Using AI to Supercharge Your Game Planning

AI is not coming. AI is here. AI is already revolutionizing how coaches scout and prepare for opponents. 

If you aren't using AI to game plan, you are missing out. Using AI to game plan can save you several hours each weekend. Over the last 12 months I have invested about 1,100 hours in building a system and processes to use AI to supercharge game planning on both sides of the ball. Using AI gives coaches superhuman powers.

We have built a system and tools to help coaches leverage AI to prepare better than ever before, while saving several hours each weekend. You get your data, your way. 

What if you could have all of your data in one place? What if you could have an analyst look at your data and provide you a detailed report, with actionable data, and specific insights you could use to build a more streamlined game plan?

And what if you could get that information in less than two minutes? Instead of static reports, you can have a conversation with your AI! 

That is what AI does for your game planning. Using AI means you don't have to pour over reports trying to find the most important data. AI becomes your analyst who can pour over that data for you, showing you what you want to see. 

This not only saves you hours of work. It allows you to focus on what matters most, and that is coaching your guys. AI can look at layers of data to get more granular. 

Imagine knowing what your opponent is going to run before they do. How much better of a play caller will you be if you know what the opponent is going to do?

What if you had your own AI Analyst that would run reports for you while being able to answer specific questions about the data? Keep reading for access to this analyst! 

Here is an example of an overview of an offense we analyzed using the AI analyst I created. It took AI less than a minute to generate this report.

We see their Run/Pass % by personnel group. You can see how personnel groups affected their run/pass %. Every DC should have someone telling him what personnel group is in the game, and the run/pass % of that personnel group. 

Next, AI gave us the Run/Pass % by Down and Distance and Personnel. On 1st and 10 this team is 67% run. But when they are in 10P, this drops to 50%, and in 11P they run the ball 77%. This helps us to know what defense to call.  

Here we see what plays a team runs by personnel group. This is another piece of information that helps us make a better play call. 

This is information that coaches previously had to search for in a multitude of reports. Now we have it available in one report. We have it in less than two minutes. 

This also helps us to build our practice plan. We know exactly what we need to script into our practice. We can focus on stopping the 90% of what they do. 

What I really love is that you can chat with your analyst to gain even more insight. The analyst will help you understand the data and take action. 

To help you navigate using AI, I have put together a resource called: Using AI to Create a Dominant Defensive Game Plan 

This resource gives you step-by-step instructions on using AI. It includes access to a custom GPT analyst I created and trained to provide you with detailed reports.

You do not need to invent the wheel. I have already invented it, and refined it for you! I put over 1,000 hours into this project. I worked with coaches at all levels of football to develop this resource and perfect it! 

This is available for a special launch price of just $77, which includes access to the Custom GPT Analyst I created. I give you detailed instructions on how to use AI to supercharge your game planning!  

The resource I put together will take you step-by-step of using AI to become more dominant. I worked with coaches at all levels of football over the last twelve months to develop this system and model. 

I worked with coaches this year who had limited technological ability, and they were able to use AI to gain insights they never would have found before. One coach I worked with was in his 38th year as a DC. He had always used a pad and paper. This year he had the best year in his career, and kicked himself for not embracing this. Whether you are new to technology or an experienced pro, this will give you a process, a system, and tools to use AI to build a dominant game plan! 

And yes, I also created a version for offensive coaches! 

Using AI to Supercharge Your Offensive Game Plan.

If you are an offensive coordinator, this will give you the data you need to call more touchdown plays! I give OC's the tools, processes, and systems they need to save hours each week while having the data they need to call more touchdown plays and win more games. 

AI can look at data much deeper than a human can. AI can look at multiple layers and get more granular. You can use AI to have superhuman powers when it comes to game planning. This will save you several hours each week while helping you to know what offenses are going to do. 

You also get access to the custom AI Analyst I created to help analyze opponent's defenses. It is amazing how fast this analyst will break down the data and give you actionable insights you can use. Here is a demonstration of the AI Analyst. 

As you can see, AI is a powerful tool for coaches to use! Here is a demonstration of how we use the AI Analyst as an offensive coordinator.

If you are a head coach, you might want to order both. I put together a bundle with both resources. AI Bundle for OC's and DC's

AI is not going to replace humans. It is going to replace humans who do not embrace AI. AI is going to give you superhuman qualities. Take advantage of this opportunity right now! 

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Three Keys to Building a Dominating Offensive Line

Coaching offensive line is a privilege for any coach. There is no other position like offensive line. In my career I was blessed to have an opportunity to coach every position on the field, and I can tell you that there was no experience that comes close to what it was like to coach the offensive line. It also helped me early in my career as an offensive coordinator. It is vital that an offensive coordinator not only understand the blocking schemes they install, but it is very important they understand the techniques involved in making the blocking schemes work. 

This summer I had an opportunity to work with some offensive line coaches in preparation for the upcoming season. We were able to spend some time talking about what it takes to build a successful offensive line. One thing you have to understand is that the level of talent you have does not have any impact on your coaching. There are going to be seasons where you have better talent than other seasons. That should have no impact on your intensity as a coach. On Friday night and Saturday afternoons there are no excuses. Everything you have done to prepare your offensive line will be on full display. 

If you are a new offensive line coach or you are a veteran, having a successful offensive line comes down to three things. But before I get into the three keys, I want to talk about leverage. Leverage is a huge part of success in football. We define leverage as an advantage. If you have leverage, you want to keep it. If you don't have leverage you need to go get it. We want to have leverage at the point of attack. Sometimes we are blocking a player who has us leveraged. What does that mean? It means he has the advantage. We need to move our feet to work to get our hat to a leveraged position. Sometimes we are blocking a guy where we have leverage. What do we want to do? We want to keep leverage. 

With that said, here are the three keys to building a dominating offensive line. 

First, you have to build unity within your group. This might be the most important factor to having success on your offensive line. You have five guys on the field at a time. If you also coach the tight ends, you might have 7 on the field for some plays. No other position has the same number of players on the field. There must be complete unity among the offensive line. They are a team within a team, and they must function as one. 

There are many ways to build unity, but I have found there is no substitute for spending time together outside of the locker room and field. Have your offensive line guys to the house for dinner. Spend time with them talking about goals as a group. Each year I had the offensive line over before the season and we talked about our unit goals. We spent time talking about what we needed to do to be the best we could be. I took every opportunity I could find to help them to bond as a group. 

When they trust and care about each other, they will work better together. They will communicate in the meeting room and pre-snap. They will be more vocal with their line calls, and they will gain more confidence in the ability of the guy next to them. They will not have to rely on their own strength, but they will draw strength from the group. 

Think Players Not Plays

One of the most important things we can do as coaches is to get our dudes touches. Whether you are playing for state titles or just starting a rebuilding process, you have a best player. You might not have the best athlete on the field, but you always have the best athlete or athletes on your team. Too many guys concern themselves with what they don't have. You will never win a game with guys that are not on your roster. But you will win games if you focus on the guys on your roster, and maximizing their abilities when you build your game plan.

I am not going to get into the psychology of winning right now, but if you don't think you can win, you won't. If you don't think you can score, you won't. If you believe you will score points, you will score more points than if you lack that belief. A big part of building belief is putting your players in a position where they can be most successful. 

When you build your game plan, think players as much as you think plays. When you begin to break down your opponent, look for leverage, numbers, and green grass. Where can we gain an advantage over our opponent? What formation will give us leverage, numbers, and grass? What concept will take advantage of that grass? And then, who is the best player to get the ball to to take advantage of leverage, numbers, and grass? 

That is a simplistic view of building your game plan. The reality is, if we run are throwing a tunnel screen, the tunnel will be more effective and explosive if we throw it to a fast player who can make people miss. If we throw it to a slower player who can't make people miss, the play won't be as effective. Who you are getting the ball to is as important as the play you are calling to get the ball into space. 

What Are You Going To Do About It?

At this point your season has ended, and unless you won a championship, chances are your season didn't end the way you wanted. Every year around this time I would visit with my dad who was a retired coach. I would tell him all the things that went wrong, and he would always say the same thing. "What are you doing to do about it?" He didn't phrase it as a question, as much as a declaration that you need to grow and adapt.

As you come out of your holiday break, there is something very important every coach needs to do. You need to take a very deep dive into your program, and decide what you need to do to make it become the best it can be. You need to do this without pride. You need to look at things without letting your emotions or your ego get in the way. 

At the end of each season, I made a list of things that kept us from being our best. This list focused on the following areas: 

• On the field
• Schematics, Personnel, Situational Awareness, Play Calling
• Were we putting guys in a position to be successful? 
• Were we prepared for the situations we faced? 
• Practice
• Organization, Practice Schedules, Install Schedules, Scripts, Time on Field
• Game Day Operations
• Travel, Itinerary, Pre-Game, Pre-Game Warm-Ups, Coach to Coach and Coach to Player Communication, Box Logistics, Workflow, Half-Time Operations, In-Game Adjustments 
• Off-Season
• Program, Logistics, Set-up, Strengths, Weaknesses
• Are we getting guys out of their comfort zone?
• Are we getting stronger, faster, and more explosive?
• Spring Ball
• Organization, Set-Up, Practice Schedules, Install Schedules, Field Set-Up
• Returning Personnel
• Evaluate Personnel, Rate On Board, Who Are Dudes, Who Could Be Dudes, Best Leaders, Position Changes
• Character, Leadership, and Program Culture
• Define our current culture, character level of athletes, how will we improve leadership?

The hardest part of this process was looking at things and not justifying mediocrity. Ultimately, this is how you find the weaknesses in your program that are holding back the success of your team. This brings us back to the question, "What are you going to do about it?"

Once you identify areas of weakness, you need to build a plan to attack these areas of weakness. Depending on where you are as a program, you may have several weaknesses. It is difficult to attack them all. One thing to caution is to be careful that you don't treat the symptoms without treating the disease. During the season you are often going to apply band-aids to stop the bleeding. The off-season is the time when you can go through chemotherapy and treat the actual disease that impedes development.

What I mean is this... Often there is a deeper issue that causes problems within multiple areas of your program. Poor leadership can affect the effort and attitude of your players. This affects their learning. You might focus on improving your meetings and how you teach concepts, but this will only treat the symptom. You have to find the disease within your program. If you treat the disease, the symptoms will go away. 

Everything Matters In Coaching

I was recently speaking at a clinic and had the opportunity to talk about advancing in your career as a coach. It was a great opportunity to share some things that can help young coaches to avoid some common mistakes that can hold them back. We had a great Q and A session, and coaches in attendance told me it was very valuable. I wanted to share three important components to being a better coach.

1. Every Job You Do Matters, Do Them With Great Pride

One of the first duties I had was to line the practice fields.The first time I lined the fields I was miserable. I had a bad attitude and didn't do a great job. I decided not to put hash marks and markings for the numbers. When we went out to practice our receivers didn't know where to line up. The safeties and corners didn't know where to line up. The head coach ripped me in front of the team. After practice he called me into his office and told me that no matter what the job was, do it with pride. He said the reason guys get stuck not advancing often is that they are lazy. He told me if the fields weren't fixed I wouldn't have a job. That was an invaluable lesson to learn as a very young coach.

I had great mentors who taught me that if you want to be given the big jobs you really want, you've got to excel at the jobs you don't want to do. Every time I painted the lines after that I painted them like I was preparing an NFL Field. I learned to be meticulous and make sure the details were taken care of fully.

Every job you get matters. If you are assigned laundry treat it like it is the difference between winning and losing a championship game. And it should be easy, because it just might be the difference. If you are cleaning out the refrigerator in the office, take pride in how clean you get it. Don't do it just to check the box. Clean the refrigerator like it was going to be the difference between getting fired or keeping your job. It matters. I you are inventorying equipment, do it the best it can be done.

If you aren't willing to do the laundry well, you will never be a great OC or DC. If you want to move into a coordinator or head coaching position where you will delegate some of those duties, then you must be good at the duties you will delegate. No one likes doing the laundry and cleaning out the refrigerator, but great coaches take pride in the jobs that no one wants to do.

2. The Weight Room Matters More Than You Could Ever Know

When I first started coaching I didn't love the weight room. It was at the end of a long school day. I was usually mentally and physically tired. David Diaz, one of the best mentors in this business said, "this is the place where our success is built." We will get bigger, faster, and stronger, but most importantly we will get mentally tougher in here. This is where we build our team. This is where we teach our players that details matter. If you don't coach hard in the weight room, you won't be able to coach hard on the field.

The weight room is so much more than just getting bigger, faster, and stronger. It is where team chemistry is built through hard work and accountability. It is where mental toughness is built through accountability. It is where players learn to sweat together in adverse conditions. It is where you get to coach the details to players. You get to have them focus on the little tiny details, which is vital when you get on the field in the fall.

The current head coach I work for, Joe Cluley, takes this a step further. Not only does he want us engaged, but he wants us to bring the juice everyday. When you come in our athletic period it is different. It has a different feel. Every coach greets every kid with enthusiasm as they come in. We all are excited, which in turn increases the excitement of the kids. If we were bored, the kids will be bored as well. We want this to be the most exciting part of their day. The athletic period should not be easy, but it must be electric. We bring the juice from the time the first kid enters our field house until the last kid leaves after practice. The more juice you bring, the more juice the kids will have. Bring the juice every single day. He also holds us accountable to holding our kids accountable.

3. Relationships Matter Most

Relationships are the most important component of what we do as coaches. Winning games is how we get to keep doing what we are doing, and it is important. We have to win to keep our jobs. But the most important thing we do is not win a game.  The biggest ting we do is impact young men through the game of football. We use football as a catalyst to teach accountability, teamwork, trust, and responsibility. We use the game of football to teach young men to put the interests of the team in front of their own self-interests. This all depends on the relationships we build with the men we coach.

The relationships start and end with unconditional love. We love our players as much on their worst day as we do on their best day. It is important as coaches that we never give up on a young man. We must see in them what they do not see in themselves. We must believe in them and find the greatness they have inside. We must take time to get to know them off the field. We are blessed to be in a situation where many of our kids need rides to and from football actives. This gives us a great opportunity to spend time with them talking about life, their goals, their dreams, and their fears. 

Another great relationship builder is having your position group to your house for a cookout. We do this a couple of times a year to spend time with your guys away from football. It also lets them get to know our families. It allows your players to see you away from the game. It is a vital component to building relationships.

To make this work, you must care about your players as people. If you only care what they can do in a jersey you aren't a coach. At that point you are just a spectator. I don't care how much you can draw on a board. If you don't truly care about your players you need to do something else. 

What you have to understand is that the relationship in itself is not the impact. The relationship is what allows us to make an impact. Through the relationship we earn trust, and that allows us to hold athletes accountable. Many people struggle with holding players accountable, but accountability is a key to making an impact. When you hold players accountable to meeting the standards of performance, you are setting them up for success later in life. If you don't hold kids accountable, you are setting them up for failure.

Winning games matters, but making an impact on your players matters more. But here is the deal, if you make an impact on your players, you will win more games. You will have a stronger team bond. If you impact your players, they will impact each other. 

If you want to move up in coaching, you have to be willing to do the jobs know one wants to do and do them well. You have to be a great teacher and coach in the weight room. And most importantly, you have to unconditionally love your players. You have to build strong relationships that will impact your players in the future.

 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

Game and Practice Planning Preparation Resources

As you prepare for the 2019 season, I wanted to make available our game planning resources for you! These helped us to have one of the most explosive offenses at every level I have coached. Coaches from some of the top high school programs in the country use these documents to prepare. Coaches at more than a dozen BCS programs have also downloaded these documents to help them in their preparation.

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!

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.

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/

If you want to learn more about installing RPO's, I wrote a book called Installing Explosive RPO Concepts Into Any Offense. I wrote it for iBooks, which includes cut-ups to reinforce the application of these concepts. In the book I give you a systematic process for installing 2nd and 3rd level RPO's. Coaches at all level of football tell me this is a game changer! The book can be found for iBooks here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959

The iBooks version can be viewed on any iPhone, Mac, or iPad. It is a game changer in book technology! This book will give you everything you need to build RPO's 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

Follow me @coachvint on Twitter! 

I hope you found something in this post you can use with your program! Good luck this season! 

Explosive RPO Book Now Available as a Paperback!

It is available here: The paperback version can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520447485

When I wrote Installing Explosive RPO concepts into Any Offense, I was excited to share a simple process that helped us to greatly improve our offense with RPO's. The first version I published was the iBooks version, because I was able to embed video. The one caveat is that you need an apple product to read the book. This is an awesome format because it combines a book and a DVD into one, single resource.

The next step was to put out a Kindle version for those who didn't have an Apple product. The Kindle was the first e-reader, and allowed coaches without an Apple product to enjoy the book. The Kindle version has the same content, but does not have video. The issue with the Kindle is that it is hard to format the book to look as it was designed.

Many, many coaches asked me for a paperback version. The reason I hadn't put out a paperback is because the cost of printing was prohibitive. I was also concerned about the time it would take to put box and ship the books.

About a month ago I received an offer from Amazon to turn the book into a printable version. I began to rewrite the book to be put into print, and after 30 days, the book was ready. Many people people want to have a physical copy of the book. By having a physical copy the can mark in it and take notes.

The paperback version has everything the iBook has, which the exception of the video. When we figure out how to incorporate video into paperbacks, the world will be a very awesome place.

Here is a look at the table of contents:

The iBooks version is available below. The version on iBooks includes cut-ups to reinforce the application of these concepts. In the book I give you a systematic process for installing 2nd and 3rd level RPO's. Coaches at all level of football tell me this is a game changer! The book can be found for iBooks here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959

RPO's are a great way to force the defense to defend all 53 yards, and each of your skill guys. This book, whichever form you buy, will give you a specific process for installing pre and post snap RPO's. Coaches at all levels tell me this book has helped them tremendously on offense. If you want to enhance your offense, this is a book you want to read!

Time To Improve

There is a popular saying among coaches that simply states, "you are either getting better or you are getting worse, because you aren't staying the same." At the end of the season it is vital to begin preparation for the next year so you can find a way to get better. Here are some thoughts on what you can do to improve as a coach.

The first thing to do at the end of the year is to take inventory of the mistakes of your position group. What are the biggest mistakes that you made? What are the 3 biggest things you need to focus on for the off-season? I watch every play of the season over a two week period. As I watch each clip I take notes on what we need to do to improve. I typically make a cut-up of each individual concept and watch them from worst to best. What mistakes did we make on the bad plays, and what did we well on the good plays?

After I watch our clips I compile the notes and identify the areas we need to improve. I want to find three specific areas we need to improve our technique to be more successful. For example, we might find ourselves slipping off blocks. This might be caused by not running our feet once we lock up. Once you identify your biggest areas to improve, you have to research how to make them better. Find experts in your field and ask questions.

One important piece of advice I can give young coaches is to focus on your position group. Don't worry about drawing up a bunch of new concepts. Learn to be an expert in your position group. Focus on being the best coach of your position you can be. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn about schemes and concepts, but don't let that get in the way of being better at coaching your position.

Three Ways to Gain Knowledge

1. Attend Clinics- Clinics are a great way to increase your football knowledge with several coaches in one place. You can attend clinic sessions to learn about specific schemes, concepts, and techniques. You can ask questions and ask presenters to demonstrate and clarify. Typically clinic speakers are very knowledgable in their particular fields. There is also the clinic within the clinic, where coaches hang out and talk ball. This is where you never know who you are going to learn from.

I was in the lobby at a Glazier Clinic in Baltimore one year and several of us were talking about pass protection. The next thing you know, tables were moved and we were running through a 3 man slide protection. Jerry Campbell was coaching at the time at Westwood high school in Round Rock, Texas, and he was taking coaches through their protection. It took more out of that 30 minute segment than any clinic session I attended.

At another clinic I was in James Franklin's session on receiver play. He was the receiver coach at Maryland at the time, and I wore him out with questions after he finished speaking. I was able to fix some things we did not do well with our receivers. He gave me an awesome drill to improve our ability to catch a football while moving. It wasn't fancy, but it was something we weren't doing.

2. Visit Coaches- There are three ways you can visit coaches. First, you go to their campus and talk ball with them. Most schools are hospitable and are willing to spend some time with you. Some schools will put you in the film room with a GA, while others will let you talk with the coordinator or position coach. The best thing to do is to call ahead and find out what their policy is for visiting coaches. Many schools will allow you to visit during spring ball. This is a great time to see how they coach certain drills and teach schemes. You can often sit in team and position meetings. Again, I would suggest you call ahead.

Second, talk with coaches as they come through your school to recruit. I try to ask every coach that comes through at least two questions. I write down questions for each position so I am prepared for every coach that comes through. Most coaches will take a few minutes to share some of their knowledge with you.

Third, work college camps. This is a great way to network with coaches and learn from high school and college coaches around the country. When you work a camp you are going to see how coaches at the college level lead their drills. You will also be able to coach along side of them. Contact colleges in your area and find out if they need help for their camps.

3. Buy at DVD or Book- Find a publication that addresses the issue you are trying to solve. I buy 3 to 5 DVD's each year. I also buy 2 or 3 books. Usually books and DVD's are discounted at clinics. Coaches Choice often has special sales that they advertise on twitter. The DVD's I buy typically focus on improving technique. The books I buy are usually related to program building and culture. If I can get one thing from a book or DVD it makes it worthwhile.

Never be satisfied with where you are right now. There is always something that you can do better, and there are always things you can do to improve your position group and your team. There is no such thing as knowing it all. You never have enough knowledge. Make the investment to attend a clinic, visit a staff, and buy a book or/and a DVD. Commit yourself to being a better coach.


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 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