Championship Discipline, Accountability, And Leadership

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champions Train Mentally and Physically

If you believe you can, then you have a shot. If you believe you can’t, then you won’t. Too often, we fill ourselves with negative thoughts. We justify why we can’t do something. We tell ourselves we are tired, too sore, too old, too young, too stupid, too smart, too tall, too short, too skinny, too slow, etc, etc, etc. We are defeated before we have even had a chance to begin.

The first person we have to overcome, before we can every think about beating an opponent, is ourselves. We have to be able to mentally tell ourselves we can accomplish what we set out to do. We then have to feed our confidence with positive words. We have to continually reinforce to ourselves that we have the ability. 

During my 19 years in coaching I have had opportunities to be a part of turning programs around. My first coordinator job was at a school that lost 27 straight games and was shutout 6 times the year before we got there. The principal told me we can't win their, and tried to talk me out of accepting the job offer! My first task was not teaching an offense. That was the least of our concerns. Like many losing programs, the kids were beat down after years of failure. Our first priority was teaching our kids to believe they were capable of more than they thought possible. Our job was to build a championship culture.

The change in mindset was not overnight. It also was not by accident. It was a process of continual improvement. We dedicated time to training the mind as well as the body, and we did so with intent. We developed specific activities, both individually and as a group, that allowed our athletes to experience success. 

One important aspect was building in a four week boot camp that ran from the first week in January through the first week in February. We started off in the classroom for the first three days. It was in the classroom that we set very clear expectations, and defined things in a very detailed manner. We used a variety of avenues to provide our players with character and leadership lessons. We spent time each day talking to them about focus and mindset. We defined adversity and mental toughness. We asked them to create an identity. We had them come up with a list of qualities of a championship program. We then had them develop a set of standards of performance. Then, we helped them meet the standards they set.

After we set our standards of performance, we began our mental and physical toughness activities. We focused on holding our athletes accountable to our standards while coaching them on the details. Our goal was always to have a "perfect" day. From arriving on time to how we stand to how we move to how we transition from station to station, accountability was key. We also introduced stress into their environment. We can't simulate the stress they will face on Friday Night, but we can put them into stressful situations with tremendous adversity. 

While our boot camp only went 20 days, the culture we built grew throughout the winter, spring, and summer. The weight room and track were very important for our cultural transformation. We set up the situation each day and clearly laid out the expectations. We talked about focusing on the process and the details. Our players began to learn that if you take care of the process, the outcome will be more favorable. 

The key is that everything had to build confidence. As their confidence grew, we began to stretch them physically and mentally. We didn't ask them to climb Mt. Everest day one. We created situations where they were able to string small victories together. As they gained confidence, we begin to put them in situations that stretched their limits farther and farther. We reached a point where they became comfortable being uncomfortable. They began to embrace rather than fear their shirts being drenched in sweat. That sweat became a badge of honor. They felt empowered!

When you empower young people and it becomes their deal, they will work harder. They will push through more adversity than what they thought possible. They take ownership, and once they take ownership, you have something special. 

The results spoke for themselves. We enjoyed tremendous success. We won 6 games our first year, scoring over 50 points three times. We went to the playoffs for the first time in school history our second year. The next year we won the first playoff game in school history. Each year we continued to improve. We became a consistent championship contender every single year. 

The important thing to understand is that beliefs and values can be taught. You are not at the mercy of your circumstances. There are so many things which we have complete control. We realized early on that we could control how we developed leadership. We could control how much we empowered our players. We could control the process of building a championship culture and mentality. We control whether we make the most of our ability!

If you want to change your program, take time to train your athletes mentally. Tie your strength and conditioning program into a character education and leadership program. Give your players ownership and watch them excel in ways you never thought possible!

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Program

What are you doing right now to improve? Are you doing everything you can to improve yourself and your program? Do you strive to find new, more efficient ways of getting things done? Do you invest your time, spend your time, or waste your time?

What we do right now will have a huge impact on the success we enjoy in the fall. This is the time of year when you can have the biggest impact on your program. There are nine things you can do in the next 5 months that will have a huge, long-term impact on your program. These are in no particular order.

1. Visit another coaching staff to see how they do things. Pick an area of your program you want to improve and visit a staff who excels in this area. These visits can be from one to three days. I like to visit one school before spring football and one school while they are having spring football. I have not found a school at any level who was not very open with us visiting. However, I have never asked a district rival. They may not want to share much with you. Most coaches, I have found, are more than willing to share their success stories.

I like to visit coaches who have made huge improvements in their program. I want to see what they are doing in January and February. Programs are not built in September and October. They are built in the dark of winter. Second, I want to visit a program who does something on the field that we want to learn more about. These are schools I want to visit during spring football.

2. Perform a comprehensive data analysis of yourself from the previous season. I have about 6 reports I like to run give me a very good picture of what we did well and what we did not do well. Data can give us a very clear picture of things without any editorializing. For example, back in 1999 we were running load option 8 times a game. Unfortunately, we only averaged 3.4 yards a play. It was our least productive offensive concept. We didn't do a good job of self-scouting during the season at that time. I wish we had, maybe we would have done a better job of calling plays.

With the advent of HUDL, data is readily available. There is absolutely no excuse for not running a self-scout report each game during the season. You can also run a cumulative report. This takes literally no time to perform. In the old days we did this with a pen and paper. Technology has simplified this process. You can run multiple reports with the click of the mouse.

3. Prepare a scouting report on your opponents. The spring is a great time to learn about your opponents. You can run a schematic report and a personnel report. What do they run on offense and defense? What are their tendencies? When do they blitz? Who are their returning players? Who are their best athletes? If you have the information available, use it! Divide this up between your coaches and set a deadline to complete this.

4. Implement a leadership development and character education program. You are either coaching it, or allowing it. You have total control over whether you develop leaders. If you teach your players to lead, they will be better leaders. In 10 minutes a day, every other day, you can teach your players how to be better leaders. There is so much information available that you don't have to recreate the wheel. If you aren't sure where to start, think John Maxwell and Zig Ziglar. They are two great resources to get you started. There are also several programs like Coaching to Change Lives that and the Be a REAL Man Program.

5. Meet as a coaching staff. I am not talking about meeting to meet. I am talking about taking time to formulate a plan of action for the spring, summer, and fall. If you meet for 30 minutes, 2 times a week for 10 weeks, you will be much better prepared than if you meet sporadically. Again, don't meet to meet. Have a plan for what you want to accomplish in these meetings. This is a great time to discuss data from your self-scout and opponent scouting reports. You can prepare your installation schedule for the spring and fall, while having time to review and adjust it before you start practice.

6. Prepare your spring and fall practice plans. I had never done this until we went to a clinic in 2002. One of the college coaches was talking about how they prepare. We started putting our practice plans together well in advance. We then would make adjustments as needed. It helped us to make sure we had everything covered that we needed to. By having this done in advance we were not scrambling the night before trying to get our practice plans done.

7. Develop Speed, Strength, Flexibility Program. Again, have a plan. Don't just lift to lift, or run to run. Have a plan. Also, make sure you teach great technique. If you don't know where to start, go the the BFS or Bigger Faster Stronger Website. Their program works very well for any and every sport. Everywhere I have been we have used some element of their program. Be excited to be in the weight room with your players. If you want it to matter for them, it has to matter for you!

8. Teach Your Players to Set Goals and Develop a Plan For Meeting Them. Have your players write down individual goals they want to achieve. Then have them develop their team goals. Help them develop a plan for meeting their goals. Meet with them regularly to update their progress. Remember, you can't get anywhere if you don't know where you are going.

9. Create a Culture of Success. This is perhaps the most important thing you can do this off-season. You are going to get what you emphasize, so what will you emphasize this spring? Will you hold your players accountable? You create a culture of success be setting high expectations and holding your players to them. Everyone sets high expectations, but what are you doing to hold your players accountable to them? If they don't get to parallel are you letting it go? Or, are you taking the time to correct them until they do it to meet your expectation?

Part of your culture is competition. Create competition for your players. Set up competitive situations where there is a winner and loser. Create consequences for the losers, while rewarding the winners.

This is a great time of year to improve your program and make it better. If you are willing to invest your time, you can make huge strides right now that will make a big impact on your program!

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

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

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

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jimmy's and Joe's

One of the great joys that I have is getting to visit different parts of the country to consult with football programs. I have the opportunity to work with programs with very proud traditions, and programs that are rebuilding. It is amazing to see what helps some programs win, while others do not. Recently I was visiting with a group of coaches discussing what it takes to win. Some of them thought you win with good athletes. If you have good athletes, you win. If you don't have good athletes, you lose.

There is a saying in coaching, "it isn't about the X's and O's, it's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's." There is a lot of truth to this. Nearly everyone agrees that if you have better athletes you will win more games. Most coaches agree that if you don't have as good of athletes, you won't have as good of a chance of winning. They attribute winning to simply be a byproduct of the level of talent in their program. 

I am going to give you a different twist on this. I will preface what I am going to say by stating up front that having great athletes helps you win more games.... But having great athletes does not guarantee winning...

As coaches, our job is to develop our athletes to be the best they can be mentally and physically. We are not simply at the mercy of genetics. How many of you have seen a team that had great genetics but couldn't win? Why? Because genetics is only one part of the puzzle. 

So what are the other parts of the puzzle? First, is you have got to develop mental toughness. What is mental toughness? Mental Toughness is the ability to face adversity, failure, and negative events without a loss of effort, attitude, and enthusiasm. It is about getting your players (and coaches) to face adversity without a loss of enthusiasm.

"Mental Toughness is the ability to face adversity, failure, and negative events, 

without a loss of effort, attitude, and enthusiasm."

How do you build mental toughness? You put your players in stressful situations. You put them in situations where they will get knocked down several times. You put them in situations where they will have to make a choice at some point. That choice will be whether to keep going, or whether to give up. Of course, as a coach you don't allow them to give up. You provide support and give them opportunities to push through.

Great teams are mentally tough. They are able to overcome adversity. You can't overcome adversity if you give up. You also can't magically become mentally tough. Mental toughness can and must be taught with intent. It takes time and will not happen overnight. Often you won't see the progress for a long period of time. Here is the kicker: If you aren't teaching and developing mental toughness you are teaching the opposite. You don't want the opposite.

The second key is attention to detail. It amazes me how many coaches don't coach the details. At the same time, very few of them have consistent success. If you want your player to take a six-inch zone step, and you are not coaching the details, you are not going to get a consistent, six-inch step. You are going to get a four inch step, or an eight inch step. If you are coaching your guys to do something a certain way, it is because it is the best way. Details separate good teams from great teams. You have to coach them with intent. 

The third piece of the puzzle is understanding that words matter. What you say and how you say it have a tremendous impact on the work ethic and attitude of your players. What you say and do will have a huge impact on the confidence your players develop. Too often, coaches get caught up seeing their players as inferior. We are too small. We don't have athleticism. We are very young. How you see your players is how you will coach them. If you see your player as too small and too slow, you will coach him that way. 

Our job is to build our players up to do things they don't think are possible. We have to be able to look into the future. We have to coach our player to be the very best he can be. To do this we have to dig for the gold that exists inside of them. We have to build them up in the off-season, creating a confidence in them. When they make a mistake, correct it. When they give poor effort, coach them. When they face a challenge, tell them we believe in them. Most importantly, you have to care about them. You have to care about your player regardless of circumstance. 

The mental aspect is probably the most important aspect of winning and it is the most undercoached. If your players don't believe they can do something, it is nearly impossible to do it. The first part of winning is believing you can. This is not something you are born with. This is something that can and should be taught and reinforced. Confidence and mental toughness go hand in hand.

Finally, it is vital you don't concern yourself with the external which you have no control over. You can control you. You can control your effort and attitude. You can control your enthusiasm. As a coach, you set the tone. If you are not enthusiastic, how can you expect your players to be enthusiastic. You control you. We can't control our opponents. We can't control what they have or what we might not have. What we can control is what we do right now. We can control if we are being our very best.

We have a lot more control over the Jimmy's and Joe's than we might think. We can't control their genetics, but we can control what we do to develop them to be the best they can be. We control our workouts, and our level of expectations. We control whether we set standards and hold our kids accountable. We control whether we develop mental toughness. We control the level to which we teach leadership and character. 

This all really comes down to culture. If you want to have consistent, sustained success, you need to have a strong culture that permeates these factors. You build your culture. You control your culture. No one else controls your culture. Only you.... 

If we focus on being the best "we" that we can be, we will be successful. In a nutshell, we must do everything we can do to develop our jimmy's and joe's to be the best they can be. We need to coach them to outwork, and ultimately, out-perform their ability.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The little things are the Biggest Things

The little things are the  biggest things...

What does this mean? Quite simply... details matter. The seemingly insignificant details matter to the success of any endeavor. If you want to be successful you have to pay attention to the details.

Early in my coaching career I was a "big picture" guy. I didn't spend much time focusing on the how. I was more focused on the what. I didn't understand the value of coaching details. I thought we could out scheme people. If we drew it up on paper, we would win. That's what I thought it mean to out coach people.

Then I had the opportunity to watch Nick Saban coach defensive backs. He was focused on the how and the what. Coach Saban broke down small techniques to their smallest part. Everything fit together. If a player did something wrong, he immediately corrected them and they did it again. He had a process for teaching. Most importantly, his players learned and executed.

That is one common bond that successful teams shared... Attention to detail. They cared about the things that most organizations don't care about. They made it a point to take care of the small things. They set a standard, coached the standard, then held their players accountable to the standard. They accept nothing less. They focus on the details within themselves, rather than the external that they had no control over. While this wasn't the only factor they had in common, it was perhaps the most important.

The programs that were not as successful seemed to look past some things. They didn't value the details. They let things go. They didn't have an edge to them. Watching those programs, it was obvious something was missing. These are the teams that never play to their full ability. They are the very talented yet mediocre teams. They are the mediocre teams that never seem to improve. They don't get to parallel on squat. They don't keep their lower back locked in on dead lift. They don't put the right weight on the bar... 

You Get What You Emphasize

If you want something done right, emphasize it. If it is important, then emphasize it. Things don't happen magically. You have to make them happen. It is a process. You need to have a process if you want sustained, consistent results. You are always creating an incentive. If you reward bad behavior, what will you get? Yes, that's a rhetorical question... 

What do you do if a kid doesn't do something right? Make them do it again. It starts with accountability. We must be willing to hold our players accountable for not meeting the standard we have set. There are several ways to do this, but the best way is to reteach and have them do it over. A great way to teach players to be accountable is to have the entire group do something over. They are all counting on each other. If one of them makes a mistake it affects us all. This can be taught.

Everything we do is becomes habit. If we repeatedly let things go, that is exactly what we will get. Our kids will not do things right. If we tell them to have a flat back on our push-ups, we need to make sure they have a flat back. If we want them to sprint through the end of the drill, we have to emphasize them sprinting through the end of the drill. If they don't sprint through, send them back. 

Why? Why does this matter?

We need to build the habit of doing little things right. We need guys to pay attention to details when there is very little pressure. If a guy can't start behind a line, how can you trust him to line up right on the field? If a guy won't do a warm-up drill right, how can we expect them to do their position drills correctly? If a kid fumbles, are you emphasizing the five points of contact? Do you teach it? Do you coach it?

If you want your receiver to take a split to the top of the numbers, he should align at the top of the numbers. If he doesn't his split should immediately be corrected. If your linebacker is suppose to be lined up with his heels at 4, accept nothing different. If your offset back is suppose to be aligned at 4 yards on the outside leg of the guard, accept nothing else. You will find, however, that lining up wrong is a byproduct of your off-season program. Kids have to be taught to pay attention to details.

Finally, every one of your coaches must be bought in. If you have 6 coaches and only three are willing to hold kids accountable, you will not become consistently successful. You need every single coach willing to coach the seemingly insignificant details. 

Kids that don't pay attention to detail tend to be kids that will give up on a play. They are the kids that are not going to want to face adversity. They will fold under pressure....

If you aren't going to hold them accountable to something, then don't make it part of your program. If you tell your kids to hustle between drills or stations, but you aren't going to hold them accountable, then don't expect them to hustle. 

Making It Work...

1. Clearly Define Your Standards of Performance

2. Teach Your Standards of Performance

3. Hold Your Team Accountable to the Standards of Performance

If they perform, reward them. If they don't, reteach and repeat. Reteach and repeat until they meet the standards you have set.

Let me close with this... Coaching the little things is hard... It means you hold them accountable. It means confrontation and correction... Coaching the details means you can't take a rep off. It means you can't let up. You have to always be on your game.... 

Every program we have turned around started with coaching the details. The better we coached the details, the more consistent we became. Once we gained consistency, we were able to see growth. Once we saw growth, we gained confidence... Once we gained confidence, we started winning more games...

If you take care of the little things, the big things tend to take care of themselves...

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

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

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

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

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

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

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

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

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

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