Posted by: @coyote

We opened with a 13-7 win.  

1st half looked OK, not sharp, Offense put together 2 nice drives for scores.  Had a 3rd score called back on a hold waaaay behind the play.  
Defense held them to no 1st downs. Need to teach the kids when to stop blocking.   13-0 at half.

2nd half was a comedy of errors.  Offense - early holding call was followed up by jumping off-side on 4 of the next 5 attempted plays (4 different kids).  Put us deep in a hole.  Defense held, and offense promptly went out and got another holding call. One play a Guard went left on a sweep right, another, the TE forgot to go out into the pattern ... <sigh>  just one thing after another.  Whole half, we never got out past our 40. 

With just under 2 minutes left in the game they scored with help of 2 penalties, we got the ball and ran out the clock

Sometimes when we make a mistake, we try to over-compensate and make things worse.  Pretty much the story of our 2nd half.  

We need a good week of practice, our next two opponents are considered the teams to beat this yr, and to play each other in the championship game.   I like this team, but we've got our work cut out for us, to get ready for the next couple weeks. 

We fixed offsides by saying he came off too slow. Why bc if you tell at a kid who jumped they're slower the next play out the gate.  Another great note from Michael. Kid knows he messed up move on.  Might help. 

Glad you had a good first week.

Posted by: @bucksweep58

Posted by: @coyote

We opened with a 13-7 win.  

1st half looked OK, not sharp, Offense put together 2 nice drives for scores.  Had a 3rd score called back on a hold waaaay behind the play.  
Defense held them to no 1st downs. Need to teach the kids when to stop blocking.   13-0 at half.

2nd half was a comedy of errors.  Offense - early holding call was followed up by jumping off-side on 4 of the next 5 attempted plays (4 different kids).  Put us deep in a hole.  Defense held, and offense promptly went out and got another holding call. One play a Guard went left on a sweep right, another, the TE forgot to go out into the pattern ... <sigh>  just one thing after another.  Whole half, we never got out past our 40. 

With just under 2 minutes left in the game they scored with help of 2 penalties, we got the ball and ran out the clock

Sometimes when we make a mistake, we try to over-compensate and make things worse.  Pretty much the story of our 2nd half.  

We need a good week of practice, our next two opponents are considered the teams to beat this yr, and to play each other in the championship game.   I like this team, but we've got our work cut out for us, to get ready for the next couple weeks. 

We fixed offsides by saying he came off too slow. Why bc if you tell at a kid who jumped they're slower the next play out the gate.  Another great note from Michael. Kid knows he messed up move on.  Might help.

I wish he were around to explain this.  Is it in archives?  You tell them not to go offside, they slow down, so if you tell them they were too slow, they...?

Posted by: @bob-goodman

Posted by: @bucksweep58

Posted by: @coyote

We opened with a 13-7 win.  

1st half looked OK, not sharp, Offense put together 2 nice drives for scores.  Had a 3rd score called back on a hold waaaay behind the play.  
Defense held them to no 1st downs. Need to teach the kids when to stop blocking.   13-0 at half.

2nd half was a comedy of errors.  Offense - early holding call was followed up by jumping off-side on 4 of the next 5 attempted plays (4 different kids).  Put us deep in a hole.  Defense held, and offense promptly went out and got another holding call. One play a Guard went left on a sweep right, another, the TE forgot to go out into the pattern ... <sigh>  just one thing after another.  Whole half, we never got out past our 40. 

With just under 2 minutes left in the game they scored with help of 2 penalties, we got the ball and ran out the clock

Sometimes when we make a mistake, we try to over-compensate and make things worse.  Pretty much the story of our 2nd half.  

We need a good week of practice, our next two opponents are considered the teams to beat this yr, and to play each other in the championship game.   I like this team, but we've got our work cut out for us, to get ready for the next couple weeks. 

We fixed offsides by saying he came off too slow. Why bc if you tell at a kid who jumped they're slower the next play out the gate.  Another great note from Michael. Kid knows he messed up move on.  Might help.

I wish he were around to explain this.  Is it in archives?  You tell them not to go offside, they slow down, so if you tell them they were too slow, they...?

Fire off faster next time, just reverse psychology. 

You never tell a kid he missed a block, you tellem how to make the block. You don't tell him to stay off sides you demand he fire off faster the next snap or he was too slow when he jumped off sides. Always be coaching, telling a kid he made a mistake is redundant the whole world know he messed up. Make him better.

We had our second scrimmage yesterday. Round robin 4 team event.  It was exciting to see some new players become a little less tentative. My 2^nd year players running KB were destroying the offenses. We are the B team. We were scrimmaging A teams. Its pretty cool to see our kids grown in size and confidence.  

I was on the sideline during defense as I am trying to teach my MLB to make the calls. Parents of the team we were scrimmaging were amazed at our kids discipline, as they were running a double wing. They could not get outside. They could not get their dive play working, because we were switching up the slant calls. They could not get us to react to their doubles formations. My kids just pointed at who they had and ran base D .

Ah its great to be back.

Week 2

26-0

It was a disappointing win. They were not ready to play. Dad coach on the other side yelling at his players out of frustration. Defense is doing well. Getting firsts years some time. Getting linemen moved around. MLB learning how to call our defense and getting players lined up. Offense is ok. Its nowhere close to the Defensive level. Defense has become a source of team pride. Running game is reliable. Passing game seems amazing in practice but in games execution is pretty poor. It has everything to do with the QB's feet......but that is not my problem :).

Funniest ref moment. " Coach you can’t look at their teams offense from behind! How would you like it if they did that to you?" My sideline ref " That has to be the stupidest thing I have heard in 20 years. Will you just let this be? I am sure you guys will be just fine" The back judge who chastise me flagged us 9 times. Not one of them were a false start, or offsides. It was face masks and illegal man down field -twice- on draw running plays, defensive holding on my tackles?.

Scrimmage from Wednesday:

So our rival town asked us for a scrimmage. I was pumped because they usually have some good teams. I asked him if they could throw and he said “Oh yea we can sling it”. Sweet we could really use some live fire passing. Also our O could use a test or two up front.  We show up and get after it. O is first and we move the ball pretty well. 10 plays we go 60 yards. They were more earned yards. Line had to block better and give more effort. Defense was stout. We did not give up a yard. TFL and edge play was good. We had 2 picks in their first series. The rest of the night they gave us a good effort vs O. We had to work for yards, unless it was passing and then it was a TD or big gainer. They had a big kid on D who was pretty good. He started getting thru the A gap. He did it twice against a big 1^st year. I asked my brother if I could address the team in the huddle. Just told them football success has a lot to do with desire. The desire to do hard things, things that may be “ouchy” at first. Told the big kid in the huddle – I know you can block that big kid if you really desire to do it. That big defensive kid never got in again. The rest of the night D took it too them. We did not give up a yard on the ground. They did get a pass over my FS for a 13 yard completion. He is tiny but a fast downhill tackler.  Good night of work put in, but again still not a challenge for my boys.

Posted by: @rjbthor

Funniest ref moment. " Coach you can’t look at their teams offense from behind! How would you like it if they did that to you?" My sideline ref " That has to be the stupidest thing I have heard in 20 years. Will you just let this be? I am sure you guys will be just fine" The back judge who chastise me flagged us 9 times. Not one of them were a false start, or offsides. It was face masks and illegal man down field -twice- on draw running plays, defensive holding on my tackles?.

That's one aspect of coaching that I don't miss, and it's dealing with those insecure, arrogant, god-complexed idiots.  I can recall a similar conversation with a ref, telling him: "Anything we do to them, we are glad to have them try against us."  Of course, we practiced that way, so even if our opponent did try to do to us what we were already doing to them, we'd already dealt with it at practice.

--Dave

Another brutal game - 46-0.

Refs were fine. Team we played was poor. My MLB ripped the ball out of the hands of their RB ( thanks DP for whos Ball) on their first offensive play. He took it down to the 1. By half it was 28-0. Defense had 2 picks on 2 pass attempts. 2 ripped stipped take aways. total yards given up on D had to be negative 30-40.

At least this week we get to play a team that is undefeated.

Posted by: @rjbthor

Another brutal game - 46-0.

--Wow.  That is brutal.  What I hate about games like that is that our kids get bored, and parents (on both sides) get mouthy.  It also doesn't prepare you for a good opponent.

My MLB ripped the ball out of the hands of their RB ( thanks DP for whos Ball) on their first offensive play.

--You're welcome.

At least this week we get to play a team that is undefeated.

--Have a good week of prep.  Sounds like you're going to need it after Saturday's game.

--Dave

Just had our cener tell us he wont be at the game tomorrow! Family went to the lake. Do I punish the kid for parents not respecting the team? I dont think so but you have to set your standards.

Posted by: @rjbthor

Just had our cener tell us he wont be at the game tomorrow! Family went to the lake. Do I punish the kid for parents not respecting the team? I dont think so but you have to set your standards.

In my pre season Parent handout...if you are going to miss a game then I need to know a week prior so I can prepare to replace your son's position for one game. 

If you are a no show or tell me less than a week prior then your son is benched the following game but must attend. Emergencies excluded of course. 

I had to do this once. Mom was not happy  and dropped so many F bombs at the game the refs had her removed. 

Her son played for us another 3 years and I ended up doing a ton of architectural work for her husband.

Rules are rules. At the end of the day the parents respect them and you for enforcing them. 

If you dont have a policy in place....best get busy tonight and move on. 

Posted by: @rjbthor

Just had our cener tell us he wont be at the game tomorrow! Family went to the lake. Do I punish the kid for parents not respecting the team? I dont think so but you have to set your standards.

Whether the player is sick or the family goes on vacation, the result is the same: he isn't in attendance.  And as such, it's your responsibility to have a backup prepared.  As for punishments(?), no way.  Parents have other stuff scheduled.  Sometimes it's been scheduled for months.  Kid doesn't determine when he goes on vacation.  Regardless, that's why it's your responsibility to have the backup ready to go.  This was the #1 reason for starting the Sunday Night Phone Call years ago.  These sort of surprises were eliminated because every Sunday night we talked about the next week's game.  In addition, at the Parent Meeting I asked for their calendar of dates that they had conflicts with.  I'm also asking them about their vacation dates, birthdays, other sport tryouts, etc.

--Dave

Gents - I get you both. Here is the background to provide context.

Monday - "Hey coaches, Have a second? "Sure" Hey we are going to go on a family vacation this week, but dont worry we will have Johnny back in time for the game. Is that a problem. " Yes it is a problem as we only have one center." Dont worry he will be back in time for the game. "(HC) Ok".

Wednesday - "Thanks for being great coaches" See you Saturday.

Friday at noon - "Hey we aren't going to make it to the game Its 6 hour round trip, sorry for the inconvenience."

Yes parent meeting was had. Rules established. My HC was so pissed.  We just put our center from last year in and we will be more athletic for it. He told me we will just make Johnny a 10 play kid. 

This is clearly a case of a parent who has a a close relationship with our HC and abused it. We should have had a backup ready, but alas we are all imperfect.

Posted by: @rjbthor

He told me we will just make Johnny a 10 play kid. 

--Because his parents didn't get Johnny back in time?  Wow.  And what if Johnny's your best Center?  

"Do I punish the kid for parents not respecting the team?"  

--Y'know, this is really such a ridiculous question.  How does a coach "punish parents" anyway?  Gonna make 'em run laps?  

This is clearly a case of a parent who has a a close relationship with our HC and abused it. We should have had a backup ready, but alas we are all imperfect.

--It's not about being "imperfect."  It doesn't take some sort of advanced coaching skillset to know you need backups ESPECIALLY at positions like Center or QB.  Stuff happens. What if he'd planned on playing but was sick?  What if he was playing in the game and was injured?  When I coached youth ball, 90% of the time we participated without 100% attendance from our players.  And whether we knew about it in advance, or had no idea why Johnny missed the game, we had a backup.  That's just common coaching football sense.  

--Of greater concern to me is how you're looking to handle it.  "Should we punish the parents?"  "From now on Johnny's a 10-play kid."  "Clearly the parents are abusing their relationship with the header."  I'll suggest that you read what you've posted a few more times and think about whether you're overreacting.  By all means, have whatever parent/player rules you want, but you're taking one situation that's should be simple and easy to handle and are contemplating making it worse.  Poor Johnny..."That'll teach him for going on vacation!"

--Dave

Posted by: @coachdp

Posted by: @rjbthor

--  How does a coach "punish parents" anyway?  Gonna make 'em run laps?  

 

Yes. I am a simple man, but before Mahonz retires, I want to see a parent or parents run a lap for something they did or didn't do. Sending a kid to practice on a 100 degree day without water during a pandemic that prohibits sharing of water. Yes. Take a lap.