|
Charlie
Weis Needed Two Weeks - But Paul Johnson Only
Needed Two Plays!
(See"NEWS") |
 |
Don
Holleder's West Point Roommate Remembers Him- 40
Years Later!
(See"NEWS") |
"Receive my instruction, and not silver; and
knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better
than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are
not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses
10-11)-
 November
6, 2007 -
"Without education, we are in a
horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people
seriously." G. K. Chesterton-
- ALL
NEW!
CST's
Feature Story on the Black Lion
Award
-
Back in the spring, following the Chicago clinic, I took
part in a "Ride-along" with a team of plainclothes
Chicago policemen. Click on the "Chicago Police" seal to
read more about it and see some exclusive photos, shown
only on "News You Can Use"-
-
- *********** To get on the
mailing list for my FREE newsletter - e-mail me your
name, location and e-mail address at:
oldschoolfootball@mac.com
(your information will never be given out to anyone
else)
-
- Featured in Issue #4: Dutch
Meyer's TCU Spread (1952); Attacking a gap defense with a
sweep
-
- *********** You
have GOT to see what Kansas State has done to note their
affiliation with the Black Lion Award!
-
- http://inside.kstatesports.com/football/blacklions/
-
- *********** Coach,
-
- This year the ------- -------
12 year old team will not have a Black Lion Award
winner. A few other coaches and I have agree that
we don't have a kid that fits all the qualities of the
Black Lion Award winner should have. Don't get me
wrong we have a good group of kids but no Leaders.
It sometimes feel we have robots. They can run
Practice and with out any coaches. But no
leader. Maybe next year.
-
- Coach Thank you for
everything. This coming up weekend my Team will be
playing in the Championship for the 3 straight
year.
-
- KEEP COACHING!
-
- A letter like this one tells
me that this team takes the award seriously.
HW
-
- *********** It is that time
of year again, and once again I find myself receiving a
few Black Lion Award letters of nomination that are
simply insufficient to justify the award. So, in an
effort to help those who are getting ready to nominate
their Black Lions, here is a reprint from the FAQ
section...
-
- Q. How elaborate does the
letter have to be?
-
- A. It should be thorough. It
has to pass the scrutiny of the Board. ("Timmy is a great
kid. He is very deserving" isn't enough.) It is the
opinion of the Board that a scanty letter devalues the
Award, and that if a player is worthy of the Black Lion
Award, his coach ought to have plenty to say about
him.
-
- Deal with the award
criteria, and go light on the statistics and All-Star
honors.
-
- Take a look at the criteria
- leadership, courage, devotion to duty, self-sacrifice,
and an unselfish concern for the team - and explain why
your nominee measures up. Give examples and be specific,
but please leave out details that you might not want
others to read ("his parents are both drunks") because
the letters will be shared with the Black Lions (28th
Infantry Association) and with members of Major
Holleder's family. Writing a letter nominating his
player is a small effort on a coach's part in return for
bringing a prestigious honor to one of his players.
And, it must be signed by the head coach, along with the
address where he would like it to be
sent.
-
- Q. Is the award meant to go
to the best player?
-
- A. The Black Lion Award is
not intended to be a "Most Valuable Player" award,
although your MVP could certainly be your winner if he
fits the criteria of the award. But unlike the "glory"
positions, it is quite possible that your Black Lion
Award could be a guard, or a center, or a defensive
linemen. Wherever he plays, though, whatever his role may
be, he is "that football player who best exemplifies the
character of Don Holleder: leadership, courage, devotion
to duty, self-sacrifice, and a demonstrated concern for
his team ahead of himself."
-
- Talent or skill or
statistics are not mentioned anywhere in the award
criteria. Plenty of outstanding players are,
unfortunately, jerks. (But that certainly doesn't mean
that your Black Lion Award winner couldn't - or shouldn't
- be your best player!)
-
- Q. Could it go to someone
who never plays at all?
-
- A. Doubtful, unless we're
talking about an injured starter who somehow provided
examples of leadership. "Leadership" is the first of the
Black Lion Award criteria, and - except for the case of a
player's inability to play due to an injury - it is
normally necessary to be a fairly good player in order to
be a strong leader - to be one that the other players
look up to and respond to.
-
- The Black Lion Award
definitely is not meant to be a "consolation" prize, to
go to a player who didn't win any other award. It is NOT
a "hardest worker" or "Most Improved", or "Best Citizen"
or "Best Student" award, either, although your winner
certainly could be all of those things.
-
- It is NOT a "feel good"
award for a youngster who surprised everybody by even
making it through all the drills or coming to all the
practices, or one who never complained even though he
never got to play.
-
- Q. How long does it take to
get the award?
-
- A. Your award packet will be
mailed as soon as possible after your letter of
nomination is received, but if timing is important, you
should allow us a couple of weeks minimum because there
is not enough money in the budget for overnight
shipment.
-
*********** Not a day goes by
that I don't think about Mike Lude and his
contributions to our football. Any time someone
asks me about the best way to block a play, I know I can
always fall back on the best argument of all - "I block
it the way Delaware said to block it, and those rules
have stood the test of time." And Delaware's rules
are Mike Lude's rules.
-
- And any time someone asks me
why I still teach pads-on-pads blocking, I tell them that
it was good enough for Mike Lude, the co-inventor of the
offense, so it's good enough for me. And I don't go
anywhere that I don't pass on Mike's exhortation to "stay
welded" to the guy you're blocking.
-
- I consider what Mike Lude did
in translating the blocking rules of the unbalanced
Michigan single wing into what was required by the
balanced line Wing-T to be as important as anything
anyone has ever done in advancing the Wing-T offense, and
the fact that other offenses have come and gone while the
Wing-T is still winning games is testament enough to his
work.
-
- So it was great to hear from
Mike about my latest newsletter:
-
- Hugh, absolutely right on
the money. I talked to you about Pop Warner (the
coach) and single wing philosophy being reincarnated
into our bright young coaches' "spread offenses"
Warmest best wishes!! Mike Lude (Read
more about the remarkable Mike
Lude)
-
- *********** The obvious
argument for replay is that it allows the officials to
"get it right," but in addition to its causing untold
delays, I have seen so many instances in which the replay
officials had to have been legally blind that I'd prefer
to chuck it, and go back to the days when we simply had
to live with human judgment. I thought that acceptance of
that judgment was one of the things that football taught
us, and now our game is no better than the rest of our
overly-litigious society, in which no decision is final,
and every judgment can be appealed.
-
- Like a virus, instant replay
has introduced into what is supposed to be a game some of
our society's worst features - a lengthy appeals process
that leaves us wondering if there is such a thing as a
final decision, a willingness to gamble on the vagaries
of the justice system, the injustice of only some things
(not all) being "reviewable", and the true injustice of
still being screwed, even after "careful"
review.
-
- WTF? Kansas State "scored"
against Iowa State but an official declared -
erroneously, as the video replays made clear - that the
runner had stepped out of bounds on the six-yard line.
The officials consulted, then checked the video, and
after an unusually long delay of three minutes or so
(commented on by the announcers), the referee finally
announced, "The play is not reviewable!" WTF?
-
- Alabama got screwed when a long
pass completion against LSU, which appeared to be a
catch, was disallowed.
-
- For those who claim that
instant replay mostly confirms what a good job officials
are doing, I am just enough of a cynic to suspect that
the official replay is sometimes called for on
unnecessary, no-brainer occasions when they know there
will be no reversal of the call on the field, making the
game officials look good.
-
- *********** Can't say LSU isn't
living a charmed life, after Alabama's John Parker Wilson
(wouldn't want to be him right now) coughed up a fumble
inside the Bama ten with the game tied late in the fourth
quarter.
-
- *********** It was Notre Dame
28, Navy 28, with 45 seconds left. And even Notre Dame's
NBC announcers up in the press box expressed mild
criticism when Jolly Cholly, faced with a
fourth-and-eight at the Navy 25, passed up the field goal
and went for it.
-
- Later Weis said something about
the wind. What - your chances of making a
fourth-and-eight were better than your chances of making
a 42-yard field goal?
-
- He might have tried a fake
field goal, but he'd already tried that back in the first
quarter, and it didn't work. Maybe that was because it
was fourth and 15! WTF??? Fourth and 15,
and he's faking it? Analyst Pat Haden did
criticize that call. Come to think of it, the director
probably told Haden that there'd be no more criticism of
Coach Weis, which would account for the mildness of his
comment on Weis' fourth-quarter idiocy.
-
- *********** Give Pat Haden
credit. He's essentially on the ND payroll as an
announcer on NBC, the Official Notre Dame Mouthpiece, but
he can still be fair. When Notre Dame's final
incompletion - and an apparent Navy win - was instead
ruled pass interference against Navy, giving ND a
do-over, the camera showed us a very unhappy Paul
Johnson, and Haden commented, "I think he has a right to
be upset."
-
- *********** After looking at
the video of the Navy-Notre Dame game... What a
job Paul Johnson did, closing down into a Double-Slot so
that his nasty-split ends could crack down on ND's
fast-flowing inside LBers. And Notre Dame "reacted"
by not reacting at all - moving their corners in, of
course, but keeping them at 6 yards depth and their
safeties at seven. After Navy ate their lunch a few times
with toss sweeps and option pitches, they got smart and
moved them up. And then, to win the game, Johnson hit
them with the wingback on a wheel!
-
- But then, nobody said Charlie
Weis was a defensive genius. He is, as we all know
(and as Notre Dame's stellar offensive performance has
borne out this year), an offensive genius. (By the
way, anybody know how New England's doing without
him?)
-
- One of the beauties of running
the same offense as long as Navy's Paul Johnson has is
that he's seen just about anything a defense can do to
him, and he's got answers. It took him oh, maybe two
plays to recognize what Notre Dame was doing Saturday,
and make the necessary adjustments.
-
 - With a bye week to prepare for
Navy, here's the scheme that ND came up with to defense
Navy's triple option:
Slanting Def tackle has dive
(D), outside LBer has QB (Q) and inside LBer has pitch
(P). The first time Navy ran the play, the inside LBer
was flowing so fast to the outside that the playside
tackle (*) couldn't get to him, and the pitch man was
tackled for a loss. On the next play, Navy turned the
ball over.
-
-
-
 And
the very next offensive series, Navy came out in what we
would call "Slot" or "Double Slot", with their ends in a
"nasty split" of 3-5 yards. Notre Dame made no
adjustment, other than to move their corners in (but
still at 6 yards' depth). They left their OLBs in the
"nasty" gap, vulnerable to a down block by the Navy
ends.-
- Now, the man responsible for
the pitch, the fast-flowing inside LBer, was blocked by
the Navy end. The Navy tackle now released upfield for
the safety, whom (this being NCAA rules) he was able to
block at the knees. And the playside wingback, after a
very slight pause - just long enough to freeze the OLBer
so the tackle could pull across his face, arc-blocked on
the corner.
-
- For Navy: Problem solved. For
ND: Two weeks of preparation out the window.
-
 Haw,
haw, haw! This, a flexbone version of an outside veer,
was my favorite, because Navy proved once again that two
"average," undersized Navy linemen working together can
knock the ass off a Notre Dame blue-chipper. Knowing that
the Notre Dame DT would be slanting to stuff the fullback
dive, the Navy playside guard and tackle put the wood to
him with a classic double-team. They mashed the
Notre Dame tackles, actually hitting them with their
shoulder pads (if you can believe that anyone in
this modern age would still use such outmoded tactics),
and driving them back into the paths of the scraping
playside LBers. Hmmm. Anybody know anyone else who
preaches doing that with their double-teams?-
- The QB appeared to read the
unblocked OLB, who had been trained not to leave his main
responsibility - the QB. So the QB's read was always
"give." The playside corner, who as the game went on
began sneaking closer to the line, was no factor, either,
because he had to come up to take the pitch.
-
 One
of the reasons people hate to play Navy is that Navy
blocks low. Legal, but low. Not very enjoyable for
defensive linemen used to standing up and dancing with
opponents on passing teams. As an example of what Notre
Dame's nose man had to deal with on plays going to his
left (Navy's right), here are three different techniques
he had to face. On the left, the center fires low to
playside and the guard comes in second - not a chop
block, because the first hit is low; in the middle,
as part of the scoop technique, the center slips past the
nose and up onto the backside backer, while the backside
guard takes the nose man low. Again, not a chop
block because the Navy center is making a bona fide
effort to escape the nose and is not "engaging" him.
Finally, the center reaches the nose with a high drive
block, while the guard steps at the nose then fires up on
the backer. -
- *********** The irony of the
Navy win over ND was that Navy's final touchdown - and
winning two-point conversion - both came on passes. And
both were to Reggie Campbell, who at 5-6, 160 pounds is
way too small to play major college football.
Except in Paul Johnson's offense.
-
- *********** Coach, Gotta love
Navy knocking off N.D. But I have to wonder if Paul
Johnson knows WTF he is doing - having to give the Irish
the ball back in regulation ? He lost the Midshipman a
bowl game last year with some strange play calling . By
the way just got home from seeing Matt Ryan and Boston
college . FSU has better athletes at every position
but Q.B. Looks like the Eagles will drop like a stone in
the polls so maybe they will have a rematch with NAVY in
the "MY PARENTS SPENT A LOT OF MONEY ON MY
EDUCATION SO YOU GUYS HAVE TO GO TO IRAQ BOWL" Jay
Zackular, North Reading Massachusetts
-
- Agreed - Questionable calls
on both sides down at the end of the Navy-ND game. On
fourth down, Weis passes up the field goal that would
have won the game - and then doesn't get the first
down. And then Paul Johnson, in his own territory
and having only to run the clock out to take the game
into OT, THROWS - on first and second down. And leaves
enough time on the clock so that he has to punt (to
Zbikowski!) and give ND one last play from
scrimmage. I am a BIG Paul Johnson fan, and I LOVE
to watch Navy play, and a LOVE his offense, but I do
remember the weird play-calling at the end of last year's
bowl game against BC. Navy guys were all over
me when I questioned it on the Army board. (Can't
say they're not loyal!)
-
- Sorry about BC (up to a
point - I am pulling for Oregon). It almost
happened last week at VT, and, yes, Florida State may be
having a few problems, but Florida State still has
Florida State athletes. HW
-
- *********** Speaking of
old-fashioned blocking, when the Seahawks were faced with
a fourth-and-one in overtime Sunday, they decided to go
for it. And the camera gave us a shot of the play right
down the line of scrimmage. What we saw was a sight that
symbolized everything that's wrong with NFL offenses, and
why NFL coaches normally opt for the field goal (or the
punt). The far quicker and more athletic Browns'
defensive linemen were across the line of scrimmage so
fast that it seemed the Seahawks' bigger, slower
offensive linemen, unaccustomed to firing off the ball,
were still putting their shoes on. First down, Cleveland.
And ultimately, a Browns' win.
-
- *********** I am growing weary
of all the bogus "late hit out of bounds" calls that
runners - especially quarterbacks - seem to be
manipulating officials into calling.
-
- *********** Death by Roque...
It's difficult to explain how this thing worked, but when
ESPN decided at the last minute that it wanted to do last
Saturday's Oregon-Arizona State game nationally, those of
us in the smaller region in which Fox had originally
planned to show the game still had to watch it on Fox.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with Fox's regional
productions, they tend to be rather amateurish, just a
thin slice above the high school games with their
straight-from-the-recruiting-blogs announcers. And so it
was that we in the Portland area were held captive by Fox
and forced to listen a crew which I gather customarily
does ASU games, one that included a "color analyst" named
Juan Roque. God, what a motormouth. F--ker wouldn't shut
up.
-
- *********** Things I never knew
- Doug Flutie, visiting the booth during the BC-Florida
State telecast, said the reasons he chose #22 was that it
was the number of two of his favorite athletes - Jim
Palmer (Orioles' pitcher) and Mercury Morris (Dolphins'
running back).
-
- *********** So
Jason Witten gets his improper fitting helmet
knocked off and keeps running. Well the blow hards and
the "he got jacked up!" crowd sure loved that play, so he
got his picture on the horse trailer. We all know
that NFL players are notorious for the equipment
modifications (holes in their tight shoes at the big toe
area, to lineman's super tight jerseys, almost anything
that you can think of to get an advantage or continue to
propel a superstition.) Didn't there used to
be a rule stating that the play stops when a ball carrier
loses his hat?
-
- On the religion that won't go
away note, NBC propelled the "green is universal" idea by
having the studio lights turned off, and using candles
instead. How ridiculous is the idea that you can stop
global warming by keeping your lights off? How ridiculous
is this idea that they broadcast a game in
which several jets, cars, and other modes of
transport besides walking and biking brought all of
these people together, causing all kinds of Carbon
Dioxide to be sent into the atmosphere, supposedly
promoting more "global warming", just so that
we can tell you how to live more "environmentally
friendly" by keeping YOUR lights off. All
this while still using electricity from a
coal-burning plant for the rest of their equipment.
What a bunch of BS. I don't know how anyone can
not see the hypocrisy that is known as "man-made
global warming". These people want to do nothing more
than allow the government to take away more of your
freedom. Thanks NBC, continue to drive real Liberals down
further into totalitarianism with your stupid
"environmentally friendly" broadcasts. Next thing they
will want is a tax on these "sinful" activities that we
all do.
-
- Best wishes from a place where
there is "no military solution".
-
- Ben Rushing, Baghdad (Nailed
both points. I laughed my ass off at TV By
Candlelight. What a pretentious bit of pandering.
HW)
-
- *********** The injury to Chad
Johnson reminded me of the old joke - "X-rays of his head
showed nothing."
-
- *********** Ooo-whee! Did Mel
Blount give the NFL fans an earful. When the Hall of
Famer, back in Pittsburgh to celebrate the 75th
anniversary of the Steelers' franchise, was asked about
the woeful first-half performance of the Ravens' offense,
he let go: "It' kind of embarrassing that you're in the
professional league and you can't perform any better than
that. It's pretty pathetic."
-
- *********** Coach, I notice a
couple of the newbies are looking to throw in some tricks
for the play-offs.
-
- Guys, run 88 superpower for 3
yards a carry. I know it's boring, but damn, dance with
who brung ya.
-
- Bubba Paris said it best:
"That's right. It's an off-tackle play. It's coming right
over you. And there's nothing you can do about
it."
-
- Dennis Cook, Roanoke,
Virginia
-
- *********** I would like to
sign my team, the Calais/Woodland Silverados up for the
Black Lion Award. Our team just finished the
our first year of High School Football with an
undefeated record. More impressive, this was the
first high school team to play football at any
of the 8 high schools in our county in over 70
years! Because it was our first year in the league
we were ineligible under Maine Principals Association
Rules for the playoffs but in my book my kids are all
Champions.
-
- Thanks, Ian Pratt,
Calais/Woodland Silverados, Calais, Maine
-
- *********** Had to laugh, just
read an article on Dennis Dixon and how everyone is
amazed at his ball faking skills , ..doesn't surprise me
one bit. He was a WING-T QB at San Leandro HS in the Bay
Area. Very good at that - only losses came to De La Salle
in section Title games . Joe Daniels, Sacramento,
California (Hahahaha! That IS funny. We all
know, of course, that the Wing-T doesn't properly prepare
a kid for the "next level." Another thing about the kid -
they were all over him because he played baseball this
summer instead of getting ready for football. But
in view of the season he's having under new OC Chip
Kelly, it didn't seem to hurt, and it may even have
helped him by getting his mind off football for a while!
HW)
-
- *********** Coach, I thought I
would give you some feedback on the Tecumseh Football
Season. Our Varsity program which was 2-16 over the last
two years qualified for the playoffs with a 6-3 record we
were then beat in the first round by the number 1 team in
the state (Chelsea). This being our first year here and
putting in the double wing it was very exciting, I had a
great group of seniors and as you can imagine we put up
some great numbers, we had 4,300 yards of total offense
with 3,700 on the ground. Our A back ran for 1500 and our
C back went for 1700 we broke 25 school offensive
records, many of which were set when they first put your
double wing system in back in 1997. For me probably even
more gratifying was seeing my old Defensive Coordinator
Bob Ondrovick who started coaching here in the early 70's
come back and run our MS program, of course he ran one
heck of a DW and had a blast with the kids. Next year I'm
going to try and get Coach Schmidt and Baker (old HC, OC)
back involved some place, they are all great coaches and
even better men. Now they deserve some
redemption!!!
-
- J. Mensing, Head Football
Coach, Tecumseh High School, Tecumseh,
Michigan
-
- I'm enjoying the newsletter
(I really admire and respect a coach who will reach
out and re-involve men who have been a part of a school's
program in the past. HW)
-
- *********** With all of the new
DW stuff that you have coming out, what formations and/or
plays would you put in besides the base
stuff?
-
- Other than unbalanced, the
formations I use are dictated by the players I have on
hand - and what they can (or can't) do. That is the
only thing that dictates my decision, so I therefore I
don't recommend specific formation(s) to people without
knowing their kids (and them).
-
- *********** Internet humor by a
guy named Lenn Zonder....
-
- I was feeling a bit depressed
the other day, so I called Lifeline. I was put through to
a "call center" in Pakistan. I explained that I was
feeling suicidal. They were very excited at this news and
wanted to know if I could drive a truck or fly an
airplane
-
- *********** George Ratterman
died in Colorado at the age of 80. May he rest in peace,
Had he played with anyone other than Notre Dame in the
1940s and the Cleveland Browns in the 1950s he probably
would be in both the College Football and Pro Football
Halls of Fame.
-
- Unfortunately for him, his
rival at quarterback at Notre Dame was the great Johnny
Lujack, winner of the 1947 Heisman Trophy, and in
Cleveland it was the immortal Otto Graham, still in my
opinion one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever played
the game.
-
- *********** I did think that it
was a trifle inappropriate for the Notre Dame folks to
ask for a moment of silence - on national TV - in honor
of a brother of an ND player who was shot last week, and
an alum who died earlier that day - while over on the
other sideline stood the Navy team. The United States
Navy. So what about all the Navy people - sailors, SEALS,
aviators and Marines - serving in Afghanistan and Iraq?
-
- *********** Not much argument
about the BCS standings. Kansas ahead of Oklahoma? Maybe,
but I sorta doubt it. Anyhow, that one will likely be
settled in the Big 12 Championship Game Brought To You By
Some Bigass Sponsor. My fear is that Oregon - assuming
that the Ducks can win out against Arizona, UCLA and
Oregon State - will get stuck in third place, as happened
a few years ago.
-
- But while I'm at it - what is
the great attraction that the BCS people have for
Virginia Tech? Shouldn't a team ranked where it is be
required to have an offense? And win a big game? Doesn't
a 48-7 loss to LSU mean anything?
-
- *********** I haven't written
in a while so I thought you might like an update.
We won our last three games with scores of 34-0, 25-0 and
28-0. That makes our season record 8-0, our
varsity scored 197 points this year and only gave up
6 points, in most of these games our varsity only played
for half a game.
-
- We had our first
playoff game last night against a very tough team, I
have 40 players on the team, our opponent had 95.
They had more size and speed at every position than we
did. We won 14-8, our C back was having a great
night and got hurt, we didn't need this to happen since
our A and B backs sat out the last game with
injuries. They had ten men on the line of scrimmage
and our backs weren't hitting the holes as fast as they
normally do, I think they were rusty. In the second
half I finally started calling the trap and we gained a
lot of yards in a hurry. We also were able to sweep
them from stack formation until my C back got
hurt. We had a few nice drives to eat up a
bunch of the clock and we should have scored in the
fourth if we didn't get a holding call that gave us a
second and twenty. There was no hold, I watched the
film and we teach our B back to run through the shoulder
on his reach block, the kid spun in a circle, the ref
must have assumed we spun him around by the
shirt.
-
- We have a tough team next week,
they have been in the finals the last three years and
this is our first trip to the semifinals. They run
a 4-4 with their ends in a 6 technique, and a linebacker
comes across for contain, we should do well against
it.
-
- Thanks, Dave Kemmick,
Mountville, Pennsylvania
-
- *********** Coach, I hope that
all is well in the Pacific Northwest. We just finished
our regular season last week at 8-1 and this past weekend
we won our playoff game 25-0. We now move onto the
championship game next Saturday against the only team
that beat us this year. It will be a war.
-
- Please see the attached Black
Lions Award nomination for our team. He is a most
deserving young man. I understand that this is a crazy
time of year but if it is possible to get the award by
Friday, November 16th it would be much appreciated.
Thanks a bunch for all that you do for football and the
military alike.
-
- Respectfully, Glen Page,
Riverton, Utah
-
- *********** Lansingburgh, NY is
one game away from the State Final Four.
-
- The Lansingburgh Knights twice
came from behind in the fourth quarter and then
intercepted a pass in the end zone as time ran out to win
28-25 over Burnt Hills in the Section II Class A Super
Bowl.
-
- Lansingburgh senior wingback
Kenny Youngs scored the winning points on an 8-yard
touchdown run with 49.8 seconds remaining.
-
- Lansingburgh (9-1) moves on to
state regional play Friday night against Indian River,
with the winner advancing to the Final Four in the
Syracuse Carrier Dome.
- ********** A friend writes,
"Sad to report that our head coach has decided not to
give the Black Lion Award after all. He wants to
give a "coaches" award instead. He felt if he gave
a "sponsored" award there would be people associated with
the school that would question it. When I
asked him what they would question his answer caught me
by surprise. "There are guys here who would want to
know if we give an award like that why not have an
award from the Navy as well. We give out too many
awards as it is so it's probably better we don't do
it." I told him first off we're still giving
out another award. Secondly, even IF we have
some "influential" Navy vets, and even IF
they asked a stupid question like that why not
just tell them the truth???" The Navy, Air
Force, and Marines don't sponsor award programs like this
one! And finally, any vet regardless of the branch
of service would be proud we recognize an
athlete's unselfish devotion to his team and honor his
leadership. He still begged off, and I still think
it was a lame excuse. I would love to
hear your take on this one. If you print
this on your NEWS preface it with...A coaching
friend of mine just informed me..."
-
- (You wrote) My take: there are
two reasons why a man does something: the good reason
that he gives - and the real reason. Not that the good
reason in this case is a very good one. But the real
reason is that he is the kind of guy who spends his
entire life making sure he doesn't offend, a guy who
doesn't have the testicular fortitude to defend something
good against one person who might object. Just the kind
of leader our young men need. I predict a bright future
for him in administration when he gets out of football in
a year or two - "to spend more time with my
family."
-
- Coach Wyatt,
-
- I can only shake my head at the
lack of guts evidenced by the "coach" in this article.
Makes me think several years ago to when I was
asked by our conference commissioner to address the other
organizations in our league regarding our academic awards
program. I think there's some Pop Warner rule
somewhere that says "individual awards" cannot be awarded
to players on your team. Here I was (at this
meeting) talking about the certificates and trophies we
give for INDIVIDUAL academic accomplishment and the
presentations we make at our banquet and at the
classrooms of the schools of these players. One
coach from another org said to the commissioner, "But I
thought we weren't allowed to give out awards for
individual accomplishment." To which the
commissioner replied, "These are for ACADEMICS!" I
guess the long and the short of it is that we might not
have been allowed to make these individual presentations
had we asked for PERMISSION. The fact of the matter
is, we knew we were doing the right thing. We
didn't worry about whether we made sure "everyone got a
trophy," or whether the league approved of our individual
citations. We still present our academic awards
(and now so do a lot of other teams). But we have
also given out the Black Lion Award since its inception
and we will continue to do so. It is simply the RIGHT
THING TO DO. Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina
-
- (Dave Potter has my profound
respect - and the respect and gratitude of the Durham
community - for the wonderful job he does in coaching
their young men. Apart from his win-loss record, which is
remarkable, I have seen the way he consistently stresses
sportsmanship, gentlemanly behavior and academics with
his kids, most of whom come from what could fairly be
called "disadvantaged" backgrounds, and I have seen the
results of his work. It is a shame that the cheaters get
all the attention because they win games, when the real
coaching is being done by men like Dave Potter. HW)
-
- ************* (I wrote that
the Miami fans could combine the "last game at the O-B"
celebration with its demolition by removing the seats and
throwing them at the visiting Virginia
Cavaliers)
-
- Damn, Coach. You must be
psychic. How did you know? I will be sitting (in the O-B)
in the "Dropout"section. The unknowns. The guys recruited
by Coach Elmer (Who the hell is that?)
-
- Coach.I was sitting here
pondering how the heck to sneak in a power drill to move
really fast unscrewing the seats. Then I realized we were
uncovered by you. Man, you ruined it.
-
- Well in addition to a piece of
the Orange Bowl I will send you a Padron. Heading down
next Thursday, God willing. Big hello to Connie. Keep
Coaching!Blessings, Armando Castro, Roanoke,
Virginia (Legal Immigrant and proud to be an
American).(A "Padron" is a very good cigar that my
Cuban-born friend Coach Castro tells me is as good as you
can get - legally - in the US. HW)
-
- *********** At first, I thought
that it was so cool of Georgia's Mark Richt to order his
entire team to celebrate in the end zone after the first
Georgia touchdown against Florida.
-
- And celebrate they did, drawing
30 yards in penalties. The penalties didn't matter to
him, he told his players.
-
- Cool, I thought.
-
- And then it hit me - those
rules are in the book for a reason. What, for example, if
a large number of Florida players had taken exception to
the scene, and joined in? The thought of the riot on the
field is painful to contemplate.
-
- So Coach Richt was willing to
take the penalty, was he? Isn't this akin to the
dopesters in the NFL and NBA who treat fines as merely
the price they have to pay for a license to
misbehave?
-
- The AFCA Code of Ethics is
quite clear about a coach's obligation to uphold the
rules of the game. Isn't it an invitation to anarchy when
a coach decides that he will be selective in the rules he
obeys?
-
- What if another coach decides
that he's willing to take the penalty any time one of his
players roughs the passer... or tackles the guy who makes
a fair catch... or hits a runner late out of
bounds?
-
- A penalty is meant to be a
punishment and a deterrent, and not the cost of a license
to break a rule whenever it suits a coach.
-
- I mean, what would happen to
our game if offensive line coaches all told their linemen
to hold, and not to worry about the penalties?
-
- Never mind.
-
- *********** Coach, I have
purposely waited this season until our final game to give
you an update. Last night we finished our regular
season with a 33-30 victory over Samson making us 7-3 in
only our second varsity season in the history of our
school. We, of course compete in the AHSAA (the
'public' school league) here in Alabama. Our DW
offense is why we have not only been competitive but have
won seven ball games. Both my A and C back have
over 1,000 yards rushing and my QB has thrown 15 TD
passes in only 59 passing attempts. We now have the
unenviable task of going to play the number 1 ranked,
undefeated and defending state champion Sweetwater
Bulldogs next week in the opening round of the state
playoffs.
-
- But, we are
there.
-
- I love our team, but if you'd
have told us that our team that looks like your church
youth group with shoulder pads would have accomplished
this we'd have thought you crazy. This is a classic
DW success story. We have scored 4 TD's or more in
every game we have played except one (we scored 19 points
in it- the first game of the season.) And we have
played some really good people.
-
- I appreciate all of your help
over the years, Hugh. (And all of our friendships we have
developed through networking in coming to your clinics
the past 7 or 8 years.)
-
- God bless you.
-
- Emory Latta, Providence
Christian School, Dothan, Alabama (Coach Latta has
coached high school ball in his state's highest
classification, but four years ago he took on the
challenge of establishing a football program at tiny
Providence Christian, starting out in the middle school
and patiently building. And now, in just their second
year of varsity play, his kids are in the state playoffs!
HW)
-
- *********** I was able to
change our R 3 Trap 2 to R 3 Trap at 4 (also the opposite
of this play L 2 Trap at 5) in about 25 minutes and we
looked running it against strong hitting. One of the
great benefits of the DW is that once you know the Wedge,
Super Power, Trap and Counter blocking schemes it is so
simple to add new plays that leverage these schemes. I
like the wider trap as the pulling guard makes it look
like Super Power even more than the R 6-G play
does.
-
- Take care, Dave Marco,
Hinsdale, Illinois (I tell players that learning my
terminology is a lot like learning a foreign
language. When you are just learning it, you can
barely take care of the basics - water, bathroom,
etc. But once you become fluent, all sort of
possibilities open up. Especially with the women.
HW)
-
- *********** A coach wrote to
tell me he expected to see a stunting, blitzing 3-5-3, I
told him that while I had not seen this particular 3-5-3,
I recommended that he block DOWN on all powers and
counters., because they are probably going to be trying
to run all kinds of stunts and blitzes, hitting all the
gaps. I told him to think of it, in other words, as
a gap defense (and to refer to my newsletters addressing
gap defenses).
-
- Wedging can be good
also.
-
- And since they need time
between plays to call their stunts, I would suggest
depriving them of that opportunity by being able to
running plays in a three-play-series, one right after the
other, without huddling. Even if you don't gain
that much, you will disorient the defense and tire them
out.
-
- One obvious series would be 88
SP, 99 SP and 2 Wedge. This is not difficult to do if
you're already using my no-huddle system.
-
- *********** I want Oregon to
play in the BCS title game, but even if the Ducks win
out, they still might not be able to slip past LSU. So
that means I should want LSU to lose.
-
- Except that now I have to look
at LSU - and their head coach, Les Miles - in a highly
favorable light, after two of their star players, running
back Jacob Hester and All-American defensive lineman
Glenn Dorsey, published the following open letter to the
LSU student body in the campus newspaper, The Daily
Reveille
-
- The LSU student section is
the heartbeat of Death Valley and the center of
emotion for our great stadium.
-
- But during the last two
games, vulgar language directed at our opponents by
the student section has been disappointing and
embarrassing to our school.
-
- Your chants can be heard by
the national television audience that tunes in from
all over America. When those chants include offensive
language, it only damages Louisiana State University.
More importantly, these chants can be heard by young
children in the stadium who come to see their Tigers
play.
-
- We need to support our team.
You are important to our success. But that doesn't
mean you need to insult our opponents. Let us, the
players, take care of our opponents through
competition on the field.
-
- We are taught by our coaches
to act like champions, play like champions, and win
like champions. We need you to do the
same.
- *********** WTF??? In
Maryland a Judge named Katherine Savage dismissed a
defendant who had allegedly raped a 7-year old child, on
the grounds that he couldn't understand English. What -
he comes from some "diverse" culture where it's okay to
rape kids, and his lack of English prevented him from
learning that we sort of frown on it? Hey - we don't want
to be "unwelcoming", now, do we? How about we tell him
that we will honor his culture by allowing him to rape
American 7-year-olds?
-
- Oh - one further thing - this
creep graduated from a Maryland high school and is
attending a Maryland college.
-
- *********** Well Coach Wyatt,
We have ended our regular season and first with the Wyatt
Double Wing, 9 victories no defeats, 307 points
scored!!!! Group A got the first possession and on the
sixth play ran 2 wedge for the T.D. with the kick it was
8-0. Group C was next and on their 7th play ran another 2
wedge for the T.D. and followed another wedge for the XP
to make it 14-0. Group B on our third possession and
their fifth play ran 56c 37 yards for the T.D. with the
kick it was 22-0. Group B got the fourth possession also
and on their 3rd play ran lead 47 criss cross for the
T.D. 58 yards! and 2 wedged the XP to make the final
30-0. It was a running clock from that point of the 2nd
quarter and in the end the other team pulled out and
forfeited! unbelievable! As you can see every point
was scored by different players including all wedges as
all 3 of my B-backs found the end zone one way or
another! and we had our kicker and starting A back
today, he didn't score any TD's but kicked 2 XP's , he
has been out the last 2 games and the B group A back has
been running in his place. Our C group A back had 6
carries for 65 yards!
-
- What a versatile and powerful
offense this Double Wing is !!!!! Up next Wescon Regional
playoffs, we will keep you posted!!!
-
- Thanks, Matt Marrs
-
- Mid Valley Junior Midget,
Imperial, California
-
- First Year Wyatt Double Wing -
9 wins 307 points scored - 0 losses 18 points
given up - 7 shutouts
-
- BTW - played hurry-up all day,
they called 4 time outs in the first half, of course the
last one cost them 5 yards delay of game!!!!
-
- *********** Hey Coach, hope all
is well with you. It could not be much better with us
here in Burlington. Opened our conference championship
game , 99 super power , 56c ,trap.The trap went 50 yards
for the touchdown! And boy did we keep it rolling from
there.Scored on the trap, wedge, wedge bootleg and 47c.
We held the ball about 3/4 of the game and really never
let our opponent get going. I don't think I have
ever been prouder of a group of kids. They really brought
it tonight! This has been awhile coming for these kids
and made it all the sweeter.Next week, League
championship!!!! Thanks again for
everything! PLAY OFF FEVER, GO TIGERS! KEEP
COACHING! Kirk Melton, Burlington Tigers,
Burlington, Washington
-
- *********** Hugh, I thought I
noticed something, so I looked it up - the last two
coaches to lose to Navy:
-
- Hugh Devore
-
- Charlie Weis
-
- Both ND alums. The six guys in
between were not. I think it was you who told me that
since Rockne died, the biggest successes have been by
outsiders. And supposedly Weis is being given a long
leash because he "understands what Notre Dame is about."
Yeah.
-
- Christopher Anderson, Palo
Alto, California
-
- I was not the one who made
that observation about ND grads, because to do so would
have meant doing the unforgivable - overlooking the
incredible accomplishments of Frank
Leahy.
-
- The difference between Weis
and Devore is that Hughie Devore took the job without a
lot of fanfare - he was the loyal Notre Damer who could
calm the alumni after the Joe Kuharich debacle. In
a sense, he was being rewarded for having earlier stepped
in on an interim basis while Frank Leahy was away at war.
The ND administration hoped that Devore might do the job,
but he stepped into a dreadful situation, and was saddled
by an assistant on his staff who had wanted the job
himself. So he lasted only one
year.
-
- If you're looking for a
parallel to Charlie Weis, Hughie Devore's predecessor,
Joe Kuharich, is your man - the big-time guy who came
down from the pros - and laid an egg. (Kuharich was 17-23
in four seasons, the only coach in ND history to leave
with a losing record. True, in his one year as official
head coach Hugh Devore was 2-7, but when combined with
his wartime record as Leahy's fill-in, his overall record
was 9-9-1.)
-
- And if you want another
parallel, try this - the last time ND lost to Navy
(1963), the Irish, under Devore, ended the season with
five straight losses, to finish 2-7. It probably
would have been 2-8, but the scheduled game against Iowa
was cancelled because of President Kennedy's
assassination. ND had opened with tough losses against
Wisconsin and Purdue, but then seemed to get things on
track with a come-from-behind win over defending national
champion USC and a thumping of USC.
-
- But the next week, playing a
West Coast school for the third straight week (for what
many joked would give ND the "Championship of
California") and on national television, yet, Notre
Dame jumped out to an early two-touchdown lead, then sat
back and got pummeled, 24-14.
-
- By
Stanford.
-
- "A heavy blow to Irish
pride," was how Francis Wallace described it, in "Notre
Dame - from Rockne to Parseghian" (a great history of
Notre Dame football, by the way).
-
- Thus began the downhill
slide to 2-7. Next after Stanford came the loss to Navy
and Roger Staubach. Surely that game was a major factor
in Roger the Dodger's winning the Heisman
Trophy.
-
- And then followed three ugly
losses to Pitt, Michigan State and Syracuse (in Yankee
Stadium yet!), games in which the Irish, having offensive
problems (another parallel?) could only score a touchdown
in each.
-
- Loyal Notre Damers who are
sick of Charlie Weis and what he's done to your program -
take heart. When the ND administration decided that
Hughie Devore was not their man, they acted quickly and
reopened the search. And they came up with the first
non-Notre Damer in 46 years (and a Protestant at that!) -
a "French/Armenian/Presbyterian" (as Wallace described
him) named Ara Raoul Parseghian.
-
- Intense but ever gracious,
Parseghian built a football program that even non-Notre
Damers had to admire. It's fair to say that in restoring
Notre Dame's football glory, Parseghian also enabled the
school administration to leverage his success on the
football field into the national reputation for academic
excellence that the university now
enjoys.
-
- ***********
Meet Don
Holleder: He lived and died a hero
-
- By Perry Smith | Guest
Columnist
-
- Thursday, October 18,
2007
-
- Forty years ago today, my best
friend was killed in Vietnam.
-
- His name was Donald Walter
Holleder. Those who followed college athletics in the
1950s may remember that in those days both the U.S.
Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy had
nationally ranked football teams. Navy had the potent
passing combination of quarterback George Welsh (later
the coach at Navy and Virginia) and end Ron Beagle, while
Army had Peter Vann to Don Holleder.
-
- In the fall of 1954, the
passing combination of Vann to Holleder quickly caught
the attention of the college football world. No one who
watched those games will ever forget Holly going deep and
leaping into the air to grab a perfectly thrown bomb from
Peter Vann. In his first five games of the 1954 season,
Holly averaged 44 yards per catch. Don was a consensus
first-team All-American that year as a junior. However,
the 1954 season was not a success, for in the last game,
Army lost to Navy.
-
- Prospects for the 1955 season
looked grim, for Army's fine quarterback, Peter Vann,
could not play. This led to "The Great Experiment."
Holleder, who had never played quarterback before, was
asked by head coach Red Blaik to assume that position for
the 1955 football season.
-
- Three football defeats in 1955
after Holly's conversion to quarterback brought heavy
criticism of Coach Blaik and Holleder from many quarters
but the dramatic Army victory over Navy, 14-6, brought
redemption. Shortly thereafter, Holly received the Swede
Nelson Award for sportsmanship. The fact that he had
given up all chances of becoming a two-time All-American
- and he did so without protest or complaint - played
heavily in the decision by the Nelson committee to select
him for this prestigious award.
-
- UPON GRADUATION from West Point
in 1956, Holleder chose to serve a full career in the
military. Arriving in Vietnam in July 1967, Maj. Holleder
was assigned to the Big Red One - the First Infantry
Division. On Oct. 17, a battalion was ambushed and the
troops were in desperate shape. Holleder was serving as
the operations officer of the 28th Brigade, the famous
Black Lions. Hearing the anguished radio calls for help,
Holly convinced his brigade commander that he had to get
on the ground to help. A Newsweek article tells what
happened next:
-
- "With the Viet Cong firing from
two sides, the U. S. troops now began retreating
pell-mell back to their base camp, carrying as many of
their wounded as they could, The medic Hinger was among
those who staggered out of the bush and headed across an
open marshy plain toward the base. But on the way he ran
into big, forceful Major Donald W. Holleder, 33, an
All-American football player at West Point ... going the
other way - toward the scene of the battle. 'Come on,
Doc,' he shouted to Hinger, 'there are still wounded in
there. I need your help.'
-
- "Hinger said later: 'I was
exhausted. But having never seen such a commander, I ran
after him. What an officer! He went on ahead of us -
literally running to the point position.' Then a burst of
fire from the trees caught Holleder. 'I started to patch
him up, but he died in my arms.' The medic added he had
been with Holleder for only three minutes, but would
remember the major's gallantry for the rest of his
life."
-
- Holly died as he had lived. The
willingness to make great sacrifices prevailed to the
minute of his death. At his funeral at Arlington National
Cemetery were his wife, his four small daughters,
hundreds of friends, and coaches Red Blaik and Vince
Lombardi, Holleder's offensive coach.
-
- THE HOLLEDER Army Reserve
Center in Webster, N.Y., the Holleder Parkway in
Rochester, N.Y., and the Holleder Athletic Center at West
Point all help further Don's legacy. In 1985, Holly was
inducted into College Football Hall of Fame.
-
- A few years ago a high school
coach from Washington state, Hugh Wyatt, decided to
memorialize Don's legacy by establishing the Black Lion
Award. Each year at hundreds of high schools and middle
schools, and in youth football programs, across the
country, a single football player on each team is
selected who best exemplifies the character of Don
Holleder: leadership, courage, devotion to duty,
self-sacrifice and - above all - an unselfish concern for
his team ahead of himself. This is not a
most-valuable-player award. This is a sportsmanship
award.
-
- Anyone who wishes to extend
Holleder's legacy can do so by approaching their local
football coaches and encouraging them to make the Black
Lion Award a part of their tradition. Coach Wyatt can be
contacted by e-mail (coachwyatt@aol.com). Coach Wyatt
pays for all of the expenses relating to each
award.
-
- All Americans can be proud of
all who served their country in combat. In the case of
Donald Walter Holleder, there were no impossible dreams -
only challenges to seek out and to conquer. Forty years
after his death, hundreds of friends and thousands of
fans still remember him and salute him for his
sportsmanship, character and supreme courage.
-
- (The writer, who was Donald
Holleder's roommate at West Point, lives in Augusta. He
was the best man in Holleder's wedding in 1957. At that
wedding the writer met, and later married, Connor
Cleckley Dyess, of Augusta.)
-
- From the Wednesday, October 17,
2007 edition of the Augusta Chronicle (by
permission)
-
- (General Smith's military
career was long and distinguished. As a fighter pilot in
Viet Nam, he flew 180 combat missions, and he has more
decorations and awards than I am able to list. One that I
must mention, though, is the Distinguished Flying Cross,
an Air Force honor second only in importance to the
Congressional Medal of Honor. Among its recipients have
been such men as George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Doolittle,
Curtis LeMay, John Glenn, and Jimmy
Stewart.
-
- A man of unquestioned
integrity, General Smith made national headlines a few
years ago when he resigned as CNN's military analyst in
protest of network higher-ups' refusal to retract a story
it had run saying that the US military had used nerve gas
on its own troops in Vietnam. (As General Smith had
warned them it would, the story was subsequently proven
to be false.)
-
- Now, General Smith keeps
busy as an author, a lecturer and a consultant on
leadership. In addition, he serves as secretary of the
Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.
-
- The Smiths live in Augusta,
Georgia, Mrs. Smith's hometown. Mrs. Smith's father, the
late Colonel Jimmy Dyess, was killed in World War II. He
remains the only person to have been awarded both the
Carnegie Medal for Heroism and the Congressional Medal of
Honor.
-
- General Smith writes to say
that Brian Williams, who serves on the board of the
Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation will be honoring
a Medal of Honor recipient each evening this week. Brian
Williams has done a great deal to highlight the book,
Medal of Honor by Peter Collier (which raises funds of
the foundation). The tentative order of interviews
starting tonight is John Finn (at age 98, the oldest
living recipient), Vernon Baker, Tibor "Ted" Rubin
(interviewed by recipient and Foundation board member
Jack Jacobs), Bud Day, Sammy Davis, and posthumous
recipient, Jason Dunham. HW)
-
- KEEP
COACHING!
-
 |
 All
football programs are invited to participate in
the Black Lion Award program. The Black Lion
Award is intended to go to the player on your
team "Who best exemplifies the character of Don
Holleder (see below): leadership, courage,
devotion to duty, self sacrifice, and - above
all - an unselfish concern for the team ahead of
himself." The Black Lion Award provides your
winner with a personalized certificate and a
Black Lions patch, like the one worn at left by
Army's 2005 Black Lion, Scott Wesley, and at
right by Army's 2006 Black Lion, Mike Viti.
There is no cost to you to participate as a
Black Lion Award team. FOR
MORE INFORMATION
|
|
ALL
NEW!
CST's
Feature Story on the Black Lion
Award
|
|
BECOME A BLACK
LION TEAM
GIVE THE BLACK LION
AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR
PLAYERS! |
|
|
Will Sullivan, Army's 2004
Black Lion wore his patch (awarded to all
winners) in the Army-Navy game |
(FOR
MORE INFO) |
The Black Lion
certificate is awarded to all
winners |
 -
- Take a look at this,
beautifully done by Derek Wade, of Sumner,
Washington --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yy6iA_6skQ
|
November
27, 2007 -
"I let no man drag me down so low as
to make me hate him." Booker T. Washington
***********
At Left, Coach Mike Benton, of Ridgeview High School in
Colfax, Illinois, with his Black Lion Award winner, Derek
Powell. Among the nice things he had to say about Derek,
Coach Benton wrote, "...Derek won this award because he
has worked harder than any other kid in our
program. He is a natural leader of our team.
He is the first Junior team Captain I have ever
had. Derek does everything full speed in practice
and in the game. He has made himself a good
football player by working hard both on and off the
field. Derek is an A student as well as being a great
athlete. Derek always puts the team ahead of
himself... He expressed to us at the beginning of
the season that he really wanted to play defense because
he enjoys it. We told him that we would try to keep
him off the defense despite the fact that he was probably
our best Defensive Back, but since we didn't have a
back-up QB, we couldn't afford for him to get hurt.
He took it in stride and during practice played the scout
team QB every day..."
