Coordinator Philosophy

DIFFERENT coaches list the "3 areas of the game" in different orders of importance.

One thing I CAN tell you with absolute certainty is that you must control AT LEAST 2 of the 3 areas in order to win (any 2 will usually do)!!!!!!!

On the high school level I would think it has alot to do with what other assistants are available and can get hired. Coach Mountjoy and Coach Hicks who were my high school coaches have told me before you become a Head Coach you better know how to coach every position, so you can at least tell your coaches what you want done. I think at the high school level a HC must be able or comfortable calling either side of the ball AND know special teams. I am a defensive minded guy, I know offense, if i took over a school that had a great DC on staff, that I liked I would call offense....or vice versa. On the high school level you may have young inexperienced coaches on staff...in my opinion it is the HC's job to teach them how to coach and what to do ...no matter what position they coach.

COACH,

It seems to be like the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Having played QB, when I became a coach I just naturally gravitated to the offensive side of the ball. When I began to get exposed to the other facets of the game, soon discovered that if your going to be A REALLY GOOD HEAD COACH, you had better be able to coach every position on the field in all three of the aforementioned catagories.

Coach Pierson got some very sage advice from his HS coaches, Bill Mountjoy and the other coach he mentions.

I have built several programs over the years and always used the adage that states that OFFENSE GETS THE GLORY, BUT DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. I firmly believe that unless you can score you can't win, while on the other hand if you can't stop your opponent from scoring your not going to win either!

Hate to be redundant but it seems coming to mind that is the reason we call it a TEAM sport. It takes EVERYBODY BEING OF ONE MIND AND ONE ACCORD THAT WINNING IS PARAMOUNT! ONE UNIT IS NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE OTHER TWO. Just my opinion as always.

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE

Lou,

Do you have the statistics of how many of those coaches also coached their defensive and special teams units too or no?

LIKE I SAY LOU, THE OFFENSE GETS THE GLORY AND MOST HEAD COACHES FEEL THEY HAVE EARNED SOME GLORY ON THE HS LEVEL.

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE

COACH SCOTT,

That shows good thinking on your part as I would agree with your statement. I have found that the practice of the HC calling the offense really comes down to the most knowledgeable coach on the staff usually handling the job. As the HC usually fits that criteria (not always) but most often on the high school level, and it his reputation at stake he wants to insure that the team and the fans get the best he has to offer. When you go to the next level that is not the case at all unless the HC is Spurrier or somebody of his stature, as most intelligent head coaches at the next level have become GAME MANAGERS and leave the actual coaching on game night to other qualified personnel on his staff. They do their best to surround themselves with the very best coaches they can find, and let them coach!

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE

I read a book a while back by Bo Schembechler. He said offense is more complicated. He thinks defense is more important, but the offense is more complicated, so thats what he did.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Coach Scott
Offense and Defense are of exactly equal importance. Reasonable people can disagree as to the relative importance of special teams.

I suspect, but do not know, that this oft-cited ranking of priorities was created in an effort to motivate players who were relegated to playing defense against their wishes.

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Relegated?!?!?!?! Any kid who doesn't think it's a priviledge to play defense shouldn't be playing defense. Every kid should be happy to be on the field no matter what he is doing. If he's not, then find someone who is. Also, if the coach thinks of it as being "relegated", then the kids will think that way too and you won't have a very good defense. I've never understood anyone who would rather play offense than defense anyway. Why be the nail when you can be the hammer?

FGS,

Being predominately an offensive coach and head football coach most of my career, I none the less agree with you. I am of the opinion that the offensive and defensive units are not of equal importance.
Any coach who is setting about to build a successsful program WILL ALWAYS BUILD THE DEFENSE FIRST AND MAKE CERTAIN THAT THE BEST ATHLETES ARE ON THAT SIDE OF THE BALL IF YOU ARE IN A SITUATION WHERE YOU CANNOT RECRUIT WHAT YOU NEED, AS IN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL. To do it any other way, is not a wise move in my opinion.

Now, that is not to say that offensive assignments are not more complex, take more time to learn to execute to perfection, etc. because they most certainly do! But, when all the comparison of player personnel is over and what it takes to play on each side of the ball, the defense always got prime consideration on any team I ever coached. WHY? Simply because you can have the most high powered, high scoring offense going, yet if you can't stop the other team from scoring you are in a heap of trouble.
Just my opinion as always.

Coach Easton-TIGER ONE

THANKS BILL, US OLD GUYS HAVE TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS. I DO MY DEAD LEVEL BEST TO KEEP UP WITH CHANGES IN THE GAME, JUST AS YOU DO I'M SURE, BUT SOME FACETS OF THIS GAME WILL NEVER NEED CHANGING, THIS BEING ONE OF THEM. I DIGEST EVERYTHING THAT THE YOUNGER COACHES WRITE HERE ON THE FORUM, FINDING POSTS THAT RANGE FROM THE RIDICULOUS TO THE SUBLIME! SOME TRY TO SOUND AS THOUGH THEY ARE VINCE LOMBARDI AND HAVE NOT EVEN COACHED A SINGLE GAME AS A HEAD COACH YET, WHILE OTHERS ARE JUST AS HUMBLE AND SINCERELY TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO GET BETTER EVERY DAY. I TRY NEVER TO OFFER ANY ADVICE THAT I HAVE NOT USED MYSELF SOMEWHERE AT SOMETIME ALONG THE WAY AND FOUND IT TO BE SUCCESSFUL.

Jerry

Did you know Coach Bob Kitchen at Canisius? He was a fine young man, & got let go up there as "DC" because the defense wasn't producing.

Bob,

Here are the definitions of relegate:

a: to assign to a place of insignificance or of oblivion : put out of sight or mind b: to assign to an appropriate place or situation on the basis of classification or appraisal

I meant b not a. Sorry for not being clear.

Coach Easton,

Defense and offense are of exactly equal importance because the success of team A's defense is the inverse of the success (or lack thereof) of team B's offense. Whether you measure success by points scored/allowed, yards, turnovers etc. the success of the defense is the lack of success of the opposing team's offense and vice-versa. For example, if the Packers are playing the Bears, you cannot correctly say that the Bears' defense is more important that the Bears' offense without also saying that the Packers' offense is more important than the Packers' defense. It does not make sense to say that defense is more important for both teams. Therefore they are of equal importance. Maybe I am going wrong somewhere but I think that is correct.

As far as putting your better athletes on defense because of the relative importance of those defensive positions to the offensive positions, consider the tremendous relative importance of the quarterback. Obviously, the quarterback plays on the offense, so he brings up the average of the offensive players to equal the average of the defense. For example, Bud Wilkinson advised to select the QB first, then the entire defense, then the rest of the offense.



Jay,

Defense may be harder as you say (I think it is too) but it is not more important.

-Scott

Thanks Coach, you too.

Coaches,

I have read all the posts listed under this topic and I have come to realize that they (O vs. D) both could be of equal importance. I have seen some very good pros and cons given in defense of whatever a particular coach's philosophy may be and I think that it simply comes down to a comfort level. I, myself, am an offensive minded head coach with a defensive persona. What I mean by that statement is that I call my team's offense, have a DC that coordinates ST, and one other assistant that coaches O and D-lines. I chose offense because it was what I was a product of. When I developed my stance, I quickly would find myself trying to figure out how to defend what I ran on offense. I think all coaches do it at some point in time.

I know that I am fairly young in experience as it relates to coaching, but I was a coach on the field when I was playing high school and college ball. I knew that there was always Yen/Yang relationship with every aspect of football and coaching. From being a member of this forum, my knowledge has increased and increases everytime I do extended reading. I don't every thinik that you can learn enough in our craft because the game evolves and regresses on a constant basis.

Offense is wonderful. Defense is strategic, a good chess match so to say. They both can be proactive or reactive, as most things in life can be, but they coexist and both are necessary for any good program to reach a level of greatness. Special teams is a whole nother' animal. It can be the single most important thing in a game. I think that I once read that there are normally about three plays in a game that can sway its outcome, two of them are special teams related.

In concluding, I think that the importance of the three major aspects of the game can be listed in the order in which you feel gives you and your program its best chance at being successful.

Coach Mitch