flexbone history question

I understand the the term first came into use with Airforce Academy when Hatfield was the coach. Fisher Deberry actually brought it with him from Jim Brakefield who coached at Wofford College in the 60's and 70's (Wofford is now a I-AA Southern Conference school in Spartanburg SC that still uses a flexbone style) and Appalachian St (restarted the program in the early 70's). Deberry played and coached for Brakefield at Wofford and coached for him at App St before going to AFA. I am not sure exactly how the Ga Southern spread option style came to be, but in an article in the Coaching Strategies Book by AFCA DeBerry gives the above explanation and having lived there in Upstate SC everyone tells the same story.
Grace Alone,
Greg Bailey

Sure he did, and Ken Hatfield was the guy who broke it originally. My son played for Ken at Clemson and he still runs it at Rice, I feel certain.

Coach Easton

Ken Hatfield was the OC under Doug Dickey at Florida when they ran the Wishbone in the mid-70's. There is a 1977 COY clinic article titled, The Flexible Wishbone, in which Dickey covers some of what they were doing then --- increased emphasis on passing out of the same Broken Bone sets that most Wishbone teams used, although in widely varying degrees.

I also understand that Jim Brakefield did many similar things at Appalachian State in the 70's. He was very influential on DeBerry's philosophy.

Emory Bellard tinkered with the Wishbone quite a bit at Texas A&M (72 through the first 6 games of 78), including using what he called the T-Bone in 73 and 74. He used what he referred to as the Wingbone at Mississippi State beginning in 1979. There is a COY clinic article detailing some of what he was doing then.

Georgia Southern style of Spread Option originated with Erk Russell. Paul Johnson became the OC within a couple of years of Russell's building the GSA program from scratch --- I'm unsure as to who Russell's first OC was. Art Baker, with Kevin Gilbride as his OC, did some very similar things at East Carolina. Inside Veer, Trap Option, etc. I've spoken to Coach Baker regarding this. They did some interesting things back then.

The whole "BONE" thing was started at the University of Texas in the 1968. Darrell Royal was the HFC, & Emory Bellard was the "OC". THEY claimed they got the idea from a High School Coach in Texas. Royal & Bellard are both still alive, & any "Bone" historians should contact them! They would probably be happy to talk about the offense. I had a young man play for Jim Brakefield at APPY (went there on a full ride in 1976) - they used the same stuff as Texas.

FROM AN ARTICLE I FOUND:

Royal is credited with two major changes in collegiate football. In 1961, he used a "flip-flop" to the winged-T, allowing the offensive picture to flip right or left, so that blocking assignment remained simplified. In 1968, Royal installed the famed Wishbone formation backfield with the fullback lined up two yards behind the quarterback and a step off from the other backs. With that formation, his teams won 30-straight game and a record six-straight Southwest Conference Championships.


FROM ANOTHER ARTICLE BY ONE OF KEN HATFIELD'S ASSISTANTS:


Triple Option Means Triple Threat
The three-back enables Rice University to rush its way to success

By Scott Wachenheim
Rice Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach


The Rice University Triple Option traces its roots to West Texas High school football. Emory Bellard invented wishbone triple option football in the summer of 1968. Coach Bellard always liked option football and the advantages three back formations gave an offense.

He started toying with the concept while coaching at Ingleside and Breckenridge High Schools. Coach Bellard felt to be successful on offense, one needed to:

• Have a blocker on a defender with a ball carrier behind.
• Have two blockers on one defender with an option play.
• Create one-on-one match-ups in the passing game.

Coach Bellard was hired to coach linebackers at the University of Texas in 1967. In the spring of 1968, Texas head coach Darryl Royal moved Emory from coaching linebackers to the offensive side of the ball. Coach Royal was always a fan of the option offense. In looking at the personnel Texas had, Coach Bellard felt they had three great running backs. So he put in the basic-T formation and began running the triple option. That summer Coach Bellard, his sons, and some former Texas players ran through the option from a variety of sets and came upon the wishbone. Coach Bellard did not call his formations the wishbone. He simply called the formations right and left. The originator of the wishbone nickname was the Mickey Herskowitz of the Houston Chronicle.

Coach Bellard presented his findings to Coach Royal, who embraced the idea. Texas tied their first game, lost their second, then won thirty straight games and two national championships in the wishbone.

Coach Hatfield, HC, Rice University, first fell in love with the wishbone triple option attack while coaching defense at the University of Florida. He realized the difficulties of the defending against the option and the one-on-one passing attack, therefore when he was moved to coach offense he quickly initiated the triple option attack at Florida. The wishbone has helped Coach Hatfield become fifth in wins among active Division 1-A head coaches.

While at the United States Air Force Academy, Coach Hatfield began to tinker with the offensive sets. He began to break the bone, putting one or both of the halfbacks in a slot position. The new formations were given the nickname of the “Flexbone” and we are still using them today at Rice University.

The coach that claimed to have invented the Wishbone was Charles (Spud) Cason of Monig Junior High School. I have the book he wrote in 1970, titled, "The Original High School Wishbone --- Complete Playbook."

Cason wrote in the book that he had been using the Wishbone since 1951. However, he did not run option from it at the Junior High level --- though he covers the option in his book.

As for Royal and Bellard, IMO they were the true innovators of what we now know as the Wishbone. There was a brief but interesting interview on TBS in 1984, with both Royal and Bellard, in which Royal gives full credit to Bellard for the innovation of the Wishbone.

There is a great clinic article on the Wishbone by Switzer in the 1977 COY manual.

Royal's 1968 film on the Wishbone covers the Broken Bone formations that Texas used. Bear Bryant certainly did much to popularize the flex style. The 1983 revised edition of Bear Bryant on Winning Football covers some of the very basics of Alabama's Wishbone offense --- Gene Stallings authored he revised sections of the book, after Bear's passing.

There are several other very good COY Wishbone articles through the years, I highly recommend them.

Coach Mountjoy,

Thank you for your nice comment. I must say that I've enjoyed reading your postings at several sites!

I've been researching option football, Wishbone in particular, for well over a decade going on two. I've amassed quite a bit of film/game tapes --- only vintage Appalachian State film eludes me. I never tire of watching vintage option games.

Notre Dame in the 70's was MULTIPLE (in the 60's they were Split 4-4). In the 70's - they ran the 4-3; 5-2; & SOME Split 4-4. They "mirrored" out of ALL three! What they did best was the "4-3 MIRROR", because they aligned the MLB & the two Safeties in a WISHBONE looking align which perfectly MIRRORED Texas. You can STILL buy the book on the MIRROR if you look on ABEBOOKS.COM It is called the BACKBONE DEFENSE by PHIL JACK DAWSON (who put it in for Ara).

I liked the OKIE DOG PINCH they used vs Bama BETTER! On the Christmas Holidays of 1975, I took my staff to ND, & we went to their practices and sat in on the meetings as the prepared for Bama. George Kelly (recently deceased) was Ara's "DC" then!

I have film of all those games, but I never send it out (it is too old & brittle). I sometimes have coaches over & show it to them.

You cannot play either consistently vs the FLEXBONE. If I had a blackboard & a piece of chalk (or a dry erase board & a marker) - I could show you, but it is too difficult to explain via email!

PS: You can find all those old COACH OF THE YEAR MANUALS (even the TOC of each) - if you go on the site "EARL BROWNING NIKE COACH OF YEAR MANUALS"

I have the 1970 Cotton Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Texas), 1971 Cotton Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Texas), 1973 Sugar Bowl (Alabama vs. Notre Dame), 1975 Orange Bowl (Alabama vs. Notre Dame) games. All of them excellent examples of mirroring defenses against the Wishbone.

RFarley - you really are a "BONE" historian. Two other GOOD defenses of the "BONE" was Nebraska ("DC" MONTE KIFFIN) vs Oklahoma in 1971 (I believe it was), - & TEMPLE VS NAVY's FLEXBONE in 2000 (I believe it was)!

Again, thank you for the kind words, Coach Mountjoy.

I've devoted many years to researching not only the Wishbone, but option football. Part of my research turned into a website (www.footballbooklist.com) after Coach Homer Smith suggested that it would a great resource for coaches. I've had the opportunity to speak to or correspond with many of the leading option coaches.

Three other good sources for vintage films/games are Alabama, Houston, and Ohio State. They raise funds for their universities by selling copies of the films. In some cases (Houston, Alabama), Alumni, coaches, and historians have donated games to increase their holdings.

Alabama Tide Insider forum:

www.tiderinsider.com/forum/video/messages/2183.html



Houston Coogs Fan forum -- you'll have to register to get access, then go to the Coogs Fan football forum to find the appropriate threads regarding football films.

houston.scout.com/



Ohio State --- scroll down until you see the "click here" link for a listing of their holdings:

store.hangonsloopy.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=953693&prmenbr=81721&CGRY_NUM=617078&p=catalog

Another one of my favorite examples of defensing the Wishbone was the 1974 Sugar Bowl (Nebraska vs. Florida), when Monte Kiffin was NU's DC.

Miami completely took the first option (Fullback) out of the game (which MUST be done), concentrated on punishing the QB, & yet were able to handle the pitch with Cover 2 Corners who were already rolled up.  SEE ATTACHED = Miami vs. Okla.):

PS:  Anyone wanting to trace the evolution of the Wishbone to the Flexbone can order the 1981 Coach of the Year Clinic Manual (by Earl Browning).  Mal Moore - "Bear" Bryant's outstanding Offensive Coordinator - has a GREAT lecture of the Wishbone, and shows HOW they evolved to the Flexdone on page 137.


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