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SEPTEMBER 2005

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 30, 2005 - "Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good." Joe Paterno   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to our three coaches who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 I will forward donations to the coaches. They are also in need of basic essentials of coaching. Shorts(sizes: M, L, and XX) and T-shirts (Sizes L, XL, XX) we are blue and grey, but any color will do. They will wear your used coaching gear proudly. It will also show our kids that D-Wer's stick together. Any other clothing will be acceptable. These guys lost everything but the shirt on their back. As you may know the Insurance companies are claiming the houses were destroyed by tidal surge and not wind and they are refusing to pay. If there isn't anything left but a slab, who knows what destroyed the house? Data released by the Red Cross: there were 175,000 homes on the Gulf Coast(3 Mississippi counties) 38% were completly destroyed. 25% were significantly damaged or flooded and uninhabitable until repaired. 28% received some damage. Only 9% received no damage. Water in Biloxi is still undrinkable. The coast line looks like a nuclear bomb was exploded. However, we will rebuild and be stronger than ever! (A check for $1000 in the name of the Madison High Senators is on its way. HW) *********** ADDITIONAL FLASH - THERE'S A NICE ARTICLE ABOUT THE "MULTIPLE WING" - AND THE OLD FART WHO COACHES IT- BY DAN MOONEY IN TUESDAY'S PORTLAND OREGONIAN. -   http://www.oregonlive.com/prepsports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/112781871719950.xml&coll=7   *********** Bummer - our frosh scored with 1:35 to play to go ahead of Franklin, 44-41, only to give up a 40-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds to go, and lose, 48-44.   *********** My best wishes to the men of the Black Lions, who are holding their annual rendezvous at West Point this weekend, in conjunction with the Army-UConn game.   *********** Coach, I hope all is well with you and your family. We are off to a 0-5 start we have lost 3 of those games by a total of 13 points. We have struggled @ times both offensively and defensively. We lost Friday night to Leesville Rd 45-42. I did want you to know that we had a back Greg Williams `to rush 34 times for 484 yds. This was a new NC state record. Our team rushed 62 times for 637 yards. That is 7th all time by a team.That is not bad for the DW. Thanks Ron Clark, W. G. Enloe HS, Raleigh, North Carolina   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I coach a 3rd/4th grade football team in our local rec league.  While my offense is based primarily on "The Toss" by Jerry Vallotton (I found the book before your site), I still visit your site for any info that I might be able to apply to my team.  Although I feel like a sponge telling you this, since I've never purchased any of your materials, I had to let you know that your Wildcat article saved our bacon this past Saturday.   I found out at the end of practice last Tuesday that my two quarterbacks would not be available on Saturday.  In one practice on Thursday we were able to get two kids up to speed enough to run four base plays from a Wildcat formation.  Yes, we had some mis-handled balls, but with the QB off the center, there was enough time to adjust and enough space for our pulling linemen.  We only won 8-7 but the ball control we gained was priceless.   Thanks. Ladd Vander Laan, Grandville Christian/Calvin Christian Elementary Schools, Grandville, Michigan   I appreciate your sharing this with me. In fact, we have run quite a bit of Wildcat ourselves at the HS level this year.   The trick, as you have probably learned, is that the snap has to be SOFT and LOW. Either high or hard and you've got problems; both high and hard and you've got a disaster.   I hope that my site can be helpful to anyone who visits, regardless of what system they are running or how they learned it. To me,"sponges" are people who acquire their Double-Wing "expertise" elsewhere, then expect me to do their troubleshooting for them, instead of going to the person they got their info from. The subject line of their e-mails is usually "Help!" and they expect me to make up game plans for them, or tell them how to block a 5-3. Half the time, they don't even have the good graces to identify themselves.   Continued good luck to you. HW   *********** Vincent Pastore, better known to fans of "The Sopranos" as (the late) Big Pussy, recently underwent triple-bypass heart surgery. He told reporters "I can't do nude scenes now because of the scar."   *********** Coach, Glad to get the information from Coach Jones. The Umatilla Bulldog Football community will be sending a check for $500.00 to their fund as soon as our bookkeeper does checks again. I already had it approved by players, staff and my principal so it shouldn't be long. I also put together a care package tonight of T-shirts, sweat pants, etc., from both Bennington, NE and Umatilla, FL that should help them out for a while. I've lost about 45 pounds since January, so some of the XL and XXL stuff was just taking up space in my closet. They won't have to worry as most people won't know where either place is located.   Sorry to hear about your latest loss, but it sounds like you have things going in the right direction. We were off last weekend, but have to go the Citrus Bowl and play 4-0 Orlando Jones (district game) this Friday. They are big, very athletic and very confident so it will take a great effort for us to defeat them. They beat Greg Meyers' Lake Region team 42-7 last Friday night. I went over and saw that game. Lake Region fumbled the first three times they had the ball and were down 21-0 with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. If Jones gets up on top of you they are a hard bunch to manage. We have worked on ball security and being very patient as we need to keep their offense off the field as much as possible.   Well, keep them going and I know good things are about to happen for Madison High School.   Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida   *********** The scenes we saw of the poor, mostly black people of New Orleans, struggling to survive Hurricane Katrina, were shocking and saddening. Of course, somebody always benefits from someone else's suffering, and there they were, the so-called "civil rights leaders", blaming everything but the storm surge on President Bush.   And there were the mass media with the microphones and cameras on hand to record their every word. A rappers said that George Bush doesn't care about black people, and his words were printed as if they'd been uttered by Abraham Lincoln.   The mass media seemed to get a great charge out of rekindling racial animosities, and based on polls showing that, sure enough, most black people bought into the idea that George Bush doesn'r care about black people, they were wildly successful.   But while we're talking about racism, what about all those stories about armed gangs in the SuperDome? The mass media had entire nation believing that a bloody purge was taking place inside, an atrocity so unspeakable that armed lawmen feared going in there.   So an entire nation, knowing that the vast majority of people inside the Dome were black, had mental pictures conjured up for them of black thugs terrorizing thousands of other black people. Hoodlums. Monsters. Animals. Young blacks gone wild. Etc, etc.   Even knowing how cruel people can sometimes be, I shook my head in disbelief. My wife was even more skeptical.   "How could people be thinking about rape at a time like this?" she asked.   Well, as it turns out, they weren't. Not that many of them, anyhow.   The real story about the gang rape and the robbery and the mass murder, now that we've seen inside the Dome, is that there was no real story.   Simply put, the ace reporters - skilled investigators, schooled in getting their stories right before reporting - had been had. Like Chicken Little, they'd heard the stories of rapes and robberies and bodies stacked like cordwood, and they kept repeating them, just as if they had in fact seen what they were reporting. But they hadn't. So why did they repeat such gruesome stories? Was it because those otherwise oh-so-very-tolerant folks simply found it easy to believe that blacks were capable of such atrocities?   Who knows why? But while their networks and newpapers played the Blame the Bushes game, fanning the flames of racial resentment among blacks by playing accomplices to those who accused the President of "not caring" about black people, the significant thing is that they also went on unquestioningly portraying blacks as vicious criminals, capable of the most unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims - and the story resonated around the country.   And it just wasn't true.   So who are the real racists here?   *********** Coach,  This is Greg Cypers from Utah.  We met at your clinic last year in Denver.   I have used your system for the past two years with great success.  Last year we took a team that had one win in 4 years, and just missed the championship game by losing our last game.  It was a great turnaround for the Junior High.  This year I took over a little league team that my son is on, and we are undefeated with one game left.  Thanks for sharing your expertise.   Now to my question.  You showed my colleague and me a play last year.  I ran it Saturday and the whole stands went nuts.  On our side for the positive and the other just upset as could be.  The play is:  The QB his hiked the ball, he immediately turns and hands it to the guard and proceeds with the 88 power play.  The guard does a full 360 and heads up field.  I alerted the ref that we were running this play so he let it go.  My question is this:   In the high school rule book RULE #7 section 3 art 2.b says that a player adjacent to the center cannot receive the ball.  I also see in RULE #7 art 4, that the ball has to touch a backfield player or the ground before it touches a lineman.     In other words these two articles seem to dispute one another.  Am I reading this rule wrong, and the play is still valid?  Where does it say that the guard has to completely turn 360 degrees in order to be a legal play?    Rule 7, section 3, article 2 ... No player may hand the ball forward during a scrimmage down except during a scrimmage down before a change of possession (which includes a punting play- HW), provided both players are in or behind the neutral zone and it is to (a) A lineman who has clearly faced his goal line by moving both feet in a half turn and is at least 1 yard behind his line when he receives the ball.   I would assume that your linemen line up as we suggest - deep as the rules permit - so that there is no question about your guard being deep enough when he gets the ball.   The other rules you cite do not apply.   Section 7-3-2(b) prohibits handing it to an END if he happens to be the man next to the snapper - or the snapper himself.   Section 7-2-4 is designed to prevent the old trick play in which the center feigned a snap and then, while the quarterback rolled one way or the other, left the ball on the ground for another lineman to scoop up and run with. It can still be done, but it first has to hit the QB's hands and then fall to the ground, putting it in the category of a fumble, which can be advanced by any player of either team.   I first got this play, incidentally, from Bruce Eien, coach at Brethren Christian in Los Angeles, who has run it successfully for years.   *********** Coach Wyatt, I consider you very knowledgeable in the rules and you might be able to help me with this question.  Can you have pass interference in the backfield.  For Example:  You have a Wide Out on both sides and Wing Backs in Both Sides.  We run a quick hitch to the Wide out and use the Wing Back to block the corner.  If the Wide out comes back behind the line of scrimmage and catches the ball when can the wing back block the corner?  Can he hit him before the ball gets there or does he have to wait till the Wide Out catches the ball? Thank You for taking time to answer.   Coach- I wouldn't say I am "very" knowledgeable.   So long as the ball never crosses the neutral zone, your players can block downfield. This is the basis for all screen plays, including the Bubble Screen and Jailbreak Screen so popular among passing teams.   But the instant the ball crosses the line, any blocking that took place downfield prior to that time is held against the offensive team, and considered offensive pass interference. The old rule of thumb is: defensive pass interference doesn't starts until the ball is in the air; offensive pass interference starts at the snap of the ball (provided the ball crosses the neutral zone).   Rule 7 Section 5 Article 7... Pass Interference restrictions only apply beyond the neutral zone and only if the legal forward pass, untouched by B (the defense) in or behind the neutral zone, crosses the neutral zone.   In other words, if the completion takes place on your side of the neutral zone, there can be no offensive pass interference.   *********** (Speaking of the "Coach Butkus" farce) Can you think of any examples of good pro players who have been good coaches at any level? I know Stacey King was a youth coach, but he played pro hoops.   In the past, many top pro (NFL) coaches were former players. Recently, there aren't many examples.   Pretty much, playing professionally and learning to be a coach have become two widely divergent career paths. You choose one path and become a coach, or you choose the other path and become a player and then expect to start out at the top of the coahcing ladder, and bitch about the fact that better-qualified people than you get the jobs.   It's possible that Guy Morriss at Baylor may turn out to be good. But he was an offensive lineman, not the sort of position where an NFL player is likely to devlop an inflated ego.   Perhaps Jim Harbaugh, at the University of San Diego, will turn out to be a good coach, although the fact that he is a coach's son probably trumps his pro experience.   Other than that, I have to do some thinking.   The really interesting thing is that you have to go all the way back to 1986 (Mike Ditka, in Super Bowl XX, if you're into Roman numerals) to find a winning Super Bowl coach who even played in the NFL, much less starred.   *********** Coach, I remember a few weeks ago reading in your column about how Hayden Fry had the visiting locker rooms at Kinnick Stadium painted pink. Well, as you might guess, some people aren't too happy about it and you could probably guess why.   Of course, it never occured to these people that this really had nothing to do with perpetuating offensive stereotypes about women and homosexuals. The locker room was painted pink for the same reason that many jails paint their cell walls pink: to make the people in the room less aggressive.   On that same subject, how much is gamesmanship, doing little things like this (or as former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach did, turning off the air conditioners in the visiting locker roms) to get into the heads of the opponents, a part of good coaching?   Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts (Ha, Ha, Ha! Some people can find offense in anything. Let them come to Iowa City on a Saturday afternoon in the fall and picket outside Kinnick Stadium. HW)   *********** A young coach whom I've come to know rather well over the years, even before he became a head coach, has recently had to go through something I wouldn't wish on anyone - a serious injury to one of his players. It does appear that the player will be all right. In the meantime, the local newspaper quoted one parent as saying something along the lines of "someone cares more about winning than about the kids."   Now, I know this coach pretty well, and unless he is totally different with his kids from the way he presents hinmself to me, in e-mails and in person, I would have no qualms about letting my son or my grandsons play for him. He is an upright, moral man who holds his kids to high standards. He has kept starters out of games for missing practice - does that shound like a guy who puts winning ahead of the kids?   He assures me that this dad is not representative of anyone but himself, and that the man's son is, in fact, a great kid.   However, there is the issue of that f--king newspaper, using a quote like that, at a time like that. My educated guess is that there is a young - very young - reporter behind it all. My guess is that this young reporter got this incendiary quote, and saw the sensational story that might result from it as his ticket out of podunk   My advice to the coach was that it might be in order for him to contact the publisher of the newspaper - or the ombudsman if they have one (that's a "public editor," whose job it is to use a little common sense and ask if it was really useful and wise to use a quote like that from a person like that) and very calmly ask if they had a particular reason for using a quote like that, which could only be referring to the head coach. I would ask them if they didn't think that printing that quote might be seen by their readers and suggesting that his desire to win might in some way have been a factor in that young man's injury.   I might even offer to have them come take a look at the program - interview all the kids, if need be - and then decide if that person's quote should have been given the validity of being printed in a newspaper. All of that would have to be cleared with his school administration, of course.   But that newspaper - probably a 22-year-old reporter - found a sensational quote and printed it, and it has the potential to damage him, and at the least it owes him something "fair and balanced."   Most coaches may not be aware that the standards of libel - writing material that is damaging to you and is false - that protect ordinary citizens do NOT protect "public figures." It is much easier for a newspaper to get away with writing that a Senator is a liar. Or that a football coach cares more about winning than about his kids. Because in the eyes of the law, a high school football coach, you see, is a "public figure."   I went through a situation something like this myself, years ago. It was 1982. In the first week or two of practice, one of my players developed a serious illness that required hospitalization, and for days, he hung near death. It was a big story, covered extensively in the local newspapers and on the Portland TV stations.   Finally, as I was being interviewed for the umpteenth time about him, I mentioned to a reporter how ironic it was that these sports reporters were like ghouls, writing about nothing but our one sick kid. Does it always have to be negative news? I asked them. "We have 40 other kids on the team who never get their names in the paper," I said.   A few days later, back at the newspaper offices, a bright-eyed young female reporter evidently got the idea to write yet another story about the ill young man. But her thrust was that his cruel, cold coach cared only about winning. Getting hold of another reporter's notebook, she found just the words she needed to prove her point.   Coach Hugh Wyatt, she wrote, acted as if he couldn't care less about Marc Norris, even though he was a two-way starter. "'We have 40 other kids,' he said."   Got that? The bitch hadn't even spoken to me. She took the words that I had spoken to another reporter, and lifted a handful of them totally out of the sentence, and totally out of context.   I had had some newspaper writing experience, and I knew exactly what had gone on, and that the reporter was guilty of a breach of journalistic ethics (how's that for an oxcymoron?), so I contacted the managing editor, a rather reasonable sort, who was smart enough to realize what this ambitious but lazy and irresponsible young woman had done, and that there was the potential of very bad publicity for the newspaper if what she had done were to become known. Before our conversation was over, he asked if I would be satisfied if they were to write another story showing that I was, in fact, concerned - very concerned - about the young man.   I agreed that that sounded reasonable, and so, on my next visit to the hospital, there was a newspaper photographer and a reporter waiting, and there followed a very nice story showing Marc and me watching TV, and telling the readers how my wife and I had been daily visitors to his room.   End of story. The player, Marc Norris, made a full recovery and and after several weeks returned to the team and played good football for us.   But if I hadn't done anything and had let the original story ride, there would have been people in the community believing that I had said that I wasn't concerned about a sick kid - not when I had 40 other kids to replace him. They would have thought - and who could blame them? - that this was a coach who only cared about winning.   "The lie travels a thousand miles while the truth is still putting its boots on."   ***********Hugh, (Our head coach) got a letter from the (opposing) head coach apoligizing for (the racist words) his players called our kids last Friday. He said they do not tolerate that type of behavior at their school.   We used to play in town to the north of us that didn't have a black family in the town. Hard-working, hard-nosed people, but sort of, uh - redneck. We had black kids and they didn't, and after one trip up there following which I received reports that their coaches had been telling their kids to go "coon hunting," on the next trip I told our kids - white and black - that if they ever heard anything racist they were to call a time out and notify me and I'd call over the officials.   Sure enough, early in the game, we called time out and one of our kids came over and said he'd neard the N-word. I called the officials over and told them And the officials called the other coach onto the field and had a little chat with him. A sort of one-minute racial sensitivity class. And he met with his team. And that was that. No more problems for the rest of the night (although we still lost).   I think that we have a responsibility to protect our players from things that aren't part of the game, and I let them know that they don't have to deal with - that that's my job. And I don't accept apologies from people like that because I don't think that sh-- happens in a vacuum. You telling me that's the first time it's ever happened? I say bullsh--.   *********** There was quite a kerfuffle in our local paper about a recent girls' high school soccer game, won by Camas over Washougal, 17-0.   Now, I'm not a big fan of running up the score, but to lose 17-0, doesn't a team pretty much have to lie down on the field, or play "statue?"   Anyhow, starting with the pompous local sports editor, it has been nothing but one giant pile-on-the-Camas-coach. Letters to the editor. Soreass loser quotes from the Washougal AD (who should have been embarrassed enough by such a performance to keep his mouth shut.) Even an open letter of apology from the Camas AD, printed in all the local papers.   Imagine - Apologizing for the fact that his coach runs a top-quality program! (The guy really is a hell of a coach, even if his sport of choice is soccer.)   Amazingly, all the blame has gone to the coach whose team best pursued excellence!   Not to get into the details of the game, but Hmmm, I thought, as I read all the indignant letters and columns. Isn't it sort of Washougal's job to keep the opponents from scoring? Here are all these f--king fools suggesting that Camas play a couple of girls short, or just play keep-away after getting five or six goals up, but where are the suggestions that Washougal bunch up its kids as close to the goal as possible (no, I don't know the rules of soccer, and I won't be bothered learning them, so I don't know whether or not it's legal to bunch all 11 - or is it 15? - kids in front of the goal)?   Have we lost sight of the simple fact that it's the losing team's job to keep the score down, too?   To his credit, the Washougal coach was not one of the people bitching. He's got good credentials, and I suspect he's doing his best, but the simple fact is that outside of wrestling, Washougal hasn't been enjoying a whole lot of success in any of its sports. I suspect he may be dealing with some kids whose motivation and work ethic - skills aside - lag behind those of their opponents. (Their next game out, they lost, 5-0 to a far lesser team than Camas.) I won't get into what may have taken place in the off-season in terms of skill development or physical conditioning, but when someone finally thought to ask him his thoughts on the subject, he pretty much said that Camas is the sort of program that his kids should aspire to become.   *********** Coach - Reason # 595 NOT to have broad sideline reporters, I am watching the Colorado St-Air Force Game, Kirk Herbsrteit and the Bimbo are playing more "on Air-" Grab Ass than I saw at My Jr.Prom !!!! Jesus it's gettin to the Point, you want to tell both of them get the Hotel Room and get it over with,but Jesus let me watch the F%&&*KIN game in Peace. ( I know,I know, I have the ONLY TV in the New England region turned to Colo St-Air Force, the rest of these A-holes got the Sox on )   also Coach If I was the Iowa Athletic Administrators, I would tell these, Feminist Groups, and Gay Groups that are up in arms and pissed off about the "pink" Locker room To Shut the F**K Up !!! & GO F&^%K themselves if they don't like the Pink color in the Visiting Locker Rooms, OR they can donate 9 million and will re-do it ,If Not keep their G.D. mouths SHUTTT !!!!   Sorry for bothering you Coach - John Muckian Lynn, Massachusetts   *********** Bucknell University is a small, well-thought-of liberal arts college in Central Pennsylvania, and at least in terms of stifling conservative points of view, it appears to be well on its way to Yale- and Harvard-like status.   Back on August 29th, when the Bucknell University Conservatives Club sent out an e-mail announcing that an upcoming speaker, Major John Krenson, had been in Afghanistan "hunting terrorists, " its leaders were called in to the President's office, where they say they were told by Kathy Owens, the Executive Assistant to the President, "we have a problem here."   Holding up a print-out of their e-mail, she told the students that the words "hunting terrorists" were offensive, and spent the next half-hour lecturing them on "inappropriate phrasing."   *********** How cool was it, watching those Miami of Ohio kids sprinting across the field at the end of the game with Cincinnati to be the first to ring the victory bell?   *********** Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans improved their record to 5-0 Friday by beating Westwood 49-0. We scored on our first two offensive plays and took a 19-0 lead into halftime. On the night we had 403 yards rushing on 40 carries and 1 completion (1 attempt) for 22 yards. Defensively, we held them to 80 yards rushing and just over 60 receiving. A pretty good night.   We travel to 5-0 Bushnell on Friday. It will probably be the area's small school "game of the week." They have an outstanding running back who's averaging over 200 yards per game. We have two backs who average 280 combined yards per game (with a fullback at almost 60ypg). It will come down to which defense plays better.   I'm looking forward to it. Good luck this week.   Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 27, 2005 - "I feel sorry for people who grow old and have no hope - who just don't believe in anything. I do, and it helps me keep young." Bobby Bowden   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to our three coaches who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 I will forward donations to the coaches. They are also in need of basic essentials of coaching. Shorts(sizes: M, L, and XX) and T-shirts (Sizes L, XL, XX) we are blue and grey, but any color will do. They will wear your used coaching gear proudly. It will also show our kids that D-Wer's stick together. Any other clothing will be acceptable. These guys lost everything but the shirt on their back. As you may know the Insurance companies are claiming the houses were destroyed by tidal surge and not wind and they are refusing to pay. If there isn't anything left but a slab, who knows what destroyed the house? Data released by the Red Cross: there were 175,000 homes on the Gulf Coast(3 Mississippi counties) 38% were completly destroyed. 25% were significantly damaged or flooded and uninhabitable until repaired. 28% received some damage. Only 9% received no damage. Water in Biloxi is still undrinkable. The coast line looks like a nuclear bomb was exploded. However, we will rebuild and be stronger than ever! (A check for $1000 in the name of the Madison High Senators is on its way. HW) *********** ADDITIONAL FLASH - THERE'S A NICE ARTICLE ABOUT THE "MULTIPLE WING" - AND THE OLD FART WHO COACHES IT- BY DAN MOONEY IN TUESDAY'S PORTLAND OREGONIAN. -   http://www.oregonlive.com/prepsports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/112781871719950.xml&coll=7   *********** My Madison High Senators lost Friday night, 44-24, to Roosevelt High, a very strong Double-Wing team. The score is deceiving - we were down, 38-24 and driving, with about four minutes to play, when a 62-yard interception return (yes, we were passing!) sealed our fate. We fell behind early after fumbling on the Roosevelt six, then came back and took the lead at 16-8, and then 24-16. We went in tied at the half, 24-24 after giving up a long pass (!) with 14 seconds left (aargh), and trailed by just one score 32-24 after three.   Our kids were really down afterwards. They expected to win, and it is still hard for them to understand, I think, that winning isn't promised to anybody.   We are still searching for answers on defense, trying to find the right combination of people who will attack blockers, fly to the ball, and tackle aggressively, but we are getting closer. I did see first-hand lesson what other coaches have to go through in trying to get an inexperienced team ready in one-week to play a good Double-Wing team. We felt we had a good scheme, and we felt we had our kids well-trained in their responsibilities, but in the heat of battle, things often have a way of departing from script. Roosevelt does have a very potent combination of big, strong linemen who will hit you, and fast, athletic runners who fight for every yard. I can't imagine that any of the pass-happy teams remaining on their schedule are looking forward to playing them.   Offensively, we continue to improve, but we are not close to being good yet. Running from a balanced-line single-wing (did I say that our system is versatile and flexible?) we rushed 51 times for 276 yards, and we threw for 43 more for a total of 319 yards in total offense, but we did stop ourselves a few times. We had a few of those killer penalities that come from inexperience, and we fumbled once (on the six). We also threw two interceptions, one of them for the long TD return, the other one inside their 20 when we were threatening. I don't blame our QB for either one. I was the one who called the plays and I have to take responsibility for the picks. Leading rushers were fullback Damaien Young, who rushed 23 times for 115 yards, tailback/QB Chris Lowery, who carried 17 times for 86 yards, and wingback Freddy Tolliver, who carried 10 times for 64 yards.   *********** Finding myself exhausted but unable to sleep Friday night, I stayed up late watching the recording of the Army-Iowa State game playeed earlier, when - poof - the show ended on me. With five minutes or so to play! As those of you with dishes know, the PVR records to the end of the time allotted for the program by the network, which is also the time displayed on the Dish guide. Unfortunately, the time customarily allotted by ESPN - three hours - is not enough for any college game in today's pass-happy climate, so there I was at 3:30 AM, Army and Iowa State tied, 21-21 and the Cyclones driving, when the curtain came down. Next time, I record the game and the show that follows.   *********** Coach, We stayed unbeaten (4-0) with a tough 6-0 win at home against Troy this week. Our defense was stellar again and our O line got it together when we needed them most. We had a great drive late in the 4th quarter to eat up the clock. Leading 6-0, our offense chewed up the last 5 minutes of the game with some great blocking. We now have scored 81 points in 4 games and only allowed 13, with 3 shutouts. We have a bye this week and next week we play East Greenbush, the team that beat us last year in the playoffs. They are unbeaten also at this point (3-0). Needless to say, I don't think our kids need any extra motivation. I hope your kids played well this week. Mike Cahill, Guilderland Dutchmen, Guilderland, New York   *********** Coach Butkus is the type of guy I love playing on game day. He is a phony and a freaking Blow-hard and I would pound any of his teams regardless of talent within reason. He is the type that carries on the B.S. of quote " This Game is all about Hitting, Hitting Hard, intimidation etc." I have won championships with kids that weren't big hitters or anything intimidating by any stretch. Hugh, You and I have won many big games being of inferior talent. This loud mouth idiot was a big a**hole in the NFL and made some big hits, but they resulted in nothing on the scoreboard. Like you said, Check the freaking record. It seems this guy goes through life still wearing the gear and acting like he is still in combat. What a pr--k. Line me up across the field against this fat ass every Friday. I want a microphone on his sideline just for fun. I only watched a little of the show and turned it off. Good analysis Hugh. What a bad choice for a leader, and any coach that is a decent coach in my opinion, would surely be offended. As a coach for 28 years+, It has been my experience that EX-Pro players do not make very good coaches. Talking tough and cursing at, or to kids has never motivated them to excellence. Teaching them technique, game plan, self reliance, self pride, team pride, and work ethics does. No, Mr. Butkus, the kids from Montour High School could never make you a loser, GET IT, But you can surely teach them the particulars. A Perfect program though for MTV. Coach Larry Harrison, Head Football Coach, Nathanael Greene Academy, Siloam, Georgia   *********** Coach Wyatt, We skunked last week's team 59-0....thing of beauty...we were up 44-0 at halftime. DW is firing on all cylinders...even the passing game. My son Phillip had two receiving TD's last week out of Spread. I don't remember telling you, but I'm assisting with the High School Varsity doing stats. I told Phillip that when he gets to High School, there will be no Double Wing as the HC loves to pass a ton. He sighed and said "maybe I can play for Coach Wyatt and move to Madison!" I had a great chuckle. Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New Mexico   *********** Let the announcers call last-second field goals exciting. To me, there is nothing the represents anticlimax more than watching a team work to score a late touchdown, but leave too much time on the clock, so that its opponent, which like most NFL teams is not very good at scoring touchdowns but quite good at moving the ball into field goal range, can drive up the field until there are a few seconds left, then bring in the keeker, whose chances of missing are considerably less than those of an NBA player missing a free throw (true fact). The Philadelphia placekicker kicked the winner while suffering from a hamstring pull, and to hear the announcers, you've have thought he was a fireman who had just gone into the crumbling World Trade Center.   *********** You don't have to agree if you're an LSU fan, but that Tennessee comeback in Tiger Stadium last night was one of the greatest I've seen in a long time. I was able to watch the second half - and the Tennessee comeback - in its entirety. On side-by-side sets, I had the college game and NFL Monday Night Football, and I didn't watch a single play of the pro game. Why would I, when could watch real football on the other set?   *********** The NBA suffered another blow to its prestige when Greece, with fewer NBA players on its roster than any of the other major contenders, just won the European Championships.   *********** Hugh, How did you do this Friday??? We traveled to Coeur D'Alene, a long 8 hour bus trip. Anyway we were 0-3 and they were 3-0. It was their homecoming and Hugh could you believe that this being North Idaho they had Confederate Flags flying in the parking lot. I am sure you know what that means up there. We have about 7 black kids on the team. As far as a coach and teacher I was embarrassed at what I saw and was accepted by the Admin up there. Anyway long story short I give the pre -game and of course it is fire and brimstone and it is about the America - that is, all races working and being together for a common goal and cause. Anyway the first half was rough defensively and we were down 28-25, I made a few adjustments to some of their formations and the final was 53-35. It was a huge win. I hope it was good for you, but can you believe the white supremacists? And yes they called our kids of color some choice things. It was a pleasant bus ride home. Take care and let me know! Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho (Nice going. It's sad that a place as beautiful as Coeur d'Alene can harbor modern-day white supremacists, and give them the idea that they can practice their bigotry openly. It is hard to listen to people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who find racism everyplace when people like that furnish them with fresh material. HW)   *********** I am frustrated and have no idea what to use for a two minute offense in this scheme.  The offense has been a learning experience but we are getting better every week.  350 rushing yards last week has been our best effort yet.  The problem is at the end of the game we got the ball back with 2:30 left and no time outs on our own 25.  What is your best combination of plays you run under these circumstances?   With 2:30 left, if you stay out of the huddle and line up at the line, you still have plenty of time to run a lot of basic stuff, with an occasional spike or incomplete pass to stop the clock.   I will run sweeps, traps, counters and tackle traps, as well as passes toward the sideline. Maybe a screen at some point.   You do need to understand that NO offense can be all things to all people. The pros move the ball up and down the field, but they don't do very well inside the 10 or in short-yardage situations.   *********** Hello Coach Wyatt, We finally broke into the win column last Friday night, beating Laredo LBJ 42-0. As of now, we are 1-3. Our first three games were on the road (each of them about 2.5 hours away by charter bus) and we suffered from growing pains with the DW. We feel like we're getting some details worked out on assignments, and our defense played much better Friday. Also, we were nursing some kids back to health last week, barring any surprises on grades, or new injuries, we should be at full strength this week against Eagle Pass for our second district game.   Friday night we ran for 300 yds, passed for 26. We had 25 first downs to their two. Super powers were very productive, especially out of tackle over and tackle under. We had TEN kids carry the ball.   Also, over in East Texas, Coach Wayne Gandy is 3-1 at Joaquin. They won last Friday 49-7 over Cushing HS. I understand Coach Gandy's Rams ran for 417 yds.   Better get to work. Just thought I would update you. Thanks for everything.   Don Davis, Head Football Coach, Martin High School, Laredo, Texas   *********** This came a week ago from a coaching friend...   Saturday night a large number (still to be determined) of my football players were drinking at a party which was busted by the local police. Only 4 kids have had the integrity to come forward and admit that they were drinking, but the second and third hand information suggestions that more than a dozen were drinking.   This week is our homecoming, and we will probably be playing with 2-3 seniors, 2-3 juniors, and the remainder sophomores and freshmen. We lost on Friday night but performed very well with the exception of about 6 plays. This is so frustrating because we had made some huge strides last week and appeared to be headed in the right direction.   Then , on Tuesday, came this...   GOD IS GOOD! Yesterday I reported that I have a mess on my hands with several/many players having been drinking at a party over the weekend. The fallout isn't complete yet, but I must tell you that all the prayers are paying off, and some very incredible changes are occuring. Indeed, God still works miracles.   Over the weekend four players came to my house to confess that they were at the party and drinking. At school yesterday two more came forward. Then we had a team meeting at 1:30, and another kid came clean. I still knew that some others were holding out. See, it is homecoming week, and they don't want to miss out on getting dressed up and being in the parade.   However, last night two seniors came to my house to fess up. They told me that the lying was eating them up inside and they had to make things right. I think there are four more holdouts, but I also think God is working on their hearts. So far we have lost ten players to suspensions, but the homecoming game will go on. We will have 5-6 varsity starters left, and then we will move up various jv and c-team players to fill the necessary spots (likely to include a freshman at quarterback). While the scoreboard will be nearly irrelevant this week, I am a bit concerned about the potential for injuries. However, the kids agreed as a team yesterday that they want to take the field and represent the school. In fact, one player threw my own words back at me: "Coach, what doesn't kill us will only make us stronger."   Just when I was starting to doubt whether kids today had integrity, a number of young men have stepped up and faced the music. I guess given enough time and some good examples (and influenced by prayer), today's young people will still do the right thing.   When God isn't testing you, he's carrying you. In fact, even when He's testing you, he's carrying you. If it's our job to help kids learn life's lessons (and I believe it is), you have been given a wonderful opportunity.   I was feeling a bit sorry for myself yesterday, and then when the two boys came to confess last night, I got it.  They are learning valuable life lessons that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. What an awesome opportunity and responsibility.   For all the good that teachers do... They will never get to experience this, or deal with kids at this level, the way coaches do!   *********** Questions you might ask of a coach right after a hotly-contested game, if you were young and pretty and didn't know the first f--king thing about the game of football... Sideline Bimbo Alex Flanagan, interviewing Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez, following the Badgers' win over Michigan, his first in seven tries, actually asked him these two questions...   Alex Flanagan: How does it feel to beat Lloyd Carr?   Barry Alvarez: It's not about me beating Lloyd Carr. It's about our team beating Michigan.   Alex Flanagan: Who won this game for you?   Barry Alvarez: My whole team did.   *********** Coach - Class D Oakfield - Alabama defeated Class B Attica Friday night 19-16 in a hard hitting - penalty laden contest. We ran 50 times for 241 yards (and would've had more but we had a few phantom holding calls - I usually don't complain but the officiating was horrible). Our QB went 1-5 but the one pass was a 63 yard blue blue (from Over) to Matt Ware for the TD. A back had 19 carries 92 yards and 1 rush TD (plus 63 yard catch for TD) B back had 4 for 20 C back had 22 for 121. The ran a 5-4 and we superpowered them and march right down for the first score.   The next series they took out their CB's and put 2 more defensive linemen in. They were still in a 5-4 but now submarined N, DT's and even 9 tech ends. We made 6 calls since they were pinching and subbing - and it should've worked but our linemen kept tripping up (not as athletic as last year on the O-line). So we ran 88/99 G reach and a lot of it (some GO too).   Wow am I glad I went to the clinic - 88 G reach is a killer!!! Anyway we were down 13-7 at the half and got a safety (and they got a FG) to make it 16-9, that is when we ran a few G and GO reaches and then hit the big pass. Tied it up with about 7 or 8 min to play. They punted and we ate up the rest of the 4th (almost) and got down to the 6 yard line - where a penalty forced us into a 4th and 2 or 3. We tried to get them to jump, but they were well coached so we sent in the kicking unit. Our kicker -(yes he helped win the game for us) is a sophmore - former soccer player (but wait, he is NOW an OLB and TE/RB). The kid can kick - but often has trouble even with PAT's from the right hash. Now I feel like you do about kickers. But it was only 3 yards longer than a PAT and he made it.   We squibbed and 4 passes later (INT - and take a knee). What a game. One anomoly - a squib kick got returned for a TD against us (our kids ran right past him and never broke down). Anyway - next week we play Pembroke - the one team who has beaten us every year. They just played Barker a Dwing team and won.   We are both 3-1 and if we win we have a shot at a share of the league title. We have no depth, but are somewhat healthy. (PS - we had to finish the game - whole 4th quarter in OVER and UNDER - because of an injury to our guard. We put a linemen jersey on our TE and put him at tackle, moved our tackle to guard, went with one TE and split out a backup WB ------ and won. John Dowd, Oakfield, New York   *********** Kenyan Hicks carried 9 times for 150 yards, including TDs of 49 and 39 yards, and caught a TD pass of 64 yards as Corning West High of Elmira, New York defeated crosstown rival Elmira Free Academy, 41-21. The Vikings (3-1) rushed for 276 yards and threw for 75 more.   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, Hello and warm grettings, it's francis amar from St. Augustine Prep in Richland, New Jersey.   When last I emailed you, we were experiencing a rather tumultous summer, after Steve Cappuccio resigned and we were picking up the pieces. At that time, I mentioned that we had dropped the double wing in favor of a multiple pro. I was against that move because I felt that we didn't have the personnel to do it, nor were we installing it the right way, but I didn't feel it was my place to raise such objections.   Well, we are three games into our season and our record is 0-3. we aren't a very good football team, but had things broken our way, we should have been 1-2, possibly 2-1. A quick recap.   game 1: loss to Oakcrest 22-0. defense played wel, allowed 2 big plays, including a 99 yard touchdown run. offesively, we rushed for maybe 40 yards on 20+ carries. passing, 17-32, 99 yards and 4 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.   game 2: loss to Hammonton 48-0. no first downs, passing 0-7 with 1 interception returned for a touchdown, 6 yards rushing on 20+ carries. after the game, the head coach decided that we could no longer be a multiple I team. We decided that we would go the spread offense route from the shotgun. He allowed one concession: he told Mike Wilson to install a short yardage/goalline offense, so Mike brought back the double wing on a small scale: tight formation, wedge, super power, criss cross toss, red-red/blue-blue.   game 3: loss to Bridgeton 13-12. after 3 series of shot gun spread which featured our first rushing first down of the season and another interception that would eventually lead to a bridgeton touchdown, our head coach told mike that we were going to the double wing next series. This caught us totally by surprise as we expected to only use it in short yardage situations, not for any extended duration. We moved the ball very well on our first series in the double wing until another interception (the head coach told the qb to check out of wedge on 4th and 3 from their 15 yard line). The majority of the rest of the game was spent in the double wing, with a little bit of spread. We scored both of our touchdowns on super power, but we managed the clock horribly in the final 4 minutes of the game, and Bridgeton threw a deep ball that was tipped by our safety and caught (similar to the LSU-Kentucky game a few years back) for the game winner with about 10 seconds left in the game (they started the drive on their own 8 yard line with about 40 seconds left and no timeouts).   You would think that after we established that the double wing works and that we can move the ball and give our team a legitimate shot at winning some games, that it would be a no brainer to commit to the double wing.   Unfortunately, there is a segment of our staff that doesn't like/believe in the double wing the way that me and mike wilson do, as evidenced by one of our coaches saying after the game "i hate this f---ing offense but at least we moved the ball". Trying to run two different offenses is a recipe for disaster, and I fear that it would damage our chances of winning the very winnable games on the back half of our schedule.   So this brings me to my dilemma: I am going to have a talk with the head coach on monday in my capacity as assistant head coach. I am going to tell him that we need to make a decision and stick with that direction, as opposed to being all over the map. My choice would be sticking with the double wing, but I realize that in doing so, I would most likely be elevated to offensive coordinator and, for all intents and purposes, our current offensive coordinator would be "thrown under the bus".   Also, I am being strongly considered for the head coaching job next year (this is what the current head coach, who is also the athletic director told me) and I don't want this to look like a machiavellian attempt on my part to orchestrate things behind the scenes to enhance my standing. I also want to tell him that that we have too many people on the sideline trying to make decisions i.e other coaches getting in Mike Wilson's ear during the game telling him to put certain players in the game and run plays that we didn't even have in our limited double wing arsenal, our special teams coach calling a time out when we were trying to milk the clock on a punt.   I'm sorry to have burdened you with such a long and serious email, but I could use some advice.   Sincerely, Francis Amar, Richland, New Jersey   ps- if you find any of this worthy of reprinting in your weekly news, feel free.   Coach, I realize that you are concerned about how things might look, but I also believe that you (and MIke) have more than demonstrated your loyalty to St. Augustine by hanging in there even though you knew things could get really bad. I think you have also demonstrated that you do have a way of making your kids competitive, the opinions of other staff members to the contrary.   So therefore, I think that if you are at all in the plans as a future head coach, this would be the time for the current head coach/AD to turn the offense over to you and see first-hand what you can do.   A Machiavellian attempt? I don't think so. It seems to me that as assistant head coach, you are trusted by the head coach to give him information that can help him make the best decisions. That includes letting him know when there is harmful dissension on the staff.   It is all well and good to show consideration for the present offensive coordinator as well as other members of the staff, but the only thing that really matters is what's best for the team - for the kids - - and it sounds as if there may be a few selfish members of the staff who do not think that way.   At the very least, it does sound as if a lack of staff discipline (possibly abetted by a lack of strong leadership from the top) is standing in the way of progress.   *********** I am offensive coordinator for the --------- High School junior varsity football team. We run the Double Wing. I have been on your site many times since getting this first time position this past summer of 05. I am having trouble with the line being penetrated on. This disrupts all as you know. I am 100% convinced this system works. I am lacking knowledge in lineman drills and technique. The varsity coaches teach the hand blocking which I don't care for. We also do not chop block. When I went to school in Oregon in the 80's I am sure this was legal. Our kids are smaller Freshman and Sophomores. Our 5 best Sophomores have been taken up to Varsity. We have played 1 division 2 school and 2 division 3 schools so far. We are a division 4 school of 600 kids. We are 1 win and 2 losses. Any advice is greatly appreciated.   Chances are, if penetration is hurting you, there might be a lack of work on gap protection. That starts with (a) narrow splits (b) getting back ooff the ball (c) line stances. And it starts with working on the correct first step (inside foot into the gap, not at the defender) and getting the head "across the bow."   If a particular defense poses a threat of penetration, we may employ "down" blocking all the way across the offensive front on powers and counters.   And we do block low on occasion, but we do not "chop" block.   A "Chop" block consists of locking low against a defender who is already being blocked high, and it has been illegal for years. We don't teach chop blocking and I don't know of anyone who does. But we do take frequent advantage of the rule allowing us to block below the waist of defenders in the free blocking zone. We feel that it gives our kids a mechanical advantage on certain plays. In blocking low, which we normally do on the playside of sweeps, and rollout passes - we tell our blocker to throw his inside hand past the outside knee of the defender and onto the ground, and bear crawl. We call it the "knee drive" or "scramble" block. It really gives a small lineman a chance to tie up a bigger man.   *********** What do you mean "across the bow"?   Another way of expressing "across the bow" (a Navy expression meaning you have to get your boat/ship across the bow of another one) is to tell the kids to imagine they and the defender are both driving cars and approaching an intersection, and we have to get into the intersection first, so that the other guy can hit us and we can collect on the insurance.   *********** Coach, Just a quick note... We got our fourth win of the year 44-6 against a playoff team from last year, the Randolph Cardinals. We rushed for 256 yards on 42 carries and hit 8 of 10 passes for 134 yards and a EASY (2 Blue) 40 yard TD strike. Actually got any illegal chop block called on the other team's defense even though they continued to do it all night. We held them to 141 yards total offense (48 yards on one TD run vs. our JV's) and 1 for 12 passing for 1 yard!! Defense was ready to play and our offense took the will out of 'em!! 1442 yards rushing, 466 passing with a 59% completion rate and 176 points in 4 games, not too sabby! Good luck next week and GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** Lansingburgh 55 Hudson 0 - Now, 3-1. B back Mike Hepp 8 carries 108yds; C Back Brandon Canty 9 carries 253 yds- 5 tds in first half. We head to Taconic Hills this week who is also 3-1. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York   *********** Good friend Kevin Latham's Columbia High (Decatur, Georgia) Falcons are now 4-1 after defeating South Atlanta, 31-6, Friday night. The Eagles' only loss was a 25-22 squeaker to M.L King, now also 4-1.   *********** Coach Wyatt, Ridgeview is now 4-1 this season after a 41-6 win over Tri-Point. The Mustangs rushed for 198 yards on 33 carries and passed for 115 yards on 7 for 9 accuracy with three TD's. The passing game looked good but Tri-Point was running a gap 8 defense most of the night which made it pretty easy to pass the ball. Next week the Mustangs travel to El paso to take on the 4-1 El Paso/Gridley Titans. Mike Benton, Ridgeview HS, Colfax, Illinois   *********** Hello Coach, Hope this finds you and yours well!   I just had to tell you that we played our second game of the season today. We lost our first game 12 to 0. We ran everything with wedge line blocking. (EVERYTHING) This was supposed to be as simple as it gets!! Didn't do us much good!!   With 3 practices, last week, totaling 6 hours we installed our "Spread Cat" offense. You probably remember that I am a big fan of the spread formation. We had some players that did not make practices and some others that did not make the game today. This is typical of youth football.   Today we won 20 to 0.   What more can be said about your D.W. offense. Our spread offense is right out of your book, by the way! :) :) Your instructions were followed to the letter!   I trust that your team is doing well! God's blessings for you and yours,   J.C. Brink, Hobe Sound, Florida "HURRICANES" I'm pleased to hear that you have found another use for our system, and that you got a win with it!   You might be shocked to learn that I am running a balanced-line single wing. It is not by choice - it is something that personnel forces me into. And we are moving the ball.   Such is the versatility of our system.   *********** We had some pretty serious anger-management issues with a couple of kids following the game. Just what we need. Like anybody on our team is so f--king good that they can blame teammates.   *********** Judge orders no contact with Parsippany school staff BY ROB JENNINGS DAILY RECORD PARSIPPANY -- The dad accused of threatening to kill his son's high school football coach last weekend was stone-faced and silent after a brief appearance in municipal court Thursday night. Robert Stanel, 44, who previously entered a not-guilty plea, was read his rights by Judge Anthony Frese, told he was facing an indictable offense and sternly warned not to have any contact with Parsippany school personnel on or off school grounds. Frese ordered Stanel, who is charged with making a terroristic threat against Parsippany High School football coach Gerry Moore last Saturday, to report to Superior Court in Morristown next week for an intake hearing. The judge told Stanel that his options include applying for pre-trial intervention, a rehabilitative program primarily offered to first-time offenders that allows for dismissal of charges upon successful completion. Stanel, wearing a dark suit, faced the judge with his hands folded and responded, "Yes, your honor," when asked if he understood the extent of the charge against him -- a charge that could result in up to 18 months in prison, according to police. When the proceeding ended, Stanel -- seemingly mindful of the media presence -- strode briskly from the courtroom and did not turn around when reporters pursued and asked questions. He kept going until he was inside the car being driven by his attorney, Frank Pisano III. "He doesn't want to talk to you tonight," Pisano said. Earlier, Pisano expressed disappointment at a Daily Record story that outlined some of his client's previous run-ins with the law, including an arrest in March 2003 for allegedly punching a police officer. "There's another side of the story, but we're going to be conveying it inside the courtroom for now," Pisano said. Stanel was acquitted of assault, but convicted of obstruction of justice and hindering apprehension in the 2003 case. His lawyer at that time, Jay Lowenstein, said Tuesday that Stanel wasn't sent to jail, and municipal court records show he agreed to attend anger management classes for a year. Stanel's name appears on more than a dozen police reports dating to 1989, according to police records. He was accused of punching a man after a 1989 car crash, charged with disorderly conduct and eluding police following a 1991 traffic stop, and accused by two male juveniles of punching them in 1994. Police said last Saturday's confrontation with Moore was precipitated by the coach's decision to bench Stanel's son for being five minutes late to the team bus that was to take them to a game in North Caldwell. Stanel confronted the coach at the high school and, before storming out, threatened to kill him, according to police. He turned himself in later Saturday and was freed on $2,500 bond. Saturday's game with West Essex High School was postponed to Sunday, with Parsippany losing, 41-14. Superintendent Eugene Vasile said that Stanel's son, who was not identified by police, played in the game. Thursday's hearing began around 7 and lasted only a few minutes. Charges against several other defendants were read before Stanel, sitting in the front row with his attorney, was summoned to approach the bench. (I have the perfect solution to two problems - let Coach Butkus take over at Parsippany and bench this guy's kid.)   *********** The Fort Mill Yellow Jacket 8th grade team took on the York Cougars Thursday evening at Fort Mill Middle. The undefeated Cougars wasted no time as they, with the aid of some untimely penalties, ended the Jackets first drive. The Cougars pounded the ball down the field scoring a touchdown and extra point. The Jackets got back on offense and methodically moved the ball down the field with runs by Robert Munday and Jackson Gibson before being halted by the Cougars and another untimely penalty. Down 8 &endash; 0 at half, the Cougars wasted no time as they ran the kick-off back before Timothy Everette's touchdown saving tackled stopped them on the 10-yard line. Timothy's hustle proved to be the play of the game as York's drive stalled when Tre' Erby recovered a fumble caused by John Greene's jarring hit on their high school-sized tight end. The offensive line of Jeremy Baker, Datron Haynes, Ben Flannagan, Michael Hill, Suave Davis, Daniel Couchenor, and Matthew Kocken took over. TheYellow Jackets went on a 10 play, 80-yard drive resulting in a touchdown by John Greene and extra point conversion by Tre' Erby. York was again stymied with great defensive play by Jonathan Hughes, Mike Whiteside, and Jake Givens taking the game to overtime 8 &endash; 8. York scored first but failed to convert the extra point, setting up a chance for Fort Mill to win. The Jackets lost 10 yards on the first play and gained it back on the next two. On fourth and 10, Mitchell Starnes hit a Cougar-draped Tre' Erby in the endzone for the score. For the extra point conversion and win, Timothy Everette got the call on a sweep. Final score, Fort Mill Middle 16, York 14. When Coach White was asked as to the keys to victory, Coach White responded, "Our team decide this week that they were going to be a TEAM." The 1 &endash; 2 Jackets will play the first place and undefeated Saluda Trail next Thursday at home. Darryall White, Fort Mill, South Carolina   *********** I just wanted to get a rule clarification from you.  We have emphasized your forearm blocking technique this year with mixed results... the kids always want to extend their arms during the block.  I was going through the NFHS rulebook about DE cutting our kickout fullback and just happened to see this...   Rule 9-4-1 (letter L; the last one) No player or nonplayer shall:  Strike an opponent with his fist, locked hands, FOREARM or elbow, nor kick or knee him.    Doesn't this make the forearm blocking technique illegal??  Also the old forearm shiver sounds illegal too, does it not?  Is hand blocking the alternative?    You may have seen some shots of the old days, before face masks, when guys threw forearms at the other guy's face, in more of a swinging motion, somewhere between a fist and an elbow. Many old pros were legendary for their ability to throw forearms, and missing front teeth were common as a result.   As I understand it, and as it has been interpreted to me, the rule is intended to prevent that - it means that the blow should not be struck with the forearm exclusively.   Like you, we are making near-simultaneous contact with a big surface, including the forearms, the upper arms and the shoulders, and occasionally even the face mask (it's sometimes unavoidable).   Similarly, on defense, in addition to the forearm the upper arm and shoulder are also involved in a good "flipper", but it would not be interpreted as striking a blow with the forearm.   *********** Stanford's Walt Harris, asked how come the Cardinal was able to run for only 74 yards against UCD, answered, "Poor technique - that's not a problem that just started this fall." Right, Walt - blame it on Buddy Teevens. Funny - if there were problems with "technique," you'd have thought Harris and his staff of professionals would have made some slight progress with them during spring ball and pre-season drills.   Fortunately for Stanford, the schedulemakers must have seen this coming, arranging for an open date this past weekend so the Cardinal could lick their wounds. *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 23, 2005 - "The transgressions that universities commit in the name of winning sports undermine the values of the insitution." Derek Bok, former president of Harvard   *********** FIRST REMINDER--- On October 17, the 38th anniversary of the fateful Battle of Ong Thanh, Vietnam, in which Don Holleder and dozens of Black Lions lost their lives, PBS' "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE" will run a one-and-a-half hour long documentary based on David Maraniss' prize-winning book on the battle, "They Marched Into Sunlight."   *********** Culture clash. Last Friday, when our city kids - roughly 50-50 black and white - arrived at the stadium in The Dalles, Oregon, a mostly-white town with a handful of American Indians added in, they were greeted by rap - very loud - coming from the home team locker room.   *********** Susan Holleder Connors, daughter of the late Major Don Holleder, the inspiration for the Black Lion Award, is President/CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America, and thanks to her I'm able to share this bit of information with the coaches who visit this site... The Centers for Disease Control has introduced a multimedia tool kit, Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports, to help coaches of high school teams protect their athletes from concussion. Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a blow or jolt to the head that can range from mild to severe and can disrupt the manner in which the brain normally functions. Approximately 300,000 sports and recreation-related TBIs occur in the United States each year. The tool kit contains a Guide for Coaches on how to prevent concussions, identify symptoms, and take immediate action when an athlete has signs of a concussion. Contents also include 1) a video and DVD featuring a high school football player who was permanently disabled after sustaining a second, potentially preventable concussion during a game, 2) a wallet card and clipboard sticker for coaches that includes signs and symptoms of concussion and a place to record emergency contacts, 3) posters describing concussion symptoms that can be placed in locker rooms or heavily trafficked areas, 4) concussion fact sheets in English and Spanish for parents and athletes, and 5) a CD-ROM with downloadable kit materials and other concussion-related resources. The Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports tool kits will be distributed by CDC to coaches, principals, and athletic directors at high schools throughout the United States. The tool kits can be ordered or downloaded free of charge at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/coaches_tool_kit.htm. Additional information is available by contacting CDC Injury Center Media Relations, telephone 770-488-4902. Guys, if for no other reason than to demonstrate that you made every effort to educate yourself on the need to do everything possible to deal with concussion among your players, it would behoove you to download the tool kit. *********** My kids seem to be able to handle the competition aspect as I observe in drills aimed at getting to get off the ball as a unit.  My concern is how to get them to translate their latent enthusiasm and considerable energy to the task at hand.  Part desire, part ocncentration, part goal-oriented, I guess.  Several of them seem to come by it naturally; others need to be prodded.  Just human nature, I guess, abetted by the world around them.  Some are so beaten up by the time they are 12 that they think that any instruction is a criticism. I'm not sure that it is a matter of being "beaten up." I find this every bit as prevalent among kids raised by parents who coddle them. I think it is the overall softening of our society - with our educational system at the forefront - that in its effort not to damage a young person's "self esteem" refrains from any criticism, and in the process creates kids who take great offense at being corrected. This is a major problem that runs across all strata of our society.  *********** Hugh, Stanford's loss to UC Davis was breathtaking. They totally outplayed us in every imaginable way. I have doubts there was even an offensive gameplan of any sort. Once we lost our starting quarterback we were hosed. Most surprising was how UCD stayed in the game mentally despite giving up two defensive touchdowns and missing three field goals. They played hard and confident right to the end. Could be a long season down here. I was watching my tape of Houston-UTEP. What a dog of a game. The announcers kept talking about how Kevin Kolb was experienced in Houston's offense. I said, 'what offense?' It looked to me to be as literally throw-the-ball-all-over-the-place as you could draw up. Not to mention lots of penalties and turnovers. I couldn't watch the tape in one sitting. And then Tyler Ebell, who was a stud under Bob Toledo (at UCLA), fumbled three times. The high school blowout I attended was more sophisticated. The only good part was UH's two-point play - power I fullback pitch right, who option-pitched to the tailback who scored to tie the game. *********** Coach, Do you happen to have a form that you give to players to give to their teachers to check on their grades?  I would like to give one to my players to show them what to expect when they get to high school next year.  If you have one, could I get a copy? I don't, but I've dealt with them as a teacher. I would start out with a form letter at the top to all teachers, expressing your interest in helping them by working with them to get your players to be the best students and best citizens they can be. Then, I'd leave a line or two for each class a student takes, and I'd ask the teacher of each class to check a box (excellent - satisfactory - not getting the job done) and initial it - and I'd be sure to leave room for a brief comment. I'd have the kids themselves fill out the Course Titles when I handed them the forms. It can be a bit of a pain in the butt for a teacher to have all these kids handing them forms, so you should tell the kids not to ask a teacher to do this during class time. I'd insist that the kids all say "please" when they ask the teacher to check their form, and "thank you" when the teacher has done so. I am amazed and apalled at the kids nowadays whose parents evidently think that someone else is going to teach their kids manners. One final note - make sure that you monitor this carefully, and be prepared to have to deal with kids who don't return their forms properly checked and initialed. If the kids get the idea that you're not dead serious about it, it is worthless. HW *********** A friend lost on Friday night, and he was ticked off. Not so much at the loss, as by the illegal tactics that his opponent, a former Double-Winger of all people, used against him. I have to admit, I was shocked, because I know the other coach, and I've always considered him to be a good man. Here's what my friend wrote... I am still pissed (can you tell) that we lost, and that he would teach his defense to tackle pullers.  they played a 4-5 with tackles in A-gaps diving through the legs of a down block and grabbing whatever legs they could get ahold of.  obvious on film.  Very obvious.  3 times we ran red red draw and the "grabbers" did not even know what set of legs they had grabbed, just grabbed whatever was there. I responded - I'm very disappointed in (the other coach).   I once had to go up against a former assistant who had his ends doing that to my kickout blockers. I went to him after the game and politely suggested that since it was his first year as a head coach, and he was going to be coaching a long time, that wasn't a real good way to start out.   Being a moral, ethical young man, he understood. Maybe he just let his defensive assistants go. Maybe he got caught up in the idea of doing whatever it takes to win. But in less than a season people were doing the same damn thing to him, and then he knew what I was talking about.   I'd just like to ask those pr--ks who teach their kids illegal tactics - do I get to pick what rule I can teach my kids to break? If I do, you'd better tell your kids to watch their backs. In fact, we might even take a shot at their coach.   ************ Bobby Knight's answer to a reporter who asked him if he'd ever considered coaching in the NBA: "Hell, I don't even watch the pros. If the NBA was on Channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on Channel 4, I'd watch the frogs - even if they came in fuzzy."   *********** Saying that new drivers have enough other things to worry about without talking on cell phones, the Feds want all states to make it illegal for teenagers and other new drivers to talk on phones.   Question: Why stop there?   An AOL survey shows 62 per cent of people polled would like to see ALL cell phone conversations by drivers outlawed. I am proud to incldue myself among that 62 per cent.   It amazes me how we can arrest people for driving "under the influence" (an influence which, at .05 blood alcohol content, is somewhat debatable), yet we continue to allow people to talk on cell phones while driving, even when study after study shows that talking while driving is at least as dangerous as driving while just over the legal alcohol limit. We put a permanent stain on the records of those arrested for DUI, on the grounds that even if they haven't harmed another person, their consumption of alcohol makes them more likely to do so - yet the mindless chatterers dart in and out of traffic with impunity.   Nor is it a question of "hands-free" phones being any safer, although that's usually the sop that legislators toss to the cell-phone industry and the service providers, without bannign use of cell phones completely. It is the distraction of being engrossed in a telephone conversation - regardless of the phone that's being used - that causes people to run stop signs, or cut across three lanes of traffic because they suddenly realized they missed their exit.   *********** Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans traveled to Havana to play the Ducks last Friday (Havana used to play Cuba until four years ago - the news guy always laughed when reporting that game). The Ducks were riding a 33 game losing streak, but have shown marked improvement and were playing teams tough. We knew we better show up to play or risk being embarrassed.   Well, they scored early in the first quarter on a long pass to go up 6-0. That was it for them offensively, as they only gained 60 yards rushing and 20 yards passing the rest of the night. We, on the other hand, topped 300 yards rushing and 80 yards passing on 76 offensive plays. Unfortunatley, we decided to squander two opportunities inside the ten yard line (fumble, flag, etc.). So, despite kicking the snot out of these people, we were down 6-2 (that safety was very important) with just three minutes and 60 yards to go. We didn't panic, although I was very nervous. After a couple of first downs our quarterback hit a beautiful X-corner to the 1 yard line. 1st down - qb fumbles and recovers. 2nd down - they stuff wedge. 3rd down - :11 on the clock and we use our last timeout - it will be the last play - after calling wedge and heading back to the sideline I turn back and say "do you guys want to run Super Power" - "Hell, yes!" He got in by about 6 inches. We win 8-6 (the safety). Unbelievable.   We came away with a win, are 4-0, and our kids showed that they won't give up. But, my gosh, what an emotional rollercoaster. I honestly never want to go through that again.   Good luck to you this week, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** Coach, My approach this year has been to get the kids to be more responsible for themselves and each other. I'm constantly picking up equipment that they don't put in their lockers or seeing kids out of uniform because they left their practice shirt at home etc…   I still have had to sit out players who miss practice without turning in a written excuse. It usually only happens to them once. But the other kids aren't learning from their mistakes. Off the record in the "you aren't going to believe this dept." At halftime as we are heading to the locker room a parent is giving my AD an earful. I just kept going. I sat his son out the first series because he wore the wrong belt to the game and he didn't have his game socks. He also wore the wrong color pants last week for our team picture.   I talked to our AD about his "meeting". The parent is going to get a lawyer blah blah blah. His son has special needs and we are being too hard on him. His son is the best lineman we have. You kind of get the picture. Its sad that with all the success we are having that these are issues that take up most of my time.   Be very careful, coach - Did you read about the nut in New Jersey who threatened to kill his kid's HS coach after the coach sat the kid out because he showed up five minutes late for the team bus?   *********** Hugh, Did you see that show on ESPN last night which had Dick Butkus as a (temporary) HC at a high school in western PA (Montour?)?He started bringing in pro guys to help when he saw how hard it really was? What kind of fluff/bs is this? Am I supposed to believe that just because someone has been blessed enough in the genetic pool and could "play in the day" that he will automatically be a good coach? I wonder how other FB coaches feel about this? Come to think of it, I wonder how the "other" coaches at this high school feel about this! Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey   For those of you who missed my earlier heads-up about Dick Butkus' being hired by ESPN to pose as a football coach p specifically, the head coach of Montour High School, a Western Pennsylvania team with a strong of losing seasons, as part of a weekly "reality" series...   The REAL coach wasn't fired, exactly. Shoot, this would have been his first year, and he hasn't even had a chance to coach the kids. But shortly after he was hired (from a championship program), he was informed that his school district - in return for the promise of big bucks from ESPN - had arranged for "Coach Butkus" to stand in for him - to play "head coach" in a "reality" series using the Montour team as its props. Never mind that "Coach Butkus" has never coached a team of any consequence in his life and wouldn't know how to if he had to. I came home from practice Tuesday night in time to catch about half of the first show, and I came in at a part where "Coach Butkus" drives to the airport to pick up Ray Crockett, a former pro with two Super Bowl rings, who will help him with the defense because (it is implied) ordinary high school coaches aren't up to the job. Something like flying in a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins because there's nobody local who can do brain surgery. But not quite.   I'm sure Mr. Cockett was just sitting around doing nothing, waiting for someone to call so he could drop whatever he had going and fly someplace to coach a high school team. (If you really believe he flew out there because "Coach Butkus" asked him to, to work for a high school coach's stipend, you probably also believe that "Coach Butkus" is really a coach.)   Of course, I kept watching. I am fascinated by any look inside any high school or college program. Overall, though, my reaction to this show - and to "Coach Butkus" - is, "What a piece of sh--."   Butkus' performance is, in a word, fulsome. (Fulsome, although it sounds complimentary, actually means "disgustingly excessive.") Except for his numerous vulgarities, the words he mouths are probably not his, more than likely written for him by some writer who thinks he knows what a coach is supposed to say,but in the space of the first five or ten minutes I heard him mouth at least a dozen tired old coaching cliches. He did spend a bit of time telling the kids to look at "the man in the mirror." What really grew tiresome, though, was hearing him tell the kids what a winner he is. And what losers they were. Now, that I resented. No coach worthy of the title would do that. (Hell, half of those kids haven't even played in a varsity game yet, and they haven't had a thing to do with the school's run of failure.) I almost yorked when I heard him say, "I'm not gonna let anyone here make me a loser!" Okay, Mister Big Winner, says I. Before we let a bunch of high school kids make you look like a loser, let's have a look at your record. Let's see what kind of a winner you are, anyhow. Uh-oh. Better not let the kids see this, "Coach"...   See, Dick, while you were the quintessential Chicago Bear, perhaps the hardest hitter the game has ever seen, you know and I know that you really don't have much of a record as a winner.   The record book doesn't lie, "Coach," and what it shows is that, in a career that lasted from 1965 through 1973 (nine years), you played on exactly two winning teams. Two! One was your rookie year, when the Bears went 9-5. The other was your third year, when the Bears's record was 7-6-1. Not exactly sterling, but at least a winning season.   But it was pretty thin gruel from there on out. Your fourth year, the Bears broke even at 7-7, but then you finished out your career with five straight losing seasons, including 1-13 in 1969, and 3-11 in 1973, your final year.   The Bears' record during the last five years of your career was 20-48. Some "winner."   Now what was that you were saying about those kids being losers?   The show is being presented as "reality," with Butkus as the head coach. The "reality" is staged, which is to be expected, but what bothers me the most is that millions of viewers will be deluded into thinking that that bozo is actually a coach, when the reality is he that has never earned the right to be called "Coach." Coaches everywhere should be offended, in the same way real combat veterans resent the barroom heroes who falsely claim Purple Hearts.   Nevertheless, I'll continue to watch, in much the same way that I'll keep scratching a boil.   *********** More beefs about the rating systems... The Sagarin College Football Ratings have USC ranked number one. No argument there. Iona is dead last, at 239, right behind St. Peter's. I'll let the Iona and St. Peter's folks try to settle that one.   But then I noticed that Stanford is ranked 87th, and Cal Davis is down at 109. Did I miss something? Did they miss something? Didn't Cal Davis go into Stanford Stadium and kick the bejesus out of the mighty Cardinal? Is the almighty Sagarin computerized rating system so much better than a game between the two teams at determining which is the better team?   While still shaking my head at that one, I noticed that Harvard - Harvard, for God's sake! - was ranked 88th. Now, Harvard is a very good Ivy League team - emphasis on Ivy League. The Ivy League, as you may know, does not give athletic scholarships, and the Ivy League, as you probably know, has very high academic standards, two factors that combine to put it at a bit of a recruiting disadvantage. Harvard did step out of league and beat Holy Cross last week, 31-21, but Holy Cross doesn't give out athletic scholarships either, and Holy Cross also puts itself at a similar recruiting disadvantage by insisting that its football players be students.   (Disclaimer - I am a Yale grad, but I have no particular dislike for Harvard. In fact, if they should happen to beat Yale this year, and that should happen to hasten the departure of the current Yale coaching staff, well...)   But Harvard at 88? That means, if the Sagarin College Football Ratings are correct, Harvard is better than Pitt, Rice, San Diego State, Miami (Ohio), Washington and Wake Forest, to name a few Division I-A teams. Come on. Get serious.   Speaking of serious, the idea that Harvard is ranked ahead of some serious (that is to say, they give athletic scholarships) Division I-AA schools, schools that have spent the first couple of weeks of their seasons getting beaten by D-IA powers in return for nice paychecks, is ludicrous. Does anybody in his right mind think that Harvard could beat Nicholls State, Montana State, Montana or Northern Iowa? Besides Sagarin, that is?.   *********** In the past week, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self and Duke's famed Coach K - Mike Krzyzewski - both happened to drop by football practice at South Medford High School in Medford, Oregon. Not that either one of those basketball coaches gives a rip about football, and not that anyone actually just happens to "drop by" Medford, a town of about 45,000 people on Interstate 5, roughly halfway between Portland and San Francisco.   The object of their attention is a high school tight end/wide receiver whose coach had planned on playing him at quarterback but has yet to play a game this season. His name is Kyle Singler. He's 6-8, and only a junior. And he's considered one of the best basketball prospects in the nation. (Just run a Google search on Kyle Singler.)   But unlike so many of today's one-sport twerps, he's also a football player! He hasn't played yet because you may recall my mentioning this past summer that he injured his knee - playing basketball.   *********** I'm assisting for a 110 lb team with 11 and 12 year olds.   I am ALWAYS looking for ways to motivate these kids and have noticed that one-on-one drills (blocking and tackling) with a competitive bent get them cheering and urging their teammates on.  We are trying to transfer that energy and enthusiasm to the rest of our practice and, of course, the games.  Any suggestions from your experience?  Thanks in advance for any response.   I find that despite the best efforts of today's "cooperation instead of competition" educators, kids do enjoy competition, but because competition is so downplayed in our schools, not all of them are ready for the pressure of one-on-one competition out on the field.   I think that at first, most competition should be team competition - relays, for example - so that kids begin to grasp the idea that combined, they can overcome individual failings. I would make sure that in addition to speed, relays place a premium on the advantages the big, slow kids have - such as the ability to drag (or push or carry) heavy things.   Individually, I think the important thing is helping kids get over the fear of failure and learn to go at things with abandon, no matter what the results may be. I think the trick there is to make sure that most of the individual competition is fun stuff. So long as it is fun and there is no great stigma attached to losing, even the less competitive kids can deal with it.   Maybe you've seen my "Practice Without Pads" tape, in which there are a lot of fun drills that do incorporate football skills, too.   *********** 9:30 PDT tonight &endash; Fox Soccer Channel - The Super Bowl of Australian Football - the AFL Grand Final - LIVE!   And this year's final matches the Sydney Swans vs the West Coast Eagles. It is of great significance to the league that Sydney is in the Big Game, since the Australian Football has been somewhat slow to be accepted in the nation's largest city, where rugby is far more popular.   The game is of special interest to me because Sydney is coached by Paul Roos, whom I met and actually kicked a footy ball around with a few years back, when he was visiting southern California. "Roosie" is a great guy and I wish him well. *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 20, 2005 - "Me? I'm just the guy with the whistle. That's all I ever wanted to be." Bo Schembechler   *********** We lost Friday night 14-17 to Carencro, Louisiana. Kick-off was scheduled for 7:00pm. We started at 8:15 due to a slow moving thunderstorm. We outgained Carencro on offense, but had too many penalties. We also had very poor field position all night.   On a positive note: We return to play next friday vs. AAAA power Picayune. We play at Greyhound stadium! It will be our first home game of the season.   I will check with my bank about setting up an account for our coaches who lost their homes. I will keep you posted. Great idea!!!   I will go by the bank monday. Coaches who lost their houses. Coach Charles Sabbatini (Def. Coor) nothing left but a slab. He and his wife are staying with a friend. Coach Shane Trosclair (Def. Line) He and his 8 month pregnant wife had to swim for their lives when the 35 foot storm surge hit the coast. YES, 35 foot!! His house was totally washed away. Coach Jesse Kenode (Rec) His house was not damaged by wind, but was completely submerged by water, Including the roof. They lost everything as well. Coach Mike Tosch had 1 foot of water in his house.   Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi   *********** Coach, Just saw Coach Jones' email on your web site and want to let you know that as soon as you can find out how we can contribute directly to their mission, please let us know. I am sure the Umatilla Bulldogs would like to make a cash donation to help out the players and coaches of Ocean Springs High School during their terrible time of need. We will make our contribution directly out of our "Gridiron" account that consists of money raised from our own various fund raisers. Double wing teams must hang together and help each other when the need is there. Please advise us on how and where we can send our donation to help. Ron Timson, Umatilla High School, Umatilla, Florida (Coach Timson - and all other coaches out there - as soon as we know where you can send a contribution, you'll read it here. HW)   *********** The Dalles (Oregon) 13, Madison 6 - We came closer Friday night, but we're still winless, after dropping a 13-6 heartbreaker at The Dalles, Oregon, about 1-3/4 hours east of Portland.   The bus was an hour late arriving, and after quite a bit of sweating whether we would arrive in time to warm up at all, we wound up warming up twice. At 10 minutes before kickoff, when the captains went out for the toss, I sneaked a peek at the scoreboard to check my watch, and for some reason it has been turned off. So I went back into the locker room - and it was dark. Hmmm. Hey - the stadium lights aren't on, either!   It was at that point that we were informed that power was out all over that end of town. Now, you have to understand the irony of it all - the Dalles is located at the site of The Dalles Dam, the first of the big hydroelectric dams built on the Columbia River. They're churning out enough power to light Portland, with enough left over for an aluminum plant or two, and they can't get any of it to our little football field.   So while the AD's debated what to do, and the officials circulated among the home crowd (one of them told me. with great fatherly pride, that is dauighter was a cheerleader at The Dalles. Uh-oh.), we tried to keep the kids occupied. It was getting stuffy inside the locker room, so we went outside and finally decided to choose up sides and play touch.   The Dalles' AD suggested checking out the town baseball field, but nothing doing - it was unlined, and the baseball fence was still up.   Finally, after a 50-minute wait, the lights came back on. Three minutes to kickoff! shouted the officialsd, so we hustled outside, ready to go - and then waited. Waited while our kids were introduced... waited while their team was introduced, with a little riff by the band for each kid... waited while a young lasy took the usual five minutes to sing the National Anthem.   And finally, an hour late, we played.   After stopping The Dalles on downs at our 40, we put together a quick five-play drive that took us to the opposing 20 before a bad snap turned the ball over.   We finally put together a nice drive in the 3rd quarter, mostly 6-G and 7-G, to pull to within 7-6, but we gave up another score midway through the fourth quarter. Freshman cornerback Ronald Briggs intercepted on the point after and returned it 101 yards (Oregon has adopted that abominable NCAA rule), but instead of two points for us it was called back for an illegal block in the back. We did put together a decent little drive, though, capped by Chris Lowery's 55-yard pass to DeMarcus Vance for another score. Uh-oh. Holding. On the offense.   And that was that. We moved the ball reasonably well - 263 yards rushing and 276 total yards, and Damaien Young carried 21 times for 156 yards - but we came up short on several important plays.   We arrived back in Portland after midnight, just in time for some of our kids to catch the last bus running.   This week it's Roosevelt, now 2-0 in its second year of running the Double-Wing, with two impressive wins. Last year we beat Roosevelt at their place, and they are looking to return the favor at our place this year.   *********** Coach Wyatt; Haven't talked in a while. Really sorry Coach Hall and I missed your clinics. It's the first year since running the DW we've missed a clinic. First let me say congratulations on your new Coaching position. Those young men are blessed to have a coach like yourself. True leadership does wonders for building character. As I might have told you, I'm coaching the freshman team at Archbishop Carroll H.S here in Washington, DC. The program is headed by former Redskin and Carroll Alum, Joe Howard Johnson. I'm also coaching a youth team of 10-12 yr. olds. ( I have my hands full to say the least) Funny (but sad) thing happen at Carroll last week.   My Prayers go out to all the families of the Gulf region. I had the privilege of meeting Coach Jones at your clinic just a few years ago, and was impressed with his commitment to excellence at his new H. S. Please let him know coaches everywhere are here to help in any way possible. My wife Darlene says hi and God Bless.   Respectfully, Coach Dwayne Pierce, Washington, D.C.   *********** One Heather Mitts was the "sideline reporter" at the Army-Baylor game. Nice looking. Very well put-together, too (as we used to be able to say before such observations were banned as illegally sexist). But talk? She sounded as if someone had sent out to Central Casting for a Valley Girl. And then there's the show-and-tell factor. She happened to be interviewing a combat veteran who now attends West Point, and she just had to one-up him. She noted that he'd been awarded a Purple Heart, but then she felt compelled to add "I'm hiding my gold medal in my shoe." Say, "Gold Medal?" My first reaction was, "I'm supposed to know who you are?" So I google "Heather Mitts," and I'll be damned if she didn't win an Olympic gold medal. But as a f--king soccer player. Now, what the f--k is a f--king soccer player - a woman's soccer player - doing "reporting" from the sidelines at a f--king football game!   *********** Wow Coach. Just found out a bit of good history. Went I left school and football and joined the military. I lived,trained,reconed,did special duty attached to the 8th Infantry Division in Germany. The same areas where the Black lions had to go to in World War 2. Listed as some of the worst fighting in Black Lions history. Later on they became if not mistaken part of the 8th Infantry division. If I find the patch exchanged by me with the soldiers there I'm going to send it to you. Thanks for always being there for me. Keep on Coaching. Armando Castro, Roanoke, Virginia *********** The 6-4-3 in your news... That's funny. However, I still think most teams can't stop the DW even with 13 men... I have the REAL way to stop the DW. Convince the HC/OC to widen the gaps, and/or bring the linemen forward, and/or stop pulling the backside tackle, and/or stop cutting the backside, and/or don't install trap and counter... you get the picture. Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina   *********** Last year my freshman team ran 4 Double-Wing plays along with offense of the Varsity. We had a lot of success and criticism. I was criticized for running the wedge mostly, and was told "that's not our offense". So at the start of this season I was instructed NOT to put in any Double-Wing plays. Then along came a new Varsity asst. coach (who wasn't at the school last year) and comes up with this brilliant new play he saw some other HS run....... you guessed it........... The WEDGE...!!! So he's trying to explain how to run a wedge..... He says "the linemen block shoulder to shoulder in a straight line and were gonna block an area..???!!!??? WHAT WAS THAT..????? I asked.......You're not blocking a down lineman.?? So I spoke up and said "that's not how you run a wedge...!!" and offered to show the Varsity O-line how to run it... I was blown off like dust on a lamp shade. To make a long story short.......running the wedge their way has resulted in a play that yields 1 or 2 yds MAX every time they run it. As a Double-Wing coach it hurts my heart and insults my intelligence to see it run this way...but it's their program. What do I know..?? I'm just a freshman coach..! On the other hand, I DO run it with my youth team and we run it with some stones..!!! NAME WITHHELD   *********** Coach:My name is Patrick Rhoades I coach a 14 year old team in Denver. We have been running the Double Wing for 3 years. Today we played a team that we ran Tight 2 wedge 3 times on and gained 15 yards every time, But we had helping the runner penalties every play.   I asked the ref to clarify, and what #, he said he couldn't tell because they were all bunched together and they had to be pushing the  b-back. Last week we had the same thing happen. Do you have any suggestions on what to tell the ref's?   Thank you, Patrick Rhoades, Bear Creek Bears, Denver, Colorado   Sounds to me like some overzealous officials have allowed opposing coaches to get in their ears.   You probably need to become "proactive." We all do. See www.coachwyatt.com/officialschecklist.htm   That is one of the things that we do try to talk with the officials about before the game. We explain that our other backs are told about the rule and told not to push on the runner. If possible, we will even offer to show them the play being run. I did so this past Friday night, and the white hat told me, reassuringly, "you don't have to - unless it's pretty obvious, I'm not going to call it."   *********** Hope all is well. My son tore his ACL couple days ago in practice.PT for three weeks then surgery.He has taken this a lot better than me.Big time father guilt. He was trying to get more playing time playing safety (he's a QB), he got an interception and was tackled (clean).He turned and "pop." I have gone thru some terrible emotions.Terrible.Read Gen.Sheltons words to you.They helped.I still fight with my emotions.I spoke with my son.The kid is a rock. Pretty much he looked at me said, Whatever has to be done.I'll be back. I want to play and graduate from this High School.What more can I say? I blamed myself. I went thru some terrible emotions again, I tell you.Prayers always help.   I'm very sorry to hear that. But it does sound as if you have raised a warrior. Of course, he'd want to play safety. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe that's where he will play some day.   Injuries will happen. Fortunately, modern medicine has advanced to the point where he can return better than new.   Look at it this way - what if he'd said, "Dad, I don't want to play any more. I might get hurt again."   *********** We have some yahoo in our league - who is now challenging the validity of the Wedge. I started looking, but have not located - where in the rules book does it state that lineman can push each other not the runner?   That guy is a FOOL. The wedge play is as old as football. Has he ever heard of a Double-Team?   The intention of the rules has been to specify what is NOT permitted. That's why they say that you can't assist a runner - until they wrote that rule, people routinely pushed their runners.   The basic rule of thumb is - if it is not prohibited, it is permitted.   When someone says that something you do is illegal, it is not YOUR responsibillity to show that it is LEGAL. It is HIS responsibility to show that it is NOT.   *********** Coach, I read this and about laughed...   I figured out how to stop the double wing! A six man front with 4 linebackers stacked over the A and B gaps and play 3 deep zone coverage with 2 corners and a safety. I call it the 6-4-3. (Coach- with all due respect, that sounds awfully weak off tackle. We would run 88 Super-O and block down across the front and we would kill you. And that's just for openers. We haven't even talked about sweeps and passes. HW)   I'm sure you already know this, but isn't that 13 guys??  That's not even legal in Canandian football.  Was this guy joking around or something?  And our base plays would still work against it!   Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska (I'm sure he was joking, but I still thought I should answer it, because we would still defeat it! Rice coach Ken Hatfield touched on this topic when asked last week how he planned to stop Texas. He said he would commit 11 men to the point of attack, but only 11 - because that was all the rules allowed. "We only can play with 11," he said. "I can't commit more. Even with Texas being as nice as they are, I think Mack will want us to only have 11. I would commit 15, if I could, to the point of attack." (For the record, Rice was forced to go with 11 men on defense, and Texas won, 51-10. HW)   *********** Well, so far we a 0-4 this season. Our first game, I don't know where the kids that had been practicing for several weeks were, but they did not show up for that game. We lost to a fair team 20-0.   Second game, the kids showed up to play, that night, we kept it simple, and they played great against a team that has one of the biggest line in (the area). We lost 14-10. We controlled the game for all but the last 3 minutes. Bad coaches decisions, a couple bad penalties, and one mistake on defense cost us.   The third game, again the kids didn't showed up and got waxed 36-0. No offense, slow off the ball and not sustaining their blocks.   Last night, we were waxed again by a far less superior team, but executed well. All this team had been talking smack, and I thought the kids would respond instead, 4 fumbles, three from the QB., one INT, and poor blocking, (would not stay on their blocks).   That is what the kids are doing wrong. But coach, the Offensive Coordinator is Bastardizing the Offense (I think), he has added plays/changes two-three days before a game, and even the night of he changes a formation that we hadn't worked on at all. I tell him and the head coach that we have to keep it simple and stick with the basic offense. They agree, but then they veer away from the basics.   Coach, I guess I am asking for advice on how to get the head coach and O.C. to stick to the basics. Our Frosh team is 3-2 averaging 40 points a game, and our JV's (who ran this offense for two years now) are 3-1 averaging 36 point a game. Our Head Coach makes mention of how well they are running the offense, then (asks) why can't we?   I tell him (our kids) are keeping it simple, and he agrees, then off we go. It is killing me. I want to show respect to the head coach, as I should, but we are so much better than this, I believe.   Coach- You are in a can't win situation.   My prediction, without knowing either man, just knowing human nature, is that if you were to persuade the head coach to stick to the basics, the o-coordinator would think he was being shown up, or on the road out, and because it would be in his interest for your suggestion to fail, he would (at least subconsciously) work against it.   Maybe you are just going to have to wait to see what happens after an oh-fer season.   Wish I could be more encouraging.   *********** I have a tip for those youth coaches who have large discrepancies in weight between your backs and line. In our league our backs and ends must be much smaller than interior linemen. Therefore my "B" back can't be a big bruiser. We have a tough QB and have been running not only 2 wedge but QB wedge which we run two ways. In short yardage we run no fake to the "B" back, but simply have the QB get the snap and drive into the wedge. We sometimes also make a brief fake to the "B" back and the QB follows him. Even if you don't have the same weight restrictions I have, it seems it would work at any level. Best wishes, Al Andrus, Salt Lake City   ***********John Rothwell, of Fort Worth, Texas, sent me a great quote recently regarding those people we often encounter who resist any change, no matter how beneficial, from "the way we've always done it," and I asked him if he knew where it came from.   Here he is, back from his research:   Hi Coach! Ha! Just did a search on the 1st 3 words, in quotes, & got this from: www.truthbeknown.com/christian.htm   "Each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand mediocre minds appointed to guard the past." Belgian poet Maurice Maeterlinck   *********** Hi Coach, Good luck on the remainder of your season and I'm sure you will get your line dialed in...   Due to a great career opportunity, I have recently relocated (back in January) to a rural area in Northeastern Connecticut from a very urban area in Southern Connecticut. I was very involved in the local youth football program in my previous town as an assistant coach for a number of years and was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to be a head coach a few of years ago.   Our program was mediocre at best, having limited success until I happened upon your website a few years back! I had implemented the DW with great success, although not without incident... How come your teaching the kids to block like that? You can't teach ten and eleven year olds how to pull and trap. Why are you teaching them that kind of stance? etc. I'm sure you've heard them all. These comments were coming from coaches and parents who have no clue and hadn't won a game in four years. I ignored all of the local experts and critics and in my first year running your system we went four and four in a very competitive league and made our post season tournament and won our first game. Three of the four games we lost we were either tied or ahead at the half. Since that first season several of our other teams started running your system.   This year, I got involved in the local league in my new town and after attending several of the league meetings I was asked to be the offensive coordinator for the thirteen and fourteen year old squad. I agreed with the understanding that I was going to implement the DW and it was probably contrary to what they have been doing. After a cursory review of the system by the head coach he replied "no problem you run what you want." The first couple of nights went extremely well, the kids seemed excited to learn something new and were picking up the basics.   On the third night of practice, the league president, the head coach and some league members were huddled up discussing something. When I approached the huddle it got real quiet. Well, I soon found out what the discussion was about. How are we going to get this new guy to understand that offense is not going to work here and he needs to run our high school "regular" offense? The one that they have been running forever with no success whatsoever. I tried my best to be diplomatic and politically correct but, I had to tell them what I thought of the offense and that I couldn't run a system I didn't believe in. Sooooooooooo   I ended up coaching this season in a nearby Massachusetts town as an assistant on a well organized successful program with great coaches and parental support. We run a lot of I and Single Wing. We were 2-0 going into this week and playing a DW team. We are now 2-1 after a 6-0 loss in a great game. We saw a lot of the Wedge, 6, 7G and Powers both ways. They tried a Red Red but we were fortunate enough to pick it. They did a great job running the DW. After the game upon congratulating our opponents on the win, I advised the head coach that I would give Coach Wyatt his regards.....He chuckled and said I thought you looked familiar....We were both at your RI clinic! Take Care and good luck, Scott Wendel   *********** "That was just hustle by Joe Horn..." that, along with several other inanities, was used by Paul McGuire (whom I usualy like) and Joe Theismann (whom I, uh...) to somehow excuse Joe Horn's inexcusable fumble while reaching out to try to play "tag the pylon." (The ball hit the pylon, but not while it was in Horn's possession, resulting in a touchback for the Giants. You'd have thought the guy was doing the most selfless thing in the world, all to help his team. Actually, I consider it one of the most selfish things I've seen (in a league full of selfish bastards), with no regard for what was best for the team. I mean, isn't first-and-goal from the one better than a touchback?   *********** You think the BCS is a farce? How about the AP Poll, one of the polls (or should that be "poles"?) that hold up the BCS tent?   LSU is ranked third. Now, I don't doubt that the Tigers are good - or going to be - and they certainly have been through quite a bit, what with Katrina and all, but they've only played one game, and and in that one they barely managed to defeat Arizona State, 35-31, thanks to a couple of fourth-quarter return plays. But wait - there's Michigan at 14 and Michigan State at 17. Excuse me? Maybe the AP guys have them confused, because I'd swear that was Michigan that Notre Dame beat last week, and Michigan State that just beat Notre Dame this past Saturday. Ditto the two Iowa Schools. There's Iowa (2-1) at number 21, and Iowa State (2-0) at number 22. Huh? Iowa State crushed the Hawkeyes a week ago, 23-3. But that, apparently, wasn't good enough for the geniuses who vote in the AP poll, so with Iowa State off this past weekend, the voters were wowed by Iowa's big win over Division I-AA Northern Iowa.   *********** Hi Coach! I hope you you and your team had a good weekend. We went to West Point on Saturday to see Army play Baylor and we had a great time! We watched a rugby game between Army and UCONN also. Our kids were watching in awe, as some of the tackles were crushing. As we stood there watching I turned to one of my assistant coaches and just shook my head and asked what ,as a coach, you could ever possibly say to coach these guys up and he just smiled as he said " come on guys, be tough out there". I almost laughed my ass off. These guys were tough as nails and it was great for our kids to witness it first hand.   As for our game this week, we went to Albany ( the organization that I played for as a kid and one my father founded back in 1968 ) which is made up of all tough inner city kids. We opened up by exchanging punts 2 times in the first quarter but we finally scored in the second on 29 brown pass. my QB did a great job of hiding the ball and froze the lb's and our TE was wide open. We found that they were giving us the TNT look up front so we used the " omaha" audible and pulled the off guard. What we found worked very well was split 6x and 7x. We also scored on a 60 yard split 7 option. We are now 3-0 and have outscored our opponents 75-13. This week we play a very tough Troy team that also runs the DW. Some of the coaches there have worked with Pete Porcelli of Lansingburgh High School. It should be very interesting.   On a different note, while we were at West Point the Red Cross was collecting for victims of Hurricane Katrina. We talked about it on the bus ride home and we decided that we wanted to help another youth football program in the south. I was wondering if you could put me in touch with one of your contacts down there whose program might be in need of some assistance? Our local volunteer fire department adopted a fire department in Mississippi and our kids thought it would be the right thing to do. Please have them e-mail me at Mcahill1@nycap.rr.com and I will get it rolling. Thanks for everything and God bless!   Mike Cahill, Guilderland Dutchmen, Guilderland, New York   *********** How'd you like to have a kid lying on the field, in need of help, and no emergency medical help available because... they were all taking classes in sexual harassment? Since Political Correctness is far, far more important than our nation's security ("Take your shoes off, Grandma... Go right on through, Mr. Azziz") we shouldn't be surprised that it trumped the importance of providing assistance to hurricane victims. From around the country, well-meaning fire and rescue workers volunteered to help in the storm-shattered Gulf Coast area. Get the workers to the scene ASAP, right? Wrong. First, FEMA required them to spend TWO DAYS in Atlanta, undergoing sensitivity training. I sh-- you not - they had to take classes in sexual harassment and ethnic minorities. I'm sure that that black woman and her kids are more than happy to wait a couple more days to be rescured, so that white firefighter from North Dakota can learn about how to deal with racial minorities.   *********** Last year, the Bellevue (Washington) High Wolverines ended DeLaSalle's 151-game win streak. I thought they'd get killed - I mean, they're only Class 3A in a 4-class state - but they proved me wrong. Okay, okay, I thought, maybe it was just a down year for De LaSalle. Not that Bellevue is bad - the Wolverines have won four state Class 3A titles in a row - but when it ws announced that this year they'd take on Long Beach Poly, I thought, Oh sh--! This time they've definitely bitten off more than they can chew.   Hey - this is one the most storied high school programs in the country. This is the one that Sports Illustrated singled out as having the best overall athletic program in the country. Poly, which has sent 50 players to the NFL - more than any other high school - and won five of the last 10 CIF large-school championships, came into Friday night's game ranked Number 3 by USA Today.   To make it short - in a game played in Seahawks Stadium and televised up and down the West Coast, Bellevue kicked Poly all over the field, winning 30-16. Poly took a brief 3-0 lead after settling for a field goal on the first drive, then sat back and looked like a team that had never seen the Wing-T before - at least not a Wing-T run as well as Bellevue runs it - as the Wolverines rolled up 315 yards rushing. The Bellevue defense wasn't too shabby, either, stifling the vaunted Jackrabbit attack for much of the night, and holding them to just 50 yards rushing on 17 carries in the first half.   *********** I was at a party Sunday at the home of one of my former players, Jon Christopher, who now happens to be one of my assistants, and I ran into Ryan Greear, whom I helped develop into a good enough QB that by his senior year he quarterbacked Ridgefield, Washington High School to a state championship. I joked with him about the fact that back in 1994, when he was leading his team to the title, he got no credit because he didn;t have glittering passing stats. He told me, "Our passing was pretty effective - I still remember my stats." And damned if he didn't - 46 attempts, 23 completions, 10 touchdowns - and ONE interception.   *********** Hello Coach: Friday night, a young man here in Northern California was critically injured in a game. He was blocking on special teams when he collided with another player -- unfortunately, he had his head down and his helmet hit the opposing player in the chest plate. Not a lot of details are available (here's a link to the story http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3040557), but he injured his brain and had to have surgery to relieve the pressure from the bleeding. He's still in a coma and listed as critical.   I do not know this young man, nor his team or coaches. It doesn't matter. One of "our boys" is down and he and his family need our prayers. If you would be so kind as to post this, I know that we'll have hundreds of coaches and teams adding their prayers too.   The rest of "our boys" need us too. I *know* you stress this at every practice, and I'm sure that everyone who reads your site does the same, but it NEVER hurts to remind each other to drill our players to keep their heads up and see what they hit.   I wanted to add that when I read the story, my heart dropped. Mathew Vangelderen, the injured player, is almost the exact size as my son, Ben (5'9'', 140 lbs), plays the same position (defensive back), and plays on all the special teams too. This is Ben's 9th season, so he's been well trained, but this last week I had to speak to him after the game as he has started to drop his head, looking for the "big hit". I told him if he continued this practice, I would pull him from the team for his own safety and then I see this news item.   Needless to say, I went back and spoke to him again -- but not before giving him a hug and telling him that I hope never to have to visit him in a hospital because he can't remember to see what he hits.   My heart and prayers goes out to Mathew and his family. I can't help but think: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."   Best regards, Jim Carlton, San Jose, California (Mathew is a football player. He is one of us. HW)   *********** Scott Barnes, of Rockwall, Texas, entitled his e- mail, "FIRST IN LINE." You'll see why...   "Somehow, our nation managed to survive - thrive, even - for more than 200 years... and then a judge - one single, solitary judge - who knew better than our Founding Fathers, caved in to the California atheist and decided that the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutionally promotes religion. So while blowhard senators Kennedy and Biden blather away on the televised hearings on the confirmation of Mr. Roberts, our nation's moral foundation continues to rot. And the people we thought we elected to strengthen that foundation stand by and watch. So where does a guy sign up for the Second American Revolution?" The line forms behind ME!! I can't believe what we have allowed our country to become. A melting pot of pussies, whiners and people looking for a handout. It makes me sick. And it's killin' the dems that Mr. Roberts is such a clean guy, isn't it?? They just can't believe that someone can be honest and do his job in an honorable manner. I've been watching (too much) of the hearings, and told Joan last night how I'm in awe of Roberts. He's so intelligent -- I'm envious of his intelligence -- and yet he's not a stiff. His answers are spot on every single time and he's a guy I would trust to "bet $5 in vegas for me.." knowing that if it were actually "my $5" that won, he would give me the winnings. Take care, Coach -- I know last Friday night was a tough one -- but that gives you a reason to practice. *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 16, 2005 - "The unexpected happens. You had better prepare for it." Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister   *********** This was sent to me, but it applies to American football coaches everywhere. With apologies to atheists everywhere, all I can say is, "Amen."   Coach, God bless you and your team as you take the field tonight to compete in the greatest experience in American high schools - it doesn't get any better than young men competing under the lights on a Friday night, and we are blessed to be a part of it all! Enjoy the moment! Greg Koenig, Colby, Kansas   *********** FINALLY!!! NEWS FROM THE GULF COAST!!! AND GOOD NEWS AT THAT!!!   Coach Wyatt, Just got my internet back tonight. Our school sustained minor damage as did our stadium. We resume play tomorrow night at Carencro,Louisiana in Lafayette.   We lost one starter to relocation, MLB Paul Gunn transfered to South Panola (the team that beat us in the State Championship game last year) Talk about pouring salt in the wound!! We resumed practice last Wednesday and have had a great week. The kids are ready to hit the field again. 3 of our 6 coaches lost everything they own. 10 of our players lost their houses. About 10 others were flooded. The destruction on the coast is unbelievable and much, much worse than you see on TV. Several High Schools were completely destoyed. One school district had 1 elementary school survive, then it was basically destroyed by the refugees from New Orleans. We were without power at my house for a week. 100 degrees in the day and 80 at night. It was miserable. We had to go get water and ice twice. I used my swimming pool as a bath tub and just to cool off. It was the high-lite of the day. We were really unaware of the devastation until a week later. Communications were a wreck and still are! It will take years for this area to recover. They have estimated that 20,000 homes have been destroyed on the Mississippi gulf coast. 40,000 people do not have a job due to their work place being destroyed. As you know, I moved from the beach in May to Vancleave (15 miles off the coast). My old house was destroyed! I would have lost everything...I am very fortunate. I have a house and a job.   My house received minor damage (Shingles blown off on the back side(65%) and about 15 trees blown down.   Go Greyhounds! and God Be with the Coast!   Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi (I have asked Coach Jones if there is a fund set up yet to help the coaches and kids. HW)   *********** So TCU ends Utah's 18-game winning streak. From the replays I saw (I got home late from practice and missed it), unless the winning TD pass was actually completed behind the line of scrimmage, TCU scored as a result of an illegal pick. Maybe it was unintentional, maybe not (you have to wonder), but if that ball crossed the LOS, it was the most blatant and easy-to-call case of offensive pass interference I have ever seen. *********** I am a Protestant. I want to make it clear that those few Protestants who are bombing and raising hell in Northern Ireland do not represent me or anything I stand for, much less Christianity as a whole. Their fight is not my fight, and I do not support them.   I've been waiting in vain since September 11, 2001 for similar statements from American Muslims about their coreligionists who are our mortal enemies.   ***********Coach, Chris Davis here @ Murray County Central in MN. Big win last friday against the number 3 team in the state, and the second leading rusher in the state history. Held Kyle Minnett, great RB to only 167 yards, had 341 in his first game. Offense held onto the ball for 60 plays, gave them only 44. Won 14-13. If you remember that my AD wanted me fired last year, it was great to see him have to give gredit to the kids. Got new adminstration, (imagine this, he actually comes to the games) and he was truly fired up. Ran for 267, and 242 in first two games, and we haven't really blocked it very well. Little things like head position to stop penetration need to be worked on. Hope everything is going well for you. Chris Davis, Slayton, Minnesota   *********** Coach, Sorry to hear about your tough opening game. Nice thing about inexperienced kids is, with coaches such as yourself, they'll get better every week.   By any chance did you see the Falcons put a hitman on Jeremiah Trotter for the Eagles in pre-game? So what do the officials do? Throw them both out?! I know I sound like a whining Eagles fan but anyone could see what was going on there! Sheesh.   Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey (I didn't see what happened because when I arrived home after practice it was halftime, but it sure sounded like some kind of pro wrestling crap. But then, that's NFL football. Imagine a sport in which high school kids conduct themselves far more professionally than the professionals. What does it say about the leadership of high school and middle school coaches - youth coaches, too - when their kids see that kind of crap on TV yet still act appropriately in their own games? The NFL makes a big deal of officially deploring such conduct, but you can be sure it will be on highlights shows for weeks - with full NFL approval). HW)   *********** I know I just got finished saying something about not making fun of peoples' looks, but Teddy Kennedy is a different matter. I can't help looking at him and laughing my ass off, thinking about the restaurant scene in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life." I just wish I could be the one to offer him that one last "wafer-thin mint."   ************ Coach, I read the following from your site this morning and was struck by the similarities in our teams:   "We (Madison High, Portland) got thumped in our opener Friday night, 53-20, by Eagle Point. We did somehow manage 300 yards of total offense and three TD's, but we were playing a very good football team that already had a game under its belt, and quite frankly, our inexperience cost us in every phase of the game. Offensively, we do have people who can run and catch, but we are still struggling to find the right combination of linemen, and then when we do find that combination, we're going to have to get them the reps they need. Defensively, I thought back to something General Jim Shelton, a Vietnam combat veteran, once told me. He played linebacker at Delaware, and he said that combat is something liker playing defense - once the ball is snapped, all hell breaks loose, and at a time like that, when everything around you is utter chaos, the only thing that saves you is your training and your discipline. Well, we lacked both - and it showed. In view of our inexperience - only five of our kids had ever played so much as a down in a high school game before - it was understandable. "   Both of our losses have been to teams that are senior dominated, and our inexperience (especially on the offensive line) has been a big problem.  We have some great wing backs and an improving quarterback, but even they are inconsistent in their blocking execution.  Our offensive line hasn't come together yet, and we are also looking for the right combination.  (I fear that will consist of one senior, one junior, and three sophomores!)  I guess the key is to get quality reps in practice and hope and pray that they improve each day.   I really appreciate Gen. Shelton's insight on playing defense.  The young kids that we are forced to play on defense are lacking training and discipline as well.   We will get better, but the mental battle is a huge challenge.  Our kids just don't expect to win here, and that becomes a vicious cycle when we aren't winning.   Anyway, thanks for the insight and inspiration.  We will coach them and get better, little by little. Take care and God bless you.   General Shelton's insights helped me, too, because I see us mssing tackles, and I know our kids aren't scared. They are missing them because (1) their inexperience causes confusion, which causes hesitation, which makes them either easier to block or a step or two slow in getting to where they need to be, (2) their inexperience causes them to forget the way they've been trained to tackle, and (3) their teammates are in the same boat, so there aren't 10 other guys to cover for the mistakes of one of them.   Be a rock for those kids. They're probably hearing a lot of negative things. Let them know that you believe in them, and that becoming winners is a process.   *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, It's been some time since we last exchanged emails so I thought I'd send you a note updating our progress. We started mid-August with about 18 kids on the roster but practiced most of the summer with between 9 and 14 on any given night. Family vacations wreaked havoc with attendance as usual, so we didn't worry about positions too much early on. Every kid ran every drill.   We installed the Super-Power and the Wedge, having the kids recite the assignments of each player in unison, and then walking it through. In general, the team had a better idea of who does what when and why, as well as what we were trying to accomplish as an offense with each play. Closer to Labor Day we installed 47-C, and the line-up started taking shape. Then we added Red-Red and some variations like 88 Power, Power Keep, and Criss-Cross 47-C.   Upfront we have about 4 honest-to-goodness o-linemen who are big, athletic, and just plain nasty, and then a pair of first year kids who try real hard but take more than they give. They understand that they are being set-up to be successful with the blocking angles and double teams and are in turn making strides with each practice. They are infinitely more physical and confident than they were when we began. The ends are solid football players, but a little small. My son Shane is at A-Back having been the most consistent with the motion and toss on 88. Our C-Back Rafael is a quick-twitch, youth wrestler who can absolutely fly. Our B-Back Sean was a lineman on the Pee Wee level who grew into his body this year and made ball-carrying weight by a pound-and-a-half. Lastly, our QB Stephen is a tough, tough kid, decent arm, not terribly quick or fast, but strong, physical and really wants to play QB. He had some trouble with the toss initially, but we worked things out.   We had few opportunities to scrimmage, or even block live while running a play given the numbers. We often laid a dummy down to represent playside and worked on pulling through. Sometimes we'd have the double-team there at the point as well. We'd then focus solely on playside blocking, identifying assignments, inside hand down and such. Details, details, details. We supplemented by making the contact drills spirited and competitive.   We had our first live action this Saturday night in a full game-like scrimmage, albeit with 8-minute quarters. I was very nervous to say the least; I knew how much confidence the team would have if we could just find success early and certainly didn't want to get in the way of that. We went out on defense first, gave up a first down, and then made a stop. We got the ball at our own 42. We ran Tight Rip 88 Super-Power and got 6, then again and got 22. Then we wedged them for 8 and got 3 more with 88. We punched it in on the next play with 47-C; Rafael was never touched.   We went on to win 25-13 with all 4 TDs coming on the counter; these kids had never scored more than 21 points in their short careers, and typically struggled to get a single touchdown. On the night we ran a total of 32 plays for 241 yards, including conversion attempts. We never punted. Below is a breakdown:   88 Super-Power &endash; 14 attempts, 74 yards, 5.29 ypa, 2 lost fumbles   2 Wedge &endash; 10 attempts, 49 yards, 4.90 ypa, 1 point after conversion, 1 failed conversion   47-C &endash; 7 attempts, 121 yards, 17.29 ypa, 4TDs   Red-Red &endash; 1 attempt, -3 yards, lost fumble   88 Power Keep &endash; 1 attempt, 0 yards, 1 failed conversion   There is room for improvement, of course. We lost yards on 6 plays, lost 3 fumbles, too &endash; but, no offsides and just one penalty on the night for a block in the back. I also got cocky and called that pass play right after we recovered a turnover at the 50. Just plain dumb. I also called Power Keep on one conversion attempt; should have expected the DE to stay home after just getting burned on 47-C the previous play. Still, we played a very solid first game all around.   We put in 3 Trap at 2 Monday night. They love it. They love the whole offense. Confidence is sky-high with the kids and attendance has never been better. Thank you once again for providing the tools and direction to make football fun for these kids again.   I'm having a blast, too.   Warmest regards, Donny Drummond, Hackensack, New Jersey   *********** Coach Wyatt, Sorry to hear you guys lost. I know you will improve. I wanted to pass along our results from Tuesday's game. We beat Greenbrier Middle 28-6. It is obvious that our defense is way ahead of last year's group at this point in the season. Our De on our strong: side 5 11 185 lbs is a man child and everyone is running away from him. We scored on the 1 play from scrimmage on tight 88 super power from 60 yards out. Also busted 47-c for 2 long gains. One was called back for holding. Our center pancaked the NG and wouldn't get off of him so they said it was holding. I used stack I in short yardage and 2 point plays and it worked very well. We ran a version of 2-red from twins with the receivers running a twist allowing the inside slot to fade and the outside taking a skinny post or slant. The play went 40 yards for a score right before halftime. We would have been more productive but we had 3 turnovers deep in their end of the field that stalled the drives. We still haven't punted. That's 10 straight games going back 2 years ago. Our star C back cut his chin and the Dr won't let him play next week. Its our homecoming and I know he is disappointed. On the good side. We play a team next week that has only one win in the last 3 years. So, as long as my line blocks like I know they can, we should still play well. I'm trying to stay focused and not get too caught up in all the praise going our way.. The season has just started and I want to see just how good we can be. I think we can put up some huge numbers if we just stop the dumb penalties and turnovers. Dan King Evans Ga Riverside Middle Eagles.   *********** I figured out how to stop the double wing! A six man front with 4 linebackers stacked over the A and B gaps and play 3 deep zone coverage with 2 corners and a safety. I call it the 6-4-3. (Coach- with all due respect, that sounds awfully weak off tackle. We would run 88 Super-O and block down across the front and we would kill you. And that's just for openers. We haven't even talked about sweeps and passes. HW)   *********** Much has been written - and much of it by me - about the late Don Holleder, the Army All-American who gave his life in Vietnam and inspired the Black Lion Award. Most of what I've read and written has dealt with the great qualities of the man - courage, selflessness, devotion to his mates, etc. - but it is important to know that he was not exactly Mr. Goody Two Shoes. He sounds to me like a regular guy who was one tough hombre of a leader, as this article, written for the West Point Class of 1959 forum by Dave Cotts, attests...   Many stories have grown up around Don Holleder. Permit me to add one more.   He was busted on the First Class trip so he had a clean sleeve (no rank - HW) entering the academic year. However (then) Major Hank Emerson insisted that he was going to be the M-2 company commander. M-2 had a reputation of being not only the loosest company in the Corps but also had a history of non-achievement, particularly academically. Having been a Tac (a Tactical Officer, a regular Army officer who is the legal Company Commander of a Cadet Company- HW), I am not sure how Major Emerson swung it, but he did and Holly was our company commander.   Don Holleder was one of the finest leaders that I have ever seen. People admired his selflessness on the football field his Firstie (senior) year (he gave up being All American at end again to be a mediocre but needed quarterback) but he also led by example. Academics were hard for him but he bore down and demanded that everyone else do so also. At the end of the first grading period, he caught a Cow (a junior- HW) who was "D" lounging in the sinks. (Not sure where or what that is all about - HW) He picked him up bodily and pinned him to the lockers there and told him to "get his ass back to his room and study and don't let me ever catch you down here again."   M-2 did a complete turnaround in everything and competed at or near the top of the regiment and the Corps in every aspect of cadet life. That carried over to our last three years but it all started with Don Holleder backed up by Hank Emerson, two people who I will never forget.   *********** My offensive line coach keeps wanting me to reach down and bring up a couple of the JV linemen.  I have told him that I feel we have a couple of guys that are playing FB and WB that would fit the mold of offensive linemen (in fact one of them played guard for us last year) and that I don't want to wreck the JVs (they are 2-0 and are probably overachieving at this point).  I talked to both of these varsity players and they are more than willing to move positions and give it a shot.  I told the line coach that we are just going to have to coach them up and I am not going to raid the JVs when I have players that want more playing time and are willing to move to the line.  The two JV players he wants to bring up are going to be outstanding linemen next year on the varsity, but they are the real leaders on the JV line.  I need to know how you feel on this one, as I am holding the line at this time, but may not be able to if we get any more injuries up there before we get the injured linemen back.  It has certainly caused some tension between the line coach and me, but the players on the varsity seem to understand and support my decision.    If you could just give me some insight into how you feel about this situation I would appreciate it.  I know that the JVs are there to support the varsity, but I think I owe it to the couple of varsity kids that are not playing as much as they would like to try to cover this void for us if they can.  This week will really be there chance to show what they can do in battle.  I hope I am doing the right thing.    I am with you on this one, as long as you can hold out.   First of all, it is possible that those JV kids are not ready yet, and that they won't necessarily do all that well anyhow. Then, there is the fact that your overall program will benefit in the long run from the investment you are making in a successful JV program. And, as you noted, it is a chance for more playing time for kids who are willing to change positions. And, finally, there could be a morale factor, if upperclassman think that their buddies should have been given the shot ahead of JV's. I especially think that if you have already approached those upperclassmen about moving to the line, you are almost obligated to carry through.   I think, from a team chemistry standpoint, it is almost a no-brainer. HW   *********** Somehow, our nation managed to survive - thrive, even - for more than 200 years... and then a judge - one single, solitary judge - who knew better than our Founding Fathers, caved in to the California atheist and decided that the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutionally promotes religion. So while blowhard senators Kennedy and Biden blather away on the televised hearings on the confirmation of Mr. Roberts, our nation's moral foundation continues to rot. And the people we thought we elected to strengthen that foundation stand by and watch. So where does a guy sign up for the Second American Revolution?   *********** One of the facts of our government that makes instantaneous response to emergencies somewhat difficult is that in our federal system, the 50 states very jealously - and quite rightly, in many cases - guard their powers against a takeover by Washington. So I find it ironic that at the very time politicians, especially those in Louisiana, are whining about the "failure" of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, the governors of several other states are suing the government over its moves to close down military bases, claiming, among other things, that the National Guard of each state is completely under the control of its governor, and not the President.   *********** Greetings Coach Wyatt, I hope your team played well this weekend. We won our 2nd game of the season last night as we scored 27 first half points to beat Schenectady NY 27-13. Much to my dismay politics reared it's ugly head again as we were told that if we scored again after going up 27-0 we would forfiet the game. National Pop Warner rules state that when a team goes ahead by 28 or more points the clock becomes running all the times and the winning team must play all it's non starters on both offense and defense and may only run inside the tackles. Last week we went up 24-0 in the 2nd quarter and we proceded to play all our non starters and only ran tight 2 wedge the rest of the game. This week we knew that our opponent was much better than last week's and we did not want to let them off the ropes. We had a 4th and goal at the 8 yaed line with 36 seconds left in the first half and a 20-0 lead. We ran a play action pass I call tight 88 X corner pass where the left end blocks for a 2 count and then releases to the corner. Touchdown! Not wanting to get to 28 points, we ran for the conversion (1 point) 27-0 at the half. A board member of our district was at the game and SHE flipped out. Said we were running up the score to embarass our opponent. I had to tell my kids at half time to not score under any circumstances or we were going to have to forfiet and that I would risk being black balled by the district next year. The Eva Braun district member who threatened our team with this just happens to be someone that we voted out of our organization 3 years ago! Although we removed her from our organization, she retained her position on the district board and seems to have a real hard on for us. Talk about using your position to settle personal vendettas! I felt like walking over to her after the game and telling her to stay home and bake a cake (where she belongs) the next time she feels the urge to watch a football game.   As far as our team, I feel that we may have the makings of a very special one this year and I will keep you updated as we progress. We will be going to West Point this Saturday to see Army beat Baylor and the kids are looking forward to it. I have contacted an athlectic intern, 2LT Manley, and he wants to give us a tour of the facilities before the game. We are looking forward to a great day! Mike Cahill, Guilderland Dutchmen, Guilderland, NY ps: Our first touchdown this week was by our 2nd offense. We ran tight 2 wedge 3 times in a row at the 15 and then faked it and threw to our left end who broke to the corner of the end zone. Who says this isn't a passing offense? 14 TD passes last year in 8 games and 3 this year in 2 games!   *********** Tip on the criss-cross exchange - I think the biggest thing is that the A back forms a scoop with his fingertips widespread, and his wrists against his waist. He has to keep his hands LOW because if he gets the ball high, he will wind up handing it to the C-Back high, and perhaps hitting him in the elbow. He should keep his hands passive, and with both hands under the ball, hand it to the C-Back.   *********** Hello Hugh.... I just saw on the local news about a special rememberance for Rick Rescorla on this year's anniversary of 9-11. There was a brief story telling his story. Rgds, John Urbaniak, Hanover Park, Illinois (Rick Rescorla , like so many immigrants, was the kind of American all Americans should aspire to be. A native Cornishman who came to American and joined the US Army and fought heroically in Vietnam, he died while helping hundreds of his fellow employees out of the World Trade Center. HW)     *********** We have had a problem with this weeks opponent sending scouts to hide and video our practices.  We have caught 1 and we think we scared another off.  The one we caught and asked to leave got pretty heated and had a lot to say about our offense and everything we do wrong (apparently we can't run without leading the guards and fb....  He also braged about how they know everything we do and would key our FB and Guards (MLB on FB and OLB's on Guards), and how we wouldn't score a point agianst their defense.  Did you know our offense looks ridiculous and our staff would never make it coaching a reall program?? Classy guy huh?  I just wondered how you would handle this?   I would report the person to my principal and have him contact the principal of the other school. This needs to be dealt with at that level. Skunking another team's practice is an unethical coaching practice - about as low as it gets.   *********** An Australian man was feared lost in the hurricane-devastated US city of New Orleans, but as it turned out, he ws in even greater danger than anything Katrina offered - he spent 11 days in jail.   Ashley McDonald, a tourist from Melbourne, was arrested in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit last week, and he rode out the storm in the Orleans Parish Prison.   In the days following the hurricane, Mr McDonald was transferred out of the city to the maximum-security Elayn Hunt Correctional Centre in Louisiana.   There, he managed to survive somehow, surrounded by some of the worst criminals to be found anywhere.   I can only imagine the movie that could come out of this one - an Aussie visits the Big Easy, gets a little drunk and disorderly, and finds himself thrown into a cell with a bunch of New Orleans thugs.He's white, they're (for the most part) black. All they have in common is English, and it doesn't do any of them a bit of good, because they can't understand him, and he can't understand them.   *********** We have a TE who wears #69. Don't ask me why he wears that number he just always has since youth ball.   Normally it isn't a problem as we just declare him eligible before the game. With a small roster we play kids out of position all the time. As far as I can tell in the rule book, position numbering is only recommended, aligement seems to take precedence over numbering when determining eligibilty. In ------ the other day, the refs told us that an ineligible number cannot be declared eligible even if the player is lined up in an eligible position, which took away my now very beautiful "blue" pass. Any insight would be helpful. I guess I could just change his jersey number, but I do not at the moment have a jersey with an eligible number in his size.   The officials cannot bend the rules. The rules clearly state that in order to be eligible, a player must be in the backfield or on the end of the line AND wear an eligible number.   I personally have never allowed a kid to wear the number 69. My observation has been that it is always the team clown who thrives on the notoriety of wearing that number. HW   *********** ELMIRA, NEW YORK - Corning West 34, Susquehanna Valley 28 - Corning West's Kenyan Hicks, this past summer's Empire State Games gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, scored three touchdowns, but it was fullback Joe Perez's score from 8 yards out with 25 seconds remaining that gave Corning West the win, making them 2-0 on the season.   *********** If you're the kind of girlyman that thinks you shouldn't present the Black Lion Award to one of your kids because of the way America is divided over the current war... you REALLY need to watch this site. It is aimed at people like YOU. http://patriotfilesannex.org/General_Patton_Message.htm *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 13, 2005 - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Benjamin Franklin   It's probably premature to even think in terms of football coaches in the Gulf Coast area getting back to their homes and schools, but when they do, they're certain to have plenty of kids whose families will be in dire need. At the same time, I'm sure there are coaches elsewhere, like me, who would like to help, but would like, to, uh, "channel" that help. To be blunt, I fear that the money I send to a large, organized charity will go to help pay the $500,000 salary of the CEO. But I would gladly write a check to a Gulf Coast football coach, because I'd know I could trust him to get the help to where it's needed, and I'll bet others would, too. Let us know as soon as you can, guys.   *********** We (Madison High, Portland) got thumped in our opener Friday night, 53-20, by Eagle Point. We did somehow manage 300 yards of total offense and three TD's, but we were playing a very good football team that already had a game under its belt, and quite frankly, our inexperience cost us in every phase of the game. Offensively, we do have people who can run and catch, but we are still struggling to find the right combination of linemen, and then when we do find that combination, we're going to have to get them the reps they need. Defensively, I thought back to something General Jim Shelton, a Vietnam combat veteran, once told me. He played linebacker at Delaware, and he said that combat is something liker playing defense - once the ball is snapped, all hell breaks loose, and at a time like that, when everything aroujnd you is utter chaos, the only thing that saves you is your training and your discipline. Well, we lacked both - and it showed. In view of our inexperience - only five of our kids had ever played so much as a down in a high school game before - it was understandable. But no excuses - there is no escaping the fact that seeing to it that that we are properly trained and disciplined is my responsibility.   *********** I know that in the early going the pitchers are always ahead of the hitters, but the NFL's first Sunday was pretty gruesome from an offensive standpoint. In the 12 games played, exactly one-third of the 24 teams scored one offensive touchdown or less. Three of them - Green Bay, Washington and Minnesota - didn't score an offensive touchdown at all. Not that there wasn't excitement aplenty - if you like watching field goals. Jacksonville and St. Louis each kicked four of the damn things.   Poor Big Football. They have such an incredible marketing machine but such a bogus product to sell. And despite everything it has done to help offenses, it's still the National Field Goal League. Let's see - QB's can ground the ball, holding is all but legalized, and receivers can't be touched more than once and - and not beyond five yards of the line of scrimmage at that. What's next? Forcing defenses to play with ten men?   *********** Coach, we lost a heartbreaker tonight.  We received the opening kickoff and used up 8:05 to score a touchdown, missed the extra point.  We have 8 min quarters.  our defense stopped them.  We had 330 left in the half.  We drove down to the 8, but ran out of time.  We again controlled the clock in the 3rd quarter, but a penalty stalled our drive.  Our defense gave up a sweep for a long touchdown, they got the extra point.  We were driving in hurry up and ran out of time.  We lost 8-6.   Our offense gained 190 yards.  Our defense gave up 32 plus the long td run.   We couldn't seem to score, I thought we would have some long runs.   Any advice on play calling?  I think I did a good job.  We completely outplayed them, but couldn't score more.  I'm obviously upset with the way things went.   Coach- Don't beat yourself up over the fact that you didn't win. There are reasons - defense, kicking game and offense. Find out what they were and correct them. I don't think you should expect long runs - unless you have great speed. I think that you should resign yourself to the fact that you may not have that great speed, which means that you are going to take longer to score - which means that you really have to work hard on the things that killd drives - turnovers, stupid penalities, blown assignments and bad calls.   As for play calling, there is no special formula. For me, it is to try to establish a particular play and then see how they are set up to combat it, and what else they may be giving us with that set up. It's as simple as that, but in order to do that, you have to be fully armed, with a power, a counter, a trap, a wedge, and a play-action pass.   *********** I hate to make fun of someone's looks, but I can't look at Aaron Taylor without seeing Beldar Conehead.   *********** I'm sitting here, on the computer, because I can not sleep. I think it is a case of pre-game nerves. My first game as a Head Coach is tomorrow in about 13 hours.   I hope to get to sleep soon, I'm beyond tired, but I can't sleep. We'll have mass early in the morning and I hate to fall asleep there! :)   Do you still get nervous before a game? Or are you to use to this feeling I have going on right now? I know/think we are ready, but how much do you ever know about your first opponent. We worked hard on getting things right, not shooting ourselves in the foot, and not putting the ball on the ground. My defense looks outstanding and I think the "O" looks good, but I know we can get a lot better as the season goes on.   Anyway, one last football question. Do you "script" the 1st couple of plays or just go by feel?   I'm thinking of opening with 2-Wedge on Go, 88-O on hit, 88-O on hit, 2-Wedge on Go, and then 99-O on hit/hit. I guess I'm trying to keep them guessing on the count, and the plays, the kids want to start w/the wedge, as do I. I also think that going to 99-O shows that we are a balanced team. I was then thinking of going by feel, if you will, or by what I am beginning to see them do.   I'm assuming (I know it's dangerous to do) that the first 5 plays will result in at least one first down, if not more. I also should say my kids have been very good with the cadence, they can do plays on two, they know that false starts can not happen on this team.   Well if you get time, please let me know what you think, I'll probably still be up..   Above all, although you're bound to be nervous, project complete calm to the kids. You can be sure they're nervous, too, and if you show that you're not totally cool, it could affect them. I always tell people it would be like finding out that the pilot of your plane is nervous.   I have never scripted anything. I have an idea what I want to look at, and I know what I want to open with, and I go from there. But you know me - if a play is successful, you'd be wise to be prepared to stop it on the nextt play, because I hate to stop myself.   I would also be VERY careful about that "hit-hit" business, because in the heat of battle, there is a VERY good chance that if anyone jumps, it'll be YOUR kids.   Stay calm and stay in control and be a teacher - you'll be fine.   *********** I can't remember seeing more games against I-AA opponents than this weekend. Florida State playing the Citadel? Get serious. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California   Your think it's bad now? Wait till they all add that 12th game! Colleges are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Shaking down their season ticket holders to pay for the Citadel "game" is the equivalent of the NFL making its season ticket holders pay for "preseason" games.   *********** Galva-Holstein 22 Gehlen Catholic 14. In the 4th quarter we finally woke up. Scored 16 points running base offense 88-99 SP, and Traps. We win 22-6. A late INT sealed it for us. Our winning drive came with 2 minutes left in the game, and was ket alive on 4th and 2 with a "forget what I say it's on first hut" call. They jumped! I looked really smart on that play! Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa *********** If a DE is lining up in a "6" but is shooting outside (in other words playing a "9"). Do we let him go for the B back or double team? It is where the man is after the snap. If at the snap he is not a "6", he is not a "6". He is now the B-Back's man. Similarly, a "9" tech who consistently pinches might be treated as a "6" If the DE is not there for the B back to block should he look for the first defender to the outside of the TE or wall off? He continues on his course but if by the time he gets past the TE he doesn't see someone to the outside, he then must look inside and wall off from the inside. (This is a coach's dream. Hope your running back has the speed to score!)   *********** Coach Wyatt,   Monarchs 26 - Vikings 21   Monarchs 16 - North Cougars 6   Monarchs 18 - East Bears 28   Monarchs 42 - East Cougars 0   Coach Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New Mexico - PS, We've started off the season 3-1 and the DW is firing on all cylinders, even the passing game (have to keep those D Coordinators honest and off balance, eh?).   *********** Lansingburgh 46 Fonda 12 - a-back Kenny Youngs 10 carries 237yds 2 tds - b back Mike Hepp 8 carries 117yds - we head out to play Ravena who beat us last year in the state playoffs first round. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York   *********** I've given the HC the info off of the Black Lion Page.  I was really surprised that he was skeptical of the award.  He said he'd consider it, but he also said that he wasn't sure we should give an award honoring a member of the military when our country is so divided over our current war...(you and I both know that's PCBS...but I think as a HC you understand my position).  I will mention it agian, but unless the HC gives the go ahead my hands are tied on the issue.   Yeah, I know - "I support the troops but I don't support the war." What a pussy. And feel free to tell him I said so.   This is NOT about "our current war." This is about VETERANS! People who have already served! Many of them were killed or wounded doing their duty! They already took their share of crap from people like your coach, back in the 1970's. Do they STILL have to?   I guess I don't have to ask what branch he served in.   *********** Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans defeated the Abingdon Commandos 21-7 on Friday. Our defense carried the day by allowing only 24 yards on 32 carries and 63 yards total. Offensively, we ran fairly well (244 on 37 carries), but penalties killed just about every big run we had. I estimate that we had close to 150 yards of offense called back. Some were legit, some were phantom, but we have no control over that kind of stuff. My biggest argument was our second back in stack getting a holding call when the defensive end chopped him coming out of the backfield. If he had done the same to the defensive end you better believe it would have been called. Oh well.   The Trojans are 3-0 and travel to 0-3 Havana this week. Good luck. Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** It is sad to see Chris Schenckel pass. When I was in college in New England, he WAS the voice of pro football. The Giants were the team we saw every Sunday, and he was the voice of the Giants. Back then, announcers worked for teams, not the networks, and Schenckel and the Colts' Chuck Thompson (who also died earlier this year) split the broadcast duties in the 1958 NFL title game, still called by many the "Greatest Game Ever Played."   *********** Coach Wyatt, just wanted to say hello from Belle Plaine KS. We won our first game of the year last week over Medicine Lodge, 28 -14. It was our first win over them in 14 years. Pretty much controlled most of the game with my favorite stack 88/99 super power. Our C-back and stack back had 14 carries for 123yds and 2 catches for 30 yds. We had over 350 total yds, and had 1 TD and a few other good gainers called back due to penalties. I will keep you posted on our progress and I hope that all is well with you and your family. Thanks, Scott Moshier, Belle Plaine, Kansas (I met you in Denver about 8 years ago when I was in Hoxie KS)   *********** Coach, Queensbury 22, Scotia 16 in Double overtime. Scotia started running double wing this season and pretty well. We still had 400 yards of "O" and they had Less than 150 but I think it helped him most with his defense at least at this point actually trying to stop DW. They scored off of a punt return and interception, but he was able to stay close. Hope you did well. John Irion, Queensbury, New York   *********** (From Christopher Anderson, who made the trip back east with the Stanford team, and broadcast the game)   Hugh, Boy was Annapolis a treat. Reminded me of Boothbay Harbor, except larger and glossier. The American colonial romance is alive and welin Annapolis.   Navy's stadium, refurbished, is REALLY nice. If I ever live out here I'm getting some season tickets for this team. There are no drunken students raising hell because the entire Brigade of Midshipmen is in uniform. Boy Scouts everywhere peddling things. Tailgates of Navy families.   The game was unbelieveable. I'm not going to try to describe it except to say that it wasn't decided by the refs (only six total penalties) or by some stupid play. The game was won, not lost. (Though Stanford lost two starters for the season.)   Navy was so scrappy and used all of their talent. They played so hard. Saw your score. Hopefully you were able to put up some fight and get ready for next week.   *********** Hi Coach, we made it. 16-0, the perfect season. We are 290-77.   Last game our defense wasn´t as dominant as they were in the rest of the games.   But finally the offense did it right, the superpower was nearly perfect. After chewing my wingbacks butt they finally stayed in the alley. No dancing, no going too wide. They punished their lb´s every snap. Awesome.   I need to get them to stay in that condition for the 2 playoff games. I totally went back to basics. Wedge, SP, Counter and red-red. We can´t get the trap going. We practice it every day but its just not our play...sigh.   Thanks again. When I say DW I mean Wyatt. Mathias Bonner, Bremen, Germany   *********** Hi Coach! Loved this:   (Some people would much rather remain secure in their ignorance than face the insecurity of possibly discovering that what they firmly believed to be true simply isn't. HW)   I read it once...put another way:   "Each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand mediocre minds, self- appointed to guard the past."   Except maybe in the DW Coach's case, it should be "regressive spirit".....   Regards, John Rothwell, Fort Worth, Texas   *********** Coach, Just a quick update on the Stanton Mustangs. We played West Point Central Catholic, another playoff team from 2004 (our second is as many weeks). Before last year when we beat WPCC 30-7 no one could remember the last time Stanton had beaten the Bluejays. WPCC had destroyed a Top Ten option team the week before 44-7 with their Shotgun Spread offense, so we knew we were in for a tussel. We gave up two 60+ passing touchdowns in the 1st quarter, but it was evident early that they could not stop our base plays. At halftime we trailed 14-18 after fumbling the ball to end a good drive midway through the 2nd quarter. We also got to the 8 yardline with 3.5 seconds to play in the second quarter but (threw) an incomplete pass. After a "fire and brimestone" speech at half, I calmed down and challenged the kids to not give up another score. We ended up winning the game 42-18 with our JV offense punching in the final score. We ended up with with 427 yards rushing on 44 attempts and 47 yards passing on 3 of 8 passing (4 attempts right before half). Three 100 yard rushers was a nice bonus. We pounded them and just wore them out as was evident by looking at their kids midway through the 4th quarter. Our kids like to say, "They know it's coming and they can't stop it!" It must be a pretty helpless feeling defending the DW.. I have only had to do it twice in my coaching career (we lost both games).. I'm glad we run the DW and hey, let's try to keep it a secret! LOL. Good luck next week and GO DW!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** Where is it written that the National Anthem before a televised sports event has to be sung - at the slowest pace possible - by either a woman or a castrato? (Castration was once performed on boy singers to preserve their soprano voices, so they sound like James Taylor's son, or the guy who sang the anthem before Sunday night's ESPN game.)   *********** What a slut Jerry Jones is. It's bad enough that he almost personally caused the money grubbing that the NFL has become, with his maximization of "stadium revenues," (1.e., income that doesn't have to be shared with visiting teams or fellow league members), but now he's starring in a Verizon mobile phone commercial in which he delights in bragging about how f--king rich he is, then tells us how much he likes to "watch football" on his cell phone . Yeah, "football" - it must have been a timeout when they shot the scene, because what the lecherous old goat shows us on his display is the contortions of NFL-type "cheerleaders."   *********** Coach Wyatt, I know that it is early in the relief efforts and the people of the gulf coast have more worries then football, but our organization would like to help. We are a youth organization in the Pittsburgh area, with kids ranging from 6 to 14 and we would like to have a fund raiser for an organization like ours that needs the help. We just don't know how to go about finding a group to help. If you could post this on your web page I'm sure one of your readers will let us know who to contact. Rick Stiffey, Brighton Township Bears, Sharon, Pennsylvania   *********** Coach, The Ridgeview Mustangs are now 3-0. 51 carries for 301 yards 0-2 passing but one was a dropped TD pass and the other was a missed assignment by our end. We ran Super Power, Super O, trap, GO and counter tonight from spread, Tight, Stack and I formation. The kids blocked well all night vs. a stacked defense. Our defense gave up a few yards but made big plays when they had to. next week we ae home against The Lexington Minutemen, a team which averages 250 yards passing per game. We have our work cut out for us! Best Regards, Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois   *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 9, 2005 - "A sure way to a great day is to have enthusiasm." Rev. Norman Vincent Peale   It's probably premature to even think in terms of football coaches in the Gulf Coast area getting back to their homes and schools, but when they do, they're certain to have plenty of kids whose families will be in dire need. At the same time, I'm sure there are coaches elsewhere, like me, who would like to help, but would like, to, uh, "channel" that help. To be blunt, I fear that the money I send to a large, organized charity will go to help pay the $500,000 salary of the CEO. But I would gladly write a check to a Gulf Coast football coach, because I'd know I could trust him to get the help to where it's needed, and I'll bet others would, too. Let us know as soon as you can, guys.   *********** I had to add this... After I'd posted today's page, with the quote up above by Dr. Peale, my wife and I went out for a walk. As we neared an elementary school, a little kid came running up behind us, and although he was in a hurry to get to school, he stopped and asked if he could pet our dog. After he'd done so, he turned to leave, and I said, "Have a good day!" By now in full sprint, he hollered back, "I will!" *********** Hi Coach. Finally something good to tell you. First game on Friday. Won 14-0. Interesting fact - Truth - Coaches there hung their season hats on beating us. Coach spent 6 months trying to stop DW. Brother coaches at UVA. Brought them in. Brought in other college coaches. Got film from last year. Skunked us on game film. Recorded our jamboree. Put all his off season in this game and stopping DW. Reason is because of his schedule - if they beat us they can go 5-0. It would be a great victory for that school. Once we woke up and started executing guess what? We grinded them. Basic plays right out of the bottle. Finally something to lift my spirits. Now I'm renewed. Regards to Connie. Armando Castro, Cave Spring HS, Roanoke, Virginia (Hmmm. You telling me that not even college coaches can come up with the poison pill that stops a good Double-Wing? Ha, ha, ha. I wonder what they thought when they saw linemen actually pulling, and actually using their shoulder pads to block. Wonder if they said, "That's not football." HW)   *********** I wrote to you earlier this summer, I am the head coach for a youth program in Rockville MD. Today we take on a team in a scrimmage who also runs the double wing as we do. I set this up for one good reason, if we can go up against a team who runs the double wing as good as we do then we will be mentally prepared for almost anything that any other team can throw at us. Last season I faced a team who ran the double wing also and they ran it better than we did and they killed us. This season we've got some seasoned vets and a better understanding of the double wing. After our scrimmage today, we start our season this Sat. I will send you updates as to how we are doing.  I have one question for you, do you have any tips at all for defending the double wing?   The main thing that I would tell any coach is to have a sound defense, well-coached, with good people, and not to go overboard trying to do anything crazy. First of all, with only a short time to prepare, you can't possibly give a freak defense all the work it requires. Second, you will be giving up a week of work on your own base defense. Third, your kids may get the idea that you have lost faith in the defense you've been working on all this time.   *********** When Iowa's Hayden Fry decided to paint the vistors' locker room pink, we all go a big chuckle. His idea was to, uh, mentally emasculate his opponents, perhaps to the point of making them want to go out and join campus peace protestors. Fry's Hawkeyes did enjoy good success at home, but then, maybe the fact that they were pretty good had something to do with it.   Fry's stunt was kind funny, but playing up the home field advantage can get borderline unethical, as a couple of recent incidents will attest.   When Oregon had its walk-through in Houston's Reliant Stadium last Wednesday, the roof was closed and the climate inside was temperate; likewise when Oregon went through pre-game warmups. But then, less than an hour before kickoff, whaddaya know? They opened up the roof, exposing their visitors from the Northwest (and, I imagine, a good many of their own fans, who had expected to watch a game in comfort) to the heat and humidity that only those who have spent a summer in that part of the country can comprehend. Alas for Houston fans, the cheap trick was a failure, as Oregon won, anyhow. Nice try, Cougars.   (What's Oregon going to be able to do when Houston visits the Northwest? Wet down the field?)   Now comes Jack Del Rio, coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars (for the love of God, TV guys, can you get it into your head that the word is NOT "Jag-wires?"), who in view of predictions of temperatures in the 90's this weekend, has decided to make the Seattle Seahawks wear their dark jerseys. NOTE TO COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE: do you really want to give your coaches that kind of power?   *********** Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans won their second game by beating the North Fulton Wildcats 50-6. We ended up with 485 yards rushing on 39 carries for 8 touchdowns. Pretty good productivity. Defensively, they rushed 19 times for 24 yards. A convincing win.   One of our assistants was having dinner in town this weekend. A local guy started talking to him about how much he hates our offense and how easy it would be to stop "if I was coaching against you." When told that we were 18-4 on the varsity level the last two years his response was "they must not have had any talent or they would've stopped you." All this after we put 50 on the scoreboard. Amazing.   The 2-0 Abingdon Commandos come into town Friday night. It's the first time they've been 2-0 since 1988, so they're really going to be ready to play. It should be a good challenge for us.   Good luck, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois (Some people would much rather remain secure in their ignorance than face the insecurity of possibly discovering that what they firmly believed to be true simply isn't. HW)   *********** Dear Hugh, How are you? Sorry it took so long for me to jot off a note to you. I'm doing fine!!! I have been out with Jeff coaching since we started on August 1st. Did well on a stress test the week before practice started and decided to go for it. What a difference not being head coach is tho... I actually get to coach and not worry about everything under the sun. The team is doing great we have 100+ plus players JV and Varsity. We dressed 58 for our first game last Friday. Our true first game was cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina. Just like last year. Anyway unfortunately, we lost our first game vs. Braddock HS 20-13. Now check this out. 304yds offense, 17 first downs, 50 plays and only one negative yardage play -2 the first play of the game, and we only punted once. How the hell did we lose. Well our defense is really weak. We are young, very young but we are getting better and the kids are great!!! Good things are going to happen if this group stays together. Jeff is adjusting to head coaching. Ha Ha I can't thank him enough for helping me out during this little crisis. We really do get along well and it's good to have a coach around like him. I would like to enroll us for the "Black Lion Award" for this year. I am going to see if we can give the award the first week in November. Before the last game so that the winner can wear his patch on his jersey. What is the earliest we can put in our nomination. Also, I am checking out getting a "Black Lion" sticker for the winners helmet so if he can't get the patch he can still be recognized. Frankly, I have been doing some pretty serious historical reasearch on WW2 I'm big time into that anyway. My wife and I are going to Belgium this summer for two weeks. She has a cousin who lives there in Namur. I want to explore the Bulge battle field etc. Anyway, The 28th inf reg fought with the 8th division in the Huertgen Forest during ww2. Not that far from Belgium. Well anyway Hugh, I am feeling lots better and am finally getting a hold on all this medicine which has umpteen side effects. Looking forward to hearing from you and I have again been invited to speak in two Glazier clinics in Tampa and Atlantic city. So I guess we will both hit the clinic tour this off season. Take care and best of luck with the upcoming season. Leonard Patrick, Miami, Florida PS Chris Hervia who attended the clinic you had at Goleman is destroying teams in the youth program that he coaches in. They may put in a "Hervia Rule" soon (Coach Patrick suffered a life-threatening heart ailment that forced him to resign his head coaching position prior to the season. Fortunately, his offensive coordinator, Jeff Rodgers, was able to step in and continue the program unchanged. Coach Rodgers has plenty of experience as a head coach in Syracuse, New York and Miami.   *********** Hi Hugh! I hope everything is going well for you and your family. Congratulations on your new position. Best of luck with your new responsibilities. We have had some good practices and some tough scrimmages. Please sign Ledyard High School up for the Black Lion award. The young man who received it last year is now at Western Arizona trying our for a Quarterback position. He was a very good QB for us and a terrific leader and student.   Take care coach. Have a great season. Bill Mignault, Ledyard, Connecticut (Bill Mignault is one of my inspirations. He is the winningest coach in Conneciticut high school football. He may even be older than me, but he is still going strong. Bill did a great job presenting at my Providence Clinic last year, and I hope to be able to persuade him to return this year. HW)   *********** I spent all weekend watching college football, starting with our Thursday night blowout of Buffalo. I don't know why those guys don't drop down to 1-AA, along with Temple and some of the other perennial also-rans. UConn was beating up on Buffalo even when the Huskies were still a 1-AA school. Next Saturday we have Jerry Falwell's Liberty Flames (yawn), then the following week the Huskies play a real team (Georgia Tech, in Atlanta). I don't hold out too much hope for a win after seeing what the Jackets did to Auburn Saturday.   It looks like this year's Big East cham-peen-ship may not be such a slam dunk for Louisville after all, given their shaky start against Kentucky. They looked beatable to me (although probably not by my Huskies). West Virginia and the 'Cuse looked pretty mediocre as well, not to mention Pittsburgh throwing up all over their shoes against the Golden Domers. Rutgers had Illinois' number until they forgot to show up to play the fourth quarter, and South Florida put up not much of a fight against Joe Pa's Lions. Well, at least the teams that used to be in the Big East look pretty good (Miami, Va Tech, and BC).   I enjoyed seeing some of the new uniform changes this year. Syracuse went old school with the numbers on the side of the helmets, and Texas also put the numbers back on their helmets over the longhorn. Pittsburgh decided it was OK to be known as Pitt again and put that on their helmets. Wisconsin's retro helmets were just plain hideous with that giant W on the front and back that looks like it was drawn on with a magic marker. I know it's old school, but it doesn't work for me. And I know you've commented on this before, but I agree that Hawaii's black uniforms are a sacrilege. Here's a team that plays in paradise under clear blue skies and palm trees and their unis look like they were worn by coal miners and then handed over to the team without the benefit of first being laundered.   A belated congratulations on taking over the Madison team this year. Good luck on the season ahead!   All the best, Alan L. Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island (Al saved me the trouble of commenting on the Wisconsin helmets, that look as if the "W's" were applied with black electrical tape. They wore that look back in the late 50's and early 60's, including the Ron VanderKelen/Pat Richter 1963 Rose Bowl. I still contend that solid, established programs don't change their helmets. So the Wisconsin move mystifies me. Texas' too. But not Pitt and not Syracuse, two programs that don't seem to know what they want to be and consequently allow their fashions to be dictated by whoever their AD - or his marketing people - happen to be at the moment. Look out, Michigan. There's probably a marketing whiz in a Detroit ad agency that thinks the Wolverines would look spiffy in all-blue helmets; and you folks at Tennessee - wait till you see your Vols in those old-time orange helmets with the white cross-stripes on top. HW)   *********** Coach Wyatt, I just wanted to let you know that we won our home opener 26-6 against Lakeside Middle. Our defense gave up a cheap td on the opening drive. On 4th down and 10 we let them throw one over our defense. We never allowed them to cross the 50 yd line the rest of the way. Lakeside ran a split 4-4 defense that was hard for us to trap. We were successful running 88 and 99 super and 2 red was good to the tight end. We also ran Qb boot off of 2 wedge with playside guard pulling. Thanks again Dan King Riverside Middle School, Evans, Georgia   *********** AP: "Charlie Weis tried to pass off this week's matchup with No. 3 Michigan as just another game."   We may disagree, but I always thought it was sort of a copout for a coach (especially the underdog) to say that about a big rivalry, as if he was afraid he couldn't manage his players' emotions. You can be damn sure Lloyd Carr isn't talking like this.   Go Blue. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (I do disagree, but only to a certain extent. He may think that by downplaying the rivalry aspect, he is taking a bit of pressure off his kids. But I don't think it's going to work. He's no longer coaching in the pros, where "rivalries" are mostly fiction, and mean nothing more to the players than one more payday. Those Notre Dame kids know who Michgan is, and they have known about Notre Dame-Michigan for years. I think that everybody at Notre Dame understands what a big game this is, and nothing that the coach can say will diminish its importance. They know it's a rivalry. Therefore, although I understand what he is trying to do, I think such a statement makes him look either foolish or naive, and I don't believe it serves the game well by downplaying it. I don't think that it would have gone over well with Michigan alums if Lloyd Carr were to try to "pass off" a game with Michigan State or Ohio State (or Notre Dame) as "just another game." HW)   *********** Our 8-9 yr. old team lost this week after winning our pre-season opener. We were spanked by a better team 27-7. Coached by a former high school head coach they ran all over us with a single wing & a quick little tailback that got outside on our slower team often. We started out running the wedge well, and stayed with it until they made some adjustments and we didn't execute it well enough. We tried our super powers, but they were cheating and it was very difficult to make them work. Besides the cheating our guys still want to resort to taking it outside in the game. In practice we drill being patient, reaching out to feel for the hip of the pulling lineman, and things go well. They get in a game and ugh! Back to the cheating; we have a rule in our conference that if a players is above a certain weight in his age group, he must put and X on his helmet and must play on the interior line. On defense he cannot play wider than outside shoulder on the offensive tackle, unless the offense goes unbalanced and then the rule is off. On offense the X guy must have a non X on the line of scrimmage outside of him. That means our tight ends must not be X. This team was playing a six man line with their X men tackles wider than outside shoulder on our tackles, putting them in a 6 or sometimes a 9 technique. When I complained to the official he talked to the opposing coach, and reminded him of the rule. They would obey for a play and then revert to cheating again. I repeated ask the ref to ask them comply, and he got tired of it, and said they were lined up close enough. Get this; he said "Your line splits are too tight. If you widen them you won't have the problem." I lost it and reminded him that the defense must conform to my formation, unless unbalanced, but he didn't enforce it the rest of the game. He told me he would flag me if I bugged him one more time. If my TE could be as big as their tackle it wouldn't be such a problem. We did make the "on" call but our wings and tight ends are about 65-70 pounds and their tackles were 140-160! As you know I have run our offense for several years in this conference, but have coached the older teams where there wasn't such a discrepancy between the X players and non X. I am going to put in "over" and "under" this week; that way I can put two tackles on the strong side to see if that helps. It's disheartening when you are trying to teach your team to play by the rules and have some ahole ref not enforce them. So far we have only run the powers, counters, 3 base, 2 wedge, and 29 bootleg keep, and a rollout pass. I know other coaches won't cheat like that, and I hope I don't get that crew again. I guess we will need to execute that wedge better.   On another note: BYU was called for several holding penalties in their 20-3 loss to BC. BYU invented "legal" holding many years ago. I had to chuckle though when one of their offensive linemen was quoted as saying "I think they blew several of those holding calls; just because our hands were outside (the plain of their shoulders) doesn't mean we were holding". Duh! Dude, you were tackling!   Best wishes, Al Andrus, Salt Lake City (Still home of the "Utes")   *********** I am taking my 5th grade youth team to the Youth National Championship tournament in Las Vegas at Thanksgiving. We will be running the Double Wing. You have been a great source of information and I appreciate all you do for the kids and the game. This is my 3d year with your system and I couldn't be happier. We are 28-1 ( lost our first game last week in the over 2 years) using your system, and now there are about 6 double wing teams in our league(up from 0). If you ever decide to come to Texas (Dallas area) for a clinic please let me know, I will drum you up support. I don't know how many folks generally attend one of your sessions. But there are a lot of believers around this part of Texas. Again, Thanks coach! Regards, Troy Daugherty, Dallas, Texas   *********** The main reason for this e-mail is to be sure that we are signed up for the Black Lions Award. This is the only award that I care about. I hate the rest of the crap, we play a team sport. When I was a Firefighter, the guy that was recognized as "Firefighter of the Year" was usually embarrassed, because somebody happened to see him, or it was a slow news day!   Keep up the good work, and have a good season. I'll keep you posted as the season progresses.   Bert Ford, Army and Navy Academy, Carlsbad, California   *********** When you're well up into your 70's and your place in history is pretty much secured, you can say the things this sort of thing to reporters, as Joe Paterno finally did this week: "Coaching to me has always been a fun job. I love coaching and I love working with kids. I don't like you guys any more. I don't know how else to say it."   *********** Hello from South Florida! Just a quick note to enroll our school for the 2005 Black Lion Award.   This will be our 5th year as a participant with our Varsity Team, and the first where we are adding a 2nd award for our Jr. Varsity program.   Coral Springs Christian Academy dropped a heartbreaker 40-47 despite scoring 20 points in the last 3 minutes including a 54 yard TD catch by senior Tyson von Scherrer. We will look to rebound this week.   Jake von Scherrer, Coral Springs Christian Academy, Coral Springs, Florida   *********** Scott Barnes, a good friend and a football and wrestling coach in Rockwall, Texas, sent me the following coach's letter. It was forward to Scott by a parent who said that he thought it was a bit "harsh." Scott's opinion - "give me a break! -- I think he's RIGHT ON! Nice to see Coaches out there sticking to their beliefs!"   I agree. (PS- I have no idea what sport this is all about, but its wisdom is transferrable.)   Hi All, Once again congratulations to all coaches and players for a great way to kick off the season.....tournament champs!!! Let's roll that into the next two tournaments and into the season.   However as we all know boys will be boy's..... as it turns out on one night 11 of our 15 players were smoking in one of the rooms which was unfortunately a "smoking" room. Sometime during this smoke fest the ash trays will spilled onto the carpet and the hotel accessed a $200 clean up charge to (the association).   First before I go any further, let's take time to congratulate the 5 players that had the common sense, courage and respect for the (association) code of conduct for not partaking in this activity. The 11 players that were involved will be required to pay back $18 per player to cover the $200.   Secondly the Board will review this situation in regards to the code of conduct violation and each player involved will face some level of equal disciplinary action. This is totally unacceptable and this is where we need all parents to step up and get involved. We told all of you that going to another level was going to require EVERYONE'S commitment. So if your son as skipped this topic , we would ask you to inquire as to whether your son's is a member of Ocean's 11!!!!   You deal with it at home the way you so choose but remember our creed....Commitment to Excellence, Discipline, and Respect....this violates all of the above.   Secondly a couple of players were "chirping" on the bench in a less than sportsmanlike way and were given their first and last warning by the Coaches. Next time they will find themselves dismissed from the game and in the locker room undressing and having to face their teammates and parents. If you suspect your son is one of these mouth pieces then I suggest you ask them or call me and I will give you details. We are committed to taking this team to the next level with those that are committed to coming with us. Let's put this behind us and move on.   *********** A little bit of football history from "Gray Matter," circulated among West Point supporters:   The announcement by Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Kevin Anderson in the summer that Yale would once again appear on the Army Football schedule in five years (the normal collegiate football scheduling lead time) should prompt some nostalgia for the "good old days" of Army being considered a quasi-member of what would become the Ivy League.   "The Ivy League, as we know it today, grew out of the concerns of a group of eight, like-minded, eastern, private universities in the 1930s that amateur college football was becoming too professional. As early as October 1945, the presidents of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale signed the initial 'Ivy Group Agreement.' Focusing on football only, the eight institutions agreed to 'continue intercollegiate football' in such a way as to preserve the game's values, but be 'in fitting proportion to the main purpose of academic life.'" Key elements added in 1952 were the elimination of athletic scholarships and a prohibition on post-season games. As posted at wwwfas.harvard.edu/~athletic/football/ivyleague.html as of 29 August 2005.   In the "good old days" when Army played against the colleges that eventually became the Ivy League, Yale was a leading football power. In fact, Yale started the stadium boom in the east when it took advantage of a natural amphitheater and constructed the Yale Bowl in 1914. Our own Michie Stadium, single level, with no visitors' stands, did not appear until ten years later. Before then, Army home games were played on The Plain, and GEN MacArthur, while Superintendent (1919-22), requested that Congress appropriate funds to build a football stadium on the Hudson River at Gee's Point. Such a location made sense then, as it would have been convenient both to the train station and to the passenger excursion boats that stopped at West Point. The short walk from the parade on The Plain to the game at Gee's Point would have been quite pleasant, and overnighters could stay at the old West Point Hotel, located between the two. But we digress.   In 1891, after Dennis Michie had initiated Army football in 1890 as team captain, coach and player, Army started a trend by selecting Dr. Harry Williams, Yale Class of 1891 as coach. He went 4-1-1, beating Navy, losing to Rutgers, and playing the Princeton reserves to a 12-12 tie. In 1892, recent grad Dennis Michie returned to coach Army to a 3-1-1 season, losing to Navy but beating the Princeton reserves. Come 1893, Laurie Bliss, Yale '93, went 4-5-0, losing to his alma mater 28-0 and to Princeton, Navy and others as well. In 1894, Harmon Graves, Yale '94, took over the program, going 3-2-0 his first year, losing to Brown and Yale but not playing Navy (the academies would not meet again until 1899). He improved a bit in 1895, posting a 5-2-0 record while beating Brown and Dartmouth but losing to Harvard and Yale. In 1896, Cornell '95 grad George Dyer gave coaching at Army a try, posting a record of 3-2-1 while losing to Princeton and Yale.   In 1897 Army gave up on outside coaches, and Master of the Sword Herman Koehler took over with an impressive initial 6-1-1 season in which he lost to Harvard but tied Yale 6-6. His second season was a less impressive 3-2-1, losing to Harvard (again) and Yale but matching Princeton 5-5. In 1899 he was 4-5-0, losing to Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia but beating Navy and Dartmouth. The 1900 season was better, 7-3-1, but with losses to Harvard, Yale and Navy. Army losing to Harvard and Yale in football was pretty common in those years.   Overall, Army is 18-19-2 against Harvard (last game was a win in 1991); 16-21-8 against Yale (last game a win in 1996); and 4-6-3 against Princeton (last game a win in 1982). To round out the Ivy League, we are 6-2-0 against Brown (last game a win in 1981); 14-4-3 against Columbia (last game a win in 1982); 3-2-0 against Cornell (last game a win in 1948); 6-1-0 against onetime powerhouse Dartmouth (last game a win in 1983); and 13-4-2 against Pennsylvania (not Penn State), another powerhouse in the early days, with our last game a win in 1985.   The early games occasionally resulted in fatal injuries, and Army was not immune. Cadet Eugene A. Byrne died from injuries suffered in the Harvard game on 30 October 1909, when Harvard repeatedly ran line plunges against his left tackle position. Army cancelled the remainder of the 1909 schedule as a result, and the value of the game at the collegiate level again was called into question. Two weeks earlier, Navy's quarterback, Edwin Wilson, had been severely injured in a game against Villanova. Cadet Richard Sheridan died from injuries in the Yale game of 24 October 1931, probably from a hard block received on a play in which the Bulldogs went 88 yards for a touchdown, but supposedly no one saw the contact that proved fatal two days later. Earlier, President Grover Cleveland had cancelled the Army-Navy game of 1894 in reaction to a report of the lost time due to injuries suffered by players at both academies; it did not resume until 1899, as noted above.   Yet when Walter Camp, a Yale player in 1876, became the perpetual graduate advisor to the Eli and published a book championing the game in 1894, West Point's Superintendent provided a laudatory essay for Football Facts and Figures.   Bring on those Yale Bulldogs! By the way, the small number "41" on the left front shoulder of the Army football jerseys this season honors the memory of the late Glenn Woodward Davis '47, "Mr. Outside." The home opener against Baylor on 17 September will feature a "Salute to Glenn Davis Day."   Army's 2005 season begins this Saturday, 10 September, against Boston College at Chestnut Hill, MA. Co-captains for the season recently were announced as: center Pete Bier; running back Carlton Jones; and cornerbacks Ray Stith; and Dhyran Tarver, all Class of 2005.   For the early history of collegiate football, the book College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy, by John Sayle Watterson, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, is highly recommended. Some facts and events noted in this Gray Matter are found therein.   Your humble servant, J. Phoenix, Esquire   *********** Coach, Sorry I'm a little late with the score. We beat Mohonasen 30-14 in a non-league opener. Had over 400 yards of "O" with 61 passing and actually 2 passes (1 TD) called back and another dropped in the end zone. Would have had over 100 passing otherwise. Haven't been able to do that for a while. Scored on long passes. Got to work on my corners. Good luck this week !!!!!!! John Irion, Queensbury, New York   *********** Do you have a blocking video for offensive lineman and/or backs?  If not can you recommend one?   My "A Fine Line" video pertains to our offense and our style of shoulder blocking.   It is very useful if that is what you intend to teach, but if you are into teaching pushing-and-holding, you should probably watch any NFL game and see what the refs will let you get away with. (I'm only half joking.)   *********** Coach, we currently run Wedge, 88 and 99 Super power, 3 trap at 2, Lead Counters off both Super Powers, G-O sweep both ways and Waggle both ways. I do not run Power, but I want to add Criss Cross Counter. Can I pitch ball and then hand off, as this will look like our other plays and I do not have to teach QB a new technique. If I do use Power handoff, is the option you mention back to QB a realistic play.   A criss-cross resulting from a toss with the QB running out in front of the ball carrier is an orphan play, unrelated to anything else you run. For my purposes, our handoff is part of a series, related to our sweep and our 38 black O-X.   But you should try it and decide for yourself. You can pitch it and it will work. In many ways, it is easier to teach. I don't think it is as deceptive, but that is just my opinion.   ***********  Coach, just thought you might be interested. We finished our first game with your offense. A 36-0 victory. We scored every time we had the ball except when we ran out of time, and had a interception return for td called back, and a td on our last possession called back. We ended on their 5. We were also 4-4 passing in 1st half.   Thanks , I think my skeptical parents are now believers. They wanted Power I straight ahead, thinking DW was too complicated for 10 year olds. Coach Garrett Pfeifer ,8-10 Spartans, Towson, Maryland   *********** Coach Wyatt, We lost 28 to 14 on Friday. The team we played ran a 4-4 with the two defensive tackles both lining up in our A gaps. We had an inexperience center that seemed to have problems with the formation. They ran a lot of blitzes that seemed to give us problems in the second half. They ultimately shut everything down by the fourth quarter. Any thoughts?   Anybody who pulls linemen has to be good at down blocking - essentially, protecting their inside gaps. It provides the blocker with a great mechanical advantage, but it does require plenty of work. It sounds to me as though your kids need work at protecting their inside gaps - that means (1) stance and alignment, and (2) correct first step (into the gap, and not at the man). The trick is to get into the intersection first, so that the defender t-bones the blocker.   The inexperienced center is undoubtedly part of your problem, but with people in your A-gaps, I'll bet that your guards weren't ready to down block, either.   Here is a great drill I got from Mike Pucko, in Worcester, Mass., for dealing with unusual situations up front: Line up a center, guard, tackle, and TE (one side of a line) and then, in a box from the TE's inside gap to the center's backside A gap, line up a bunch on people on defense - as many as six or seven. Stand behind the offensive line and designate which defenders are to rush, and where. Tell your offensive linemen to block down regardless of what they see across from them. It is almost like sealing down on the wedge. Assuming that you have worked on stance and alignment and corect first step, your offensive linemen will begin to realize that they can block anything they see.   *********** Our opponents run a 5-3 and submarine into an eagle.  What do you think they will do vs. slot (especially since they cant walk their CB's up).   A 5-3 has problems with our slot (Double Nasty) formation, because if their DT's shade inside your tackles, your tackles have them blocked. That means the alilgnment of the DE is critical - if he lines up on your TE, you take him out as wide as he'll go (up to 4 or so) then wind up leaving him out there on his island when the TE blocks first man inside. On the other hand, if the DE should line up inside your TE, the DE becomes the first man inside, and he is blocked, and now your B-back is on the corner.   I would concentrate on the OLB. I think that the backside guard can handle the Mike backer, and if that Mike backer gets too aggressive, he is really vulnerable to the counter.   If they widen those DT's, they become vulnerable to the trap, because then you can double-down on the nose and release your tackle onto their MLB.     *********** Corning West (Elmira, New York) scored the first seven times it had the ball and opened the season with a 45-7 win over Ithaca.   Fullback Joe Perez and wingback Craig Smith each rushed for 133 yards, and between them they scored five touchdowns.   Perez carried 20 times for 133 yards, and scored on runs of 2, 1 and 12 yards. Smith carried the ball only six times but one carry was a 93-yard touchdown run. He also finished with 133 yards.   According to the Elmira Star-Gazette, "Smith broke his long run on a reverse handoff out of West's tight double-wing set. The speedy senior took the ball at the 5, cut upfield to the 20 and outran most of the defense along the sideline for 50 yards. He was caught at the 30 but put a shoulder into his lone pursuer and bounced away to score." (Hmmm. "Reverse handoff," eh?)   "I'm excited about the way we played," West coach Mike Johnston told the Star-Gazette. "But we still have a long way to go. We distributed the ball very well. Joe and Craig had great games and I thought our quarterback made some good decisions out there." *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 6, 2005 - "Faith frees a person to do his best, to achieve his potential." Tom Landry     *********** We (Madison High, Portland) open Friday night at home against Eagle Point, from southern Oregon. Eagle Point opened last Friday, and I was on hand to watch them thump South Salem, 41-21. The score is misleading. Whem I left, with two minutes to play, it was 41-14, and one of South Salems' two touchdowns had come on a kickoff return. The other resulted from a hurry-up drive at the end of the half. Eagle Point is a real challenge for anybody's defense. They led the Southern Oregon Conference in total offense last year, and although their QB graduated, they appear to have replaced him, and they are still doing the same stuff. Maybe more. They throw everything in the book at you. Consider some of the things I saw - Blast, sweep and bootleg from a Pro I formation (with a tailback who ran for 300 yards in one game last year), shotgun option in a couple of forms, bubble and jailbreak screens, and a nasty triple option from a trips set. Oh - and a couple of gadget plays executed to perfection. Yikes. Hard to predict what we'll see when we're on offense, since South Salem was a shotgun team, but Eagle Point certainly showed that they can play defense, too.   *********** Two fashion statements I can do without (1) 300-pound linemen who look like overstuffed bratwursts because they're wearing Pop Warner shoulder pads; (2) wide receivers and defensive backs whose pants stop way short of their knees, making they look like contestants in a Lance Armstrong look-alike contest.   *********** Coach, Just wanted to keep you updated on the Stanton Mustangs. We are 22-2 with a state runner-up trophy in the 2 years since I've been the head coach, running the DW. In 2003 we went 10-1 and rushed for 4023 yards. In 2004 we went 12-1 and rushed for 4437 yards. Well we started 2005 out with a bang rushing for 411 yards on 42 carries and passing for 155 yards on 10 of 15 passing and guys running in wide open spaces!! Who says you can't pass with the DW. We beat Fullerton a playoff team from last year, 58-12. Our JV's gave up the two scores, but also scored on Fullerton's varsity defense and moved the ball well in the 3rd and 4th quarters with over 200 yards of offense themselves!! We had no rushers over 100 yards, but had 6 rushers over 60 yards and averaged 10 yards a carry as a team. We have added 43 tackle trap as a shuffle pass and a draw or "show pass". We play a tougher Catholic school next week, so hopefully we can keep things rolling. By the way, our 1500 yard rusher from 2004, didn't even play due to a slight concussion he received in our "Orange vs. White" scrimmage. The system is old hat to our kids now and they love it! We run the offense in Jr. High and also in our 3rd-6th grade Youth Tackle football league here in Stanton. Hopefully that will pay dividends in the future! Good luck with your first game! GO DW!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** I signed up again for ESPN's Game Day or whatever they call it, and I've already got my money's worth. What a great weekend of college football - Clemson-Texas A & M, Air Force-Washington, Maryland-Navy, Colorado-Colorado State, Illinois Rutgers, Virginia Tech-NC State, Louisville-Kentucky. Talk about wild finishes. Did I miss any?   *********** Yes, Air Force beat Washington at the buzzer. And yes, if you can believe it, they did it with a pass down to the one. But trust me - this may be premature, but Tyrone had the Huskies playing the kind of football we haven't seen since Don James retired. They were physical and they were emotional. No more Ricky-ball. And the QB he settled on, Isaiah Stanback, looks like the real deal. I can't wait for Washington-Notre Dame. (Of course, I couldn't wait for Pitt-Notre Dame, either, and look what I got.)   *********** I waited half a year to watch them, and they got out of control so fast I couldn't watch a half of either one - Boise State-Georgia and Notre Dame-Pitt.   *********** Where is it written that sideline reporters, like flaggers on a road crew, have to be female? The best yet is this Stacey Dales-Schuman (or something like that). I heard her on the Virginia Tech-NC State refer to the "travesty" of Hurricane Katrina. Uh, Stacey baby, I think you meant "tragedy." A "travesty", folks is a ludicrous representation, for the purpose of getting a laugh, of something normally considered serious - picture a Monty Python skit taking place in a Super Dome jam-packed with hurricane victims.   *********** The media are fast to report on the transgressions of the thugs who make up a minority of the players at Florida State and Miami, but I find it interesting that they never mention all those kids - from both teams - assembled at midfield to say a post-game prayer.   *********** If you ever want to show your kids a couple of teams whose defenses fly to the football - you will never go wrong showing them the tape of a Florida State-Miami game.   *********** Lemme see if I've got this straight. So Jason White is gone - finally - but Oklahoma doesn't seem to have been able to replace him at QB. Now, considering that Ole Jase spent SIX years at OU, and considering that OU probably knew he wasn't going to get a SEVENTH year from the NCAA when they went out recruiting, and considering that they had all Spring and all pre-season to get a scholarship athlete ready - and yet they still couldn't score more than one touchdown against TCU... wouldn't you think they'd have figured all this out a little "sooner", and decided that maybe they needed to do something different on offense? I mean, the Bear was smart enough to make a last-minute switch the the Wishbone and it led to some of his best seasons.   *********** Coach, Thanks for all the help you have provided for us over the last four years. We would not have had the success and thrills we have experienced without the Double Wing. I also wanted to wish you good luck this season in your new role. It's always a great day for football! Enjoy yourself. Take care, Jerry Lovell, Bellevue East High School, Bellevue, Nebraska   *********** From the LA Daily News -   John Torres, one of the area's most respected youth-football coaches before moving to Northern California four years ago, has returned and is coaching the 10-under Castaic Cougars.   This is Torres' 21st season. As a head coach for nine seasons, he has 63 career victories.   "I really love coaching and strive to be a positive role model for these youngsters," he said. "I've had several opportunities to coach in high school, but this is really football in its purest form. Youngsters that want to learn want to please you by doing it the way you coach them. No attitudes. No major distractions like girls." *********** Hello Coach: It's been a long time since I wrote to you, primarily because I haven't been able to find the time in my work schedule to coach. Hopefully, I'll be back next season.   I was reading through some articles online when I came on one covering the new emphasis the NCAA is placing on spearing. You can find the full text here:   http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2143847&CMP=OTC-DT9705204233   There were two things I thought were interesting: 1) they used the phrase "See What You Hit" multiple times -- I've been teaching that, as you no doubt have been as well, for as long as I've been coaching kids to tackle; and 2) Georgia's athletic trainer, Ron Courson, who -- forgive the pun -- spearheaded the effort to change the rule said, "If the media doesn't realize what's an illegal hit, kids are going to see it and say 'I want to be on the highlights,' and the media is teaching bad habits." Like you, he's concerned that the media is a detriment to what responsible coaches are trying to teach our players. All I can add is that it's about damn time!   Best of luck this season at Madison. That's one lucky group of kids to have you as their head coach.   Warmest regards, Jim Carlton, San Jose, California (One of the big obstacles to dealing with spearing at the high school level has been the fact that it is a capital offense - a player called for spearing is automatically ejected. As a result (in my opinion), officials, out of a misguided compassion for the kid doing the spearing, have been hesitant to call the penalty. It is too important an infraction to overlook. HW)   *********** Coach, Ridgeview is now 2-0 this season after a 41-0 win over Streator Woodland. We were able to get our passing game going a little, as Justin Watkins completed 2-3 for 75 yards and two TD's. We Rushed for 271 yards on only 29 carries. Next for the Mustangs are the always tough Tremont Turks.   Good luck to Madison High this season Coach. Mike Benton, Ridgeview High School, Colfax, Illinois   *********** Hey Coach, I know that I am a bit late getting this to you for this week's webiste update but, better late than never.   Belleview started the season off with a win against Crystal River last Friday night, 63-0. The offense racked up 320 yards and 6 TDs on the ground on 27 carries and 67 yards and 2 TDs while going 3 for 4 through the air. Our defense was spectacular throughout the game and even kicked in an interception for a TD to help our cause. We started putting in our subs starting in the 3rd quarter and by the 4th quarter, all but one position on our D was occupied by a sub. On offense, it was more difficult getting subs into the game since we only have 17 kids that play offense and some of those kids are starters on D. We did move some of the linemen around on the LOS so that they could get some experience playing different spots on the line. Bottom line is that all 36 players on our roster played for at least a quarter and many backups played nearly the entire 2nd half.   We got a big game tonight against our cross-county rival North Marion. These are the guys that were picked as the best team in the county by the local newspapers. I guess we will find out tonight. Its a huge game on the road for us and we get to see if our young guys have matured quickly enough this season to handle a tough opponent and a hostile crowd. I think we will be just fine. Coach Donnie Hayes, Belleview, Florida   *********** The TV was a talking lamp, and the Broncos-Colts game was on while I read the paper from that morning. I happened to hear some commotion, and looked up (who can stay focused on an entire NFL game?) as the Broncos' Mike Anderson, chased by a couple of Colts, was finishing a long touchdown run. Wow. A touchdown run. Turns out it was 93 yards, which is more than most teams will rush for in an entire game.   I couldn't wait to see the replay. Well, actually, I could wait. And did. First there was the greatest anticlimax in all of sport, the extra point. Then, we caught a clip of the last five yards of the run - from field level. Then we broke for commercial. You know, one of those five-minute breaks that the NFL is famous for. Then we came back for the "ensuing kickoff," followed by - finally - the replay of the Anderson run.   Nothing like an extra point and a commercial break to maintain the excitement at a fever pitch.   *********** For a minute there last week I thought I was watching "Best of the XFL" reruns, and then I realized those were the Arizona Cardinals in their road "uniforms."   *********** Lansingburgh 65-0, Schalmont 0 --- b back Mike Hepp had 8 carries for 145 yds and 4 tds - c back brandon canty had 5 carries for 148 yds and 3tds -Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York   (Coach Porcelli wrote me earlier about getting together for a scrimmage with another Double-Wing team in his area, Queensbury, coached by John Irion. You will appreciate the way he describes the fellowship of toughness we Double-Wingers share - "kicking the sh-- out of each other")   We scrimmaged with 2 other teams who stayed with their schedule of playing everyone once. Sh--, we only scrimmaged for 1 hr and 30 minutes so John Irion and myself just said hey give us a part of the field and well keep playing agaisnt each other. John was able to run about 25 more plays like myself.   There we were, 2 dw'ers going at it and the other teams took off. I used to be like that. I used to worry about if we do too much contact someone will get hurt. me and john thought bullshit on that. we just wanted our guys to keep kicking the sh-- out of each other and develop double wing toughness that gets lost after basketball and baseball season and they forget what grinding it out meant.   Should be a great year. Next year John and I will scrimmage for 3-4 hours. Who cares what time it is, isnt a scrimmage about getting better? And you know, the longer we scrimmage, the better excuse we have for our wives for coming home late on a Saturday. Hell, what are Saturdays for anyway?   *********** Coach Wyatt- Galva Holstein 48 Woodbury Central 7 - Not even a ballgame. We had 398 yards rushing, and 4 passing. (only threw twice). Ben Butcher (played A B and C Back ) 9 carries 185 yards 4 TD's - David Doxtad (played A and C Back) 12 carries 97 yards 1 TD - Justin Joslin (played A and C back) 6 carries 54 yards 1 TD - Tanner Gebers (played B Back) 6 carries for 41 yards   Defensively my starters held them to 25 carries for 54 yards rushing and 2 for 10 passing for 18 yards.   JV gave up the score and 27 yard run, and 83 yards in passing. That was against WC's varsity (another coach that did not sub like someone with class would).   We have quite a bit of work to do still, too many penalties, and our special teams were far below the standard we have set, but another 4 days of practice and we will be better. Have a big one this week against the #5 team in the state (we are not rated). Gehlen Catholic comes in with very good kids, and are well coached. It should be a great ballgame.   Wishing you the best, Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, Just wanted to drop you a quick note regarding our first scrimmage this year.   I am the AHC/OC for a Jr Tackle Football team (Age 9-10). This is the first year for the DW in this league (I think), my first year coaching it, and the first time our coaches, players, and parents have seen it. I had a total of 25 plays with various personnel that I wanted to see. We started from the 30 and worked toward the endzone. First play was a Tight 2 Wedge. Touchdown. Second play Tight Rip 88 SuperPower. Touchdown. And so it went for the entire scrimmage. Out of 25 plays (6 w/ MPP) we scored about 10 times and had very good results on 10 other plays. We have Wedge, 3 Trap @2, 47C, 56C, 88/99 Power, 88/99 Superpower, 88/99 O, 88/99 Super O and we also put in 88/99 Super Halfback Pass. I was in the huddle reminding all the players of their responsibilities just prior to the play, but they are slowly getting it. We ran both O and Power because I wanted to see the net result due to our personnel limitations...I need to look at the video to see.   But I wanted to thank you for your help. Your system has been a real blessing.   We have a long way to go with regard to learning the offense and drilling the fundamentals, but we have an exceptional group of kids and I think we will have success this year.   I am trying to form a wedge team with primarily MPP who can run 3 plays and can handle our XP attempts. Thoughts?   Anyway, I know you are probably in the thick of things with Madison, I wish you the best. Regards, John Durnell, Crestwood, Kentucky (I assume "MPP" means "Must-Play" Players. The "wedge team" Idea sounds very interesting! HW)   *********** The secret weapons that Charlie Weis brought from the NFL appeared to be...the screen pass and the power iso. Let's not forget that the Willingham debut looked an awful lot like this three years ago. That being said, ND played well and if they can run the ball like that next week I'm very worried for Michigan.   Notre Dame's defense looked hungry, but maybe too hungry - I saw an awful lot of piling on and out of bounds work. I thought Pitt looked pretty limp.   I thought UW played really no nonsense. I was impressed with their improvement. I was VERY impressed with Air Force's offensive game plan, and their scruffy ragamuffins on defense.   The Big XII sure had trouble with those I-AA teams. Oklahoma ran up a tab when they were running up the score with Jason White, and the bill collector showed up in Norman yesterday. OU might have a Florida State -2001 year.   Glad to have football back.   Don't know if you saw the NC State game, but VT missed a field goal with two minutes left and got a first down out of it. An NC State player slipped and bumped into the keeker, who was not in a kicking pose and was standing around watching. Penalty. NC State got the ball back with 30 seconds left. Game over. What a pussy way to win. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California   I saw it and I was PISSED. A running-into-the-kicker penalty on a missed field goal. You couldn't have watched that entire play and called that penalty. And what a time for it! Fourth and four with a couple of minutes to play. One more reason to get rid of keekers.   *********** Coach, I don't know if this message will be seeking advice or looking for sympathy, but I thought maybe you would have some insight that could be helpful.   Last week (That seems like a year ago.) we had a a pretty decent looking offensive line put together.  Our center was our returning starter from last season (Sr, 6'2, 230) who was very solid.  We also had both returning guards from last season (So, 6'3, 235 and Jr, 6'3, 219).  At tackle we had a 5'10, 230 lb senior and a 6'2, 240 lb sophomore.  We also had a very capable backup at center in a junior at 5'11 and 220 lb, but he has a cast on his right arm (his snapping hand) because he broke his hand late this summer.   Well, in our first day of contact, our best lineman, the sophomore guard, went down with a knee injury.  He will be back, but we don't know how soon.  In his place we put a senior (5'9, 170) who quit last season but is back out this year.  He was okay when we were running plays against air, but we soon found out that he is afraid of contact.  So we moved the senior tackle to guard and replaced him at tackle with another kid who quit last season (6'2, 172 lb soph).  While he gives us an honest effort, he is really struggling to remember his responsibilities; and he is playing next to the guard who was at tackle because he couldn't handle the responsibility at guard.   Then on Saturday we lost our center to another knee injury.  (Both injuries are recurring problems.  They both have a slight deformity of the knee which causes the knee cap to dislocate.)  So we have replaced him with the senior who is afraid of contact, and now we are only successful on the qb/center exchange about 70% of the time, and we are getting blown back in the middle of our line.   I am very concerned with our first game just a week away.  There is a possibility (50% at best) that we could get back either one or both of the knee injuries for the  first game, but if not, we could be in big trouble.    We don't have any other young kids to move into starting offensive line positions.  We have tried being patient and teaching over and over, but we are not dealing with good students on our line right now.  (The two injured players are both 4.0 kids, and we really miss their leadership up front.)   If we can fix our problems up front, we will be fine as we have some very talented wing backs and a qb who runs well.  We are a bit undersized at b-back, but he is a tough, hard-nosed kid who gets the job done.   Any advice?  Other than be solid on defense and special teams?   What a mess! If you only have one guard, you might consider a short-term patch--- You put what linemen you do have on the playside, and when you run powers, you run a "power-G" - down block along the front, and pull the playside guard same as G except he turns up inside for the playside LBer or safety (same as the pulling backside linemen would have done). The backside linemen pull-hinge, so you can release the backside end.   You run Super Power, G and counter (blocking down on the playside of counter). And wedge. You might have to flip the line.   Unbalanced may be a possibility.   And Wildcat would likely give you a higher percentage of good snaps.   Just a few thoughts.   *********** Just when I thought that every opportunist who saw a chance to enhance himself politically, every fool with a social axe to grind had taken cheap shots at the President, from Saturday's Washington Post comes this description of rapper Kanye West's act on an NBC concert/fundraiser designed to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina:   West and Mike Myers had been paired up to appear about halfway through the show. Their assignment: Take turns reading a script describing the breach in the levees around New Orleans.   Myers: The landscape of the city has changed dramatically, tragically and perhaps irreversibly. There is now over 25 feet of water where there was once city streets and thriving neighborhoods.   (Myers throws to West, who looked extremely nervous in his super-preppy designer rugby shirt and white pants, which is not like the arrogant West and which, in retrospect, should have been a tip-off.)   West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!   (West throws back to Myers, who is looking like a guy who stopped on the tarmac to tie his shoe and got hit in the back with the 8:30 to La Guardia.)   Myers: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors' will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.   (And, because Myers is apparently as dumb as his Alfalfa hair, he throws it back to West.)   West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!   And to think that this guy West is going to help kick off the NFL's season. Mr. West, the great philosopher/healer, will co-star on this Thursday night's annual mishmash of "entertainment" called NFL Kickoff or some damn thing. In their zeal to be all things to all people, even people who don't like football, the NFL has to go out and book a guy like that. Big Football ought to stick to what it does best, which is, uh, never mind - come to think of it, maybe it is entertainment, and not football. *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics COACHES - TAKE A MINUTE OR TWO TO ENROLL YOUR TEAM IN THE BLACK LION AWARD PROGRAM NOW. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID. SO WILL YOUR PARENTS AND KIDS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A DOUBLE-WING TEAM. YOUR TEAM CAN BE YOUTH, MIDDLE SCHOOL OR HIGH SCHOOL. FOR MORE INFO - (BLACK LION AWARD) (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) September 1, 2005 - "Winners win because they do." Jack Elway (John's late dad)     *********** Madison High ended its second week of practice Thursday night with a jamboree that included all ten teams from the Portland Interscholastic League. Although we looked like the orphans of the league because we had only 18 kids who had the required number of practices to be eligible, our kids did a good job. Playing a total of 36 plays (18 offense, 18 defense) against two different opponent, we tied Cleveland High, 1-1, and then outscored Wilson, one of the league's pre-season favorites, 3-2. Our first score of the night came on a 35-yard run by Daniel McCarthy (88-power), but two of our four scores actually came on passes. Offensive assignments were pretty good, and in 36 offensive plays there was only one minor offensive penalty, and we had one turnover. Defensively, tackling in the open field and the perimeter needs a lot of work. Overall, though, our kids performed at least as well as we'd hoped, and with our opener next Friday night, a few more quality players will become eligible.   Friday, I drive south to Eagle Point, Oregon to get a look at our opening-game opponent, which opens a week earlier than we do.   *********** Coach, Just to let you know, we have heard from at least 2 coaches that lived in the New Orleans area. Darin Fisher evacuated and ended up in the Memphis area. Malcolm Robinson is with a youth baseball team and stuck in Dallas.   That is good news.   The wife and I have spent a lot of time in the Gulfport area in the last couple years and considered buying a place there when we retired. I was even able on one of our trips to stop by and spend some time with Coach Jones at Ocean Springs. Have you heard from him? My thoughts and prayers go out to the people in the area.   Coach Greg Stout, Thompson's Station, Tennessee Coach- I appreciate the note. Coach Jones said that he'd moved inland a few months ago. I hope it was far enough inland (haven't heard from him yet.)   This is without a doubt the most awful thing I've ever seen - probably the worst in our nation's history. To think that that wonderful old city is as good as gone. And all those beautiful beaches.   And then to see all those poor people, stranded there with literally nothing left and no place to go...   A prayer for everybody there.   It's probably premature to even think in terms of football coaches in that area getting back to their homes and schools, but when they do, they're certain to have plenty of kids whose families will be in dire need. At the same time, I'm sure there are coaches elsewhere, like me, who would like to help, but would like, to, uh, "channel" that help. To be blunt, I fear that the money I send to a large, organized charity will go to help pay the $500,000 salary of the CEO. But I would gladly write a check to a Gulf Coast football coach, because I'd know I could trust him to get the help to where it's needed, and I'll bet others would, too. Let us know as soon as you can, guys.   *********** As with so many tragedies of great scope, Katrina is bringing out the best and the worst in people.   I have already started to hear criticism of how FEMA is handling this, as if they could have pulled a plug and drained the city of New Orleans. Politicians are shameless when they have a chance to make hay.   I guess the trial lawyers will be next on the scene, if they aren't inside the Super Dome already.   *********** Katrina has lifted the lid off New Orleans, so to speak, and exposed to the world the Third World-like squalor that most outsiders, who think of New Orleans as the French Quarter and the Garden District, never get to see. On my first visit there in 1966, I spent some time driving around the areas where the po' folks lived, and I could not believe what I saw. It helped me understand what has consistently made New Orleans - that New Orleans, and not the one the tourists see - one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. On subsequent visits, it also became apparent to me that tourists are kept rather well insulated from contact with that New Orleans by a police department that very aggressively keeps that element away from the quaint, charming areas and the free-spending people who frequent them (and pump money into the economy). Now, along with the thousands of desperate people, most of them black, who are stranded in New Orleans either because they had no way to get out, or no place to go to, or simply no desire to leave when they should have, the criminal element has been - literally - flushed out of hiding and out into the open, and short of a shoot-to-kill order, the police are powerless to deal with them. They are the enemy, and they are armed, and how to deal with them is going to present a major challenge to those people charged with maintaining order.   *********** Will somebody please give this Secretary of Homeland Security a f--king clue? As people in the Gulf South sleep on roads go without food and fight for precious bottles of water, he gets on TV and mouths platitudes about every citizen needing to take a few simple steps to prepare for emergencies. And as he appears on one half of the split TV screen and gives us the address of a Web site that we can go to in order to be better prepared, the other half of the screen shows poor people wading in knee-deep water through the streets of New Orleans, with Internet access the furthest thing from their minds.   *********** With all Gulf Coast oil production shut down, there's been all sorts of talk about the impact of Katrina on the price of oil (and gasoline). Yes, it's going to hammer us, big-time. And we certainly couldn't expect our good friends in Saudi Arabia to open up the spigots, could we? Nor, for that matter, could we expect Mexico, for whom we serve as one giant welfare program, to release come more oil onto the world market, could we?   But so far, nothing's been said about a potential crisis of enormous portions - they'll soon be harvesting grain in the Midwest. Most of it gets barged down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where it is then loaded on ocean-going ships. With harvest approaching and the Port of New Orleans all but gone, and the nation's railroads operating at near-capacity, I'm sure that farmers and shippers all over the heartland are scrambling for solutions.   *********** I haven't read anything about it yet, possibly because there's so much chaos, but a truly unique feature of New Orleans and South Louisiana is that the dead there are "buried" above ground. The water table is so high that it is impossible to dig a grave that doesn't immediately fill with water, so bodies are interred in crypts that give the cemeteries a somewhat eerie feeling. My suspicion is that with all the flooding, there may be caskets floating all over New Orleans.   *********** Scenes of looters wading around New Orleans with their sacks of ill-gotten gain, some of them pushing big displays racks full of merchandise right out of stores made me want to ask - Okay, guys. The city's 80 per cent under water. So now that you've got all that stuff, - where you gonna put it?   *********** Not saying that we ought to get out of Iraq, but if President Bush ever needed a good pretext to do so, here it is - "Our troops are needed more right here in America - to help the Deep South rebuild."   *********** Following the catastrophe that has hit our Gulf Coast, I wonder if all the a**holes in America who despise the military have been noticing who has been playing the most prominent role in rescuing the stranded, providing relief and rebuilding the levees.   Now, if the reporters will just step back out of the way, I have another use for our military. Give everyone 30 minutes to get off the "streets", then start shooting the criminals. When the rebuilding starts down there, the job's going to be tough enough without having all those a**holes around.   *********** After seeing those poor people in the Super Dome, I'm not surprised that we aren't hearing quite so much these days about those wretched souls in those horrible conditions at Guantanamo Bay.   *********** With the NCAA on a mission to outlaw nicknames and mascots that might offend and hurt, I wonder if, in view of all the people whose lives have been shattered by Katrina, they'll ask Miami to drop the "Hurricanes."   *********** The College Board on Tuesday released the SAT scores from last year, and surprisingly, math scores were the highest they've ever been. On the other hand, verbal scores were, like, you know, flat, with like no change from the, um, year before. What-everrrr.   *********** Leave it to Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register to put our nation's priorities in perspective - he notes that an average New York City fireman will have to work for 591 years to earn what Alex Rodriguez will make this year.   *********** Coach Wyatt,  ordered a bunch of your materials a while back and am running the offense for a pop-warner team 11-12 yr olds.  We are having a hard time getting the 88 and 99 power and super power to work for us.  Our last scrimmage we were seeing 9 men in the box and they were blitzing the heck out of us.  We couldn't make a hole to save our lives and we were not able to pass because the pass rush was so heavy.  We were seeing a defensive lineman playing a 9 or tough 8 as well as a corner lined up just outside that man.  So there were at least 2 defenders to the outside.  Having a hard time figuring out what to do here, the head coach is starting to have 2nd thoughts about the offense even though in our first scrimmage we threw for 5 touchdowns and ran for a bunch as well.?    Should we have one of our pulling lineman kickout, rather than wall off, or have the End influence and block out?? Not sure, would love your opinion.  We are just in the process of incorporating the 6 and 7 G plays and haven't tried them in this situation yet.  Thanks much.   Coach- The B-Back takes the kickout and the QB leads through for the Corner back. That takes care of both.   I would be surprised if you only saw 8 men in the box. We see 9 and 10 all the time.   Blitzes really don't mean a thing to us since we are so tight.   These blocking rules have been time-tested and will block any defense. Do not discount the fact that your kids may not be giving it enough effort.   As for the head coach, it is his whistle. But if I may say so, better men than him know what a good offense this is, and they know not to expect results overnight. If he is having second thoughts this early, he deserves to run whatever other offense he wishes. But I'm sorry for you, because you deserve a head coach who has a better understanding of what it takes to build an offense.   *********** The University of Washington, like other major sports powers, has all sorts of people in the athletic department whose only job is making sure they don't run afoul of the NCAA, yet there was Johnny Durocher, a rather high-profile transfer from Oregon, competing for the starting QB job, and they didn't "discover" he's ineligible until four days before the opening game.   Seems the rules are quite clear - a D-IA transfer is ineligible to play at another D-1A school for one calendar year after leaving the first school. Durocher left Oregon on September 20, 2004.   Is there something about the concept of "one calendar year" that those fools can't grasp?   *********** Coach, I have to share this with you.   We have lost several key offensive linemen to injuries this fall (hopefully they will return soon), so we have been shuffling kids between positions. Our Black Lion from last year, Jeremy Dietz, is now a senior. One of the reasons he won the award last year was his willingness to play nearly every position on the field without complaint. Well, he has already been a tight end and quarterback this year, and now he is filling our left guard spot.   He is doing amazingly well and has become the leader up front for us. So as practice is winding down yesterday, arguably our best player (junior running back who ran for 1047 yards and 16 TD's last season as a sophomore) approached me and said that because of Jeremy's leadership and performance, he wanted to give Jeremy his captain's spot. I gathered the team and said that a captain wanted to address them.   Sam, the captain, told the team that because of Jeremy's willingness to play any position and his positive leadership and performance, Jeremy should be a captain and that he, Sam, was giving Jeremy his spot. It was one of the best moments of my coaching career. Jeremy was stunned, and after a few moments of silence the whole team began to clap. (I don't know whom they were cheering more.)   Our coaches were as stunned as Jeremy was, and this may have been the kind of TEAM moment we needed to head into our first game on Friday night. There was certainly an air of unity as we left the field.   I just wanted to share this with you and thank you once again for what you have created with the Black Lion Award. It has been truly awesome.   Greg Koenig, Colby, Kansas (Damn! What's it worth to see kids do things like that? Guaranteed, there's some kids on that team that just got a lesson in unselfishness and sacrifice for the team that two few people in this me-me-me age ever get to witness. HW)   *********** My C-Back (Right wingback) is having problems blocking and remembering when to go in motion and his blocking schemes.  I hate to take him out b/c when I get him the ball he just runs.  On 8 carries he has run over 200 yards.  The problem is that he is to small and can't block the bigger kids.  That is a plus when running b/c defenses and linebackers can't see him behind the pulling lineman.  Please tell me what to do.   If it's a hopeless cause, why don't you sub him in when he's going to carry the ball?   It will work until defenses figure it out. And it might still work even then.   *********** Coach Wyatt, I installed your double wing system over the last 2 weeks to my 10 & 11 year olds.  In that 2 week period we only practiced offense 2 1/2 days, all other days were spent on defense.  Saturday we had our jamboree and we had 18 plays on defense and 38 plays on offense.  We rushed for 160 yards on 38 plays and I was amazed at how well this offense controls the football & dictates the pace of the game.  The parents and my assistant coaches think I am a genius by the fact that we struggled defensively and gave up 13 points, but after only 2 1/2 days of offense we looked solid.  I just wanted to say thank you and ask 2 quick questions:   1. Of 38 plays I called 88 power 25 times.  I did this because we averaged 5 yards per carry on that play, which set up our counters, but we blocked them incorrectly.  I my play calling too predictable or should I keep running 88 power until the defense shows me they can stop it?   You already understand better than many coaches that it is the opponents' job to stop your offense - it is not your job. The great Gordon Wood, a legend in Texas, once said that the secret to whatever success he had offensively was that he never got tired of watching the same play gain yardage, play after play.   2. My Fullback stands straight up every play, can I just let him stay up like the wing backs or do I need to stress to him to stay low?   He doesn't have to get into a pretty stance, but I believe he should be low. Even if all he does is crouch like a toad, it is important, I think, for him to be low so that the defense has a hard time finding him.   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt: I came across a little human interest story that may be of interest to you.   Our 2003 Black Lion Winner, Cody Michalke, is in his final season of youth football. I have had the privilege of coaching him for most of his career. His dad, Dana, is one of those ideal football parents. Does anything to help the program: lime the field, run the sticks, etc, everything but coach. One day Dana and I were discussing Cody's love for the game, and he told me that love of football runs in the family. How so? "Cody's great-grandfather, my grandfather, was Dana Bible. I was named for him. He was coach at Texas A & M when they started the 12th man tradition, and coached at Nebraska, Texas, and several other schools."   He told me a story that happened a number of years ago, when Jackie Sherrill was coaching at A&M. Dana found himself seated directly across the aisle from him on a long flight. Not wanting to bother him, he left him in peace until the end of the flight. At that point, when people were standing up to get their carry-on luggage, he introduced himself. "Coach Sherrill, my name is Dana Michalke. I am glad to see that you revived the 12th man tradition. My grandfather started that at A&M and you honor him by bringing it back". Sherrill looked at him and said "You are Dana Bible's grandson? No, sir, it is I who is honored to meet the grandson of Coach Bible. Please walk with me to baggage claim. " They had a long conversation, at the conclusion of which Sherrill presented him with a business card, requesting that Dana's parents call him. He wanted to speak with them about Coach Bible.   I had heard of the name, but knew little of his accomplishments other than what Dana had told me. A little internet research resulted in my learning that:   * Dana X. Bible was a charter member of the National Football Hall of Fame and the 1954 recipient of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. In 1959 he was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.   * During the 1960s each of the three of the schools where he had coached placed him in its hall of fame.   * Bible was on the National Collegiate Football Rules Committee for twenty-five years and served as a president of the American Football Coaches Association.   * Bible retired after the 1946 season. His overall record in 33 seasons was 192 wins, 71 losses, and 23 ties, a .712 winning percentage.   His success was due, in part, to his use of psychology to motivate players. At halftime of the Texas-Texas A & M game in 1922, with the score tied 7-7, Bible dragged his foot across the floor of the A & M locker room and said, "Those who want to go out and be known as members of an A & M team that defeated Texas in Austin, step over the line." Players rushed to cross the line, then went out to beat Texas, 14-7. (Sort of like the story of Travis drawing the line in the sand at the Alamo!)   So I have learned that in one little community in Western Pennsylvania, the Black Lion spirit of Don Holleder is carried forward by a young man with direct lineage to a college football coaching legend.   Respectfully Yours, Mark Rice, Brighton Township Bears, Sharon, Pennsylvania   Dana X. Bible is, indeed, a coaching legend. How many coaches in the history of college football can claim to have coached at FOUR big-time colleges? (LSU, Texas A & M, Nebraska and Texas.) In a span of 29 years, he won 14 conference championships, coaching three different teams.   As for the origin of the great Texas A & M "Twelfth Man" tradition, it was at a 1922 New Year's Day game in Dallas (a forerunner of the Cotton Bowl) when A & M faced Centre College, undefeated and fresh off an upset of mighty Harvard...   An Aggie alum, Dr. King Gill, of Corpus Christi, Texas, told the story to Tom Cohane, in "Great College Football Coaches of the Twenties and Thirties":   "I had played on the football team, but was on the basketball team at that time because those in charge thought I'd be more valuable there. I was in Dallas, however, and even rode to the stadium with Coach Dana X. Bible.   "I was in civilian clothes and not to be in uniform. Coach Bible asked me to assist in spotting players for the late Jinx Tucker (sports editor of the Waco News-Tribune) in the press box.   "So I was up in the press box... when near the end of the first half, I was called down to the Texas A & M bench. There had been a number of injuries, but it was not until I arrived on the field that I learned Coach Bible wanted me to put on a football uniform.   "There were no dressing rooms at the stadium in those days.The team had dressed downtown at the hotel and travelled to the stadium in taxicabs. Anyway, I put on the uniform of one of the injured players. We got under the stands, and he put on my clothes and I put on his uniform. I was ready to play, but never was sent into the game."   But A & M, a 20-point underdog, upset Centre, 7-0, and so was born the idea of the Twelfth Man. To this day, at every Aggies' game, the Corps of Cadets (if you didn't know, Texas A & M has long been a major producer of officers for our armed forces) remains standing - "Ready if Needed" - for the entire game. HW *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners