Weekly Staff Organization

Christopher Pace 
As coaches, I strongly believe we are educators at heart. We have the opportunity to impact and touch these young people's lives in such positive ways. My assistant coaches are held to highest standards and expectations. One's that I would want my own children to play for.



In football, I feel that all assistant coaches are truly head coaches at heart in the fact that they are responsible for developing their specific positions and/or roles on the staff and in the program. I break my assistant coaches into three roles.



1. Teacher



Coach’s responsibility to teach athletes the skills and strategies necessary to excel at the game and in life.

We must focus on proper techniques and fundamentals in all that we do and ensure players possess the knowledge of how to play the game properly.

2. Developer



Coach’s responsibility to aid in not only the physical but the social and psychological development of your players.

Develop players through modeling and instilling desirable qualities and behaviors.

3. Leader



Coach’s responsibility to prepare and coordinate an organized system/practice that establishes program goals and objectives and develops a plan of action to achieve those goals.

Provides appropriate role models from whom players can learn.

Create a safe and positive environment that will challenge players to reach their potential.

In addition to the roles we look for in all of our coaches, there are also coaching expectations we hold our coaches to day in and day out.



Be the best educator and coach that he can be.

Act as role models to all players both on and off the field.

Attend all offensive, defensive, special teams, and team meetings held throughout the season and offseason.

Attend all football related events held throughout the year.

Know the entire offensive and defensive schemes and game plans.

Enforce rules and hold players to program expectations at all times.

Be willing to devote his time to all phases of the program; practice, film sessions, scouting, strength & conditioning supervision, recruiting, etc.

Be on time!!!

Sell and defend the program at all times.

Be 100% committed to the program.

Love and care about players FIRST!

Finally when building a staff, we look for specific qualities in our coaches. Qualities that we believe will contribute to the growth of our programand our players.



Show commitment: Be committed to improving your players, coaches, and YOURSELF!!!

Exercise Discipline: Take control of every situation: establish clear expectations.

Be Models of Good Conduct: Be mindful of our actions: someone is watching at all times.

Display Intensity and Enthusiasm: Energy is contagious: players who are coached with it will play with it.

Be Honest: Trust is earned. Build trust with players and coaches through honesty.

Be Persistent: Persistent coaches produce persistent players.

Be Humble: We can all learn from each other; NO ONE is perfect.

Develop Players: Improving players both on and off the field starting with fundamentals will result in a successful program.

Voice Solutions, Not Complaints: There is always a way, it is your job to find it.

Coach With Pride: Take pride in all that you do and accomplish. Always remember the true reason why we coach.

When it comes to game planning, this is where I feel we really set our athletes and coaches up for success. It is arguably the most tedious and important aspect of being a coach. Depending on whom we are playing, we typically watch film together as a defensive unit. If it is an opponent that we have played before and have been successful against, we will watch film independently and come together to discuss. A coach must plan and script their practices accordingly in order to be successful on the field. Film has come along way since I was a player, and thankfully it can all be done digitally. We typically receive film from our opponent on Saturday and begin breaking it down. Our team uses Hudl, which is nice so that we as coaches can see what everyone else on the staff is seeing. It is also nice to share with our athletes what exactly we are talking about when it comes to the opposition's offense. We start watching film on Saturday, develop our notes to bring to the coaches meeting on Sunday or Monday. Delegations are set up each season as to what each coach's responsibilities are. "Be Prepared" is a motto that I learned very well in Boy Scouts, and it has carried me well through coaching. Do not come to the meeting empty-handed, and be prepared to communicate what your tasks were so that every coach can be on the same page. Our staff knows that if you see something, say something, the same thing we teach our athletes. We use Hudl to break down the plays through formation, down and distance, tendencies, run vs. pass percentages, field preferential, and time of possession. I want to know my opponent inside and out and put the best defense possible for that week on the field.





Staff Expectations are as follows:





DL- Blocking Schemes (what worked for them, what hurt them), Lineman tendencies (watch their rears & hands), Down and Distance tendencies, Roster





LB- Run vs. Pass Tendencies, Blitz Packages that worked and Hurt, Roster, Formations, Down and Distance, Special Teams





DB- Routes by formation, WR tells, WR packaged (depth chart), Roster.





DC- Breakdown of the entire opponents' offense, look for tendencies from the offensive backfield and line, observe offensive cadence, and develop a defensive scheme.





Once the defensive coaches meet after reviewing film, all information is shared, and a game plan is developed for the week. Our program is very fortunate to have several coaches on all three levels that help diagnose and dissect the film. One of our approaches is to plan for the worst and coach to the best. Meaning that we want to plan with our worst-case scenario but coach our athletes to be the best in each situation. We are not about being cocky in the situation but being comfortable within the chaos around us. As a coaching staff, we will put together a script of our opponents' offense to use during our practice. The more repetitions that we can get during the week, the better we are prepared for when it comes to game time. We have our JV coaches run the scout team offense with the scripted plays for our defense. As we progress through the week, modifications and applications will need to be made. The more we can fine-tune our defense, the better we will become game time. We can not be satisfied with complaisance; we have to be prepared for anything and everything that our opponents will give, show, and try to exploit us.



Scott