I couldn’t wait till Tuesday to post this week cuz I had such a great time this past weekend… that I had to post today!
I spent Friday and Saturday with all of the coaches who attended the Glazier Coach’s Clinic in Charlotte, NC. Friday night, I talked about the Up Tempo Spread Shotgun Wing T Offense w/ Sniffer Back! We had a good crowd but not great. Then, as I always do when preparing for a big clinic… I requested the “dawn patrol” sessions! I want to speak on Saturday morning— early! This session is one that speakers don’t usually want to be penciled in to speak at because they are so sparsely attended on Saturday morning. I’m exactly the opposite. Give me the early Saturday session! Why? Because that’s where the “students of the game” are!!!! They guys who, though they may have stayed out late on Friday night, are there at 8:20 am to listen, take notes and ask questions. I told them as I began how PROUD I was of them! Proud that they came to a clinic with the right perspective. That they were here to learn and not just party. That they were serious about learning; therefore, they made the effort to get up and be downstairs earrrrrrly so they could sit in and learn. These guys want to better themselves. These guys are the “students of the game.”
As I always told my players: “Attitude is EVERYTHING!” A coach who is hungry to grow and learn his craft has a much better chance of succeeding in this business than the one who 1- doesn’t even choose to attend a clinic or 2- just shows up! He’s not really there to educate himself! In most cases, that coach is NOT going to go too far in this competitive profession.
I always marveled at the fact that Frank Beamer took his staff to meet with another D1 staff each February. What did those guys still need to learn? It was one of the best coaching staffs I’ve ever been around. But they knew that even at THAT level, they still needed to be “Students of the Game.”
My recommendation is this: Go to these big-time clinics that Glazier and Nike offer. You have a wide variety of coaches and subjects. There’s bound to be someone there that you can glean something from. But… I would encourage you to visit a high school staff in another part of your state that is very successful. If they run an offense or defense similar to yours, that’s even better. However, you should spend time learning about the “Little Things” that make that program so successful! THAT is why I strongly suggest visiting a high school staff. These D1 coaches are excellent but… they are coaching at a much higher level than most of us at the high school level will ever dream of! I learned that I could gain a LOT more valuable information by talking to other high school coaches than I could going to a college clinic… unless they brought in other high school coaches to speak. Unless that D1 coach is willing to bring his techniques, concepts and schemes down to your level, you’re just going to get frustrated trying to apply their schemes at your level! For example, inside zone blocking. This, to me, is a college blocking scheme— not high school. Unless you have 5 guys up front who blot out the sun and bench press the moom, you’re going to find that it’s very difficult to get much out of a 6’1 240 pound tackle who doesn’t even bench press his weight and can’t get to a parallel position in the squat! It’s a great scheme; just not very applicable for (most) high school teams! I know– cuz we tried it. I had one of THE finest Offensive Line coaches (at any level!) for 15 years. He wanted to teach our O Line to zone block. If anybody could do it, he could. After 3 weeks I had to tell him that it just wasn’t working. We went back to the classic Wing T “shoulder skill” blocking technique and did much better! It is a technique that high school players can perfect.
Strive to be the best high school coach you can be! That means being a “Student of the Game.” It’s a life-long or rather career-long process. What’s the old adage: When you’re ripe, you’re getting ready to rot!!! Don’t rot! Get Direct TV! No… wait! That’s a commercial!!! Have a blessed day!!! Lew
