If there is one thing that I have learned about sports or life in general, it’s that losing hurts. It hurts as a player who has put in many hours of conditioning, weight training, two-a-days and summer install to have another team come into your stadium and knock you on the ground. I would argue that it hurts even more being the coach in charge of coming up with the strategy and plan for victory only to have it thrown back in your face and the other coach claiming the W. And that’s just one game, imagine going 0-8. Well I did, and it sucked. It was one of the most painful and gut-wrenching time spans I have experienced, but in retrospect I believe that experience of going 0-8 has given me a deeper respect for the game and made me a better coach. Let me explain…
I teach Science (Biology and Earth Science) at a school which has a terrible (and misleading) reputation for having a lot of gang related issues (drugs, violence, disrespectful students). I will admit that yes, there are a few instances where this is true, but for the most part my school does wonderful things, especially our teachers. The student body has changed significantly in the past 10 years (I have only been there for 3) and the populations of students which usually go out for Football has been going down while the population of students who prefer Soccer has increased. Each year our school has anywhere from 2500-3000 students, but has struggled to field a varsity football squad. So let’s assume that we already have some issues with the student population, throw in the fact that in the past three seasons the varsity team has won exactly 2 games total. Who would want to go out for football with issues like these?
Well I was young (23) and dumb and felt like I knew everything there was to know about football. This was year two of teaching at my school and the previous year I coached at a different school. I decided that this year I wanted to coach at the school I taught at (makes sense right?). The guy who was the head coach of the schools’ freshman team had a winning record of 8-2 and decided to move up to varsity. I interviewed for the freshman team coaching position and got it in a heartbeat. Fast forward to the end of the season and I was kicking myself for making so many mistakes and almost decided to never attempt to coach again. So how come I think I’m better off for it and I believe that I will coach again? Let’s go through my mistakes…
Never assume a players’ football IQ
Stick to your guns (pick an offense and stick with it)
Plan out EVERYTHING
Don’t worry about being friends with your players
It took me a while to get to the mistakes that I made and how they made me better, which is why this is part one of a series. Thanks for reading and Stay Obsessed.
Coach I have been there! I was head coach for our heaviest weight class for 2 year with my combine record being 1-14. I learned a lot about myself has a coach those 2yrs. I wouldn't trade those two years for anything, because its made me a much better coach.
Quick Screens from Wing-T Offense By Darrin Sheffer When most coaches hear Wing-T Offense they usually don’t think about passing, however there are a few ways that a Wing-T coach can utilize his receivers on the edge. Delaware Wing-T X-Now Screen One of the simplest ways to attack the boundary using the Wing-T is to use an X-Now Screen or Quick Screen. Preferably, unless you have a QB with a rocket for an arm, I would rather use this play when the X receiver is to the boundary. In the case of using the Right Formation we would like to have the ball on the left hash with the X lined up on or just inside of the numbers, this will give the QB a nice easy pass and the X a bit of room to maneuver. I would teach my X to use the sideline and get as many yards as possible but you might have a different preference on the Now Screen. An idea that you could use (I learned this watching an online clinic from Coach Mc from Scott County HS, KY) is to have
By Darrin Sheffer With Contributions by Coach Bruce Eien http://bruceeien.com/ http://fatformation.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @bruceeien Before I get started with this blog I would like to say Thank You to Coach Eien for being so generous and kind enough to welcome me into the Single Wing community. While I am a newbie when it comes to the Single Wing offense I am learning more and more every day and I am falling more and more in love with this offense the more I learn about it. As someone who who is familiar with "Old School" offenses like the Flexbone and Wing-T, the Single Wing is an offense that rings many familiar bells, especially my love of Misdirection based offenses. Once again, Thank You Coach Eien. I love all offensive systems, but I have a special place in my heart for systems that are "different" and "unconventional". I'm most familiar with traditional Wing-T, but when I have the power to call an offense at any level
Why I like… Unbalanced Sets (Photo by Coach Eien @bruceeien) If there is one thing that Dinosaur Offensive coaches love to talk about, besides running the ball, it would have to be Unbalanced Sets. Old school Wing-T and Single Wing guys will hang their hat on being able to cause conflict with the defense by using Unbalanced. However, it isn’t only old school coaches using it; many Spread coaches are seeking ways to use Unbalanced in their offenses. Unbalanced Wing-T For my part I am most familiar with the Wing-T’s use of Unbalanced formations. One common way to go unbalanced in the Wing-T is to simply go X-Over (See diagram below). In the normal Wing-T formation the X is split off to the weak side of the formation, but in the X-Over we simply align him split to the Strong side/TE side. One downside to this formation is that due to the alignment of the X, the TE becomes ineligible in the passing game which may limit you. How do we fix this? Well
Coach I have been there! I was head coach for our heaviest weight class for 2 year with my combine record being 1-14. I learned a lot about myself has a coach those 2yrs. I wouldn't trade those two years for anything, because its made me a much better coach.
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