Question for all?

Coach,

This is a problem that a lot of teams run into after having success. There can be several different factors that lead to it. One is that they start winning and start believing everyone who tells them how good they are and get lazy on technique. In this case, go back to basics. Run practices the way you did when you were first implimenting the schemes. Start right at the very beginning. Possibly go all the way back to how to get intoa three point stance and the proper way to take a handoff or how to tackle. This is a way to show the team what is going wrong without preaching. It's backtracking to refresh thier memories. As for the infighting and finger pointing, it sounds like you are at a program that has a history of losing. The program has a culture of losing. All the team knows is losing and doesn't know how to react to winning. During thier success they may have just been waiting for the bad to happen all over again, and when it did, they reverted back to thier old bad habits. Working with the school administration to get the student body behind the team and getting them to believe that the team is different and is a winner is a step in the right direction for changing the culture. Motivating them out of the finger pointing also goes back to basics. You may want to hold a team get together. Have them over for pizza and a movie night the night before a game. Pick a good inspirational football movie. Remember the Titans is a great one. After the movie is over and before you send them all home, give them a little talk about pulling togehter and remembering how it felt to win. Keep them happy and together. I hope I have given you something to work with. Good luck the rest of the way.