Mike,
We all know that coaches don't just forget how to coach. I don't know what happened but I know its not that y'all just, all of a sudden, "forgot how to coach".

**Wing-n-it smacks Mike**...... SNAP OUT OF IT!!

To that point, I think it is very possible for coaches to "forget how to coach".  When you have had success for a number of years and it was with a really good group of kids that totally bought in and you were with them for an extended period of time, it can be hard to then "start over" with a new group.  Coaches can forget where they actually started with the previous group and just start expecting the new, younger, less experienced group to just behave and perform the same way.

Not saying that has happened here, but I was in that kind of situation and it can be tough to reboot things, so to speak, and start back at square one.

LOL....really bad loss.

I got the Staff together yesterday. Bye week. 7 practices before our next opponent that is average at best.

All current systems to the shredder.  Revamp of the positions coaching. Total reboot on philosophy. Its going to be tough but necessary.

This team is a mess but VERY fixable.  Not sure how we got so far out in the weeds but we did. All of us are smart enough to recognize it and fix it.

THIS is the Mike we all know,.....

In my best John Belushi voice
"It aint over till we say its over.... Was it over when the Germans bombed pearl harbor?,...... It wasn't over then and it aint over now!!."

If any coaching staff can scrap and reboot after a few games its y'all.

In my best John Belushi voice
"It aint over till we say its over.... Was it over when the Germans bombed pearl harbor?,...... It wasn't over then and it aint over now!!."

Germans?

—Forget it, he’s rolling.

—Dave

To that point, I think it is very possible for coaches to "forget how to coach".  When you have had success for a number of years and it was with a really good group of kids that totally bought in and you were with them for an extended period of time, it can be hard to then "start over" with a new group.  Coaches can forget where they actually started with the previous group and just start expecting the new, younger, less experienced group to just behave and perform the same way.

Not saying that has happened here, but I was in that kind of situation and it can be tough to reboot things, so to speak, and start back at square one.

This is me and my season in a nutshell.

Germans?

—Forget it, he’s rolling.

—Dave

I was going to put that in there.

This way is better

To that point, I think it is very possible for coaches to "forget how to coach".  When you have had success for a number of years and it was with a really good group of kids that totally bought in and you were with them for an extended period of time, it can be hard to then "start over" with a new group.  Coaches can forget where they actually started with the previous group and just start expecting the new, younger, less experienced group to just behave and perform the same way.

That's a very valid point.  Dunno if that's reflective of Mike's situation, but I've seen it with guys who "move up with their team" and have primarily the same group every year.  While their job gets easier, they can become lazier.  I am thankful that in my 12 years as a youth header, I only "moved up" with my team twice.  In 2002-2003, we went from Mitey-Mites to Jr. PeeWees and from 2006-2007 we went from Jr. PeeWees to PeeWees.  The other 10 years, it was like starting from scratch all over again.  This taught me which core fundamentals were the most important to me, as well as how to become more efficient with my time.  It taught me about working with those who were a blank slate and how much easier they were to coach, than players who'd come to me from another team.  When you have that same group, year after year, it can save you time because there's a lot you may not have to reteach, but when you get that new team, you're in for a shock.  The total reboot is the way to go.

--Dave

/whispers/ maybe just run the Wing T as it’s intended to be run? Not that it fixes everything, but it’s much easier to fix things and make adjustments when there’s a million recourses to pull from. 

And did I read you guys aren’t filming? And why are you running through banners? Only allowed to do that extra crap when you’re a machine. Whenever we go to a scrimmage or jamboree & the other team has some elaborate warmup routine or fancy bullshit going on, I know we’re gonna kick their ass. It means they were practicing stuff that has nothing to do w/ winning football games. When we suck, every second is dedicated to stuff that helps us win football games. Banners & BS like that is just another thing to take our focus off the game.

Last game our opponent wanted us to go to the endzone & run out while our players names were announced. I just ignored it & sent our boys to the sideline to focus on the task at hand. Then our opponent ran through their stupid tunnel w/ smoke & banners & bs, only to get their ass kicked. lol

Last game our opponent wanted us to go to the endzone & run out while our players names were announced. I just ignored it & sent our boys to the sideline to focus on the task at hand. Then our opponent ran through their stupid tunnel w/ smoke & banners & bs, only to get their ass kicked.

^ This.

—Dave

/whispers/ maybe just run the Wing T as it’s intended to be run?

—Don’t whisper it, Jake.  Yell it.

And did I read you guys aren’t filming?

—Wait....what?

—Dave

To that point, I think it is very possible for coaches to "forget how to coach".  When you have had success for a number of years and it was with a really good group of kids that totally bought in and you were with them for an extended period of time, it can be hard to then "start over" with a new group.  Coaches can forget where they actually started with the previous group and just start expecting the new, younger, less experienced group to just behave and perform the same way.

Not saying that has happened here, but I was in that kind of situation and it can be tough to reboot things, so to speak, and start back at square one.

Its a valid point.

Half this Staff just did this in a row.... Fall 8th grade. Champs. Spring 8th grade. Champs. Fall second grade. Playoffs. Spring 9th grade. Champs. Currently Fall 3rd grade with a ton of new players.

We are the blind leading the dumb right now.

/whispers/ maybe just run the Wing T as it’s intended to be run? Not that it fixes everything, but it’s much easier to fix things and make adjustments when there’s a million recourses to pull from. 

And did I read you guys aren’t filming? And why are you running through banners? Only allowed to do that extra crap when you’re a machine. Whenever we go to a scrimmage or jamboree & the other team has some elaborate warmup routine or fancy bullshit going on, I know we’re gonna kick their ass. It means they were practicing stuff that has nothing to do w/ winning football games. When we suck, every second is dedicated to stuff that helps us win football games. Banners & BS like that is just another thing to take our focus off the game.

Last game our opponent wanted us to go to the endzone & run out while our players names were announced. I just ignored it & sent our boys to the sideline to focus on the task at hand. Then our opponent ran through their stupid tunnel w/ smoke & banners & bs, only to get their ass kicked. lol

The hilarity is...we arent even good enough to run Wing T yet. All Beast....badly. Very badly.

Banners always. War paint always. Blood Sweat Outlaws always.  Promise Keepers. The Rope. Captains for Life. Our banners are designed each week specifically for out opponents. The pageantry of the game is just as important as the game itself. If I could figure out how to get a fog machine and some pyrotechnics going....I'd do it. Or an inflatable. I dont care how dogchit you are as a team....that stuff matters.

When I coached Pro Indoor Arena...one of the players would come the middle of the field and spew fire out of his mouth straight up in the air. Best entrance ever. Fans went nuts. Helps that it was indoors with the lights off sans the spot light.

Football is entertainment. Take that away from the game and its time to retire.

The hilarity is...we arent even good enough to run Wing T yet. All Beast....badly. Very badly.

Banners always. War paint always. Blood Sweat Outlaws always.  Promise Keepers. The Rope. Captains for Life. Our banners are designed each week specifically for out opponents. The pageantry of the game is just as important as the game itself. If I could figure out how to get a fog machine and some pyrotechnics going....I'd do it. Or an inflatable. I dont care how dogchit you are as a team....that stuff matters.

When I coached Pro Indoor Arena...one of the players would come the middle of the field and spew fire out of his mouth straight up in the air. Best entrance ever. Fans went nuts. Helps that it was indoors with the lights off sans the spot light.

Football is entertainment. Take that away from the game and its time to retire.

I agree football is entertainment. All the other stuff is just distraction. But I mean, if you can run belly for 5 yards no matter who the opponent or situation, then by all means, blow fire into your banners. But when you suck, or you aren’t where you should be, to me all the attention should be spent on getting where you need to be.

I’m fine w/ some pageantry that doesn’t take any time to think about or distract our players. Little intro music. Chants. Players want to do some chants they’re more than welcome to practice them before and after practice.

All I know is I see a lot of crappy teams that really nail the pageantry and rah rah stuff.

Also, that stuff should be earned. If you can’t execute a play correctly you’re not an “Outlaw.” Fly that banner when you got 25 Outlaws.

I agree football is entertainment. All the other stuff is just distraction. But I mean, if you can run belly for 5 yards no matter who the opponent or situation, then by all means, blow fire into your banners. But when you suck, or you aren’t where you should be, to me all the attention should be spent on getting where you need to be.

I’m fine w/ some pageantry that doesn’t take any time to think about or distract our players. Little intro music. Chants. Players want to do some chants they’re more than welcome to practice them before and after practice.

All I know is I see a lot of crappy teams that really nail the pageantry and rah rah stuff.

Also, that stuff should be earned. If you can’t execute a play correctly you’re not an “Outlaw.” Fly that banner when you got 25 Outlaws.

Ohhhhh you just gave me an idea.

A flaming banner !

Ohhhhh you just gave me an idea.

A flaming banner !

You gotta move to California for that!

I agree football is entertainment. All the other stuff is just distraction. But I mean, if you can run belly for 5 yards no matter who the opponent or situation, then by all means, blow fire into your banners. But when you suck, or you aren’t where you should be, to me all the attention should be spent on getting where you need to be.

I’m fine w/ some pageantry that doesn’t take any time to think about or distract our players. Little intro music. Chants. Players want to do some chants they’re more than welcome to practice them before and after practice.

All I know is I see a lot of crappy teams that really nail the pageantry and rah rah stuff.

Also, that stuff should be earned. If you can’t execute a play correctly you’re not an “Outlaw.” Fly that banner when you got 25 Outlaws.

We don't practice it, although after Friday, maybe we should. We spend zero time on it. It's all on me. It's something we've always done and something we'll always do and had NOTHING to do with the outcome of the game. Without it, we are just another football team and I go on to ride my motorcycle on weekends instead of coaching.

My brother in law is well meaning, but he had 2 jobs. 1) Hold the banner 2) Shut the F**k up. He screwed the pooch on #2. Most of us, when invited to take part in something we've never done before, sit quietly, watch and learn. I had the team breathing fire. I turned around to see if it was time. Another coach gave me the "bring them out" signal. As I turned around to do my thing, my brother in law yelled, "GO!!". I heard a whoosh of movement and when I turned to the spot where I once had 23 players, I saw empty grass. My wife said I sound like a pouty little girl, "I'M THE ONE WHO TELLS THEM TO GO!". If you're not part of what we do, you won't understand. I will not try and convince you. It's important to me, Mahonz, at least one other coach and 23 players, so I just ask that you respect that.

As far as forgetting how to coach? No. Just took a lot of things for granted. It's clear that many of our players don't care. We went through this last year. For half the season, we had a bunch of kids at recess. It took awhile for our method to take hold. This year, 11 out of 23 players are new to us. They are new to our particular brand of "crazy". Some of our returners have regressed to "recess mode". What makes it difficult is that many of them practice well. It's not until game day that I realize that they don't care. Then, a few days later, I see this apathy on film and realize how deep it goes.

Don't care about where to line up. Some can tell me where they're supposed to line up. Some can't. The ones that can decide to line up somewhere else. When asked why they line up, when asked why ANYTHING, they say, "I don't know". I even told them last week, that I no longer understand, "I don't know", but what I'm really hearing is "I don't care". Seemed to work. Had a GREAT week of practice.  So I don't know what makes me angrier. The kid who knows where he's supposed to line up, but has other ideas or the kid who has no idea despite being told a dozen times, being shown a dozen times and being physically moved a dozen times.

Don't care about their job. Some can tell me their job. Some can't. Same as the "where to line up" issue. The ball is snapped and a play starts that they have seen 20 times in scout and that they play to perfection 17 times. On game day, they do "whatever". I think part of it are parents who scream nothing but "get the ball". I really think that for some of them, the parents are getting through to them. But "Timmy, you get aggressive and get that ball" is bad advice to a back side cornerback. For the ones who can't tell me their job? I don't know. Maybe they know their job and just don't know how to talk to adults.

Some of the coaches who have kids on the team are telling us that "team comes first" is too complex a concept for many of them. They want to do what they want to do, right now. We have a blocking back that had a pretty good first half and a shitty 2nd half. It turns out that he was sulking because I took him off defense. It's not that he did anything wrong, but I had another kid who wasn't playing offense and I thought he was just as good. Wrong.

That brings me to me. I replaced the on-field coach because he couldn't handle the chaos. On my first play on the field, I had 2 OLBs on the same side of the field. I didn't catch that and they scored. So apparently, I am no better at handling the chaos. I asked the kid, "when do we ever have 2 OLBs on the same side of the field?" He replied, "never". So I asked him, "Why did you change sides?". "I don't know".

Back to me, or the coaches in general. The kid I subbed, who I thought was doing well. On film, he literally stood there while everyone else ran around him. It was like something you'd see in a movie where the director is trying to demonstrate the isolation that one character is feeling as he stands completely still as everyone else flows around him in fast motion. I didn't catch that either until I watched film. More importantly, his position coach didn't catch it either, or maybe he did and didn't think to mention it.

On the other TD we gave up, I had a kid in who I decided was done on defense, but gave him a second chance. He was the force defender and went too far up field on a reverse. Mahonz told me that the score was all on this kid. I was upset and made it about me and yelled at the kid. Really broke his little heart. Went back to film and on that side, he was the ONLY perimeter defender within 10 yards of doing his job. The OLB and Corner read "sweep away" and were on the far side of the C when the reverse exchange was made. So I owe that kid a huge apology and need to deal with the 2 kids who screwed up. Actually, just 1. The OLB doesn't have any BCR responsibility. As for the CB, it really doesn't f**king matter. He has watched zero seconds of HUDL to date and his dad is a seasoned coach.

To be honest, the only thing that kept me from walking away Friday night was not wanting to let Mahonz or the other coaches, or especially the kids down. I was simply not having fun. I did some yoga, rode my motorcycle and scouted our next opponent and started to feel a little better. I called Mahonz and he gave me the new plan. Last Spring was the first time anyone gave me Carte Blanche over one side of the ball and it went as well as anything can go. I had the same freedom this Fall, but with the pressure of "the first half of the season depends on the defense" hanging over my head. Giving up 80 to a team that should probably score 30 on you is tough, but not nearly as bad as giving up 2 scores and a PAT to a team who shouldn't get out of the backfield.

So now, we're following Mahonz' plan and I feel much better about it. It's not that I think his scheme is any better than mine, but it's just better if we're on the same page. It's much easier for me to follow his plan than for him to follow mine if that makes sense. It's certainly easier on me. I'm looking forward to getting back to practice. Tonight is an offense night and we're installing the 3rd grade version of Ted Seay's wild bunch. I looked at it for 45 seconds and saw that it makes sense. We simply cannot continue to shotgun snap. We'd have better luck finding a player on our team who can kick field goals than a decent snapper.

Wednesday is defense night and I'm prepared to burn an entire practice convincing them to care about where they line up. I have a plan and it is robotic. No emotion and unflinching. I have 3 kids who showed me that they do not care one shred about defense. They will not play until they convince me that they do. This means they will watch every one of their Hudl plays and tell me what they did wrong in each play. It will then be up to them to convince me that they care enough to fix it.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. It's been a rough few weeks. I wonder if it's normal to be bothered this much by 3rd grade football.