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!

Coaching Them Up!

This past weekend was a great one – I had the chance to put into practice everything I learned two weeks ago from LeCharles Bentley and his staff. A friend of mine asked me to come out to his high school and coach his players up a bit. It’s a new staff, and the program had run onto hard times, only winning a couple of games each year for the past few seasons.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect – I was told to “oversee” the OL during Indy, 1-on-1’s and team during the Friday afternoon practice, and then I would have them for four hours Saturday morning all to myself. When I got there, there were two other OL coaches there, and one was pretty much running everything. So I decided that since they were going into a competitive period (1-on-1’s) and then team, that I would hang back a little on Friday and just take notes about where they were at in terms of skill development. I didn’t want them to have to think not only “who” to block, but also “how” to do it in competitive drills.

Remember, this is a new staff, so none of the coaches were holdovers and they’d only had 4 practices with them. Given that, they didn’t look like they’d been coached much in previous seasons. One of the OL coaches is a young guy, and very enthusiastic. I’m convinced he’s going to be very, very good. He just has to develop his teaching patterns. Just as offensive linemen need to develop movement patterns to be efficient, coaches need to get their teaching patterns down so they can be efficient as well. This young guy isn’t quite there yet (but he’s way better than I was at the same stage of development). The older OL coach is more of an “attitude guy” – he’s very good at getting the kids to play with a proper attitude and to go out there and kick butt.

The kids themselves were great. They may not be great football players yet, but they are A+ human beings. As I mentioned, their technique was very raw, to the point of it was always a bit more of “how can I survive this play” rather than “how can I dominate this play”. So on Friday, I just took notes and offered some general suggestions to guys when I had the chance.

Saturday morning was different. They were all there either early or right on time. I’d developed a practice plan to take them through everything, that extended (in outline form) to five pages (!). Being that this is the first time I’d gone through this progression as a coach, and not knowing what pitfalls there may be, I wasn’t sure at all of how it might time out.

As it happened, we got through everything in almost exactly four hours. And let me reiterate – these kids are top-notch. I’d give them a water break, and they’d sprint off the field to an area a little ways away where the water was. By the time I got over there, they were saying, “OK guys, let’s go!” They really wanted to work and get better.

Some of the transformations were remarkable. The right tackle was a kid who sort of hopped into his pass set and opened up almost completely by his second step. We took a “before and after” video of him, and the results were staggering. A (soon to be) senior guard was coaching the other kids up before too long – he’s a smart guy, and was taking in everything and was able to repeat it back to me and the other players. They had two freshmen kids, one of which had never played football before, and they ended up being two of the stars of the camp. I could go on and on about how much fun I had coaching these guys, and how much I’m looking forward to watching their continued development over this season.

LeCharles just announced on Monday that the next Coaches Seminar is going to be July 16-17. I would strongly suggest that any OL coach who wants to make his guys better attend. I’ll be back in 2017 for sure. You can register here. You can thank me later.

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In the WFA game of note this week, Chicago beat up on Boston 50-something to 18. I was expecting a much closer game, maybe even with Boston winning, I understand that Boston’s outstanding QB, Allison Cahill, went out with a season-ending injury. At the time, I think the game was close, and my guess is that then not only were the Renegades missing a whole bunch of offense, but also probably were a bit emotionally deflated, which is understandable.

With that result, if there is any difference in the Final Four other than DC, Chicago, Central Cal and Dallas, I’ll be shocked. I’m still fairly certain that Dallas will be the finalist from the West, and less certain that DC will be from the East.

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On the men’s side, my Nighthawks have landed in a new league, the Southern California Football League (SCFL). This league is a quantum leap up in competition: The California Raiders were undefeated last year, the So Cal Coyotes have won a couple of national championships*, the Inglewood Blackhawks have won some, and the San Diego Thunder had a run on the national scene at late as the late 2000’s. Throw in a virtual All Star team in the Las Vegas Trojans, and there are very few gimmes on our schedule.

All in all, I couldn’t be happier – these are the types of games you sign up for as a coach, the types that for whatever reason we didn’t get often in the women’s game, at least until the playoffs.

*For my female game readers, national championships are a bit different in the men’s game. First of all, there are over 600 men’s teams across the country, so having one national champion is pretty much not going to happen. Second, there are several “national championship” tournaments put on in December/January. Fortunately for us, our league is recognized as one of the most competitive in the country, so our league winner will get an automatic bid to a national tournament.

Blown Away

OK, I am blown away, and I want to tell you about it, but first there was one game last week in the WFA that merits a short discussion, and that was the Pittsburgh/Boston game. I’d picked Pittsburgh to finally break through into the upper sphere of the National Conference by beating Boston. To me, he Renegades seemed a little lackluster lately, and given their daunting upcoming schedule, perhaps ripe to be taken down. Well, I underestimated Boston before and was proven wrong, so why not this time? Boston came out on top, 51-32.

With that win, we’re better able to slot where Pittsburgh stands, and that was of interest because they were IWFL champs last year, and were looking really good so far. For now, there is no grand re-ordering in the WFA universe. It’ll be Dallas and Central Cal in the West (although I’ll give Portland a 20% chance at an upset of Central Cal), and then DC and either Chicago or Boston in the East, dependent on how this week’s Chicago/Boston game turns out. I really have no idea how that will turn out, and it should be a great game.

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OK, back to the main topic…..this past weekend I was in Phoenix at LeCharles Bentley’s OLine Performance World (www.lbolineperformance.com). I’ve talked about him and his training plenty of times before, and had become a fan. Back in January he announced that he was going to hold a free coaches’ clinic in May, and that it was limited to the first 50 to register. So I made sure that I was one of those. Later, I heard that they accepted 80+. Now, I don’t know what goes through people’s minds, but I’m wondering if since it was free, there wasn’t as much value attached to it by some folks. That was their mistake. There were only about 35 coaches there, and it was the perfect size group. I think I was able to at least speak briefly with everyone there at some point, and the instructing coach to student (us other coaches) ratio was great.

LeCharles is a dynamic speaker and coach. He can get people fired up at the drop of the hat. His progression in leading students from skepticism to discipleship is masterful. Those who disagree or question aren’t ridiculed, but shown the “why”, the “how to” and the “how to do”. I can now say that I’ve watched his teachings on film, seen it in person, and felt it/done it myself. There is no quicker way to become convinced that something is right than when you do it yourself and have success.

CJ Davis is one of LB’s fulltime coaches. After playing at Pitt, he had a short NFL career with Carolina and Denver. He is a phenomenal teacher and communicator, and was dispensing knowledge, demonstrating and coaching us throughout almost every break. I had him as a demo partner in one drill, and the way he took me through it made me wonder about my own ability as a coach!

Matt Lee is LB’s strength and conditioning coach. His knowledge of training, kinesiology, power development and functional movement is absolute first class.  His presentations (with CJ demonstrating – we felt a lot of what was taught, but I’m glad we weren’t called on to front squat and snatch!) made me into more of a believer in Olympic movements for offensive line development than ever before. All I’d heard before regarding oly lifts is they “develop power”…..OK, great. Not inspiring. But Matt broke it down for us and explained why what he was talking about was so important, and exactly how it would make our players better. I can guarantee you that if I’m ever at a place that has a S&C program again, I’ll be incorporating his teachings.

Also, there were three current NFL players who came down on their own time to help out. Chance Womack (Tennessee), Larry Warford (Detroit) and Patrick Omameh (free agent, played for Chicago last year) are all very capable teachers and super nice guys (I just wouldn’t want to line up against any of them). I have a suspicion of “former/current players” being coaches because so often it seems they rely on their superior athletic talents to get by and don’t develop their communicative skills and don’t have an appreciation for what the average guy has (or, more likely doesn’t have) to work with. But these guys were great at offering suggestions, looking at what we were doing wrong and having the ability to fix it. I was working through some stance issues and Patrick came over and talked me right through it, told me exactly what changes would make me better. I can’t say enough about how helpful they all were.

Finally, there were two CFL guys there. I didn’t catch their full names (Matt and “Big Dog” was all I got), and they served as demonstrators as well. After Patrick helped me on my stance and ensuing pass set, I just remember Matt saying “Wow” – that pretty much made my day.

So, by now you’re thinking, “OK, great – they’re nice guys and great teachers. What did you learn?” Fair enough. I learned movement patterns. I learned how to move with purpose and intent. I learned how to move from the ground up, and I learned how to fight pressure with pressure at any point during a play. I learned that if you start bad, you’ll finish bad. I was taught OL play from an entirely different perspective.

There will be more clinics given by LB. The talk right now is to have one in July. I probably won’t be able to make that one, as our season games will be starting then, but if he sets a certain weekend (second one of May, for example) as a constant, then I’ll make my reservations years in advance. If you can’t tell, I have zero reservation in recommending that anyone remotely involved in OL play should pay attention to what LB has to offer. Make the trip when it is offered. I promise you you’ll thank me after.

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What’s got me just as excited is that I’ll get a chance to teach what I’ve learned to a brand new group of young OL next week when I’m in Las Vegas to conduct a high school OL mini-camp. Before this weekend, I had an idea of what the practice plan would look like. No more. In a sense, it is perfect, because the staff has just taken over at the school and wanted to concentrate on just the basics. And I’ve gotta admit that at one point I found myself wanting to push that envelope further. But now I have a much better understanding of the pace and importance of movement, and the learning of those patterns. So I’ve got two practices with the Nighthawks this week….we’re going to be spending our first 10 minute Indy periods from here on out focusing on stance and movement….and then I get to teach the high school kids.

Who’s got it better than me?  :-)

Into Pads & WFA Review

Things are starting to heat up in the Nighthawks camp – we went into pads last week. After seven weeks of one-a-week practices without pads, we started our 2x a week sessions which will last at least until the season starts in July, then we’ll reevaluate. As might be expected, the guys were itching to really get after it, and they did!

From an offensive standpoint, I’ve seen that I need to make some adjustments in which formations I run the counter out of – the defenders are just too fast, and I don’t want to automatically put my QB in a keep/run situation there. So in order to keep everything else consistent, I’ve just got to tweak the formation list a little to keep them honest.

Another nice surprise is how quickly the guys have picked up on the five man pass protection. I thought there might be more communication issues than there has been so far. I imagine that as the defense dials up more sophisticated schemes, we’ll have to keep adjusting upwards, and that’s OK.

It is also clear that our run game will have the ability to be a game-changer, and that was without one of our better backs even taking a rep. All in all, I guess you can tell I am pretty happy after the first week.

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This week I’m very excited to be heading over to Phoenix on Friday night to attend LeCharles Bentley’s OL Performance coaches’ clinic. LeCharles, as he puts it, “stays in his lane” when it comes to teaching OL technique. He keeps scheme out of it, and concentrates on the biomechanics, which don’t change – the body works how it works. Over time, I’ve seen him make some incredibly detailed adjustments which can make a big difference. I’m looking forward to going over, bonding with some fellow OL coaches (I know at least a couple of top San Diego high school guys will be there) and bringing back some knowledge that’ll make my guys better.

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I may have mentioned that I’m working with Dual Threat Athletics here in town. I had a young (11-year-old) OL out last week, who’d played for one year previously. I have a battery of initial drills that I put everyone through just to see where they’re at, and then I build the rest of the session off of those. This young man, once he got into what was his stance, I knew that whoever he played for before, there probably wasn’t an OL coach on the staff. And that’s OK….there may be a guy designated as such, but the chances of an experienced OL coach being at the youth level is relatively slim. Anyway, we worked for about an hour and I gotta say that at the end of the session, he looked like an honest-to-goodness Offensive Lineman. His Dad came up to me afterwards and said, “(My son) learned more today than he did all last season.” It is for experiences like that, that I coach.

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OK, a look around games of note for the WFA the past couple of weeks:

For better or worse, I called a couple of games billed as “big ones” correctly two weeks ago – Dallas beating Kansas City by 40 (I said “it wouldn’t be close”) and then the Central Cal War Angels beating the previously unscored upon Sin City Trojans 58-6 (I said, “War Angels by a comfortable (28+) margin”).

I have to give credit also to the Pittsburgh Passion – they really look like they’re stepping up into the upper stratus. Their game this week against Boston will tell if that is true or not. I’m going to go out on a limb and call this one for Pittsburgh, by 10 or less. That game seems to be the only one of true nationwide interest.

I think for now, the debate as to which team is #1 is settled – I think it is clearly Dallas, until/unless someone knocks them off. After beating DC on the road in Week 2, then having DC go up to Chicago and beating the Force in a nail-biter, the Elite seem to be truly that.

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Until I get into the Nighthawks’ season (or something else interesting pops up) I may not post for another two weeks. I’ll be out in Las Vegas in two weeks to conduct an OL mini-camp for a high school there, and will catch the Trojans vs. Pacific Warriors game. I’m definitely looking forward to both! Catch you later! 

WFA - IWFL Opening Weeks

Thanks for all those who asked about missing last week’s post – there wasn’t one. In past years since I’ve written this blog (almost 2 years now), I’ve always had games with the Surge around this time, so had plenty to write about. This year is a little different, since we’re just gearing up for the start of practice with the Nighthawks. Since I didn’t have a lightning bolt of inspiration last week, I didn’t want to put a bunch of words together just to do it, you know? Anyway…..

Two weeks ago, in Week 1 of the WFA, the games all went the way I expected them to, except for one: The Indy Crash pulled off what I would consider a pretty major upset when they beat the Cleveland Fusion, in Cleveland. The Fusion were my dark horse pick to break into the elite of the WFA National Conference, so we’ll have to see exactly how that plays out from here on out. Great job Indy!

This week, there were a couple of games of note: The Kansas City Titans versus the St. Louis Slam, and in the Big Rematch, the Dallas Elite, who travelled to the DC Divas in a very rare cross-conference regular season game. Also out West, you had the Central Cal War Angels taking on the Pacific Warriors.

The shocker, at least to me, was the 40-19 Dallas victory over DC. I’m not so surprised by an Elite victory, but by 3 TD’s, in D.C.? That was the shocker…..I never thought a team as proud as the Divas would get rolled like that on their home field, especially in their first big test after their national championship win over the same Elite. Gotta hand it to Dallas – that was a heckuva win.

The Titans, as I expected beat the Slam. My opinion only, which means zilch is that I wish the KC/St. Louis split never happened. When they banded together in 2014, they were pretty damn good.

Also as I expected, the War Angels took out the Warriors. The War Angels, interestingly enough, seemed to pick up more former Surge players than anyone else. Well, they may be tied with the North County Stars of the IWFL, whose high number was to be expected.

Interesting to me was the Seattle Majestics final score of 13-0 over the Tacoma Trauma. If I remember correctly, Seattle has dominated that series in the past. Seattle has yet to be scored on, and with them missing one of their leaders on defense, Holly Custis, much credit has to go to coach Scott McCarron.

The Boston Renegades beat Cleveland 28-7. I was looking for the Fusion to take that next step this season, but opening up 0-2 isn’t helping them much.

Over in the IWFL, the game that got my attention was the Carson Bobcats going up to Sacramento and beating the Sirens 30-6. Apparently the Bobcats didn’t pick up as many of the Pacific Warriors as I originally thought/assumed, so to take a pretty much new team and go up to Sacramento and win is a tall order, and impressive. When we went up there in 2013 it wasn’t pretty at all! That sets up what hopefully should be a good game this coming Saturday of the Bobcats versus the NC Stars. I’m looking forward to seeing that especially because two of my former Surge OL are playing for the Stars.

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With the Nighthawks, our OTA’s (basically non-padded, once-a-week practices) are going well. I’d say we’ve got about 80% of the offense installed and are just getting reps on it. We had 7 OL at practice last week, and I can’t remember the last time that happened with the guys. Everyone is looking to push each other to get better, and even injured guys are coming out and taking mental reps so they don’t get too far behind. That’s the sign of a team that is willing to put in the work.

The backs and receivers are out there getting their reads down, and just trying to play as fast as possible. All of those reps are going to come into play once we get the pads on early next month.

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Finally, because I figured that I don’t have enough to do, I’ve started working with Dual Threat Athletics as an Offensive Lineman specialist/trainer. They’ve got a pretty good skill position program set up already but are looking to expand into all positions. It’s time that some of the big kids get some love too, you know? The one-on-one training sessions I’ve been doing with the local high school OL have been going really well – he’s going to be pretty good, so now it’s time to get more OL out there. So far, I’ve gotten pretty good at coaching 9^th & 10^th grade WR how to stalk block!

Fewer Barriers

Last week came the announcement from the Buffalo Bills that they were going to hire Kathryn Smith as the first full-time Assistant Coach in the NFL. As a Special Teams Quality Control Coach, she won’t be spending that much time in an “on the field” capacity, rather she’ll contribute her personnel evaluation skills, her film breakdown skills and other analytical skills. I applaud this hire, as she’s put in her time and worked her way up the ladder. Although her apparent lack of playing experience (none that I heard of anyway) will likely limit her to behind-the-scenes opportunities, I don’t have a problem with that either – I talked recently about the “talent pyramid” and how players can fall outside of it for any number of reasons. Well, the same thing applies to coaches. In any case, I wish her well and that her position is a lasting one that truly opens the doors for others.

Speaking of others, I’m once again going to say that someone in the NFL or college ranks needs to give Lori Locust a look. As a former player and one who has successfully coached men for more than a few seasons, she can flat out coach and her upside isn’t limited by a lack of playing experience. She’s “been and done”. You need a Defensive Quality Control person, with a specialty in the DL and can also help out on ST? She’s your answer. Contact me for her info (legit inquiries only).

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On a slightly different note in the women’s game, I recently saw a Twitter video from a team with the caption, “You play like you practice”. This is a true statement, I think…..the problem was, what they took pride in (“We play low!”) was also potentially very dangerous. The video showed players in three-point stances coming out of it under a makeshift chute, made of bags. My issue with the video is that each and every player they showed was ducking their head downwards to get “low” under the chute. If they truly play like they practice, then on their second step their heads are going to be at a very dangerous angle when making contact. I mentioned to the team via Tweet that they might want to be careful about that, but as of yet hadn’t received a response.

Playing low is very desirable, but that doesn’t come from your head ducking, it comes from bending at the knees and sinking your hips. It’s tough to do, too, which is why it needs to be repped into the hundreds and thousands of times. Your eyes should always stay up, looking at your target. That is true in both tackling and blocking.

I also saw recently a high school team working with a new product, called the ShadowMan tackling dummy. I think this is a legit product – I loved it. You may have seen the Dartmouth demonstration last year with their robotic tackling dummy (or now a retail product from Rogers Athletics). This is similar to that, but a lot less expensive (I hope). This is a tackling dummy tied with some sort of leash to an actual player. The player runs forward, getting conditioning work in for sure, and then the tackler comes in and tackles the dummy. They’re now able to practice full speed tackling against a moving opponent, without being in pads. I think that is fantastic. The only issue I had with the video is that again, the players came in with their heads down.

I know that USAFootball is all in on getting the head out of tackling and I agree. What amazes me is that this is a “thing” all of a sudden. One of my mentors, Bill Williams, has been teaching this style of tackling since at least 1992 (I say that because that is the first year he exposed me to it – I really have no idea how long he’s been teaching it). He’s done camps and clinics all across the country. I think his problem is that he only marketed his tackling methods as “effective tackling” rather than “safe tackling” as everyone is doing now.

I’ve seen other people mirror what Bill teaches, but none of them are as good. You can find out more about Bill at www.billwilliamsfcpga.net.

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There were a couple of interesting games this past weekend in the NFL, if you didn’t hear.  :-) The AFC title game was darn good, with twists and turns coming down to the last second. 

I must say that I’m definitely a fan of the NFL XP distance – it’s really put an element of doubt into the outcome and force coaches to be much more strategic in their thinking. I certainly wasn’t a fan of New England’s OL play….I wonder how much they miss retired OL coach Dante Scarnecchia about now**? I vividly remember two examples: One was of their LT, Vollmer and his first steps not gaining near enough depth against a speed rusher, and him having to turn out of square way too soon. On the other side, the NE RT was having a ton of trouble with Von Miller (who wouldn’t?), but their solution was to bring in a backup as an extra OL. OK, great – I figured they were going to double Miller. Oh no, instead they had the backup, who was fresh off the bench and cold (figuratively and literally) block Miller one-on-one. Hey, New England….if your “starting” RT couldn’t do it, what made you think a backup could? Not a fan at all…..and it showed up in the final score. If the Patriots could have kept Brady upright and mobile just a little more there may have been a real different outcome. Just sayin’……

On the NFC side, well, if you turn the ball over 7 times, you’re not going to win, period. I think Carolina was going to win anyways (although I was rooting for Arizona), but when you make mistakes against a team as good as Carolina is that 30 point margin is going to show in a hurry. On the bright side, maybe now I can find a good deal on a Kangol hat…..

**On Monday it was reported that New England OL coach Dave DeGuglielmo has been fired. I never like to see anyone lose their job, but football is very much a results-orientated business. At all levels, of course, but obviously with all the money at stake in the NFL, that talent pyramid is very narrow indeed.

National Championship & Other Thoughts

Monday night was a great college football game. For whatever reason, I enjoy college ball so much more than the NFL version. Normally I root for teams that I either feel an allegiance to (SDSU, Texas A&M) or to coaches who have helped me out over the years (changes as jobs change). I don’t particularly like either Nick Saban or Lane Kiffin, but I certainly respect Coach Saban’s process, not to mention his results. So last night, I went purely SEC rooting.

Last week I picked Alabama in a close one, mostly due to their Big Game experience and Coach Saban. I was glad to see that special teams played a huge part in the outcome, with one of the best-executed onside kicks I’ve seen, and a nice kickoff return for a score. 

Special teams matter! I thought that overall, Clemson outplayed Alabama…I mean, the things that Deshaun Watson did to that formidable Tide front seven….and the even worse abuse of ‘Bama’s offensive line (their poor RT must be having nightmares still). But in the end, the Tide can smile because fortunately for them, football is a whole team game.

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Looking at the NFL playoffs, again you saw an instance of where special teams matter (Minnesota/Seattle). I have no idea how much the laces affected the kick, I don’t know how much the wind did, and I don’t know if the kicker simply shanked it. In any case, I’m not sure there’s another example in all of sports where you go from almost certain joy to deepest despair in such a short amount of time as you do when a kicker misses a chip shot field goal. I mean, on a Hail Mary type of pass you have hope that it’ll work, but I’m not sure you really “expect” it to, you know? On a 25-yard field goal, you pretty much expect it to go.

And don’t let anyone tell you that character doesn’t matter in football either. We probably all saw the Bengals absolute implosion Saturday night. Right now, I’m thinking that players who show a history of undisciplined behavior aren’t the ones you want to lean on when the pressure builds – they don’t know how to handle it. I see that all the time at my level of coaching. Guys that have a ton of talent but can’t control themselves on or off the field, and wonder why they never got a shot at a higher level of play.

I try and tell young guys that the “talent pyramid” gets narrower and narrower the higher you go, and there’s not room for everyone. Guys fall outside the pyramid for all sorts of different reasons. Your job as a player is to make sure that the only reason you fall outside is lack of talent. You can improve your technique, you can have a perfect attitude, you can be the best student of the game (or have the best grades in school) ever….but at some point, you’re probably not fast enough, not big enough or just not athletic enough – all genetic things out of your control. If you let yourself fall outside the pyramid for things you can control, then it’s on you, and you alone. Deal with it, learn from it and move on.

***
Finally, my men’s team, the San Diego Nighthawks, picked up a new coach that might just change everything for us this year. Our new Passing Game Coordinator is former Texas A&M, former Viking and former Panther WR/QB Jason Carter. Coach Carter was most recently the head coach at La Jolla High.

His hiring points to a couple of things: First, it ensures that our WR’s and QB’s will get as much detailed coaching as our OL traditionally has. That just wasn’t something that I was able to provide the skinny guys. Right there, we’ve gotten better! 

Second, and most importantly to me, is that I’ll now have a living, breathing example of how exactly to install and implement a true no huddle, up tempo approach. I’ve never been on a staff where anyone else has actually done that. I’ve read books, I’ve gone to lectures, I’ve asked other coaches how to do it, but I think until you actually experience it for yourself, you’re not quite sure of how it’ll all go down. So even if we have Coach temporarily (I hope it’ll be at least a couple of seasons), I plan on learning as much from him as possible.

And that’s part of the key to success…..divest yourself of your ego, coaches, and don’t be afraid to hire people who may be better than you at some phase of the game. I gave up some control I didn’t have to as the OC in order to get better, and make our team better. Whether you do that for a season, or for a weekend mini-camp, the end result is that you and your team will be better for it.

Progress

My men’s team (the SoCal Bears) was back in action this week, travelling up to Moreno Valley to play a team that was just behind us in the standings. When we pulled up to the complex two hours before the game, there was *no one* there. Like, one kid sitting outside the locked gate, and that was it. He was clearly the last kid getting picked up from a Pop Warner game. We saw a beautiful field turf soccer field, with nice lights and everything. Unfortunately, the adjacent football field looked like a malnourished pasture. Dirt field, lines only every 10 yards, and virtually no room on the sidelines, the edges of the end zones (lined with concrete) and fences right behind the goal posts, so that recovering kicked balls was an adventure. The lights were, um….basic. Fortunately, with a 4:00 kickoff, we weren’t too worried about the lights, although the game behind us was really, really dark.

Anyway, the Good Guys came out with a 41-0 win. All the scoring was done in the first half. We started with a running clock in the 3^rd, we got one possession, in which we started experimenting with things and ended up in a 4^th and 25 or so, and then the game was called early. No idea why, but it was fine with me. Our first drive of the game was 4 or 5 plays, and resulted in a TD. On the ensuing kickoff, their returner took the ball out of the endzone briefly, then went back in and took a knee, resulting in a safety. That’s a great example of making sure your players at all levels understand the rules! We then took that kickoff and scored in another 3 plays, and that was that. I think we had a blocked kick for a TD, and an INT for a TD as well. But the offense was clicking, and had our best production of the season.

The result wasn’t as heartening to me as the process – the guys that were there (we had 30 by game time, from a roster of 48), came together like I hadn’t seen before and simply did what needed to be done. There was no complaining about calls, or touches, or playing time. The run game ground out yards, along with some key plays, and the pass game was both efficient and explosive. Just a very solid win and a great example of what can happen when players put the team first.

***

I went out and scouted a player Friday night. He goes to the local high school, and he and his parents have high hopes for his college potential. They’ve expressed interest in having me work with him during the offseason, so I wanted to get a feel for how he played. I haven’t done a lot of individual scouting, so it was fun to put together a detailed report on just one kid, and focus on him during the game. He does have some potential, and is only a sophomore. It’ll be fun to see him develop.

***

Interest in the RS Football Camp continues to build. It is getting to be that time when airline tickets are in a good place at a little less than two months out, so it’s probably time to book! Please remember that only those who pre-pay will be guaranteed a camp t-shirt, so feel free to do so via PayPal to kmring@cox.net. The cost is only $40….I confidently defy you to find better value for your money anywhere, considering the level of coaches who will be there – coaches that are very successful in the women’s game, experienced in coaching women to a high level of play.

***

I saw where Alabama has recruited 5 QB’s in the last four years – one 5 star, two 4 stars and two 3 stars. They’re starting a transfer player. You can tout recruiting all you want, but there still has to be player development. We see that at all levels. I’ve seen teams full of all-star talent go by the wayside in both the men’s and women’s game.

It’s a TEAM game….I know that great players have made me look a lot smarter than I am over the years, and I’ve also seen teams with great players (as I mentioned above) fall short in the coaching department. And sometimes, at our levels, it is ownership that is lacking. There’s levels to this stuff if you want to be successful!

Until next week!

Continuing a Theme

After watching more football this weekend (I had plenty of time, as my men’s team picked up a forfeit), I wanted to revisit one of the things I talked about last week, the set of the offensive line in pass pro (and some in the run game also). This is a re-post of my “It’s All in the Feet” blog from November 27, 2013:

“Among the offensive line at the men’s and women’s semi-pro level, there is a perception of an almost universal weakness – they can’t move. A lot of times, that is true – they can’t. Perhaps you may remember one of my earlier posts where I talked about assumptions, and that one of them was that the OL were the worst athletes on the field. That will largely remain true, but too often I see OL that “could” move if they were taught “how” to move.

Now, we’re not talking about “dancing bears” here. We’re talking about efficiency in footwork. Making sure that each step gets a result. When an OL coach watches his players do a rep or run a play, s/he should be watching from the feet up. After all, the feet will move before the hands ever make contact, so why wouldn’t you watch the feet first, then move your vision up the hands?

Probably the single phrase that my guys and gals get tired of hearing from me is, “Gain ground with your first step!” Even if that step is supposed to be lateral, they’d better be doing more with it than stepping in place or stepping under themselves.

How often have you heard a coach say, “Oh, we can’t run that counter play – the OL will never get there.” Before you throw all those pulling schemes into the trash, make sure you find out *why* the OL isn’t getting there. I can promise you that more likely than not, when they’re pulling, they’re stepping under themselves.

Same thing on pass pro – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen tackles get beat quickly because they’re not gaining any depth on their kick slide (and really, *if* they kick slide is an issue too). But since they don’t get any depth, they have to turn out quickly against the defender, and that in turn gives them a soft shoulder to attack. It all snowballs into a sack, and it all starts from not getting depth on the first step.

When we practice pass pro, we do an awful lot of it without our hands – just getting our feet into position. Bobby Knight stresses the same thing in basketball, by playing with “your hands in your belt” – he says that “defense is in the feet” and really, pass pro isn’t too much different than defense in basketball. I find that the focus of simply “hitting someone” is overemphasized, and the skill set it takes to be a truly great pass protector is rarely practiced.

I believe that by spending more time looking at your OL’s feet and continually correcting inefficient steps, not only will you be able to run more varied blocking schemes that keep the defense playing with doubt, but that your pass pro will improve as well. And when that improves, your QB’s confidence will soar and your passing game will become much more dangerous.”

***

Most of those things haven’t changed….and one thing I want to add, is the awareness by an OL of what position a DL is in. Here’s an example: I was watching my Chargers play, and their OL did a great job on slide protection to the left. Everyone, including the DL, was going to the left, and the entire right side was collapsed down, giving QB Philip Rivers a nice clean window. However, the RT got a little aggressive (or greedy as I call it) and gave his DE a way out to the right, spinning off the RT and getting to Rivers for a sack.

You see this happening a couple of different times – the above was one, and then you see it on upfield speed rushes….the tackle will get great position on the DE, force him upfield and then “get greedy” and try to drive the DE instead of simply shielding him off. When invariably happens in that case is that the DE uses the tackle’s momentum against him and spins back inside for a sack or pressure. The OT *has* to know where he’s at on the field in relation to the QB and understand that the DE isn’t a bad player and won’t settle for just being driven upfield without countering.

In addition to awareness, I think an OL also needs to pay attention to his center of gravity. In the martial arts, there is talk of how a non-Asian person walks with a center of gravity somewhere up around their chest – if not in actuality, then in their own mindset. Asians, however, tend to walk with their center lower, where it physically is – just a couple of inches beneath their belly button. Translating that to OL play, my players have heard me say many times, “lead with your hip!” when moving laterally. If your hip is the leading part of your body (maybe not literally, but again, in your mind) you’ll find you have much better balance and change of direction. If not, if your center is up high in your mind, then you’ll tend to be top-heavy when attempting to redirect, and you’ll find that DL will be more able to get you out of balance when clubbing your shoulder. Leading with your hip also helps guard against getting “greedy” as mentioned above. Try it!

***

Interest in the November camp continues to build! We’ve got a much better variety of teams being represented this year.

I see that the Portland teams have merged….I think that is great. I hope there will be room for all coaches from both teams, although sometimes that can be a challenge, merging staffs. Hopefully they’ll make it down to San Diego in November as well, to work with and against some of their Seattle sisters.

2015 Camp Announcement

OK, I know this is a little later than last year, but we’ve got most of the groundwork done this time around. The 2^nd Annual RS Football Camp is slated for the weekend of November 13 through 15 (Friday night through Sunday afternoon). There’s nothing “official” going on Friday night, but if anyone gets in early and wants to talk some ball, we’ll be around. I’ll be setting up a Facebook event soon.

Here are the basic details:

Dates: November 14-15, 2015
Times: Saturday: 9:00 am to about 4:30 or 5:00 pm; Sunday: 8:00 am to about 3:00 pm
Place: Santana High School, Santee, CA

Cost: $40 per player or visiting (non-instructing) coach. Yes, this is more than we charged last year, but all profits still go to the coaches who will be travelling in to volunteer their time. There wasn’t enough to go around last time for all the work and expense they put in getting out here. $40 for about 15 hours of instruction? Find me a better deal anywhere!  :-)

Staff: Members of the San Diego Surge staff will be available. As with last year, we don’t want to make this about us – we want to draw from the best practices from as many sources as we can. If you consider yourself to be a great teacher, especially a great technician, then we’d like to talk to you. Please send me either a Facebook message or drop me an e-mail at kmring@gmail.com. Last year we had coaches from Utah and Dallas out. Those coaches are absolutely invited again but variety is good also!

This is a padded camp. You can attend without pads, but you’ll miss out on a lot of the fun. The OL/DL pass rush segments were intense last year, as was some of the 7-on-7 work. From the comments we had last year, we’re not doing too much in the classroom this time. Almost all of the camp will be done on the field. The closest we’ll get to a classroom is if part of a session is being done in the bleachers.

So – you’ve got four months to plan your San Diego in November vacation!

***

I was reminded Saturday night (not that I needed one, but this one was especially painful) that everything on offense starts with the offensive line. If you don’t have a decent one, it is really, really tough to get anything going on defense, especially when the opposing DL is pretty good.

My men’s team, of which I am the OC, got shut out, 21-0. I’ve gone through multiple seasons (like, the last three with the Surge) giving up fewer sacks than we did on Saturday. I dunno….10…12? Something ridiculous like that. We came out in a full slide protection because we were concerned about up-the-middle pressure. Didn’t work. We then decided that we would get more favorable matchups if we slid only one direction. Didn’t work. Then we went Big On Big – didn’t work. Finally, we did something I swore I’d never do, and that was max protect with both backs coming to the edge, and the entire OL blocking inside, like on a field goal. Still didn’t work. We got absolutely manhandled. Only when they put in their backups did we get any semblance of time.

It was embarrassing, and one of the longest games of my life. We had nothing in the run game either. Now, to be absolutely fair, there are things that happen in the men’s game that don’t normally happen in the women’s…..like, one of my guards I didn’t even know as a human being 48 hours before the game. The kid is full of heart and tenacity, but was just giving up way too much weight against a pretty good DT. My other guard is one of the nicest and most enthusiastic kids I’ve ever coached (and “kid” is a definite relative term here – they’re grown men), but in all honesty, I’m not sure he’s ever played the game before. I had him for three practices. Rookies I'm used to - I get them every year with the Surge, and one has started for me every game at LG this year. But I had her for 16 practices before our first game.

So….back to the recruiting trail I go. I’ve identified some things we can probably do next week (so if you’re reading this Ray, I got you!), but it’ll have to be done “in absentia” by my QB coach and OL coach, since I’ll be in Dallas.

***

All right then…..two great games this weekend, who you got? Chicago at DC, and the Surge at Dallas. I talked about those games last week.

There’s also the IWFL league championship (sorry, but I refuse to use the league’s pretentious “world championship” moniker) this weekend, the Utah Falconz vs the Pittsburgh Passion. I have no idea who will win, since I haven’t seen the Passion play. If Lisa Horton is out, I think it’ll be very tough for them, as she is pretty darn good. I think overall the Passion is a solid team, but let’s also remember that they were never able to get over the Boston/DC/Chicago hump, usually finishing third in their division when both Boston and DC were in there with them.

The Falconz are a pretty good team too – I think. They haven’t played anyone, even though according to them, they’ve been the underdog in at least three or four games. I have to laugh every time I see that type of talk. I expected them to contend in the WFA – and who knows – they might have been playing this weekend if they were in the WFA. Or maybe they would’ve been bounced out by now. No one really has any idea of how good they truly are. 

But I have plenty of friends over there, so I hope they do win, and then come over to the WFA next year.

In any case, good football is here and we should enjoy it!

Anticipation

With our victory last week, we once again remain one of the Elite Eight teams in the nation. My own personal expectation in a league as tough as the WFA, is to be in the Final Four each year, so we’re not quite there yet. Coming down to visit this week are the undefeated Seattle Majestics, currently ranked #7 in the country. Playing teams like Seattle are what makes our year. We’re fortunate this year to have been tested earlier by the rise of Pacific and Central Cal, and I believe that will make us stronger from here on out.

Obviously I expect a great game from Seattle this weekend – but who else is playing?

Kansas City (#15) goes down to Dallas (#5). In the past, this has been a tight series, but I don’t see it that way this year. I think the reappearance of the St. Louis Slam hurt the Titans a lot. Being that Dallas beat Kansas City 78-6 in Kansas City in Week 3 doesn’t bode well for the Titans. I really like some of the Titan players, but I just don’t see how they can make up 10 touchdowns, you know?

Chicago (#3) goes to Boston (#2). Should be the game of the week. I thought that this would be Chicago’s year, but Boston besting them in Chicago, along with DC beating Boston twice, gives me reason to reevaluate. Coach Konecki will have his players hyped, but will it be enough? It’s hard to believe that Chicago will have the same torrent of turnovers they had in the first meeting. Usually a team that puts the ball on the ground 11 times get blown out, but this was an overtime loss. However, as Boston likes to say, until someone takes the title from them, they’re still the champs. If this game was in Chicago, I’d give it to the Force, but in Boston…..who knows?

Atlanta (#10) goes to DC (#1). I’ve said before that DC is the only team that looks dominant this year. Yes, they’ll have to prove it one more time against either Boston or Chicago, but I don’t see Atlanta pulling it off. I guess I’m still biased against the southern teams due to one of their teams finishing 10-0 every year and then getting blown out in the first round. Until one of them can beat someone outside of their immediate region, my bias will remain.

Best of luck to everyone playing, and let’s get through this week injury-free!

For more information on the Women's Football Association (WFA), please go to: www.wfafootball.net. 

***

A rave and then a couple of rants…..

I want to give a shout out to my Surge offensive line, and it has nothing to do with their technical prowess (although I do think they’re pretty darn good, having allowed only 1 sack all year, and averaging well north of the 7 yards per carry that is my standard). I want to talk about the way they approach practice. First of all, as a group, they’re there…..every time. There have been times when attendance for the rest of the team has been a little shaky, but the OL is always there. A few of them have missed a practice here and there, but I’d say they are right around a 95% attendance rate among them.

Second, they get bored easily, and that’s a good thing. They want to be working, all practice. My rookies, Sarah Zito, Mercedes Tyler and Karen Plogger (recovering from an injury) just jump in and do whatever is asked of them. They’ve embraced the “guardian” mantle we talk about. Our veteran leaders, Eboni Chambers, Jessica Cable, Jen White, Chris Carrillo (injured) along with Katrina Walter (when I get her from the defense) aren’t rah-rah types at all, just like most good OL. They lead by example and have each helped out the rookies. It is very refreshing to see the “let’s go to work” mentality being passed on to the new players *by* players, instead of necessarily having to come from me. They are a great group to coach!

Now the rants…..

I love my men’s team OL, individually, I really do. They’re great guys. The problem is, they have an aversion to coming to practice as a group. We’ve had 7 practices so far and I haven’t had 5 OL at a single one of them. I don’t understand (and probably never will) what it is about the men’s game where players (and sometimes coaches) think they can just blow off practices. I mean, the Surge OL all have jobs, school, families, etc., and they find a way to make it to practice. I always hear “well, that’s semi-pro for you” or, “that’s just the way it is” and I absolutely refuse to accept that. Football is football! None of those guys who grew up playing the game were ever told that practice is optional. So when did that ethos change? When they are there, the guys pick up on what we’re trying to do pretty quickly, but in order to get to our full potential the OL has to work as a unit, often. Hopefully now that games are closer, there will be a little more in the way of a “sense of urgency” that takes hold with them.

Finally…..

You can file this one under “only in semi-pro” as well: We had a very good defensive coach with us for about 5 weeks. On July 18, we open with a traditional rival for us, from North County. Last week, that coach told us he was leaving, for (you guessed it) our July 18 opponent. So here’s a coach that has been intimately involved with our team throughout our game planning phase and two weeks before the game he decides to not only leave, but go coach for the team he helped prepare us for! Who does that? Don’t misunderstand – I get him leaving us, that’s cool. I get him going to coach for the North County team – that’s cool too. But the honorable thing would have been to say, “Hey, I’ll come coach you guys – starting July 19.” I’m just relieved I didn’t give him as much info as he wanted on our offense.

All right……I’m sure there will be plenty to talk about next week, given the four huge games this week. See you then!

Redemption

OK, so the big thing everyone wanted to talk about a couple weeks ago was our loss to the War Angels up in Delano (25 miles or so north of Bakersfield, otherwise known as “Hell on Earth” – sorry Delanoians, but y’all must have done something wrong in a previous life to be forced to live there).

There are a few basic causes of the loss, and let me put them in order of importance:

1.   The War Angels played very, very well. They are a national Top 10 (#8) team for a reason. They had to play in the same heat we did, and they pulled it off.

2.    The War Angel staff put together a great game plan, especially on defense.

3.    My mind was baked. I’m the first to admit that I’m a wimp in the heat. I mentioned in the last blog about how miserable I was the entire time. I looked out at their defense and saw how they aligned. My mind told me they were a standard 3-4, but they were doing things post-snap that didn’t match with that at all. Once I got home and looked at the film, I saw exactly what they were doing. We had an adjustment already in for what they did in action (had started running it as far back as our West Coast Lightning game), but it was more for a 4-3 look. Again, my mind just didn’t process what was going on. You can blame probably 70% of our run game woes on me. I’m still kicking myself for that – I needed to be better right then.

4.  We wilted in the heat. There’s no sugar coating that. You look at our film and many of our players looked like they were running in quicksand. Yeah, we were missing a couple of players and had a couple more go down with injuries or heat-related issues, but the ones that were in were slower than normal, no doubt about it. We need to be better prepared individually if we make it out to Dallas. Me? I’ll be up in the booth where I can remain clear-headed.  :-)

So, as many of you know, we had a rematch in the first round of the playoffs this past week. The outcome was different. Not as stark as our initial meeting this year when we won at home 55-26, but in the playoffs I’ll take a 27-7 win any day. What was different?

1.    #3 above was fixed. They came out doing the same things they did defensively before. Why wouldn’t they? However our adjustment was in from the beginning. We didn’t exactly run all over them, don’t get me wrong – they’re still a very, very good defensive team. But we didn’t have the constant negative yardage plays on our base runs that we had before.

2.       Our OC also made some formation adjustments that worked out well for us, given how they aligned to them. Whether or not those stay in the game plan is yet to be determined (Hi Coach McCarron!).  :-)

3.    We had a couple of players back that we didn’t have two weeks ago. While they didn’t have a huge impact, but their presence forced attention and they provided valuable depth. As they let their injuries heal and/or practice with regularity they’ll be a LOT better.

4.  There’s an old saying in football (maybe all team sports, but especially an emotional sport like football) that says, “A team will take on the personality of their head coach.” If the HC remains calm in moments of adversity, the team will tend to do so as well. If the HC doesn’t do that, then the team will follow – especially when some of them are predisposed to be temperamental anyway. And that’s what happened…..honestly, it took some of the satisfaction out of the win for me personally. I wanted to beat them with their best defensive player on the field. However, her actions led to her ejection. The actions of their coach led to about 60 yards in penalties. We’ve seen them both do this before. They are emotional and fiery. Sometimes they can’t channel what could be a good thing properly, and it costs them. This was one of those times, and it is unfortunate. I don’t know their player hardly at all, just from coaching against her since 2011 when she was with the Bay Area Bandits. I’ve talked to their coach a number of times and I like him personally. He’s obviously a good coach. But this week, in my opinion, his actions hurt them.

For us now, it is hosting the 9-0 Seattle Majestics, who are now ranked #7. Last year, their defense gave us fits early on and I expect the same type of tough battle again. Of course, last year it was us travelling north and now they get to visit us. I just noticed something in the Massey ratings…..in a cruel twist of fate, we jumped over the Dallas Elite, we are at 4 and they’re at 5. Last year, assuming that we get past Seattle, it would have meant that Dallas would have to come to us. This year, the ratings were locked after the regular season, so we have to go to Dallas no matter what (if we beat Seattle). Oh well…..

I hope you all have a great 4^th of July weekend!

Pure Class

I’ve had the fortune of meeting quite a few classy coaches over the years. Guys like Mike Barry (retired, Detroit), Pat Ruel (Seattle), Mike Riley (Nebraska), Brent Myers (Weber State), Mike Sanford (Indiana State) and Homer Smith (UCLA, Alabama) all, at one time or another went out of their way to help me out. They did things they didn’t need to – some allowed me to monopolize their time; some gave me access to practices; some replied in detail, with handwritten diagrams, to questions I had. Guys like that are a big reason why I write this blog, so that if the opportunity arises, maybe I can help out a coach who is just starting out.

One coach though, went above and beyond, and that’s who I want to recognize now. Mike Sherman, former Green Bay head coach, Texas A&M head coach and Miami offensive coordinator, is the epitome of class. Here’s the story:

In the spring of 1996, I was coaching at Fountain Valley High, and finally learning what being a good coach was all about. I saw Coach Sherman at a coaches’ clinic in Orange County and was blown away by his meticulous attention to detail and the way he laid out his practice plans and taught in general. At the time, he was the OL coach at Texas A&M.

I went up to him after about the fourth presentation, and said, “Hey coach – I really like the way you present.” His immediate reply was, “Why don’t you come out and visit us during spring ball?” Fortunately for me, Fountain Valley had an active booster club, and they were willing to spend funds on coaches’ education, including travel to schools. Two days later I had a plane ticket, rental car and hotel in College Station.

I had the Aggies’ spring schedule, and purposely came out a week before their big coaches’ clinic, because I knew there would be a few hundred other coaches around. I walked into Coach’s office and after some small talk he set me up with a GA, Jason. He told Jason to give me any film I wanted, and then he and I would meet for lunch to go over it. So I was led down to the team meeting room in Kyle Field, given a tray full of film and a remote. Just me, in a room that seated 100. I started taking notes, figuring out their schemes and adjustments.

When lunchtime rolled around, Jason came and got me and I joined Coach at Cain Hall (then the athletic dining center) where he promptly apologized for not being able to comp my meal due to NCAA regulations. It was $2 for breakfast, $3 for lunch and $5 for dinner – all you could eat. We sat for the next hour and went over my notes…..in detail. He shared with me exactly why they did certain things against one defense and not the other – even if it was the same base look. He went into game planning and play calling. He went into technique. Any and all questions I had, he answered.

After lunch, we went over to the OL meeting room for their pre-practice meeting, and I sat through that. Then we went to practice, and again, I was basically Coach’s shadow the entire time. A few times I felt bad for Jason who was scrambling to set up drills, so I helped him out.

After practice was over, it was dinner with the entire staff (I would also be remiss if I didn’t recognize Coach RC Slocum, who is the very picture of Texas hospitality and grace, along with his son, Shawn [now with Arizona State], who was just starting out himself back then) and then I was on my own for the rest of the night.

That routine carried on for the five days I was there. I can’t begin to tell you how much that solo time with Coach Sherman helped me out. One of the days, the OL coach from the Tennessee Vols came down to visit with Coach, and the three of us spent some time hashing out some ideas…..it was incredible to me to be treated as an equal in that situation (whether or not I really was, I doubt, but they treated me as one). On another day, the entire staff of Sam Houston State was there – they too were very gracious. Also when I was watching film, scouts from the Broncos and Giants were in, and I got a chance to talk to them about what they looked for.

All in all, that experience was a defining moment for my growth as a coach. The time that Coach Sherman took out of that week to help me out was incredible.

My point in writing this now is that Coach Sherman, after coaching in the NFL and collegiate ranks for 33 years, has taken a high school job in a small town near his home in Massachusetts. Here’s a link to the article: Football Scoop article. Also, you’ll notice at the end of the article is a link to the letter Coach wrote to every high school coach in Texas upon his leaving Texas A&M. You should read it. That letter is the reason for the title of this blog post…..pure class. I wish Coach the best for as long as he wants to continue coaching. I hope the high school kids realize how lucky they are.

***

We played the Pacific Warriors last week, up at their place. I knew it would be a tough, physical game as they would be looking to perhaps get a tie for first place in our division. Our HC, Mike Suggett, put together an outstanding defensive game plan, and outside of their first play of the game, our defense executed it well. Holding a team like that (#8 in the country) to 8 points is a job well done.

Offensively, I was very proud of my OL. We started a rookie center, and displaced a couple of vets to new positions. The result? Our second highest graded game this year. Our effort was outstanding. All 48 points we scored were offensive, and we had over 600 yards of total offense.

This week, we travel to #10 Central Cal. There is no doubt they’d love to take a bit of our shine. However, we understand how tenuous our hold on home field advantage through the playoffs is. We definitely need to handle business and leave no doubt.