Looking Back at 300 - Part 3 Riding High

Entering the 1996 season with Fountain Valley, I finally felt like I had a clue as to what I was doing. I had my practice routines down, my drills were crisp, I knew what adjustments to make within our offense and my guys started knowing what I was going to say before I said it. In February, I had a definite game-changing experience: listening to Coach Mike Sherman (Texas A&M OL coach) present at a coaches’ clinic. He was SO organized, so meticulous and so thorough that I just felt like I had to know more. I went up to him after the presentation and let him know how much I enjoyed it. He simply said, “Well, why don’t you come out and visit this spring?” Fortunately, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Fountain Valley had a very accomplished Booster Club. That spring, my assistant OL coach went to Nebraska, our QB coach went to Colorado, our DC went to Washington and I ended up going to A&M.

When I walked into Coach Sherman’s office a few weeks later, he “assigned” me a GA, Jason, and told me he’d meet me for lunch. Jason took me down to the film room and asked me what games I’d like to see. I picked out a few, settled in and started taking notes. I then met with Coach for lunch, and we went over everything I saw that morning, and answered all my questions. Then we went into the OL position group meeting, and then out to practice. I was pretty much “in the huddle” for everything, and ghosted alongside Coach Sherman the entire time. After practice, I was invited to dinner with the entire staff. Head Coach RC Slocum was extremely gracious with his time. The next morning, I had breakfast, and then reported back to Jason, and the sequence repeated itself that way for five days.

For those who wonder why I’m still a very passionate fan of Texas A&M, that’s the reason. I fell in love with the place when I was there, and have been fortunate enough to make two more visits back for game days. It’s on my list to go to again, for sure. But more than that, the time spent with Coach Sherman really changed my way of coaching, especially in terms of organization. Those habits have stayed with me ever since, and I can’t thank Coach enough for taking the time he did with me.

Moving into the fall, I knew I had probably the best offensive line in Orange County, which was saying something considering the competition. The left tackle I talked about in 1994 was now a senior and ended up being 2^nd Team All State. I got a transfer right tackle in, who ended up being All County. My guards and center were solid enough that they too, received scholarships.

We beat the hell out of arch-rival Huntington Beach Edison, 35-12 and capped off the year by winning the Sunset League championship, beating Anaheim Esperanza High 29-22. Unfortunately, we ran into La Puente Bishop Amat in the playoffs, and their Notre Dame-bound receiver/returner Joey Geatherall. They ended up winning 32-26 as Geatherall returned both a punt and a kick for TD’s.

Going into 1997, I had to start over with my OL. I only had one returning guy who had a lot of playing time, and that was at left guard. They were all smaller, as well (with the exception of the LG). With that, I learned about another key part of playbook construction from Offensive Coordinator Hank Cochrane (who taught me so much over the years): Have a system in place so that even if your personnel changes, your plays don’t need to – just emphasize a different part of the playbook.

Our players in 1996 were set up for power. We ran a ton of I-Backs, straight ahead inside zone, Iso’s and Counters. Our passes were mostly straight dropbacks and play action. In 1997, the playcalls became more of the outside zone, speed option variety, and a lot of the pass plays were sprint-outs, which suited our changing player traits on the OL, as well as at QB and RB.

We managed another last-minute victory against Edison, winning 19-17. In the playoffs, we again experienced the downside of playing in the Southern Section. We faced mighty Long Beach Poly in the first round, and it wasn’t pretty. They probably had five or six guys faster than our fastest guy, and their four DL collectively outweighed my five OL by 100 pounds. The final was 40-9.

In 1998, my youngest son, Travis, was born and we moved the family back to San Diego in September. I became a “game night” coach for Fountain Valley that year, driving up for the games only – I couldn’t quite let myself give it up! The guys who were there were still “my guys”, at least in my mind. My assistant, Scott Wilford, took over for me and was an extremely capable coach in his own right. He ended up coaching at Saddleback College, so he obviously knew his stuff.

One of the early highlights that year was playing at Bloomington High School. They were coached by noted Double Wing guru Don Markham, and had been held under 30 points only two or three times in the 90’s. We added to that by beating them 35-26. Against Edison, we beat them for the fourth straight time, 42-28. “My” 4-1 record against them is something I’m still rather proud of – that’s just how much the rivalry means.

Unfortunately, by now you probably know how the season ends….by facing Santa Ana Mater Dei and a QB you may have heard of – Matt Leinart. We ended up losing 30-14, and that also ended up being Coach George Berg’s final game, as he retired soon thereafter. I was pretty sure after that season that it wouldn’t serve anyone to keep making the drive, but Coach Berg’s decision made it easy – my time at Fountain Valley was over.

It is safe to say that my time as a Baron was the most important period in my coaching development. I can’t even begin to list the things that Coaches Berg, Cochrane, O’Connell and Puga taught me. I will always be a fan of FV. Blue Pride!

Next Week: A different level.

A Look Back at 300 - Part 2 Learning to Swim

This is the second in a series of a look back at my first 300 games as a coach. You can read Part 1 here.

Last week I talked about my nerve-wracking initial days at Fountain Valley High (1994), from being thrown into a deep playbook with entirely new concepts, to actually being held accountable for knowing the same, was a new experience. Now, as always having been the self-aware type, as I mentioned last week, I knew I was the weak link as the Assistant OL Coach. The guy I reported directly to was Jim O’Connell, the OL Coach and DC. I like Jim – I like him a lot, “now”. Back then he scared the crap outta me. He’s a great coach, is an unbelievable technician, but he probably looked at me and thought, “I’m trusting my OL to this guy?” Fortunately, our relationship changed dramatically one day when we were talking about the offense and what I did or didn’t know about it. I flat out told him that he intimidated me, for whatever reason, or whoever’s fault, that’s just the way it was. He was truly taken aback I think, and that’s when our dialogue got a whole lot better.

Well, it turned out to be a good thing that I spoke up and opened the lines of communication, because towards the end of the summer session that year, Coach Berg pulled me aside. He said, “OK, you’re The Guy.” I asked him what he was talking about, and he said that Coach O’Connell had just taken the DC job at a brand new school in South Orange County, Aliso Viejo High. The Grand Plan of having me learn the offense and the realities of competing in one of the most competitive divisions of high school football in the country evaporated. As Coach Berg said, I was The Guy now.

I had a senior-heavy crew who were technically sound, if a bit undersized. However, they knew they knew more about the playbook than I did. Winning their trust was a season-long effort. Two games I vividly remember: Week 4, we were playing Anaheim Servite High. They are an all-boys Catholic school, and an extremely well-regarded program. They’d been in our league in the past, but had fallen down a little and got bumped down to Division V this year. They weren’t happy about it. We were the first former Sunset League team they played. Their Coach, the recently retired Larry Toner, ran an unusual flex defense that featured full-man slants, loops and twists. They held us to -27 yards rushing in a 21-7 victory. After the game Coach Toner sarcastically said, “I guess they’re right. We *don’t* belong in the Sunset League.” That comment really stung, and caused me to seriously re-evaluate my place in the coaching community. I got the chance to meet Coach Toner several times over the years I was at Fountain Valley, usually during a film exchange or something, and I love the guy. I’d gladly work for him, but that one hurt. Fortunately, we were able to bounce back the next week, beating up on Orange County #5 Huntington Beach Marina 35-0, and I felt a little better about myself.

One other thing – I learned what a rivalry truly was. Sure, there were “rivalry games” at both San Clemente (Dana Hills High) and at La Quinta (Fountain Valley Los Amigos High), but *nothing* like Fountain Valley vs Huntington Beach Edison! I can remember walking onto the campus at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning after a game and seeing dozens of volunteers already at work putting up banners that would eventually almost completely blanket the school. There were times in the past that they played this game at Anaheim Stadium, and drew crowds of 30,000. Unfortunately for us, we weren’t very good in ’04, and Edison was. They beat us “a whole lot to not very much.”

The second game I remember also gave me a life-long coaching lesson. It was Week 10, and we were sitting at 4-5, not going to the playoffs (but hey, after three consecutive years of 2-8, this was a bit of improvement). We were playing Anaheim Esperanza High who was coached by twin Orange County coaching legends – HC Gary Meek and DC Bill Pendleton. Coach Pendleton ran a form of the Bears’ 46 defense. As with Servite’s flex, this was the first time I’d seen the 46. I had a sophomore starting at LT. He would turn out to be a very talented player, but not as a sophomore. We gave up, I don’t know…maybe 8 sacks in the first half. It was ugly. We go in at half down by a bunch and I get my guys together and just started lighting into them – ripping them up one side and down the other. When I was done, my senior center, Bryan Erickson, looked up and said, “OK Coach – you’ve told us what is wrong. Now tell us how to fix it.” Quite honestly, I was taken aback by his calm, direct nature. And he was 100%, absolutely correct. All I was doing was yelling – I wasn’t coaching. I’ve lost contact with Bryan, but I thank him every so often for reminding me what is important.

Going into 1995, I started feeling a bit more comfortable in what I was doing. No longer were the concepts completely foreign, and I actually started “thinking” in the terminology. I had a full off-season with my guys in the weight room (yes, I once again took an active role in that), a full spring practice season, and a full summer camp experience. It’s amazing what can happen in a true year-around program. The seniors who were brought up under Coach O’Connell were gone and the guys who became leaders started believing in me. We formed a pretty tight bond.

Three games of note that year: Week 1 and Week 11 were against the same opponent – Los Angeles Loyola High School. We lost both of them. They ran the most vanilla 3-4 defense I’ve ever seen. Their roster wasn’t filled with future collegiate players, unless you count Ivy League guys – they were just solid high school players. But they made zero mistakes and missed few, if any, tackles. The game to remember though, was the Edison game. Edison has won five out of the last six meetings, and we were tired of it. We went out to a big 21-0 lead, and watched it waste away, eventually trailing 22-21. With 2:43 left, we started our drive. My right tackle, Travis Ault, gave up consecutive sacks. I had pressure to “get him out of there” but I knew he could do it. On 4^th and 24, we completed a “12-9 Deep Lock” for 25 yards. With only 19 seconds left, we hit one last completion in the end zone for the win. You can read the recap from the Loa Angeles Times here. It was a feeling unlike any other I’ve had playing or coaching football (to that point in time). Playing in front of 13,000 frenzied fans was a new, exciting thing. I wanted more!

Next week: Riding High

Looking Back at 300 - Part 1

This last week was my 300^th game as a coach. This journey started back in 1991 as an Assistant Offensive Line Coach for the San Clemente High School Tritons. I was very enthusiastic – my only problem then is that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Fortunately, by the end of that season I realized how much I didn’t know, and made some “course adjustments” that allowed me to keep going.

The first game that year was against the El Toro High School Chargers. I don’t remember much about the game itself, but we lost 28-7. That came to be a recurring theme that year, as we only beat San Diego Crawford High, and Garden Grove Santiago High in going 2-8. I did enjoy being the assistant coach for the powerlifting team though….we had some great kids there and I enjoyed hanging out with them in the weight room. For a lot of reasons though, the football program just wasn’t very good then. I’m happy to say they’re doing well now and every time I pass the school on my way north to Orange County or LA I always give it a glance and think about where it all started.

In 1992, my mentor at San Clemente, Offensive Coordinator Steve Castle, got hired as the Head Coach at Westminster La Quinta High School. He brought me along as the Offensive and Defensive Line Coach, and put me in charge of the strength program. The best thing that came out of that was the weight room itself. When we got there it was a dump. A friend of a friend happened to be the Strength Coach for the LA Rams, and he was getting rid of a bunch of equipment. We got benches, weights, leg presses, etc., all for $250. I went in there and cleaned the place up and just like at San Clemente, it became a place for the linemen to hang out. The skinny guys would work out right after school, while the linemen went home and did homework, then they came back and we worked out at night. The Powerlifting team ended up being pretty good – with usually only four guys competing, we took home medals in more than one meet. 

LQ’s only problem was a lack of participation in football. The kids we had were tough and willing, but there were too few of them. The baseball and basketball programs were both well-established and those coaches discouraged their players from playing anything else, so we were in a bind. In ’92 we went 2-8, with the highlight being in Week 1. QB Jason Gondringer threw a last-second TD against “big brother” Westminster High to pull out a 12-9 victory.

In 1993, a cross-country move cost LQ Coach Castle, and Coach Fred Valko came in. Steve was a spread guy – sort of on the leading edge of the time, and Coach Valko was more of an old-school power offense guy, so we lost some continuity. The constant was me, and I still wasn’t very good. In ’93 I only had to handle the OL, which was a good thing. That year we went 2-8 again and I started to think that was the norm…..

In February of 1994 I was at a coaching clinic (a habit started immediately after my first year) and was working at a booth for one of my biggest mentors (still to this day), Bill Williams of the Football Coaches Professional Growth Association (FCPGA). It was there that my coaching fortunes changed forever. Coach George Berg from nearby Fountain Valley High walked by and struck up a conversation with me. He ended up asking me to come by for an interview. Initially it sounded like I was going to be the JV OL coach, and honestly, I wasn’t interested in that (I was still somewhat in the “I didn’t know what I didn’t know” phase). Eventually though, I was told that I would also be the assistant varsity OL coach and would take over the following year as the current OL coach moved over to defense full-time. Now, mind you….La Quinta was Division IX at the time and was 2-8. Fountain Valley was Division I and coming off a 12-1 season. This was going to be a huge jump.

Fountain Valley was only about 1.5 miles away from La Quinta, but it might as well have been in a different state. Just in pure demographics from a football standpoint: LQ had 1200 students; FV had 2400-2500. LQ’s student population was 60% Vietnamese – the largest Vietnamese population in a high school outside of Saigon. FV’s population was 60% Caucasian. The Booster Club budget at LQ was right about $1,200 for the year. At FV, it was a staggering $75,000. I don’t think that LQ fielded a Freshman team – I think it was only Varsity and JV. Fountain Valley had two Freshman teams. It truly was a have vs a have-not situation.

Anyway, the big change for me was the accountability factor. In my previous schools, both the coaches I worked for didn’t demand a lot of the assistant coaches’ time. In a lot of cases, that may not have been a bad thing – looking back at it, whatever I was assigned to do those first couple of years, they probably would have had to re-do anyway. Within a couple of days of my hiring at FV, I was immersed in the playbook, and quite frankly, was drowning. I remember the QB Coach, Willy Puga (now a former HC himself), put me up “on the board” and asked me to walk him through our various pass protections versus different fronts. It wasn’t pretty, and it was emphasized rather strongly to me that I had to get this down.  FV had a large staff, and every one of them knew their stuff. I was easily the weakest coach there. It was definitely a sink-or-swim situation for me!

(Next week: Learning to Swim!)

Women's Recap & Off-season news

The two main women’s leagues wrapped up their season last weekend. As expected, the Utah Falconz dispatched the Minnesota Vixen 49-6 to win the IWFL league championship. I really do hope Utah and the WFA can work out whatever differences they have to get the Falconz in with the rest of the best teams in the country. If not, go ahead and pencil in the Falconz as 2017 league champs as well. And maybe 2018, 2019 and 2020.

OK, speaking of the WFA, fans were treated to another great National Championship game there. In a repeat of last year’s finale, the DC Divas came from behind to beat the Dallas Elite, 28-26. Dallas went up early 12-0 and at that time it looked like déjà vu of the regular season’s Week 2, where Dallas beat DC by 21. However, it is tough to beat a good team twice in the same year. When I was talking with one of my former players just before the game, I said I had no idea who would win. And it turned out to be a great game. I cannot congratulate the Divas enough – coming back after being down early is always a tremendous accomplishment, and I’m happy for my friends in the organization.

I also feel bad for my friends within the Elite. Back-to-back trips to the championship game in your first two years is a great feat (the Surge did it as well; losing to Boston in ’11, then beating Chicago in ’12) but in final games, it is absolutely gut-wrenching to watch it slip away.

The good news is that the Women’s Game is getting more and more press and exposure each year. A play from the Minnesota/New York playoff game even made the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 recently. Some American players are heading overseas the lend their expertise and leadership, and some coaches are going to, to help out national teams. The 2017 World Games might be interesting next year!

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Speaking of the off-season, as you may have thought, there is no RS Football Camp this year. With no player or coach base to start from, there wasn’t much reason to ask everyone to travel here. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities this fall/winter!

Coach Scott McCarron of the Seattle Majestics and I both attended one of LeCharles Bentley’s offensive line coaching seminars (unfortunately not at the same time – that would have been fun) this spring, and I owe him a trip since he came down to the RS Camp last year. We’ve talked briefly about maybe doing something up there this off-season, if for no other reason than to drill his OL in the new system and drills we picked up.

Additionally, I’m available for weekend trips anytime after November 19, until pretty much the 1^st of March. Whether you want your OL tuned up, whether you want to install a new offense, meet with your coaches, do a special teams clinic, or anything else you can think of, I’m game. As far as cost, it’s a lot cheaper for me to come to you and coach 30 people, than it is for 6 or 7 of your team to come to me. You could blend the cost into your team fees and barely have it register (about $25 per person for a group of 30, all inclusive, and assuming a plane trip).

Anyone that is interested, I’ll be happy to send my résumé and we can discuss exactly what you’re looking for. Everything is tailored to your team. Anything from just a nudge to get you over that “one last” opponent to getting your team of rookies ready to go, I can help.

What I’m even more excited about is the start of a weekly off-season Big Person camp. It’ll start either late December or right after New Years – I’m flexible on that. The goal is for “any” adult offensive lineman, male or female, to work solely on stance, body movement and biomechanics in a non-contact, learning environment. The cost will be “Free-99”. My main goal, of course, is to get my Nighthawk OL coached up and better than ever in stuff that I just don’t have time to teach during the season. The secondary goal is to get any and all female OL to a great level on the basics. More on that after the Nighthawk season is over.

Finally, the Nighthawks have a big game this weekend against the Riverside County Disciples. You’ll hear all about that next week!

Lessons Learned

As I mentioned last week, I was up at the Los Angeles (really Orange County) Glazier clinic on Saturday. As always, the best part for me was seeing guys that I used to coach with and against when I was in the high school ranks back in the 90’s. 

I was especially happy to see one of my former Fountain Valley players, Todd Gruca, still coaching. He took over for me (not right after I left, of course, but eventually) as the varsity OL coach for the Barons. Now he’s still coaching the freshman team and doing a great job with them. He was a kid that was just a real solid high school OL…..his size wasn’t going to get him to the next level, but his heart carried him further than he probably would have gone. I remember getting ready to play an extremely talented Anaheim Esparanza team that had a couple of D-I type DL on it. Todd’s guy was going to be 6-6, 275 Sean Jarne, who’d committed to Colorado. Todd was 5-10 and maybe 230 if he’d eaten a good lunch that day. I spent the weekend before in game prep trying to figure out who we were going to get those guys blocked with our guys. In the end, we decided to put them out there and let them do their thing. We lost, but it wasn’t because we didn’t have a running game or because Jarne and his guys got any sacks – they got zero on the night. Todd battled his butt off pretty much one-on-one and got the job done. I’ve always been very proud of him.

As far as what I got out of the clinic, there were about 6 or so pages of notes. Some of it was noting validation of what I was already doing, and some were tweaks to what I wanted to do. For example, I’ve got to put in a new pass protection this year because we’re doing a ton of empty set stuff. So a while ago I had an article from the OL coach at Nevada that detailed a five-man protection. Dave Christensen, last years’ OL coach at Texas A&M was also speaking on pass protection, and his out-of-the gate talk was on five-man protection. His concepts mirrored what the Nevada coach said about 95%. So now I feel a whole lot better about putting in that particular protection, you know? I guess it would’ve been one thing had this “rogue coach” from the Mountain West been the only guy doing it, but now to get validation of sorts from an SEC coach doing pretty much the same thing sealed the deal.

It was a great day!

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I also wanted to touch on a subject that we harp on players about, but not often as coaches ourselves: loyalty. I was reminded of this subject recently in a local coaches’ forum. A rather high-profile program here recently made an out-of-state hire as their HC. A couple of assistants posted their initial reactions after meeting with the HC, and to me, it didn’t seem like they were all that enthused. (NOTE: I did speak with one of those coaches privately, and he assured me that I simply misunderstood him. It was a good conversation, but if I hadn’t taken the time to inquire, my original impression would have stood.)

When you hear of coaches getting hired, whether as assistants or bosses, you often hear of the importance of loyalty within the staff. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t disagreements within the staff, or that assistants have to be “yes men” behind closed doors, but it does mean that you need to present a unified, enthusiastic front to the public. If the new coach is replacing a very popular and successful coach (as in my example above), it becomes even more critical to the overall success of the program that no one is longing for the “good old days” under Coach X.

Loyalty is important in business as well. Business guru Harvey Mackay wrote about several football coaches here (column) titled, “Getting fired can be a good thing” where he details in particular, the loyalty of Gary Kubiak.

Now, I happened to learn this lesson many years ago, after my first year coaching, in 1991. It’s not a story I tell often, because in looking back, my behavior was poor and frankly, inexcusable. So you get it once…..

The head coach I worked for in 1991 wasn’t very good. We went 2-8 in a talent-rich area. I wasn’t a very good position coach either, so on the field I did my part in our failure as well. The HC was also noted as somewhat of a strength and conditioning guru, but in all honesty when I started running the weight room, I got his guys stronger in a hurry. Suffice to say, he just wasn’t a good coach.

After the season, rumors were rampant that he was going to get fired (and he did). The guy who hired me was the OC, and we were old buddies, which is the only reason I got the job. He was one of the front-runners to take over the job and had a faction of parents in his corner. There were other groups of parents who wanted to go in an entirely different direction. It was a mess.

Anyway, my big mistake was in talking to a reporter. I got called out of the blue by a guy from the local paper. I was excited that he would want my opinion, and I was naïve in how the whole press thing worked. It was my first time in that situation and I blew it. The reporter asked me for my opinion of the HC, and I gave it. Unfortunately for me, it was published, word for word. It was a tight-knit community, and my quotes quickly made the rounds – quick even by 1991 standards!

Of course, I got a call from the HC. He ripped me up one side and down the other, and there was really nothing I could say – the best I could come up with was “I was misquoted”, but that was weak. My friend the OC and his buddies congratulated me for saying what I did….after all, it was the truth. But the DC, an older guy, took me aside and told me why exactly I screwed up. He explained why loyalty was so important, and with his explanation, I felt like crap. I knew that he (the DC) was right. I apologized to him on the spot.

By that time, the HC was ripping me in public as well, in various forums in Orange County. So I never apologized to him directly. In the end, he was out of the game even as an assistant within two years. Again, he just wasn’t very good. I’ve managed to stick around awhile and that lesson never left me. Even typing it now brings back some of the raw emotion I felt during that time.

The bottom line is this: argue, fight, scratch & claw with each other behind staff doors. But in the end, whatever your position is on the team, you likely have someone you report to, who gives you your marching orders. You either follow those orders, or you resign. Don’t drag the whole program down with you if you don’t agree. The players you coach, and maybe your future in the game, depend on you showing a united front as a program to the public and just as importantly, your opponents. Loyalty is important, maybe the most important trait head coaches look for when hiring.

Lessons learned……

New Year, New Action

I hope everyone had a great holiday season (realizing that some of you may still be in the middle of celebrating yours). After gorging on the buffet that is College Bowl Season (is there really any better time of year?) I’m ready to start getting down to the nitty-gritty of preparing for another season.

I left off in my last post referencing only a “men’s team” that I’m going to because at the time it wasn’t announced by the team itself yet. Now I can say that I’m with the San Diego Nighthawks. Our league is yet to be determined, but I’m confident that it will be a competitive one.

I’m beyond excited to get this thing going….I’ve been interviewing potential offensive assistant coaches, streamlining the playbook, reviewing film from last year and continuing to research ways to improve. One item that I picked up is a game planning system by Coach Keith Grabowski of The Coaches’ Edge (www.thecoachesedge.com). It is a spreadsheet system that allows you to plan out your practices, ensuring that you go into games with plays that you’ve actually practiced (quite a concept!). You put in your game plan, and it spits out practice scripts, wrist bands and call sheets. So far, I like it a lot. (Hey, if you buy it, or anything else on Coaches Edge, please refer them with my e-mail: kmring@gmail.com. I hear we get $10 coupons or something.)

In reviewing the film from last year, I think that some of the players weren’t aware they were being filmed, let alone that anyone was going to look at it! A lot of walking around, or stopping after an initial hit. That’s not going to cut it this year and I think we’ll have enough competition for spots that it will become painfully obvious to those who don’t put forth maximum effort how quickly they can be on the sidelines, resting, next to me.

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One of my other new ventures is taking on an individual high school offensive lineman for skill and technique development. It’s my first time in this non-team setting, so I’m very interested how it’ll play out. I met with him and his Dad this past weekend and I basically told them that they would be my guinea pigs – maybe that wasn’t the best angle to take, but I don’t know what else to tell them. I think they were expecting to get “sold” by me and I don’t even have a sales pitch. I just told them, “If you want to get better, I’ll help you get better.”

We’re going for half hour to 45 minute sessions. I think that’ll be plenty long enough – when you’re taking every rep, I think you’ll be pretty tired afterwards, even if my goal isn’t to kill you in a conditioning type of deal.

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On Sunday, the Surge is having their tryouts…..it’s gonna be really strange hearing about what went on, who showed up, etc. and not be a part of it. I will miss them.

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I can’t remember the last time I couldn’t think of an obvious frontrunner in the NFL. All three of who I think are the favorites (Carolina, New England and Arizona) looked extremely bad recently when faced with motivated opponents. I’ll tell you who I’m rooting for though: Arizona, followed by Seattle. Why you ask? Because of their coaches of course – that’s how I base all my non-Chargers rooting!

I recently saw the excellent “A Football Life” episode on Bruce Arians. Count me as a fan for sure. If you don’t know much about Coach Arians, I highly recommend it. You may become a fan as well. My Seahawks fandom isn’t because of Pete Carroll – he’s a good coach, and I do like him – but for my long time mentor, Pat Ruel. Pat is a great guy and I hope he can win another Lombardi Trophy.

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Who do you have in the college championship? I wasn’t sold on Clemson, but holy moly they looked good! However, I’m going to go with Alabama in a close one, just because of their previous big game experience, and I think that if you give Nick Saban enough time to prepare for you, you’re in trouble.

That’s all for now – have a great week!

Change in the Air

There is no doubt that this is one of the toughest blogs I’ve ever written. Last night I told my Surge OL that I wouldn’t be back with them this year. Previously, I’d told Coach Suggett. It’s been awhile since I’ve left a team that I had a great relationship with – probably 1993 when I left Westminster La Quinta for Fountain Valley. I loved the kids at La Quinta, it was just that Fountain Valley was such a great opportunity for me that I couldn’t “not” do it. The situation I’m in this year is similar….I can’t announce the new team yet (that will come out tomorrow or Friday), but it is a men’s team here in San Diego that is doing everything the right way. But more so than that, it has a culture already somewhat ingrained of a blue collar work ethic. These guys will put in the work to become great.

The best part of coaching is the relationships you forge, not only with your other coaches, but also with your players. I’m still friends with a couple of players from that 1993 La Quinta team. There are Surge players I’ve had the unique opportunity to coach a couple of for 5-10 years. I’ve watched them go from raw rookies to, in some cases, All American players. I’ve won multiple national championships with a couple. They mostly know what I’m going to say before I say it. Those are the types of relationships that you don’t leave without a lot of regret.

Plus, there are three second-year players that I’m really going to miss in their development. We had a great time last season bringing them along and I feel certain that a couple of them will end up being really good players. I’ll be watching from the stands, at the very least.

The Surge coaches and the good natured ribbing we indulged in will definitely be missed. When you’ve coached with someone as long as I have with Mike Suggett, Mike Vargas and Rashoud McCoy (on and off, mostly on, since 2003 for all of them) then you’re gonna miss them a bunch. Carrie Suggett, Andrea & Bill Grant and Will Harris are others that make the long days of practice bearable with their wit and humor.

This will in no way curtail my support for women’s football in general, or the Surge in particular. Nor do I see it as interfering with the RS Football Camp in November. I’ll be keeping an eye on what is happening around the league, and call it as I see it.

***

So, what exactly is the attraction of this new gig? Well, I wanted to see what would happen if I was “all in” with a men’s team from the very start.  The last time that happened was 2010, and we had a pretty decent season. We were definitely outmanned at a few spots on both sides of the ball, but overall it was a fun season. Once I saw the Surge come into existence (rising out of the old SoCal Scorpions who I was with from 2003-07), I knew that playing for national championships again was something I wanted to do. That opportunity is still there with the Surge, but the desire to better myself as an all-around coach was too much this time.

In this case we’ve got very solid ownership, a good coaching staff and a great group of players to choose from (yes, we will probably be cutting some people that would otherwise like to play). That’s a rare combination. So in order to give us the best chance of success with everything that is in place, I felt I needed to concentrate on only the guys as the OC. I’ve got some new assistant coaches to get up to speed on my offense, and I’m still in a post-mortem analysis of things in last year’s offense that can be changed to make things more streamlined. I alluded to the high I get when creating and nurturing an offense here, so those that know me shouldn’t be too shocked about this move.

We’re going to start coaches’ meetings in January, then start off season weekly OTA’s in March. Twice a week practices start in May, then first games in early July. Last year we only had 8 practices before our first game, this year I want to have 16 in addition to the OTA’s. I took last season’s opening loss very personally, and that kind of thing isn’t going to happen again. Plus, we’re playing in a much more competitive league….we’re going to have to be hitting on all cylinders to win the league, and if we do, it’ll mean something. Whether we’ll play for a national championship or not, I don’t know. Considering that there are over 600 men’s teams across the country, I’ll settle for recognition in the Top Twenty. Then we’ll win it all in 2017.

That’s what is new with me!

Identity Crisis

One of my very first posts was sort of a background piece on what my favorite offense is. You can read that here. What I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks is that some teams have lost their way, strayed away from what got them good. In particular, my favorite college team, Texas A&M, has really strayed….they’re almost unrecognizable from when Johnny Manziel was lighting up the scoreboards.

Certainly, differences in personnel have something to do with that. The Aggie’s QB’s are inexperienced (although so was Manziel) and both sometimes seem a bit lost. Also, it doesn’t appear that A&M’s list of NFL-ready OL is going to continue this year. Both the run blocking and absolutely the pass pro have taken steps backwards this year. But to go from a team who rivaled Baylor and Oregon in how fast they got plays off to one who almost seems like they want to milk the clock, and who went from a pure version of the Air Raid offense to some sort of “almost Auburn, but sort of something else” offense created nothing more than some mush. Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital is taking a lot of the heat (and rightly so – it’s his name on the offense), but I’m wondering if the off-season hire of Dave Christensen doesn’t have more to do with it. Coach Christensen was hired as the OL coach and run game coordinator, and it appears that the move away from Air Raid style play calling may be related to his influence. That’s not necessarily a knock on Coach Christensen either – he was hired to bring his experience in.

That extra influence gets to my point about an Identity Crisis…..you can’t have too many cooks in your offense. When I was at Fountain Valley High, there were some things we just weren’t going to do – it wasn’t in our DNA (or that of our OC). Right now, there are some things I would only do in an extreme situation – like line up under center in an I formation. That’s just not what I want to do.

My base offense these days is shotgun spread. We feature a zone and gap-based run game, some fly sweep, various screens and a complete drop back package, mostly out of one back sets. Now, within that base offense, I can tweak the playcalls to fit my personnel.  In 2012 with my men’s team, we had two absolute studs at RB, so I ran more two back sets than normal. But it was still out of the ‘gun, and we still had 3 WR (didn’t have much in the way of a TE). If my QB is a runner, then I add in more options for him to do so. But it doesn’t change the base offense!

If my OL is huge, then the zone game becomes more prevalent, while if they’re more mobile (read: smaller), then I use more of the gap schemes and perimeter game. Again, it doesn’t change who we are. If a player comes to me and says, “Hey Coach – why don’t we run this XYZ play?”, I’ll consider it, if there is a good way to work it into what we do already. I don’t want to stray too much from our identity, at least during the season.

The time to look outside for ideas is now. There’s stuff that I see from time to time that I really like. The first thing I do when I see something is write it down, in play diagram form. Then, I look at it to see if what is being done fits into existing terminology. If it does, then great – it goes into the playbook. If not, then I see if I can either a) tweak a piece of the play to fit into existing terms without losing what I liked about the play in the first place, or b) see if I can add a piece of terminology that can be used in future situations as well. If I can’t do either, then chances are I won’t keep the play. I really don’t want to add terminology if it is just going to be used in one play. (The exception is for trick plays – those can be one-offs.)

The coaching point to all this, is stay true to yourself. If you’re the coordinator, it’s your name out there. In Coach Spavital’s case, he’s probably going to get himself fired after this season. It’s OK to consider outside ideas, but you’ve ultimately got to do what you think is best for the team. Getting too far away from that slows down your thinking during a game, and probably (my guess only, as an entirely unqualified psychiatrist) means you don’t exude as much confidence in your game plan to your players as you normally would. That can start a death spiral that overcomes your offense.

Know yourself and be true to yourself.  

The Silly Season

One week after everyone sharing what they’re thankful for, many coaches have a little less to be thankful for – such as a job. Others have more to be thankful for – usually a better job. But we all tend to lose sight of the fact that coaching changes are hard on an awful lot of people. Rex Ryan had an interesting piece on that here – it’s worth a look.

And to think that it is only December 02, here’s a list already of all the head coaching jobs that have come open – jobs list. Crazy, huh? I mean, you’ve got a guy down in Georgia, Mark Richt, who all he does is go 9-3 pretty much every year, and he gets fired.

Now, I know that some people say, “Well, that’s what happens when you make a boatload of money – your job security is nil.” That’s true, and I know that everyone signs up for the gig. But still….just the thought of having your livelihood depend on a bunch of 18-21 year olds would keep me awake at night. Sure, I’d love a shot at it sometime. I always figured that if I won the lottery, I’d head up to San Diego State and volunteer my time. I’d make them hold me accountable to whatever they assigned me, even if it was Assistant Tight Ends Coach, or maybe I’d go over to University of San Diego (FCS) and be a position coach (yeah, I think I’d do a good job) on a volunteer basis. But having to do it for a living?

Some have asked me why I don’t give it a shot. The answer is simple: I believe that coaching collegiate football is a young, single man’s game at the entry level. You’ve generally got to put in your time as a GA or coaching intern. The competition for those spots is insane and the reward is making about $12,000 a year to start and doubling as a RA in a dorm somewhere in Kansas or South Dakota. I’m 54 and a home owner, with multiple kids. I’m not interested in moving every 2-3-4 years and taking an initial wage cut. But would I like to compete at that level? Hell yeah.

Really, the high school ranks are extremely competitive. You look around at the top programs in Southern California, and you won’t find better coaching anywhere. As far back as in the 90’s when I was coaching in Orange County (as I mentioned last week), and going up against some of the coaches I did, heck – even back then I saw more stunts, twists, varied fronts, blitzes and disguised coverages than I see in the semi-pro level now.

Here’s the thing about top-level high school coaching: If you’re not somewhat of a “grinder” (at least by today’s standards) chances are you’re going to get exposed. Back then, I put in 44-48 hours a week during the season – on top of my “real” 40 hour a week job. Monday through Thursday I was at the school from 3:00 until  about 7:00. Friday it was 3:00 until about 11:00. Saturday morning we were in at 7:00AM and out at about 6:00PM. Sunday it was 9:00AM until 7:00PM (or when we were done). Granted, that 1990’s technology didn’t include great timesavers such as Hudl. But I hear now of a lot of staffs doing their film review on their own, and I can tell you from experience that there’s nothing quite like reviewing your position’s film with your head coach (and/or OC) also there, asking questions.

I can tell you this, I can think of only one time (thanks, La Puente Bishop Amat) that I was truly surprised by something an opponent did. (They broke out a zone blitz in the ’96 playoffs. Caught us off guard.) Other than that, we were *prepared*….

Getting back to the jobs situation, I’ve also heard people ask why more high school coaches don’t go to the collegiate ranks in California. In some states, like Texas, you see it all the time. The coaching there isn’t any better, but the high school job security is non-existent. In Texas, if you’re a high school coach, that’s pretty much what you do. You may have one other class, but if you’re a Head Coach, you’re paid to do just that. If you get fired, you’re out of the school (and many times, so are your assistants). It’s a very collegiate-like experience, so they have absolutely no hesitation in jumping to a higher level. They don’t have job security now, so what difference does it make?

In California on the other hand, coaches (at public schools anyway – private may be different), only receive a stipend for coaching, maybe $5,000 a year on top of their teaching salary. If they get fired from their coaching job, they’re still teachers and still get their teaching salary. They just lose their stipend. They may or may not look for other jobs in their district. If they’re a long-tenured teacher, their opportunities outside their district may be limited – maybe the new district won’t accept all their years of service, for example. So what eventually happens is that you have schools who have a surplus of teachers and a shortage of coaches. That’s where guys like me come in – “walk ons”, or staff members but not faculty members. I would get the same stipend (although as an assistant, mine was generally in the $2,500 range for the season). At Fountain Valley, besides me, there were three other former varsity offensive line coaches at the school. One was the AD, one was the JV OL coach, and one was the frosh OL coach. Me, as the walk on, was the varsity guy. Sort of a weird situation.

But that is why you don’t see a lot of people jumping to the collegiate ranks out of California – they have job security now, and are hesitant to give it up. Makes perfect sense to me.

Thanksgiving

Last year at this time, I gave thanks for all the coaches and players I’ve worked with. You can see that post here. It’s easy to be thankful for those who have played for you, coached with you and taught you. Mentors are never forgotten. Loyal players are never forgotten. But this year, I wanted to thank those coaches who have given me the painful lessons that nevertheless provide growth.

I was inspired to talk about this topic this past week because I saw that two long-time Orange County/Southern Section coaches are retiring. Both of them I coached against when I was at Fountain Valley, in the years that forged me as a coach. John Barnes, of Los Alamitos High is stepping down after about 35 years at Los Al. Back in the day, Los Al was about the only spread team in town, and they lit it up on the scoreboard. He was truly ahead of his time. I never would have thought I’d become a devotee of his style of offense. I think we ended up 2-3 against them in the time I was at FV.

Dave White from Huntington Beach Edison is also stepping down. The rivalry between Fountain Valley and Edison is very similar to Army-Navy, except without the healthy respect for each other. Edison has since become a statewide power, while FV has unfortunately not reached the same heights. But when I was there, we were 4-1 against them. Coach White’s “Wide 9” defense was always one that I had to prepare extra hard for….not only because of its’ unique nature, but also because of what the game itself meant. It was one of those things where if we went 1-9, it was OK if the “1” was against Edison.

Hearing about those two outstanding coaches caused me to look up one other former adversary – Bill Pendleton of Anaheim Esperanza High. He was the DC for the Aztecs, under Gary Meek, who was a great coach in his own right. I knew very few DC’s, but Bill I knew. Always felt like it was a personal battle when I coached against Coach Pendleton. His position was the DL, so that made it a little more up close and personal for me. The Aztecs ran a 46 style defense, and stunted and twisted their DL/LB almost every play.

His DL taught me one of my most valuable lessons: In 1994, it was my first year as the OL coach at Fountain Valley. In the first half, we’d given up about 6 sacks and were losing badly in Week 10. We were headed for a 4-6 season, and I seriously thought I was in over my head (another example of that will be told below). I started in on my guys at halftime, in the locker room – ranting and raving. After I was done, my senior center, Bryan Erickson, calmly looked up at me and said, “OK coach – you’ve told us what is wrong. Now tell us how to fix it.” Heck, if I had an answer, I wouldn’t have been yelling.

In my time at Fountain Valley, I think we were only 1-4 against the Aztecs, in 1996 when we won the league title was our only victory. Those lessons from Esperanza were sometimes painful ones, but oh so valuable. As a side note, when I looked up Coach Pendleton and Coach Meek, I found they were both still coaching at Esperanza – Pendleton as the DL coach, and Meek as the RB coach – just enjoying life as position coaches doing the thing they love. I’m happy for them.

Finally, Coach Larry Toner from Anaheim Servite….one of the most unique high school coaches I’ve ever run in to. One time when I had to go over to their campus to exchange film, I walked into Coach’s classroom. He was teaching Latin, which in itself was unusual. He also taught European History. Anyway, the Friars ran a flex defense. The first time (in ’94) that I coached against it, they held us to -22 yards rushing….yeah, minus 22 yards. The thing is, they were in our league and division (D-1, Sunset, the top league in Southern Section) the year before, and in ’94 they got dropped down to D-5 and the Empire League. We were the first former Sunset team they faced and they kicked our butts. The quote in the paper the next day was from Coach Toner who said, “I guess we *don’t* belong in the Sunset League after all.” Believe me, that stung….we managed to go 3-1 against them while I was there though, so at least the pain for that ’94 loss didn’t last long.

Finally, more recently there is a coach named Ed Rycroft. I’m not sure where he coached at the high school or collegiate level, but he’s the one DC in semi-pro (other than my own head coach, Winston Martin) that I definitely have to have my A game for. I’ve run up against him 5-6 times since 2009, and I’m either 3-2 or 3-3 against him. I’m thankful for coaches like him at this level, who continue to inspire me to be better.

And this year, to close out, I did want to mention a couple of the “skinny guys” that I’m really thankful for. I’ve mentioned a few times that I totally deconstructed my playbook this offseason and built it back up. Some of the things in the system were , um, different than what has been traditionally done at this level. So I want to tell Mike Clark and Cam Cameron how much I appreciate them, their efforts in not only learning the offense but in helping out their teammates who struggled with it, and for having my back in general. You’re good guys – thank you.

When this is finally posted, Thanksgiving will be winding down for many, but I wanted to let you all know that you can find things to be thankful for all year, and in many different ways. Sometimes they just don’t initially look like positives. Have a great weekend!

2015 RS Camp Update

Hi all – sorry about this week’s post being late. Between living in a hotel due to some house plumbing issues and being absolutely slammed at work, it’s just not as easy to write right now!

So, OK…this post is all about our camp, coming up on November 14-15, at Santana High School in Santee, CA. Saturday morning, registration starts at 8:00, and we’ll be on the field at 9:00. We’ll break for lunch from 11:50 until 1:00, then be back on the field until 5:20. Sunday morning, we’re on the field at 8:30, with lunch from 12:10 to 1:20. Sunday afternoon will be our competition period, with the OL and DL getting after it (everyone else is encouraged to watch, as it will be the only thing going on) and then the “skinny people” will have a competitive 7-on-7 session after that, that the OL/DL is encouraged to watch and cheer on their teammates. We’re scheduled to be off the field at 3:30.

The cost of the camp is $40, and pre-pay is available through PayPal, to kmring@cox.net. Prepayment is the only way to guarantee yourself a camp T-shirt. The prepayment deadline is November 07, and that is also the last day we can issue refunds.

Here’s a brief look at the coaches we have lined up, and there still may be minor changes:

Mike Suggett, San Diego Surge Head Coach – Coach Suggett has been involved with women’s football in San Diego since 2001, making him one of the longest-tenured coaches of the women’s game in the country. He is truly one of those coaches who can do a good job at any position and in addition to being a head coach, he’s also been a coordinator in all three phases of the game. His role at the camp will largely be with the Running Backs.

Mark Ring, San Diego Surge Offensive Line Coach – I’ve been an offensive line coach for 25 years. Unlike Coach Suggett, I’m pretty much “just” an OL coach, along with being an Offensive Coordinator. I’ve also coached defensive line, running backs, and been a Special Teams coordinator & Head Coach, but the offensive line is my passion and what I’ll be doing at the camp.

Carrie Suggett, San Diego Surge QB Coach/Offensive Coordinator – our “other” Coach Suggett has been the Surge QB coach for four years now and the OC for the last two. Being a teacher for her livelihood, she does a great job coaching QB’s of any experience level and getting advanced techniques explained in a simple manner. She’ll be with the QB’s in the camp.

Nate Benjamin, Phoenix Phantomz Defensive Coordinator – Coach Benjamin is an almost 30-year veteran of coaching. He’s been the Defensive Coordinator of both San Diego’s national championships in 2007 and 2012. He is also the former head coach of the West Coast Lightning. I’m almost as excited to coach “against” him at the camp as I am to coach with him again. We’re both competitors, so I’m sure our OL/DL sessions will be fun ones! In addition to doing the DL at camp, he also has a couple of LB sessions.

Scott McCarron, Seattle Majestics Head Coach – I don’t know Coach McCarron well. I only met him in 2013 at the championship game, and then again in 2014 at our playoff game. What I *do* know is that he coaches the heck out of his defenses! In 2014 he gave us fits with his pass defense schemes. He’ll be doing a little bit of everything at the camp – some DL sessions, a couple of LB sessions and a couple of DB topics. We’re excited to have him!

Angel Rivera III, Dallas Elite Defensive Backs Coach – Coach Rivera is outstanding….that’s all you really need to know. One of the very best DB coaches I’ve ever seen. In addition to his DB work, he’s also going to have an exclusive time to do some speed and agility training that will be beneficial for all. He’s been both a friend and a competitor since 2012, and we’re very glad he came back this year.

Bobby Hosea Jr., Carson Bobcats Head Coach – Coach Hosea was the Head Coach responsible for the Pacific Warriors turnaround last year, pushing them up the ladder from also-ran to playoff contender in just one year. We’ve given him an exclusive time frame to teach/coach/install his own heads up tackling system that promises to raise the safety level of the game without sacrificing effectiveness. We’re looking forward to seeing what he has to offer, and are grateful for his presence.

Wesley Williams, former San Diego State Wide Receiver – Wes is one of my players who will do a great job with the WR at camp. Wide Receivers that have “been there and done that” at a high level know all the tricks of the trade in terms of getting initial separation, setting up their routes, and being a physical receiver. I think the players will enjoy their time with Wes.

Will Harris, San Diego Surge Linebackers Coach – Coach Harris has also been the Surge Head Coach (2013) and the Defensive Coordinator. He’s been instrumental in our aggressive defenses over the years and has often become the “heartbeat” of the team. His sessions with the linebackers promise to be intense, high-energy and fun!

That’s our staff for this year – we’re very pleased with this group of teachers we’ve assembled and thankful that those who are out of town are volunteering their time to travel down to us. In the coming days/weeks once the topics are finalized for everyone I’ll send out the schedule (I actually have to finalize the titles for mine!) and people can try and plan for what they want to attend. Schedules will also be available at the camp in hard copy.

It’s getting close – don’t miss out on the fun!

Unbelievable (and a Camp Update!)

So….just when I thought I’ve seen it all, I get news on Friday that my men’s team folded. I’ve seen plenty of teams that struggle go down in the middle of the year, but this is the first time I’ve seen a 10-2 (9-1 in league) team fold on the brink of the playoffs. The stated reason is financial difficulties….guess they didn’t budget very well. (NOTE: Now the word is that we haven’t folded, but have given up our practice field and home field. We’ll also have to drive ourselves to games {instead of having a bus] and may have to pay referee fees…oh, and apparently my QB has been kicked off the team…..so in effect, our owners are no better than Rachel Phelps, the team owner in the movie Major League.)

I really don’t care about the owners – I’d been very leery of them ever since my second year with the team, in 2012, and in 2013 when I was the head coach, I saw how they really operated. But I came back this year because of the head coach, Winston Martin, and a core group of offensive players who believed in me as much as I believed in them.

Our early struggles offensively were well documented, but as I’ve also said, over the past four games we’ve averaged 33 points per game as we’ve gotten more comfortable with the system. So I was really looking forward to seeing what we could do in Year 2. I feel like we’re running about 75% of an offense right now – maybe even a little less.

I’m not done with this level of play, just done with shady owners…..hopefully we’ll all be able to find someone who knows what they’re doing next season and will be able to keep the core of the offense together.

***

The good news is that now I’ll be able to attend the Surge end of season banquet. I was going to miss it in favor of our last regular season game up in the “wonderful” High Desert area of Southern California. 3 ½ hours to play against a team that may or may not be able to fully field a team, but I wanted to try and ensure that we had home field advantage, so you do what you gotta do.

Also, now I can finally focus more on our camp in November. We had some sad news – Coach Billy Hughes from the Dallas Elite had to pull out of coming. I’m always sad to not be able to see a friend. Our other visiting coaches, Angel Rivera, Scott McCarron and Nate Benjamin are still on board and we’ve got a full schedule planned out.

What these new offensive line sessions I’ve been added to will allow me to explore, is some of the more technical details that normally I may not get to. Last year Coach Hughes and I each did sort of our own versions of “Offensive Line 101” with him focusing on the run game and me on the pass game. We both really focused on the basics. I’ll certainly do that…probably do a “Run Game 101” and a “Pass Game 101” in two sessions, but then I think we’re going to get to the 200, 300 and 400 level courses over the rest of the camp. I’m excited, and I think it’ll give a bit of a spark to even veteran OL.

We still may add another guest coach, so stay tuned!

With the camp fast approaching, we’d like to let you know of a pre-payment deadline of November 7, so that we can print all of the t-shirts we’ll need in time for the camp. Please remember that only those who are pre-paid can be guaranteed a camp shirt. Payment can be made through PayPal, using KMRing@cox.net as the payee. Cost is still only $40!

If anyone is coming in Friday evening, and either needs a ride out to the hotel from the airport or wants to hang out for dinner and great football talk, just let me know!

By Any Means Possible

This past week, my men’s team, the Bears, took on another 8-1 team in the Inland Empire Meerkats (yeah, I get that a meerkat is part of the mongoose family, but it’s gotta be like the red-headed stepchild. Not very intimidating of a name). Anyway, they were 8-1 for a reason – they had a couple of very electric playmakers on offense. One we knew about, and pretty well shut down, and one we didn’t, but found out about in a hurry – he ran back the opening kickoff for a TD and then scored on a quick pass of about 80 yards.

Anyway, we won 30-12 (extra points seem to be an extreme luxury in this league, as none were scored). The way we did it is what is noteworthy. I can’t remember running this much by choice in a long, long time. I’m a big proponent of making the defense “play with doubt” and really prefer to be balanced in my play calls. But although we completed a few key passes, our efficiency wasn’t where it needed to be. So we ran the ball…..and ran…and ran. 

We might have thrown 2 passes in the 2^nd half. But we controlled the clock, and after only a 12-6 halftime lead, we opened up the game. A defensive scoop ‘n score gave us breathing room at 18-6, and then we took it from there.

As usual, there was something I wish I hadn’t done, and that was at the end of the first half. We were pretty much backed up around our 15, but I thought we could go down and score. We had one time out, and so did they. Well, two incomplete passes left us looking at 3^rd and 10 with about 50 seconds left. My HC was looking at me like he didn’t like me very much at that moment. So we ran the ball on 3^rd, got about 5 yards and I was thinking, “What an idiot….they’re going to call time out, and we’re going to have to punt from not only backed up, but to #15.” Except they didn’t call time out….and we watched the clock wind down, and we got out of there. I post stuff like this to help others avoid the same mistakes I make….and they’re subtle (usually), but still – if I want to be a great play caller, those are areas in which I need to improve.

Now….for the “meat” of this week’s post, I want to go back to one of my early posts, which fits in with this week’s theme of “doing what needed to be done” to win. This was titled “My Favorite Offense” from December 2013:

***

Every once in awhile I’m asked what my favorite offense is. My license plates read “WC OFNSE”, so that could be a clue but in reality, the answer is simple: the one that works for that team, that season.

I’ve worked for 11 different offensive coordinators, and have been one myself five (note: now 6) different seasons. In that time, as a coordinator I’ve employed the following offenses: Wishbone, Power I, West Coast, Shotgun Spread and Fly.

I’ve got to say that right now, if the personnel is right, I really like the possibilities with the shotgun spread. You can do almost any variant you want out of it – you can have a varied passing game, you can run option, you can run any type of perimeter run game and you can have a power-based run game.

The key is recognizing and adjusting to what your players can do. Let me invoke one of Homer Smith’s quotes, which has stuck with me for years: “It’s not what you know, it’s what your players know.”

My first venture into the world of coordinating was with a men’s semi-pro team. I’d just finished a five-year stint at Fountain Valley High, under the watchful eyes of Hank Cochrane, who continues to be one of my heroes, although he would slap me silly for saying that. I figured that these players were grown-ass men and could handle a “high school” offense. Boy was I wrong…. At FVHS, we used four different pass protection concepts, with two variants in two of them, for a total of six protections. I simplified that down to one for these guys, and they still couldn’t comprehend it (a half slide protection). In Week One, we gave up eight sacks. I’d gone entire seasons at FV without giving up eight sacks! In Week Two, we beat up on a horribly overmatched team. Then we had a bye week, and our QB disappeared – just left. No one knew where he was. Anyway, the combination of an offensive line that apparently had very little experience in pass pro and having to break in a new QB pretty much eliminated a standard drop-back passing game.

So – what to do in a bye week? I had a speedy receiver that had played QB in Jenks, Oklahoma. He’d had experience in running the Wishbone. So I talked with him, found out what he was comfortable with, then set about figuring out ways to get the OL on the same page. Long story short, out of an eight team league, we ended up being the #2 scoring offense.

The following year, same team, completely different personnel.  That was the Power I team. I had a tailback that played at Alabama, and a huge offensive line. My QB had a little mobility and a strong arm for play action passes. At the end of the year, we were again the #2 scoring team, and beat the #1 team 35-14.

Each year of my coaching career, my outlook and preferences have changed. I’d evolved into a shotgun spread guy ever since about 2010. Last year, I went into the (2013) season thinking that was what we were going to run. However, when a combination of inexperienced receivers and quarterbacks raised its head, we were forced to adjust once again. This time, looking at our OL (extremely mobile, but a bit undersized) and our running backs (nice blend of speed and power) and what the receivers could do (they could block their asses off!) we settled on running the Fly offense, out of shotgun. I visited with Mark McElroy from Saddleback College (and who coincidentally followed me at my first coaching gig, at San Clemente High) and got his concepts down for the run game. We kept as much of our current terminology as possible, including the entire passing game, to keep the transition down. So then, all it became was a different play call mix, not a whole new offense.

The results were mixed – we averaged right around 40 points a game on offense, but we went 9-2, which was our worst finish in a couple of years. My feeling is that we were too dependent on the outside run game, and when we weren’t physically able to block defenders at the point of attack, we suffered. So if it was scheme or ability, either way we didn’t get the results we wanted.

This season (2014), we have an experienced QB coming back. My vision would be to keep what we ran last year, but instead of running the Fly motion 80% of the time, run it about 25% of the time, and then re-incorporate the rest of the shotgun spread run and pass game we had before. But again, as a coaching staff we have to look at what we can and can’t do, and be willing to adjust from there.

In closing, as a coordinator you can’t be so tied to your preferred plays or system that you lose sight of the fact that it is still about the team’s success. Remember, it’s not what you know, but what your players know.

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See you next week!