Off season coaching

EVERYBODY lifts.

Skilled positions play 7 vs 7 (vs ourselves - divided into four teams), and (in the Summer) vs other schools.

We put non-skilled positions on a jogging program.

Weightroom M-W-F the Monday after the championship game.

I think I might try spreading spring out over a month this year. We are allowed 2 weeks in the spring - but I am thinking of taking those 10 practices and spreading them out to 2/week over 5 weeks. Its an idea I picked up from a local college team - it keeps the players involved and thinking football. Plus. I have a large number of multisport athletes, which I like, but this way I can schedule them around track and field, or soccer.

Anyone else done this?

When I'm not learning, reading, watching about football - in the Winter, Spring and Summer is when I make sure I spend as much time as possible with my 2 year old (Oh and my wife!). I may be a football coach, but I'm a father 1st and it's the most important job I'll ever have - and I don't wanna miss a moment.

EXACTLY...

We try and go at 7:15 am and school starts at 8:45am.

We do have a handful of kids who can't get there because they really don't have a ride, or the bus doesn't come near their house. So they work out ofter school with the 'other' sports.

They NEVER get as good a workout. We have a couple kids came in as freshman and could barely put up 85 pounds... now they're repping for 6-8 at 155

I have recently taken over a program that has a strength coach who is certified. This has actually helped. We are lifting and doing agilities 3 days a week. I have implemented a 4 day clinic in the spring for the kids to attend. No pads and not mandatory. Just 4 days to allow us to teach the ids what we want out of them. We then also have passing scrimmages throughout the summer as well.

I've learned this much at Lackawanna... you don't play the best 11 athletes.... YOU PLAY THE 11 FOOTBALL PLAYERS YOU TRUST THE MOST.

How does a player build trust with a coach-- SHOW UP EVERY, SINGLE DAY!
How does a coach build trust with a player-- DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO!

High School Football is a BUSINESS!!!! It shouldn't be, but it is. High school coaches get fired for not winning. You win by putting more players on the field who you, the coach, TRUST and players that are INVESTED!!!! Players only play for you if they trust you--they trust you when you DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO!

INVESTMENT is what U of Florida Urban Meyer demands from his athletes if they are going to start. NO INVESTMENT=NO PLAY. I have his packet here at the house and the word INVESTMENT is mentioned frequently.

NO SHOW=NO PLAY! Don't like it--go to a school that will let you do what you want. We'll still beat you anyway.

We went 10-0 and ranked #5 in the country by starting players we trust and players that are invested. We had a Corner who ran a 4.2/40 and a mike linebacker who benched over 500 pounds. They didn't start and they did not see the field because of their summer commitment. THAT'S INVESTMENT! How can we trust them with our careers if they are not INVESTED? We can't. Thus they did not start.

I hope this helps and look forward to discussing this further.

Coach Cella;

I agree with MOST of your points, BUT... What if the parents are NOT supportive? What do you do if you're at an INNER CITY school?

Where:

1) Most 'kids' (make no mistake they are kids) MUST work because they're supporting the family income
2) Several kids aren't in stable homes - they may live at several different people's houses over a month (or better yet be sleeping on the street)
3) Many do not have the financial means, or support network to get to the workouts.

I've coached AND been successful in such a school. I enjoyed every minute of it (and I miss it), but I will also tell you that demanding INVESTMENT takes on a different vein at those places. By narrowing the pool of people who can participate you ultimately end up excluding those who NEED football the most, not for WINS... but for life skills, self-esteem and to stay away from gangs or street trouble.

We had one young man who slept on street corners about 3x a week - his concern wasn't finding his way to a crack of dawn workout - it was finding food, shelter and safety on a regular basis. School and practice was the most STABLE and SAFE part of his day. Today he is in college, an all-conference player, and in the top 10% of grades in his program. He needed football more than football needed him - Imagine what would have happened if he was cut or 'ran-off' because he couldn't make a morning workout.

In my perspective WINNING is not the ultimate goal of a football program - it is a by-product of doing things the right way. We do not focus on winning, we focus on competing, and we focus on the PROCESS. In MY OPINION the narrow minded pursuit of the almighty WIN produces flawed results in the end and may ultimately teach POOR life skills. I've seen the result of that methodology in our own area, and while some do a fantastic job at doing it ethically, and BUILDING young men - there are a LARGE number who don't and coach by fear, intimidiation.

Winning IS why we play the game - but it isn't the end all be all of the GAME of football.

It is also interesting to note that some of the HIGHEST echelon of successful coaches at ALL sports do not focus solely on winning - they focus on playing to their potential, and on the process. Most importantly they focus on character: Mark Speckman, Frosty Westering, John Gagliardi, Eddie Robinson, John Wooden, Phil Jackson, Joe Ehrmann. etc. I'd heartly encourage you to read Frosty Westering's book, or information about St. John's Minnesota.

In fact, I'll trade you a copy of the lecture Frosty Westering gave on his philosophy for your copy of the Urban Meyer packet - that way we can learn from each other!

The TRUE mark of the success of a coach or program is NOT how many games or championships you've won. Those aren't often determined by COACHING ability, they often circumstansial

The real mark of success in MY OPINION is where your players are in life 20 years AFTER they graduate. This isn't measures by titles, or bank accounts - it is measured by what kind of fathers, husbands, citizens, and human beings they are.

Congratulation on your success - and I am sure you, your staff, and your players have worked hard and deserved every. BUT - It is also at a university/college level - You DO have a different amount of control over those young men. And I know you recognize that there are MANY different ways to be successful, and they ALL work. What we have to do is find the way we believe in, LEARN from each other (not criticize) and apply it to our own situations.

I really liked your morning workout ideas - I was NOT criticizing them - in fact I use some of them myself.
I was merely asking some questions about how you would handle certain situations.

I talk about Investment to my players constantly "INVEST IN SUCCESS" - but I also recognize that different people come from different situations and thus are able to make different amounts of investment.

I'm sure our goals are the same - to produce quality young men.

Again... I'd love to take a look at your Urban Meyer pamplet - and continue to learn from each other. Heck, if I ever get down to Pittsburgh again... I'll buy you a beer and we can discuss it - but I'll bring some of the good Canadian beer we have up here.

Black Fly, if I was in your situation I wouldn't be coaching. Coaching in Canada, from everything I heard, is a real struggle. No money and no support is what I've heard from coaches in Ontario and Quebec.

I still stand by my core beliefs. We will discuss the trading of packets. I am a BIG fan of Frosty Westerling. Make your program the big time!

Blackfly, I appreciate the education on Canada. I used to visit Ontario and Quebec often. Now I have to get my passport!!!!

I just spent 3 yrs coaching inner city kids. Here is my opinion. Those "kids that are working to support their families" are NOT working to support their families. They are working to pay for their cell phones and clothes. I tolerated that for a year or two and then I thought - these kids and their issues are affecting the team - so I did NOT tolerate work as an excuse to miss or be late or to leave early. All decisions should be made to support the team goals, not personal needs outside the program. We went from rosters of 50+ my first two years to a roster of 37 kids tyhis past season. We won 7 games this past year for the first time since 1969. I am a compassionate person, but someone's home life circumstances are not going to affect the outcome of the program. How I can a let a kid who practices three times a week play over a kid who is there 15 minutes early for everything on all occasions. With this said, I tolerated some things before July 1. But once we got into practice, they knew the rules. I lost some UNBELIEVABLE athletes, but they would NEVER have helped us. Someone mentioned TRUST above, and I played the kids I could trust !! I will also add if a kid needed a ride, they knew to call me - AND i would personally pick them up and take them home. All they have to do is communicate - and this also shows they want to be apart of it !!!

LOU,

INTERESTING THOUGHT ABOUT TRUST! What a lot of young coaches don't realize is that trust is a two way street. Trust is something that must be EARNED, just like RESPECT. Coaches can't expect players, at least relistically IMO, to give them their absolute trust without having played for them, practiced day in and day out with them and in general EARNED their complete trust. It is an unusual situation when a man places his full trust in another without getting to know him. Just my opinion as always.

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE

Hey Lou,

I understood 100% of what your original post was driving at, and I am certainly in total agreement with it!
Athletes of today do not seem to realize, especially the really talented ones, that being good is just not enough if you can't be counted on to be a 100% TEAM GUY with a work ethic second to noone on the squad! I was really getting discouraged toward the end of my on field coaching days, in as much as the really talented guys were the ones who seemed to have the crummy attitudes! Not all , of course, but a lot of them! You have heard me say a 100 times that there is no substitute for talent on a football field and I will always believe that, if you want to win on a consistent basis. But, I swear, it just gets on your nerves when you see a young man loaded with talent turn out to be a big mouth, bad attitude, trouble maker and cancer to the team!!! You have no alternative, after giving him the benefit of the doubt more than you probably should have, but to run his butt off for the good of the team! BEING ON TIME seems to be a thing of the past for these types also! They will end up being late for their own funerals! Tom Coughlin, when he was the HC of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL, had recruited a star defensive back from USC and the kid turned out to be a great player as expected, but a real jerk as a human being! He just would not come to practice on time, and I know Tom Coughflin and it must have killed him to do this, but he even sent a limo each morning to pick up this guy and he still would not be ready when the limo arrived!!! Finally, he ran him off after giving him every possible chance and giving him the farm when he signed him!!!

Coach Easton- Tiger one

Correct!

“WILL OVER SKILL” – “ATTITUDE OVER ABILITY”! “PERFORMANCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FORM”! “TOUGHNESS IS CONTAGIOUS”!

true (about doing what is best and what feels good in our hearts) BUT when you are neglecting other kids who want to be coached, it begins to be a problem - at least for our kids. 60% of my roster were single parent kids whose fathers were absent from their lives. Some even lived in foster care or with grandparents or friends. I have given EVERY kid who walked into my football office a ton of chances. From rides to school to pep talks to a couple dollars here and there - i have done it all. I can only be sh*t on so many times - and then i do what is best for the football program.

This is the best discussion of heard in a long time. Some very successful "old school views" with some "new school " social issues. Hard to be right or wrong on this one. I guess each coach has to know his players, his town and stick to his beliefs. If the town's beliefs are too different from yours....may be time to move on. Be true to yourself and your beliefs...you'll sleep better at night.


We all know their are many successful ways of getting the job done. I know this from coaching and playing at every level of football...kids yearn to be disciplined. It is that way today and it was that way 2,000 years ago. Do what you believe in.

Remember....It's not the x's and o's, it's the Jimmy and the Joe's.