It's That Time of Year

All across the country, women’s teams are gearing up for the 2014 season. I’m seeing tryout announcements all over the place, and some teams are holding preliminary practices.

There’s also a camp coming up down in Austin, Texas. I understand there’s going to be some pretty good coaches there, and I understand the appeal of playing and learning with other talented players from across the country.

Unfortunately, sometimes reality jumps up and slaps us all in the face. Usually that is in the form of finances. So let’s say you’re a team or a group of players that desperately wants to get better this year – what are the costs involved in doing so?

See below for a group of 6 players to attend a camp, versus the cost for me to come to you:

Expense	For 6 players	Me
Air Fare	6 x $400 = $2,400	$400
Hotel	2 nights, 2 rooms @ $80 each = $320	1 room @ $80 = $160
Camp Cost	6 @ $100 each = $600	$200
Food	On own	2 meals/day @ $15 each = $60
Players coached	6	Potentially entire team
Total Cost	$3,320	$820
Cost per player	$553	$137 for 6 – could be much less if more players involved
Coaching	Generic (lowest common denominator)	Specific to your team/scheme/terminology

Obviously costs can vary, but I tried to compare apples to apples.

My men’s season is over now, and the only two dates the Surge has tied up are December 1 and December 15 for informational meetings. We don’t even have tryouts until January. I would suggest that if you want to put something together, now is the time to get it scheduled. That will give us both plenty of time to work together to establish what exactly you want to accomplish and how we will do it.

I look forward to hearing from you – now back to football talk!

Staying Multiple on Offense

There is a lot of talk, mostly among coaches and commentators, about “staying multiple” on offense. Usually this is in regards to whether or not a particular offense is complex (when coaches are talking about it) or predictable (when commentators are). Sometimes those meanings overlap, but let me give you my opinion on the issue.

For me and many of the coaches I’ve learned from, offensive multiplicity usually doesn’t come from a whole lot of different plays, it comes from different “looks” presented to the defense. Here is how I define a “look” (you may do it differently, and that’s fine): Let’s say you have one play, whether it is run or pass – we’ll call it “Weave”. You run Weave out of six different formations, and from three of those formations you can run it with a motion. To me, that is nine different looks for a defense to digest.

Think about it….if you have (as we normally do) 8 different base formations, left and right, that’s 16 looks (for your #1, base, “go-to” play). From three of those formations, you run a motion, and in four other formations, you run another (again, both left and right). That is 30 different looks, when you combine what the defense sees pre-snap and reacts to post-snap. But it’s only ONE play for you as an offense. Think of the teaching advantage you have over a defense!

Mike Leach, in his book “Swing Your Sword” said, “If you want to screw with a defense, do it with formations, not with plays.” Multiple formations require a defense to align correctly every time or risk exposing a gap or mismatch.

As I said, we normally have 8 base formations. We also have tag words that can change each one into an unbalanced look, a wing look, or change the back alignment. Now, not every play goes well with every formation and certainly not every tag word. But the plays that we run the most, that we rely on the most, are most definitely run out of the most looks. In Week One a couple of years ago, I went into the game being able to give the defense 180 different looks. Considering we ran about 75 plays, that may be considered overkill, but you never know what will come up as the matchup you’re looking for.

The other consideration is practice time. Let’s say you have your inside zone play that is your #1 go-to play. Your game plan calls for that play to be run 20 times a game. So you’ll want to practice, over time, that play out of as many different looks as you can. Then you also have a play-action pass off of that inside zone play. Well, you have to ask yourself, “How many times am I going to call that in a game?” Three times? Four? So maybe you only run that play action out of two or three formations. The point is, even if you are multiple, you still have to be efficient.

One other way to increase looks is by your pass route structure. We have two different types of pass route structure – one is based on alignment, i.e., “the outside receiver does this and the inside receiver does that”. The other method is by position. This concept was brought in to us by Dan Tovar who coached our women’s team in 2007, and I’ve kept it in my offense ever since. I’ll break down one play to serve as an example: on Sizzle, we have the following assignments:

A – cross with Y @ 3-5 yards
Y – cross with A @ 5-7 yards
X – post
Z – 8-10 yard dig
B – get to flat, depending on alignment (could start from backfield, slot or already wide)

So no matter what formation we are in, when we call Sizzle, those assignments stay the same.  Of course, Sizzle works better with some formations than others – probably 4 of them, and then really well when we add in a B motion. But again – the point is that we’ve learned one play and the defense not only has to align against four different looks and a motion, but then react to what appears to them to be 4 entirely different plays.

In summary, “staying multiple” really isn’t as hard as it sounds. Heck, if you’ve learned anything from me in this blog, I hope that it is that *nothing* about offense has to be all that complex. It all happens on the front end, in your planning stages as an offensive staff. 

Making In-Game Adjustments with the Offensive Line

This week I thought I’d respond to one of the requests for topics that have come in since I started. By the way, in a little over a month we've had almost 700 page views – thank you very much! I’m not sure who picked up the blog, but about 10 days ago all of a sudden I had over 100 views that day alone! It is all very humbling, and I hope that all of you are getting something out of it. OK – back to football.

In my experience, in-game adjustments with the OL (including TE, FB, wing type players) are very subtle. Rarely, if your scheme is sound to begin with, do you have to drastically overhaul what you’re doing in the middle of the game.

Usually, the “adjustment” is really more of a “reminder”. For example, I tell my guys all the time about taking “smart splits” – if you know you've gotta double with someone, then go ahead and shorten that split down a little. Or, if your DE will stay outside you no matter what, then if we’re running off tackle, maybe split out another 6” or so to widen that hole. So the guys will come off after a series and tell me they’re having trouble with one of those types of blocks, and the first thing I’ll ask them is, “have you changed your splits?”

Sometimes the adjustment has to do with a particular player. Maybe a defensive tackle is better than expected and is giving my center or guard a real problem in pass pro. In a case like that, you could slide the protection towards the DT. Or if you’re blocking man, tell the center to set towards the DT. If you’re blocking man against a true NG (never a good idea, by the way), then you can give him some help by having the guard to his snap-hand side come down.

On the perimeter, lots of times the adjustment has to do with the exchange of assignments. A common one would be on a lead play, where initially the tackle blocks a DE and the FB leads up on the LB. Maybe that LB is playing too close to the LOS and is very aggressive, consistently meeting the FB in the backfield. A simple adjustment would be to exchange the assignments – have the tackle gap block the LB and let the FB kick out the DE.

Sometimes on tosses you can do the same thing – switch the slot’s block with the tackle’s block. Maybe the combination of a wide DE and an aggressive slot defender is giving both your players a problem. Maybe the slot isn’t a great blocker, but he can come down and crack the DE “just long enough” to get the play outside. And then your tackle can physically handle that aggressive slot defender.

The moral here is to look for easy fixes, to get you through the game. The easier (simpler) the fix, the easier it will be for your guys to remember it and execute it . Who knows? Maybe the in-game adjustment you make will be the new way to get it done!

Coordinating an Offense - Part 3

The last two weeks I've talked about your terminology and how it can impact your players’ reaction times and efficiency when it comes to running either an up-tempo offense all the time, or just when you are in a hurry-up situation. This week I’d like to touch on the nuts and bolts of actually installing an offense.

I believe that when installing an offense, you have to work backwards from your first game. You generally know when that is, and since you also know when your first practice is, you can create an installation calendar listing each practice. This literal calendar can be an invaluable aid in keeping you organized and on top of the progress your offense makes.

Prior to creating your installation calendar, you and the rest of the offensive staff should have a discussion regarding the philosophical direction of the offense. Make sure you’re all on the same page (including the head coach, if s/he’s not part of the offensive staff) as far as what your expectations are in both personnel and scheme.

I think it is important to note that no matter what your own personal philosophy of offense is, you may need to alter it to suit your players’ abilities. I can remember my first year as an offensive coordinator, in 1999. I’d taken over a men’s semi-pro team and had come straight from the high school ranks. I thought that the West Coast style of offense the high school ran would be fine for a bunch of grown men. I was wrong! Fortunately, it didn't take me very long to realize it, and we were able to make the switch over to an option-based system with drastically simplified line rules.

Once you decide on the direction of the offense, then you need to establish what your “go-to” play will be – what play will you use to set the tone for a game? That should be the first play you install, the first one you run during your very first team session. In past years for me, it has been the inside zone run, the outside zone run, the counter, a four verticals pass and a fly sweep. Each of those, depending on the team, was the “go-to” play for the year. The team knew, and had confidence in, those plays and knew that when the going got tough, they could execute that play and have a better-than-normal chance at success.

After that, after setting the tone, then you need to work the rest of your offense in. I normally group the plays by concept, so that the progression flows for everyone, and they can see, understand and retain the plays better. For example, in the pass game, if you start with your 4 Vertical concept, then install all the variants off of that. One year, my four vertical was called “Roadrunner” and then we had “Coyote” and “Acme” off of that, so those plays were installed right after Roadrunner. I would try to avoid installing more than one concept per practice.

Same thing for your run game – if you start with the inside zone, then install all of your variants of that before going to your counter gap concept plays.

Make sure that when you’re installing your base offense that you run them from all of your formations, unless you specifically decide not to run a particular play from a formation. That’s OK – there may be a perfectly fine reason to not pair a formation with a play. But 90% of the time, you should be able to run your base plays from all your formations.

I use a “ready list” spreadsheet to keep me on track. I start out with a Master – usually one from a previous year, when you have every play, every formation and every variant listed. Then I make a new sheet (tab) and mark it for the first practice – eliminating 95% of the Master. Then for each successive practice, I add to it what will be new for that practice. I normally pass those out to my QB and let them know that they are responsible for knowing assignment and formation for everyone else (maybe not the OL in the run game, but they should know the pass pro basics and the overall concept of the run plays). Obviously, not all the play/formation combinations on a ready list will make it to a team practice script, but the practice scripts are made from the ready list.

I’d be happy to send you a sample of what I’m talking about – just hit me up in the comments, on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or via e-mail.

That should get you started down the right path!

Coordinating an Offense - Part 2

Note: Please remember that this is a blog to start a discussion, not a book on how to completely do something. This topic was getting lengthy!

Last week I talked about formation terminology and a couple of ideas to make it more efficient for you. This week I want to talk about your play call terminology.

The first thing that I believe in is that under no circumstances should you have one set of terminology for your “regular” tempo plays and then another set for your 2-minute drill. With the popularity of no-huddle offenses now, this point may be moot for many of you, but not everyone has jumped on that bandwagon for any number of reasons. Coordinating and practicing a no-huddle offense would take an entirely separate set of posts, so for now I’ll address teams that utilize a more traditional tempo.

“Back in the day” the normal play call terminology was something along the lines of “32 Lead” or “23 Power” for a run play and “612 Z Go” for a pass play. Even numbers to the right, odd numbers to the left.[1] That was the norm, and the way almost everyone did it. That style of terminology still has merit – it is easy to remember and can help inexperienced players. However, it does make things more difficult for you if you either need to audible or run a no-huddle offense in the last two minutes of a half or game. You can’t very well call out “32 Lead” on the line of scrimmage and not expect the defense to know exactly what you’re talking about. So instead you come up with a coded system that is only for your “hurry up” package. This results in two inefficiencies: you limit what you can run in your hurry up package, and you have to set aside practice time to practice under that set of terminology.

The challenge then, is to come up with a system that your players can remember and your opponents cannot decipher. These fall under two groups: A numeric system, or a code word system.

In a numeric system, you use numbers (obviously) almost exclusively. The best one that I’ve run across in my 23 years of coaching was used by Homer Smith, one of the most brilliant coaches in my opinion, who ever lived. It was used at Fountain Valley High when I was there and became second nature to the players after awhile. In a nutshell, a typical play call would be, “Doubles, 11-2” – in this case, it is [Formation], [Play] [Direction]. The number is pronounced as “Eleven two”, not “one twelve”. At FVHS (and UCLA, where Smith coached), the first number, if odd, was a run and if even was a pass. The second number was the direction of the play if a run, or the route combination if a pass. If it was a pass, the first number denoted the pass protection used. A typical pass play may have been “Spread, 4-22” ([Formation], [Protection] [Route combination]).

This system is very flexible, but does take some getting used to. Of course, I can always explain it in detail if asked.

The “in vogue” terminology today uses code words to denote plays. In this system, seemingly random words are used to denote plays and direction. A sample would be, “Doubles North Bob”. In this example, Doubles is the formation, North denotes the direction and Bob is the play. With this particular team, the use of any direction (north, east, south or west) meant the play was to the left. If it were just “Doubles Bob”, then the play was to the right. Other teams use hot (left) and cold (right) and then others may use a single code word to denote left, with nothing meaning by default to the right.

There are almost limitless ways to use this type of system. One team I know uses cities and states for run or pass. Other teams use team/city combinations (i.e., “Oakland” or “Raiders”) either for plays themselves or play AND direction – Oakland would be a specific play to the left, Raiders would be the same play to the right. Still others may use cars (“Chevy” and “Camaro”, or “Honda” and “Civic”).

As with organizing your formations so that your players can remember them, the same type of care must be put into the plays themselves – even more so, because you will have more plays and variations than you do formations.

Next week, we’ll look at how to actually install an offense.

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[1] I once had a head coach I worked for use even numbers to the left and odd numbers to the right, solely because everyone else did it the opposite way. I’ve worked under a lot of systems, but I never got those plays right!

Coordinating an Offense - Part 1

When most people talk about an Offensive Coordinator, they think of the guy who calls the plays. While in many cases that is true, in other cases it is not. Several Head Coaches have assumed the playcalling role, but still have an OC. This post will look at the more unglamorous, yet vitally important roles played by the OC.

Terminology – you could be the best playcaller in the universe, but if your players can’t remember the plays, they aren’t going to work. This is often a function of the terminology employed by the team. The best terminology evokes a visual stimulus by the player that tells him what to do or where to line up. For example, a three wide receiver formation may best be remembered by a term such as “Trips”, “Trey” or “Trio”, rather than a term such as “Purple” or “Jacks”.

In my previous post, I talked about a pre-snap checklist for offensive linemen. When talking about everyone else (and in some cases the OL as well), the thought process could be “Alignment-Assignment-Technique”. Those first two items shouldn’t be thought about too much – the player needs to know immediately where s/he lines up and what their assignment is. All they should really have to think about is which technique they’re going to use to defeat the defensive picture they’re given.

In addition, there should be some sort of logical sequence to where specific players align in formations. No matter if the players are labeled by number or letter (R, X, Y, Z, H, etc.) the movement between formations should be kept to a minimum. For example, let’s say you’ve got a 2x2 formation, we’ll call it Doubles. Your receivers (forget about the RB for the moment) are aligned left to right as X, Z, (ball) Y, B. When you move to a 3x1 set, that alignment should look something like: X, Z, B, (ball) Y. What you would NOT want to do is do something like B, Y, X, (ball) Z. Some of you might be laughing right now because of the “duh” factor, but I wouldn’t be writing about this if I hadn’t seen it in action.

Something else to keep in mind is the shortening of your playcall verbiage however possible. One example would be the elimination of the word “right”. When you call your formations, tell your players early on that unless you specifically say “left” in your call, the formation is assumed to be to the right. Same thing with your plays themselves.

Designing terminology in an efficient manner takes some thought on the coordinator’s part – both in the terms themselves and in the teaching aspect. When I install my offense, I have a specific sequence of formations I go in so that the players can see how they segue from one to another and it makes sense for them. The thought that you put in pre-installation will be paid back times ten in increased response time from your players.

Next week we’ll look at terminology for the plays themselves.