Best Coaching Remote!

With fall camp getting ready to begin, I wanted to share my review on the BEST remote available for coaches today! 

I wanted to find a remote to watch film that would allow to me fast forward, slow rewind, and advance to the next play and go back to the previous play. Like many of you, I don't want to sit at my desk watching film. I want to be up walking around the room and engaging with the players. 

The remotes offered by the video companies tend to cost $250 to $300. I wanted something that was more cost feasible. I also wanted something I could use with power point and would have more functionality. After testing several remotes, I found the winner! And it is available on Amazon Prime for under 1/5th of the cost of the remote offered by video companies. 

The PR-820 by Red Star Tec has become my goto remote for everything from Hudl to Power Point Presentations. Here is a link to order yours today: PR-820 by Red Star Tech. 

The PR-820 is small, easily fits in the palm of your hand, and is comfortable to hold. It does everything you need a remote to do with video, including slow rewind! It also has a laser pointer! 

This is the remote I would recommend using with Hudl and Quick Cut. The great thing is that you can also use it in the classroom to teach from your presentations. If you speak at clinics, this remote is a must have! No longer do you have to stand at your computer to show video. 

Here is a YouTube Video I did showing the PR-820 Remote. 

I would highly recommend you check out the PR-820 and get yours ordered today! PR-820 by Red Star Tec.

Check This Out! If you are looking for specific resource you can use to help you be more effective with your game planning and more explosive on offense, check out my offensive game planning packet at  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 and start preparing for your first game right now! This helped us be able to be prepared to attack the defense and put more points on the board. It also helped us be much more efficient and targeted on the weekends when we were game planning. 

Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like: 

This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!

When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation! 

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. 

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/ This helped us to build dominating special teams! 

I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office! 

A while back 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

Installing Post-Snap RPO's

Installing Pre-Snap RPO's To Get Your Skill Guys More Touches

Building An Elite System of Gameday Communication

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

As mentioned above, 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. 

Books

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 apple device, you can order the paperback version! It is available on Amazon! 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520447485

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

New Book

Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith

Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy. 

I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life. 

5 Keys to Offensive Success

Regardless of what system you run or what level you coach, there are 5 things you need to do if you want to be successful on offense. These five things make a huge difference in the level of success you will enjoy. 

Before I get into the five things you must do, I want to focus on perhaps the biggest mistake we make as offensive coordinators. One of the easiest ways to jack up your offensive game plan is to try to do too much. It is very easy to draw things on the board and come up with a million great ideas. Those ideas always look good on paper and on the board. Then you get into the game, and your players don't execute them very well. You find yourself scratching your head. How come this concept didn't work. 

When you add too much into a game plan, you are going to be frustrated. It is very difficult to be good at anything you do, because you can't rep everything. The most important thing you can do when you build your game plan is to cut things out. Find the best of what you like and build from there. 

Think about this. You are going to snap the ball somewhere between 55 and 75 times a game, depending on how fast you play, how much you throw, and how much time your opponent has the football. If you play fast, and you play a team that plays fast, you might get 85 or 90 snaps. If you play a team that runs the ball and eats clock, you might get 45 or 50 snaps. Even you get 80 snaps in a game, you aren't going to need to run 80 different plays. In fact, you are going to repeat things that are working, and cut things out that don't work. It is okay to run the same play back-to-back, and even three or four times in a row. In 1999 we ran I-Right 42 Iso 16 plays in a row. For 2 straight drives that is all we ran. We scored both drives. We had had an advantage on the right side of our line, and our fullback was better than their Mike. 

If you have something they can't stop, run it again and again and again. As you game plan, look for formations that give you leverage, numbers, and green grass. You may find that team lines up different than you expected to a set, and they don't have a force guy, or they are a hat short. Once you find this, exploit it. 

Nascar Tempo: The Great Equalizer

I want to take a few minutes to talk with you about Nascar Tempo, and the value of tempo to your offense. Nascar Tempo isn't a speed we play, it's a way of life. It's how we live. What does this mean? 

Everything we do we want to do with a sense of urgency. You want to have no wasted movements. You want to always be moving from one point to the next, and doing so expediently. Tempo is about being early and on-time. Tempo is about hustle. Tempo is about being determined and focused. 

As an OC, I wanted to find any advantage possible to score as many points as possible. But more important than points scored, was setting ourselves up to win the game. We had to score more points than our opponent. There were seasons where our defense struggled and we had to score more points on offense to win. There were other seasons where our defense was the strength of our team, and we wanted to do everything we could to help our defense. That meant not putting them in bad positions. But at the same time, we always wanted to score. Nascar was always a part of our offense, but we used it strategically based on the situation we were in. 

I look at our fastest tempo as an opportunity to play fast, but we don't just want to play as fast as we can. We want to mix up our Tempos or modes for teams to defend. I recently asked one of my quarterbacks from several years ago if he remembered how many tempos we used. He said sure coach, "fast, faster, and ludicrous speed." That made me laugh, because I showed them the luriscious speed scene from Spaceballs. 

We didn't always play as fast as we could, but had the ability to. There were times we played faster than others. We wanted to have the ability to change speeds. Today I want to talk with you about playing at our fastest tempo, which most people call Nascar. 

Benefits of Playing Fast

I look at Nascar Tempo as the great equalizer. We have the ability to keep the defense off balance, and not allow them to gather themselves between plays. We want to be able to dictate the pace of the game and get the defensive players out of their comfort zone. Defenses also don't have time to substitute. If they try to substitute players, they will have too many on the field. Here is an example from a game where the defense had 13 players on the field when the ball was snapped. They also weren't able to get lined up. 

As you can see, they couldn't get guys off the field or get lined up. 

3 Keys to Consistent Accountability

Championship Level Accountability

Coaches that enjoy consistent, long-term success at an elite level have one very important secret to their success. These elite coaches are not accidentally successful. Success didn't just happen. They understand that success and high level performance comes from consistent, intentional accountability from everyone in the organization.

Consistent Accountability comes down to three principles. First, you have clear standards of performance. Your standards are clearly laid out and everyone in the organization understands the standards. Second is consistent accountability to the standards. Every single person is held accountable to the standard. Third, you care enough about people to have difficult conversations.

Clearly Defined Standards

Your standards must be clearly laid out, and everyone must understand and know the standard. If they know the standard and understand it, they will know when they don't meet it. The problem lies when they think they met the standard, but didn’t, and it wasn't clearly defined. This is when you, as a coach, have to teach the standard in a different way. The greatest teachers know that not everyone learns the same way. Most people tend to be visual learners, but others are auditory. A good percentage of athletes are a combination of visual and kinesthetic learners. This means they have to see and do before they learn a skill.

I once heard a coach say, "telling isn't teaching." Just because you tell someone something, doesn't mean they learned it. How many times have you heard a coach say, "well I told him." That is not coaching. That is telling. And that should never be our excuse. How do you know they learned what your are teaching? You have to obtain feedback. Instead of asking if they understand, ask them a question with a specific answer. If you told them to arrive by 2pm, don't say, "do you understand?" Replace that with, "what time do you have to be here?" If they say 2pm, you know they learned the expectation.

When you teach, you need to have coaching points. The business world calls them bullet points. What are your buzz words that kids must learn? This helps them to remember, retain, and recall information.

If your players don't know the expectations, how can they meet them? You cannot assume something is understood by everyone if you haven't laid it out clearly. You most likely will have to repeat the standard over and over again. But if you never define the standard, don't be upset when your players don't reach it.

Consistent Accountability

Every single person must be held accountable to the standard. There are two things I see in organizations that destroy trust. First, some athletes are held to the standard while others are not. And second, the standards change based on which coach the athlete is with at that moment. 

If you hold one person to the standard but you don't hold another person accountable, you are going to be frustrated. Your team is going to be frustrated. If you have a standard that says no one will wear earrings in the weight room, and you allow one athlete to wear earrings in the weight room, tomorrow you will have 5 people wearing earrings in the weight room. Permitting is promoting. Now you have lost the standard. You have two choices. You can either reteach the standard and tell the athletes you are going to hold them accountable and actually do it. Or, you can get rid of the standard. The best way is to consistently hold people accountable to meeting your standard. 

A standard that I see consistently violated on average teams is the "no one walks off the field" standard. You go to their practice, and you see guys walking off the field. Then you watch them in a game, and guys are walking off the field. If your standard is that you jog off the field, then hold guys accountable to the standard. Teach them the standard in practice. Don't wait until games to try to teach a standard. Do a drill in practice where they have to jog off the field. Remember, what you permit, you promote. 

The second issue comes when one coach holds an athlete accountable and another does not. I see this a lot with parallel squat. One coach is making sure athletes get to parallel, while another coach accepts a squat that is above parallel. There needs to be consistent accountability from coaches for standards of performance to mean anything. Each coach must be clear on the standards and hold athletes accountable. 

Care Enough To Have Difficult Conversations

A sure fire way to show an athlete you don't really care about them is to allow them to not meet the standard. I have seen this at a lot of programs and it always involves guys that are considered really good players. Coaches must be willing to hold their best players accountable. If you don't, you not only hurt the program, but you hurt the kid. When you let things go with your best players, accountability is lost for everyone. 

Nick Saban talked about how special his team was this year. It was special because his best players were accountable to the standard and led others. When your best players are your best people, you will have something special. But a big part of this came from those players having consistent accountability. They were held accountable to meeting the standards, every single day. They were coached with intentionality. 

Players will rise or fall to the level of accountability to the expectations. If you have high expectations and high accountability, you will have a high performing organization. If you have high expectations and low accountability, you will always fall short of your expectations. 

Players want structure and accountability. They want someone to care about them enough to set high expectations for them. They also want someone to care enough about them to hold them to those expectations. The biggest reason coaches don't want to have these conversations is that they don't want conflict. Listen, if you don't want conflict then don't be a coach.  Go be a gardener. But you don't have to confront mediocrity in such a way that causes a lot of conflict. There are athletes who will test you. "Will coach really hold me accountable?" When they know you will, they will rise to the level of the accountability to the standard. 

Players want you to see the best in them. They want you to love them enough to hold them accountable and push them to be their best. 

Meeting The Standard

If someone doesn't meet the standard, it is usually because of one of two reasons. First, they didn't understand the standard of performance. Second, they know there are no consequences and the act will be ignored. This is often when we say the athlete doesn't care. No, they care, they either don't think you are going to hold them accountable, or they are going to test you. Inconsistent accountability is a mistake a lot of coaches make. They have inconsistent standards. The standard changes from athlete to athlete and coach to coach.

Our standards must be consistent and unified across the coaching staff and everyone in the organization. The standard can't change from one day to the next. This confuses our athletes and isn't fair to them. It will also lead to failure. If the athlete doesn't clearly understand the standard, reteach it. The second reason is simple. Hold them accountable. Care about them enough to hold them accountable to meeting the standard and being their best.

As you prepare for your season, begin to evaluate your accountability. Do you have clear standards of performance, and are you holding your athletes consistently accountable? Do you care enough about your athletes to have difficult conversations with them?

I wish you the best as you prepare your team for the upcoming season. I hope this has given you some actionable ideas for your program. Clearly define your standards, and have a consistent, high level of intentional accountability with your players. It will make a difference in your program while having a positive impact on your players.

And remember, it doesn't matter how much or how little talent you have to hold athletes accountable.

Additional Resources:

A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these 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 and start preparing for your first game right now! At one time this was $99, but it is available right now for less than $13!

Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like: 

This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!

When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation! 

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. Again, it is less than $13 right now!

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/ This helped us to build dominating special teams! 

I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office! 

 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

New Book

Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith

Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy. 

I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.

Teaching the Running Back to Read 1 to 2 on Outside Zone

The outside zone play is a versatile concept that gives you the opportunity to attack multiple gaps of the defense using a wide angle. We want to be able to create vertical seams in the defense through horizontal movement. Our ultimate goal with the outside zone play is to get the ball to the perimeter. Once you establish that you can get the ball on then edge, you can get the defense flowing. This creates opportunities for the back to get north and south before getting to the edge. 

When I talk about outside zone at clinics, I get a lot of questions asking how we coach the running backs. Coaching the back is a vital component of having success with the outside zone. The back must understand his aiming point, the angle of his pads, the timing, and where his eyes should be. He has to know when to put his outside foot in the ground to get vertical, and he has to know when to take the edge. Our running backs coach at Estacado, Alfonzo Franklin, does an outstanding job of teaching our backs the proper vision points. 

When we installed outside zone in 2000, we told the back to run to daylight. Our backs with speed would race to the edge and usually win. What we found, however, was that we missed opportunities for explosive plays when we didn't get the box locked. What we mean by getting the box locked, is that the offensive line gets leverage on the defenders by getting to their outside bicep, essentially locking them inside. We made an adjustment to how we coached our backs, and it made all the difference. Once we made this adjustment, we increased our per play average on outside zone from 6.4 yards per play to 8.2 yards per play. 

Running Aiming Point

When we are under center or in the pistol meshing playside, the running back's aiming point is the outside leg of the tackle. We had the exact same aiming point on inside and outside zone. The back takes a zone step playside, comes to balance, and works to the outside leg of the playside tackle. 

 

If the back is in a sidecar position, he is going to be fast and flat, attacking the edge. We want him to accelerate across the toes of the quarterback, through the mesh. We tell him to take three steps through the mesh and three steps to decision. 

The path of the back is very important on all runs, but it is particularly important on our outside zone play. 

Coaching The Running Back's Eyes

The change we made was having our running back read what we called "1 to 2." This will determine whether the back was going to hit the edge, or hit downhill. And if he hit the play downhill, it made him always be right when he hit downhill. This gave them a definitive place to put their eyes, and helped us to have more consistent play. 

We identify the number 1 as the widest first level defender. The number 2 is the next first level defender inside the number 1. 

In the figure above, we are running outside zone to the right. The walked up outside linebacker is on the line. He is the number 1. The defensive end is the number 2. The running back must identify and know that he is reading one to two. 

In the figure above the defense is in a 4-2 look, with the defensive end in a 9 technique. He becomes number 1, and the defensive tackle is number 2. 

In the figure above, the offense is running inside zone to the left, away from the tight end. The defensive end is number 1, and the defensive tackle is number 2. Our rules for #1 to #2 were adaptable whether we ran the play to the tight end, or away from the tight end. This helped to simplify things for our running backs, regardless of what formation we were running our outside zone play from. 

Once the running back understands who number 1 and number 2 are, he can learn what he is reading. It is vital he has his eyes in the right place. We want him to have his eyes going from 1 to 2. We drill this into the running backs every day. His rules are simple:

• If 1 is in, I'm Out.
• If 1 is out, I'm In, My Eyes Go to 2. 
• If 2 is in, I'm Out.
• If 2 is out, I'm In.

As the back attacks, his aiming point, he is going to put his eyes on number 1. If number one is in, meaning we get him reached, the back is going to accelerate to the edge. He knows he is running outside. This is the easiest read for the running back. 

When we teach the running backs, the first thing we teach them is 1 being in. To create creases, we must force the defense to flow. We want them to know that we can take the edge, and force them to run. When they run, they create creases. 

Below is a video clip of #1 being in and the back hitting the edge. 

The tight end gets to the outside of the OLB who is number 1, and that gives the running back the edge. 

Below is another clip of #1 being in. The TE gets to the outside bicep of the OLB, creating an opportunity to get the running back to the edge. 

We want to use our outside zone play to get to the edge. When we can get our athletes on the perimeter, we will have more big play opportunities. 

What happens when #1 goes out? Is the play dead? That is what happened to us when we first installed the outside zone. We didn't give the back an option to put his foot in the ground and get vertical. We told him to win to the edge. Once we made an adjustment when #1 was stretching the play, we became more explosive. At one point we had worked on installing mid-zone, but with our #1 to #2 read on outside zone, we essentially gained the benefits of mid-zone without having to invest in the installation. 

When #1 is out, the running back gets his eyes to #2. The back knows he doesn't have the edge, and #2 will show him where the vertical crease will be. If #2 is out, the back will go inside of #2. If #2 is in, the back will go outside of #2. 

The back sees #1 is out, so he takes his eyes to #2. He sees #2 is out, so he hits downhill inside #2. The flow of the defense has created a crease where the play hits downhill. The play is hitting in the A gap, but the A gap is where the C gap was located presnap. It looks like the play hit hard downhill, but that is because of the horizontal displacement of the defense. 

Below is a video clip illustrating #1 being out and #2 being out. 

You can see, this creates a crease to hit downhill. The defense is flowing to take away the perimeter, and they are giving the offense a crease inside. This all is predicated with creating flow. 

Below is another clip of #1 and #2 being out. 

And one more...

And another...

As you can see, the defense is flowing fast to take away the wide action. This creates seams for the running back. 

Let's look at the next read. If #1 is Out, and the back takes his eyes to #2 and sees #2 in, the back will hit between #1 and #2. This often happen against under front defenses when we can the 1 technique reached, and against odd defenses with a 0 nose guard. 

The figure above illustrates when #1 is out and #2 is in. This gives us a crease between #1 and
#2. 

Below is a video example of #1 being out and #2 being in. When #1 is out and #2 is in, the back hits downhill between 1 and 2. 

Here is another clip with 1 out and 2 in. This is from a trips look where we have the #3 receiver working inside to account for the playside inside backer. This is a wrinkle that is good from 3x1 sets where #3 is uncovered. 

Here is another clip of #1 being out and #2 being in. This time it is to a 3 man surface. 

You can see from the video above that the read for the back allows you to add versatility to the outside zone play. You stress the defense, and force them to slow down their ability to flow to the edge. Anytime you can make defenders play slower, you are going to have more explosive plays. 

Whether you are man or zone blocking, the back must be able to force the defense to defend the edge. Once he forces them to defend the edge, the back can use his vision to find the crease when the edge player widens to take away the perimeter. Teaching your young running backs to read 1 to 2 will help them be able to better find the crease, and will help you to be more successful running this concept. It also will give them more concrete and specific coaching than simply saying run to daylight. 

I wish you the best as you prepare for the upcoming season. If you are looking for some resources that will help you in your preparation, I have put together some things that coaches at all level of football are using with their programs. Not only will these help you be more organized, they will save you valuable time on the weekends. 

A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these 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 and start preparing for your first game right now! At one time this was $99, but it is available right now for less than $13!

Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like: 

This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!

When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation! 

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. Again, it is less than $13 right now!

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/ This helped us to build dominating special teams! 

I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office! 

 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

New Book

Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith

Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy. 

I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life. 

12 Keys To Being A Successful Offensive Coordinator

In the nearly 20 years I have been a coordinator, I have learned a lot about what doesn't work. Those mistakes have helped us learn ways to troubleshoot and figure out how to get better. A couple weeks ago a coach I met at the Glazier Clinic in St. Louis called me because he just got promoted to offensive coordinator. We talked about some things I thought were important, and figured this could benefit about anyone who was an OC or aspired to be. Here are some things I have learned that might benefit you.

1. Less Is More
The first and most important thing I have learned is that less is more. I have consistently been way too ambitious with our install menu. If we are going to use 32 formations, 10 runs, 6 passes, 2 screens, and a draw, along with a waggle and a naked boot, we have too much stuff. I used to think running a play is running a play regardless of formation. One season we decided to add new formations each week. Our concepts were the same, but the formations would change.  One week we struggled with our inside zone read play. Our tight end came back to the sideline and said, "coach, it looks different." Even though we ran the same inside zone read concepts, running them from different formations changes the presentation. Our tight end gave us a valuable coaching point that day.

The more you install, the more your players have to process. The more you install, the more they have to remember. It is also important to remember that each team is different. Some groups will have a bigger capacity to learn and remember. Some teams will not be able to handle as much. You have to figure out how much each group can handle.

2. How Much Should We Install
Coaches often will ask me how many plays they should install. There is no concrete answer, but I will say most of us install too much. Realistically you need 1 inside run, 1 outside run, 1 off tackle run, and one counter or misdirection play. You need 2 to 3 intermediate pass concepts, 3 quick game concepts, a play action off your identity run, a sprint out, a draw, and a screen. You run these from 6 base formations. Add one trick play and one exotic formation each week, and you will have more than enough.

You might have one gap inside run and inside zone. You might have a pin and pull concept or outside zone to attack the perimeter. You might have a quarterback who struggles to read though a progression. If that is the case then you want to install key defender reads. Find what works best for your guys.

One important addition is this: You need to have an identity play which you can always run against anyone and anything. Too many offenses do not have an identity. They have a collection of plays, but they don't have an identity of who they are. You need to know your identity and who you are. This needs to be a part of building your install menu and schedule.

3. Think Players Not Plays
When the game is on the line you need to get the ball to your dudes. What you call is important, but who you get the ball to is most important. One of the biggest mistakes I have made is trying to call the perfect play. The perfect play to an average athlete will rarely be a "perfect play." If you call a bad play but get the ball to a dude, he will make it a great play. The best thing to do is call a great play to a great player, but when in doubt, get your dudes the ball. Many a time we have had a huge play on a bad play call because the right guy had the ball.

4. Match Your Philosophy To The Head Coach
This is really important. If you want to run an air raid system and your head coach runs the slot-t, you will have to marry your philosophy to his. If you can't do this, then it isn't a job you need to take. Don't take an OC job to take an OC job. Make sure your values are aligned with those of the head coach. If your head coach wants to slow the game down, then don't walk in there trying to run a bunch of tempo. When Joe Cluley hired me to be his OC at Estacado he laid out his expectations and we made sure we shared the same philosophy. This is vital to the success of our offense and program as a whole.

5. Get On The Same Page With The DC
This is very, very important. You and the DC must be partners. You have to work together to build practice plans and share personnel. You have to be able to bounce ideas off each other and make sure you are always doing what is best for the team. If you don't get along with the DC you will not have as much success and you will be miserable. At Estacado our DC is Cody Robinson, and he is awesome to work with. We have a great relationship and work as a team. We also compete against each other, but we work closely to ensure we maximize the success of the program.

6. Leave Your Ego At The Door
One of the most important things you must know is that it isn't about you. It is about the kids and the program. This goes with points 4 and 5. What is best for your program? What is best for your kids? Never walk in and try to impose your will on situation. You must fit your system to the strengths and needs of the program as a whole. If you want to play fast and snap the ball 90 times a game, but it isn't best for your team, then don't do it. Guys are always talking about stats. The most important stat is the win-loss record. No one person is bigger than the program, including the offensive coordinator. Never forget this.

7. Hire Smart People and Trust Them
I want the best people in football around me. Find people who are very smart, care about kids, and are great teachers. Then listen to them when it comes to building your system. If there is a better way to do something find that way. When you personnel your offensive staff, find a way to put them in the positions where they can best contribute to the staff as a whole. The most important thing you will do is put your staff in place. Give them responsibility and a vested interest in the success of your offense. Give them the authority to coach their guys.

8. Promote Your Staff
As a coordinator your goal needs to be to help the members of your staff grow as coaches and move up in the profession. You want your guys moving on to be coordinators. Do everything you can to help them move up. With that said, make sure your guys understand what it takes to be a coordinator. If a guy comes late all the time or is always the first one out the door, he probably isn't serious about being a coordinator. Find out the goals of the guys you work with and help them reach those goals.

9. Personal Growth Is Vital
The day you think you have it figured out is the day you need to quit. Everyday is a chance to grow. Everyday is a chance to learn. Early in my career I saw a very successful D-1 Head Coach speak at a clinic. After his talk he was sitting in the front row watching the next speaker, a high school coach talk about paired plays. This power 5 head coach was taking notes on a high school speaker. This was a valuable lesson. Every time someone talks football, be ready to take notes.

When a coach visits your school to recruit, ask them questions. Ask them about install. Ask them how the teach a concept or a drill. When you ask, then take notes. Taking notes is a great tool for learning. Taking notes helps you to remember information. It also gives you something to look back on if you do forget. Most guys are smarter than I am. But I know that when I don't take notes I will forget.

The biggest part of this is personal growth. Be willing to grow everyday. Always strive to be a better coach. Always strive to be a great example. Never ask your position coaches to do something you wouldn't do yourself. This is vital.

10. Always Have A Pen and Whistle- 
Every time you talk on the field make sure you have a pen and a whistle. A pen is vital so you can take notes during practice. Too much happens for you to remember everything. Having a pen allows you to write down your thoughts immediately. You might want to look at how you are teaching a blocking scheme, or receiver steps on a route. If you don't write down your thought you might forget it. Maybe you never forget things. That's great. But having a habit of writing things down during practice will help you be more apt to remember.

11. Set Clear Expectations For You Staff and Players
Make sure you have clearly defined roles and responsibilities for your staff. If you don't have clear expectations your staff cannot meet them. This is an area that I struggle with to this day. You have to make sure your staff knows exactly what to expect on a daily basis. Once you set your expectations, hold your staff to those expectations. Your staff will only be as good as the example you set and the expectations you all strive to meet each day. Make sure you are the standard on a daily basis.

Make sure your players understand the expectations and standards you set. When they make a mistake you must first look at yourself. Could they have been coached different? Did they understand the standard? Was the expectation clear? If not, clarify. No one wakes up trying to screw up. Find a way to reach each player. If they don't get something don't give up on them. Find a new way to teach it. It all starts with clear expectations.

12. Preparation Is Vital
When I first became an OC I used to say "we run what we run." It didn't matter what the defense did, we were going to what we did. In theory this sounded great. But this kept me from preparing well. The truth is I really didn't know how to prepare. After that first year as an OC I went back and watched every single play from the season. I watched in disbelief of why we called certain plays. I winged our in game calls. There had to be a better way. I spent a lot of time researching how to prepare. I talked to successful high school and college coaches about how they prepared. I took pages and pages of notes.

During the summer of my 2nd season as an OC we spent a lot of time watching film and practicing our preparation. I built call sheets and began to simulate calling games. I had recorded college games on VHS tapes and would break them down. I would watch the games and try to find weaknesses. This was the beginning of our systematic approach to preparation.

When you prepare you have to watch film. I have written about this extensively, but the biggest deal is that you have to look at their structure, how they line up to formations, what coverages the defense plays, their blitz tendencies, and their personnel. We want to know were we can find leverage, numbers, and green grass, and where we can find a personnel win? Where can we win a matchup. We began to build a weekly menu, a very detailed practice plan, and very precise scout cards. Everything we did had a rhyme and a reason. Regardless of how you prepare, you must spend time in preparation.

Final Thoughts
These 12 keys are by no means an exhaustive list, but they are the 12 things I find most important to being successful as a coordinator. I wrote this looking inward as I need to work on several of these myself. It boils down to this: Be confident in your abilities, but be humble enough to realize it is bigger than you. Don't get caught up in the title of OC. Be a great coach at everything off the field and put the program first.

And remember this; Focus on what you have, not what you don't have. Don't look for the weaknesses in your players. Find their strengths.See the greatness inside the guys you coach. See them not for where they are, but for what they can be. If you see a kid as a backup, that's how you will coach him. If you see him as a starter, that's also how you will coach him. See them for what they can be, then coach them to get there. Also, make sure you let them know what you see them being. That is vital.

Next Level Preparation

A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these available.

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents.

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 and start preparing for your first game right now! 

Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what our call sheet looks like: 

This shows you a small portion of it. It is a fully editable, customizable two sided call sheet. It gives you the ability to better organize and be prepared on game day. It helped us to be better play callers on game day. There are eight other fully customizable documents! Some of the top high school programs in the country use this, as do several college programs!

When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation! 

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator. Defensive coordinators at all levels of football are using this. 

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! This helped us to build dominating special teams! 

I wanted these to be available at a very reasonable cost. These can help you to be more successful on the field and more efficient in the office! 

 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