Changes occur during the course of a football season. Sometimes things happen to our staff and we have to be prepared to handle them. Change may or may not be ideal, but how we handle it as coaches and leaders shows our athletes how they will handle change as they grow and mature in their lives.
[View the story “Mid-Season Evaluation” on Storify]…
As coaches we are all educators of students. As much as we want to teach them about football, we must also provide support for them in the classroom. I am a firm believer in the student first – athlete second philosophy and I strive to provide resources to help them experience success in school as much as on the field.
Each week we prepare our team for the upcoming opponent. This chat discusses the different tendencies we look for, how we organize the scout team, and the reports we prepare for our players.
What drives your players? Why do they play? Why do they want to be part of the team? Finding these motivating factors for your athletes can help you teach them how to respond during the game and how to go after their goals. Jared Wood provided a great chat last night with methods of reaching and building better relationships with our students and athletes. I am motivated to begin using what I learned today!
How do you attack a defense? Let me count the ways….It is important to have flexibility in your offense in order to take advantage of defensive alignments, personnel match-ups, go faster, go slower, and adapt to whatever kinds of athletes or game plan you need.
A team can learn a lot from what happens in the first game of the season. The time we spend correcting mistakes and making adjustments can result in tremendous benefits to the team and the season. It could be a change in the depth chart, inserting more competition in practice, or discovering what your team does best and focusing on that. We should always be evaluating in order to give our athletes our best so that they can show us theirs.
Coach Aych was a fantastic host last night as he fielded questions and discussed his offensive philosophy regarding RPOs and Play Action concepts. Having access to a college coach and coaches from all over during the season gives us the opportunity to continue to learn and update our coaching style while we are in season.
Setting the tone early in the season is important. Many teams use their non-district schedule to prepare for and build momentum entering their district games and hopefully a deep playoff run.
We spend more time with our athletes in practice than we do with them during the rest of the week. This is the most important time we have with them as we prepare for each opponent. What you do in practice is what you will see in the games. We have all started practice by now and are getting back in the routine of “doing what we do”. I challenge you try something different this year to help your athletes become the best they can be. Good luck!