to keep "Coke" from becoming a generic term for any soft drink. I am small potatoes compared with Texas, but I would notify anyone using my "Stones" logo and "It Takes a Set" without my permission that they had to stop. On the other hand, I don't stand to lose what Texas does, so when people ask me for the right to use one or either on clothing or materials, I typically give my permission and request only that they include my Web site's address. It seems to me that there ought to be some way that Texas, Pitt, Wisconsin, et al can do something similar, but then the next thing you know, that high school's booster club is selling sweat shirts, etc. I have to admit that the year I coached the Washougal Panthers I used something awfully, awfully close to Kansas State's "Power Cat" on our helmets. It didn't occur to me that I was doing anything wrong, because the decal manufacturer was offering them for sale. Wonder what Texas would think about R. M. Williams, a very popular line of "bush wear" in Australia--
*********** Hello coach Wyatt 1. I will be coaching 7 year old boys that have not played football. Is it possible to teach this system to boys at this age or should I stick to more of a basic I formation for the first year? Short answer- Yes. With all due respect, if I thought that I-formation was the best way to go, I would advocate I-formation. But I don't. 2.If you think it is possible, what core of plays would you run for these boys? Super Power Right and Left (88 and 99), Counter (47-C if you only do it one way), Roll-Out (88 Brown and 99 Black), 2 Wedge 3.would you change any blocking assignments for the O line? 1 lineman pulling instead of 2? In our league,the rules are; only four def. linemen. No blitzing. No nose guards. No change. Teach the tackles to pull. Don't give up. They can do it. It will make you a better team and it will make them better players. 4. What other set(s) would you recommend? At that age, none - not, at least, until they are very good at the basic stuff. If there is any other advice you could give me I would appreciate it! Stick with it right out of the can and teach it. Do NOT attempt to "tweak" it. And keep your ears closed. There are way too many people willing to advise you because something happens to work for them, but they don't know you and they don't know your team, and it's wisest to stick with something that has been proven to work, over and over. Never let more than one guy give you advice on your golf swing (if you know what I mean). Be patient and stay with it. And get rid of any "helpful" assistants who do not support you one hundred per cent. *********** The new Pac-10 Commissioner, fresh from a conference-expansion thumping at the hands of Texas and Texas A & M, has called on all the marketing kills that helped him make women’s tennis such an enormous part of the American sports scene, and taken his act to the Big Apple. It shouldn’t take a genius to know that something as simple as a three-hour difference in starting (and ending) times can turn West Coast events into East Coast non-events, but somehow he seemed to think he could overcome that geographic fact by taking his posse – all the conference coaches and a couple of star quarterbacks – to New York to announce that, hey – we’re out there on the West Coast and, hey – we’d sure like you to watch our games more. And then, to entice Easterners to do so, he even showed off - the new conference logo! Cool. More insidiously, though, he did indicate that the conference would be more than willing to accomodate TV by monkeying with the kickoff times of conference games. Great. That can only mean 10 AM Pacific starting times, so that easterners can tune in and watch, at 1 PM their time. Oh - and 4 PM Pacific weeknight games, to catch easterners at 7 PM. Those of you who work for a living – ever try making it to a 4 PM game? The thought occurred to me that this suit, who prides himself on “thinking outside the box,” (a hackneyed phrase that will never cross my lips), might even have a 7 AM Saturday kickoff or two in mind, in order to catch the East Coast audience at 10 AM, when there’s no other football on the tube. Personally, while we’re thinking outside the box, why worry about moving kickoff times when you can move the kickoffs themselves? To, say, New York? Who says that the Pac-10 has to play its game in the West? Have you noticed the poaching that’s started to take place? Syracuse arranges a game in New York, in what would normally be considered Rutgers’ territory… Penn State plays Indiana in Maryland’s home area… So does Virginia Tech. And Notre Dame? Notre Dame plays wherever the hell it wants to play, which this year means a “home game” in Yankee Stadium against Army. So what’s to keep the Pac-10 from working out a deal with the Steinbrenners? Everyone knows they’re desperate to bring more off-season events into that costly new Yankee Stadium they just inherited. The Pac-10 East Coast Game of the Week! The Eastern Pac-10 Game of the Week! The Atlantic and Pacific-10 Game of the Week! The Bi-Coastal Game of the Week! And if the Steinbrenners don’t bite, there’s still the Meadowlands.. or DC Dan Snyder. The logistics I’ll leave to somebody else. The home fans, back on the West Coast? Screw them. We’re talking TV money here. Playing in front of empty stands? Not a problem. Paper the house. Offer food and drink – especially drink - to the homeless... citizenship to illegals... marriage to gays... in return for sitting and pretending to cheer for an entire game. What the hell? TV’s paying for it. Main thing is, the commissioner will have what he so desperately craves – an East Coast presence and the TV money it brings. *********** Sent me by Adam Wesoloski, of Pulaski, Wisconsin – Survival in the U-P http://www.yoopersteez.com/blog/nature/surviving-in-the-up-kris-plankey/ *********** From a New Zealand news site… Veteran Maori protester Te Ringa Mangu Nathan (Dun) Mihaka has lost his appeal against a sentence of 28 days imprisonment for calling a judge an "arsehole". (Later in the same story) Mihaka has been involved in a number of campaigns regarding Maori rights, including the successful bid to make Maori an official language of New Zealand. He infamously bared his buttocks at Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their visit in 1983. *********** I ran all your stuff from the I with two Tights and the receiver in motion last year. It worked amazingly well. Sam Cole Coach- As you have discovered, you can do a lot with my system. The key to the offense is in the play of the line. *********** Regarding an army, Napoleon said something like, "Morale is to the physical as three is to one." He could have said the same thing about a football team. For that matter, morale is important to the success of any organization. I once worked in a school district where, aghast at the cost of photocopies, and seeing an opportunity to cut costs, the Supe announced that henceforth, each teacher would be allocated a certain number of "free" copies per month. Beyond that figure, he/she would be charged. The faculty saw this at the least as nickel-and-diming them, but at the most as a professional affront. Long story short - it led to a faculty uprising, which got parents and school board members involved, which led to unfavorable publicity in the local paper, which led to other charges being brought up (the sort of thing that happens when you bring people together and they start to compare notes), which ultimately cost the Supe his job. *********** The line coach at Army – a coaching veteran - told me that anytime the players begin to complain about having to do the same drill over and over again, and ask, "aren't we ever going to so another drill?" he tells them, "Yep. As soon as we do this one perfect, I promise we'll do another drill." *********** Only one American in five smokes. But one in three is obese. And now, as two noble causes – anti-smoking and anti-obesity – compete for dollars, the no-smoking folks are losing out. Part of the problem is the involvement of Lady Obama in the “Let’s Move” program, and the enormous amount of money – more than a billion dollars - from stimulus and health care legislation that’s now going to fight obesity. Contrast that with $200 million for tobacco-use prevention - a lot of money, to be sure, but a lot less than the no-smoking folks have been used to getting. Nobody asked me, but I figure that if we would get obese kids to take up smoking, that would take care of the obesity problem, and then we could divert all the money back to the smoking-cessation programs. The best part: so long as we don't solve both problems, we won’t have to refund any of the taxpayers’ money. *********** Coach Mark Kaczmarek, of Davenport, Iowa, sent me this great wrap-up of a recent trip… Coach while you were on the Great Plains, our family completed the “bucket list” of getting to all 48 lower states together…my 86 year young mother accompanied Kathy and I to Santa Rosa before the kids fly in to start a “Bataan Death March” of a vacation DAY 1: travel from Davenport to Cheyenne, WY…I still get a thrill seeing Memorial Stadium from I-80 as we pass Lincoln DAY 2: travel to Park City/Heber City, UT…we meet up with family that will be in Santa Rosa for the reunion to see their little “cabin” in the mountains…3,000 sq. ft.!!!...went to the Wasatch Brewing Co. and got some Polygamy Porter (“You can’t just have one”) DAY 3: travel to Reno so we won’t arrive in Santa Rosa too early and see the sights…Is NV nothing but wasteland and casinos??? DAY 4: travel to Santa Rosa…I can see why Brigham Young said, “this is the place.”…he had a huge telescope and could see the “salt wastes” to the west…imagine the settlers, who passed the 1st set of “salt wastes” only to encounter the next set across the 1st set of mountains…what the heck is that strange art in the middle of the Salt Flats???...the Bonneville Salt Flats are fascinating, especially with the history of speed…wonderful scenery as we pass into CA through Sacramento and pass across the northern part “Great Valley” agricultural areas…Head into SF across the Golden Gate Bridge, awesome!!!...have lunch on Fisherman’s Wharf and pick up the kids flying into SFO…head N on 101 across the bridge and on to Santa Rosa DAY 5: reunion begins with travel into Sonoma Valley …theme is Jack London, his failed Wolf’s Lodge and his ranch…tasted wine and discovered Kaz’s Winery…he’s a “Coach Kaz”… assists as a local football coach, though on the defensive side http://kazwinery.com DAY 6: venture into the Napa Valley…tasting wine and visiting Calistoga and Sonoma checking the histories of Spanish and Bear Flag influences DAY 7: ventured into the Russian R. Valley and on to Ft. Ross…examined Russian historic influences…tasted wine and some Korbel DAY 8: leave my mother in Santa Rosa…she will take the train home…the 4 of us commit to eating nothing but fresh seafood until we reach Seattle…take the kids and continue up the coast on a combination of CA-1 and 101…splendid scenery…saw Bodega Bay where The Birds was filmed had lunch in Mendocino which is a glorious setting where a large number of films were filmed…we all eat different things, but at each stop someone orders and we compare fish and chips and clam chowder at every meal…noodled our way up the coast to a motel in Eureka…Eureka really has developed an “Old Town” area that was really neat too DAY 9: continue to noodle up the coast on 101…continued great scenery and ventured through “Redwood Country” which too was spectacular…lunch in Crescent City and travel north where we run into our 1st obstacle…on our way to Coos Bay, just N of Brookings, we are the 5th car turned around because 101 is closed due to a forest fire…we were wondering why the campfire smell was so apparent in this area…we reversed field to Crescent City and crossed over to I-5 at Grant’s Pass to Green and then over to Coos Bay so we missed some spectacular scenery, but when we got to Coos Bay we found out 101 was still closed…the fire was started by a car wreck DAY 10: continue up the coast enjoying the scenery…stop at Sea Lion Caves…boy do they stink!!!...reach Newport for lunch and noodle through the tourist stuff and we have lunch at the original Mo’s…Newport is my favorite stop thus far…it is really a cool place!!!...as a Cheese-Head I enjoy going through Oregon’s dairy land and we stop at Tillamook for cheese snacks…we continued great scenery as we head to Astoria for my Lewis and Clark stuff as well as to visit the Goonies movie sites…a quick visit to Seaside to look at their tourist traps and boardwalk…Newport is still cooler!!!…stop at Cannon Beach the site of the Goonies finale with the famous Haystack Rocks in the background DAY 11: visit the Goonies sites, Astor sites and do the Lewis and Clark sites…I was saddened to find out that archeologists can’t confirm Ft. Clatsop’s real location…we cross over into WA and all 4 of us conclude that the CA, OR and WA roadside signs claiming we are on “scenic byways” are truth in advertising!!!...we head to Mt. St. Helens and are treated to breathtaking views and are impressed by the forces of nature…by the time we get to the top though it was pretty socked in…at the Visitor Center we are treated to a dramatic 20-min movie about the event and the movie screen is supposed to be lifted to expose a windowed vista of Mt. St. Helen…when it happened we were greeted to a windowed blanket of white…quite a chuckle …we hope to get a room at Quinault Lodge, but we can’t get in and are rewarded with a wonderful surprise by getting a room, on the beach, at Ocean Shores…we drive on the beach, have another wonderful meal at a “crab pot” and enjoy a marvelous sunset from the balcony of the motel one day before the bikers get there…by the way, North Beach HS is an impressive facility…so far we have concluded that the temperature from leaving Santa Rosa resembles an Iowa October DAY 12: our goal is to cover the Olympic Peninsula and hike a couple shorter trails in the Hoh River NP…the rain-forest climate is especially surprising, but I loved the other stuff we did earlier at the Redwoods…we start to circle the peninsula, but we have to stop in Forks to get our Twilight fix and continue to Port Angeles…pretty neat town…I still like Newport better…we then head to Bainbridge Island to take the ferry across the sound to Seattle…in the middle of the sound I find myself looking back to the Olympic Mts., to the south I see Mt. Rainier and to the east I see Seattle’s downtown…I find myself thinking, “Seattle is the most beautiful city in the US”…my children remind me that we are viewing Seattle on a “Chamber of Commerce” day because its 75 and sunny…we dine overlooking the sound from a restaurant in the Pike’s Market…we then take a room by the airport so the kids can shuttle out DAY 13: another “Chamber of Commerce” day and the last true day of vacation because the kids are flying out on “red eyes” later…Saturday morning at he market is very entertaining…the fish market is really fun to observe…those guys really enjoy what they do…beautiful flowers, delicious fruit and stands that offer “whatnot”…we head down below to the wharf and stroll…hit the aquarium…the sea mammal displays were captivating, especially the sea otters…have lunch on the wharf…walk to the Space Needle and do the obligatory viewing…ride the monorail back to downtown and explore the shops…eat supper on the wharf and prepare the kids for the airport and us for the trip back to Iowa DAYS 14-15-16: back to Iowa…I miss the October temps of most of our vacation…I can see why you have stayed in the Great Northwest!!! Wow- Nice little travelogue! We've been in the Northwest 35 years now and haven't been to Newport yet! And you made it to Ocean Shores! Before the Biker Weekend (which ties up the whole town)! And you saw North Beach High School! I have seen a few beautiful places in Nevada. I've had a picnic dinner at a place called Angel Lake, high above the desert floor in the Northeast corner of the state. But travelling on Interstates, you could definitely get the idea that it's largely wasteland and casinos. Winery Kaz sounds like a real character. Great Web sit. And I love Polygamy Porter's slogan. Very glad you enjoyed the Northwest. On "Chamber of Commerce Days" there is no better place on earth. My first visit to the place, in 1968, that's what greeted me! *********** Hey Coach! I just read the news that Terrence Cody finally passed the Raven's conditioning drill and has been cleared to play. It's nice to know that a guy drafted in the 2nd round is actually fit enough to play the game. It's a good lesson to all those young aspiring NFL players out there that you can get to the big time eating all the cheeseburgers you want. You really don't have to be too physically fit or athletic. Well, Cody is apparently good for another year, so Terrence, get to Mickey Dee's right after practice and get your bulk back. Twenty years of coaching football and I never discovered the secret to winning. Cheeseburgers! Al Andrus SCENES FROM A RECENT MIDWESTERN TRIP...
*********** For many reasons, General/President Dwight Eisenhower has long been a hero of mine, and a recent visit to his Library and Museum (and boyhood home) in Abilene, Kansas was very special for my wife and me. It's a tribute to our country, and to the sort of people that built it, that from what we would call just plain hard-working people, in a small town in the Heartland, could come a man in whose hands, as the leader of the D-Day invasion, rested the fate of tens of thousands of American lives - not to mention the future of the free world; a man who as President of the United States would lead America to unprecedents prosperity and a position of world leadership; a man who was easily approachable, who never put on airs and never forsook the values and virtues of his small-town Kansas upbringing. I believe that football coaches can benefit from knowing more about this great man, if only because of the ways in which our jobs mirror his. In many ways, what General Eisenhower did during World War II - organizing, planning, managing staff conflicts and occasional disloyalty, answering critics, pleasing sometimes difficult superiors while having the courage to stand up to them, motivating soldiers and asking them to do the near-impossible, having to make difficult decisions and accept ultimate responsibility for them - was what a football coach does. (On a far smaller scale of course, given what was at stake in his case.)
*********** Coach, Thought you might like this. Nice goatee! Adam Wesoloski Coach- It's a great article about a little-known fact of pro football - that despite all the passing and all the talk about high-powered offenses, they're not scoring any more points than they did in the 1950s - and I suspect that the NFL would like to suppress it. Besides the fact that defensive players are so athletic, In my opinion, there are three major reasons why, despite all the things they've done to boost the passing game - legalized holding, the five-yard chuck rule, hook-sliding, legalized grounding, linemen lining up deeper than legal, hash marks so close they're virtually nonexistent, quarterbacks wired up to the sideline (did I miss anything?) - there are three major reasons, in my opinion, why scoring has been kept down --- 1. Free agency - players move around so much, there is little roster carryover from year to year, and as complicated as the offenses are, it's difficult to learn them, much less execute them consistently well. 2. Field goals - in 1948, with those small rosters, there was no such thing as a kicking specialist, and a field goal was considered a last resort. Now, not only are there specialists, but the hash marks are so close-together that all kicks are virtually head-on. 3. The field - I have been arguing this one for some time now. Players today are much faster and bigger than they were in the 50s, yet they're playing on the same size field as they did 60 years ago. In effect, there's less room to for the offense to operate, less field for the defense to defend. They could improve their game in a heartbeat by widening the field from its present size (160 feet) to Canadian-size (195 feet). That would give the offense more room, and would allow for the widening of the hashmarks, reducing somewhat the sickening 80 per cent accuracy of field goal kickers. Altering the current stadia would take money, of course, but the NFL has already demonstrated a willingness to blow millions gambling on the future (can you say "NFL Europa?"). So they'll have to wipe out a few rows of seats. Big deal. They're the worst seats in the house, anyhow. (Thanks for the compliment on the goatee. Don't know how long I'll keep it!) *********** Hugh, While reading todays NEWS I came across the reference to the outgoing (someday) doc in Pawnee City, NE. Kind of hit home with me as I was born in Pawnee City way back in 1953. The Doc then was "Doc Stewart" and the story as told to me by my mother (deceased now) was that she was delivering my twin brother "Ron" who they had planned to name "Sherman" after my mom's mom's family maiden name of Sherman. Well, old Doc Stewart kind of threw a curve into my parents’ thinking when, after my brother was born @ 9 a.m., he looked at mom and dad and mom and said, "Del & Tony, you're gonna have another boy in about twenty minutes". I was born @ 9:20 a.m. Instead of calling me Herman to rhyme with Sherman, they came up with Ron & Don.... To make your story of young Doc Jackson (who most likely trained under my Doc Stewart) even more compelling...is the fact that the microbrewery owners, the "Schillings" are relation to me. Sharon's husband is a distant cousin....we've been to the Microbrewery a time two ourselves. They also have the coypwright to 'Git'R'Done beer which is also brewed there as "Larry the Cable Guy" is a Pawnee City native like me! Finally, to let you know just how interesting this story is to me - my twin and I were the first twins to be been born in the (new at the time) old Pawnee City Hospital to have lived through birth. Maybe old Doc Stewart was a pretty good teacher of Doc Jackson! Here's the link to the Schilling Winery in Pawnee City....you and the missus might like to take it in between Beloit and Clarinda next summer! It's close enough to be on the way from Beloit to Clarinda! Mike and Sharon are great people....if you tell them I recommended the visit I'll bet you could get away from there with a small token of their appreciation....we've got "Get'R'Done" beer glasses to prove it! Small world isn't it! Don Capaldo
As you can see at left, the K-State/Black Lions relationship is prominently displayed in the Kansas State lockerroom.
*********** Coach Wyatt, I hope that all finds you and yours well. I have a question about the pitch on the Super Power. I was wondering where the pitch should go in relation to the offensive line? Should the pitch be about the “B” gap or over the backside guard? I have about the slot and that just confuses me. You help is greatly appreciated. Many Thanks and God Bless. Ed Pfaff Coach- I couldn't say exactly where it's caught. We run Super Power with NO motion and simply turn and toss. The back is no more than a step or two out of his stance when he catches the ball and we coach him to get his inside hand on the back of the pulling tackle ASAP. Here's a nice example of Super Power with no motion: *********** John Canzano of the Portland Oregonian actually took up newspaper space this past Sunday listing the “25 most influential people in Oregon sports.” I could have saved him the trouble. There are and have been only three influential people in Oregon sports, and two of them are dead. 1. Phil Knight (Nike founder and U of Oregon benefactor). 2. Bill Bowerman (Knight’s track coach at Oregon and co-founder of Nike). RIP 3. Harry Glickman (the guy who brought the Trail Blazers to town and served as their first GM). RIP One live guy in the top three! And then, unless you count Blazers’ owner Paul Allen, a Seattle billionaire who seldom shows his face in Oregon, you might as well stop, because in my 35 years in the Northwest, I haven’t seen anyone with influence and the willingness to use it for the good of Oregon’s sports. Which is why a metro area the size of Portland has ONE major sports franchise, NO major university sports program, and NO place to put on an outdoor sports event of any interest to anyone elsewhere in the country. (And after they finish "reconfiguring" the former minor league ballpark for MLS soccer they still won't have one - and they’ll have destroyed a baseball park in the process.) Imagine an area of 1-1/2 million that doesn't even have a place to play a f--king minor league baseball game! Omaha, for God's sake, puts on the College World Series. And Omaha is building a spectacular new ballpark to keep the CWS there. Portland, meanwhile, fiddles around with something called the Portland Sports Authority, which every couple of years brings a tennis match to town. Fact – Portland’s anti-business climate is to blame. Disparage and discourage big business all you like, which is a popular pastime in Portland, but you do so at the price of having no sports. People will say that Washington, DC is able to do it without big business, but they're forgetting that doing business with the government is very big business, and it's recession-proof. *********** Coach, I do not know if you remember me but I was coaching the Oulu Northern Lights in the summer of 1988 when you were also coaching in Finland. We played each other in a driving rainstorm in Oulu. I have been following you and your career for years. I retired from college coaching in 2005. My last college coaching stint was as the head coach at Avila University, in Kansas City, Missouri. I started coaching my son's 5th grade team the following year and decided to run your double wing offense. This will be my 6th year as a grade school coach. I go my hands on your video series (4 tapes) a long time ago and love the entire system. The reason I am reaching out to you now is that our season is getting ready to start up and I usually go over the videos at this time of the year. We have gotten a whole lot of rain this year and when I went to go pull the tapes out of storage I found the tapes were ruined by water. I see that you no longer produce video tapes and probably have not done so for years. I am in desperate need of tape 1 in that series of 4. Do you have any old video tapes left in your inventory? What do you think? Can you help me? I would appreciate any advice you can give me. Please call or e-mail me and let me know what you suggest. Thanks for coaching me up in the double wing! Tim Johnson “Don’t know if you remember me?” Ha! That's a good one. My wife and I once slept on the floor of Tim’s apartment on a visit to Oulu, back in ‘88. Tim was a lot younger and less experienced than I was at the time, but it was obvious he was going to be a very good coach. He played at William Jewell College, back when they were winning national championships, and at the time we coached against each other in Finland, he was serving back in the states as an assistant at St. Cloud State. We hooked up a couple of times while in Finland, and the last time we saw each other was on a flight back to the US. At that time, he was headed for an assistant’s job at Lambuth University in Tennesee. From there he went to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, then wound up at Avila University in Kansas City as head coach, starting up the program from scratch and staying through 2005. His 2003 record of 5-5 is still the best in the school’s history. Tim is married to a Finnish girl, Essie, whom we first met years ago in Finland, and next year, they’ll celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. They have two sons, both with good Finnish names: Eero, 14 and an incoming sophomore offensive-defensive lineman at KC’s Archbishop O’Hara High School, and Teo, an 11-year-old (Double Wing) QB on Tim’s youth team. *********** A great article in ESPN.com on what’s wrong with college basketball http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=5398415 *********** At General McChrystal’s retirement ceremony, he turned what could have been an awkward occasion into a time for laughter. “I have stories on all of you, photos on many,” he said to friends in the crowd. And then he added, “And I know a Rolling Stone reporter.” *********** In this sports lull between the World Cup and the start of NFL training camps, I am embarrassed to admit that I haven’t been following women’s softball as closely as I might. Turns our there’s something called the World Cup going on, and boy, are we kicking ass (somehow, it doesn’t seem right to be using that phrase in talking about women). What a shot in the arm for our country! At a time when polls show that confidence in our nation is at its lowest point in years, it does me good to see that our women haven’t even given up a run yet! *********** Good morning Coach Wyatt, I enjoyed your pictures, etc. from your recent football camp. Like me, you seem to have gained a few more gray hairs lately. We get started tomorrow and will be running the Wildcat DW offense. I coach a 6th-7th grade team and have run the basic DW for the past 15 years or so with very good results even in those years when our talent left a bit to be desired. Last season we toyed around with the Wildcat variation at practice and in our “5th quarter” scrimmages and found that it has a lot of advantages over the basic DW for this age group, the foremost being that the kids love it. We moved our B-Back to the Tailback (K-back?) position and he did so well there the kids started calling him Tebow. Based on our talent this year (we may have an honest-to-goodness “triple threat”), we decided to use the Wildcat direct snap as the basis of our offense and probably will not go back to the indirect snap, at least not this year. I do appreciate all the work you have done to help us volunteer coaches with this wonderful system that is so enjoyable to coach. While doing some football internet surfing a few months ago, I came across the attached PDF of an old playbook from the Colorado School of Mines. They used a version of the SW/DW offense that is similar to your Wildcat, although a bit more complicated since it was used at the college level. You probably already have this but, if not, I thought you might like to see it. Good luck with the upcoming season, and keep up your good work. You are helping us build strong young men who will one day lead our country. Thanks, Eddie Hughes Hi Coach- That looks VERY much like Jerry Carle's single/double wing that he ran at Colorado College. Undoubtedly whoever ran this at Colorado Mines got it from Coach Carle (pronounced CAR-lee), who may very well have been the last coach to run the single wing in college. He was coach at Colorado College for 33 years, retiring in 1989. He finished with an overall record of 137-150-5. He had some very good teams in the 1970s, but given CC's high academic standards, winning was often a struggle. I do believe that his offense was a major reason why his teams were able to compete at all. Coach Carle is 86 years old. I have spoken with him and he has been kind enough to share some very useful information about his offense - such as, when you have the two men back there, side-by-side, don't ask the center to snap the ball to one or the other - tell him just to snap the ball straight back - between the two. It's their job to know who's supposed to get the ball! I have some video of Coach Carle's teams in action, taken from old 16mm film. He was quite innovative and his teams executed well. One of his most famous players, by the way, is not known for his football talent, but he's nevertheless had a major impact on the game of football - Steve Sabol, who now runs NFL Films. His dad, Ed, got his start filming Steve's games when he was a student at the Haverford School, outside Philadelphia. Thanks for the note and the playbook and stay in touch. When Colorado College decided to drop football in April of 2009, the president and the athletic director both went to Coach Carle’s home to break the news to him personally. He told the Colorado Springs Gazette he was “crushed” by the decision. "I thought maybe they were going to ask me to raise funds for the football team," he said. (To listen to Coach Carle tell a great story about his early days at Colorado College ----- http://krccnetwork.org/news/category/citizen-report/jerry-carle/ ) *********** In “The flight of the century,” his book about Charles Lindbergh, author Thomas Kessner writes that it took a king to finally ask the question that was on everyone’s mind. Meeting with Lindbergh a week after his historic trans-Atlantic solo flight, one that lasted 33-1/2 hours, King George V of England asked, “How do you pee?” *********** That stupid bicycle-shorts look favored by NFL receivers and defensive backs? Skin-tight pants that stop above the knees, with no knee pads, thigh pads or hip pads? It’s as foolish and dangerous as it looks, and it’s costing the NFL money in time lost to injury. But unbelievably, there’s not a damn thing the NFL can do about it. To require the players to wear any protective gear other than the bare minimum required by the rules is going to require negotiations with the NFLPA – the players’ union. Now, the only protective gear required by the rules are helmets and shoulder pads. (The type of helmet worn has to be approved by the league, but the shoulder pads might just as well be folded-up newspapers, for all the league can do about it. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered why giant NFL offensive linemen look so unathletic, it’s because they’re wearing the smallest shoulder pads they can possibly find. It's not as if they every use their shoulders to block, so what they're looking for is lightness. Combine Pop-Warner shoulder pads with beer-barrel waistlines, and you’re talking pear-shaped.) *********** Wow, Coach! Do you really think there's a chance that single platoon ball will make a comeback? I think it would be an extremely positive development: not only would we get to see all-around athletes instead of specialists, but it would just about guarantee the disappearance of 300-pound sumos on the line and the return of skillful line play. If implemented, it would clearly differentiate the college game from the corporate professional product. Fans of "basketball on grass" could continue their misguided support of the "No Fun League", but I don't think it would have a negative effect on college revenues at all, since college fans are tradition-and-community based to a degree that pro fans are not. On 9-3-90, Douglas Looney wrote a great article on this topic in Sports Illustrated, but I had to think it sounded like wishful thinking. Now, of course, it makes more financial sense than ever... If you have any more info on this subject, please keep us posted. Imagine a game where quarterbacks also play defense (Tebow, Locker, and ?????) and there are no more soccer lads to "keek a touchdown". Regards, Shep Clarke Hi Coach- The man I was quoting on the subject is Mike Lude, former AD at the UW (also Kent State and Auburn). It probably is a long time away, but Mike knows how scary the financial picture is at even the biggest of programs, and if sanity is to prevail, this has to happen at some point. It will definitely hurt the pros in that colleges will no longer dedicate so much of their effort to grooming kids for careers in the NFL. But as I say, this is mere speculation and probably many years away. I have maintained for a long time that football simply has to do something about the ridiculous situtation in which non-football players (keekers) determine the outcomes of football games. My proposal is simple: no player can kick a ball (kickoff, punt, extra point, field goal) more than once per game. When everyone is a potential kicker, football will become a bit - a small bit - like the rugby from which it evolved. *********** You’ve probably all read by now about West Virginia basketball coach Bob “Huggie Bear” Huggins breaking four ribs in a fall in his Las Vegas hotel room. You realize, don't you, how hard a hit you have to take to break a rib, much less four ribs? Hey - if you’re like me, knowing what little we know about Bob Huggins and what little we know about Vegas, I’ll bet you’d love to know how he really did it. *********** Coach Wyatt, I received the DVD “Practice Without Pads” the day after I spoke with you. I really appreciate you making the effort to get it in the mail so quickly. It has already helped me in my practice preparation for the upcoming season. I’m also looking into purchasing your Double Wing videos. I currently run the Wing T and I’m intrigued by all I’ve read about your Double Wing system. Please advise me on the progression of videos to purchase on your system. Thanks again, Hi Coach- I must say I didn't expect the delivery to be that fast, but I'm glad it worked out that way. (For those who would say that the Postal Service is not efficient, I have always had good results.) If you want to get started with my Double Wing, you need these items, in this order... (1) Dynamics of the Double Wing - a video and playbook. In computer terms, this is the operating system (2) Installing the System - a DVD that's a big help in teaching the system to your kids (3) A Fine Line - (4) Troubleshooting - Things will go wrong from time to time, and 90 per cent of the time it's not what the defense is doing but what your own team is or is not doing. It's nice to have some idea what's gone wrong and how to fix it. I've recently adopted a policy for anyone buying my basic “Dynamics of the Double Wing” package of also including a free bonus highlights DVD of an age-appropriate team (youth, middle school or high school) running my system Hope that helps! *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, Sorry to keep bugging you, BUT... I am beginning to implement te WildCat into our scheme. My question revolves around how you utilize it in a game. I know you have previously used the WildCat and stayed in that formation for an entire game. My specific question is, will you use the formation in a one-off situation, where you jump into WildCat for one play? Or, do you like to only get into WildCat when you want to run a series/game from it? My thought is, there may be some plays we run better from WildCat, than from our base DW formations. However, if from your experience, it is strategically ill-advised to use in one-off situations, I will bear that in mind as I implement it. Best, Ed Campbell Coach, You are NOT bugging me. This keeps me on my toes. There are at least three compelling reasons to get into Wildcat full-bore... (1) When your QB goes down and getting another one ready is not an option; (2) When your QB is a far better athlete than anyone else you've got (3) When one of your wingbacks goes down and you don't have another one; And there are at least three reasons for even a good Double Wing team, with the QB normally under center, to have the ability to get into Wildcat on certain occasions... (1) When you need to pass and you want to get your QB a little deeper to begin with; (2) When you want your QB to run the ball; (3) When you want to wedge. As the old single-wing guys all knew, getting the ball directly to the fullback, at a deeper point than when he takes the handoff, gives him an extra step or two to decide whether to (a) get right into the wedge; (b) run to daylight; (c) fly over the top Hope that helps! *********** Coach, To start off, I just want to say that we just finished a 10 day mini camp and are going into 2-a-day's next week. This will be our first year in the double wing and running your system. We only have 40 kids and regularly play teams with double the amount of kids that we have, so looking at this system, it seems to be a equalizer. The kids seem to really like it. We installed tight, slot, wildcat, and tackles over. The kids seemed to really pick it up easy, the rules are very transferable. We had a 7 on 7 with a local powerhouse and they were very confused when we moved to slot formation. We are currently looking at shifting to this formation to see what the defense will do. We installed 88/99 power/superpower, wedge, 2/3 trap, 88/99 g reach, and 47 C. I wanted to know, for a first year double wing team, is this too much? I coach offensive lineman and we just worked on stance, start, base blocking, double teams, and running the circle. The center's I am working with seemed to understand the down call (for TNT fronts) and how to use it. I am concerned about pad level, we have some big kids and may average 280 pounds or more across the board. Are their any good drills you have to help lineman stay low? How do I deal with kids who want to crab at my lineman? HI Coach- Sounds like you have enough in. I don't think it's too much. I would definitely want to run 44-55 lead with an X block. You didn't mention pass, but I assume since you mentioned 7 on 7 that you have some passes. I would definitely want to have the 88 Brown/99 Black package. I would also want to throw Rip 58 Black-O to the left and Ripper 47 Brown to the right. Note that those two involved motion. I do NOT use motion on Super Power, but I wouldn't run the offense without motion. I do think that your best chance for success with 88/99 G Reach is to have a step or two of motion, and you will find that once people know that your motion means something, it will help your trap, your G and your counter. Make sure motion is fast. I see an awful lot of Double Wing teams whose motion is so slow that they might as well not bother with it and just line up in I formation. I don't worry a lot about pad level - of course we teach our linemen to keep "vees in the knees," and to "stay in their stance" with "number on the knee" after their first step. Bird-dog drill is great for teching that. But mainly, I just want to make sure that we stay with our block and stay "welded to the man" and keep the feet moving. If people crab and bear crawl, you need to be able to down block effectively, and to stay low when doing so against a crabber. I'm assuming that your kids are back off the ball as much as allowed. If not, you want to get on that immediately. Crabbers may be able to take some of your inside game away, but they shouldn't be able to keep your linemen from pulling, they can't pass rush very well and they can't pursue. Actually, we have had pretty good luck trapping guys who bear crawl. Hope that helps. Let me know if I can help with motion. I have worked with teams that do not tie their motion to their snap count but handle all motion with the QB's foot. *********** Hugh, Thanks so much for your call on Saturday morning. You can't imagine how much I value your friendship. I forgot to tell you about the kid who was playing full back for us on Saturday. He is now in the custody of his Aunt and Uncle who attended our scrimmage on Saturday along with his grandfather.. They wanted him playing football and he had plenty of action in the practice game on Saturday. On a carry in the first series he was hit pretty hard (very fair tackle) by a linebacker and he got up pretty slow. Being the sensitive coach I talked to him and had him sit down not wanting to "risk" having to fill out a 10 page report for a potential concussion. He told me he was fine but that he needed to sit down. I told him he was done for the rest of the practice. His uncle and grandfather told him to "Get his helmet back on." "Coach," the Grandfather yelled at me, "There's is nothing wrong with him. He just got tackeled that's all. It is the first time he's been hit. This is football." His uncle just said, "Get his "tail" back out there." The kid actually played great. He made some tackles and ran some traps and G's very effectively. He also made several nice kick out blocks on powers........ The grandfather pulled me aside and said, "If you had a concussion every time you get hit you could not play any sports - but that is what they put you coaches through. He played just fine!!" I always was a little bit tougher when my dad was around. Nice to have people around who understand! Just one more reason why every boy needs a man in his life. A real man. A father is best, but grandfathers, uncles and older brothers have served well, too, and of course, coaches aren't bad, either. HW.
*********** Mississippi State is considering expanding its stadium, the second-oldest among BCS teams (Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium is oldest) from its present 55,000 to 75,000. It is going to be difficult to find a place for 20,000 new more seats - the stadium’s 47-foot-tall high-definition video board, second-biggest in the nation behind the one at at Texas, takes up the entire south end zone, and has proved to be tremendously popular - a "game-changer," in the words of the Mississippi State athletic department. Last year, despite a 5-7 season, the excitement generated by new coach Dan Mullen contributed to an average attendance of 54,000; the increase of more than 10,000 over 2008 led the nation. *********** So USC has had to forfeit its 2005 season. It's happened before. Check out this record...
Not bad, huh? That was Oklahoma's 1972 on-field record- before the Sooners were forced to forfeit nine of their wins for playing ineligible freshmen (their high school transcripts were found to have been altered). Few opponents, though, took the forfeits very seriously. The loss to Oklahoma was the only blemish on Texas' record, and the Longhorns wound up finishing second nationally (ironically, to undefeated USC), Texas coach Darrell Royal simply said, "We know who won." Penn State finished 10-2, counting the Sugar Bowl loss to OU, but Joe Paterno refused to accept the forfeit. "Irrespective of what action Oklahoma or the Sugar Bowl takes in regard to the forfeit," he said, "our players and the Oklahoma players know who won." To this day, Penn State carries the game in its record book as a loss, for Penn State and for Joe Pa. (And meanwhile, there was Bobby Bowden, begging to have the NCAA restore wins taken from the Seminoles for academic fraud.) Oregon lost to the Sooners, 68-3, and Oregon's Sports Information Director, tongue in cheek, called Oklahoma and asked them to send the Ducks the game ball.
*********** Pitt defensive end Jabaal Sheard, one of the best pass rushers in the Big East, has been suspended indefinitely from the team after an ugly brawl Saturday night (actually, early Sunday morning). Despite police orders to stop, and despite their use of a nightstick on him, he refused to stop beating another man, finally throwing him through the window of an art studio. Say, Art studio? You mean, not a night club? Sounds like Pitt is recruiting a better class of thug. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10201/1073895-142.stm *********** I was reading about some travel team coach/street agent and he was actually quoted as saying, "It's about the kids." Right. That's what they all say. As soon as you hear somebody say that, you can be sure of only one thing: it's not about the kids. It’s like when a professional athlete says it’s not about the money. Or when a politician says it’s for the good of the country. *********** It's been 10 years since Army coach Bob Sutton lost to Navy and was unceremoniously fired by new athletic director Rick Greenspan. He was replaced by Todd Berry, who'd been Greenspan's coach at Illinois State. Berry dropped Sutton's wishbone attack in favor of his pass-first approach, and Army, unable to recruit the skilled players needed to make a passing offense go, went into a tailspin - a 10-year tailspin in which five different coaches have produced a grand total of 24 wins. Now, Army has come full crcle offensively, getting ready for its second season under Rich Ellerson and his flexbone offense. Bob Sutton, now Jets' linebackers coach, likes what he sees, telling the Middletown (NY) Times Herald Record, “I'm a fan of the option, so I'm glad to see them go back to that. No matter what system you are going to run on offense it's got to be a system that is a little bit unique and provide your defense with the best opportunity to be successful. That's one thing that goes unnoticed with what happened to option football at the academy is that on offense you can always pick your battles. On defense, you are not afforded that opportunity. Traditionally here, we have a very aggressive defensive player. A guy who plays with great heart and great emotion and you need to limit his exposure. If you can do that over the course of a season, we always felt that would give us the best opportunity in the long run to be successful. I'm excited to see them back in that phase.” On the Army wishbone offense that Army's 10-2 1996 team ran: “That was the offensive system, which is a true statement. To me, it was greater than an offensive system. It highlighted a mentality. It was team-driven based on toughness, execution, which are hallmarks of West Point. That was really critical.” *********** After looking at your Wildcat: http://homepage.mac.com/coachhw/WILDCAT/iMovieTheater15.html Coach, do you think you can pitch the ball in the wildcat to the wing backs while running the super powers, vs just hand offs, if so what adjustments must I make? Coach- From Wildcat, you will not be able to pitch it and run Super Power correctly. I run the power three different ways from Wildcat - (1) hand off to the wingback (no motion); (2) Send the wingback in RIP (or LIZ) motion to the outside and run the power keep; (3) Run the power keep and lead the backside wingback through onto the playside corner (no motion). We now make the power handoff in front of the QB (no motion), the sweep handoff behind the QB (RIP or LIZ motion) I've never had a need to pitch it. Hope that helps. *********** While waiting in the Omaha airport Sunday, I read a great article in the Omaha paper about a small town doctor, a man who has been THE doctor in Pawnee City, Nebraska for 40-some years. Talk about a common-sense approach, the kind you could only get away with in a community where everybody knows you - a female patient asked him about some rash she had and he told her it looked like an SDT - short for Some Damn Thing. *********** The man is not a field soldier; he's more a CEO in uniform. Perhaps an efficient manager, but not a Patton-like leader. The troops call his sort "Perfumed Princes," brass known for their micromanagement bias and slavish focus on "show over go" and covering their tails with fancy footwork. Unfortunately, today's senior Army ranks are filled with such managers -- and these kind of dweebs are why the U.S. Army is in trouble. The troops and young leaders are great. But too often the senior brass are politically correct dilettantes, out of touch with their soldiers more interested in chin straps on the points of chin than in battle-drill being executed correctly. They don't understand that everything they need to learn about leadership and combat savvy doesn't come from management books or advanced degrees. The CEO managers started taking over from the warrior leaders during the Korean War. Slowly, the Alexander Haigs and Bernard Rogers replaced the Hank Emersons and James Hollingsworths. The "slick and quick" replaced the warriors who knew how to win wars and inspire soldiers because they'd spent most of their careers down in the dirt learning their trade the hard, old- fashioned way. Instead, with the Perfumed Princes, connections and the right punches on the career ticket have become more important than troop leading skills and inspiring soldiers by example and tough love. Looks like somebody on high finally got Clark's number and sacked him. Let's hope -- for our country's security and for the welfare of our soldiers -- that the new Army leadership team that just took over gets rid of the "Perfumed Princes" and the culture that's created them. And returns warrior leaders to the top positions. That was Colonel David Hackworth, an authentic war hero, writing in 1999, about the Little General, Wesley Clark. The thought that Stanley McChrystal could be fired for telling it like it is while Wesley Clark, the “Perfumed Prince, could have risen to the point where he was actually mentioned as a presidential candidate, tells you a lot about our military at the top. But, whoa - now that General McChrystal has been replaced by General David Petraeus, who should be named to take Petraeus’ place but a hard-core Marine named James Mattis. Brace yourselves, guys. General Mattis is no perfumed prince. He is one who, the New York Times says, “speaks bluntly rather than concerning himself with political correctness.” Well, I guess he does. Back in 2005, he received an official rebuke for speaking like a soldier: “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap around women for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway, so it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.” Haw, haw. He's probably learned to be more politically correct in his speech since then, but we all know what he's thinking, don't we? There’s hope for us yet. *********** Just ripped up my application for tickets to the Army-Notre Dame game in Yankee Stadium. Boo. It’s Notre Dame’s home game. The Irish and the Steinbrenners conspire to enrich themselves in "neutral" territory, in a venue totally unsuitable for a big-time football game. But that's the Notre Dame fans' problem. They're the ones who'll pay premium prices to watch a football game in a baseball stadium. Oh, sure – there’ll be a few Army fans there. Damn few. Army is getting exactly 5,000 tickets, of which a mere 500 will go to the Corps of Cadets (which numbers 4000+). All of this is thanks to the negotiating power of Army's schlub of an AD, who seems to devote the bulk of his time to scheduling attractive home games at Michie Stadium against the likes of North Texas, VMI, Eastern Michigan and Kent State. No, wait - Army, once-mighty Army, the fabled Black Knights of the Hudson, will play AT Eastern Michigan and AT Kent State! WTF? There. Rant over. As a football historian, I have considerable knowledge of and great respect for Notre Dame's tradition and its contribution to the game. But I detest modern-day Notre Dame and its overbearing selfishness, capitalizing on a brand built over the years by the likes of Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Devine and hundreds of great players. The Irish of today remind me of spoiled rich kids who've never had to work a day in their lives, living off the family fortune built by their immigrant grandfather and their second-generation father. *********** Good song - Kenny Chesney – Boys of Fall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_88BGtp1zE *********** Marijuana culture is huge in the forests of Northern California, and much of the "agriculture" is conducted by our frinds from South of the Border. Officials there conducting a recent marijuana raid found the grow being tended by a guy named Gauldry Almonte-Hernandez, whom the US Forest Service described in a press release as a “Displaced foreign traveler from Mexico.” (More deceit from a government that refuses to use the words "Islamist" and "Terrorist" in the same sentence.) A great editorial in the Redding, California Record-Searchlight does the story justice…
*********** For the last five years, a small group of hard-core Double Wing coaches has been meeting every summer in North-Central Kansas, in the small town of Beloit, to hone our skills at teaching the Double Wing - to take a look at ways to teach it better and ways to stay ahead of defenses. It all started in the summer of 2006, when old friend Greg Koenig took over at Beloit, a nice town with a nice football tradition that includes a couple of state titles. Joining Greg and me that first year were Brad Knight, from Holstein, Iowa, and Gabe McCown, of Piedmont, Oklahoma, and we did a good enough job at installing the Double Wing and Greg did a good enough job of building an overall program that Beloit is now a perennial playoff team, and the Trojans, in my opinion, do as good a job of running my system as any high school team in the country. This year, they look solid again. They have a very good-looking corps of backs and ends, and a line that's smaller than usual but quite quick and athletic. And a 6-2 freshman quarterback who is more than capable of running the team and could become a force in his own right. They open the season at nearby Concordia, reviving a once-huge rivalry that's been dormant for several years, and down the line, they face legendary Kansas power Smith Center, so consistently good it inspired Joe Drape's book, "Our Boys." Since we first started coming to Beloit, Brad has taken a new job at Clarinda Academy, in Iowa, and he's brought along his top assistant, PJ Hedrington, and our camps have become social events. Greg's wife, Rhonda, goes slightly overboard in feeding us, and although we normally stay in a hotel in town, this summer Greg and Rhonda hosted my wife and me.
After the Beloit camp breaks, it's become the routine for all the coaches - Wyatt, Hedrington, Knight, Koenig and McCown - to head east to southwest Iowa and the town of Clarinda, where every year we introduce the offense all over again to the Clarinda Academy team. That's right - we start every year from scratch, because every year there's a brand new student body at Clarinda Academy. Clarinda Academy, you see, is a "residential foster care facility" - a place where young people who've had brushes with the justice systems in their home towns come to get their lives squared away, staying for a year or so. That Clarinda Academy has a beneficial effect on these kids is apparent in the way they handle themselves on the field - they take coaching positively and comply with orders, which for many of them has to be a first. They are good kids to work with, and many of them are quite athletic. But unfortunately from the standpoint of coaching, few of them have played football before, and fewer still (none, I'll wager) have ever seen the Double Wing.
We taught the kids how to block, we taught the linemen how to "run the circle," we taught the backs and ends how to run 88 and 99 Super Power and we taught the QBs their mechanics and steps, and by the end of the first session, we were running those two plays acceptably. The two-hour sessions were totally devoted to offense. We started every session with 30 minutes of blocking. And we ended every session with 30 minutes of team offense vs air. By the end of the second session, we were running the basic counter - 47-C and 56-C - and the passes that come off them - 47 Brown and 56 Black - as well as the motions required. (We found it easier, for these kids at least, to send the man in motion by having the QB lift his heel, and snapping the ball on "GO!" every time.) By the end of the third session, we were running the basic roll-out - 88 Brown and 99 Black - as well as trap in one direction (3 trap 2) and "G" in one direction (6-G). And we were running most of the plays from spread formation as well as tight. We concluded the final session by reviewing everything we'd taught, in addition to a base sweep - 88 G-Reach and 99 G-Reach. For the most part, we believe that we've got of the kids in the positions where they'll be most successful, and we've introduced them to the basics, but in a school where kids come and go according to the desires of the courts, and where the possibility is ever-present of a kid simply deciding that he doesn't want the physical and mental demands of football any more, Brad and PJ and the rest of the Clarinda staff face challenges that few high school coaches can comprehend. Clarinda Academy has never had a winning season. If this year should happen to be the year the Eagles break through, they'll all rejoice. And next year, they'll start all over again. *********** Coach Wyatt, I just finished reading your webpage for Tuesday. I had the chance to see Eagles Landing play againt Lincoln County in the state playoffs. They are one county over from where I live. Its about a 40 minute drive near Clark Hill Lake. That running back is one of the best in single A I have seen. Lincoln County has one of the best traditions of any public school in the state. Thier head coach Larry Cambell has won over 500 games and Lincoln county has won a dozen state championships. It seems these two schools will be seeing alot of each other in the playoffs in the future. I look forward to going to the game if they meet again. Dan King Evans Ga UPDATE ON THE CAMAS STADIUM - (IN THE PHOTO AT BOTTOM RIGHT, THAT'S MOUNT HOOD OFF IN THE DISTANCE)
*********** Just back from my annual visits to the Heartland – Beloit, Kansas and Clarinda, Iowa, and places in between. Lots to tell about, including some very interesting stops… The town where George Washington Carver went to high school… General Eisenhower’s boyhood home and his presidential museum… Manhattan, Kansas, the home of the Kansas State Wildcats. And, of course, a week with the Double Wing and some of the best Double Wing coaches I know. Photos and story on Friday *********** From Sports Business Journal… Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s new sports bar next to Air Canada Centre will sell plenty of beer and chicken wings on game days, but it’s on nights when the arena is full for concerts that the company hopes to cash in on a big food and drink payday. MLSE, owner of the Leafs, the Raptors and the arena, independently owns and operates the restaurant, Real Sports Bar & Grill. The venue opens today in 25,000 square feet that is part of downtown Toronto’s $455 million Maple Leaf Square mixed-use development, in which MLSE is a partner. The two-floor eatery operates 112 beer taps and serves 12 varieties of both wings and burgers in an effort to distinguish itself from a “million sports bars in this town,” said Bob Hunter, MLSE’s executive vice president of venues and entertainment. The clear-cut difference could come when touring shows play Air Canada Centre, and Real Sports’ 990-capacity room becomes an extension of the 19,800-seat arena. MLSE is looking at carrying exclusive live broadcasts of arena concerts on the sports bar’s 39-foot-tall high-definition television and 199 smaller screens and charging at the door, maybe $15 to $20, Hunter said. But here’s the part I like … On game nights, fans will have a great view gazing up at Maple Leafs and Raptors players hanging out at the VIP Player Lounge, a slightly elevated space in the middle of Real Sports Bar & Grill with roomy couches and a fireplace. It holds 20 people and MLSE restricts its access. Wow. Imagine being able to sit there with the other proles, paying their ripoff prices for food and drink, and being able to look up and actually watch real millionaire athletes partying. Maybe if we're really good, they'll pour a drink on us or something. *********** Coach- I received your Troubleshooting the DW video today. I was able to watch some of it this morning and will watch the rest tonight. You touched on a concern I have regarding blocking. In our league the defensive alignment must be a 6-man front(no nose) MLB and OLB’s with 2 safeties. My concern is that when we pull the guard and the center covers the DG that MLB will have a clear path on a blitz. In the video you had said the center should not fire out to the guard but wait a second or two and then decide on who to block. If the MLB blitzes then the center would pick up the backer but the DG would have a clear path or it could be the other way with the MLB having a clear path as the center picked up the guard. Is the answer not to pull the tackle and have him block down on DG and center takes the MLB as we obviously don’t know when he will be blitzing but we will be covered if he does? I would like to get your take on this. Coach, First of all, I'm surprised that a league that stipulates what defense must be played (undoubtedly to give offenses a chance) would then allow blitzing. To answer your question, this is not a problem. The defense will tell the center who(m) to block if the center will be patient and "stay in his stance.". A backside defensive lineman can't hurt the play firing straight across. He can only hurt the play if by some chance he can chase the play down, which the DG can only do if he can go through where the center is. If the center holds his spot and extends his near arm at the backside guard he will buy himself a little time. On the other hand, if the LBer is up on the line threatening a blitz, we have to treat him, even though he is standing up, and a nose man, meaning that it's an odd front, which we handle as a "TNT" look, as described in the playbook. This situation is common when we play a 4-4, and the drill we use to prepare him is shown in "A Fine Line." *********** Coach, I just finished reading the July 12 News and I think that your posting of the critique that you gave the coach on his double wing was one of the most powerful and helpful posts I have ever seen on your site. Thanks for putting it on. Even though we do not run the double wing I am looking at our base play from the same perspective that you were dissecting the power as I prepare for our camp and preseason. Great work. John Bothe *********** Coach Wyatt, Just wanted to drop you a note and ask a question. First thanks for all your help. We had a pretty good year last year. We went 7-3 and advanced to the playoffs for the third straight year. We had a good year running the ball. We rushed 510 times for over 3400 yds. My question is about the passing game. I was wondering how much time you devote to it. We struggled throwing the ball last year completing under 40% of our throws. I think I'm to blame we had a qb with a good arm and a couple of kids who could catch. I don't know that we spent enough time on it. But I don't think we could have taken any time away from the running game and been as good as we were running the Scott Whaley Coach, Here's the real issue: your passing game is built in the off-season, and depends on how much work the kids are willing to put into it. Once the season starts, it's hard to spend a lot of time on the basics of a passing game. The answer to your question is "as much time as we can afford." I know that that's dodging the exact answer, because it varies according to how much time you much devote to your running game, and how much you'll get out of the time you devote to passing. First of all, if your running game is not where it needs to be, the answer is not to devote more time to the passing game. And second, unless you have the talent in the right places to produce an effective passing game, the time spent on passing is better spent on running. From the sound of things, you could possibly have spent more time last year on passing. Who knows at what point it would have begun to cut into those 3400 yards. Hope that helps. *********** No offense to my many friends and fellow coaches in California, but while you guys are coaching or working at your day jobs or spending time with your families, some of your fellow Californians stay busy making your state a national laughingstock. In this case, it’s a bill in the state legislature to defrock the state rock – serpentine - because it contains (ohmigod) asbestos. Right-thinking Californians say it the bill, if passed, could expose museums, where serpentine jewelry can be found, to lawsuits from the asbestos-is-radioactive crowd. Geologists, who for the most part oppose the bill, say that the type of asbestos found in serpentine is less harmful than other forms of asbestos, and would only be a danger if a person were to breathe its dust repeatedly. Of course, they point out, this is true of most rocks. “There is no way anyone is going to get bothered by casual exposure to that kind of rock,” Malcolm Ross, a retired geologist, told the New York Times. “Unless they were breaking it up with a sledgehammer year after year.”
And then there's the fruit. The strawberries are the best anywhere, but they're about done now. What we still have, though, are cherries (Rainier cherries at top left, Bing cherries at bottom left), raspberries and blueberries. Yet to come are blackberries and their cousins, the marionberries and boysenberries. *********** Dear Hugh, I was born in 1982 and played hockey on a home-made lake rink with my friends for entire days imagining myself as Steve Yzerman or Chris Osgood (while my Nintendo lay fallow indoors). Obviously I was just one kid, but it always gets me when people from an older generation riff on Aristotle's famous quote about the youth of today: "The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders.... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross theirlegs, and are tyrants over their teachers." You are probably right anyways, but I had to stand up for myself and my worn out Bauer skates in my parents basement. God Bless, Tyler Sellhorn *********** Not too many people realize that long before he ever got involved in baseball, the late George Steinbrenner was a football guy. He played at Culver (Indiana) Military Academy and Williams College, and worked as an assistant coach at Northwestern and then at Purdue before his father pressured him to help with the then-struggling family shipbuilding business. *********** Lots of mystery, it would seem, about the late-summer departure of Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson. But Tony Barnhart, writing in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, made some sense of it. First of all, Barnhart wrote, Johnson did a great job: Of the 66 games he lost in his eight years at Vandy, twenty-six were by seven points or less. He was only the third coach in school history to hold the job for eight years or more. And he refused to use Vanderbilt’s high academic standards as an excuse. He said that in recruiting, between the SEC, an education worth about $240,000, and the city of Nashville, “That should be enough.” As for his timing? Barnhart wrote, “My take is that after all of those tough years together, Johnson felt his staff deserved a chance to carry on without him. If he had left last December that probably doesn’t happen. Now Caldwell and this staff have a year to prove to Vanderbilt that they can get the job done. He owed them that. Some Vanderbilt fans won’t like that and it’s understandable. But my belief is that Bobby Johnson felt that his first loyalty after (his wife) Catherine was to the men who had slugged it out in the trenches with him for the past eight years.”
Yuk. It looks like it belongs on the hood of an old car or on the arm of a state trooper *********** Anybody can plan - the important thing is to put those plans into action... There are five birds on a telephone wire. Two decide to fly south. How many are left? No, it’s not three; it’s five. Deciding to fly south and actually flying south are two different things. The life lesson is that you’ll never get where you want to go until you point yourself in the right direction, jump off the wire, and start flapping your wings. From Character Counts… *********** My son, Ed, in Australia, writes, “I hooked our radio station up with Pat Kelly, former Yankee 2nd baseman now living in Adelaide. He told this story about Steinbrenner”: Pat's father came in for a game and was waiting for him after the game in the parking lot under Yankee Stadium. He was wearing a t-shirt and sneakers, sitting on the tailgate of his pickup having a beer. Steinbrenner happened by, introduced himself and asked who he was. When he found out it was Pat's old man, Steinbrenner sat down and had a beer with Pat's dad. Afterward he thanked him, then said, "Next time you come in here, I want you to be driving a better vehicle. Your son's making a lot of money, get him to buy you a car. And wear a shirt with a collar and some nice shoes." How great is that? Great story. Steinbrenner had his good points and his bad points, but overall, I put him, Jerry Jones and Donald Trump high on my list of people whose selfishness and lack of concern for their sport and their partners has ruined sports. Hell, Trump took down an entire league ("small potatoes," as he referred to the USFL). And of course, while George Steinbrenner had those bad points, I think we may think he was a saint in comparison with his moneygrubbing sons. *********** Bet you never knew that the Constitution gave us a Right to Lie. I have railed here many times about people who pad their resumes or inflate their reputations by claiming to have played pro football when they didn’t, or to have coached some place where they simply didn’t. They are blowhards, and they are frauds, and they steal attention – sometimes jobs – from people of real accomplishments who don’t boast about them. But they’re nothing compared with the guys who claim military honors that they simply haven’t earned. In some cases, it’s just a little bit of exaggeration. For example, a Black Lion of my acquaintance, a true hero of the Battle of Ong Thanh, volunteers at a veteran’s hospital, and he says that just about every old vet he helps tells him he was once an Army Ranger or a Navy Seal. Right. But what the hell. They're not the worst. The real bastards are the ones who claim to be heroes. Real heroes perform unimaginable acts of heroism in combat; that heroism is witnessed and documented, and after a review process that determines their worthiness of honor, they are awarded a medal in recognition of their bravery. Others don’t bother with the combat, or the bravery, or the review process. Sometimes, they don’t even bother joining the service. They just go out and buy the same medals that heroes earn, and claim to have won them. The length to which they carry out their deceits is often impressive. So what’s the problem? So who’s hurt? Well, the persons who really did fight and die, that’s who. The persons who still bear the scars of battle, both physical and mental. The persons who laid it on the line while the imposters sat in the air-conditioned bar and boasted of their feats. And, too, a public that believes that true heroism should be rewarded. Imposters can cause the public to question the authenticity of the true heroes. It was to put an end to such fraud that Congress passed what has come to be called the “Stolen Valor” Law, named for a book that documented numerous brazen false claims of service and heroism by people from all walks of life. But last Friday, a guy named Robert Blackburn, another one of these f—king appointed-for-life federal judges – one man, unelected - undid the work of an elected body – Congress – by deciding that the Stolen Valor Act violates the first amendment to the Constitution. It’s okay to lie. The case involved a loser who falsely claimed to be a Marine, and to have won the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. The ACLU argued that the law is unconstitutional because it doesn’t require the prosecution to show that anyone was harmed by the deceit. And if no one was harmed, then no harm, no foul. Nonsense, says Rep. John Salazar of Colorado, one of the sponsors of the Stolen Valor Law. “This is an issue of fraud, plain and simple.” *********** Coach, My first thought when I clicked the link to SI about the disqualified pole vaulter was, "Female athletes aren't supposed to be that pretty." Aren't they supposed to look like young women who become Supreme Court nominees? "Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship." Throughout your career you've had to deal with opposing coaches, teachers, school boards, parents, and fans, as well as players with all kinds of personalities. The other coaches think they are better than you. When you defeat them, they accuse you of running up the score. The teachers resent your influence over the students and are jealous of the fact that you are a better teacher of football than they are of health, biology, or "family science." The school board doesn't want to pay you and the superintendent tries to take credit for your success. The parents hate you because their fair-haired boy isn't a starting wide receiver. In fact, you don't even HAVE wide receivers on your team! The fans think they know more about football than you do. After all, didn't John Madden train them? And yet your players accept your authority and buy into your system of playing football. They endure camp, endless practice drills, pain, heat, mud, rain, and cold. They rejoice when they win and cry when they lose. Over the years a few of them got to hoist the trophy. They applaud loudly when you present the MVP to a good player. And they cry like babies when a retired Army officer presents the Black Lion Award to their best teammate. You are a sportsman in the true sense of the word. As one who works with people for a living and tries to influence them to continually do better, it's all worth it. Jim Franklin ********** Okay, all you guys out there who think that going away to team camp is such a wonderful idea… are you prepared to face the lawyers? Are you absolutely sure that something ugly could never happen with your kids? Do you really know them that well? Are you really sure that you want to spend a week away from home providing the kind of supervision that will guarantee that it won’t happen to you? Are you really sure that you have the right to ask your assistants to join you in the supervision and the assumption of risks? Are the unmeasurable benefits of such a camp – team building, blah, blah, blah – really worth the risk of allowing a handful of bad apples to destroy lives, careers and reputations? While you're pondering my questions, consider this, just the latest in a long line of outrages... Charges have been filed in Pittsburg, Kansas against 11 Seneca, Missouri High School football players, and charges are pending against a 12th, in connection with accusations of hazing of freshman football players by upperclassmen at a team camp at Pittsburgh State last month. The Crawford County (Kansas) Attorney said last week that his office had filed a total of 39 felony charges and five misdemeanor charges. Eight of the players have been charged with multiple felonies, one of them with eight separate felony charges and another with seven. I don't even want to know what really happened, but I can guess. *********** From the New York Times… In their book, “The Narcissism Epidemic,” Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell cite data to suggest that at least since the 1970s, we have suffered from national self-esteem inflation. They cite my favorite piece of sociological data: In 1950, thousands of teenagers were asked if they considered themselves an “important person.” Twelve percent said yes. In the late 1980s, another few thousand were asked. This time, 80 percent of girls and 77 percent of boys said yes. So given the current epidemic of narcissism that infects all aspects of our society, given that way too many kids think that they are way too important, wouldn’t it seem that the last thing we need is school courses that encourage it? Yet an article in the Portland Oregonian recently told about a middle-school teacher in Albany, Oregon who gave the seventh graders in his “leadership class” this assignment: *********** The schism came about when the participation-oriented Oregon Youth Soccer Association decided to make “U11” (don’t you just love that Euro-wannabe “U” crap?) competition 8-against-8, and the elite-oriented Oregon Premier League guys held fast for 11-against-11. Their problem? Having eight players on a team, while admittedly good for young kids still learning the game, doesn’t adequately prepare them for the “competitive levels,” which start when they’re 12. Hey - maybe we can learn from our soccer brethren. Why waste time teaching kids how to play? Why waste time honing their skills and coaching them up? Why not just identify as early as possible the ones who are destined for stardom? Hey, it worked for the East Germans, right? Why waste time letting first-graders play flag football, when starting them out playing tackle will prepare them better for the “competitive level” – for when they’re 10 or 11. And why let youth quarterbacks throw a youth-sized ball, one that’s the right size for their hands, when they’re going to have to throw a full-sized football when they get to high school? Why should you have the ten-year-olds playing a run-oriented single wing, or double wing, when they’re going to be throwing it from the spread once they get to be 12? Basketball? Why spoil first-graders by letting them shoot at eight-foot hoops? That won’t “adequately prepare them” for the ten-foot hoops they’ll be shooting at when they get to “competitive levels?” Baseball? Why hold kids back by starting ‘em out with tee-ball, or even “coach-pitch?” If they’re ever going to make an elite travel team, they’re going to have to learn to face heat at some point, so they might as well see what it looks like as soon as they’re able to hold a bat. And get ‘em out there throwing curves right away, too – they’re going to have to need more than a fastball when they get to “competitive levels.” Pay no attention to those quack orthopedists who say kids shouldn’t throw curves – what the hell do they know? Hey - should we be putting training wheels on bicycles? How is that going to get kids ready to ride Harleys? *********** Coach Wyatt: A few weeks ago, I read in Sports Illustrated an excerpt of a new book entitled "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk." The excerpt was a chapter on Don Coryell. I could hardly stop reading the piece and immediately ordered the book on Amazon. Well, I pre-ordered it. It wasn't supposed to arrive until well into August. Much to my surprise, last week Amazon sent an update saying my book would arrive in just a few days. I got it over the weekend. The first three chapters cover the origins of, in order, the single wing, Wing-T, and the Wildcat. And there, on page 36, a true pioneer's name jumped out. Right there, on the same pages with names of legends like Pop Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Dick Kazmaier, and Tubby Raymond was the familiar and deserving name of another fellow, a genius in his own right. The name Hugh Wyatt jumped off the page. I stopped and re-read it again. And then it dawned on me. OF COURSE Hugh Wyatt would be in a book that included a chapter on the origin of the Wildcat. How could he not be? While I'm sure you will pass off credit and say you picked up the idea from grainy film way back when--no good football idea has been unthunk before--it's good to see your name where it belongs. Kudos to Sports Illustrated writer Tim Layden for doing the work to get it right. By the way, I stepped down as head coach here after the 2004 season because our program had grown to the point that I couldn't serve as a full-time pastor on the church side and still coach on the school side. With that move went the last vestiges of the Wyatt system at our school. Or so I thought. Before the 2007 season, we hired a guy who may one day appear in a book like "Blood, Sweat, and Chalk." He's the best football coach I've ever been around. Just don't tell anyone. His name is ------- -------, who played center at The Citadel and started three years after walking on. He had four different offensive coordinators during his time there, which meant his college career was the petri dish for a creative coaching career. We're running the Wildcat better than anyone in Georgia. You ought to see what he's done with it. He's created a way to run it out of the spread with creative blocking schemes and outnumbering opponents with motion and receivers stepping on and off the line. Most of our opponents can't figure out who's eligible and therefore who's blocking and who's running routes. But the key is the kid in the backfield. In the last paragraph of the chapter on the Wildcat, Layden writes: "Yet there are those who see the transition to a different kind of player, and a different kind of offense, as inevitable. "There are only so many plays in football; all we're doing is finding different ways to run them all," says (Chan) Gailey. "But there's no escaping the fact that high school and college football are developing a different type of athlete. Pretty soon--I don't know how long, but pretty soon--somebody is going to find an athlete who can run and throw and just take the conventional quarterback off the field." His name is Keyante Green. We don't throw with him much yet, but we probably will. Last year, as a freshman in Class A of the Georgia High School Association, he rushed for over 1,400 yards and had 2,008 all-purpose yards. He's only 5-foot-8 but can run at 195 chiseled pounds. Click here to see the continued evolution of your genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geF1psEYM9w Congratulations, Coach Wyatt. It was just awesome seeing justice served in the Wildcat chapter. God bless Coach Luke, Thanks so much for the note. Needless to say, I am flattered that Tim Layden would include my name among the real giants of the game. I will not deny taking pride in that, but I am smart enough to know that I am in over my head with people like that. I am sorry that you were not able to continue as head coach, but pleased that you continue to serve the Lord. I'm also pleased that you've found a coach who can enable the young men of Eagle's Landing to achieve their utmost. And I promise you I won't reveal his name. As for Keyante - it's going to be hard to keep people from knowing his name. He is special. Thanks again for writing. To my readers: I haven’t received my copy of “Blood, Sweat and Chalk” yet, but I strongly urge every one of you to buy many, many copies (I suggest several dozen) to give as gifts. It’s the least I can do for any author who casts me in the role of a genius.
*********** P. J.O'Rourke writes in the Wall Street Journal that there are things soccer needs to do to be less boring. He lists several things, such as allowing the use of the hands, and finishes like this... "You're almost there. Just use your hands, introduce some full-body blocking, expand the goal area, break up the game a little so that people have time to go to the bathroom between plays and maybe change the shape of the ball slightly so it's easier to carry. Now you've got a sport." *********** Tom Pagna, a former assistant Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian, died Tuesday. He was 78. Coach Pagna was the author of "Era of Ara," a great look back at Coach Parseghian's career, especially his tenure at Notre Dame. *********** By Brett McMurphy, in FanHouse --- http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com Meanwhile, West Virginia has been the nation's most successful school when playing against teams with bigger budgets. The Mountaineers' success rate against schools with a greater financial commitment is unprecedented. In the past five seasons, the Mountaineers played 17 games against schools that they were outspent by and West Virginia was an impressive 14-3 in those contests. Following West Virginia as the most successful when playing against schools that spent more money were Florida (9-4, .692 percent), LSU (13-6, .684), Oregon (19-9, .678), Texas Tech (18-10, .642) and Oregon State (27-16, .627). Of the 66 schools in the automatic qualifying BCS conferences – the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC plus Notre Dame – only six teams had a losing record over the past five seasons when playing schools that spent less money on their football programs. The Not-So-Super Six are: Duke (4-16 record against schools that spent less money, .200 winning percentage); Syracuse (10-35, .222); Washington (13-33, .282); North Carolina (7-12, .386); Iowa State (13-19, .426) and N.C. State (4-5, .444). *********** A coach sent me a DVD, asking for an appraisal, and this was my response. Maybe it will benefit some readers... Coach, I was able to find a game in which the camera was high enough to give me a decent look, and I think I'm able to give you some help. (It was the game when your opponents wore all black, with white helmets). First of all, you were relatively free of penalties and turnovers (other than the blind pass back into the middle). That's always in your favor. But as I suspected when I read your earlier e-mail, even though that opponent was not very good, it is not nearly so much a question of opposing defenses as it is the fact that you're not getting what you should out of the offense. Here are a few observations: (I always try to focus on the power play, because unless the base play is run to near perfection, nothing else will be.) 1. THE SYSTEM: For several years, in all my writing and clinics, I have been strongly advising running SUPER POWER instead of power. 2. ALIGNMENT 3. ASSIGNMENT 4. TECHNIQUE 5. EFFORT The wedge looked good a couple of times On Red-Red/Blue-Blue (88 Brown/99 Black) the backside linemen need to hinge Although the concept of my system is relatively simple, I constantly stress that there is a lot of detail involved that you must be willing to tend to. Overall, I think you have very good potential if you and your staff are willing to deal with all those fine points. That should give you a few things to consider. Please feel free to ask me about anything that isn't clear, or anything else that might come up. *********** Hi, Coach! Just thought I would give you an update on my situation. I basically decided to take the year off. I was actually considering getting my official's patch and seeing the game from that view. Before I committed to that, I was offered the opportunity to coach a 6th/7th grade team at the school where I teach. Around the same time, my son (he's going to be a 6th grader) was really bugging me to play football. As we don't have a 5th/6th grade team in the town where I live, we decided to start one. So, no high school coaching for me this year but I will be coaching two youth teams. We are going to run the Double Wing on offense and the Wide Tackle 6 on defense. We just finished up a minicamp this week and it really was a lot of fun. I also had a question for you about the hockey stick technique. This week, we worked on 88 Super Power. Here's the steps we had the QB take: 1. Bring ball to belly, pivot on right foot, open left foot to 6:00 and give a low, soft toss to the A 2. After the toss, QB takes 3 quick steps (starting with the right foot) at about a 45 degree angle to 3. On 3rd step (right foot), QB plants hard and sprints to the sideline, getting parallel to the line It looked really clean and smooth against bags. What are your thoughts on this? Nice to hear from you and nice to get an update. Well, at least you're coaching away from that den of fools in ---. You will be plenty busy, and I know that you'll quickly find - if you haven't already - that coaching is coaching! And, of course, you have a chance to coach your own son. You've pretty much got the hockey stick deal down except that (GOING TO THE RIGHT) after the punch step (not a pivot, exactly) with the right foot, the first step (with the left foot) has to be in the direction of FIVE o'clock, otherwise the QB won't get out of the way on the trap, he won't be able to get to the 6-G handoff, among other things. That "punch step" is not exactly a pivot. It's a "pivot in the air." He actually picks the foot up (and puts it down again really quickly) so the cleats don't get caught in the grass. The first step with the left foot may LAND on the center line, but the overall path is at FIVE (SEVEN if he's going to the left). I want him to take FOUR steps along the stick handle before flattening out for the blade. I wouldn't overcoach this if you are getting the results you want. I would be careful, though, to make sure he does this on the counter, where some QB's try to swing a little wider on their first step, possibly because they want to make certain not to collide with the running back. Hope that helps! *********** The recent jury verdict of guilty of involuntary manslaughter enraged the civil-rights minded people of Oakland, who were so upset at the American justice system that, according to the AP, they “looted an athletic footwear store and ransacked a jewelry shop.” Athletic footwear and jewelry stores, eh? Funny way to conduct a civil rights protest. *********** When does it all stop? Not saying that Portland is f—ked up, but their local transit agency, Tri-Met, has announced that in the interest of something called “transit equity” it uses its least polluting equipment in poorer areas of town, because, it says, their air is more polluted than that of more affluent areas. *********** Think players' remaining in college doesn't pay off for the NFL? Tim Tebow’s is the NFL’s best-selling jersey – and he has yet to play a down in the NFL. His fame is totally owing to what he’s done in college. *********** Jason Whitlock on LeBron’s “Decision”... Thursday night, his LeBrontourage and ESPN enablers dressed him in a clown suit, topped it with a black hat and turned him into a buffoonish laughingstock and villain. For seven years, James seemed to delight in, court and fuel himself with universal adoration and respect. It’s gone now, and it’s not coming back. He’s a hero in Miami, a coward in New York, a spoiled, narcissistic punk most everywhere else and Black Modell in Ohio. Where was Nike? Why didn’t Phil Knight put a stop to this, get James to comprehend the risks? It appears Dan Gilbert is irate because he realizes LeBron made LeDecision long ago. This whole spectacle was a gigantic tease, a charade. The Cavs‘ offseason approach (draft, free agency, Mike Brown, Danny Ferry) might have been dramatically different had the organization known from the get-go James was leaving. When James announced his decision, he didn’t say he was joining Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. LeBron said he was going to South Beach. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/lebron-james-chasing-celebrity-not-championships-070910 *********** A friend writes, A few years back, Bill Curry was interviewed by WFAN's Mike Francesca Francesca asked him which was the better coaching job - college or pro Curry said college, but not Division I. He explained that there's too much pressure to win and, as such, one has to recruit and keep bad people Said when he was a pro coach, it bothered him to have to keep players he knew were jerks over a less talented player who was a good guy because he needed the jerks to win games Can't say I disagree with him Course I don't understand how D-II and III football teams can make enough profit to survive.... D-II teams still give scholarships. They only make it with institutional support, but they still have pressure to make some money to try to defray some expenses. Many of them have low academic standards, and some of them little more than glorified junior colleges. D-III schools don't even try to justify their football programs as profit centers. D-III football is a sport, the way a sport is supposed to be treated by a college - as an opportunity for those of its students who wish to play to do so. They are not expected to make money. I know that some D-III schools don't even charge admission. And they do not give athletic scholarships. Supposedly. Of course there is ego and ambition and greed at that level, too, but the big difference is that players are playing for the right reason, and not as a stepping-stone to the NFL. At the very least, major colleges at some point are going to have to go back to one-platoon football. Using a word that's very popular nowadays, the current football model is "unsustainable." It takes serious lobbying dollars to get state legislators to look the other way and ignore the way state institutions pervert their missions - and jeopardize the safety and well-being of other students and local businesspeople - by bringing hired thugs onto their campuses for the sole purpose of playing games. *********** Look, I actually tried watching soccer, but that broadcast team drove me nuts. A Brit who sounds like he's a put-on by Monty Python ("and the crowd are loving it!") and makes NO concessions at all to his American audience, and a broadcast partner who thinks he it makes him sound worldly to say "OO-DOO-GWYE." If he's going to be consistent he should also say "Deutschland." Soccer people: If you have any expectations at all of winning over casual US fans – which is where the growth of your audience is going to have to take place - do NOT force us to listen to people who don’t care enough about a US audience to speak to us in our own language (which, based on listening to this guy, is not what he was speaking). Why not a guy with a German accent? Or a Spanish accent? Or a Dutch accent? At least they’ll speak English. “Shhedule?” Gimme a break. It’s not the accent – it’s the non-American English. Like listening to Dwyane Wade (“Me and Chris and ‘Bron - we ready”) for an entire game. And the pontificating! Nonstop chastising of the African fans for booing a guy who cheated Ghana with a handball. They called the booing “disgraceful.” Said it showed a lack of understanding of the game. They were saying "what's the big deal? He paid his price. Any pro would have done it." Like so many American sportscasters, they seem to think that the penalty for cheating is the same thing as a license to cheat. I wanted to tell him to STFU and open his f—king grammar book and study the part about nouns agreeing with verbs. *********** Coach, Yesterday I was out with a few of the players and we ran a few plays and I started to see an problem whenever we ran any of the following plays from Tight Formation: 88(99) Brown (Black) 3-1. For whatever reason the players would hit each other. Have you seen this before - how did you resolve it? (1) They must be lined up 1 yard apart – if they are shoe-to-shoe, they are sure to hit each other. (2) They both must take an outside release! Step at 45 degrees with the outside foot. Their inclination is to start straight upfield with the first step. (3) They both take FOUR steps (always counting the outside foot first) befire making their first break (4) They both break toward the corner - but the "1" then breaks sharply to the sideline after two steps (If he doesn't break sharply, and instead drifts upfield, he could cause problems) This way, they will rub off, but they won't collide You really have to work on their routes, though. They have to be precise for this to work, and kids do tend to get sloppy. Let me know how that looks! *********** A friend of mine who is a retired college AD says that the college sports structure is not economically sustainable. He concedes that a lot of the problems are Title IX-driven but “no one wants to go there.” He says there are four areas that must be addressed if the college sports bubble is to avoid a collapse:
*********** I doubt that I’m the only one who’s sick of the NBA free agency circus, who thinks that the constant barrage of news about giving megamillions to marginally deserving semiliterate louts at a time when teachers are being laid off and college graduates can’t get jobs is not the great publicity the league thinks it is. Does anyone think that the coverage it has been getting really reflects the public’s interest in it, or is it being shoved down our throats? The idea that LeBron James could actually commandeer an hour’s worth of prime time on ESPN to deliver a five-second message confirms once again the marketing genius of P.T. Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Yup. And there probably really were some people who tuned in thinking that King James would make his announcement in the first two minutes of the show so they could get on with their lives. It seems every generation or so the American public gets taken in like this. The last time was Geraldo’s opening of Al Capone’s vault. Before that it was Tiny Tim’s wedding. I confess. I watched it. Sort of. In a half-assed way, with one eye on the screen. I nearly wretched when I saw all those little boys and girls, human props, sitting in the background, but it was worth it just to hear LeBron, a young man with an ego bigger than Donald Trump's, say that the whole experience has been "humbling." *********** I am a BIG Duke fan, and have been since at least 1979, when my daughter first started there. That means, of course, that like all Dukies I dislike Carolina. But even before 1979, back in the 60s when we lived in Maryland and looked forward to the ACC Game of the Week (that's all we got - just one!), I've respected Tarheels' coach Dean Smith. Now, out of Carolina comes the sad news that age is taking its toll, and coach Smith's memory is fading... http://fayobserver.com/articles/2010/07/04/1010490.aspx?sac=Home *********** Coach, For the coach that wanted information about 6 man football. You can visit a website called http://sixmanfootball.com . It has a great history and rules section on the game You can also Youtube some 6 man video.. I also believe they still play it in Nebraska and at one time it was played in Oklahoma at the class C level years ago but they have converted to 8 man ball. *********** Coach, what is your view on pulling both guard and tackle for superpower? Have you ever tried just pulling the guard so the back side tackle can pick up blitzing linebackers or teams that teach linebackers to shoot gaps where the pulling guard and tackle were? Also on trap if the DT is outside shade of the playside guard do you give your offensive line the liberty to make it trap at 4? Thank you in advance, We always have the ability to run "Super O" (Guard only) should we have reason not to pull our tackle - such as when we're running Super Power from slot or spread or unbalanced, when we don't have a backside TE to cut off a chaser. But overall the pulling tackle is important to the play because he provides an extra escort for the runner, whom we teach to put his inside hand on the back of that pulling tackle and push him through the hole, looking for the cut back off the tackle's tail. It's not as if the tackle necessarily blocks anybody, but if we have the ball carrier and tackle in that close rrelationship, the defense has to get through the tackle to get to the ball carrier. On your second question: If the man we are trapping is in a "3" technique (outside shoulder of guard) we will usually trap him. Sounds as if you're referring to a 5-3 or a "Bear," and most often those guys are coached to get upfield. Normally, a trap at 4 is not an adjustment made at the line. It's either part of our game plan (based on what we expect to see) or it's an in-game adjustment. Only when our linemen are REALLY good and REALLY knowledgeable do I give them this option. That's because we don't just call a trap just because it seems like a good call. A trap is not an "anytime" play. We don't call a trap until they've given us reason to believe it's going to be there. Hope that helps. *********** Dear Christ. Will the outrages never cease? From the San Francisco Examiner... You'd be hard-pressed to find an American who doesn't know that the "S" in NASA stands for "Space." Since the race to the moon in the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been one of the most storied agencies in the U.S. government. Now, under President Obama, its mission is changing -- and space isn't part of the story. "When I became the NASA administrator, [Obama] charged me with three things," NASA head Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera. "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Maybe, as big a farce as the self esteem movement has proved to be with our kids, the idea is to trick the "Muslim world" into believing that we really do care how they feel about themselves and their "historic contribution to science, math and engineering - and then they'll leave us alone. *********** On 44/55-x Lead, what front do you X block vs. base block? Unless we can overpower opponents we usually x block against any front we see. I especially like this from slot or spread, when we almost always have a man in a "5" technique. *********** Coach, … with superpower you teach the pulling guard and tackle to stay square to the line of scrimmage and then become bricks in the wall, we have the issue with the tackle constantly pulling like counter and leading up through the hole and leaving scraping linebackers to make tackles, also the tackle seems to be congesting the hole and making running backs bounce outside. I watched your fine line video but I still have concerns with the tackle not being a brick in the wall. Thank you again in advance, You need the circle drill. It is indispensable to teaching them this very important point. You have to do this every day in camp, and AT LEAST once a week in season, preferably more. http://www.coachwyatt.com/circledrill.mov Then, all we have to do is tell him "run the circle." And when we ask him what is assignment is, he'd better tell us, "Run the circle." *********** Did you know that rugby is going to be an Olympic sport in 2016? Cool! Todd Bross, Union, Maine Yes, I did- Unfortunately, It's going to be Rugby Sevens (7 man) which is to real rugby as Arena Football is to the 11-man game. Bizarre game – seven to a side with seven minute halves. SEVEN MINUTES. Game’s over in a flash. Makes no sense, because it’s not even close in popularity to Rugby Union (15 men a side) or Rugby League (13 a side). But what the hell. It beats rhythmic gymnastics. *********** Kellen Winslow is in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame, and it’s probably because he played for Don Coryell, who died recently. Coryell used Winslow more as a receiver than a blocker, frequently splitting him out wide, where defenses did not know how to cope with a wide receiver – with a wide receiver’s speed - in the tight end’s body Recalled former Chargers’ running back Hank Bauer, "Don once said, 'If we're asking Kellen to block a defensive end and not catch passes, I'm not a very good coach.’” *********** Haw, haw, haw. You ready for this one? USC has just had to apologize to several schools, including Alabama, Florida, Fresno State and Washington, because it seems Lanie-Boy Kiffin was falsely accusing them of illegally contacting USC players. Can you imagine anything so sleazy as contacting another team’s players? Can you, Lanie-Boy? *********** No charges in the Michael Vick birthday party shooting. Seems they can’t get the victim to “cooperate.” To talk. Well, gee. What a shock. You’d think that despite all Michael Vick’s fame and money, despite the fact that this could cost Vick what remains of his NFL career, the victim would still want to come forward and see justice done, wouldn't you? Right. Not that Vick is totally out of the woods yet. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is looking into the shooting because there’s no question that - only minutes before the shooting - Vick was present at an event that characters from his shady past might reasonably be expected to attend, and where trouble – such as a shooting – might conceivably break out. And Vick's federal probation officer is said to be investigating to determine if Vick violated the terms of his probation. Meantime, the NBA free agent game plays on, but another “controversial” son of Tidewater Virginia, Allen “Bubba Chuck” Iverson, finds himself looking for a place to play. Maybe China. *********** Thanks to Alan Goodwin, a relocated Connecticut Yankee in Charlotte, North Carolina… From the New Haven Register - A Middletown (Connecticut) High School student collapsed from the heat during football practice Tuesday, and two assistant coaches were issued misdemeanor summons for reckless endangerment, police said. The two assistant football coaches, Christopher Kelly Ellis, 26, and Joshua Hamilton, 29, conducted a strength and conditioning session that consisted of weight training and running during the two-hour football practice, police said. The running segment began at approximately 7:10 p.m. consisted of sprinting up a hill several times. Shortly thereafter, one Middletown High School student collapsed. No water had been provided during this training, police said. The approximate temperature at this time was 93 degrees with a heat index of approximately 100, according to the National Weather Service. The student was taken by ambulance to Middlesex Hospital for evaluation and treatment. The two assistant coaches were each issued a misdemeanor summons for second-degree reckless endangerment. Police also found that Hamilton had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failure to respond to an infraction. I'll be honest - when I first read "collapses" in the headline, I just assumed that the player had collapsed and died. So I’m thankful for the young man, for the assistants, for the head coach, for the Middletown program, and for the game of football. Two words for those two young assistant coaches: Thank God (the kid could have died). No, make that two more words: Get smart. They are very lucky that (at this point) it's only reckless endangerment. Based on what's allowed in the off-season in Connecticut, i t's going to be interesting to learn how close the coaches came to "suggesting" that these "optional" workouts were actually mandatory. I’m sure a good plaintiff’s attorney knows how to get to the bottom of that one. While it’s possible (but not excusable) that these assistants are clueless, it’s hard to believe that there’s a head coach left in America who doesn’t understand the concept – and constant threat - of liability. *********** Hi Coach, Some bad news this morning. I am sure you remember Danny Kaler ("if they made punting illegal they would play harder") and who was the commentator for our local cable channel during the glory years of our program. Danny is very ill with cancer and the prognosis is not good. Danny also runs the Kaler Lobsta House here in Town during the tourist season. He is one of the good guys and I was fortunate to coach all three of his boys. His wife, Mary, was on the School Board during many of those years and always a very strong supporter of the program. You may remember the time he put his hands into the boiling water to pull out the Lobsta for us -- besides being a good guy he was tough as nails. He did a trick with Lobsta where he put them to sleep for the tourists and was often taking visitors out in his lobsta boat to pull a few traps. He is going to be missed and many will share a tear in his honor. Jack Tourtillotte Back in 1999 I wrote this… Jack Tourtillotte, in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, noticed Bill Davis' comment about going for it on fourth down, and says his kids did the same thing three times last Friday night - and went three-for-three. Of course, as Jack points out, it is politically safe to do so in his town: Dan Kaler, a lobsterman and restaurant owner who serves as the color analyst on the local cable system's telecasts of the Seahawks' games, absolutely hates punting. "Oughta make puntin' illegal," he once told me. "If the kids knew you weren't gonna punt, they'd try harder!" (For those of you who have never met the friendly folks in the beautiful state of Maine, that last word, spelled phonetically, would be "hahduh.") I really did see him reach into boiling water and pull out some lobsters for our dinner. Here’s some video I shot in spring of 1998 to prove it.. At that time, Danny’s restaurant was still a vision As you can see, his vision bore fruit: http://www.kalers.com/ *********** So JaMarcus Russell was found in possession of cough syrup, was he? So what’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is the guy’s almost certainly got a drug problem, which might explain why he left Oakland with $30 million of Al Davis’ money and nothing of substance to show for the time he spent there. (Well, actually, one thing of "substance.") His drug of choice, I’m suspecting, would be “Purple Drank,” aka “Sizzurp.” Let’s check out “Purple Drank” in Wikipedia…
Now let’s check out “Sizzurp” in Urban Dictionary
Apparently, real men also mix some form of alcohol with their cough syrup and 7 Up/Sprite (and, of course, Jolly Ranchers). As with other forms of thrill-seeking, drinking Purple Drank is not without its risks. In my research, I learned that several rappers who glorified it have had their careers brought to an abrupt end. By death. Really sorry to hear about the deaths of all those rappers. Of course, the effects of codeine, promethazine and alcohol in combination are known to be lethal, but that doesn’t seem to have deterred them from “singing” about the wonders of that stuff in their Styrofoam cups. Meanwhile, my hat’s off to that clever Jolly Rancher marketing guy who managed to slip his candy into the formula. *********** My wife used to teach with a woman who said that every time we fed a student free lunch or breakfast, we should say, “Isn’t it nice of American taxpayers to pay so that you can have lunch/breakfast until your parents can get jobs?” Never happen, of course, because that would interfere with the plan to convince those kids and their families (in other words, single mothers) that as certified victims they are entitled to such things as free meals. It’s why they’re called entitlements, and why so many Americans grow up believing they are entitled to lots more than the basic life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So they broke ground Wednesday in Northeast Portland for a “gathering spot for recovering addicts.” Cost? $12 million. In American taxpayers’ money. So let’s thank the American taxpayers, right? Wrong. The board chairman of the organization that will run the place told the “recovering addicts” that they should “thank the federal government.” Looking on were life-size cardboard cutouts of President and Mrs. Obama. *********** Hi Coach, Thank you so much for all your help this past spring. The head coach selection committee decided to "go in a different direction". Due to all the turmoil of the last 2 years they decided it may not be a good idea to hire a head coach from the present coaching staff. Hence I did not even get interviewed for the job. I was very upset by this move and felt very disregarded, disrespected and unappreciated as I had to find all this out after the fact. Having been one of the original coaches 8 yrs ago when this program started, I felt at the very least I should be given the opportunity to present the program I had developed; but that never happened. It has truly been a learning experience. It took me a while to recover from this emotional turmoil as the only place I really wanted to be a head coach was this school in my home town, a football program I had been in on since its inception. I had not applied anywhere else but my good friend ----- ----- who was the original HC at this school and had given me my opportunity to coach at the high school level needed an O-line coach at his new school in --------. So I'm back with -----, and running the double wing again. It is a one hour drive to the school, but at least I'm coaching, AND I'm coaching the double wing. I hope you’re having a great summer, and wish you good luck in the upcoming Coach Thanks for the update. I'm sorry that you didn't get the job you wanted. Yes, you have been through a learning experience. I have no idea what goes through the minds of people when selecting a head coach, but experience shows me that more and more, the last thing they think about is giving their kids a winning program. More often, it's to avoid stress, or simply to provide a program, as if a healthy football program is no more important to the school than a so-so minor sport program in which they might as well not even keep score. An hour each way is a tough deal, but I did that very thing last year, and if that's what you have to do to work with a good coach whom you respect and who respects you, it's not that high a price. For sure, the deeper you get into the ----- program, the more at peace you will be with the way things have worked out. It simply wasn't meant to be at this point, and my feeling has always been that if people don't think that I'm the best man for the job, I wouldn't enjoy working for them anyhow. You watch - you will very soon find yourself attached to those kids, if you haven't already. I've never known it to fail. And a year in another place will only help your credentials for when the John Stark job comes open. (Notice I said "when.") Best wishes for a great summer. *********** According to Brett McMurphy, in FanHouse --- http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com Of the 66 BCS conference schools, only five football programs failed to make a profit for the 2008-09 school year, according to Equity in Athletics data. One school, Rutgers, which spent a Big East-high $19.73 million, broke even. Four other programs, however, lost money: UConn (-$270,000), Syracuse (-$840,000), Wake Forest (-$3.07 million) and Duke (-$6.72 million). On the other hand, non-BCS conference schools weren't nearly so profitable. Excluding Army, Navy and Air Force, whose figures were unavailable, only 17 of the 51 made a profit. Utah’s net profit of $6.54 million, highest among all the non-BCS schools, ranked no higher than 49th among all 120 FBS schools. *********** In the Northwest, natives are incapable of distinguishing in speech between “awe” and “ah,” “raw” and “rah.” And that’s how we wound up with this, in a story about a couple of stolen kayaks: “The secondary market for kayaks is really limited. You can't take them to a hawk shop.” I wrote the reporter and informed him that it is illegal to keep or sell birds of prey. *********** It was a record 97 degrees in Portland Thursday – a REAL scorcher for this area, where we’ve only had three days over 80 this year – and traffic was tied up in all directions in the vicinity of the airport because Joe Bite Me was in town and everything had to make way for the vice-president’s caravan. *********** The 10 worst-performing schools in Oregon are getting $32 million of YOUR money. Portland’s Roosevelt High graduates less than 40 per cent of its students. By any standards, it’s been a loser for the last couple of decades, and It’s getting $7.7 million. Some of the money will go for – ready for this? – laptops. What – you mean all this time we’ve been telling kids to stay in school when we should have been telling them to drop out? Welcome to the America of the Future, where winners are chumps, and losers are rewarded. ********** Jack Cloud died a few weeks ago in Annapolis, Maryland. He was 85. He was a coach for more than 30 years at the US Naval Academy, and for several years after that a part of the Navy football radio broadcast team. Mr. Cloud was part Cherokee Indian. He was born in Britton, Oklahoma but at the age of 10 moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where he would become an outstanding high school football player. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served as a waist gunner on B-17 bombers in Europe. On his 10th mission, his plane was shot down over Italy. Forced to bail out, he and his fellow crew members were able to avoid capture and make it safely back to Allied lines. After the war, he attended William & Mary, where as a 5-11, 220 pound fullback he was a three-time All-American, setting a school record in 1947 by scoring 102 points, including five touchdowns in a single game. His 45 career touchdowns are still an all-time Southern Conference record. In 1948, he was the cover boy of Street and Smith's football annual. In 1990 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and at his induction, The Baltimore Evening Sun reported that Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner, "ran clear across the room" to congratulate him. "You were my hero when I was a kid," he told Mr. Cloud. He was the Green Bay Packers' sixth-round pick in the 1950 National Football League draft, and played for the Packers in 1950 and 1951 and the Redskins in 1952 and 1953, before a knee injury ended his NFL career. He spent a year as an assistant coach at William & Mary and then was named head football coach and athletic director at Norfolk Naval Station. In 1959, he went to Annapolis, and spent the next 32 years as an associate professor of physical education and assistant to the director of athletics, and serving at various times as plebe football coach, lightweight coach and assistant varsity football coach. Mr. Cloud was a next-door neighbor to Wayne Hardin, Navy head coach from 1959 to 1964.
"You can't say enough good things about Jack Cloud. He was a real trouper," Mr. Hardin told the Baltimore Sun.
"Jack was a great athlete and a hard-nosed guy who did a wonderful job as a coach. He freely passed on his knowledge and never touched a kid that he didn't try to help. He was also a master at keeping kids loose. They loved it when he'd tell them if a 'game gets tough, quit,' " "He was a Navy guy, a lifer all the way," said broadcast partner Ted Patterson. "He didn't pretend to be the greatest analyst of the game. He just commented on the plays." Mr. Cloud's hobbies included fishing, crabbing and building custom-made fishing rods. And here’s the best - he was also an accomplished needleworker, specializing in tatting and macramé.
*********** Football fans, brace yourselves … According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, a couple of enterprising guys in Birmingham, Alabama saw an opportunity and bought a large quantity of vuvuzelas before anybody else in the world had heard them. And they claim to have sold some quarter-million of the damn things online. My bet – you will see/hear them at football games because I doubt that the people bought them just to display them on their mantles. *********** Soccer goalies wear some weirdass looking outfits, but the Brazilian goalie took it a step too far in the game against the Netherlands. He was wearing something that looked an awful lot like a green Oregon Ducks football jersey. *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, My name is --------- and I teach at --------- Ontario , Canada. I have used the Double Wing Offense for the last two years for my Youth Football team and Junior Varsity High School team. In both leagues we have experience success using this offense and I will continue to do so. But I am trying to improve my knowledge and understanding of it so that we will be even more effect in the fall with the DW. Just so I have this right, if I order the Wildcat DVD's plus the Dynamics of the DW and playbook the total cost is $116.95 U.S. I will be ordering it very soon so that I have time to prepare for Sept. One more question, last season our team had a very successful year , but in the semi-finals we were beat soundly. (from a team we beat in the regular season). They seemed to be the first team to shut down the DW . We had nothing that we could switch to that might have changed the momentum in that game. Have any of your teams ever experienced a game like that , and what did you do to counter ? We use the ----------- blocking system and the core DW plays. We are also toying with the Cox Box DW set that Terry Cox runs out west. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks for your time, Colin McCue Coach, You are correct on the items and the cost. In answer to your question... There is not one "Double Wing." I'm sorry that you've chosen to use the "system" that you have. To be frank, the person who markets the "system" you are using has had only two seasons as a high school head coach himself, and so has not had a lot of personal experience in the sort of situation you describe. It is hard to say why that team "shut down" your Double Wing. But I do have to make one point here - I've been at this since 1996, and no one has yet stopped "the Double Wing." If that were so, we'd all be looking for work, or for other offenses. There is no poison pill. But they may stop a particular team running a particular form of the Double Wing (as in your case). Yes, I have seen some really poorly-coached teams attempting to run something that they seem to believe is a "Double Wing." Those for the most part are coaches who got a playbook online and then began trying to run some of the plays they saw diagrammed. They are just running plays from a Double Wing formation. They don't understand the fine points such as the interrelationship of stance, alignment, technique, and they don't understand the concept of a series offense. Those guys really aren't much of a challenge for a well-coached defense. But I have yet to see the defensive scheme that will work consistently against one of my guys' teams that is well coached and fully armed. That means, despite what the people who use a regrettable term like "smashmouth" to market their products suggest, that you do have to be able to do more than pound people. Yes, you run with power and misdirection, but you also have to be able to pass effectively. And you must be able to run your offense from more sets than just Double Tight, Double Wing. I'm told that one of those "smashmouth" people, after years of saying otherwise, has now announced that he, too, is advocating being "multiple." (Of course, now, before he can tell others how to do it, he's going to have to go out and acquire personal experience at running his new-found multiple offense for several years to prove that he can coach it.) My experience has been that unless the other team is just plain better - which doesn't seem to be the case here, since you'd beaten this team earlier - a well-coached, fully-armed Double Wing team stops itself more than an opponent stops it.
If I may make a suggestion... Time constraints being what they are, you can only run so much and do it well. Terry Cox's offense is a good one, but he does not "toy" with it and neither should you. It is a system, and if you're going to run it, I think you should it do so exclusively, and not look at it as a source of plays to augment your current package. This is undoubtedly more than you asked for, but you asked the right question. Best wishes! *********** Brett McMurphy, in FanHouse --- http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com ----- notes Although Texas' football program is way out in front of the pack in the amount of revenue it generates, four of the top six and six of the top ten are SEC programs. The $87.5 million in gross revenue Texas brings in from its football program is nearly $20 million more than the next highest school, Ohio State ($68.19 million). Ohio State spent $32.3 million on its football program, about $10 million more than Texas did. Following Texas and Ohio State are four SEC schools -- Florida ($66.15 million), Georgia ($65.21 million), Alabama ($64.6 million) and LSU ($61.86 million). The rest of the Top Ten was Penn State ($61.76 million) at seventh, followed by Auburn ($58.61 million), South Carolina($57.11 million) and Notre Dame ($56.92 million) The leaders in the other BCS conferences were ACC: Clemson (20th nationally, $35.205 million) Pac-10: USC (21st, $35.203 million) Big East: West Virginia (26th, $28.95 million). *********** Coach I have reviewed and studied your tackling, DVD ( I had the vhs) you line DVD and your practice DVD. I just wanted to tell you that they are all outstanding. *********** Interesting stats from the incoming West Point Class of 2014--- Number: 1,386
(selected from more than 12,200 applicants) *********** My son, who writes on sports in Australia, felt compelled to defend his second home recently after a prominent Australian journalist took his countrymen to task for going overboard in support of “dead end” sports. By that, he mainly meant “Footy” (Australian Rules Football), which he called a “dead end” sport because it isn’t played outside Australia. He blames interest in Footy for Australia’s failure to win Olympic gold or progress in the recent World Cup, and argues that kids should be steered into Olympic sports and soccer (which in Australia is mainly big among recent arrivals from southern and eastern Europe. Ed’s rebuttal hit on the point that kids will play what they want to play - witness black American kids' disdain for soccer and growing lack of interest in baseball. Kids aren't stupid. They want results now, and their definition of a "dead-end sport" is one in which meaningful competition only takes place once every four years. (Soccer?) Here in the states, we've just finished our once-every-four-years ordeal of listening to the “why we don't get with the rest of the world and play soccer” BS. I say to hell with the rest of the world, and evidently a sizeable number of Aussies do, too. Hey- half the reason that soccer is the world's number one sport is that most nations in the world don't even have another sport. Take a look at the nations besides us, in which soccer is not even the Number One type of football played, nations that all found soccer wanting, and now play a form of "football" which they consider a conscious advancement on soccer: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland - all of them favorate destinations of Americans. I'll give England a pass because at least they speak English, and they do play rugby. *********** I admit to enjoying some of the World Cup matches, probably because it IS a big world event, and those people DO care, but as a result I have become infuriated by FIFA's attitude. I liked the guys from Ghana, and I wanted Ghana to beat Uruguay, and the idea that Uruguay could cheat and win is anathema to any American. It bugs me that the officiating is so bad, and there is no redress, so the people in the stadia not permitted to watch replays. And just today I learned for the first time that there are not even scoreboard clocks to show running time. *********** While we were busy blowing our vuvuzelas and waking up early to catch the first World Cup game of the day, quietly and without fanfare the National Soccer Hall of Fame, in Oneonta, New York, closed its doors, unable to cover its $1 million a year operating expenses. The mayor of Oneonta, who served on the board of the Hall of Fame, suggested to the Wall Street Journal one reason why it – and soccer, for that matter - lacked support: “Parents get enough of it watching their kids play.” The Soccer Hall of Fame is just 25 miles down the road from Cooperstown, where baseball’s Hall of Fame is located, but while most hard-core baseball fans harbor a desire to someday make pilgrimage tp Cooperstown, the largest number to visit the soccer hall in any single year was a mere 17,000 visitors. A local resident who for 44 years owned a minor league baseball team in town offered the Journal his opinion on why that’s so: “At the baseball hall, you got Babe Ruth’s glove, his bat. At the soccer hall, what do you got? Mia Hamm’s sneakers?” *********** And then along comes Allen Barra in the Wall Street Journal to say it all…
The Sisyphus reference is great! In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who was taught humility by the gods by being made to roll a huge rock up a steep hill, only to have it roll back down again, whereupon the process was repeated. For eternity. *********** A friend writes... "What can you tell me about 6 man football? Where can I get information (rules, playbook - is there even such a thing? Do they actually run PLAYS?, etc.) about it? What I do know about the 6 man game is that it is basically basketball on grass, and that teams can combine to score over 100 points per game, and when a team has a 45 point lead the game is called." I wrote back... "I don't know a thing about six-man. I do believe it's only played in Texas. We have 8-man football out here, and it's not unusual for a team to be up by 45 at halftime. One team in Oregon won a state title a few years ago without ever finishing a game." Anyone who can offer information is invited to please do so! *********** I caught myself on July 4th watching the NFL Netwrok's "Hard Knocks" Marathon - a series of shows shot at NFL training camps - and not only did I enjoy getting to know the Cowboys, to give you an idea of how carefully crafted those shows were, I actually found myself liking Jerry Jones. I was reminded once again about what a bitch it is to have to cut kids, and impressed by how professionally and sensitively the pros let kids go. My boss in Philadelphia, Ron Waller, was so cold and heartless that once he cut eight guys in once stroke, bringing them all into his office at once and dismissing them, firing-squad fashion. Another thing I noticed about the pros was how few guys were actually tuned in when a coach spoke. Shame on those coaches, who for all their large salaries aren't the equal in instructional ability of a good high school teacher. Watching guys looking away, messing with tape, hiding under hoodies, I was reminded of a bunch of squirrelly middle-school kids, who haven't yet learned the academic skill called "paying attention." I know it's a small thing, and I know these guys are grown men, but considering what they're being paid, and considering how everyone is looking for the slightest edge, you'd think someone would have noticed. It just goes to show how far ahead of everyone Paul Brown was - and, 50 years later, still is. *********** Don Coryell, who gave us the term “Air Coryell,” died last week. He probably did as much as any single man – Paul Brown, Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh included - to give us the pass-happy NFL we watch today. But he was passed over in the last Hall of Fame election, a fact lamented by his Hall of Fame quarterback, Dan Fouts. "I realize Don didn't win a Super Bowl,'' Fouts told SI’s Peter King. "Super Bowls are important, obviously. But I ask you this: Is it more important in football history to win one Super Bowl, or to influence the way the game is played for decades to come as much as any man?'' *********** Two of the most powerful men in the history of sports slipped one year further into the twilight this past weekend, as Al Davis turned 81 on Saturday and George Steinbrenner turned 80 on Sunday. *********** We may not be the best in the world at soccer, but when it comes to competitive eating, we kick ass. Granted, being a wealthy nation gives us certain advantages in this area. And as with any sport in which it helps to start young, we do a great job of teaching our kids to overeat at an early age. And then, as we demonstrated on July 4 at Coney Island, it helps to have security eject any foreign contenders from our eating contests. USA! USA! USA! *********** Troy, New York - Porcelli's Double Wing Helps Semi-Pro Troy Fighting Irish to 3-0 Start By Matt Bathrick – Troy’s Fighting Irish improved to 3-0 this season after beating the Jamestown Chiefs 27-18 on Saturday night at Schenectady High School. Troy controlled much of the first half, possessing a 24-point lead in the second quarter. However, Jamestown made a push in the second half that challenged the Irish late in the game. “Tonight was a fight,” said Troy RB Andre McCauley. “We did some great things and we also did some not so great things.” The Fighting Irish first scored on a touchdown run by RB Brian Sheldon in the first quarter. Sheldon rushed for 38 yards on 6 carries for the night. After a Jamestown field goal in the second quarter, Troy answered with a touchdown run by Andre McCauley. McCauley totaled 91 yards on 9 carries Saturday, and is averaging 107 yards rushing per game. Troy scored later in the quarter on a touchdown pass from QB Ryan Job to WR Brandon Hill, who totaled 3 catches for 45 yards. Job, who completed 2 of 4 passes for 27 yards, also ran in a touchdown from 4 yards out on the next possession. Down 27-3, the Chiefs scored a much needed touchdown before halftime. Jamestown returned in the third quarter looking to strike again, with a time-consuming drive that ended in a missed field goal try. In a fourth quarter drive by the Chiefs, the Fighting Irish had a difficult time defending the pass as Jamestown marched down the field through the air to score a touchdown with a little over 8 minutes left in the game. The Chiefs went for the two-point conversion and succeeded on a completed pass into the end zone, cutting Troy’s lead to 9 points. On the ensuing kickoff, Troy’s Jahmel Tarver responded with a return all the way to inside the Chiefs 10 yard line – but was called back because of a holding penalty. However, with the ball back at Troy’s 30 yard line, a strong rushing attack was all the Irish needed to run down the clock and hold on to a win in their home opener. “We played hard and kept our heads up and pulled in the win for our city,” said Andre McCauley. “As we've said from day one, anything less than October 2nd is not an option.” October 2, 2010 is the date of the Northeastern Football Alliance championship game. Troy’s defense forced four turnovers in the game, as Jared Blais and Josh Brown each had an interception and James Rigney and Ken Jones each forced a fumble. Jeremy Rodgers and Justin Chudlinski each recovered a fumble. Tom Mazzierello led the team with 7 tackles and 3 assists, while Josiah Quinn had 4 tackles and 4 assists. This game featured another great rushing performance behind an offensive line that has been exceptional this season. Running backs AJ Faraci, Neil Keels, and Jahmel Tarver each contributed with 50, 63, and 34 rushing yards respectively. QB Matt Weber also ran for 6 yards. “The O-line came in the off-season this year, looking to work hard. We were in off-season workouts all winter,” said OL Tony Buchanan. “We had a pretty good turnout by the lineman every time. We did some running. Which I think helped us get a lot closer, to know each other coming into the season. When the season started, we all knew each other, knew what each other was capable of.” The Irish totaled 286 yards on the ground, and have averaged over 284 yards per game this season. “I think [offensive coordinator Pete] Porcelli, with his offensive line knowledge, came in and helped us out and has been huge to run the offense that he’s teaching, to teach us the way to succeed,” Buchanan added. “And so far it’s worked. We’re 3-0, we’re on the right path. We have to keep it going though, and it all starts with the O-line.”
***********HAPPY JULY 4! And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor. That's the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence, right before the signers put their names to the document. Contrast the courage of those men, who were putting it all on the line, with today's craven political leaders, dedicated 24/7 to keeping their cushy jobs - and enriching themselves. *********** Sounds almost like taking over as head coach at a new school, doesn’t it? When General Stanley McChrystal was fired last Wednesday by President Obama, it was a sign to General McChrystal’s aides to start packing - certainly those who made derogatory cracks about the President, the Vice-President, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, the President’s special envoy to Afghanistan, and assorted foreign dignitaries. A commanding general’s aides, most of them generals and colonels, serve at his request, and when a new commander comes on the scene, he is expected to put together his own team. A change of command, of course, is just a trifle more complicated than changing coaches, and even more so here, taking place as it is in the middle of the ballgame, so to speak. For that reason, General David Petraeus will likely retain a number of General McChrystal’s aides to help make as smooth a transition as possible. But then, as a NATO officer told the New York Times, “you’ll see them gradually pack up.” *********** Guys on the Army football forum were debating how all-time great Army back Felix “Doc” Blanchard or other stars of his time would do in today’s game. Do you mean bringing back those guys at the size they were then, or as they would be if they had grown up in today's conditions, with today's advances in training and nutrition, and presuming that they would be in the same size and weight percentile as they were 65 years ago? Blanchard at 6 foot, 205 would not be especially big now, but at that time he was a very big back, easily in the 95th percentile of men his age. And considering his frame, if Colonel Blaik, the Army coach, had placed a premium on size, Blanchard could easily have played at 20 pounds heavier. For the sake of argument, let's say Blanchard's young again and, just as he was in 1945, bigger and faster than most men at his position. Now, of course, we have to add black players into the mix. Giving them access to big-time college football has greatly changed the picture, and the big running back with good speed is no longer the rarity that he was then. But today's Doc Blanchard in the same size percentile - we are fantasizing here, remember - would be at least 6-2, and he'd weigh upwards of 240. No doubt speed training would have him down around 4.5 or even 4.4. Given that he'd only play one way, he would probably be an outside linebacker or strong safety. In today's pro game they'd play him on defense, and he'd become a Hall-of-Famer. On offense, in today's one-back offenses, I think he'd be a "tweener," probably not quite fast enough or quick enough to be a featured running back, but way too talented to be wasted at fullback. Think Toby Gerhart. I think that Gerhart - if he had had a Glenn Davis alongside him in the backfield - would have been the closest we've come yet to the reincarnation of Mister Inside. *********** Ever sent a kid to a celebrity’s sports camp and then wondered where the celebrity was? Guess who was a surprise visitor at a youth football camp Ben Roethlisberger runs near Pittsburgh? Ben Roethlisberger *********** Sounds as if Albert Haynesworth might not have much time to play football, no matter what defense whatever team he plays for runs.
Guy’s a one-man Full Employment Act for Lawyers. *********** Time to give credit where it's due... considering what jerks so many high school soccer kids are, considering the whining and complaining we're used to seeing in the average baseball game, considering the trash-talking we see in the average NBA or NFL game, considering the risks of sending some of our thuggish professional athletes overseas to represent us, my hat's off to the US soccer team for the overall classy, sportsmanlike way they conducted themselves. Better hope soccer never becomes a major sport in the US or they'll be jerks, too. *********** Ron Cook,writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Is it me? Am I wrong? Am I un-American for not coming down with a serious case of good ol' US of A red-white-and-blue World Cup soccer fever? Am I unpatriotic because I can't work up a good dose of hate for Ghana? When President Barack Obama placed the obligatory congratulations call to US of A coach Bob Bradley after what everyone says was a stunning win against Algeria, he mentioned that he had an Oval Office meeting with Gen. David Petraeus interrupted by loud cheering from the West Wing when Donovan scored. This is a good thing? That an important sit-down with the new man in charge of our war efforts in Afghanistan is disturbed by a soccer game? Shouldn't they, maybe, you know, have had the door closed? It's the way the players take more dives than Greg Louganis ever did. At mere contact, they go down as if they were shot, which, sadly, in some of the losing countries, just might happen when they get back home. When I flip the television to ESPN out of habit and forget that it's showing soccer wall-to-wall, I invariably see a soccer player faking a serious injury. I can't help but think of a couple of hockey players from this spring's Stanley Cup playoffs, Washington's Eric Belanger and Chicago's Duncan Keith. Belanger took a stick to the face and ended up pulling out teeth on the bench during a game. Keith lost seven teeth after getting hit with a puck in the mouth and played on. No dives for those fellows. Real men, not soccer players. (Thanks for the tip to Pope Franjo) *********** Now that the incredible excitement of the 1-0 US World Cup win over Algeria has subsided, let's see what effect it's had on you...
*********** America is out of FIFA.What to do? What to do? Blessings, Armando Castro Roanoke, Virginia *********** Hugh, Thank God we can all move ahead to more important things now that the US has been eliminated from the world cup. The reason why soccer WILL NEVER take hold in America is because it is a sport of affluence. In the NFL and the NBA, you have mentally tough kids from rough backgrounds. You have players from the inner city and the farmlands, where they had to scrape and fight for an existence. Soccer kids are from affluent and stable homes, where in many cases the mom is the dominant personality in the household. After reading books such as “The Right Kind of Heroes” or “We Own This Game”, do you really think a pampered soccer player could survive in this environment. Sports is about violence of effort, that is bred into players that are pushed and expected to go all out in practice and games. After watching thousands of youth and high school practices of many sports, I conclude that soccer kids are never pushed to the degree kids are pushed in other sports; their parents wouldn’t stand for it. Post game treats and the constant yells of “nice try” or “good try” creates an environment of soft kids playing a soft sport at the youth level. This lingers into their high school years - there is no foundation of mental toughness in men’s soccer in the United States. Coaching, are there any Bear Byrants or John Woodens running around the “Soccer pitch?" Are there any coaching legends? Do we have a American Soccer coach who can take an average player and make him better? Herb Brooks did that in 1980, beating a great Russian team, for the gold medal. Hockey is not our top sport, yet we beat countries who’s top sport was hockey. Can USA Soccer produce a real coach, again soft people coaching soft players. American soccer will never be competitive until they get of their backsides and get some grit. Ralph Balducci, Portland, Oregon Nowadays, in America, it's either a affluent, suburban-kid sport or it's a newly-arrived immigrants' sport. On the one hand, it's elitist. On the other hand, it's a way of resisting assimilation. Soccer has always been popular among people from the Old Country, but throughout our history, immigrants have found playing American sports to be the best path to Americanizing, whether it was Irish guys boxing, Italians playing baseball, Polish playing football. In the process, they impressed on the rest of America that they were Americans, too. And then there were men such as Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. I doubt that they'd have made much of a contribution to our lives if they'd played soccer. *********** While in Canada and, yes, while watching soccer, I saw a commercial for a Canadian brewer. Check out its website - http://www.sleeman.com Go to OUR BEERS/BRAND SHOWCASE and "pour yourself a pint." Cheers! *********** A dose of reality for those who believe that Obamacare would lead to health care for very American… Canada has the sort of health care system we all aspire to having, right? That’s what we’ve been told. Oh, sure, we hear about a few wealthy Canadians who don’t want to wait their turn to see a doctor, who have this sneaking suspicion that waiting isn’t necessarily the best idea when you’ve got something wrong with you – they come to the states, where they pay out of pocket for the kind of care we take for granted. Well, yeah, they tell us – but their everyday medical care is free, and it’s available to everyone. Hmmm. I just got back from a visit to Victoria, British Columbia (that’s Canada, guys) where my daughter and son-in-law and their kids live. Wonderful place. Nice people. But I digress. I was talking about health care. Here in the US, women routinely go to their OB-GYN for checkups. In Canada, the women’s checkups are performed by the family doctor. Don't want to waste a specialist's valuable time on... routine checkups. And there are waits to see specialists. Long, long waits. Every Canadian knows that. But Canadians - generalization here - tend not to be contentious sorts, like us, and so they seem to go along, accepting this as their lot. Oh – and while I was there, I read in the Victoria paper that the British Columbia's goal was for every resident to have a family doctor by 2015. In other words, it's 2010, yeras into Canada's wonderful health care program, and not every BC resident has one. WTF? This is the system that we were sold on? Brace yourselves for Obamacare. *********** Gas in Victoria, BC: $1.109. Per litre. Conversion: A litre is approximately a quart. Four litres, then, are approximately a gallon. Four times $1.109 = $4.40+ per gallon That'll be us soon. Got to pay for free health care somehow. *********** Noticed on the ferry to Canada – when did it cease to be US Border Patrol and become, instead, Border Protection? *********** Pope Franjo, longtime journalist, writes… Hugh, I am unable to defend soccer or the World Cup but I love both. In the US and Canada, we are blessed with many sports. Most of the world has just one. In flight, one can see thousands of baseball fields across the US but, most often .... they are empty. Most football fields are empty too as are basketball courts. Our youth have been giving up sport ... little by little. Our youth have jettisoned the imagination it takes to play pick up. Stickball? Never heard of it. Boy, you said it there. Everywhere you look - baseball fields, with green grass and cut infields, the kind that we would have died for, lying fallow. Until, that is, dads get home from work and drag the kids, uniformed of course, to organized games. And, of course, coach their sons, who, being coaches' sons, are a lock to make their league's all-star team. (Baseball being a dad-driven game.) But up until Dad told them to hurry up and get ready, the kids couldn't be bothered doing things on their own. I can't remember the last time I saw two kids playing catch. Occasionally I see some playing touch. I would be deeply disappointed to learn that Canadian kids (or New England kids, or Michigan kids, or Minnesota kids, or North Dakota kids) don't still play pickup games of hockey) ***********Coach Wyatt, I am a 5th/6th grade youth football coach and I recently purchased your "A Fine Line" DVD. I run another offense, but it sounded like some of your techniques might apply to what we do. I must say I loved a few of your ideas and coaching points, and I plan to use them this season. I just have a few questions about your o-line techniques as they apply to my 5th & 6th graders. 1) When your pulling linemen are blocking corners and linebackers out in space, do you still recommend using a shoulder block? And if so, how do you coach them to come into their blocks under control and not overrun a shifty defender. I had a tough time last year with kids running full speed into their blocks trying to go for the "kill-shot" and hitting nothing but air as the defender made a move. 2) Other than your "down block" section, it seemed like you teach all of your blockers to put their facemask right in the center of the defender. Does this also go for blocks out in space, trap blocks, kickout blocks, etc.? Or do you advocate, as other coaches do, teaching the players to put their helmet on the "touchdown side" of the defender to cut off his path to the ball carrier? 3) How do you drive the point home with your pulling linemen/lead blockers to "run the funnel" or "wrap" when they are running through a hole or around the end and trying to seal linebackers inside. I had a fair amount of trouble with this. My pullers/lead blockers would come through the hole or around the end, then run straight up the field and block nobody, never having turned their eyes inside. 4) A constant problem with our youth players is "pad level". From your DVD, it didn't seem like your players are all that low when performing their blocks. In fact, most of were almost face to face with the defender. Was this just your demonstrators getting lazy, or do you coach them do be at this level? We're always taught that the lowest man wins, and we coach the heck out of it with our kids. But when it comes game time, it seems like they always try to block standing straight up. The key to blocking in our scheme is not how low we hit a man but how well we can sustain our block after contact. Of course we want to stress keeping the knees bent, but think a major failing of blockers - at least pulling linemen - is "get low" by bending at the waist, rather than at the knees. Bending at the waist tends to make it difficult for the blocker to change direction, and makes it easy for him to drop his head and look at the ground, which almost assures taking his eyes off the target, and we work hard on keeping the eyes up, off the ground and on the target. Thank you for producing a great product and thank you in advance for your time. *********** Could you please email me your tight punt set up. I have seen it run before, however I cannot locate it anywhere on my dvd’s or in your double wing play book. Thank you. PS, I will be the head football coach next year and we will be a double wing team. It's not in the playbook. Our center will block man on, or if there isn't a man on him he'll block left A-Gap. B Back has right A-gap in that case. With the rest it is man on, outside gap. The beauty of the tight splits is that there will never be a man on AND men in the A gaps, too. Linemen block for two full counts after the snap, then release - fan out, find the ball, squeeze in Ends go with for the ball The wingbacks line up foot to foot with the tight ends - their release is wide as a fade until they locate the ball. They will always be widest man ON EITHER TEAM on their side B Back is at usual depth - about 3 yards. He will play safety on the Left side, kicker on the right. Kicker is at exactly 10 yards and after catching the ball he takes one step and kicks. Speed of operation is of utmost importance. The ball is not snapped on a count. When everything is ready, the punter will shout "READY." We do mot snap it ON ready. We snap it AFTER ready -any time the center wishes to snap it after he hears "READY" This will piss off the punter and his dad, but I'd prefer to have my QB back there punting. I could care less about whether some other guy can kick it ten yards farther. I want someone I absolutely trust back there, and I want to be able to run a "Wildcat" package from there - Power, G, Trap, Wedge, Counter, Sweep, Roll Out, Bootleg. *********** VH1 is set to premier a new TV show featuring "Ocho Sinco" and 85 women competing for his umm...love. Nice. Line up your daughters. The only good I can see coming from this is that it might cause a few young muslim males to decide not to blow themselves up. Why kill yourself for 72 virgins when America and VH1 will give you 85 whores now? Gabe McCown Piedmont, Oklahoma *********** It’s obvious that the recent NCAA sanctions against USC have allowed crosstown rival UCLA to make recruiting inroads on the Trojans, with the news that three incoming Bruin freshmen were arrested for felony theft. To UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel’s credit, he has already withdrawn their scholarships. *********** Next time someone throws Title IX in your face, ask them where the money’s coming from to pay for their “gender equity” fantasies. And then tell them this: an article about Washington athletic director Scott Woodward in the June 17 Seattle Times reveals that football produces 85 per cent of the UW athletic department revenue, a figure typical of most major colleges. *********** A millionaire speaks to young people about the importance of staying in school and getting a good education: “You don’t want to be a draft pick that should have did something but never did nothing.” That was John Wall, the NBA’s top draft pick and noted English scholar from the University of Kentucky, quoted in the Washington Post. *********** Want to run faster? Try what a soccer writer did. He told of his experience blowing vuvuzelas… “I tooted my horn till I was horse…” *********** COACH: Ever done any drill work designed specifically to help your team recover from a turnover or bad play ... any kind of unfavorable swing in momentum? I'd like to work on that with our freshman team this year during or "informal" summer workouts. Have heard about different kinds of drills and games that teach the concept, but can't find 'em anywhere on the 'net. One idea I had was just dividing the team and letting them play Ultimate Football ... then artificially changing the momentum back and forth -- say, by disallowing a touchdown or by having a key player on one team get "hurt" at an inopportune time (simply by telling him he's hurt and getting him off the field). Musings ... links ... whatever ya got, I'd be interested. Mike Brusko Zionsville PA Interesting question. I don't see it as "drill work" so much as creating assorted competitive situations that force kids to deal with coming from behind, holding onto a lead, etc. I think that kids benefit from playing games that create those situations. But I'm not so sure that you can create artificial practice conditions that will really prepare them for the sort of game-time pressure that leads to mass changes in morale. I think that they can only learn this from being in actual game conditions. The Army knows that no amount of training, no matter how realistic, can prepare a soldier for actual combat. At one time, when we could coach that way, I would tell the kids to simply say "f--k it!" They loved it, of course. And it worked. But that was almost 30 years ago. On the whole, I think that talking (preaching, lecturing, whatever you might call it) serves as well as drills. I believe in spending a lot of time talking with kids about my "Three R's," especially the third, which is Resilience. (The others are Respect and Responsibility.) I tell them about a guy I used to work with named Jim Hagen. Jim spent some time managing boxers in Seattle, and he used to say that as good as a guy might look, you never knew what you had until you found if he could take a punch. And then come the teaching moments. In practice, I don't allow kids to pout or sulk or whine or pound their fists into the ground or display anger, frustration - whatever - when they screw up. Nor are they allowed to get on a teammate when he screws up. They are learning (without the use of vulgarity) to adopt the "f--k it" attitude. But the best teaching moments come in games. There’s no other way to learn certain things. There's nothing like calling a timeout at one of these potential changes in momentum and saying "Okay, guys - this is one of those moments we've been talking about. We've just taken a punch. Are we just gonna lie there on the canvas?" Another boxing analogy I believe in is putting things in terms of a 15-round match (like they used to have) and when something goes wrong, I'll say, "Okay - we just lost a round. Even the best of them lose rounds. Muhammad Ali lost rounds. So what? This is a fight to the finish. Just keep punching. Let's see if they can stay with us for 15 rounds." For some reason, kids who've never seen a boxing match can understand when it's put in those terms. Eventually, you will have a corps of guys who've been through hard spots and know how to fight through them and their example will pull the less experienced ones through. And, finally, speaking of examples, there's the example of the coach himself. Kids look to him for guidance as to how to react. He has to maintain his composure and keep a firm hand on the rudder. A coach who acts as if a kid's mistake or a bad break is the end of the world has no reason to expect his kids to shrug it off as just part of the game. *********** Hello, I am a mom of a Black Lion awardee from the Irvine Chargers youth football organization in Irvine, California. My son wore his patch last season proudly on his jersey and asked if he can wear it again or if it was to only be worn last year? Our football season is getting ready to start and I wanted to make sure he followed the proper protocol when in regards to wearing his patch. If you could let us know that would be appreciated :) Dear -------, Thank you for writing. First of all, accept our congratulations for the role you must have played in raising a son who merited the Black Lion Award. The answer to your question is a definite YES. We are proud that DJ would like to continue to wear the patch. So far as we are concerned, he is a Black Lion for life. He earned the award and so long as it is okay with his coaches and your league (sometimes there are rules against it to discourage commercial advertising on uniforms), we believe he has earned the right to wear it in games. In schools, it's typical to give the award to a senior, which unfortunately means he'll never get a chance to wear it in a game. The US Military Academy at West Point has been presenting the Black Lion Award since 2003, and in 2005 it presented the Award to a second-classman (junior) on the Army team named Mike Viti, and as a result he wore the emblem for the entire next season. DJ has our permission and our blessing. Best, Hugh Wyatt Administrator Black Lion Award *********** According to an article in today's Oregonian, Portland has "45-and-counting" breweries. More than 100 in Oregon. For the first time ever, more than 1,000,000 barrels were brewed in Oregon, and there's not a single "industrial" brewery in the state. "What makes beer culture unique in Portland is the fact that craft beer is ubiquitous. Every convenience store, small restaurant and dive bar has craft beer. The craft beer drunk in our market far exceeds anywhere else in the country. It's not just a few beer nerds, either. Craft beer is mainstream in Portland; in other cities, it's still a novelty." *********** The Double Wing wins in Semi-Pro ball… The Troy Fighting Irish traveled to Oneida Vounty to take on the Titans. We won 38-10 and the game was called because of lightning with a minute left in the 3rd quarter I am getting pretty comfortable calling this spread formation double wing( I tried installing slot but whats the use) It seems this team was hell bent on slowing down traps and 4 and 5x plays and they had success doing that but we had a lot of success throwing the ball, running power and running reach plays Our quarterback Ryan Job was 4 for 4 passing for 155 yards while we gained 221 yards rushing averaging 6.1 yards per carry Next week we are finally home and Take on Jamestown Pete Porcelli (offensive coordinator Troy Fighting Irish) Update- We are now 3-0 The guys love the double wing. They have embraced it. Last year they were not scoring many points and we are averaging 34 a game now. The center wanted to buy a back plate in the beginning of season because of the wedge play but now says screw it and doesn’t wear it and loves the wedge. The lineman are actually asking for the play! *********** After the revelation that Chris Henry had suffered brain damage, probably from blows to the head suffered playng football, and that at least some of his anti-social conduct might have resulted from the brain trauma, Lots of random thoughts come to mind... Yes, this could kill football, but I doubt it. We still have boxing. Mixed Martial Arts, even. Surely they could have found a more sympathetic case than Chris "One Man Crime Wave" Henry. Paul Martha, for example. Former Steeler who once served as President of the Pittsburgh Penguins and now suffers from dementia, possibly concussion-induced. Sad, indeed. In the end, in my humble (and admittedly cynical) opinion this “football caused my problems” sing-song will be traced in some way to the NFLPA. Even matters of life and death turn out to be about money. Hey - guys like Chris Henry? I’m suggesting performing autopsies on them before allowing them to play in the NFL. *********** And then there's Michael Vick. After charging a bunch of fools $50 to attend his birthday party, I guess he felt singing "Happy Birthday" wasn't excitement enough for them.
*********** Blame it all on Joe Pa. Penn State started it all. It’s been 20 years since Penn State, an Eastern school, joined what was originally called the Western Conference – an association of Midwest universities that we now call the Big Ten – turning its back on all the non-Midwest opponents it had grown up with: Army, Boston College, Maryland, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia. Although Penn State people will talk about the high academic standards of the Big Ten schools, it was about money. Also ego – Joe wanted to play in the Rose Bowl. He said as much, and I don’t blame him for that, after all he’d accomplished. But how different would college sports look today if in 1990 the Nittany Lions had spearheaded a real Big East?
*********** I write this from one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The provincial capital and the second-largest city in British Columbia (after Vancouver), Victoria is on Vancouver Island, reached only by air or ferry. For us, that means a 4-1/2 hour drive north to Port Angeles, Washington, then a 1-1/2 hour ferry boat ride across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. On the sort of beautiful day we had for the crossing, the scenery in all directions - mountains, sea and blue sky - was spectacular. *********** I forget to mention another thing about soccer that we’ll never accept – ties. Have you seen the celebrations over ties? Ties, for God’s sake. The day that Americans accept the idea of celebrating ties is the day I start digging my bomb shelter. *********** My son, Ed, visited us recently. Since the World Cup on the telly, he and I discussed at great length soccer’s failings in its attempt to appeal to Americans. Unlike me, he knows and likes soccer – he’s been covering international soccer for several years, since working for Fox Sports World, now Fox Soccer Channel – but he’s not one to indict Americans because they haven’t fallen in large numbers for the Beautiful Game. Earlier this week, I wrote an article explaining where I thought soccer came up short as a sport that hoped to appeal to Americans, and, totally coincidentally, Ed did the same on his blog. I assure you that we did not collaborate, but our points are similar. One of the comments he received included this…
I couldn’t let that one stand. Despite my reluctance to enter into online pissing contests, I responded...
Damn. I was in such a hurry that I neglected to add the College World Series, the Lacrosse Final Four and the US Open... Also to say, "look, you one-world soccer types - you want to talk narrow-minded? Most of the nations on earth have little other than soccer to keep them occupied. One f--king sport. It's all they know or care about. That's what I call narrow-minded. "Here in America, there’s a sport for everyone. And except for a couple of weeks every four years, most of us don't give a big rat's ass about soccer. "That makes us narrow-minded? So what?" *********** The story out of South Africa was sent me by Dave Potter, of Durham, North Carolina…
Most Americans don't care enough about soccer to die over a remote. Of course, most of them don't care enough about religion to kill over one. *********** Law schools all over the United States, concerned that in this economic climate their graduates, who borrowed up to the gills to pay for tuition, might claim that the schools aren't doing enough to get them jobs, are doing something. They're faking the numbers, inflating their grades in order to make their graduates appear more attractive to potential employers. According to the New York Times, in the last two years at least 10 law schools, including Loyola (Los Angeles), NYU, Georgetown and Tulane, have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. Great idea. NFL teams are so hung up on numbers that maybe agents and college football coaches can get together and do something similar. I can envision a world with no combines, one in which colleges keep NFL scouts away from their “student-athletes.” A world in which every wide receiver runs a 4.25, every lineman benches 225 pounds 75 times and vertical jumps 34 inches. Oh - and every football player has a 3.5 GPA and belongs to FCA and works with DARE and is nearly finished his Eagle Scout project. *********** Soccer player Landon Donovan was asked, in a post-game interview, “What emotions are coursing through your system?” WTF? "Coursing through your system?" *********** Another reason to detest soccer: I saw a guy holding up a sign that said "YES WE CAN." At least it didn't say "SI, SE PUEDE." *********** Ever sat in the coach’s office and cracked jokes about the new principal, that slick pantywaist who arrived at his/her current job in lightning fashion, without any significant experience, who spent very little time in the classroom and never coached a sport in his/her life, who doesn’t understand your problems and needs (much less care about them), whose only concern seems to be advancing his/her career? "Girly man! Wussie! Phony!" Haw, haw, haw. Delightfully wicked. Why do you do it? First, because it's fun. Second, because it's so deserved. Third, because you can. General Stanley McChrystal and his aides apparently liked to do the same thing. But they made a mistake you would never make. Oh, no - you're way smarter than a four-star general and his officers, most of them colonels or higher. They dissed higher-ups in the presence of an outsider, somebody clearly not a part of the culture of the locker room. Worst of all, the outsider was reporter. And he reported what he heard. General McChrystal and the guys should have known not to do that. They do now. Thanks to the General's lack of PR savvy (wait - you telling me a four-star doesn't have a savvy PR guy as an aide?), a reporter from a publication decidedly unsympathetic to the military was able to ingratiate himself, a la Buzz Bissinger in Odessa, Texas while he wrote "Friday Night Lights," until the aides felt safe enough to let their hair down, giving him the juicy quotes he wanted. Or could it be... Gen McChrystal was savvy enough to realize that, given the President's incompetence, his delaying tactics in responding to his requests for more troops, his seeming "disengagement" in their (one) meeting, his sending to Afghanistan people who appeared to undercut General McChrystal, this was his way to get across to the American public how out of touch this administration is. For that, he was willing to fall on his sword. Not bloody likely. Instead, what we got from him was his resignation from his command. Thus comes to an undistinguished end a distinguished military career. We can only hope that now that he is the one "disengaged," he will enlighten the American public on how this President fights a war. Moral: you or your assistants got something to say about the boss? Unless you're ready to fall on your sword, be very careful where you say it. Better yet, don’t say it. *********** Dennis Miller says General McChrystal should look at it not as losing a job, but as not having to buy a drink or play for a round of golf as long as he lives. *********** Funny that the guy who was conveniently on hand when President Obama needed someone in a hurry to replace General McChrystal was General David Petraeus, who was scorned and derided by Democrats, including former Senator Obama, and referred to in a full-page ad paid for by ultraleftist organization Moveon.org as "Betray us." *********** General McChrystal must be one charismatic leader if he was able to inspire men whom he didn't allow alcohol or eat fast food. *********** I told my friend Pope Franjo that I did not leave my seat in excitement over the last-minute US soccer goal, because I knew that it would mean column after “sports of the future” column engorging our sports pages. He wrote back… in my view the sport of the future is this newest iteration of animal type staged fighting the kids adore and adults slather over. the name escapes me just now. I will take soccer over that WWF horsepoop or what I thought it would be and that is Rollerball. Rollerball had been one of most upsetting films I have ever seen. Now, I do fear the sport of the future will involve fights to the finish and of course death. TV ratings will demand it. And, we still may see prime time executions in our lifetime. I responded, Franjo, It is generically called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and it seems to have grown in inverse proportion to the feminizaton of our culture - perhaps it's a reaction to the way our schools now routinely suspend fighters, even kids who merely defend themselves. I do think we'll see the day that limits are put on "ultimate fighting." Blood sports such as cockfighting and bull-baiting were once popular, but they're now banned (which is not to say that they don't still go on, right Michael |
*********** Coach, Thought you might really like the picture... C-back following our RT through the whole on a super power. Good kick out block by the B back on the bottom right of the picture. Great down blocks by # 60 and 78 as well. We ran 53 times for 322 yards in our first game. We also were 7 for 9 throwing for 114 yards. A great first night for us. We won 35-0 over our archrival. Hope your season is going well? School and football is keeping me hopping. Keep in touch, and keep coaching! Thanks,
*********** Old friend and longtime journalist Frank (Pope Franjo) Lovinski sent me this great photo that he took at a game between Steubenville, Ohio and Inkster, Michigan, along with a little writeup: Steubenville QB Anthony Pierro (7) blasts through textbook blocking Thursday evening for a 30-yard open field romp against Inkster (Michigan) Vikings at Harding Stadium in Steubenville.The Big Red took care of business 36-0. Inkster, runner-up in Michigan state final last year, ended Big Red's 65-game regular season winning streak last year 32-28. A partisan packed house enjoyed it all as Big Red made up for that devastating last minute loss last year.
. If you’ve read Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions,” you may remember that that’s how Vonnegut depicted the human anus.
*********** Pete Porcelli sent me this shot of his kids at Green Tech, Albany, New York, at the end of their first practice. Pete added, "I went to Giants practice because it was at SUNY Albany and what do you know - the Giants D line was doing the pancake drill on some porta-pit mats. good stuff!!" 
*********** Spent most of last week visiting with family in Victoria, BC. Great place. 
*********** Bill McWilliams, who graduated from West Point in the class ahead of Don Holleder, arranged for the Black Lion Award to become part of the football program at Los Alamos (New Mexico) High School. The town of Los Alamos was established during World War II to house employees of the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb) and Bill’s dad was the high school’s first coach. 
*********** Writes Peter King in si.com about Tim Layden's "Blood Sweat and Chalk"... 
*********** During my recent Midwest swing, I made sure to visit Manhattan, Kansas (known thereabouts as "The Little Apple") and stop by the football offices at Kansas State, the only other college besides Army (West Point) to participate in the Black Lion program. The Black Lions are a part of the First Infantry Division, and the First Infantry Division, "The Big Red One," is headquartered at nearby Fort Riley, and it ws while he was stationed there that Colonel Pat Frank, Battalion Commander of the Black Lions, worked to forge close ties between his unit and the K-State Wildcats. Colonel Frank is now in Fort Drum, New York, with the 10th Mountain Division, but his legacy lives on in the relationship between the Black Lions and K-State. 
*********** Brad Knight, head coach at Iowa's Clarinda Academy, is a UNI (Northern Iowa) guy himself, and he likes both the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones. But there's no doubt who his daughters pull for. That's big sister Haylee, standing, and little sister Jerzee, scoring a Hawkeye touchdown. 
*********** There are no better summers than ours in the Pacific Northwest. Temperatures rarely get into the 90s, and it's never humid. Like most people out here, we don't have air conditioning, and we sleep most nights under a blanket. And although we are famous for our gray, rainy days, it doesn't rain a whole lot in the summers. 
*********** When a league called the Pacific 10 Conference expands to 12 teams and can’t even come up with a more suitable name, you'd scarcely expect it to waste time coming up with a new logo, but that’s exactly what the Pac-10 did.