Its A Great Day To Be A Football Coach!

Its hard to believe it but we are less than a month away from two a days and the kick off to the 2010-2011 season. My excitement over that simple fact is the very reason I'm up at this late hour. As I lay in bed I start thinking about all the things that are coming up and the enormous task at hand and I can't help but get too excited to sleep. Think about it! In less than a month I will be out on the field with the players teaching them everything from how to get in a proper three point stance to the complexities of zone blocking. I can't wait but unfortunately I'm going to have to.

I know its been a while since my last post but like I've been saying all along, when the action of the season starts really taking off, the posts will become more frequent. In this entry I want to finish talking about my awesome experience at the coaching clinic in San Angelo and wrap up by giving you an idea of what I'll be doing over the next few weeks before two a days start. First, the coaching clinic.

Last time I teased you all with dropping some huge names from the football world. Well, to make a long story short, I met Wade Phillips, Jason Garrett, and Mike Sherman. All three were really nice when I went up to introduce my self and the most surprising one of them all was Jason Garrett. As we were walking into the main hallway at Angelo State he was just coming out of the hospitality room and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet him. I am, after all, a life long Cowboys fan! After I introduced my self we just stood there and talked for a minute or two and he asked about the team and what we were going to be running. I really didn't know the answer to those questions at that point so he did his best to make small talk before running off to give his lecture on the Cowboys offense. He was easily the most personable guy I met at the clinic and it just goes to show you that just because you've made it to the big time doesn't mean you're too good to talk to the little people.

Anyway, one of the most intricate and technical lectures I went to was with Larry Zirlein who coached for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He gave an incredibly in depth look at pass protection from the vantage point of every position on the offensive line; even going as far to pull coaches out of their seats and engage them in drills right there in the lecture hall. As he was telling us the best way to strike a defender with the hands he actually flat palm punched a coach in the chest to demonstrate the striking technique! He hit the guy so hard that if he'd have been anywhere other than a coaching clinic he'd have been arrested for assault! Anyway, one of the best points I took away from that particular presentation was how to teach offensive tackles to be aggressive in their protection. So often you see tackles get beat off the edge when they are trying to slide out wide to pick up a speed rushing defensive end. Zirlein teaches a specific technique to help the tackles cut down the distance by not just sliding out but also taking a forward step with the inside foot. It seems like such a small thing but if football truly is a game of inches, well then the devil has to be in the details.

Another particularly good lecture was given by the new head coach at Lake Travis High School. His name is Coach Hank Carter and if I were giving out awards for best overall presentation, he would have gotten it hands down. A lot of the college coaches were good but much of what they do is predicated on the fact that they have elite athletes at every position. Coach Carter, being a high school coach, has to deal with what he's given just like the rest of us so the reality of his situation and the points he made were much more in line with what is actually feasible for our team. Coach Carter talked about his 4-2-5 defense and particularly focused on how and why his blitz packages are so effective. Basically he gave an outline of his philosophy which is to be creative without being overly ambitious. For example, he talked about dropping his defensive linemen into coverage occasionally but not dipping from that well too often. His blitz packages tended to be similar to the Philadelphia Eagles philosophy of Blitz 5, drop 3 into coverage, but mix it up so that an offense never knows where those 5 are coming from. Easier said than done to be sure but its been effective for him and Coach Carter has 3 State Championship rings to back it up.

That about covers the main X's and O's portion of what I was able to take away from the San Angelo Coaching Clinic. Like I said, if you're a coach and you're reading this, GO TO THAT CLINIC! Its amazing.

As for me, next week our coaching staff will start getting together for the first time. We will be doing inventory of all our athletic equipment as well as begin the process of putting all our equipment together. As a player you just show up and your pads are in your locker and the blocking sled is sitting out on the field ready for you to drill with. Come to find out, its the coaches that make all that stuff just magically appear! Its funny how a change of perspective can make everything so very different. Until next time, remember:

"The road to easy street goes through the sewer!" - John Madden