2 practices down. We had a coaches meeting last week and decided to go from 4 days at 1.5 hours to 3 days at 2 hours, then decided to go 4 days at 2 hours until games start, then drop to 3 days. Too much eval and install early on for 90 minutes. Once we are in the thick of it and the machine is running itself (and we lose a half hour of daylight), I'll drop to 90 minutes.
Mahonz is running the defense and he was out day 1 and day 2 for a family event. He gave us the 46 Facemelter manual and a list of eval drills. On day 1, I was a little frustrated that his 2 defensive coaches were unprepared. I anticipated this and was ready to run things. I really don't want to be involved in the defense this year. Then when Mahonz shared his manuscript manual, I responded with a couple dozen questions. Crickets from the other 2 defensive coaches. I then realized that I have to back off. If I'm engaged with the defense, his other 2 coaches will step back and we absolutely can't have that. After day 1, I decided not to be frustrated and instead look for a positive way forward.
On Day 2, I quickly explained the eval drills and what they are looking for, then turned them loose. They did their thing.
We have 3 rookies, one of whom fractured his arm while tackling a square dummy on Day 1. Freak accident. Landed on his elbow. He'll get a cast on Friday and that will hopefully come off in a month. The other two (one is a 5th grade girl) are learning what Mojo means. Our returning players have a lot of "dog" in them and it's carried over from our last game (D2 championship).
At the end of Day 1, I made my annual promise that I won't yell this year. That lasted 21 hours and 45 minutes. During Tee Time on day 2, one of our talented, but "too cool for school" players really slacked off on a rep. Ball carrier was fighting for yards and 1 tackler had him wrapped and was driving him. "Joe Cool" was walking 3 yards behind with his hands on his hips". I completely lost my mind. There were 2 other teams practicing nearby and a bunch of little brothers/sisters playing, so the park was kind of noisy. After my tirade there was an eerie silence that lasted about 5 seconds and I swear I saw birds fly from a tree.
Day 3 is today. Mahonz will be back and will install the defense. I will install No Play, Toss, BB Counter and WB Counter.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Good ole face melter hahah.
I can explain it to you, I can't understand if for you.
1st week of practice down. Yesterday, installed No play, Toss, BB counter, WB Counter and a boot keep tag on the WB counter. Installed it with 2 groups, one being my projected starters and the other with projected backups and filled the gaps with defensive starters. Install was extremely smooth.
Mahonz got back from a family trip last night, but he was exhausted and his flight was a nightmare, so I gave him the night off. 😉. He suggested we scrimmage our "buddy team" so he could install the defense. He worked his magic in 15 minutes and we had a functioning 46 Facemelter. Defense acquitted themselves very well considering. LBs were a little hesitant, but hey, they were just given a crash course. Was very happy to see they are thinking. Once they can stop thinking and start reacting, I think they will be a force. Shut out the other team. I think they had 1 run of about 8 yards and were moving the ball alright early on. In their second possession, they were moving backwards. To be fair, they were missing a bunch of guys.
Offensively, we moved the ball well with Toss (3-4 yards a pop), but left a lot of yards on the field. Got to convince my wings to run vertically and tight to the wall. We talked it over and they are just not seeing a hole. Not a problem. We will get them there. They had a beast 2 tech who was following our pullers due to a lazy OT and a C who was getting upfield a bit forming the wall. Should be an easy fix. However, when we countered, we got a couple big gains including a TD. The 3rd grade header, our Wedge guru installed wedge in 15 seconds in the huddle (which we never do). First try was a fumble (haven't done any indys yet). Second was a TD. Mahonz asked if he could call a play, which turned out to be Wedge Flea Flicker. WB was wide open but fell down. QB got his hand hit as he threw and they got a pick 6. I'm keeping the play though. I think we decided to call it Wedgie Stupid.
Kids are breathing fire and are picking up the Mojo where we left off in last year's championship.
We are running fight club as part of our Mojo EDDs. It is working out VERY well, both the drill and the X man fit. I'm loving it.
Did COD tonight for 9 minutes (I think). On DP's suggestion, I got very particular and dropped several kids. They were NOT happy. 4 practices before our jamboree, but feeling zero pressure.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
1st week of practice down. Yesterday, installed No play, Toss, BB counter, WB Counter and a boot keep tag on the WB counter. Installed it with 2 groups, one being my projected starters and the other with projected backups and filled the gaps with defensive starters. Install was extremely smooth.
Mahonz got back from a family trip last night, but he was exhausted and his flight was a nightmare, so I gave him the night off. 😉. He suggested we scrimmage our "buddy team" so he could install the defense. He worked his magic in 15 minutes and we had a functioning 46 Facemelter. Defense acquitted themselves very well considering. LBs were a little hesitant, but hey, they were just given a crash course. Was very happy to see they are thinking. Once they can stop thinking and start reacting, I think they will be a force. Shut out the other team. I think they had 1 run of about 8 yards and were moving the ball alright early on. In their second possession, they were moving backwards. To be fair, they were missing a bunch of guys.
Offensively, we moved the ball well with Toss (3-4 yards a pop), but left a lot of yards on the field. Got to convince my wings to run vertically and tight to the wall. We talked it over and they are just not seeing a hole. Not a problem. We will get them there. They had a beast 2 tech who was following our pullers due to a lazy OT and a C who was getting upfield a bit forming the wall. Should be an easy fix. However, when we countered, we got a couple big gains including a TD. The 3rd grade header, our Wedge guru installed wedge in 15 seconds in the huddle (which we never do). First try was a fumble (haven't done any indys yet). Second was a TD. Mahonz asked if he could call a play, which turned out to be Wedge Flea Flicker. WB was wide open but fell down. QB got his hand hit as he threw and they got a pick 6. I'm keeping the play though. I think we decided to call it Wedgie Stupid.
Kids are breathing fire and are picking up the Mojo where we left off in last year's championship.
We are running fight club as part of our Mojo EDDs. It is working out VERY well, both the drill and the X man fit. I'm loving it.
Did COD tonight for 9 minutes (I think). On DP's suggestion, I got very particular and dropped several kids. They were NOT happy. 4 practices before our jamboree, but feeling zero pressure.
I had fun and enjoyed your practice. Thanks for giving me a job. 👍
What is beautiful, lives forever.
Did COD tonight for 9 minutes (I think). On DP's suggestion, I got very particular and dropped several kids. They were NOT happy.
That's the point. Not only will they step it up next time, the other players will see that they can get sent out. Did you send them out at the time you saw them "slacking?"
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
Did COD tonight for 9 minutes (I think). On DP's suggestion, I got very particular and dropped several kids. They were NOT happy.
That's the point. Not only will they step it up next time, the other players will see that they can get sent out. Did you send them out at the time you saw them "slacking?"
--Dave
Yes. I feel like it drove the point home that there is a standard of effort that MUST be met on every drill, every rep, every play, every game.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Did COD tonight for 9 minutes (I think). On DP's suggestion, I got very particular and dropped several kids. They were NOT happy.
That's the point. Not only will they step it up next time, the other players will see that they can get sent out. Did you send them out at the time you saw them "slacking?"
--Dave
Yes. I feel like it drove the point home that there is a standard of effort that MUST be met on every drill, every rep, every play, every game.
Posts like this have me super excited to start the season setting the culture properly with COD. One week left before I can finally get started with a 12U team of almost all unknowns to me (redraft league).
Monday night is an off night for the 6th graders, which meant I spent 90 minutes with the 3rd graders. Another new coach is questioning everything openly. Header was pretty mad about it. Really testy and he's never like that.
Start of practice is "easy ups". Running routes and (not) catching passes. AC: So we're not stretching, Coach? HC: No. we'll do easy ups and get their blood flowing. AC grabs his own son by the facemask (???), pulls him aside and loudly announced, "YOU'RE STRETCHING!"
Next is form tackling. HC wants to teach the same Hawk Tackling (near foot, near shoulder) tackling that I teach. AC is teaching the opposite. When I correct him, "You want the had behind the runner?" Me: "Yes, I do, but more importantly, HC wants head behind the runner." Is it possible for eye rolls to be loud?
Next, we are installing Beast Blast. I teach the pulling guard his crossover step. First rep, he runs about 3/4 speed and is in the way. AC: "See, they'll never get there." I ignore him and tell the G, "That was about a 6 out of 10 speed wise". Can you give me 10?". Next play, he turns the corner, gets vertical and leads the RB for about 15 yards. I put in the next group and while I'm working with one of the blocking backs, I hear, "You're first step has to be like this." I look over and see him teaching the lawnmower. I said, "No, Coach. It's a crossover." AC: "A Crossover???" as if I said, "First step is a triple gainer". I replied, "Yes. A crossover. Non-negotiable. It's not that important in Beast, but is critical in the double wing and I'm not teaching 2 different steps for 2 different formations." He walked away shaking his head in mid sentence.
Later, I overheard him talking to the header, "This stuff is just really new to me. I'm trying to understand it, but when they get to high school, they will have to 'unlearn' everything." Did I mention these are 3rd graders? I made up my mind to ignore the guy from here on out.
For the first day of pads practice, they did extremely well. For 3rd graders, they did extremely well. Beast is going to be . . . well . . . a beast. Finished with COD, which HC calls "Wolf's Den of Champions". I wore myself out, but found 2 kids who were matching my energy and we had ourselves a good old time. Tapped half the team. They did NOT look happy.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
This stuff is just really new to me. I'm trying to understand it,
Not being there, I can't say much, but it doesn't sound like he's trying very hard.
The two best H.S. coaches I've worked under both took the approach, if you don't like the way we do things, take your kid and start your own team.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Monday night is an off night for the 6th graders, which meant I spent 90 minutes with the 3rd graders. Another new coach is questioning everything openly. Header was pretty mad about it. Really testy and he's never like that.
Start of practice is "easy ups". Running routes and (not) catching passes. AC: So we're not stretching, Coach? HC: No. we'll do easy ups and get their blood flowing. AC grabs his own son by the facemask (???), pulls him aside and loudly announced, "YOU'RE STRETCHING!"
Next is form tackling. HC wants to teach the same Hawk Tackling (near foot, near shoulder) tackling that I teach. AC is teaching the opposite. When I correct him, "You want the had behind the runner?" Me: "Yes, I do, but more importantly, HC wants head behind the runner." Is it possible for eye rolls to be loud?
Next, we are installing Beast Blast. I teach the pulling guard his crossover step. First rep, he runs about 3/4 speed and is in the way. AC: "See, they'll never get there." I ignore him and tell the G, "That was about a 6 out of 10 speed wise". Can you give me 10?". Next play, he turns the corner, gets vertical and leads the RB for about 15 yards. I put in the next group and while I'm working with one of the blocking backs, I hear, "You're first step has to be like this." I look over and see him teaching the lawnmower. I said, "No, Coach. It's a crossover." AC: "A Crossover???" as if I said, "First step is a triple gainer". I replied, "Yes. A crossover. Non-negotiable. It's not that important in Beast, but is critical in the double wing and I'm not teaching 2 different steps for 2 different formations." He walked away shaking his head in mid sentence.
Later, I overheard him talking to the header, "This stuff is just really new to me. I'm trying to understand it, but when they get to high school, they will have to 'unlearn' everything." Did I mention these are 3rd graders? I made up my mind to ignore the guy from here on out.
For the first day of pads practice, they did extremely well. For 3rd graders, they did extremely well. Beast is going to be . . . well . . . a beast. Finished with COD, which HC calls "Wolf's Den of Champions". I wore myself out, but found 2 kids who were matching my energy and we had ourselves a good old time. Tapped half the team. They did NOT look happy.
This guy is going to ruin your season
What is beautiful, lives forever.
Yeah, if it was my show, he'd be gone. He was all smiles and great energy in the coach meeting. There's another coach who is much worse, but he only comes to practice once per week. He'd be gone too. It's just noise to me. I choose to ignore him.
I started studying the DW in 2007. I couldn't tell you how many hours I put into that, but if you knew me from the old DW forum, you'd know I put in the work. Ran it for a couple of seasons with Kent, putting more and more hours into it. Always questioning, fine tuning, perfecting and sometimes innovating. Brought that mindset to Mahonz and the mega splits, and used what I could from the DW. Used my knowledge of power offense to help design and implement defenses. Worked my tail off this off-season to run the DW with my 6th graders, then shifted to my buddy and helped him design his DW attack for 3rd grade. Went over all of the decision points and decided on the scheme, techniques and details that go into this extremely complex, yet extremely simple offense. Wrote 2 playbooks because my ACs and my buddy's ACs are insisting on them and I HATE playbooks. Stayed up until midnight the other night writing a TKO manual. Why on earth would anyone need a TKO manual? But okay, ACs are thirsty for knowledge, so I'll write one. Then these two clowns show up, snap a few chin straps and 5 seconds into explaining the drill or station, "Why are you doing it that way? In HS, we did it this way." without even bothering to open the attachment, let alone read it.
I would be fine with getting a phone call or email at night, or even right before practice, "Hey Coach, on page 22, you say that the puller must take a crossover step. Why is that?". Then, I'd be happy to clarify. Not start a debate from ground zero with someone who is 100% ignorant of why we are doing what we're doing. But showing up completely unprepared and being surprised that a couple of coaches who have worked together for 7 years are doing things differently than you've done them? Not even worth talking about.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Are you still a mega split beast or the standard?
I can explain it to you, I can't understand if for you.
Are you still a mega split beast or the standard?
Foot to foot.
Last season, we accordioned a lot. We had tight, regular and mega. At some point, I added TKO and we found out pretty quickly that TKO doesn't work as well (for us) with regular splits and doesn't work at all (for us) in mega. As we started really dominating defensive fronts, I ended up going TKO most of the time and therefore stayed in foot to foot splits. Then, I watched Troy beat a really good team 4 yards at a time and realized I need to get back to DTDW. So here I am. Beast Blast to me is simply DW toss dressed up a little.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Focused on the new "tweak" to gator roll during our warmups. Worked very well. Used "look up his nose" with both my guys and the 3rd graders. Worked like a charm. Tee-time was so impressive that I cut it short. Kids were killing it. Installed KO and KR with limited kids. I think we had 15 last night. Everyone's on vacation. Tis the season.
Cleaned up toss last night. We had a few medium to high issues from our previous scrimmage. Took care of those. Reviewed our counters and wedge. Installed a call to run the reverse with wedge blocking (normal reverse is blocked like a sweep). I think it will be a killer. Installed sweep and reverse. Wasn't sure if my backside guard could be a factor in sweep. I have one who is very big and has limited speed and some of my WBs are pretty fast. Turns out, he was a big factor. Man, I forgot how good Monster sweep looks.
"H" from last year's "Mojo chronicles" skipped practice without an explanation last night. He is the only player on this team who is not bringing it, including 3 rookies, one of which is a 5th grade girl. On last week's scrimmage film, I caught him avoiding contact again and was pretty pissed. I hatched a plan to deal with him one way or another. After I calmed down a little, I decided to give it some time. Maybe he's just confused this early in the season. I also was honest with myself that I was bringing baggage from prior seasons into the equation.
Last year, on the last play of a half, we needed a score from 30 yards out. We had practiced our fan pass pro all week, so should have been fine. H was playing right tackle and his assignment was a 5 technique. Instead of taking the 5, he double teamed with the guard on a 2 tech. QB was demolished. I was pissed at my OC and OL coach for this, but kept it to myself. I was watching film in detail about a month ago and saw this play again. Something wasn't right. This kid is too smart to no know his assigment. So I asked my nephew, the G on that play, "Does H ever block the wrong guy on purposed beause he's afraid of his guy?" his response: "All the time, Uncle. He's always asking me to trade guys or trade positions." Okay . . . First practice of the season, I talked to H about that play. He remembered it. I asked him if he blocked the wrong guy on purpose to avoid the 5 tech. He nodded and said "Yes, Coach." I asked if he realized that he got Mihai (the QB) destroyed. He just stared at me. I explained that this is 100% unacceptable. He promised he wouldn't do it again.
Tuesday , in Tee Time, he was back pedalling when he had the ball and doing this "kitten paws" thing when it was his time to tackle. I caught him back pedalling (I circulate through all the stations to get a look at everyone) and made him go again. He back pedaled again. That was it for me. I pulled him out of the drill and about 20 yards from the team. I told him to take off his helmet because I was going to execute my plan. I told him his bar for himself is knee high. Everyone else's is over their head. I said,
"You are far too satisfied with this level of effort, despite being in your 5th year on this team. Every season, I and usually at least one other coach needs to make you a special project to convince you to match your teammate's effort and that simply isn't fair. So first, I need to know why you are here. Why are you here?"
He said, "I want to play football"
I replied, "I don't believe you because I haven't seen you play football once since I've known you despite thousands of opportunities. So here's my deal for you. If you want to be better, I will give it one more chance to make you better. You will not like it and neither will I, but you will understand effort before we are done. Or (and I'm fine with this), I say 'heck with it. This is the best I will ever get from him' and give up on you. If we go that route, you will get the league minum of 10 plays per game and again, I'm fine with that."
He said he wanted to be better and I said, "Good. Get back in the drill". He went back to the drill (they'd moved on to fight club) and he must have thought I said "Pillow Fight Club". So I tore into him quite a bit before the drill session was over. Throughout the day, as I saw his effort lacking, I just reminded him that if he's going to be here, then effort is non-negotiable. 100% or 0%.
He did not come to practice yesterday. No call. No email, which is very unusual for his mom. Last season, when I had a similar talk with him around Day 1, he no showed for a day. When he came back, Mom was with him explaining that "H doesn't love football anymore and that's really unusual for him". I explained to her that I had to put my foot in his butt and he probably didn't like it. The gap between this kid and his teammates is profound this year. I have put more time, sweat and energy into this kid than any other kid I've ever coached by a long shot. I am done. I would be relieved if he didn't come back and THAT is very unusual for ME. And yes, knowing that a year ago he allowed a teammate to get steamrolled by a kid twice his size for the sake of his own comfort and self-preservation is a factor.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
For anyone questioning your tactics with this kid I will add that you have stood by him far longer than I would have.
This kid is so disappointing that it actually effects his Brothers on the team. He is also one of largest kids on the field on any given Saturday and is incredibly powerful we he decides to be ....which is hardly ever.
He does not love football. He loves the uniform. He is a waste of practice time. Harsh but true.
What is beautiful, lives forever.
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