How Much Is Too Much? 5 Negatives When You Install To Much

How much is too much? This is the age old question of offensive coordinators everywhere. At what point do we have too much installed? Why does this even matter? Is there such a thing as too much?

The first thing I will say is that I never once thought we had too little installed. There never was a season where I said, man, we didn't have enough in our system. There have, however, been several seasons where we felt we had too much installed. And often, it showed on the field. 

When you have too much installed, there are 5 things that you will find. 

1. You never get good at anything

2. Your players can't execute at a high level

3. Your coaches struggle to troubleshoot during games

4. It becomes harder to call plays, especially the right plays

5. You don't have an identity. 

    When you have too much installed, it is hard to be good at anything. You will find that you become really good at being average. How many times have you called the perfect play, only to have a kid bust on assignments? This is going to happen at times, but it is going to happen far more often when you have too much installed. 

    I equate installation to a jar full of sand. Once that jar gets full, you put the lid on. You can't add any more sand because there isn't any room. When you add some more sand to the jar, you can't put the lid back on. If you do get the lid on, you risk the jar breaking. How many times have you overloaded your players to the point they can't execute? Everything you install has to be practiced. It has to be rehearsed. You have to be able to run it against any front. The more things you try to do, the less time you have to practice each thing. 

    Another big issue that comes up is troubleshooting. When you have too many plays in your playbook it makes it really difficult to troubleshoot. Your guys come to the sideline after a series, only to be overloaded with information. They are not going to be able to process that information.  Your kids won't be able to make adjustments on the fly. If I am a receiver who has to adjust my blocking based on who the force guy is, I have to be able to determine if this is one high or two high. I have to know based on depth, eyes, and leverage if the corner is a force guy, or a deep zone dropper, or playing man. The more I have to remember, the harder it is going to be for me to make an adjustment and block the right guy. It is why we have receivers blocking no one. They are unsure. This happens all the time in games. Or, a guy will run the wrong route. An offensive lineman will step with the wrong foot. Having too much creates confusion and makes it harder to troubleshoot. 

    The hardest thing to do as a play caller is choose the right play to call when you have too much installed. You are looking at your call sheet, and it is just filled with information. There are really great things on your call sheet, and you can't pick what to call. Or, you can't find something you are looking for. You become indecisive. When you are indecisive you are not going to be as effective as a play caller. If you are targeted in your preparation, you will find yourself being a better play caller. 

    What is your identity? You have to have an identity concept if you are gong to be successful. What is the one play that you can run in your sleep when you need a first down? What is the one thing people must be able to stop if they are going to beat you? That doesn't mean you aren't good at other things, but knowing your identity and identity concept are vital for you to be explosive on offense. Your kids also feed into your identity. When you don't know your identity, they won't know your identity. 

    This is the big challenge coaches face each season, and each game week. How much is too much? It is going to be different for each team. What works for one team may not work for another. Some teams have a higher football aptitude. When a backup is in the game, your call sheet might be limited even further. The less they have to learn, the more effective they will be able to be. 

    As you prepare for the upcoming season, ask yourself these three questions.

Four Keys to Offensive Organization

Perhaps the most important aspect of being successful on offense is organization. The more organized you are, the more efficient you can be. What does your organization consist of? I think there are four important elements. Those four are:

1. Personnel
2. Game Plan
3. Practice Plan
4. Call Sheet

Personnel is vital because you must make sure your best athletes are on the field where they can help your team the most. Many years ago we had a kid we were using at running back, but he just wasn't playing well. He was big, fast, and physical. He sometimes ran routes out of the backfield at half speed because he didn't know what to do. He also didn't have great vision. When we moved him to tight end he became an all-state player. Our offense improved, and he played a more vital role. He wasn't a great athlete at running back, but at tight end he flourished.

Our game plan is based on our scouting report. We want to find advantages over the defense and exploit those on game day. The purpose of our game plan is to give us a systematic approach to calling plays. We don't want to shoot from the hip. We want everything we do to have a purpose. We have a menu each week of 24 to 36 calls we think we will be able to do successfully against the defense. We star the 8 things we think we will be best at during that week. When we put our game plan together, we want to feature those 8 things we think are going to create opportunities to score more points. Like all of you, the goal is to call the touchdown play! 

With our game plan we have to be adaptable. When the game starts, we often find something that we can use to consistently gain yards. As we prepare for each game there are certain things we expect the defense to do. They often will do something different, and sometimes that something different gives us a chance at big plays. We must recognize this during the game and during preparation. What do you do if the defense suddenly calls strength to the boundary? Or, what if a 3-4 team suddenly gets in a 4-3 front? Do you have a plan? Have you practiced contingencies? Are you adaptable enough to shift on the fly?

Practice Planning is vital to your preparation each week. As we prepare our practices we make sure we have enough individual time, group time, and team time to prepare for our game. We script everything to make sure we get enough reps of the 24 calls we think we will run. We make sure we get extra reps of the 8 things we might major in. When I talk about 24 things, I am not talking about 24 plays. I am talking about 24 calls. If we run Even 42 Read, that is one thing. If we run Early 42 Read, that is a second thing. If we run Late 18 Option, that is a 3rd thing. Even QB Iso is a 4th thing. Even 92 Y Corner is a 5th thing. Early 92 Y Corner is the 6th thing.

We used to have our entire playbook available each week. We had all of our formations, motions, and concepts available. The problem was, there were over 1,000 combinations, and there is no way to practice them each week. We decided be very specific about what we were going to implement into our game plan each week. Scripting our practices makes sure each of those 24 things gets at least 16 reps during practice. Each of our 8 majors will get at least 32 reps each during a practice week.

Our call sheet is what allows us to play very fast regardless of circumstance. We use our call sheet to create mini scripts of each down and distance situation based on defensive tendencies. We also include a section on specific concepts to get our best athletes the football. We want to make sure your 20 touch guys get 20 touches. There is nothing worse than finishing a game and realizing your best athlete had only 3 touches. We want to make sure our athletes touch the ball a certain number of times each game.

The hardest part about organizing yourself on offense is creating the sheets to do it. I spent years visiting schools and learning how they organized the practice and game plans. I have now come up with a packet of sheets that will help you immensely to be more organized on offense. You can order this packet for under $15! These documents are all editable and can be customized to fit your program. For less than the cost of lunch you can have everything you need to improve your offensive organization. This packet contains nine documents that will help you to be more successful and organized. The nine documents are:

1. Two Sided Color Call Sheet Legal Sized (Excel)
2. Scouting Report Template (ppt)
3. Wrist Band Template (Excel)
4. Install Schedule Template (Excel)
5. Game Planning Worksheet (Word)
6. Daily and Weekly Practice Plan with Scripts (Excel)
7. Blank Defensive Personnel Template For Scouting Reports (Excel)
8. Offensive Depth Chart Template (Excel)
9: Offensive Staff Workflow (Word)

You can order this packet by clicking here: Offensive Game Planning Resources Many coaches have told me this is the best purchase they have made this summer! Coaches told me this will save them hours! It is available as an instant download. You can begin preparing right now. Everything is completely formatted, saving you hours, as well as being fully editable and customizable. 

This packet will change your entire approach to organization on offense. No longer will you feel like you are grasping for the right play to call. You will know what to call and when before the situation arises! Coaches at all levels of football tell me this packet helped them immensely on offense!

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. Defensive Game Planning Resource 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! Special Teams Resource 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. 

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. 

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

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.