Video

Hey, I have figured out how to load up a video on the BLOG. So . . . I have a sweep example and also a Base Play, Dive 34 example loaded with those coaching points.

You can teach an old dog new tricks.

Now I just have to load up some better quality examples.

Be11!

RF

Forcing Inside Garbage (to) Honor Truth

With Basketball season about to begin for many schools not in the fall playoffs, here is a story you might want to pass along to whom you think it might help. Of course, the message applies to far more than just basketballers.

HOW BADLY DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SUCCEED IN LIFE?

By Doug Firebaugh

Question. How bad do you really want to succeed in life?

Think about it... how bad? A little? A lot?

Another question... Are you willing to fight for it?

Are you willing to go the distance like you never have before, and bring out that fight in you that has been beaten down for so long?

Do you realize the only fight you have with Success is yourself? That's it... (CLUE!!!! Remember this... ALL Defeat comes from within...Period. No exceptions.

The only person who can stop you from becoming successful is YOU. YOU FIGHT YOU all day long with untruths about yourself that attracts failure and mediocrity like a magnet on steroids.

The words you say... The thoughts you think... The words others say and you believe... your past which you cling to... and the excuses you have embraced. But yet you want more out of life.

You know what FIGHT stands for? Forcing Inside Garbage (to) Honor Truth. The truth about you...the truth about what your Creator wants for your life... the truth about the greatness inside of you and the Fight that is starving to Pummel mediocrity and failure to smithereens.... it's there...you know it is...it's just dormant.

Increase the size of the fight in you and face the truth about yourself...There is a Bigger YOU inside that can create a destiny and future that's staggering if you let it, and let the Fighting Spirit in you refuse to give up or be denied....

He did.

He came home, slammed the books down on the table, ran upstairs, slammed the door and broke down and cried. It was his 10th grade year. His mother came in, and said, "Son...what's wrong?" Through a 15 year's old broken heart, he said, "I got cut... I didn't make the team... said I was too small"

With incredible wisdom, the mother said, "Son, it's not the size of the person in the game...it's the size of the game... in the person." She left.It clicked. In a huge way. Like nothing had ever before.

The next morning...It started. He got up at 4:30 am and started practicing... every morning... every evening... every day... every week... every month... relentless... non-stop... His Fight had Ignited...he would not be denied. Through the snow... rain... sleet... ice... wind... hail... He kept practicing... gave up movies... and things that he did before... The Fight kept getting bigger. And bigger. And Bigger.

And he kept saying..."It's not the size of the player in the game... but the size of the game in the player." Over and Over and Over... And then it came around again...The Season. He tried out... with a focus so strong that it intimidated even the coach. His Fight was at Peak Force. And he made the team....

The next year he made the team.... And he went on to Explode the fight in him to where no one dared to stop him....

His name? Michael Jordan.

Be11!

RF

Good Morning America; It's Friday! Game Day!! Friday is my Favorite Day!!!

Good Luck with your games this week! Many of you are fighting for playoff spots. KSA!!!

We are back in Oregon as you know so we will be going to see the RANGERS play the big rival for a first place finish in the league and favorable spot in the playoffs. They made the playoffs as a third placer last year, but this is special. They can finish 7-2 and outright League Champions tonight, and they have done it running the ball. They have a dominating, clock control offense - sound familiar?

Interestingly, the 2nd year coach will play the school that he himself played quarterback for almost 10 years ago. He was the one we forced the fumble on in the last 30 seconds of the game to come from behind to win and go undefeated, undisputed league champions.

It's funny how things turn out.

Has to feel rather strange for him, don't you think?

Be11!

RF

Sweep 48 Ram/Sweep Weak

When we committed to the unbalanced line and the bastard 5 yard split, never did we think that the defense would allow us to line up in the slot formation and not adjust. What we discovered is that the defense would align to the unbalanced but not ‘notice’ the wing back. We discovered that defenses did not ‘notice’ the wing back till he went in motion, and then they would adjust to the motion.

And then there is the fact that defensive coordinators do not like to shift the defense a full man over to the strength of the formation. Invariably, they shift over half a man and align in the gap. We think that’s because they do not want to give us a ‘short corner’ in the weakside of the formation.

In any event, the fact of the matter is that the slot formation outflanks a defense that does not adjust. (And of course, if they do adjust, then they will be weak somewhere else along the LOS.)

Be sure to read about these plays at www.jvm.com/coachfree.

Here are the rules for blocking for the sweep:

1. Both the SE and the WB are to block the first defender to the inside on or off the ball – defenders in level one or two. We do not want them blocking a deep defender.

2. The Key block on the sweep is executed by the FB. This version of the sweep play differs from the T schemes in that we have the FB block the force man on the sweep. We feel that our FB is better on his feet, can get there quicker from his offset position, has more agility and probably year in-year out is a better athlete than a pulling guard. The timing of the play is just better, especially on a hard corner force. Most of the time secondary defenders align 3-10 yards off the ball and take those three ‘read steps.’ When this happens, the FB is to use a running shoulder block on the defender, putting his inside shoulder on the outside number of the defender and get his hips around to seal that defender to the inside. If however, the force man attacks the LOS quickly and in either on the LOS or actually in our backfield, then the FB is to “kickout” the defender and the TB is to cut up and run inside this block.

3. The Tackles are to seal off the inside, with a gap defense that means they are blocking the defender to the inside on or off the ball.

4. The Ram call means that both guards are going to pull and block. They are to pull off the LOS and get around the blocks of the SE & WB. The idea is to get up into the alley and block defenders pursuing to the ball carrier.

5. We have the QB get into the flow of the blockers after pitching the ball to the TB. We ask that the QB get in the way of a defender and make him run around the ‘QBs block.’ Some years you have a QB that is a hard nosed kid and will actually block someone. Other years, the QB wants nothing of it.

The running path of the ball carrier most of the time takes him inside the block of the fullback and then back outside toward the sidelines. It is important the TB not run too close to the FB’s block (he should stay about three yards off the block) or he can run right into the block and the defender can make a play on him. By having the TB align 7 or more yards deep and running parallel to the LOS till he receives the ball, and having the FB align 5 yards off the ball and run straight at the force man, we have separation between blocker and ball carrier.

Sweep Weak: You can keep the guards in as illustrated, or you can pull and get them in front of the ball carrier.

We like to run this play on the first sound often catching the defense shifting and adjusting to the formation. Another play we like to run from this formation is Counter 47 gut on first sound as well. Often when the defense sees this formation, they are thinking sweep all the way, therefore, the counter is an excellent play.

Another play that works well out of this formation is a Sweep/Trap to the FB back up the middle against the grain established by the sweep fake. On the trap play, the QB reverse pivots, fakes a sweep, and put the ball in the FB’s belly. The FB takes a step forward and hesitates till receiving the ball. He then runs the ball up over the middle on a Sweep 31 trap. The SG pulls and trap blocks the DT.

The sweep pictured below was our first offense play of the game! Great way to start, EH?

AND . . . I just noticed that the uploaded video not only includes that play, but some good examples of other basic plays as well. Can you name them?

See more examples of these plays at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer.

Greetings from Oregon.

We have made it back to OR. I was in Canton OH TU and it was 35 rain/mised with snow. Landed in OR, the land of perpetual springtime, it was sunny and 70 - absolutely beautiful Indian Summer type day.

Now that we are back, we will be able to work on and upload better quality videos for you to see the examples of the EQualizer Offense at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer.

The next play to discuss - the Sweep.

Look for it later tonight.

Be 11!

RF

The FUNdaMENTALS

Continued mastery of the FUNdaMENTALS
Enables your performance to become an
Upward HyperSpiral of Achievement.

To be successful you must be FUNdaMENTALly sound. You must be able to execute the routine play flawlessly, effortlessly, automatically. Only through the mastery of the FUNdaMENTALS will you be able to move to ever higher levels of performance.

Every discipline has its own basic FUNdaMENTALS whether it be sports, education, business related, or any other routines that are currently demanding our attention. In baseball you must be able to field the ball and make an accurate throw to first base before the runner gets there, or you will never have the opportunity to be at the plate and take a swing. There are proper techniques to fielding and throwing when, if followed, produce desired performance. There are proper techniques for blocking and tackling, shooting and rebounding, running and jumping, driving a car. Everyone can remember the trials and tribulations of learning how to drive that stick shift car or truck. Remember looking at the pedals and thinking, “Three pedals and only two feet?”

The same can be said for touch typing. I can remember thinking that my dad got taken by a salesman because there was no “B” on his keyboard at the office. Remember those days in typing class trying to get that pinky-finger to reach all the way to “Q?” Now, of course, after practicing the FUNdaMENTALS for many years all these behaviors are done easily, gracefully, unconsciously. What we used to have to think about consciously (hitting that Q; letting the clutch out slowly while giving it just the right amount of gas without rolling back into the Cadillac behind us on the hill), we now perform smoothly with little or no conscious thought. Our performance becomes “automatic.”

Let us not forget that math has FUNdaMENTALS (once you get the basics of addition and subtraction down; you move on to fun things like algebra and trig), as does English, science, music, yes, every discipline does. How about family life? Are there basic FUNdaMENTALS of marriage, motherhood, fatherhood? Behavior is rule governed. Rule governed behavior involves discipline and FUNdaMENTAL correctness. The path to greater success that Upward HyperSpiral of Achievement begins with disciplining yourself to master the FUNdaMENTALS.

CoachFreeb says work at mastering your FUNdaMENTALS – The FUNdaMENTALS of your position. What would happen if EVERYONE were FUNdaMENTALLY the best players on the field at their position in this week’s game?

Why BFS Schools Win

In checking the posts . . . I found that I had not posted the following on the BLOG, just a previous version of the home page www.jvm.com/coachfree:



WHY BFS SCHOOLS WIN
For the past 30 years BFS schools have been dominating. Why? Here is a quick explanation of why BFS schools win.
By Roger Freeborn
Published: Fall 2001

Traveling coast to coast conducting BFS Clinics translates into lots of seat time on planes and, yes, delays at the airport. Far from a totally bad thing, this time enables us to catch up on our reading. Coach Lou Holtz maintains that the major determining factors between where you are now and where you want to be in the future are: (1) The books that you read; (2) The people you associate with; and (3) The dreams that you dream.

Recently, I finished reading “What it Takes to be #1” by Vince Lombardi, Jr., a book about his father’s leadership model. It’s a great book about Vince Lombardi, the Packers, and the role of a coach. I also just finished “Failing Forward” by John Maxwell, a book about turning mistakes into stepping stones for success.

Here, in part, is what they have to say: Every major difficulty you face in life is a fork in the road. You choose which track you will head down, toward breakdown or breakthrough.In the face of pressure and tension, unless you have developed the habit of discipline, you will quit, surrender, fail to rise to the occasion. Stress and tension, when not moderated by discipline and a strong sense of duty, cause us to compromise and take shortcuts. Instead of doing things the right way, you choose to do it your way.

All-Pro guard Jerry Kramer once commented, “from all Lombardi’s sermons, this one hits home the hardest. I’ve found in business that only 15 or 20 percent of the people do things right all the time. The other 80 or 85 percent are taking short cuts, looking for the easy way, either stealing from others or cheating themselves. I’ve got an edge, because whenever I’m tempted to screw off, to cut corners. I hear that raspy voice saying, ‘This is the right way to do it. Which way are you going to do it, mister?’”

While Vince Lombardi Jr. was describing the essential ingredients that created the Packer Dynasty of the 60s, he was also delineating the reasons BFS schools are successful.A great deal of it has to do with discipline. Discipline is a much maligned word these days. The definition of discipline states:1. Training that is expected to produce a specified character or pattern of behavior, especially that which is expected to produce physical, moral or mental improvement. 2. Controlled behavior resulting from such behavior. 3. A set of rules or methods as those regulating the practice of (athletic) training (such as the BFS absolutes and axioms). 4. A branch of knowledge or of teaching. verb: A. To train by instruction and control. B. To punish or penalize for the sake of discipline control.

Today’s society thinks discipline is all about punishment and not about instruction, all about control and not about freedom. A man once took his son to the beach on a windy day and launched a kite into the breeze. The boy asked his father what keeps the kite in the air. His father told him that it was the string that keep the kite in the sky. His son said that could not be; the string was holding the kite down. His father replied, “If you believe that, let go of the string.”You see the very things that we believe are holding us down are the very things that empower us to go where we want to go.

Teenagers spend far too much energy fighting the rules when they should be embracing them. The rules actually enable us to get where we want to go.When a teen jumps into the car and is headed to Suzi’s house for the big date, he gets there because he follows (most) the rules of the road. By following the rules of the road, he gets to where he wants to go. So it is with other areas of life. Life is rule-governed behavior. Once we learn the rules, we have the power to go where we want to go, do what we want to do, be what we want to be, have what we want to have.

It’s much like your score on the SAT test. Your score does not indicate how intelligent you are. Your score, especially your math score, indicates how many of the necessary rules and skills needed for successful behavior in college you have mastered. It is a skills test.

One example we use in our Be An 11 Seminars is that in order to find the square footage of a room you must know the formula (rules for determining the area) A = L x W: The area is equal to the length times the width. It is a simple rule that most people know. It works in all cases. But in order to successfully determine the area of the room, we must bring in lots of other skills and rules. We need to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide. So if we know the right rules and can demonstrate the right skills we will be rewarded with a high SAT score and have more college doors open for us.

To learn these necessary college skills, we must discipline ourselves to learn them. It is this discipline of training, investing those countless hours of practice, that leads to mastery. It’s a processing activity. It’s hard work. Hard work is a discipline: the focused training that develops self-control. Discipline helps you make the hard decisions. It helps you embrace and endure the pain associated with change. It helps you stay on track despite stress, pressure, and fear. It is what leads to breakthroughs instead of breakdowns.

And we have to do it together. It is the relationships you forge with others, your teammates, that are going to get you through the tough times, the challenges. It’s where you find the energy and strength to do what has to be done; the energy that moves your teammates beyond ordinary to extraordinary performances. It’s where the superhuman, unbelievable efforts emanate from.

Engaging in the BFS Program everyday, working hard, encouraging your teammates to do their best, that’s discipline. Challenging yourself to break eight or more records a week makes you rise to the occasion on a regular basis. Everyday the BFS athlete has to reach down and find the inner strength to break his record, raise the bar, to do more than he has ever done before. His teammates encourage him. They do it together.

Weeks and months later when the team is challenged to come from behind, they respond in a positive way because they have trained themselves for this occasion. Winning on the fields of play is a natural extension of winning everyday in the weightroom. Their efforts are labeled superhuman, unbelievable or extraordinary because ordinary people are not willing to work that hard, dedicate that much or commit to that extent. So the mere mortals marvel at what winners accomplish.

Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down. Ordinary people do ordinary things. Championships are won by those who are willing to do the extra things to become extraordinary. Like Kramer says, BFS athletes have the edge because they have practiced doing things the right way day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. We have a saying at our school: At Estacada High School, the Home of the Rangers, Winning isn’t everything; it’s just part of what we do!” While other athletes are looking for the shortcut or the easy way out, while they are off doing who knows what, screwing around, cutting corners, BFS athletes are disciplining themselves to lift and run and jump their way to prepare themselves for the challenges ahead.

So that when faced with the pressure and tension associated with game night, a big game, or having to come from behind to win, they can rise to the occasion and deliver their best performance. That’s what they are trained to do. That’s what BFS athletes and teams do everyday. Break records. Reaching down and finding the energy to go beyond the ordinary, to the extraordinary.

That’s why BFS schools win. They train to win everyday, they discipline themselves to complete their workout, they break records. They know that every record they break is another step toward winning the Championship. They know that they are on a collision course with success, the only variable is time.

In All That You Do, Be An 11!

In checking the stats on the BLOG . . . I find that some of you guys have logged on 10-15-20+ times . . . but have posted no comments.

Come on; you must have had a question about something by now.

You must have had thoughts worthy of adding a comment that other coaches could benefit from your experience.

Contribute! Post up your thoughts.

RF

Louisville OH
Basketball Coach Rich Venuto attended a BFS Clinic in 2000. Later when he became Athletic Director at Louisville High School, he brought in BFS Clinician Mike Glennie for a Total Program Clinic in the spring of 2007 to unify the Louisville athletic program. The football team went to the Ohio State Title Game that year-first time ever! The Cross Country teams went to and placed highly at state and other programs had much improved seasons.

In 2008, Rich hosted a Regional Certification Clinic to certify all head coaches. Next March, he will host another Regional Certification Clinic so he can certify assistant coaches.

This fall the football team went undefeated and is in the playoffs again despite graduating many of those state finalist players. You can view what Rich has to say about certification along with his CC coaches at www.maxcast.com/BFScertification. You can learn more about the BFS Certification and Total Program Clinics at www.biggerfasterstronger.com.

Coaches of the BFS Nation know that you can compete for Championships every year. BFS helps average players become great and great players, exceptional. BFS helps programs get to higher levels of competition. We had a saying at our school, "At Estacada High School, The Home of the Rangers, Winning isn't everything, it's just part of what we do."

When this turnaround takes place at a school, other people attribute it to other factors like: They just are having a run of great talent or they got lucky or the other teams in the league are down.

How could anyone honestly think that the rest of the league is down? We are playing 10 games at the highest level in Ohio High School Football here. When I talked with Rich today, the first thing he said about the kids and coaches is that they have worked "incredibility hard."

You can go to that previous post I put up on "Why BFS Schools Wing" and read about why. They win on Friday nights in the fall because they have practiced winning every day in the weightroom.

Be 11!

RF

Those TN Titans look pretty good.

The only remaining undefeated NFL Team . . . and they are noted this year for doing it in a way that most do not do any more . . . RUNNING THE BALL!

And they remain undefeated after beating one of the most hearlded pasing attacks, the Colts with P Manning, and they did it with a "washed up QB." I'll beat that there are not too many of those fantasy guys that had Collins on their team at the beginning of the year.

There just might be something to this old fashioned idea of running the ball.

Another DW Stopper!

Got this today from a youth coach in CA:

Coach,

I don’t know how to thank you and I could write volumes about our playoff game this past weekend but I will try to be brief.

First and foremost…..we won 8-0, against an undefeated double wing offense that had been scoring at least 21 points per game. The game was played in blinding rain and 20 mph winds, so they passed twice and us not at all. Our QB scored at the end of the first half on a 60 yd. naked bootleg that fooled the whole defense. We get 2 points for a kicked extra point at this level. That was all the scoring for the game.

I switched our defense from a 6-2 to a 5-3 (and practiced it twice) with our best athlete at noseguard. This kid is a state champ wrestler at 105 lbs. and is a 10 yr old monster. He drove the center into their QB all night. My two Dts were able to keep the guards from pulling most of the time just by tripping them up. The ends crashed and boxed and the corners and MLB made most of the tackles. My fastest LB went out early with a knee injury and I replaced him with our safety who did a great job. The replacement safety never needed to get involved the rest of the game as they never got that far. They never got inside our 30 yd line. We completely shut down the toss sweep and the counter play.

I knew that we were taking a chance trying to make a change that quickly, but we had the athletes to do it. We will now be moving on in the playoffs and hopefully to the regions.

Thank you for your help. You made me look like a genius and made 26- 9, 10 and 11 year olds very happy.

Thanks again,

EQuote of the Week:
10.26.08

Without Goals, We leave great accomplishment to chance.

Question of the Week?

How long will you wait to set the new Goal?
How long will you wait to activate the new Plan?

Most of the fall season plays out this week and most of you will put another schedule into the record books. The ending of a season compares to a death in the family. Whatever you had and shared together with your team can never be recaptured. Life goes on. The Highlander movies remind us that, "There can be only one!" When the playoffs end, one champion will be crowned. Lombardi said for all that do not win it, "the only thing left is 100 percent resolution and 100 percent determination" to go to work to win the next time out. All work needs a plan. Every team needs a Goal to strive for. We at BFS recomend that two weeks after your season ends, get your team together, establish the Goal(s), and work to make it happen. Remember, Coach Tom Osborne from Nebraska said that, "75% of winning takes place before practice starts." The sooner you get the goals set and the work started, the better you position your team to compete for the Championship. We conduct a Be An 11 Seminar centered around the Five Power Axioms of Success. I include 11 Points on Being An 11 which center around what I have learned over a four decade coaching career. There are 10% of the teams and programs that are willing to do what it takes, year in - year out, to compete at the top. The purpose of the Seminar is to set the Goal and to develop The Plan on how to make it happen. The great thing about this is that the kids set the goal and everyone, athletes, coaches, administrators, parents -whoever attends - has input on an 11-Step "Plan to Make IT Happen." It's a great way to kickstart what it is going to take to compete in the playoffs next year. Call me 800.628.9737 ex 603 if you want to talk about having one of these Seminars for your team. Also, there is a great "How to set goals" section in our Be An 11 Guidebook For Success which every athlete attending the Seminar gets. You can order your copy at http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com.

GO RAVENS!

This from B.C. Martin:

Hey Freeb, Just checking in with my latest update from Beautiful B.C. We are now 8-0 after defeating Holy Cross Highschool 50-7 yesterday in Surrey. They won the Provincial Championship last year and it was a good feeling to beat them since HC was the first place I worked ('85-'88) when I was a very young teacher and coach. My former Principal all those years ago is still there and it was especially sweet to beat them. We've got a real test next week in our last league game as #1 (us) faces #2 (WJ Mouat of Abbotsford). They are undefeated as well. The winner will get a first round bye in the playoffs so Yes..it's a big one next Sat. Cheers Martin

Good Luck Martin - KSA!!!

Central Warriors Make Playoffs

Just got this email from NE Iowa. Tom started using BFS in his school around six years ago. He has suffered through some really lean times. But he has stuck to it and brought respectability to football, track programs as well as Central High School and community. Those farmers have something to talk about other than getting the corn and beans in.



For the first time in school history, the Warriors are going to the playoffs. They finished second in their district with an exciting 28-14 win over Lisbon Friday night. The team finished the season 7-2, the best in Tom's tenure and in who knows how many years at Central. The first playoff game is at home Wednesday.

http://www.iahsaa.org/football/08_SCHEDULE_RESULTS/08_a_bracket.pdf

RE: Stop the Double Wing

I have this post on the MEGA Clinic discussino board about double wing defense that if you want to know what we do on defending the DW, email me and I will send it along to you. We have sent out close to 300 emails to coaches on the subject.

The vast majority of coaches never email back any details on whether it helped or not. However, I got the following email back from a coach in Iowa:


Thank you for the advice on defending the double wing. I used many of the concepts and incorporated them into our usual 4-4 defense and walking an Lb up on the center to give us the 50 look. He was reading the centers block and blitzing the gap if the center filled for the pulling guard; if the center did not fill then our DT over the guard got through and chased the toss from the backside. Anyway, our varsity D allowed about 140 yards rushing tonight. Our JV came in at the end of the 4th quarter and gave up 87 yards (70 on one play). So our overall stats did not look so good, but when the varsity was in, many of the suggestions you provided worked very well. The team we played has averaged about 300 yards rushing per game this year and last year they ran for around 350 yds on us. We won the game 41-16 and claimed the district championship, qualifying our school for the playoffs for the first time in 28 yrs. I have been at this school for 5 years and the excitement of having a winning football team is really having a positive impact on the school. Thank you for taking the time to immediately answer my email and to help me out in terms of defending the double wing. Have a great weekend and thanks again.

RE: Scheme

One of the things I learned over the years in coaching the LB'ers was if we wanted the LB'ers to key the guards, we needed to start the season that way, keying the guards. If we started the season keying backs or backfield action, and then midway through the season we would want to key the guards . . . it didn't happen.

Still to this day, across the land, high school teams still have to defeat one of the WingT offensive schemes. And that means you really do need to key the guards.

So, that line of reasoning was the stimulus for the offensive question this week: Is it better to be a running team that passes, or a passing team that can run . . . for a high school team.

Speaking from my experience, here's the deal. There are not too many of us that go out and recruit players for our team like colleges get to recruit players for their team. That means we have to play the hand that is dealt us every year.

Now IF you are staying at the school for a number of years, there is a certain amount of talents you can develop with kids as they move through the years. This is made more difficult when systems cut out Junior High Sports and turn things over to community clubs.

Recently I attended a high school game that had two teams playing who were trying to execute offensive schemes (variations of the spread) that they clearly did not have the talent to execute well. The kids on those teams were put out on the field in a position to . . . . fail because they did not have the talent to do all that stuff.

So, would the kids have to go through seasons winning just a game or two till perhaps talent came along that could run the system? We always felt that if we got a real tailback to come along, it was a bonus. And a real tailback would come along perhaps once every 7 years or so.

When the 'player' came along, we would always tweak the system to feature the 'player.' The rest of the time we would stress TEAM concepts.

It's like, year in - year out, we never were blessed with a great deal of speed. I remember doing a clinic and had some cut ups playing. One of the coaches commented, "Those guys do not have any speed. They look just like out kids." That's right, average ability kids is what we had to coach.

But if all those defenders at the corner were blocked, we could run sweep. If the line would open up a huge hole, we could run through it.

So we felt that since football is a game of blocking and tackling, we would start with that. Snap the ball, hand off, run straight ahead, gain some yards. Year in, year out, we could get kids to do that. And we could work with kids in the weightroom to develop their strength, so they could do all that better next year and the year after.

If we had a QB that could throw the ball coupled with people that could catch the ball, we could tweaked the system and feature an expanded passing attack.

One year we had a QB that literally had a shot-put action for throwing the ball. Man it was ugly. But with the play action pass, and the fact that we really did not want him to throw anything more than 22 yards deep with the vast majority of passes being just 9 yard passes, we were able to have an adequate passing attack.

So I am with the idea that it's better to start with a running attack that passes for high school ball.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Be11!

RF

Think you have it tough?

When things go wrong as they sometimes will . . . What an Amazing story! What a Great Attitude!

When you have some kids or coaches or people in your life think they have it tough, you might direct them to this video. And if you go to http://www.todayshow.com/ there is a ongoing video diary from this person while she battles cancer.

I am awe. There are so many things that converge for me with this piece. Many of you know that my daughter is a Triathlete. I am always very uneasy when I am around them. They are so incredibly fit. And my mother died of cancer when I was an 8th grader. So this story has special meanings for me and maybe you too.

"The one great thing about cancer. Keep your dreams alive."

I am humbled.

RF

Good Morning America; It's Friday! Game Day!! Friday is my Favorite Day!!!

Good Luck with your games this week! Many of you are fighting for playoff spots. KSA!!!

It's time for most of you to run some laps, or as we used to call them, "Extra Opportunities!" The purpose of this BLOG is to share information, especially that on coaching. Yesterday, I put up a post about Coach Tressel and what he does mentally after laying an egg out there on the field and that if you emailed me at coachfreeb@bfsmail.com I would send out what that three step process is.

Now here we have a golden nugget from one of the most successful coaches in the game today, recommended to you by a coach who has been in the game for a 4 decade career and only two of the 40 people who read the BLOG yesterday emailed and asked for the info.

In addition, less than a handful of the 600 people that have read the BLOG since I put it up there last month have posted a comment. Those of you who have, thanks for your contribution. For the rest of you, What's holding your back? The number one way that I got better was to learn from others who had been there. The number two way was to learn after laying an egg, and some of those eggs were rotten and stinky.

In psychology class we would talk about how, in life, lessons will be repeated until learned. Maybe, just maybe, there something there from Coach Tressel's remarks that would save you from having to be fixated in your development because you haven't learned the lesson you need to learn.

And I can tell you that in the process of lesson learning, life will present to you a lesson of ever increasing magnitude till that lesson is learned.

In my Be An 11 Seminar, we present 11 points on Being An 11 that stem from my 40 years in the business. Point #11 is Compete. Competition brings out the best in you . . . and them. If you have a weakness in your 'game.' Competition will expose that weakness in a hurry. On more than one occasion, we were able to take a struggling program and through training and hard work that program was able to elevate themselves to a state Top 10 program. So . . . the point of the Seminar is, "On a scale of 1-10, how good do you want to be? Why not choose to Be An 11!" And if you do the first 10 things, you get to compete with the Top 10 teams in the state. And that competition will bring out the best in you and them . . . and it will expose your weaknesses (lessons will be repeated until learned).

So what do you do when you get to that point and then lay an egg? That's what Tressel is talking about here. Why would you not want to know?

So, I am giving you all 10 extra laps to run for your poor performance on the BLOG this week.

Tell you what . . . Jim has a great story that goes along with the three step process on learning from adversity. When we get to 15 requests for the info, I will post up the story. It's a really good one.

Oh! I almost forgot. Do you want to know what those 11 points of Being an 11, Top 10 programs in your state are? You'll have to email me: coachfreeb@aol.com.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes Will

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit-

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a fellow turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up though the pace seems slow -

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man;

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup;

And he learned too late when the night came down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -

The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It might be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Unknown

Act - React

In The Winners Manual, by Jim Tressel, there is a great plan on what he does "when things go wrong as they sometimes will" on the field. The tendency is to yell at the player or assistant coach or even kick ourselves. When we do that we lose the opportunity to learn from the mistake.

In our Be An 11 Seminar we talk about America's most famous inventor, the guy that said "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Do you know who that is?

They stare off into space thinking while I'm looking at the lights, trying to give them a hint. That's right, Thomas Edison (another good ole Ohio boy - GO BUCKS!).

It is well known that he conducted thousands of experiments until he finally got the right combination of ingredients before getting his first successful light bulb that worked for thousands of hours.

Then I ask, "If you were going to invent a better light bulb, would you start out and conduct thousands of experiments to get one, or would you just go to what Edison did, copy that, and go from there?"

The answer is obvious: Use the shortcut of copying what successful people do and accelerate your progress. That is why it is so important to read what those successfully people you would like to be like have written. Success leaves clues as Anthony Robbins says and those guys are willing to share with us, if we are smart enough to listen.

So, here's the deal: since it will take a few days for you to get The Winners Manual shipped to you from Amazon.com and since this is written on page 159 in that book and you are in the middle of the season with limited time to read it, email me coachfreeb@bfsmail.com and I will send you the three step thought process and explanation that Jim uses in order to turn adversity into opportunity for better performance.

Be 11!

RF

Question?

I have a question for you all; perhaps it will make this a tad more intereactive.

Based on your experience and in your opinion, RE the offensive scheme, is it better to start with a running attack that passes or is it better to start with a passing attack that runs.

Post up a comment.

RF

Tressel's Winners Manual

Reading Jim's book on the plane. It is outstanding. If you are a coach, expecially a Christian coach, this book is a must read. It is very be An 11 oriented. There's just a ton of things that will positively impact your program.

One of the things we will be doing in the future at BFS is to write a Be An 11 Curriculum for schools to implement a Be An 11 Character Development Class for their school. Many of the things in the book are what we used in our Be An 11 Class over the years, and there's a ton of stuff that we can include in the future curriculum.

Till then, I have takent he best lessons of what we did and put them together in a packet that you could use if you so desire. Go to my order page, write a check, send it in.

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #5

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #5

Before we go any further, I think we need to talk about two play action pass plays: Dive Option 48 Pass and Dive 34 Bootleg pass.

These are two extremely effective pass plays. In fact, the Dive Option 48 Pass has been THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PASS PLAY I have called over a 4 decade coaching career. It works. When I was in school back in the 50s, we ran this play from the old Iowa Wing T series and it worked. We have ‘modified’ it every decade to “fit” the system we were running at the time, right up to the end with the unbalanced EQualizer Offense.

Again, you can read about the plays online at www.jvm.com/coachfree and you can see the cut ups of the play at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer.

Both plays operate on the premise that the first four steps are the same as on the base play(s). On Dive Option 48 Pass, the QB on that 4th step pushes off and drives for a point 7-9 yards deep behind where the SE aligned. AT that point, he is to turn upfield and attacks the LOS. His read progression is: short, middle, long.

Here are some critical coaching points on the play: (1) there has to be a good fake on the play. The better the fake, the more wide open everyone will be. (2) On his 4th step, the TB must locate the defender who is the threat to contain the QB and AGRESSIVELY block him. He must attack him and drive that person back. Ideally we would want him to block the defender’s outside number with his inside forearm and get the hips around to seal him inside. Younger, inexperienced players have to tendency and to slow down or stop and wait for the defender to come to him. That means that his feet are screwed into the ground and the defender is moving and will plow through the block and get to the QB. There needs to be a separation between the block being made and the path of the QB. (3) The SE needs to come down the LOS and STRIKE the end defender on the LOS. After hitting that guy he needs to run an arrow route (45 degree to the sideline). When he gets to a point that is 15 yards deep, he is to square out his pattern to the sideline. When the SE executes in this manner, he comes open 90% of the time or more. (4) The WB who is in motion, either short or extended motion, at the snap of the ball breaks upfield, and runs a deep corner route. He is to get to a depth of 25 plus yards. The receivers are to stack up: FB at 5yards, SE at 15 yards and WB at 25 yards and getting deeper on every step.

Often the play action freezes the defense and the WB has a chance to beat everyone deep for a huge gain or an easy score. The fake brings up the force man for pitch, and when the FB releases and crosses his face out there in the flat, that force man most of the time plays pass and picks up the FB in coverage.

Due to those two factors, the SE has a chance to ‘sneak’ behind the under coverage and open under the over coverage and come open over 90% of the time. If he does not come open, that means usually that the deep coverage is up on him and the WB is open.

You do not have to tell the QB to look deep; they will do that on their own. You need to teach them to look short middle long first. The deal is that if you teach them to look long first, they will never look short and see a wide open receiver.

This pass play has produced more first downs, and more touchdowns, than any other pass play run over that 40+ year time period: play action flood pass to the wide side of the field. It is the play to call when you are in a 3rd and long situation.

Even if you do not run the EQualizer, there is a play in your scheme that you can modify according to these principles and your offense will be more productive.

Now on to bootleg pass. Once again, first four steps the same, including a good fake to the FB. Here are the major coaching points on this play: (1) The FB is to take his fake into the B Gap and block that area. The center is to block the A Gap if he in uncovered. Obviously, if there is a nose guard, he is to block the nose. If the SG is covered, the C is to block for the SG who is pulling. (2) The SG pulls and is to block the backside DE (the called side guard is to block the backside DE). Once he passes the C, the SG must GET AS MUCH DEPTH AS POSSIBLE. Ideally, we would want the SG to get a depth of 7 yards, turn upfield, and block the outside number of the DE with his right arm (if he is pulling to the left) get his hips around and keep the DE to the inside. (3) The TE MUST BLOCK FIRST. The TE must block the DE before running his route. Blocking first does multiple things. First, blocking the DE sets the block of the SG on the pull. It helps the guard be able to keep the DE to the inside and thereby allowing the QB to get to the outside. The TE’s blocking also gives a false read to the secondary which will help him get open on his pass route. (3) The route of the SE is to take him to a depth of no more than 7 yards in the opposite flat. Normally the SE runs under the LB’er coverage unless they have really bitten on the fake, then he just runs this under route through space. The important thing is to a depth of no more than 7 yards. (4) The QB after the fake must sprint to a depth of 9 yards behind where the TE lined up. He then must turn and attack the LOS. Here he has a decision to make: Run or Pass. There are plenty of times when there is NO ONE in front of him: IN THAT CASE HE SHOULD RUN! Remember, Coach Hayes said there were many things that can go wrong when you pass the ball. The real thing is this. If the defense see the AB RUN early in the game . . . later on in the game they will come up to tackle the QB, and that is when you can hit the TE open on the deep route for a big gainer or easy TD.

Most of the time there is just one defender left on the weak side to defend on this play. The play action fake to the other side of the formation will get the defense’s attention there. As the secondary rotates there, the TE breezes by the backside CB on a deep corner route. The CB has to break to cover him, right? So who is left to cover the SE on the crossing route? A LB’er who has bitten on the fake? A LB’er who is looking at the QB? The SE will always come open over there in the opposite flat.

A couple more things: If you have a right handed QB and is rolling left, HE MUST SET HIS FEET TO THROW DEEP. In order to be accurate on the deep route, he must do a “Montana Hop” to square his hips, stride to the receive to throw deep. AND NEVER UNDERTHROW A DEEP BALL. Get enough air under the ball and get the receiver to run to catch the ball. This is not one of those underthrown deep balls they talk about on Sunday afternoon on TV. That would be OK on a Fade route, but underthrowing this ball leads to interceptions. Also, if there is a blitzer, or say the TE wiffs on his block and the SG has to block the DE out inside of keeping him in. Then the QB has to read this on the boot and stop, square up, and hit the SE between the LB’ers over the middle of later out in the flat after he is passing the weakside LB’er. If the QB tries to get outside a DE that is outside . . . he will lose most of the time.

Be 11!

RF

Quote of the Week:
10.17.08

We are created not just to exist, nor to just

pass through this world and be about something,
But to live with purpose.

Fullfilling our purpose is part of who we are.
But what we're about -the goals we set,

the dreams we have -

is part of what we do.
Jim Tressel - The Winners Manual

Question of the Week?

What is your purpose - not what you do - what are you about?

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #4

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #4

The next play in the offense is the counter play. It comes off the idea that we want the plays to start out the same for the first 4 steps, get the defense to react to the base movement, but then comes something unexpected, like the counter. We run the counter 3 different ways: two with the tailback and one with the SE. First the base counter from the offset I formation.

You can read the original copy in the playbook at www.jvm.com/coachfree. What we found out over the years is that the counter run with the TB out of the power formation worked better if we ran it wide, but running the counter to what we call the 7 hole worked better from the I formation.

Then there is the counter to the SE. We would run the counter with the SE on an end around action IF we had a SE that had some speed. You really need speed to run the play or else you get thrown for a loss.

It’s like the jet stuff popular today. The guy running the jet had better have the speed to run it or else the “jet” turns into a tank and really does not get downfield. By the way, one of the things we do, successfully, against the jet boys is to play our force man deeper and wider than normal. The jet has a running start while your force man starts from a stationary stance and is at a disadvantage. To compensate, therefore, we have him play like 3 steps deeper and 3 steps wider than normal. That makes a big difference.

We block all counter plays with a ‘gut’ call, both guard and tackle pulling. The SG blocks the end out and the tackle pulls up through the whole to led block for the ball carrier. EXCEPT when we run the counter out of the power formation. Normally the counter out of the power formation we go on first sound – no motion. The WB blocks down on the end and screens him to the inside. The SG pulls around the end to block the force and the IOT pulls behind the guard and blocks the first defender to show in support.

The reasoning on running the plays this way is that the timing is just better between the ball carriers and the runners. You can see that in the cut ups at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer.

Be11!

RF

Tressel's Book

Have started reading Jim Tressel's book "The Winner's Manual" - very good. Every once in a while I read a book that is so good that I buy a few and send them to friends to read and help their programs along. This is one of those books. If you are in the business of helping kids grow and mature, this book is for you. Got mine at costco in Ohio for $15. Not in Ohio? go to Amazon.com.

RF

Memory Lane

RANGERS WIN!

The Estacada Rangers won last night and are off to play for the conference championship over the next two weeks. Congratulation Rangers.

I had an interesting night last night. My nephew Grant and his wife Maryellen invited us to go to the local football game, Woodmore v Lakota. Several things were interesting. Woodmore is now a consolidation of Woodville (wife Jacquie graduated from WHS) and the next town over Elmore both small towns in NW Ohio as is my alma mater, Gibsonburg just a few miles in the other direction. The game was played at the stadium in Elmore . . . . same field that I played on in 1961 as a junior.

I remember the game clearly. It was a game where I truly felt sorry for the opposition as we moved the ball at will and the DB I was blocking on the option was going to get knocked down again. They were really overmatched.

Remember, you can see the old coach play at www.maxcast.com/bfsvideoexchange. I played center and DT on that those teams.

The reason for the invite to the game was that the Ohio State University Marching Band - that they refer to around here as "The best damn band in the land" was performing at the game. WOW! Seems that the assistant director of bands is a Woodmore grad; they were on their way to Lansing for the OSU/MSU game today and they have a practice of doing this from time to time at Friday night lights at high schools fields.

My first football memory was Dad taking us to an Ohio State game at the 'shoe" around 1954 and the band performed script Ohio. Guess what? They did double Script Ohio last night and the memories flooded back. The band looks the same, sounds the same and performs the same as always. Tradition and Pride are great and truly important.

Another thing that makes the band unique is that it is all brass, no woodwinds or reed instruments; 28 tubas, awesome.

What is your first football memory? What memory would bring the memories flooding back for you?

Be11!

RF

Good morning America; It's Friday! Game Day!! Friday is my Favorite Day!!!

Well, the playoffs have begun. Hard to believe it is here already, but our friend Doug Ekmark has entered the playoff seen in MN, winning their first playoff game on WED. They play again on TU; win that and play again on SAT. To me . . . that is a screwy way to run the playoffs . . . BUT we have always done it this way. So . . . There's a phrase, one of those Adminitraitor phrases (that one is for you Martin) that I do not miss anymore. Just like I do not miss those TU AM faculty meetings talking about the tardy policy . . . . AGAIN!

Yesterday, I visited a school that is building a new field house, so they will need some strength training equipment for their new facility. Here's the deal, the trainer, as in athletic trainer, is the guy who runs BFS in the weightroom. Interesting, as I met the newly hired football coach in the weightroom who hustled me off to see the A.D. about things and really did not want to talk. The Trainer said that the BB team uses BFS and is having great success, been to the state finals recently, and other teams are using BFS with success . . . However, "The football coach does not; he has his own ideas about training," said the Trainer. Interestingly, the football team is struggling greatly winning only 1 game so far this year.

BFS has been in business for 32 years; has helped literally thousands of schools and coaches be more successful; withstood the test of time and is constantly working to improve the system, it constantly amazes me that guys out there think they have a "better system."

Perhaps (as we do many, many times), we will be called in to pick up the pieces and put the thing back together again. As a matter of fact, I know we will. Sooner or later. Our customer list for the state of Ohio is L O N G, goes on for page after page - two columns, single spaced. But "the football coach has his own ideas about how to train the team to a single victory" - Amazing.

Read this from our KY clinician Tom Sullivan who got a note from an A.D. who called BFS in to help right the ship:

Tom: . . . a quick sampling: since BFS has been implemented at SHS, we have won 2 State Championships, almost a dozen All-State athletes, a number of District Championships and a slew of County and Conference Championships, many of which are the first in the history of those sports. In fact, mathematically, the past 5 years have been the best in the history of Susquehannock High.

Thanks,k

We get statements like these all the time. There are hundreds of articles online in our archive section at http://www.bfsonline.com/ and you can read for yourself. Amazing to me how people can stare success in the face and turn their back on it.

Anyway, things like this is the reason for the BLOG and the coaching clinic. We ALL can share information on what we are doing to put kids in the position to be successful. The more you share, the more coaches and kids can be helped. The reason for the EQ in the first place was to put athletes out there, on the field, up against the odds in their best position to be successful and compete with the BIG Boys. And a foundational stone upon which that success was built was to assist the kids in getting bigger, faster, stronger.

Good Luck with your games this week. KSA!!!

RF

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #3

The option

The play that logically follows the dive is the option. In our terminology, when we say "option" we will fake to the FB and option the end man on the LOS. When we say "veer" we will run a true triple option where there is a "read man" and an "option man." first the option.

Lots of coaches nation wide talk about how difficult the option is to coach and teach. It really isn't - when you sell it this way. Probably the most successful play in Pop Warner football is the QB takes the ball and runs around the end, right?

The Option play here is just that: get the ball and run around the end; just throw in a fake to the FB along the way to get the defense to suck in on him, so you can run and gain more yards. And Oh, if you are threatened by a defender on that sweep, just pitch the ball to the TB right before you get tackled and let him run on the outside.

When we use the same alignment and motion as we do on the dive play (to make everything look the same) the play develops as follows:

1. The WB's motion will take him into the bastard split. When the ball is snapped, he will continue to a point behind the SE and then he will arc up field. He is responsible for blocking the force man who is usually responsible for the pitch back. This defender usually has some pass coverage responsibility as well as the pitch back, and for the first 2 seconds after the ball is snapped must honor the release of the WB and will drop for pass coverage. The WB will drive to the outside shoulder of the SS, take him as deep as he can in pass coverage and then stalk block him keeping him to the inside.

There's a lot more of this explanation at the website: www.jvm.com/coachfree You can read that there. What I will do is to add some comments here from experience.

First: One of the things we started doing more of was to put the WB into extended motion beyond the SE. This automatically would give us a 'soft corner' most of the time. After all, when you motion wide, someone has to cover him, right? Even a QB with poor skills could "shot-put" him the ball out there if no one covered him.



What we would do is to stand on the sidelines and look at the DE. When he would step down to take the FB, we would then call Dive option 48. The QB would pull the ball on the fake (and I would tell the QB to ride the ball in there till the DE would step down when this play is called), he then 'bubbles' around the collision made by the FB & DE, and then options the force man out there somewhere int he flat. It is the job of the QB to run at the inside shoulder of the Force man - forcing him to make a decision. If he takes the QB, he pitches it to the TB running wide. If the force man goes to pitch, the QB continues to run. Simple.



The deal is this: We want everything on the first 4 steps of this play to look exactly the same as it would be on the dive play and for other "companion plays that we have, like Dive Option 48 Pass (which by the way is the most successful footabll pass play I have run over a 4 decade career - we will talk about that play next session), the counter play, the bootleg etc.



We also want the steps to be the same as for the our Veer play which is our triple option. And also the same steps for our counter play and out Dive option 48 pass which is the most successful pass play we ran over a 4 decade experience.

Some years you have a QB that makes good decisions and can run the veer. Other years not so good. Those years we do not run the veer, but the defense does not know that everything is predetermined. To them it all looks the same.

The QB just gets the ball and runs around the end like he always has done . . . and maybe pitch the ball right before he gets tackles to gain more yards.

The key point is the steps of the QB, especially the ride step into the line, and the bubble step away from the line on step 5.

I would tell the QB to put the ball in the FB's belly long enought to get the DE to step down. Then bubble around. But I repeat myself, you get the point.

Remember to read the details from the playbook. Also: video of the play is up online at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer. Scroll the play list to view the video.

Have Fun.

RF

Coaching Point: Line Splits

Here is our stance on line splits . . . and we tried them all. We have had the best success with two foot line splits in regular situations.

When it is 3rd and one, we will narrow down the splits - same when we get inside the 10 yard line, getting things down to foot to foot if necessary. Nothing will destroy a play more than an inside penetrator.

We experienced with wider splits. I know when running the Wing T in high school the splits were 2-3-4 feet. Here is what we found over the years. The better our line is than theirs, the wider the splits can be. The better their line is than ours, the narrower the splits need to be.

Also, in our offense - the EQualizer - 2 foot splits provide really good timing for the execution of the play.

The Be An 11! Quote of the Day 10.15.08
Catch the Fever Be An 11! BELIEVER!

Life is on the Wire;
Everything else is just waiting.

Karl Wallenda

Question of the Day?

What is your “Wire?”

EQualizer Cut Ups

Everyone

With the coaching clinic posts, I am trying to include cut ups from actual game films. The problem is that I am in Ohio and the DVDs are in OR. I will be back to OR at the end of the month and will then have access to all the DVDs which will provide higher quality and variety of video cut ups illustrating points made in the clinic posts.

None of you are emailing me or posting any comments regarding this 'clinic' format so I am shooting blind with things.

One thought I had was to also alternate between defense and offense . . . . or should we just do one or the other .. . . or should we start up a defense only clinic BLOG and keep this and offense only BLOG?

Or should we just drop the whole thing all together as I am wasting my time?

What do you all think?

Be 11!

RF

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #2:

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #2:

Today let’s talk about the EQualizer base formation.

A word about the defensive front and Horizontal Stretch:

A major reason we run the formation we do is that it forces the defense to account for more than they are accustomed to handling on the LOS. In a normal pro offensive set the defense must account for 8 slots on the LOS that can easily be attacked.

Against our base formation the defense is forced to account for 2 more slots on the LOS which usually forces some major changes in their alignment.

If you are defending one of those 4 or 5 wide offenses without a TE, there are even fewer slots on the LOS that have to be defended. Of course, that means that all zones in the secondary have to be defended. People like to talk about the vertical stretching of the defense in order to gain an advantage.

The EQualizer base formation stretches the defense horizontally. For example, if you place a defender in each of the areas along the EQualizer LOS, there can be only 2 defenders left to cover the deep secondary which the SE, TE and WB can easily get to, especially on play action pass.

In addition, as you have seen with the Dive Play videos, once the ball carrier breaks the LOS he is ‘off to races’ with everyone on the defense trying to run the ball carrier down before he can score.

Another thing that happens with the formation is that there are only so many ‘looks’ that the defense can give you at the POA. The looks are generally ‘man-on,’ ‘gap,’ or some combination of each. If they gang up on any particular hole along the LOS, they will weaken themselves in another which is not good for them.

Remember, using the option (or the threat of the option) forces the defense to account for the dive back, the QB and the pitch back on each and every play. That means that three defenders on each side of the formation are tied into those responsibilities. Combine that with two deep defenders; eight people are locked down on the defense. There are only three other guys on the defense that they can play ‘chess’ with.

As it say in the playbook:

There is an old coaching cliché that states, "Whoever has the chalk last, wins." An offensive coach who has the chalk after the defensive coach has aligned his forces can design a play to defeat it. Conversely, a defensive coach who has the chalk after the offense has designed their attack can position his forces to stop the assault. And the debate rages on and on. Of course, the offense has the ability to audible, but the defense can adjust to the audible.

This back and forth is what makes coaching great. It is a giant chess game between the OC and the DC. The EQualizer advantage is that the defense is locked in to responsibities that they normally are not responsible for and because of the unbalanced set, they are having to adjust and align in a position that they normally are not playing from.

Consider the DE who normally is playing in a 7,8,or 9 techniques on the LOS. That makes him normally the third man out from the center. The EQualizer formation may place him one, two or three guys wider (in distance) from the center. The normal defensive adjustment is to slide the defense over half a man. That puts him out into the 5 yard gap between the OOT and the SE. That puts him up to 7 feet farther out from the ball than he normally plays.

This places him on an island all by himself making an option read easier for the QB to make, especially when you consider that more often than not, he is responsible for the QB and will come across the LOS and work upfield. This action, in effect, “opens the door” for the FB on the dive play.

Now look at the week side or the formation. Just as the strong side DE is placed out on an island, the short side DE plays much closer than normal and things come at him faster than he is used to seeing. He has to make decisions faster as he is also playing out of position.

In essence, the same hold true for everyone on the defense. Look again at the diver 34 play at www.maxcast.com/EQUALIZER. You see that the LB’ers are executing a blitz into the center of the formation while we will run just to the outside of the blitz. Defenses generally do not adjust their blitz package and continue to blitz the interior. A blitz here is easier to block than any other. Just wash it down to the inside and then run on the outside edge of the formation.

In fact, we have found that very often, we do not get a man freed up to block a LB’er, but the offense will double or combo block a D-Lineman and drive him back into the feet of the LB’ers disrupting their pursuit angle to the ball carrier. I call this creating a covey of defenders that run into and trip over each other near the center of the formation while the FB from the offset I Formation gets to run on the edge toward that running lane we talked about in Coaching Clinic #1.

Be 11!

RF

EQualizer Coaching Clinic #1

The EQualizer Offense:

The EQualizer Offense was born out of necessity. I coached at a number of schools that were, for whatever reason and they were many, outmanned. So in a search for a scheme that would put our outmatched players and teams on the field in a position that would help them be successful or as successful as they could be, I sat down and thought, “What would a defensive coordinator not like to see?” And I came up with the following:

1. An unbalanced line: At the time, and even today, virtually no one ran an unbalanced line. (Although today you see more of it sneaking into various schemes as a change up formation.) An unbalanced line means that the defense must adjust. It also means that the defenders will have to play ‘out of position.’ They will be playing in a spot that is not their regular position. Their keys, reaction and pursuit will not be the same, especially for the front 7.

Another reason for unbalanced was due to a lack of creditable linemen. We had perhaps three that could play. If we ran a ‘regular’ scheme, we would take one of our best blockers and put him on the left side of the line and run at him maybe a third of the time. What a waste. By taking our three best linemen and playing them in a “tandem” they would always be playing together. We would flip flop them to one side or the other. That also meant that the Center, Weak Guard and TE also work as a team of their own.

2. Men in Motion: Men in motion change responsibilities for defenders. It changes assignments. Motion change the strength of the formation and the defense must adjust or they can be out flanked.

3. Bastard Split: When you go to a clinic to talk defense, the general rule of thumb on splits is that if the end splits up to 5 yards, the DE is to go out with the offensive end. If he splits more than 5 yards, jump inside and play defense from there. So my question for the defense is ‘what will you do if we split 5 yards?’ It forces the DC to show his hand on DE play. If they put the DE inside, he is out flanked and easily blocked to the inside; if they play him out over the end, that makes his gap 5 yards wide – a pretty big hole by alignment, don’t you think?

4. Triple Option Football: Option offense forces the defense to play more disciplined. It limits their aggressiveness. You have to eliminate much of your blitz package or run the risk of having the dive back, the QB or the pitch back break a big gain into the hole you just created by blitzing.

So, when we break the huddle and come to the line of scrimmage, the defenders have to answer the following questions. Keep in mind these are 15-18 year old kids and they have to answer these questions and adjust in the few seconds before the ball is snapped.

1. Are they unbalanced, if so which way, how am I to line up? We tended to be unbalanced about 75% of the time. Sometimes maybe 2/3 of the time. That means there was enough variance that they had to make a decision.

2. What are my option responsibilities?

3. The secondary had to think not only about option responsibilities but also pass responsibilities.

4. When we put a man in motion, the defense would have to adjust. That meant the above questions about option and pass defense have to be answered on the fly. How does that motion affect my alignment and responsibilities.

NOTE: One of the things that the spread offense coaches do not do enough of, in my opinion, is to take advantage of motion. Some coaches use motion “because it looked good on TV” and do not have a clue as to the real advantage of motion. One thing I learned for certain is that you can eliminate “press” coverage on your best receiver if you put him in motion, especially wide motion. Defenders will cushion off the man in motion. They will widen and deepen due to their fears of ‘not being beat deep.’ This give your guy lots more room to operate in.

What we did then was to think about what plays are we going to run. Over the years I ran a bunch of schemes: Wing T, Twin Veer, I Formation, and more. What I did was to think about what was the most difficult to defend. I saw it again last night on TV when a spread offense, college team got close to the goal line, they got into a jumbo set and ran outside belly option. Worked for them. Works for us.

Bill Walsh in his book said when you need to make a first down, or score from inside the 5 yard line, give the ball to your best back and have him run behind your best lineman. We just do not wait for that situation; that is what we do from the get-go.

RE: Best Back: I have been a Bigger Faster Stronger (http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/) coach for over 30 years. What I have discovered is that we can generate fullbacks, guards and tackles, as well as TE’s in the weightroom. If we got a real tailback (which we would get about once every 7 years), we considered it a bonus. However, since we did not coach in schools with large talent pools, we had to “generate” players out of the weightroom.

There were times when we would have a good QB, probably good enough to run the spread, but no one to catch the ball. Or we would have people who could catch, but no one to throw it accurately. But we always had someone who wanted to take the ball, explode the hole, and run to daylight.

So, our offense is based on giving the ball to our best back and letting him run behind our best blockers. In the beginning we ran this out of an unbalanced I formation. The backfield would run the steps for the belly option out of the wing T – FB needed to lead, crossover, bend into the hole for the mesh. This was always a difficult thing to get down in practice. I can even remember staying out late in practice in high school waiting for Mark and Wade to get their steps down.

What I discovered by accident one day, was that it was much easier to offset the FB, aligning him 5 yards deep behind the IOT in a 2 point stance. All he had to do from there was to run straight ahead and read the block of the IOT. Made things much easier. The only thing he had to do was to step first with his inside foot – so that the mesh with the QB has an open hip. The two point stance is important because it means the FB does not get as fast a start as he does from a 3 point stance. This makes for a better mesh, also makes for better timing at the POA. It puts him in the hole when the block is being made. Timing is so very important for the offense. One of the things we stress on defense is that “Everyone gets blocked; what matters is how long you stay blocked.”

Did you ever think about how long a high schooler can sustain a block, on the average? Ii have found out over the years that an offensive lineman can sustain a drive block for about 1.5 seconds after which it breaks down. So it is very important to have the back in the hole when the block is being made.

From this formation, therefore, we run our base play: Dive 34.



Dive Play: Fullback gets the ball and runs straight ahead reading the blocks of the line ahead of him, especially the block of the IOT. In talking with some DC’s in college, they would say that the dive play is the hardest to defend because: 1. it hits so fast, 2. it is easier for the o-line to block, 3. just need a seam however small to run at. And remember in this scheme the FB has a 5 yard running start at the POA which is right in front of him.

Another advantage the unbalanced line generates is that DC’s hate to move over a full man because it creates such a short corner on the weak side if they do. Therefore, they generally in over 95% of the cases will only go over half a man, placing defenders in the gaps – especially if they are gap control in their scheme.

By placing the defenders in the gap, they make it easier for our offensive linemen. Because, what is the easiest block in football to execute? The down block, of course, What we ask out line to do is to get off the ball and get on a defender according to rule. And the first rule for them to block is the inside gap. If there is a defender in the inside gap, he is to block him down – to wash him down to the center like the Denver Broncos do so well over the years.

The rule for the OOT and WB in motion is this: If there is a man on or to the inside,, the OOT blocks him. If there is a defender on the OOT’s outside eye or wider, the WB will screen him to the outside. Now this is usually the DE whose option responsibility is the QB, therefore, he is usually coming upfield across the LOS or is ‘slow playing the QB on the option to the outside. All the WB has to do is to ‘screen’ this guy and keep him on the outside. We have had 115# wrestlers play this WB position successfully because all that is needed is a screen more than a block. Use the martial arts idea of using the force of the defender to take him further out of the path of the play.

Now look at the DT on the playside. He aligns outside of the initial running path of the FB. When he sees the ball in the belly of the FB, he steps down to make the play. This makes the down block of the OOT even easier, just wash him down in the direction he wants to go – easiest block in football, right?

The FB then, through repetition, recognizes this and “bends” to the outside – not a cut, but a bend. This is an old ‘run to daylight’ principle. By alignment, there is a natural running lane that opens up in the defense beyond the front 7.

1.5 seconds after the ball is snapped against a two deep secondary, the above running lane opens up because . . . the deep secondary is coached to take those read steps and therefore take at least three steps backwards at the snap of the ball. Now if you go out on the practice field and witness these read steps, you will see that 3 is really 5+ before this defender could get himself into proper run support. Go try it. You will see. So if the deep secondary lines up 7-10 yards off the football, by the time they see the run, react to it, and get into run support, they are as much as 10-15 yards away – and that FB has a head of steam built up making him very difficult to tackle. Same goes for the SS. He takes those read steps and his option responsibility will take him initially to the outside for pitch. Then he will have to recognize that the FB has the ball, wheel and try to run him down.

That running lane could also open up between the deep safeties as well, but more often than not it is as shown.

The last thing here for the FB is this: he hits the hole quickly, picking up speed, and gets into the running lane. Everyone on the defense is trying to run him down from an angle. This means that they will try and arm tackle him. A BFS FB will break lots of these arm tackles. Our FB’s averaged over 8 yards a carry over a 20 year time period. That’s a pretty good average, don’t you think?

From the playbook:

WHEN THE BALL IS SNAPPED:

1. THE DE, DT, AND M LB'ER MOVE TOWARD THEIR ASSIGNED GAP THAT IS THREATENED. OUR OFFENSIVE LINEMEN FIRE OUT, STRIKE THE OPPONENT, AND DRIVE THESE DEFENDERS DOWN THE LOS AND EXECUTE A CUT OFF BLOCK PREVENTING THEM FROM GETTING BACK TO THE OUTSIDE.

2. THE SECONDARY FOR THE DEFENSE EXECUTES THEIR "READ" STEPS. THESE READ STEPS START OPENING UP THE RUNNING LANE.

3. THE DE COMES ACROSS THE LOS LOOKING TO COVER THE QB FOR THE OPTION. THE WB WHO HAS BEEN IN MOTION, BREAKS DOWN AND SCREENS THE DE TO THE OUTSIDE. THE IMPORTANT TECHNIQUE FOR THE WB IS TO KEEP HIS BODY BETWEEN THE FB AND THE DE. HE USUALLY USES HIS HANDS AND PUSHES THE DE TO THE OUTSIDE AND USES THE MOMENTUM OF THE DE TO ALSO PUSH HIM DEEPER. THIS ACTION OPENS THE DOOR OF THE RUNNING LANE. THE RULE FOR THE WB IS TO SCREEN OUT ANY DEFENDER THAT ALIGNS ON THE OUTSIDE SHOULDER OF THE OOT OR BEYOND. THIS ACTION FREES THE OOT TO BLOCK DOWN THE LOS GIVING HIM A GREAT BLOCKING ANGLE ON THE FIRST MAN TO HIS INSIDE ON OR OFF THE BALL. IF SOMEONE ALIGNS HEAD ON THE OOT, THE OOT WOULD BLOCK HIM AND TAKE HIM THE WAY HE WANTS TO GO AND THE FB WOULD READ THE BLOCK OF THE OOT AND BEND OPPOSITE HIS BLOCK WHILE CROSSING THE LOS. THE FB WOULD THEN LOOK TO HIT THE RUNNING LANE TO THE OUTSIDE, OR HE MAY WANT TO HIT THE RUNNING LANE THAT EXISTS BETWEEN THE HB AND FS.

4. THE SE AND TE RELEASE OFF THE BALL DOWN FIELD. FOR THE 1.5 SECONDS AT THE START OF THE PLAY, IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE RELEASING FOR A PASS ROUTE. THIS ACTION FORCES THE SECONDARY DEEPER AND WIDER. AFTER HE HAS DRIVEN THE HB AS DEEP AS POSSIBLE, THE SE BREAKS DOWN ON THE HB WHEN THE DEFENDERS BEGINS TO REACT TO THE RUNNING PLAY THAT IS DEVELOPING. THE SE'S JOB IS TO SCREEN THE DHB OUT OF THE RUNNING LAND BY EXECUTING A GOOD STALK BLOCK. THE TE NOT ONLY DRIVES THE FS AS DEEP AS HE CAN, BUT HE MUST ALSO START MOVING CROSS FIELD TO POSITION HIMSELF BETWEEN THE FS AND THE BALL CARRIER. MANY PEOPLE CALL THE BLOCK OF THE TE A "DOWN FIELD" BLOCK. ACTUALLY IT IS A "CROSS FIELD" BLOCK BECAUSE WE WANT THE TE TO GET ACROSS THE FIELD IN ORDER TO MAKE HIS BLOCK ON THE SECONDARY PERSON CLOSER TO THE BALL CARRIER.

5. THE REST OF THE LINE EXECUTES A CUT OFF BLOCK ON THE DG, OTHER DT AND W LB'ER.

6. THE FB MOVES STRAIGHT AHEAD TOWARD THE LOS. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE FB TO MOVE STRAIGHT AHEAD TO GET THE HAND OFF FOR SEVERAL REASONS. SINCE THE DT IS ALIGNED OUTSIDE THE PLANE OF THE FB AT THE SNAP OF THE BALL, BY MOVING STRAIGHT AHEAD THE ACTION OF THE FB GETS THE DT TO STEP DOWN THE LOS MAKING FOR AN EASIER BLOCK BY THE OOT. THE 5 YARD DEPTH OF THE FB ALLOWS HIM TO MOVE STRAIGHT AHEAD TO RECEIVE THE HAND OFF, SET THE BLOCK OF THE OOT AND THEN CUT OFF THAT BLOCK TO THE OUTSIDE AND GET INTO THE RUNNING LANE. THE CUT IS NOT A DRAMATIC ONE - MORE LIKE A BEND TO GET INTO THE RUNNING LANE. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE FB TO BE "UNDER CONTROL" WHILE RECEIVING THE HAND OFF AND THEN TO ACCELERATE OFF THE BLOCK OF THE OOT INTO THE RUNNING LANE.

7. THE QB TAKES THE SNAP FROM THE CENTER, SEATS THE BALL, STEPS BACK AT THE CORRECT ANGLE TO MESH WITH AND HAND OFF TO THE FB. AFTER THE HAND OFF IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE QB TO CARRY OUT A GREAT OPTION FAKE. A GOOD FAKE IS WORTH THREE BLOCKS.

8. THE TB CROSS OVER STEPS TO THE SIDELINE AND GETS INTO THE SAME PITCH ROUTE THAT HE EXECUTES ON THE OPTION PLAY. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE TB TO RUN THE EXACT PATH HE WOULD ON THE OPTION. AGAIN, A GOOD FAKE IS WORTH THREE BLOCKS. GOOD OPTION FAKING BY THE QB AND PITCH BACK WILL TAKE THE DE, SS AND HB OUT OF THE PLAY AND/OR PROVIDE BETTER BLOCKING ANGLES FOR OUR PERSONNEL. THESE DEFENDERS NORMALLY HAVE SPECIFIC OPTION RESPONSIBILITIES. THE FEAR OF THE OPTION IS A GREAT TOOL.
WHEN THE DEFENSE KNOWS WE RUN THE OPTION, DEFENDERS WILL BE ALIGNED TO DEFEND THE OPTION AND BE GIVEN CERTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES. SOME DEFENDERS WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DIVE BACK, OTHERS FOR THE QB AND PITCH BACK. WHEN OPTION ACTION BEGINS, THEY MUST RESPECT THAT ACTION FOR AT LEAST A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME AS THE PLAY BEGINS. THIS ACTION ENABLES OUR BLOCKERS TO GAIN A BETTER ANGLE AND GETS THEM INTO POSITION WHICH RESULTS IN GREATER SUCCESS. IT IS SIMILAR TO A DEFENSIVE BACK BEING TOLD, "DON'T GET BEAT DEEP!" A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WE HAD A FS WHO WAS A FINE ATHLETE. OUR DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD COACH AT THE TIME MADE SUCH A DEAL OF "NOT GETTING BEAT DEEP" THAT HE TOOK HIMSELF OUT OF ALMOST EVERY PLAY. DON'T MISUNDERSTAND. HE WAS ALWAYS THERE; HE WAS ALWAYS IN POSITION TO MAKE A PLAY. BUT HE WAS ALWAYS ONE OR TWO STEPS AWAY FROM MAKING THE TACKLE. HE ALWAYS HAD A CORRECT PURSUIT ANGLE, BUT SOMEONE ELSE WOULD ALWAYS MAKE THE TACKLE BEFORE HIM. HE NEVER GOT BEAT DEEP, BUT HE WAS NEVER IN ON MANY OTHER PLAYS.

You can see the base play in action at: www.maxcast.com/EQUALIZER. Just click on the ‘Base Play’ links in the playlist. The video quality of the complete film is not the greatest right now. I will upload better video when I get back to Oregon in a few weeks. I have singled out some of the better quality clips for the initial cut ups.