Championship Discipline, Accountability, And Leadership

Have you ever finished a season and been disappointed that you underachieved? One of the biggest disappointments in my coaching career was feeling like we didn't meet our expectations for our season. There is nothing worse than knowing you didn't have the success you thought you would have. I have talked to a few coaches the last couple of weeks that are frustrated with their seasons went and the directions of their programs. They feel like they are lacking discipline, leadership, and accountability. They have stupid penalties, turnovers, or mental mistakes that cost them football games. As I look back on the biggest disappointments in my coaching career, the biggest reason we underachieved was a lack of discipline, leadership and accountability tops. It was rarely a lack of talent.

Having a lack of talent is something that is often out of your control. Unless you are a program that recruits, you can't control the genetics of the athletes in your program. When we struggled because of a lack of talent, I could deal with that. When we had a lack of talent, however, we tended to exceed expectations. What is frustrating is when you have talent and fall short of expectations. 95% of the time this comes down to discipline, leadership, and accountability. 

Discipline, leadership, and accountability are three things you have complete control over. If you are a head coach, you set the standard for the level of each of the these three things. Discipline and accountability come down to the standards and expectations you set, and what you are willing to tolerate. What you tolerate from your best players will lead to the level of discipline and accountability for everyone in your program. And when someone doesn't meet that standard, do you hold them accountable? Do you have a system to teach them what they did or didn't do that went against the standard? Ultimately it is about changing behaviors.

More than once this year I have seen several very talented teams lose football games to teams with inferior talent because they lacked discipline. In my 25 years of coaching, I was a part of three teams that lost to teams much less talented. I watched several games this year where I saw teams with superior talent lose to inferior competition. How can this happen? If you have more talent, aren't you supposed to win? There is a reason there are a bunch of very talented teams that lost 6, 7, and 8 games this year at all levels. 

First, it happens because you allow it to happen. You control what you allow and what you expect. You set your standards and expectations. You control the level of accountability to your standards. As a head coach you are ultimately in control. You set the tone for the entire team. You are the one who ultimately sets that standards for your team. You are the one who controls the level of accountability for your team. 

If you are going to set standards, and you had better set standards, you must be willing to hold every athlete to the standards you set. If you aren't willing to hold your best players to the standards, then you are going to lose trust with the team. You are going to have players that might outwardly act like they are bought in, but they are going to be frustrated with any lack of accountability. You will have the same frustration with coaches on your staff. They may outwardly be bought in, but inwardly they will be frustrated. If you don't have complete trust built up with everyone in your program, they will tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear. 

Let's get to 3 important keys I'd like to focus on. First: If your best players are not being held accountable off the field, they will break your heart on the field. 

I have seen his first hand, and it something that is frustrating because you have complete control over it. When you let a guy get away with being a jerk in the school building, or getting in trouble in class, he will break your heart on the field. When you allow your most talented players to be un-coachable and unapproachable in practice, they will break your heart on Friday night when you play good teams. Have you set clear expectations for your team, and are you willing to hold everyone accountable to these expectations? 

When you have two sets of standards, one for the guys who are hard to coach, and one for the guys who are easy to coach, you will lose when you play someone who is inferior to you in talent, but has a higher level of discipline and accountability. They will not make undisciplined mistakes that cost teams football games. They will not get 15 yard penalties that will extend drives. They will not get penalties on third down that end drives for your offense, and extend drives for your opponents. They won't get 15 yard penalties that negate touchdowns. They won't have breakdowns in eye-discipline. They won't stop playing hard when they get behind. When one standard becomes optional, all standards become optional. If you are inconsistent with your accountability, the players you do not hold accountable will not know how to handle real adversity when it hits. 

Let me add loudly: NEVER JUSTIFY SOMEONE NOT MEETING THE STANDARD

That is so important that it had to be in all caps. Once you start to justify negative behaviors, you are allowing yourself to accept mediocrity. Everything we are talking about today has nothing to do with ability or talent. Do not justify mediocre behaviors or habits unless you want mediocre results. If the standard is important, everyone should be expected to meet the standard. If the standard ins't worth holding everyone accountable, get rid of the standard. Once one standard because optional, all standards become optional. 

Second: Head coaches, listen to your assistant coaches when it comes to discipline. We had a situation one year where we wanted to bench two of our most talented players on offense. We wanted to take playing time from them. They weren't practicing well, and they were becoming a cancer for the team. They were lazy in drills, and that was carrying over to the game. The offensive staff was in agreement that these two players needed to be benched. The head coach initially agreed, but then relented. The players were not held accountable. While they made big plays at times, they also did not play up to the level of their talent. More importantly, they were a distraction far more often than they were making big plays. Instead of setting the standard, they were the negative example. 

Developing Culture, Character, and Leadership

Unless you won your championship, your season probably did not end the way you wanted it to. If you are like most coaches, you are trying to figure out what you can do to improve your program for the 2017 season. 

Many coaches will tell you, "we just didn't have the talent." Or, we didn't have great leadership." Or, "our kids were mentally weak." While these all may be true, they are also excuses. That is a hard fact to face. I understand there are some very difficult situations to coach in. I have coached in a few of those situations. Every mediocre coach in America will tell you how their situation is dire. 

If you focus on the negative of your situation, you will never have success. What is success? Making the most out of the situation you have, and doing everything in your power to make it better. I am a realist, and I understand that some programs are much better than others. But if you focus on why your program can't be successful, that is exactly what you will get.

Building a championship program is hard. It is a very, very difficult thing to do. That's why very few programs every reach that level. Quite honestly, most coaches are not focused on what it takes to build a championship program. They aren't willing to do the things it takes to create a culture of success. They aren't willing to coach the details each and every rep, every single day. It is hard to coach guys every single day and the details. They allow themselves to accept less than an athletes best. They then justify to themselves that it's okay to accept less than the athlete's best. He's hurt, or he's new, or we will fix it tomorrow. If that's your mentality... prepare for more of the same next year.

So what does it take? Here are five keys to building a championship program:

1. Cleary Defined Vision

2. Visible Core Values or Core Covenants

3. Defined Process In Place

4. They Coach Details

5. Clear Accountability

Last summer I picked up Urban Meyer's new book Above the Line, and it has not disappointed. He had a great quote in the prologue about leadership.

That says it all! Putting up some motivational signs is not going to develop character, leadership or mental toughness. What it will do is add noise to your field house, weight room, and locker room. I saw Tom Herman speak at a clinic last month, and he talked about how they took all their motivational signs down. He asked a player, "hey, how about that sign." The player didn't know what he was talking about. How many players have actually read the signs around your field house? And if they have read them, how many of your players live them?

If you have signs up and expect a culture to develop, you will be very disappointed. You see, culture will develop, but it won't be the culture you desire. Culture is being built each and every day in your organization, and the question is, are you developing the culture... or is the culture developing you? What are you doing to build the culture in your organization with intent? Most coaches think they are doing a lot, but in reality, they are doing very little. They are doing a lot of things, but they are doing these things without an end result in mind. When you don't have an end result and a process, how will you ever get there?

Since 2002, I have been blessed to work with schools across the country on installing the No Huddle, RPO Concepts, Pistol and Spread Concepts, the Odd Stack Defense, and Building Character, Culture, and Leadership programs. A few years ago a school brought me in to help them implement a Multiple Tempo No Huddle Offense. Most of the staff was on board, but as we began our talk I noticed a couple of coaches were very reluctant to make the change. The first question I asked was, "why do you want to go to the No Huddle?" The response floored me. The head coach said, "because our players fight in the huddle." After a brief pause I said, "if that's why you want to go to the no huddle you brought me in for the wrong talk." They didn't need a no huddle talk, they needed a talk on organization culture.

They wanted to fight the symptoms rather than the disease. They wanted to put a band-aid where a transplant is needed. When you do this, you will find yourself constantly running out of band-aids. Your coaches will be frustrated and often disengaged. Your players will be frustrated and you will find them quitting when things get a little bit difficult. Your organization will lack a unity and a trust. You will not be a cohesive unit. This team did not need a new system, gimmick, or play, they needed to change their culture. 

"Culture is the sum of the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of a particular organization"

Every single organization has a culture. Every team at every level has a culture. The problem is, only a select few have a defined culture that has been carefully and intently built. Most teams have a culture that has been built by chance. If the talent is good and there are some kids who have been developed as leaders, the team has a good year. If the talent is down, and/or there are very few leaders who walk through your door, the season is a disaster. If I asked you to raise your hands if this is your organization, chances are most of you would do so. Most programs fall into the category I call "Culture by Chance."

Culture by chance programs never achieve as much as they should. They never reach their full potential. They are slaves to the situation. They are slaves to the level of talent that walks through the door. Because they don't have a specific plan for culture, character, and leadership development, they get what they get. These are programs that never seem to get over the hump. And if the talent level is way down, they have a horrendous season. Culture by chance programs often have players that become discipline issues when things get difficult in practice or a game. Raise your hand if you have seen this in your program...

The second level is what I call "Talk About It." This is the group that says they talk about culture and character with their kids, but they do so without a plan. They talk about core values a few times then put them on the shelf. There is no plan, purpose or vision. When a good idea pops up they jump on it for a day or two. They have 8 different coaches going 8 different directions. If you ask the players the vision or mission for the program you will get a different answer from each player. These programs often falter under pressure and fail to win close games or big games. They are never going to beat a team more talented than they are.

The "Talk About It" teams often lose to teams with lesser talent. Programs that talk about culture, character, and leadership often will implode at inopportune times. They often have players who will coast when no one is looking. When things are going well their players work hard, but only until things start getting uncomfortable. When things get uncomfortable, they are going to cut reps and even sets. They are going to have a nagging injury and find the "loser's limp."

"Talk About It Teams" and "Culture by Chance" teams have players that look at coaching and correction with disdain. They make excuses for mistakes. They don't like to be coached. Coaches often avoid confrontation so the start to ignore mistakes .Raise your hand if you work in, or have every worked in a program that would fall into this category?

The coaches of the "Talk About It" teams and the "Culture By Chance" teams often complain their kids aren't mentally tough. They often complain about their kids being entitled. They often talk about a lack of work ethic. These are the guys that say, "we didn't have a good senior class this year." 

Here is my question: WHAT DID YOU DO TO DEVELOP THE VERY THINGS YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT? DID YOU HAVE A VISION AND A PROCESS?

"Great seasons are not built in October and November, they are built in January and February, and March, April and May. Conversely, 1-9 and 2-8 seasons are built at the same time."

This brings us to the third level. The third level is the level I call, "Live It, Breath It, Love It." These programs are the elite. They are the programs that are consistently improving regardless of their talent level. These are the programs that consistently outperform their actual talent level. These programs often compete with the elite programs every year, despite not having elite talent. 

These are the programs that excel. And they all have one thing in common. They have a vision, a goal, and a process for building culture, character, and leadership. These are programs where every single kid and coach knows the core values of the organization and what they stand for. They know the vision and everyone in the organization is focused on the mission. These are the organizations where the athletes are accountable to each other. In business, these are the companies that have high employee retention and repeat customers. These are the companies where people don't call in sick because they "want" to be at work.

The programs that Live It, Breath It, Love It have players who embrace being uncomfortable. They have team members who will not give up because they don't want to let down the man next to them. These are the teams where every practice and every workout is a joy to watch. There is purpose and passion displayed in every drill. There is coaching going on every single rep. There is a high level of accountability. If a mistake is made it is called out and corrected immediately. Coaches are coaching the details. Players are hustling. Everything is highly organized and fast paced. Players accept coaching for what it is, "a compliment to say I care enough about you to help you be your best."

Organizations that Live It, Breath It, and Love It have five things that set them apart. Those five things are:

1. Cleary Defined Vision

2. Visible Core Values

3. Defined Process In Place

4. They Coach Details

5. Clear Accountability

Clearly Defined Vision: I recently heard someone on a podcast say that a vision is simply your purpose put into words. I look at vision as a clear picture describing where you want your organization to go culturally. It doesn't have to be long or wordy. Your vision simply communicates what you stand for. Describe what it looks like. Where do we want to go? Then, reduce this to a sentence or catch phrase. 

Visible Core Values: Your core values shape your culture and lead you to the vision of your organization. What do you want to develop in your athletes? A great way to build core values is to start with your coaches. What three things mean the most to you? Then ask your players. What three things are most important to you with this program. We once asked our team, "if you could design are program from scratch, what words would come to mind? Man, that was powerful! That shaped our core values. We weren't smart enough to call them core values, at the time, but that is what they were. The kids came up with: Trust, Honesty, Work Ethic, Perseverance, Passion, and Accountable.

From there we had them describe each of them in detail. We came up with our own definition for each of those. What do they look like? All of a sudden, our kids had a vested interest in the development of the culture and direction of the program. What does Honesty look like in the weight room? In the classroom? At practice? During games? What does Passion look like? What about Accountability? What will it look like in the weight room? In the locker room? This took a couple of days. It was the best two day investment we made! We then designed signs for each core value. They weren't fancy, but they were ours. 

Bruce Brown, who leads Proactive Coaching, calls these core covenants. He does this because a covenant is much stronger than a value. A covenant is much harder to break. You have to crawl all over yourself to break a covenant.

The players live and breath the culture. They understand the purpose and vision of the organization. They live the core values of the organization. They hustle well regardless of circumstance. They accept coaching. They have been trained on how to handle adversity. 

Defined Process in Place: Having a vision and core values gives you a starting place. Now you have to build your process. Your process is the method you will use to develop your core values. You might start practice with a 5 minute exercise. You might might start practice with 3 minutes and end practice with 3 minutes. You might have 5 core values and focus on one each day. 

Your entire coaching staff must be on board and unified in the process. Every coach must be enthusiastic and passionate about the process. A great way to get buy-in from your coaches is to make them part of the process. Have each coach take turns delivering the message of the day. A great way to do this is to break your kids into small groups and give each coach a group. Rather than presenting to your whole team, meet in small groups to communicate the core value of the day. This requires having a unified coaching staff. You then can rotate your kids each day so they are with a different coach. The more coaches are involved with the process, the more buy-in they will have.

Each day you build a consistency into your routine and your kids come to look forward to this time. You control what you put into their system mentally each and every day. They get so much garbage and negative talk from social media, the TV, and their peers. For the 45 minutes or 60 minutes, or 90 minutes we get them each day we control the message. We can give them our core values each and every day before we start and when we finish. And while they are working we can reinforce the message. 

In our small groups you also need to spend time sharing and learning about each other. Building strong relationships will go a long way toward shaping your culture. It is much easier to care about someone you know than someone you don't know. You want your players to learn to unconditionally love each other, and this starts with coaches loving each other unconditionally. Meeting in small groups allows this to happen. You can build these small groups into your athletic period or practice time at any point. You can put them in the beginning, middle, end, or all three. You control time through your decisions. How will you decide to reinforce your core values? 

Coach The Details: When we set our core values we talk about standards of performance. When we set a standard we held our players accountable. This had to be more than lip service. We all, meaning everyone in our program, had to hold each other accountable to our standard. This is not easy. This requires confrontation. Confrontation doesn't have to be negative. It goes to your culture. What does your culture say about accountability? Prepare your players for how they will be confronted. Teach them an appropriate response. 

When we talk about details, we are talking about the smallest things that most people think don't matter. Remind your team you are not most people. You are special. You are elite. You have a vision. You live to certain values. When we stand at attention, we clearly define what attention is. We then coach the details. If their eyes are not straight ahead, they are coached on that. If their feet are not in the proper position, they get coached on this.

Why does this matter? First, your players will be more detail oriented in practice. If you allow deviation from details in March and April, expect deviation in September and October. You must coach the details every single minute of every day. This is the part about living it. If you have a standard that you are not going to hold your players to every day, get rid of the standard. Having a standard that is inconsistently enforced will weaken your credibility. It will confuse them, and they will begin choosing what standards matter and what standards don't. This is when many fail on developing culture and standards. They inconsistently enforce the standards. Elite programs coach the  details and the players accept the coaching. 

Clear Accountability: When you have well-defined standards of performance and you hold your players to the details, you will begin to build a tremendous culture. Accountability can be handled in many ways. The goal is for your players to meet and even exceed the standard. We must continually remind and reteach. We must make sure we give clear instructions. When they fail to meet the standard we must coach them. This requires some sort of reminder activity. What will it take to help this player meet our standard? That is the question you must ask when determining what accountability exercise that will be done. 

Here is the key: You can't do this one day and quit. Coaches often say, "doesn't this take time out of other things?" That depends how you look at it. Are you taking time from from something else, or are you investing in something vital to your program's success? We all have 168 hours in a week. What are we doing with our time to build the best product we can? I am firmly convinced that culture is the most important ingredient in building a championship program. You get to choose how you spend the time you have with your program or organization. You get to choose what you do with that time. You get to choose how much time you spend in the weight room, on the track, and on the field. 

As you read through each of these, evaluate your organization. Where are you doing well, and where might you be lacking? What is the culture of your team? How would your players define your culture?

Regardless of where you are, you must take an action step. If you don't have a vision, or core values, or a plan to teach character and leadership, the time is now. Bring your team together and talk about what you think a championship organization looks like. Build your vision and core values. Put together a plan to invest time to develop your core values.

If you don't know where to start, find someone who can help. It's okay to not know. It's not okay to not seek out how. Reach out to a coach who can help you build your culture. Reach out to people who can help.

If I can help you please let me know. I have worked with several schools over the years on areas of building culture, character, and leadership. I will be speaking at several clinics this year on Building Character and Culture with the R.E.A.L. Man Program. The R.E.A.L. Man Program is a tremendous resource for you to build character and improve your culture.

Reach me on Twitter @coachvint for more information. Or, you can shoot me an email at coachvint@gmail.com.

A great coach that could help you with building a culture is Randy Jackson at Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Texas. He is one of the best at building culture with his athletes. His teams consistently overachieve. Randy Jackson can be found on twitter @CoachJacksonTPW He wrote a great book called Culture Defeats Strategy. It can be found here: coachrandyjackson.com

Coach Jackson's book is awesome!

X's and O's, Tempo, and RPO's!

A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points! 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points. 

The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season. 

My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts. 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

Social Media: The Power To Build and Power To Destroy

The advent of social media has changed our society forever. Nothing today is going to be done anonymously. Everything will have a digital footprint. If someone takes a picture at a party and you are there, chances are you are in the picture. They might be taking a picture with you in the background. But with facial recognition software, you may end up being the star of the picture.

Social Media is not all bad. Used correctly it can be a powerful tool that can be used many different ways. Nearly everyone can find a positive use for social media. Unfortunately, one bad tweet, post, or snapchat can be the downfall of the young and old.

For student-athletes, social media can be an outstanding way to build your brand. You may not realize this, but if you are on any social media platform you are building your brand. However, if you don't build your brand with intent, you may be giving people the wrong picture of you.

If misused, social media can be a very powerful tool of destruction. One negative tweet can result in the loss of a job or a scholarship. One negative tweet can destroy a friendship. One bad Facebook post can give people a negative perception of you, and perception to many becomes reality.

Every winter we hear the stories of a school dropping a recruit because of something they do or say on social media. College coaches do not want to recruit headaches. They want to recruit great athletes who will represent their program with class. They will monitor your Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat accounts. One negative tweet or retweet, and you are no longer on the board.

One the other side, you can use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to build a brand that a school will be proud to have in their program. You can show your community service, your leadership, your ability to build people up, and of course, your athletic ability. I am not talking about bragging about your talent and your stats. Your play on the field takes care of itself. I am talking about a tweet to a classmate who may be having a bad day. Or, sending an inspirational picture on Instagram and tagging a teammate who might need to lifted up. Used appropriately, people can see the greatness you have inside of you.

Social media doesn't lie. It will distort, but it won't lie. The thing is, everything you post is a choice. It is a choice to post something positive or negative. Before you post, like, or retweet something, ask yourself these questions:

1. How will the coaches recruiting me see me if I post this?

2. Will this help me get recruited, or will this hurt me?

3. Is this tweet going to make me look like a liability to a school recruiting me?

4. What will my teammates, parents, coaches, and future coaches think of me?

5. Would I want to be teammates with someone doing this?

If you aren't sure if the post will help or hurt you, then don't post it. It probably isn't good. If it is negative, don't post it.

If you are new to social media, here are a couple of ways to build your brand:
1. Post a link to your highlight film. This is a way to get it viewed. One post will not get it viewed. Post it a couple of times a week.

2. Post positive messages for your teammates and classmates. This goes a long way to build good will and shows potential coaches you care about others.

3. Post pictures of you doing good things. If you are doing a service project, post a picture. If you get an award or honor, post a picture. Make sure you thank others in the picture. It is bigger than you.

4. Tag coaches in your positive posts. If you get an award, tag a college coach recruiting you.

5. Retweet Uplifting messages: If you see something uplifting, retweet or share it. If a classmate or teammate does something great, share it or tweet about it. If someone is down, tweet something that might lift them up.

The ultimate question is, how do you want people to see you? How do you want college coaches to see you? You can't use twitter to impress the wrong people and the right people at the same time. You can't use Instagram and Facebook to impress the wrong people and right people at the same time. You have to make the right choices when it comes to social media. Remember, everything is retrievable. If you say something stupid, it will be screen captured and archived. It will never disappear.

If you make positive choices, social media can be great for building your brand. If you make negative choices, social media destroy opportunities. Don't let 140 characters ruin an opportunity for you.

Recently I made my recruiting webinar available online for parents and prospects. This has hours of valuable information that will help you with the entire recruiting process. It has everything you need to navigate the recruiting process. For less than the cost of attending a college camp, you can learn everything you need to know to increase your chances of earning a college athletic scholarship! Click the link below to take advantage! I have put this on sale for a limited time! Click HERE To Get This Course Now!

Here are the downloadable resources that are included in this program!

Click the link to order today! Use the coupon code Schol$$ to save an extra 25%!

Shameless plug: I wrote two iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense. 

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

The HOPE Foundation and Coach Frank DiCocco

One of the greatest lessons I learned early on is that great coaching and teaching starts with unconditional love. I was blessed to have a father who coached this way. Growing up I had the opportunity to see first hand how unconditional love can impact young people. Early in my coaching career I worked for a man who cared greatly for each of his players. David Diaz coached kids to be better fathers and husbands. I was blessed to be exposed to Joe Ehrmann, author of two books on coaching. He wrote Inside Out Coaching and A Season of Life, which are two books every young coach should read.

Along with Joe Erhmann, I had the opportunity to visit with Dennis Parker, who authored of Coaching to Change Lives with D.W. Rutledge. At Columbus High School in the Bronx, we were searching for a way to teach our kids character and leadership. We took information from all of the aforementioned coaches as well as information from a variety of other sources. We began to piece together what would later be called Champions For Life. Champions for Life was our leadership development and character education program.

One afternoon I was on a message board for coaches and I was responding to a post about the importance of teaching young men more than the game of football. As I read further, I could tell the author of the post was passionate about coaching student-athletes to be their very best in life. We shared a few emails and he told me he was writing books on character. He called his curriculum The REAL Man Program. This young man was one of the most passionate coaches I had ever come across. His name was Frank DiCocco. Frank left this world too soon, but through the work of his family, his legacy will live on for generations.

Frank DiCocco

A few years back Frank started The H.O.P.E. Foundation for a Better Tomorrow, a non-profit organization focusing on Helping Other People Excel. Coach DiCocco's focus was not on himself. His focus was on helping everyone he met achieve their dreams. His goal as a coach was to help his players learn to become REAL men. Frank would email coaches free copies of his books so they would have a resource to teach character. He created handouts and packets and shared these with thousands of coaches. Frank shared this information because he cared about coaches and kids, and the great game we coach. 

Through the foundation Frank founded, his family has made it their mission to put Frank's books in the hands of every coach in the world. They have been traveling to clinics and conventions talking with coaches and sharing Frank's vision. Coaches across the country have impacted their kids with The R.E.A.L. Man Program!

Please take a moment to check out the H.O.P.E Foundation's website by clicking here: H.O.P.E. Foundation For a Better Tomorrow. There are links to order all of Frank's books, which are great resources for teaching character. I use some of his information with my team, and it has been hugely beneficial. 

There are many reasons why we became coaches. Frank DiCocco became a coach to help other people excel. Each and every day we have an opportunity to change someone's life!

In January of 2016 I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Outwork Your Talent

Imagine the possibilities. Imagine breaking through barriers and reaching heights you never thought you could reach... The greatest limitations we face are those we place on ourselves. Sometimes we do this consciously, sometimes we do this subconsciously. We allow ourselves to draw a line in the sand that we will not cross. We tell ourselves this is as far as I can go, so I will limit myself to this point. We draw this line subconsciously  through a sense of entitlement. We think we have arrived so we become stagnant or lazy. We are not willing to work for what we want... We may have all the desires in the world, but when our effort doesn't match our desire, we will certainly fail.

I recently ran into a friend of mine in the coaching world at the Austin Airport. I asked him about a quarterback he had that I recruited back in 2007. This kid had all the tools you could want. He was 6-3, 230 pounds, ran a consistent 4.65 40, and could throw a ball 60 yards. At worst he was going to make a great tight end or defensive end. His coach warned me the kid did not have a great work ethic. The kid was late for practice at least once a week and did not come to workouts in the summer. We decided to pass on recruiting him.

Fast forward six years to the Austin Airport. I asked coach where this young man ended up. The grocery store. Huh? The grocery store where he stocks shelves at night. Despite having all the talent to be a BCS football player, this kid's attitude and work ethic got in the way of his success. When he got to high school he was better than everyone else. Because of this, he thought he didn't have to work hard. His coaches thought they had a kid who would be a big-time football player who would lead them to a state championship. What they actually had was a young man who would lead his team to a 4-5 season as a senior. This sure fire prospect had turned into a suspect by his senior year. He went to a small NAIA school where he lasted three weeks. His attitude had not improved, and the coaching staff had seen enough. This is a kid who said he wanted to play in the NFL, but his work ethic and attitude did not match his desire.

"If your work ethic and attitude do not match your goals, you will find disappointment." 

This happens all too often in the world of athletics. Every coach at all levels has stories about kids that wasted their talent. Instead of working hard to develop their talent, they think they can get by on their talent. They think because they are a better athlete that they can be lazy and just get by. This works for a while... until the pond starts getting bigger. At some point your poor attitude and lack of work ethic will catch up to you. 

The goal of every athlete should be to outwork your talent. In fact, that should be the goal of everyone, regardless of the endeavor. Work ethic and attitude are choices. They are not given to you by someone else. They are not willed to you or passed along genetically. You have complete control over your attitude and work ethic. You can control whether you get the most out of your talent. If you fight to outwork your talent every single day, you will be the best that you are capable of being. And that will translate into success.

On the other side of the coin are the kids who have less talent, but they outwork their talent every single day. You have guys that work so hard that they improve and pass by more talented athletes. We all have numerous stories about these guys. They are the guys that are going to reach pinnacles in life because they know how to overcome obstacles. They are never satisfied where they are and they keep pushing themselves.

The final group is the group that is, unfortunately, very rare. This is the group of very talented athletes who have a great work ethic. These are guys everyone else feeds off of. They are the special players that make everyone else around them better. They are the guys that play a big part in the success of a program. These guys are game changers on the field and in the locker room. They are guys that never miss a workout. They are guys that never skip a rep. They are guys that are going to do more than what is expected. These guys embrace the grind of being the best. These are the players that get a chance to play on Sundays. 

This is what we as coaches are working to do each day. We are finding ways to inspire you to do more than you think you can. We are trying to get you out of your comfort zone so you can stretch yourself to reach new heights. We are creating adverse situations where you learn to overcome obstacles and deal with pain. We are trying to get you to realize that your talent doesn't matter if you aren't willing to be responsible to your teammates.

"Great Players Are Comfortable Being Uncomfortable"

Here are six specific things you can do to outwork your talent. 

1. Be There

2. Be On-Time

3. Do every rep with a great attitude

4. Embrace adversity

5. Help Your Teammates Be the Best They Can Be

6. Care About Your Teammates

1. You have to be there to be successful. While just showing up will not make you successful, not showing up will guarantee failure.

2. It takes zero talent to be on-time. Being on time is about self-discipline. It is about showing others you respect and value them. On a team it means you understand your are responsible to others and they can depend on you.

3. This is the toughest part for most young people. They get tired and they decide to cut one or two reps. Everyone gets tired. Mediocre people justify not completing the workout. Great players understand that growth takes place when you face stress and pressure. This is where mental toughness comes in. When you are fatigued and you have one more set, are you going to make a CHOICE to do every rep? Are you going to CHOOSE to do an extra rep? Are you going to CHOOSE to finish the drill?  

Champions are not made on Friday Nights. Champions are made in January, February and March. Champions are made in June and July. There is something very powerful about pushing through and completing a drill when you are exhausted. There is something very powerful of knowing your teammate is willing to do that for you. This is how you build confidence. You build confidence when you overcome obstacles that you didn't think you could overcome. 

4. Everyone does well when things are easy. How do you handle things when they aren't going your way? How do you handle your coach telling you we have five more sets? How do you handle your coach calling you out because you aren't putting forth your best effort? How do you handle your coach or teammate telling you your not getting deep enough on squat? Do you choose to improve or do you choose to give up?

5. Great players are willing to do whatever it takes to make those around them better. This is what separates good players from great players. Good players make themselves better. Great players intentionally make those around them better. You will never reach your full potential until you help your teammates reach theirs.

6. It is much easier to overcome adversity when you have a group of people with a common goal. You need to encourage your teammates to work hard and that you have their back. You will not let them fail. This is where great teams are made. They are made because guys cared about their teammate more than they cared about themselves.

Every single day you have to be willing to put forth the attitude, effort, and enthusiasm to reach your goals. You have to be willing to work harder to do more than what your talent says you can do. If you outwork your talent, you will break through barriers to reach new heights. At the end of the day, you will know you reached your full capabilities.

Shameless Plug...

 Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points! 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points. 

The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season. 

My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts. 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

In January of 2016 I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

One of the keys to our success was tremendous preparation!The key to  preparation was our outstanding group of documents we used for all three phases. If you are looking for fully editable and customizable documents that you can tailor to your program, I have made mine available. 

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today for under $15 and download them tonight!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/