Utah Football

Archive for June, 2008

Dave Cisar asked:




We all have seen that goofball coach up big, still blitzing every play, starters in, trying to widen his blowout lead. I’ve seen 30 yard pass plays called on the last snap of 50-0 games after a timeout, BY THE TEAM THAT IS LEADING 50-0. My first year of coaching youth football, I was an assistant for an expansion team of 8-10 year olds. Our kids were all rookies and playing our first game against the defending League Champions. As most expected, we didn’t play very well and lost 36-0. Late in the fourth quarter of that game, we did move the ball some and with less than a minute left in the game, got the ball to the other teams 10 yard line. Our kids, although down 36-0 were very excited about the prospects of scoring our very first touchdown. Our enthusiasm was crushed however when the opposing team took a timeout and reinserted their 6 best players to preserve the shutout. As time ran out we were still on the 10 yard line. As our dejected kids were packing into their cars in the parking lot we noticed everyone on the other team was eating doughnuts. It seemed a little odd because it was in the afternoon and doughnuts seem like a breakfast item. One of the opposing players cars was right next to ours, I asked him “Great game boys, you guys played real well, what’s with the doughnuts?” he replied, ” Coach gets us doughnuts for every shutout”.

So this coach reinserted his first teamers so he could get his coveted shutout, and pass out doughnuts, great job coach. Maybe this would be great break-room fodder come Monday where he could brag to his co-workers about his great defensive coaching skills, he could brag about his shutout of an all rookie age 8-10 expansion team. Maybe he’s thinking the Dallas Cowboys might be scouting the youth leagues for good defensive coaches and his shutouts may put him in the running. Great job coach, see you in the NFL.

Now before you think I’m some kind of soccer wanna-be communist, don’t. I believe the game should be played to win, but I’m also a big believer in sportsmanship. We play in a competitive league that has spawned both a Heisman and Outland Trophy winner. Teams in our league have gone down to Daytona and won the Top Gun Unlimited Select Division National Championship on numerous occasions. I’m there for my kids first, but I’m also there for the other teams kids as well. Nothing would have been hurt by keeping his reserves in and allowing our kids to score a late and meaningless (meaningful for our kids) touchdown. I didn’t hassle that coach or say anything, it was our job to prepare our kids, but he acted like an immature ogre. I never forgot that.

In 1999 we were playing the Gladiators in the next to last game of the season. We were undefeated and they had not won a game. In fact they had not even scored a touchdown and had lost some real lopsided games, 60-0, 52-0 etc etc. The last game of the season for the Gladiators was the second place team that was showing no mercy to anyone. So the Gladiators and their parents were fully expecting they would go through the entire season without scoring a touchdown. This youth football team was very small and very slow but they kept showing up. The Gladiators are good people and they have a very nice lighted field that we were going to play on in an unusual Thursday night game, then we had our last league game on Sunday. We put all of our second teamers in as starters for this game and even brought up a few younger players from another of my teams to play and sat our starters. We didn’t want to tell our kids not to play, so we played our backups, younger kids and kids out of position.

Even with all that and calling plays we hoped wouldn’t work well, we were up 18-0. All week we had worked on our “Special Play”, it was a set play we used when we were on defense where we did not wrap up the ballcarrier and seemed to just miss him on lots of diving tackles. We looked very good doing it, no one but us had any clue we were not tackling on purpose on this play. Late in the 3rd quarter we signaled in “Special Play”, the Gladiator ballacarrier went around end for a 70 yard TD run. Their team, and their sidelines went crazy, you would have thought they had just scored the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl! I’m talking parents jumping, hugging, crying, I kid you not. We were so believable in fact that they tried an unsuccessful onsides kick on the ensuing kickoff. The final score was 18-6, they got their score, we got our backups and some young kids some playing time, lots of different kids got to carry the ball and our kids learned a lesson in compassion and humility. Three days later our rested starters went out and played the best game of their season against the third place team. After the Gladiator game, their coaches were very appreciative. They even did us a huge favor the next year, our home field was too muddy to play so they opened their park up with their people working the clock and concessions just so 3 of my teams could get our games in. Their field is very nice and they let us tear it up a little, so our kids could play, that’s cooperation.

The Single Wing Offense is a very prolific scoring offense. My youth football teams consistently average in the high 30′s-40 points per game and in most seasons it could easily be 50-60, but I’m not a believer in humiliating little kids. Last season we scored 3 touchdowns in the FIRST QUARTER of 9 games. Many youth football coaches that use my system aren’t used to scoring lots of points, so you need to prepare a plan for when you do. We sub early and often and when up by 3-4 touchdowns in most cases signal to the other team we are calling off the dogs by taking a timeout and setting up our backups in the offense or defense. We will however always let the first team play the first possession of the 3rd quarter to get a few football plays in. Other proven methods to let up on the other team include playing players out of position, letting non ball carriers carry the ball, stop blitzing, run the ball inside, play with 10 or 9 on defense or go to a running clock.

If we are up big I always tell the white hat at halftime to make sure and let any contested balls go to the opposition. We never want to go over 50 points and in most cases try and keep it under 40, so I will even ask him to throw a phantom flag to insure that doesn’t happen. I explain to our parents why we do this before the season starts to set expectations.

We also use the “Special Play” to try and avoid shutouts. Our parents call our kids “Little Academy Award Winners”, they act it out so well, no one but us is the wiser. If you have our 2006 Games DVD you will see us play great defense and tackle well right up until that 4th quarter when all of a sudden the other team reels off a long TD run where 4 of our kids seemingly miss the “tackle”. Who cares, the game ends 36-6 instead of 36-0. That’s why our scores nearly all end with a 6, 38-6, 40-6, 38-6 etc.
What, am I concerned we may go down a few spots in the AP Polls that week if we don’t toss a shutout?

When coaching youth football, be merciful and teach your kids humility. Plan ahead for blowouts and make sure the game is a reasonable experience for both teams. Who knows, you could be on the other end of a blowout one day.

For 150 free youth football coaching tips please stop here: How to Coach Football

James Boyd asked:




Louisville heads into the 2010 season under new head coach Charlie Strong, who was most recently the defensive coordinator at Florida. Strong will try and turn things around at Louisville, as the Cardinals have not finished better than 6-6 in the last three years, and are coming off a miserable 4-8 season. The Cardinals only conference win came against lowly Syracuse by a single point, as Louisville finished up at 1-6 in Big East play. The hope is that it won’t take long for Strong to turn things around, and I think we will see a much more competitive team in 2010, but no where good enough to even think about winning the Big East. Here is quick breakdown of both sides of the ball for the Cardinals, plus my thoughts on where they finish up the year in the Big East.

Offense:

The Cardinals struggled to get much of anything going in the passing game last year, but the hope is that new offensive coordinator Mike Sanford will put some life back into a unit that averaged just 18.1 points a game in 2009.

Heading into the fall it looks as though senior Adam Froman will once again be the starting quarterback for the Cardinals. Froman threw for 1,354 yards and complete 60% of his pass attempts, but had just six touchdown passes to five interceptions. True freshman Dominique Brown will also be considered, and will likely get in the action at some point this season. Either way I look for improved play at this position.

The Cardinals were banged up at running back in 2009, as starter Victor Anderson played in just eight games, but was really only healthy for a few games. Anderson still led the Cardinals in rushing with 473 yards and five touchdowns. Anderson was the Big East Freshman Player of the Year in 2008, and I look for him to be one of the best backs in the Big East this season.

A couple of changes will have to be made in the passing game this season, as the only starter back on the outside is senior Doug Beaumont. It looks as though junior Josh Chichester and senior Tory Pascley will join Beaumont in the starting lineup.The Cardinals also get back senior starting tight end Cameron Graham, who caught 27 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns last season.

The Cardinals figure to show some solid improvements up front on the offensive line, as they return four starters up front, including both of their starting tackles. If this unit can adjust quickly to the new offensive scheme, the Cardinals are going to surprise a lot of people on this side of the ball, especially if Anderson can return to the same form of 2008.

Defense:

While the offense looks to be much improved this season, there are some big concerns about what the defense will bring to the table in 2010, as the Cardinals have just four starters back on this side of the football.

Up front the Cardinals really have to like what they got out of junior defensive end William Savoy last season, as Savoy led the Cardinals with 5 sacks in just three starts last season. Malcolm Tatum is back at the other defensive end spot, but he hasn’t really provided much of a pass rush. In the middle junior Greg Scruggs returns, and will more than likely be joined by senior Tim High.

The Cardinals only starter back at linebacker is senior weak-side linebacker Brandon Heath, who is solid but nothing real special. The guy to watch out for at linebacker in my opinion is senior middle linebacker Antwon Candy, who has starting experience and could really put up some nice numbers with a full season to work with. Junior Dexter hayman is the other projected starter on the outside.

In the secondary the Cardinals will have to find three new starters, as senior corner Johnny Patrick is the only starter back from the 2009 season. Fellow senior Anthony Conner is expected to start at the other starting corner spot, while junior Terence Simien and sophomore Shenard holton take over at the two safety spots. Sophomore Darius Ashley finished second on the team in rushing last year, but has made the switch to corner this spring, and will give the Cardinals a little more talent to work with in the secondary.

Big East Prediction – 7th: The defense is just too soft to predict the Cardinals to finish out of the bottom of the Big East this season. I think the offense will have its moments, but then again there will likely be plenty of struggles as well, as it just takes time to put a new scheme into place. I do believe that this is a much better team than the 2009 squad, but I can’t see them finishing much higher than 6-6.