FNF Coaches 2020 "Coaches of the Year"

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FEBruary 2020

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Coach of the Year selections for all 50 states PLAYBOOK + Installing RPOs in the Shotgun Wing-T + Defensive line play in the Midway 3-4 + The entire tight end route tree + 33 Nickel Wham Fire Zone

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Q&A with NCÂ Â State

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COACHES OF THE YEAR FNF Coaches names the Coach of the Year in all 50 states PAGE 08

27

CONTENTFEBRUARY

THE WINNING EDGE: HONE YOUR ABILITIES AT USA FOOTBALL’S NATIONAL CONFERENCE

02

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING: 30. TRANSITION FROM FOOTBALL TO TRACK 31. REBOOT FASTTWITCH MUSCLES

22.

playbook PRESENTED BY

06

COLLEGE

COACHES’ CORNER

with nc state coach dave doeren

04

ricky black: a ‘tough love’ father figure

36. LIVES OF COACHES WIVES 28. NUTRITION 32. INNOVATOR’S SPOTLIGHT 34. MENTAL PERFORMANCE 37. TECH CORNER 38. FUNDRAISING 40. INSPIRATION

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strength training: competition drives nation’s no. 1 team

your connection to the

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coaching COMMUNITY

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

FNF COACHES MAGAZINE

We are proud to present our Coach of the Year edition of 2020. We went through the arduous task of selecting one state champion coach in each state, and the common theme we found is that there are so many deserving coaches across the country.

All 50 of our Coaches of the Year are state champions. We looked for coaches that led teams to championships for the first time in school history, coaches who led championship runs as underdogs, coaches who helped players overcome adversity, and coaches who made tough decisions in the biggest moments to help their teams break through.

We think we found a host of coaches that will motivate us all heading into 2020.

We will also share stories of program building, technology, strength and conditioning, and family. It is such an important time of year for athletes to get bigger, faster and stronger. We show you some of the ways coaches are having success achieving that goal.

It’s worth taking the time in the offseason to make sure you are aware of all of the latest trends and educational opportunities so that if a parent asks for your advice, you will be armed with the information you need. If you would like to learn more about any of the topics we cover in this edition, we’d like to hear from you at fnf@ae-engine.com.

We want to continue to provide you with information you want in the coming months, so we’d like to hear your suggestions for content.

Engage with us on our website, FNFCoaches.com, and social media, @FNFCoaches, and tell us your suggestions for feature stories.

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COACHING LEGENDS

A ‘Tough Love’ Father Figure

The Ricky Black Profile

The moms of players at Jackson Prep School in central Mississippi perform a special role in their son’s football participating days.

After all, it can be tough watching your boy play such a physical sport, experiencing the highs and lows of the game while trying to help them understand life lessons.

TEAM: Jackson, Mississippi, Prep

BY DEREK SMITH

YEARS AS HEAD COACH: 42

YEARS AT SCHOOL:

24 (1997-present)

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 13 STATE RUNNERS-UP: 8 COACHING RECORD: 391-76-0 2019 RECORD: 10-3, Class 6A runners-up ALL-TIME RANK: 40 ACTIVE RANK: 22 OTHER SCHOOLS:

■■Jackson Prep (Miss.) coach Ricky Black

Jackson Prep coach Ricky Black recognizes the extraordinary impact moms have on his Patriots and how they can shape the fortunes of a football season.

The women are the first ones Black meets at the onset of a new year. In a separate meeting without the fathers, he lays out the expectations he has for their sons and explains his priority will always be the team as a whole – even if sometimes it comes at the expense of the individual.

“When I get on your son,” he tells the mothers, “it’s not because I don’t like them. I want you to understand your son is going to be offended sometime during the season and he’s going to have to deal with that. We want to make sure we send your son through every range of emotion he’s going to deal with in life – failure, success, sadness, happiness.”

This “tough love” approach is a part of what has made Black ultra-successful at the high school level. He’s won nearly 400 games and 13 state championships in 42 years as a head coach. Until this past season, Black had won seven straight titles at Jackson Prep, vaulting him to No. 22 in wins among the active high school coaches in America and 40th all-time.

Black coached at two public schools and for Mississippi State, his alma mater, under legendary coach Jackie Sherrill, before moving into the private school ranks.

04

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“I planned to be here two years. Two years has lasted a long time,” he said. “I really enjoy the environment here, really enjoy the players and the parents. It’s a very special school system.”

Black admits he didn’t know much about the independent schools in Mississippi after stints at Kosciusko and Tupelo high schools but found it very different.

“In the public schools you hope the parents are involved,” he said. “At Jackson Prep it’s dysfunctional if the grandparents aren’t involved. We expect everyone to be involved.”

The moms prepare pre-game meals on Fridays and make treats for their sons during the school week, all while ensuring they eat properly and get plenty of rest at home, Black said.

“The best group we have are the moms,” he said. “They get everything going, everything organized. If they understand what we’re doing they’ll be a lot more supportive. This is a very strong football community. The parents understand the importance of athletics.”

The Madison-Ridgeland Academy football team ended Jackson Prep’s seven-year run of state championships in November in the 6A state championship game for the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools.

Jackson Prep (10-3) fell to MRA, 33-27.

Kosciusko, Miss. (197579); Tupelo, Miss. (198090); Mississippi State University (1991-96)

FAMILY: Wife, Linda;

daughter, Paige Clayton: son-in-law Kyle; two grandchildren

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Second winningest coach in Mississippi high school football history; Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame; 2018 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year; Holmes, Miss., Community College Hall of Fame; Mississippi Community College Hall of Fame; Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Hall of Fame; Mississippi State College of Education Alumni Fellow

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COLLEGE COACHES’ CORNER

with Q&A NC State coach dave doeren

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

D

ave Doeren has a record of 47-42 in seven

seasons as the head coach at N.C. State. He led the Wolfpack to backto-back nine-win seasons in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, a school-record seven players were drafted by NFL teams – the highest total in the ACC and the secondhighest total nationally.

Doeren recently joined FNF Coaches for an exclusive interview.

When did you start to get a sense that you wanted to go into coaching?

“It happened during my junior year of college (at Drake University). Going into my senior year, I went home that summer, and my high school coach offered me a job helping out with 7-on-7. I fell in love with working with the guys at that point. I spent my senior year trying to find jobs, and ended up going back to my high school to coach.”

Why did you choose to coach at the college level rather than high school?

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“When I started coaching high school, I enjoyed it so much, I didn’t want to leave that level. My college coach was persistent. He had a graduate assistant opening, and he kept calling and got me to come up. I wanted a Masters degree.

That was important, and it gave me the opportunity to do that. I was able to be with people who had already helped me in life, so that made a difference.”

What approach do you take to teambuilding this time of year?

“Everything in our offseason is about competition and connection. We want to build chemistry throughout the roster, not only through offseason competitions and running programs, but through in-house teams that we put together. We track performance and allow them to compete. We build teams with different position groups combined. It’s not just your side of the ball and position.

That creates team competitiveness

and camaraderie. We’re competing to improve. We take the kids bowling or do other fun activities.”

Are you tracking athletic performance only? Or do you compete in off-the-field endeavors as well?

“It’s athletic performance, weight training, how you attack runs and academic performance. We have accountability for all of those things. We’re giving guys extra points for perfect attendance in their academic lives. We have the scholar ballers with GPAs above 3.0. There’s a reward for that. We hang their pictures on the wall and do different things to throw nuggets at guys performing not just as athletes. We have community service competitions all year, but it’s hot and heavy over the summer.”

Is there any new technology you’re using that is beneficial for high school coaches?

“We’re very active with analytics, but I have no idea of the cost effectiveness of

that for high schools. We use different analytics companies. We use Catapult technology every day to monitor performance, from top speeds, to acceleration, to change of direction, to total volume. Once you have stats on a guy, you can see what is too much. Maybe he did the most running of his career on a certain day. You don’t want to duplicate that the next day. You can’t really know a player’s workload until you put that tracker on. Then you can see who has explosive movements and a lot of other variables.”

How have you adapted to so many spread offenses and RPOs? “I think football is always evolving.

One side is constantly trying to catch up. The challenge now is getting guys down the field to defend the pass. How we play zone is different from how we played it before. We’re fitting gaps, and they’re throwing the ball right behind us. Evolution is the name of the game. Our job is to stay ahead of the curve. We study ourselves, our opponents, NFL teams.

We have to find new ideas.”

Is there a fine line between turning every offseason drill into a competition and allowing players to motivate themselves?

“I think it depends on the individual.

Some guys, no matter what, will push themselves to the peak of their ability.

There are other guys, if they’re not paired up, they won’t do that. The competitive side of all of us brings out more. It’s not about trying to lift the most weight; it’s about getting your personal best each day. If that’s adding

5 lbs. more, then it develops over time.”

How do you develop leaders in the spring?

“The evolution of leadership depends on the success guys are having. Most of these guys were the best players on their high school teams. They were captains, so they come in with the ability to lead. Some are more vocal and some lead by example. Most won’t step up until they have the confidence

A GROWTH MINDSET DOEREN ENCOURAGES

high school coaches to seek out mentoring opportunities from college coaches.

He and his staff welcome coaches to attend practices and watch game film.

“I think the visits are important,” Doeren said.

“You can go to clinics, and those are good as well.

Coming to practice and

to lead, which happens on the field by making plays. Freshmen don’t typically come in and start bossing people around.

There are three types of guys: Emerging leaders have it in them but don’t feel it’s their right to do it. Servant leaders won’t be vocal, but they will be positive and push the guy next to them by leading by example. Vocal leaders get up and say how it’s supposed to be.”

watching film is so valuable because we have somebody on staff clarify and review.”

Doeren wishes he sought out more of those opportunities in his younger years, when he was an up-andcoming coach.

“What would I do differently?” Doeren asked. “That’s probably a nine-hour conversation. The biggest thing as I get older is I realize I didn’t know as much as

I thought I did. Everyone is very confident in this business, but you have to have a growth mindset. When you’re younger, you don’t see it that way. You think you know more than what you know.

The more you can get around experienced coaches, you have opportunities to learn we’re all going to fail. It will open your eyes to say, ‘I need to listen.’ A growth mindset is critical for all coaches.”

07

Midwest ILLINOIS

Aaron Kunz Williamsville

Conor McCormick rifled the game-winning touchdown pass to Brendon Bishop giving the Bullets a 46-42 victory over Byron for the program’s first state title.

INDIANA

After a 1-3 start to the season, the Jaguars won nine in a row, beating No. 1 seed De Soto and Aquinas in the playoffs.

MICHIGAN

Jake Weingartz Davison

The Cardinals won the school’s first state title after losing two of the final three games in the regular season.

MINNESOTA

Chad Gimbel Blooming Prairie

S

electing one state champion coach in each

state proved to be a difficult task for our editorial staff with so many deserving coaches across the country.

Our criteria for consideration included all state champion coaches in 2019. We looked for coaches that led teams to championships for the first time in school history, coaches who led championship runs as underdogs, coaches who helped players overcome adversity, and coaches who made tough decisions in the biggest moments to help their teams break through.

We couldn’t be more proud of our 2019 FNF Coaches of the Year. Congratulations to all who won and all other state champion coaches who were considered.

John Hebert Carmel

Carmel held on for a 20-17 victory over Center Grove in the Class 6-A championship game. Carmel lost to Warren Central in last year’s state championship game.

IOWA

Larry Allen Ida Grove OABCIG

This was the first championship game appearance for OABCIG, or any of its previous iterations.

KANSAS

Joel Applebee Mill Valley

Blooming Prairie’s 41-15 win over No. 1-ranked BOLD in the Class A Prep Bowl not only gave the program its first state title, but it got rid of the bad taste it had endured since losing to BOLD a year ago.

MISSOURI

Robert Steeples De Smet

The 14-0 Spartans won their first state title since 2005, when their current head coach Robert Steeples was still just a player.

NEBRASKA

Joe Anderson Oakland-Craig

Oakland-Craig (13-0) broke

a 23-year title drought with the state championship.

NORTH DAKOTA

Jack Biesterfeld Kidder County

Kidder County, making its first Dakota Bowl appearance, defeated Cavalier 54-32 in the 9-man championship.

OHIO

Jeff Graham Trotwood-Madison

The Rams (12-3) overcame the fallout of the Memorial Day tornado outbreak that ravaged its community.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Stewart Young Saluda

Noah Bell scored six touchdowns as the Tigers won their first state title since 1963 and completed an improbable run through the playoffs.

WISCONSIN

Mike Minick DeForest

The Norskies put together an epic drive in the final minute and made a twopoint conversion for the ages to down Menasha 8-7 in the WIAA Division 3 state championship game.

Northeast CONNECTICUT

Bobby Pattison Newtown High

Newtown marked the seventh anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School when the community’s football team — with a shooting victim’s brother as linebacker — won the state championship.

DELAWARE

Frank Moffett Jr. Hodgson

Hodgson grabbed the Division I title with a resounding 54-31 win over Middletown. It was Delaware’s highest scoring state football championship game ever. The win gives the Silver Eagles their first ever Division I crown.

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MAINE

Mike Hathaway Leavitt

Leavitt scored two-point conversions after three of its four touchdowns, while MCI came up empty on extra points after each of its scores.

MARYLAND

Doug Williams Cacoctin

Catoctin has a pair of coaches who have really done it for a long time — head coach Doug Williams and assistant Paul DuMars.

Some players those two guided to the 2009 state title returned to watch them and their current players earn the program’s second state crown.

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MASSACHUSETTS

Andrew MacKay Ashland

The victory marked the first Super Bowl title for Ashland since 1995.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Jimmy Lauzon Londonderry

It was the program’s first state championship since 1998.

NEW JERSEY

Roger Kotlarz Wayne Valley

The Indians captured the North Group 4 Regional championship by rallying from a 17-point deficit against Northern Highlands and avenging a regularseason loss

NEW YORK

Nick Lombardo Lindenhurst

Lindenhurst came back from a 13-point deficit for a 14-13 win over Garden City in the Long Island Class II championship game. The comeback denied Garden City (10-2) a fourth straight Class II title.

RHODE ISLAND

Blake Simpson Pilgrim

The Pilgrim Patriots earned their first Super Bowl win since 1975 with a 22-14 win over Tolman.

VERMONT

PENNSYLVANIA

Randy Spencer Wyoming Area

Down 14-0 in the fourth quarter, the Wyoming Area football rallied past Central Valley, scoring 21 unanswered points to win the PIAA Class “AAA” Championship 21-14. The title marks the school’s first state football championship.

Dave Capman Poultney

Denied on the same turf 364 days ago, the Poultney Blue Devils were back for their second crack at the big one.

West ALASKA

Walter Harmon Anchorage’s South High School

The win over their southside rivals capped a remarkable playoff run by the Wolverines, who lost three of their final four regular-season games.

ARIZONA

their turnaround from 1-6 all the way to 5-A CIF state champions.

COLORADO

Rob Busmente Sterling

Sterling had trouble moving the ball at times, but big defensive plays and a little trickery powered the Tigers to a 27-19 win over Delta to claim the first football title in program history.

HAWAII

Mark Smith Liberty (Peoria)

This was the first big-school title game to go overtime since 2003 when Hamilton edged Mesa Mountain View in three OTs. CALIFORNIA

Kelly King Milpitas

The Trojans completed

Kaeo Drummondo Hilo High

School, hit a 55-yard field goal to send his team home winners.

IDAHO

Sherm Blaser Kuna

Kuna soared past Blackfoot 49-35 in the 4A state championship game, clinching the Kavemen (130) their first perfect season and first 4A state title.

MONTANA

Wyatt Colvin Jordan

In a rematch of 2018, the Jordan Mustangs posted a 70-14 win over Wibaux in the 2019 6-Man state championship. It’s Jordan’s first football state title.

NEVADA

A Hawaii high school football player needed a miracle to help his team win the state championship game – and got one. Keanu Keolanui, from Hilo High

Rich Muraco Liberty

the last four seasons with three consecutive state championships.

Ferriday senior quarterback Kobe Dillon accounted all four Trojan touchdowns in the first half as they won, 56-17, over Many for its first state title since 1956.

Nobody other than Bishop Gorman could say it accomplished a Class 4A state football title since

2008 until the Patriots won their first. Liberty ended Gorman’s 10-year reign atop the state earlier in the playoffs and left no doubt that it was the best this season with a 50-7 win over Centennial.

NEW MEXICO

Caleb King Melrose

The NMAA State Title won by the Melrose 8-man football team is the first state championship win for coach Caleb King in his second year as head coach.

OREGON

Rich McIlvoil La Grande

UTAH

Chris Howell Sky View In Class 4A, Sky View dominated Park City 35-0 to win its first ever state championship.

WASHINGTON

Mason Saade Onalaska It’s been over 30 years since Onalaska last won a Class 2B state football championship.

WYOMING

Brent Walk Mountain View

The Tigers answered the last of them with an 21-0 exclamation-point victory over No. 1 Banks in the OSAA/Online Community Credit Union 4A championship. The Tigers (12-0) had not won a state title since 1974.

Mountain View won its 11th straight game in a matchup of the state’s top two teams.

Buffalo, the defending state champion, lost for the first time in 11 games and saw its 20-game winning streak snapped.

Wake Forest in the 2018 state final, Vance won emphatically 24-3 to win the first state championship in school history.

championship win since 1938.

South ALABAMA

Mark Freeman Thompson

The state title by coach Mark Freeman’s Warriors (12-1) was the first in Class 7A and the second overall in school history. The program was 0-10 the year before Freeman arrived and five years later won the state title.

ARKANSAS

GEORGIA

Richard Morgan Marietta

No. 18 Marietta (Ga.) won its first state title in 52 years beating No. 9 Lowndes (Valdosta, Ga.) 17-9 to capture the 7A state championship.

KENTUCKY

Mark Kelley Searcy

Searcy won its second state championship, notching a 28-27 victory over Benton in the Class 6A title game.

The Lions (12-1) had not won a title since 1933 and were playing in their first championship game since 1984.

FLORIDA

Mike Coe Madison County

This senior class goes out with a 50-4 record over

Jim Matney Johnson Central (Paintsville)

MISSISSIPPI

Todd Lowery Corinth

Corinth (14-1) finished a dominant run through the postseason with a 55-21 victory to earn the school’s first football state title.

NORTH CAROLINA

The Golden Eagles defeated Boyle County 21-20. Four Boyle County turnovers helped Johnson Central get the win.

LOUISIANA

Stanley Smith Ferriday

OKLAHOMA

Greg Werner Poteau

The Pirates finally got something which had eluded them in the past, especially in recent seasons — a gold ball, symbolizing a state championship.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Stewart Young Saluda

The state title is the Tigers’ first since 1963 and completes an improbable run through the playoffs this season.

TENNESSEE

Shawn Witten Elizabethton Glenwood Ferebee Vance After losing 9-7 to

In the first-ever meeting between Elizabethton and Springfield, the Cyclones claimed their first state

TEXAS

Todd Dodge Austin Westlake

Westlake, which is coached by former Southlake Carroll coach Todd Dodge, wins its first UIL state football title since 1996 when it was led by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees.

VIRGINIA

Gerry Pannoni South County

In a 14-13 win over perennial power Oscar Smith, the Stallions didn’t allow a point in the second half for the first state title in program history.

WEST VIRGINIA

John Cole Bridgeport

The win avenges a pair of losses for the Indians against the Beavers in the playoff semifinal round the last two seasons.

09

FNF COACHES: COACHES OF THE YEAR | PRESENTED BY

Ferebee wins over Vance community with state championship

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

G

lenwood Ferebee is only half joking when he says the

Vance High (N.C.) football fans wanted to send him back to Virginia at midseason.

Ferebee took over a program that had won at least 11 games four times in the last five seasons under Aaron Brand, and promptly oversaw two losses in the team’s first nine games.

“The confidence level for me and the coaching staff was low,” Ferebee said. “Once we got on a roll, they understood what I was trying to do.”

Ferebee took Vance one step further than Brand did last season by lifting the Cougars to a N.C. 4AA state championship with a 24-3 victory over Leesville Road. Vance fell to Wake Forest 9-7 in the state championship game in 2018.

Vance (13-2) won five straight road playoff games on its way to the state title. The Cougars beat three-time state champion Butler 21-0 and followed that up by beating the top three seeds in the western half of the playoff draw — allowing just 21 points total to Mallard Creek, West Forsyth and Richmond Senior.

The Cougars became the first Mecklenburg County team since Mallard Creek in 2015 to win the 4AA championship.

“I thought it might be a special season after the Mallard Creek game in the playoffs,” Ferebee said.

“That’s a measuring stick for success in Charlotte.

The kids had the confidence to take care of business.”

Ferebee came from Indian River High (Va.), where he led the team to an unbeaten regular season last year. He finished 47-17 over five seasons with Indian River after taking over a team that finished 1-9 the year before he arrived.

The Braves reached the state semifinals in 2015, and in 2018 Indian River was undefeated

10

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before a loss to Maury in the Class 5 Region A championship game.

“My son lives in Atlanta so I wanted to be closer to him,” Ferebee said. “My girlfriend was living in Charlotte. This team already had it all in place; that was the unique thing about taking this job.”

Ferebee brought his spread-RPO offense from Indian River, which averaged 42 points per game.

“I wanted to impose that mindset here,” Ferebee said. “Everyone had to make an adjustment from what they were doing. We made it simple at the end of the year and took the approach to do what we do best.”

Ferebee said he learned as much from the people of Vance as he taught them in his first year.

“It’s a Title 1 school, and we all realized it’s not just about football; it’s about caring about these kids,” Ferebee said. “It’s about teaching them to be grown men and take responsibility for their actions. They bought into that.”

THE FEREBEE FILE COACH: Glenwood Ferebee SCHOOL: Vance High (N.C.) CHAMPIONSHIP: Won

first 4AA state championship in school history

CAREER RECORD:

84-48 over 11 seasons AT VANCE: Ferebee helped Vance avenge a loss to Wake Forest in the 2018 state final.

BEFORE VANCE:

Coached Indian River (Va.) to a 47-17 record over five seasons.

Indian River was 1-9 in the season before Ferebee arrived.

Congrat ations l to vA ee b nce H e r Fe eAd c d o oAcH lenwo G 2019 A n i l fnf c o Ar c oAcH H t es nor

CoaCh of e Year h t 5 str aight

roAd plAyo ff w ins defe Ated tHe

top 3

see tHe p ds in lAyo ffs

ord c e r ime All-t

Congrats to the entire Vance High School football team for their first 4AA State Championship in school history.

84-48 States p m a h C n 4A o i s i v di

A

FNF COACHES: COACHES OF THE YEAR | PRESENTED BY

Fit for a King CALIFORNIA COACH LEADS TEAM TO CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 1-6 START

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

F

orget talking to his players about a state champion-

ship. With his team sitting at 1-6 through seven games this season, Milpitas High (Calif.) coach Kelly King talked to his players about simply playing out the rest of the season.

“We took them out for pizza at 1-6, and said, ‘Hey, there’s three weeks left,’” King said. “No matter what, we’re going to finish the season. No matter where it ends up, we’re committed to that.”

Milpitas did much more than just finish; the team went on a miraculous eight-game run to the 5-A CIF state championship. Milpitas clinched their title with a 34-0 rout of Reseda.

It marked the second state championship for Milpitas in the last three seasons, but this one was far different from the one in 2017, when the team went 14-1.

“You battle against (frustration) when you’re 1-6,” King said. “Our thing has always been about playing to our standards. Obviously, wins and losses take a toll. We realized what was going on, and kept seeing positive things on film. With some teams, you can see some quit at the end of the season, but these kids played hard and committed to it.”

Star running back Josue Torres epitomized the team’s Cinderella story. In the state championship rout of Reseda, Torres carried the ball 37 times for 219 yards and three touchdowns to bring his season total to 1,784.

“It’s not the most talented team we’ve had at Milpitas but as far as grit, determination and all that, they’re second to none,” Milpitas assistant

12

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Vito Cangemi said. “It’s definitely different than our state title two years ago. Probably more sweet because of what we went through.”

Milpitas finished off its season with eight consecutive wins, including two overtime victories in the CIF Central Coast Section Playoffs. Back-to-back overtime wins against Hillsdale and Branham set the stage for the state-championship push.

“They stayed together the whole year,” King said. “We worked hard in the offseason and had great senior leadership. We talk to them about leadership. We’re all leaders and accountable to each other. It wasn’t one thing, but as a group, we decided we could make it happen. We focused on getting better each day and having a great day at school.”

King, who has 224 career wins at Milpitas, was named Oakland Raiders Tom Flores High School Coach of the Year. It was the third straight year in which he won a significant coaching honor.

In 2018, he was named Central Coast Section Coach of the Year. In 2017, he earned Calif. State Coaching Association Coach of the Year.

THE KING’S RESUME COACH: Kelly King TEAM: Milpitas CHAMPIONSHIP:

Won the 5-A CIF state championship

RECORD AT MILPITAS (1990-2019): 224 career

wins, two California state championships (2017, 2019), two Northern California championships (2017, 2019)

HONORS: Oakland Raiders Tom Flores High School Coach of the Year (2019), Central Coast Section Coach of the Year (2018), Calif. State Coaching Association Coach of the Year (2017)

Kelly King

FNF CoaChes CaliForNia CoaCh oF the Year Congrats to Coach King and the entire Milpitas Trojans team on winning the 5-A CIF State Championship after overcoming a 1-6 start to the season.

Coach Kelly’s Accomplishments 5-A CIF

State Champs

2019

Oakland Raiders Tom Flores Coach of the Year

224

Career Wins

TROJANS

FNF COACHES: COACHES OF THE YEAR | PRESENTED BY

Freeman takes another program, Thompson, to the top

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

E

ven for a coach with Mark Freeman’s impressive

resume, taking Thompson to a Class 7A championship seemed like a lofty goal when he took over as head coach in 2014.

Thompson was coming off an 0-10 season, and Freeman seemed a long way from the programs that he led to state championships six times as a head coach – four with his alma mater Bessemer Academy (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007) and two with Spanish Fort (2012, 2013).

However, winning is exactly what Freeman has done at Thompson over the last five seasons, to the tune of a 45-14 record. This season, he fulfilled his promise to take Thompson to a Class 7A championship after falling to Central-Phenix City last season in the state title game at JordanHare Stadium.

Playing against the same team on the same field this season, Thompson dethroned CentralPhenix City 40-14.

“Coach and I have been together for a long time, and he’s got amazing faith,” said Thompson athletic director Vincent Pitts. “What we do in our building and what we do outside our building is all about glorifying God. We’ve seen things happen we never would have dreamed of.

“I am thankful he is our coach; I’m appreciative of his hard work and the hard work of our coaching staff and players, and I’m thankful for the support of our amazing administration, including our principal, Dr. Wesley Hester, and our superintendent, Dr. Wayne Vickers.”

Senior quarterback Sawyer Pate threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in the championship game. The win gives the Warriors just the second state football title in school history and the first since 1982.

“What an amazing story authored by God,” Freeman said. “Sawyer was a first-year starter

14

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completely committed to working to elevate his game and making a name for himself after playing in relief of starter Taulia Tagovailoa in 2018.

“What a difference a year makes. This year, the kid that sat in the quarterbacks’ room for two years and sat behind Taulia starts grinding and working to get better. He was the MVP of the state championship game. I don’t think you write a better story than that.”

In the state-title game, Thompson (12-1) took control early, leading 23-7 at the half and 26-7 entering the final quarter.

“We came into the game and felt like we had a couple of matchups we really liked,” said Freeman in an interview with Al.com after the game.

Finally, Freeman mentioned how proud he was of his players, his coaching staff and how appreciative he was of the fans, parents and community for all of their support. He is thankful to his administration and board of education for their hard work, support and vision to become “Champions of the Future.”

THE FREEMAN FILE COACH: Mark Freeman SCHOOL:

Thompson High (Ala.) CHAMPIONSHIP:

Won Class 7A Alabama State Championship

RECORD AT THOMPSON: 45-14 CAREER RECORD AS HEAD COACH: 209-51 AISA FOOTBALL COACH OF THE YEAR:

2000, 2004, 2005, 2007

BESSEMER ACADEMY:

Head coach from 19982007 (won four AISA titles) SPANISH FORT: Head coach from 2011-2014 (won two Class 5A titles)

CONGRATULATIONS Coach Mark Freeman and the Thompson Warriors football team on your Class 7A State Championship.

CoaCh Freeman’s aCComplishments

4x

AISA Coach of the Year

200+ Career Wins

7x

State champion as head coach

3x

AHSAA State Champion

76%

Winning percentage at Thompson

FNF COACHES: COACHES OF THE YEAR | PRESENTED BY New Jersey

Roger Kotlarz | Wayne Valley

Kotlarz lifts Wayne Valley to N.J. title

R

oger Kotlarz graduated from Bergen Catholic High (N.J.) in 1990,

where he was a two-year starter at tight end and defensive back. He went on to play collegiately at the University of Massachusetts, where he was a four-year letter winner and finished as the team’s leading tackler his senior season, earning Second Team All-Conference honors, as a linebacker.

He began coaching in 1995 at Paramus Catholic High School.

After several stops as an assistant coach, including Rutherford and Ramapo, he landed his first head coach position at Becton Regional High in East Rutherford, where his teams compiled a 36-15 record from 2007-11, including four playoff appearances.

From there, he moved on to be head coach at Dover High for two seasons, reaching the playoffs in 2013.

In 2014, Coach Kotlarz was hired as head coach at Wayne Valley High. He has helped lead the Indians to two semifinal finishes, one sectional final runner-up finish, and one sectional and regional championship (2019).

Overall, he has led teams to an 88-50 record over 13 seasons.

He appreciates the supportive community at Wayne Valley and the opportunity to work with his talented players and staff. Off the field, he enjoys traveling with his lovely wife, Hillary.

Roger Kotlarz

Wayne valley HIGH SCHOOL CONGRATULATIONS Congrats to Coach Kotlarz and the entire Wayne Valley Indians team on overcoming a 17-point deficit to win the group 4 regional championship.

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South carolina

Stewart Young | Saluda

Saluda wins first title in half a century

S

aluda High (S.C.) coach Stewart Young wasn’t superstitious when it

came to touching the 2A state championship trophy before his team’s title-game showdown with Barnwell.

In fact, the coach used the trophy as motivation, carrying it into a meeting with his players on the Friday before the championship game, and explaining the difference between a great season and a historic season.

Saluda went the historic route by clinching its first state championship in 56 years with a 39-14 victory over Barnwell.

Saluda’s season included some adversity at midseason, when the team lost two in a row, including a 28-point drubbing at the hands of perennial state championship contender Abbeville High. ”Nobody at that point expected us to do what was going to happen except for the guys in the four walls in our locker room,” Young said. “They were the only ones that believed it.”

Saluda’s playoff run started with a win against Southside, setting up a rematch against Abbeville. The Tigers defeated Abbeville, 32-28, ending the team’s 35-game winning streak.

Barnwell was next, and another Saluda win sent the South Carolina town into a days-long celebration. A parade was held in the town of Saluda celebrating the team’s state title.

SOUTH CAROLINA COACH OF THE YEAR

COACH STEWART YOUNG SALUDA HIGH SCHOOL

CONGRATULATIONS

COACH YOUNG AND THE SALUDA TIGERS ON THEIR DIVISION 2A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

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FNF COACHES: COACHES OF THE YEAR | PRESENTED BY Illinois

Aaron Kunz | Williamsville

Comeback kids win Illinois state title

W

illiamsville High (Ill.) coach Aaron Kunz believes the groundwork

for his team’s first-ever state championship was laid last summer when the coaches and players studied former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel’s “The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life.”

Kunz’s team called upon those lessons in the IHSA Class 3A state championship game while trailing Byron 42-32 with 4 minutes and 34 seconds left in the contest.

“It didn’t look good, but I could tell last summer when we studied the book that we had a tight-knit group that really cared about each other,” Kunz said. “They wanted to play for each other. There was no selfishness.”

Williamsville pulled off a remarkable 46-42 come-frombehind victory, clinching a perfect 14-0 season. Williamsville featured the highest-scoring offense in program history with an average of 47.8 points per game.

Kunz has a career record of 146-45 in 17 seasons. He has taken Williamsville to the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons.

“We knew we had a lot of good pieces this season,” Kunz said.

“We were able to start 22 one-way starters, so we knew things fit together pretty well.”

Vermont

Dave Capman | Poultney

Capman’s 2nd state title is a family affair

T

here isn’t much Dave Capman hasn’t done in his 51 years of coaching,

and still, he experienced a memorable coaching first this season: He coached two grandsons to a state championship.

Capman, who has been the head coach at Poultney High (Vt.) for 40 seasons, led the Blue Devils to their second state championship. Poultney beat BFA-Fairfax/Lamoille 17-8 in the Division III state championship game.

The Blue Devils’ state title was validation for a team that suffered a seven-point loss to Woodstock in the 2018 final.

“We had a good nucleus of boys coming back,” Capman said.

“They were disappointed last year, and they set a goal to get back.”

Capman’s grandson, senior Caden Capman, was the starting quarterback for Poultney. Caden’s younger brother, Taite, will likely be the starting quarterback next season.

Dave Capman also coached two of his sons – Dan (Class of 1989) and Christopher (Class of 1991). Christopher now serves as an assistant coach at Poultney.

Capman served as the head coach of the annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl in 1991 and has been Vermont’s Athletic Director for the Shrine since 2012. He was elected into the Vermont Principal’s Association Hall of Fame in 2011.

18

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POULTNEY HIGH SCHOOL COACH DAVE CAPMAN

2X STATE CHAMPIONS Congratulations Coach Capman on your FNF Coaches Magazine Vermont Coach of the Year Award!

CAREER TRANSITIONS

THE TEXAS COACH WHO GOT FIRED TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT’S SON A Texas coach was hired by a superintendent to oversee a 3-4 year transition for a struggling program. The superintendent left after Year 1. The new superintendent fired the coach after Year 2 so he could hire his son as the new head coach.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

■■Petrolia High (Texas) coach Mitch McLemore

Petrolia High (Texas) head coach Mitch McLemore keeps coming back to the same word to describe the circumstances that led to him losing his last job as a head football coach. That word isn’t fit for print.

McLemore has established himself as somewhat of a fixer of broken programs throughout his 30-year career. In his last three stops – at Junction, then Big Spring, and now at Petrolia – he accepted head coaching positions of rock-bottom programs with a 3-4 year plan to get the team back to respectability.

He wasn’t given that 3-4 year grace period at his last job after a shift in leadership at Big Spring. The superintendent who hired McLemore left the district after his first season, and the new superintendent, Jay McWilliams, had other ideas for the head coach.

Although McLemore’s teams showed improvement over two seasons – from 0-10 in his first season to 3-9 and its first postseason win since 2014 in Year 2 – McWilliams decided to reassign McLemore. He later hired his son, Cannon McWilliams, as McLemore’s replacement. Cannon McWilliams was the defensive coordinator on McLemore’s staff.

“The superintendent told me the reason was I didn’t work the kids hard enough,” McLemore said. “Everybody in that part of

20

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THE PROGRAM FIXER MCLEMORE TOOK OVER

a Petrolia program that was 0-9 in 2018, including a forfeit due to a lack of healthy players.

McLemore’s first order of business was to change the attitude surrounding the program.

“The biggest thing was treat them right,” McLemore said. “I tell them how many kids would love to be doing what we’re doing—playing high school football in Texas on a Friday night. The biggest thing is you have got to learn to speak and think from a point of victory.”

McLemore greets each player on his way into the field house before every athletic period. He makes a point to ask each player about how things are going off the field and even jumps in on scout team for occasional reps.

He focuses on the details – like requiring players to keep the locker room and weight room clean.

“If the culture is right, everything takes care of itself,” McLemore said.

the world knows what happened. I predicted he’d make his son the next coach, and that’s exactly what he did.”

McLemore never lost confidence in his own ability as a coach. He met with his coaching staff and players and explained that life’s not always fair.

“It leaves you with doubts, but it happens for a purpose,” McLemore said. “I poured my heart and soul into that job.

I actually had a heart attack on Jan. 31 because I was that invested. I never thought twice about continuing to coach though. This is what I’m called to do.”

McLemore got another shot at a rebuilding effort at Petrolia, a team that went 0-9 in 2018. He helped boost participation numbers in his first season, and led the team to three wins and a playoff berth for the first time in more than five years.

“You always want to succeed, but I quit worrying about wins and losses a long time ago,” McLemore said. “It’s about the quality of the character of the program and players. X’s and O’s are X’s and O’s. I can do those with anybody like anyone can after 30 years. My main push is to show them there are more important things than wins and losses. It’s about taking care of kids and helping coaches. It’s about letting them know I love them.”

THE ST. LOUIS COACH WHO GOT FIRED FOR CHECKING ON HIS PLAYERS’ WELL-BEING

SCHOOL-WIDE IMPACT

A beloved St. Louis high school football coach was fired for using Facebook Messenger to conduct mental health checks with his players. The school’s handbook explicitly prohibits employees from connecting with current and former students on social media.

PORTER’S IMPACT AT

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN “I don’t believe it rises to the level of a fireable offense and that’s because of how much work he has put in for the school and the kids,” Ingrassia said.

“That should have been taken into consideration.”

Porter was in the midst of his third season at Roosevelt and the results on the field and in the school were overwhelmingly positive. In his first season, the ■■Students march in protest Roughriders ended a 26-game of Trey Porter’s firing. losing streak. Last season they went 8-3 and won the Public High League championship. The Roosevelt High School (St. Louis, Mo.) head football coach team was 5-1 this season at the time of Porter’s and athletic director Trey Porter had seen enough dismissal. The Roughriders finished 11-2 and won when another local jamboree was interrupted by another Public High League title. gunfire on Aug. 23.

Thirteen players and two parents met with SLPS Porter decided to take matters into his own superintendent Kelvin Adams in October to oppose hands in the aftermath of the shooting death of Porter’s dismissal. On Oct. 21, students from RoosJurnee Thompson, 8, in the vicinity of the PHL evelt marched to the district’s administrative offices jamboree at Soldan. The third-year coach adin downtown. The students walked out of school dressed the incident with his team. He decided to and marched to a closed door meeting with Adams. conduct daily mental health checks with his play“That was validating,” Porter said. “They ers to see how they were handling the tragedy. walked four miles, and these were big football “I did everything through social media because players. The only problem I have with the issue some of my players don’t have cell phones,” Porter said. was it is basically one person’s call.”

“The city of St. Louis doesn’t have public transportation, so I had no way of knowing when or if kids got home. Some called, some texted, some emailed. With social media, some used Facebook Messenger to call.”

Porter was fired for violating the school’s social media policy. He believes the district athletic director had a personal vendetta against him for not clearing a fundraising effort during the preseason.

“That was the underlying reason, why it went ■■Former Roosevelt to that extent,” Porter said. “I was able to be a High (Mo.) coach lot more proactive during my first full year as Trey Porter athletic director. I called out the district on a few things. We didn’t have a working scoreboard, so we raised $20,000 over the years. I felt the tax dollars weren’t being spent on basic needs.”

A St. Louis alderwoman wrote a formal complaint highlighting the coach’s positive impact on and off the field.

Roosevelt went beyond the field. He started “Winning Wednesday,” with the football players dressing in their best business casual. The theme eventually spread to the whole school.

When a student wanted to participate but didn’t have the appropriate attire, Porter made available a stash of button-up shirts, slacks and dress shoes.

“You can come in there and just take it.

If you need it, you need it,” said Alex Mugisha, a senior offensive lineman. “He helps kids with (job) interviews, communication skills.

He’s not just a man about football.”

Porter has been applying for jobs at the college level since his firing. He is more than willing to explain his reasons for breaking the social media policy at Roosevelt.

“I was interested in my players’ mental health,” Porter said. “For the kids to go through that turmoil was my biggest regret. I didn’t have a chance to speak in front of the board.”

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PLAYBOOK presented by Installing RPOs to a Shotgun Wing-T Offense

BY KENNY SIMPSON, SOUTHSIDE HIGH

I

am a big believer in making the most out of every play we install on

offense. To that end, I try to work adjustments, counters and, of course, my personal favorite, RPOs to each run play we work to install.

It is a fine balancing act that our staff attempts to work each season. We must be sure we are great at the base run concept or the RPO isn’t going to be very effective. Our offense bases from the Shotgun Wing-T. Most people that don’t want the stigma of Wing-T call it 21 personnel. We are able to form a culture that believes we can run our base run (buck sweep) against any opponent at any time.

The first goal we have is to become excellent in blocking buck sweep each season. It is the first play we work on and the play we will hang our hat on each game. While we work all the complements off of the play, we work hard to be able to teach the smallest details of how to block and run the buck sweep.

Here is our priority list when installing the buck:

1. Be meticulous in teaching the blocking angles of the guards ■■ We want to be sure we rep over and over our strong guard pulling and attacking the inside shoulder of the first defender.

While we do allow a “log” block at times, we want a mindset of

blowing up the first defender. One of our favorite drills for this is the hurdle drill, where we will take large hurdles and give the correct angle to get the guard’s pad level low. We also teach to run through the block. We don’t like whiffing, but are ok with it if we are on our track.

■■ Our quick guard must also take the correct path and move very quickly. We want his eyes “inside” at all times and we teach to not chase guys that may run outside of him. We want speed and again want him to run through the block.

2. Working with all ball carriers to get as close as possible to the pulling guard ■■ Our favorite drill is the “towel drill.” We tuck a towel into the back of the pulling guard’s shorts and have the running back catch him and pull the towel out while running the ball.

When not working this drill, we teach our backs to put a hand and guide the guard into a block. Often, our back actually pushes the guard into the block needed.

3. Teaching our other blockers angles for down blocks ■■ Like most teams, we teach Gap-Down-Backer for our playside. What we do that may be a little different is work steps for two types of defensive players. If we get an upfield defensive team, we teach the normal “head across the defender” first steps for our blockers. However, if we get what we term “headgear readers,” we will teach our blockers to step to almost the back hip of the defenders and work to turn their back to the sideline. We don’t want players shedding the block and falling in on the tackle.

4. Work the backfield action ■■ While we will run the buck with our quarterback and jet motion, we start install with our quarterback and running back. We want the mesh-point to be clean so we teach aligning the running back’s heels on the quarterback’s toes. We also work with our backs on staying flat and finding the guard. This keeps them out of penetration and allows the guard to get into his path. It also sets up very clean for any RPO or read game you may build off the buck sweep.

Once we have established our base play, I want to marry as many screen and RPO concepts as possible. We generally work all off-season as a staff and come up with three screen concepts and three RPO concepts that we will put with every run we install. We also work with different ways to block from the TE and Wing position and different formations. Our goal is to get as much as possible from one base run play so that we can spend as much time as possible making it great.

Here is one of our simple RPO concepts we call “Peak”: ■■ All we are doing is reading the backside linebacker and throwing and inside release off his action. If he sits, we hand the ball off. If we see “his earhole”, we throw the window. The great part of this concept is we will run the same pass (“Peak”) off each run and off dropback. Again it gets maximum practice time with a simple concept.

If you have any questions, be sure to check out my video channel by searching “Kenny Simpson” on YouTube.

22

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One Place. All The Football. HELPING FOOTBALL COACHES, PLAYERS AND FANS AT ALL LEVELS: blog.firstdownplaybook.com

Route Trees Are Passing Game Building Blocks

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK

H

onestly, we have been a little surprised at how popular the FirstDown

PlayBook pass game route trees have been. They are one of our most popular sections, especially during 7-on-7 season. Here is a little segment we did on the tight end route tree sections.

Having coached tight ends at the college and the NFL levels we can tell you that it is one of — if not the — most unique position on the football field. We can’t tell you the number of times we have been in discussions about a particular tight end’s role in the game plan with little to no regard about his ability as a blocker or as a route runner and pass catcher.

We have also sat in draft meetings in confusion as scouts and personnel decision-makers ranked the college tight ends based on their potential in the passing game while the coaches’ No. 1 criteria was if they could block in the running game. It is a common occurrence in the NFL where everyone is right, and in the end, everyone is wrong.

So, as we were working on the tight end route tree, we were pretty sensitive to the fact that this position and its routes lends itself to the ability of the player in a huge way. Add to this the fact that most people reading this don’t have the luxury of choosing their players, and you will understand why we have tried to initially keep our FirstDown PlayBook tight end route tree fairly basic for a starting point.

The FirstDown PlayBook tight end route tree is a nice mix of routes that can be used in the drop-back, play-action and boot passing game.

For the sake of this route tree, the tight end is always either attached to the tackle, in a wing position, or lined up in a bunch formation. If you play your tight end flexed out, the FirstDown PlayBook slot receiver route tree should help you out.

23

PLAYBOOK presented by Coach the Nickel 33 Wham 3 Fire Zone

BY CHARLIE COINER, FIRSTDOWN PLAYBOOK

S

ometimes the zone read key can be misleading for an offense if they

dial up the play against the wrong defense. We often think of defensive pressure as a way to get home against the pass, but there are other advantages against the run game.

The pressure you are seeing below is called Nickel 33 Wham 3 Fire Zone in the FirstDown PlayBook defensive pressure section. Of course you can edit the defense and call it whatever fits your system. However, it is important to know that we fit all of these pressures up against multiple formations like 2×2, Bunch and Empty.

We know you will want to add your own coaching points, but if you ever need a reference, you can bank on the fact that every FirstDown PlayBook play, defense and special teams scheme has detailed coaching points like what you see below.

So, if you are looking for a little wrinkle that can be used on your call sheet for first and third down, this one might be one to consider. Also keep in mind there’s plenty more where this one came from!

Communicate Like a Pro!

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COACHING POINTS: Call-side end ■■ Alignment: 4 technique ■■ Assignment: Slant to the C gap with eyes back inside ■■ Run: C gap ■■ Pass: Contain pass rush

■■ Key: No. 2 ■■ Run to: Attack No. 2 and take him off the ball. Win late with outside leverage.

■■ Run away: Man to contain to pursuit angle ■■ Pass: Seam flat drop and read QB’s eyes

Safety to the nickel Nose tackle ■■ Alignment: 0 technique ■■ Assignment: Slant into the strongside A gap. Read the guard’s block.

■■ Key: Center to offensive guard ■■ Run: Strong-side A gap ■■ Pass: Strong-side A gap pass rush

Away side end ■■ Alignment: 4 technique ■■ Assignment: Slant to the C gap with eyes back inside ■■ Key: Offensive tackle to tight end if one is aligned to your side ■■ Run: C gap ■■ Pass: Contain pass rush

Sam linebacker ■■ Alignment: Tight end, 9 technique then stem to hip ■■ No tight end: Show in the B gap, then pull out to coverage late ■■ Key: Tackle to No. 3 ■■ Run to: Stack the end and play off him ■■ Run away: A gap to scrape ■■ Pass: Play hook No. 3, pass key is No. 3, can help with near receiver or crossing routes

Mike linebacker ■■ Alignment: Stack the nose and walk up to the LOS prior to snap ■■ Sell: Strong blitz potential ■■ On the snap: Wrap the Will into B gap ■■ Key: Pressure side tackle to ball ■■ Run: B gap ■■ Pass: B gap pass rush

WILL linebacker ■■ Alignment: Stack the DE. If away from the nickel and No. 2 is detached, cover down early and cheat to pressure alignment.

■■ Key: Guard to ball ■■ Run: A gap ■■ Pass: A gap pass rush

Nickel ■■ Alignment: Inside leverage on No. 2 to passing strength

■■ Alignment: 8-10 yards deep, head up to inside of No. 2 ■■ Run: Alley inside out ■■ Pass: Deep middle third

Safety away from the nickel ■■ Alignment: 8-10 yards deep head up to inside of No. 2. Roll down over No. 2 prior to snap.

■■ Key: No. 2 ■■ Run: Attack No. 2 and defeat his block.

Keep outside leverage on No. 2 if he blocks.

■■ Pass: Roll down over No. 2 and seam flat drop and read QB’s eyes

Call side corner ■■ Alignment: Outside leverage 7-9 yards off WR ■■ Run to: Attack the blocker and win outside late ■■ Run away: Man to cutback to pursuit angle ■■ Pass: Deep third

Away side corner ■■ Alignment: Outside leverage 7-9 yards off WR ■■ Run to: Attack the blocker and win outside late ■■ Run away: Man to cutback to pursuit angle ■■ Pass: Deep third

Notes ■■ The front is set to the tight end.

If there is no tight end, set the front to passing strength.

■■ The nickel DB will line up to passing strength.

■■ Pressure will come from the weak side.

■■ The coverage played is 3 Under 3 Deep ■■ Safety rotation will be away from the nickel back alignment.

■■ Seam flat defenders collision any vertical routes and zone off at 10-12 yards.

■■ Hook defender keys No. 3 receiver in the low hole area.

■■ Coverage can be played as Cover 1.

PLAYBOOK presented by Teaching Defensive Line Play in the Midway 3-4

BY AARON NOWELL, MIDWAY HIGH (TEXAS) DEFENSIVE LINE COACH

W

e run a 3-4 defense here at Midway and predominantly line up in a

5, Shade and 4i. We will play double 5s or double 4is and occasionally double 4s. Our defense relies on our three guys up front to make the offense use five to block our three. You must be selfless to play defensive line at Midway High School.

ALIGNMENT/STANCE/KEYS All of our alignments are tight; we talk with our kids on being “thicker/thinner” on a guy based on our assessment of his skills.

Our 5 tech will line up his inside eye on the OT’s outside eye. The Shade will line up to the same side of the center as the 5-tech with his inside eye on the outside eye of the center. The 4i with align his outside eye on the inside eye of the offensive tackle.

Our defensive linemen will vary their distance off the ball based on many factors (formation, down and distance, field position, etc.). Our pre-snap keys for each position are as follows: ■■ 5 tech has the same pressure key and visual key: the offensive tackle.

■■ For the shade, the center is his pressure key with the near guard being his visual key.

■■ The 4i works the offensive tackle as his pressure key with the near guard being his visual key.

We work on being violent with our hands and letting our hips drive our arms to our aiming point of the offensive linemen. The defensive lineman’s man hand, the hand he has down that aligns to his pre snap alignment, will strike the offensive lineman in the V of the neck. We will strike out pressure key on the snap of the ball with our first step, again letting our hips drive our hands.

Our eyes go to our visual key; this tells us where our second step needs to be. We put a heavy emphasis on getting our second step in the ground before our visual key gets his second step down. Now we know what block we are getting, now we can establish ourselves in our fit. To be considered in our fit, our helmet, numbers and hips must be in our gap. Our ball get-off, meaning length of steps, is always determined by down and distance as well as formational tendencies of our opponent.

When in doubt, play run first!

EVERYDAY DRILLS Any drill that we do is always done with some sort of ball movement to start the drill. This past season we did not have one offside penalty on a defensive lineman. I truly feel this is a direct result of not doing drills on a cadence that require a ball get-off.

We start everyday with ball get-offs. We first go through run game get-offs, here we are looking for a fast second step while maintaining low pad level. Even though they are not striking an opponent, the defensive lineman will still shoot his hands and then redirect on his third step and sprint.

Next we progress to pass rush get-offs. Here, the focus is to

26

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really gain ground as if we are trying to beat an offensive lineman to his set point. Again, how fast can you get that second cleat in the ground? The defensive lineman will flip his hips and work a rip or club-over and sprint back to the line just as they would when the ball is thrown.

The second drill we do daily what I call “stretch the stretch.”

This drill is done from a two-point locked up position with both guys head-up. Here the focus is to not get your outside arm and leg overtaken. A coaching point we use is run your hips, then defeat the block. I like to make this drill a competition drill with the guy who gets reached doing 5-6 pushups or up-downs. The kids pick what we are playing for each day. I do this drill from the sideline with the bottom of the numbers being the “marker” that you have to win by.

The third drill we do is a double team drill; here, the key is the drill is going to be as good as the look you get from the double. Once a week we work this drill in a good-on-good situation with our starting offensive linemen.

In this drill we want quality looks vs just getting a lot of reps to say we got a ton of reps during that period. Our defensive linemen can play the double several different ways. I tell them to play it how they feel they do it the best.

The first way we teach the double is our pressure key becomes the post of the double team and our visual key becomes the drive. We want to strike the post, throw our hips into the drive, and jerk the post while trying to punch back through our gap.

The second way we teach it is to strike the post, throw our hips into the drive, and sit on his thigh.

The third way is to stay square on the post and dead leg the drive as he tries to punch through our hip. Obviously not every kid can do each of these the same, so we try to equip them with various ways to defeat a block so they can find a way to be successful.

USA FOOTBALL On the Live Field and in X’s and O’s sessions, a roster of leading coaches and specialists will offer insight on technique, scheme and game-changing knowledge: ■■ John Benton, San Francisco 49ers / Offensive Line Coach ■■ Elijah Brooks, University of Maryland / Running Backs Coach ■■ Adam Korzun, Green Bay Packers / Director of Performance Nutrition ■■ Steve Specht, Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier High School / Head Football Coach A complete list of speakers resides at nationalconference.usafootball.com/fnf

the winning edge HONE YOUR ABILITY TO TEACH TECHNIQUE AT USA FOOTBALL’S NATIONAL CONFERENCE

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hen talent is equal, technique wins.

Help your team find the winning edge and elevate the techniques you teach at USA Football’s 2020 National Conference in Louisville, Ky., from Feb. 21-23. This is more than just a clinic. If you want to get your hands dirty, learn from the best coaches and discover the latest scheme advancements, you won’t want to miss this.

Coaches will learn proven techniques to enhance skill development, including many from USA Football’s Advanced Tackling and Contact Systems.

Live Field topics include: ■■ Ball Security, Pass Pro and Base Runs ■■ Advanced Tackling System: Fits & Tackles in the Box ■■ Advanced Tackling System: Fits & Tackles vs. Perimeter Screens ■■ Contact System: Inside Zone Application ■■ Contact System: Outside Zone Application More sessions are added regularly.

Check out nationalconference.usafootball.com/fnf to learn more.

LIVE FIELD EXPERIENCE The National Conference features a hands-on live field experience to teach skills and demonstrate drills.

CAN’T-MISS SPEAKERS Speakers deliver messages each year that elevate attendees’ approach to coaching. Last year, University of Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck spoke on culture-building and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin shared how football challenges and develops people better than any sport in the world.

This year, Herm Edwards, the current head coach of Arizona State University and former head coach of the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, will deliver a stirring keynote address to attendees hailing from nearly all 50 states. Denver Broncos Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello, among others, also will present to Conference participants.

NEW THIS YEAR - ONSITE CERTIFICATION & ONLINE SYSTEMS ACCESS Paying attendees gain access to premium systems and the new Advanced Contact Certification designed for high-performance programs.

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NUTRITION

Making Sense of the Nutrition Trends in 2020 Sports nutrition was a hot topic at this years’ annual Food & Nutrition Conference & Exposition (FNCE), hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the nation’s largest group of nutrition professionals. Here are a few highlights, to keep you up to date with current sports nutrition recommendations.

BY NANCY CLARK MS RD CSSD

EAT WITH INTENT DOES EATING EXTRA

S

port supplements that promise improved perfor-

mance are always tantalizing. If they make as little as one percent improvement, the supplement is deemed to “work.”

While scientists want well-controlled research studies to prove effectiveness, athletes respond very quickly to anecdotes—and often spend lots of money on what might be just a glimmer of hope.

The Australian Institute of Sport is creating a website for grouping supplements according to effectiveness: Group A (proven to enhance performance), Group B (deserves more research), Group C (little proof of meaningful benefits) and Group D (banned). Check it out at ais.gov.au/ nutrition/supplements.

The Best Supplement? Sleep Vitamin Zzz, aka sleep. is one of the best performance enhancers. Lack of sleep has detrimental effects on performance. Athletes with good sleep quality are able to train harder, recover faster, and perform better.

How much sleep is enough? More than six hours a night. Very few athletes can perform well with less than that. Top athletes commonly strive to get eight to 10 hours of sleep each day, including a nap between 1 and 4 p.m. (A later

nap results in poorer sleep that night). Teens should target eight to 10 hours. Lack of sleep can significantly impact your diet. After two nights with only four to five hours of sleep, the appetite increases about 20 percent. You’ll likely find yourself snacking more than usual (on fatty foods), eating fewer fruits and veggies, and consuming around 385 additional calories. Yikes!

For good sleep information, visit centreforsleep. com and take the Athletes’ Sleep Screening Questionnaire. Athletes who understand the benefits of sleep tend to sleep about 20 minutes more.

Muscle building tactics ■■ When it comes to building muscle, you want to surround your workout with food, so you can get the most benefits from your efforts. If you lift weights in a fasted state (without having eaten any pre-exercise fuel), the muscle-building effect of exercise is not enough to out-weigh the muscle breakdown that happens in a fasted state. Eat before you train!

■■ Many athletes assume if they fail to eat within 45 minutes of lifting weights, the anabolic (musclebuilding) window slams shut. Wrong. Refueling either one or three hours post-exercise generates a similar gain in muscle protein synthesis. For the average exerciser, the effect of post-exercise protein timing on muscle growth is relatively small.

■■ Consuming post-exercise protein stimulates insulin secretion, as does carbohydrate. Insulin reduces muscle breakdown and enhances glycogen replacement. Refueling with a combination of protein and carb is best for athletes who do two-aday workouts, to optimize glycogen replacement.

Athletes who do only one workout and refuel with a sports diet based on grains, starchy vegetables and fruits can replenish depleted glycogen stores over the course of 24 hours.

protein build bigger muscles? The body incorporates only a limited amount of protein into new muscle tissue. Spacing out protein intake by consuming 20 grams of protein every 3 hours (four times a day) is preferable to eating 80 grams in one dose.

More specifically, athletes want to target protein four times a day.

A ketogenic sports diet (moderate protein, very low carb, very high fat) appeals to some athletes.

Yet, we need more research to understand the fine details of adaptation to the keto diet and the role of keto supplements.

(Supplement sales vastly exceed the science!) Stay tuned; perhaps we’ll have more answers from next year’s FNCE. Eating disorders (EDs) are not just a female problem. About 9percent of male athletes—as compared to about 21 percent of female athletes— struggle with food issues and restrict their food intake to lose undesired body fat.

NANCY CLARK MS, RD, CSSD

■■Sleep is one of the best performance-enhancers in sports.

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■■Nancy Clark, MS, RD counsels casual and competitive athletes at her office in Newton, Mass., (617-795-1875). Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook and food guides are available at NancyClarkRD.com. For her online workshop, visit NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com.

STRENGTH TRAINING

Weight Room Competition Drives the Nation’s No. 1 Team The offseason can get monotonous without the inspiration of some intra-team competition. Spice up your strength training with max rep challenges, lifts to failure, and admission to “clubs” through successful outcomes in the weight room.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

BEST IN THE BUSINESS NAME: Jason Negro SCHOOL: St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)

HEAD COACHING RECORD: 112-24

(10 seasons)

POSTSEASON RECORD: Nine

playoff appearances, five Trinity League championships, three section titles and three state championships.

NATIONAL RANKING:

■■The national champion St. John Bosco (Calif.) football team has the Glory Bar Challenge.

St. John Bosco (Calif.) coach Jason Negro has made his name presiding over some of the biggest wins in the country each December.

He has led St. Bosco to three CIF Open Division state championships since 2013 and has twice been named MaxPreps High School Coach of the Year.

While Negro certainly appreciates the difficulty of winning state-title games in December, he believes the foundation for greatness is laid in January and February.

“Our strength program is far more important than the calls we make on Friday night,” Negro said. “We believe that we win here because of what we do on our offensive and defensive lines.

We believe that we win because of what we do in the weight room from January until the end of the season. We lift four days a week in season and five days out of season. It’s something we take a lot of

pride in and a culture we’ve developed at Bosco. The kids buy into it, they embrace it. They know it’s not easy, but when you’re dominat­ing people up front and you’re physically stronger in the fourth quarter, they can see it.”

The Glory Bar Challenge Every player on the Bosco football team has a standing offer to complete the Glory Bar Challenge and gain entry to the team’s acclaimed “club.”

What does the challenge entail?

An Olympic bar decorated with an American flag graphic is positioned on a mat with two Captain America plates on each side. The total weight of the lift is 250 pounds. Any player who can clean 250 lbs. gains admission to the club.

“Everyone circles around, and you can’t use those items unless you’re trying to reach your max during an assessment period to get into the club,” Negro said. “The kids go nuts. It’s on our

The Braves have finished ranked in the Top 25 for seven consecutive years and have finished in the Top 10 every year since 2015.

social media and Instagram. It’s done in the spring or summer.”

Negro and his staff tried to pick a lift that is all-inclusive (i.e. just as doable for skill-position players as linemen). He will occasionally increase the weight for linemen, but he believes lighter players are just as likely to gain entrance to the club.

“It’s not necessarily easier for the bigger guys,” Negro said. “Our corners are cleaning 250. For us, the highest cleaner in the program was a safety. We’ve picked a lift that is more about technique than overall strength. We’re not going to squat for something like this.”

Negro and his staff also offer other competitions that level the playing field depending on a player’s weight.

“We’ll do multiple-rep maxes by the percentage of a player’s weight,” Negro said. “Then we’re measuring how strong they are for their size. We could do squats for that.”

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STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

8 Tips for Transitioning From Football to Track One of the best things a football player can do to increase speed and quickness during the winter months is to run track. However, that transition must take place gradually to ensure that the player avoids injury and learns the proper sprinting technique.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

Henry Clay High (Ken.) alumnus Demetrius Gay accepted the head football coach position at his alma mater in December after spending 18 years as an assistant under Sam Simpson. Gay most recently served as the Blue Devils’ defensive coordinator.

He has also been the head coach of the track and field team for the last 18 years, and won 2-A state championships in 2015 and 2016.

Gay was named Kentucky Boys Track Coach of the Year in 2015.

Gay manages his players’ transitions from the bruising, physical football season to the quick-twitch requirements of track. He offers these eight tips for helping players make that transition.

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Give them 2-3 weeks off. Gay

stresses the importance of rest and recovery after any full-contact period in football.

“First off, tell them to take a break. What I always do with sprinters or jumpers coming over from football is give them 2-3 weeks off. Get the legs back to being healthy.”

Focus on technique. Sometimes, the biggest gains in speed are the result of improved form.

“We start off with technique drills. We talk about arm placement and leg placement. Your technique can take you farther than raw speed. We also lift to become more explosive.”

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Program strength training for speed. Put down the big

weights during track season.

“Football is more about getting big. In track, we want more endurance so we do high reps at light weight.

We don’t lift heavy. We do a lot of body weight stuff and dumbbells.”

Improve hip flexibility. The wear and tear of a football season causes tight hips.

“We do a lot of hip activities indoors. We get those hip flexors loosened with some band work. We work on hurdle mobility as much as we can.

That helps with flexibility.”

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■■The Clay High (Ken.) football team builds up to 500s on the track in the spring.

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5

Start short on the track. Build up to endurance runs.

“Most football players are either sprinters or throwers. We work on speed development. Start with 50s and 100s before they have to fight through fatigue.”

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Assign reps based on effort level, not times. Very

few training runs are at 100 percent.

“If it’s a good day out, we’ll go outside and do percentage workouts. We’ll go at 50 to 60 percent.”

Build the distance. Start short, and work up to intermediate distances.

“The 50s and 100s become 200s. As the year moves on, we’ll go up to 400s and 500s.

That helps build endurance.”

Provide time goals. Goal times are different for each athlete.

“As it gets warmer, we’ll go into timed workouts. We’ll do sets of 200s with a goal time of 27 or 28 seconds per repeat.”

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5 REASONS TO HIT THE HILLS LEE TAFT IS THE

owner of Lee Taft Athletic Consulting (Greenwood, Ind.).

He recommends hill repeats for football players for the following reasons.

■■ Hill accelerations, from a mechanical aspect, force the athlete to drive the knee out (it actually forces greater hip flexion due to the horizontal lean) in order to clear the foot from hitting the toe into the ground.

■■ Hill accelerations limit the deceleration that must occur after each run. The fact the athlete doesn’t have to decelerate after each rep saves the legs and keeps the focus purely on acceleration.

■■ Arm action almost automatically becomes more involved and cleaner when accelerating up hill.

■■ Because hill work is very taxing on the nervous system, programming is very simple. It’s easy to know when an athlete is getting fatigued.

■■ Hill acceleration training is a form of resisted training.

The other forms such as sled, tubing or parachutes interrupt the natural kinesthetic nature of pure running.

10 Exercises to Reboot Fast-Twitch Muscles in the Offseason In-season strength and conditioning programs have to account for the wear and tear of playing games each week. Now that we’re into the offseason, it’s time to reboot the nervous system and prime the fast-twitch muscles so that the athletes are more explosive heading into spring ball.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

■■Former NFL player Donovin Darius trains high school players in Florida.

THE KEY TO LONGEVITY DARIUS CREDITS HIS

Donovin Darius had a 10-year career playing in the NFL – mostly with the Jacksonville Jaguars. His offseason training program was legendary; it was even featured in an Aug. 2005 edition of Sports Illustrated.

After his retirement in 2007, Darius started Donovin Darius Next Level Training. He works as a performance coach for organizations and individuals. He offered these 10 offseason training exercises for rebooting the nervous system.

Ladder Drills. These drills improve footwork.

The primary goal is to pick the feet up and put them back on the ground as quickly as possible.

Darius recommends doing as many as five variations, including a backpedal, doing each drill 10 times.

Jumping Rope. Darius recommends jumping rope for 10 minutes, without rest, doing various maneuvers and footwork drills such as crisscrossing the rope, jumping on one leg and running in place in between rope revolutions.

Weightlifting for Explosiveness. Darius recommends lifting in five sets of three reps. He suggests that – regardless of the exercise – an athlete lets the bar down slowly while resisting the weight, and then explodes to the top of the rep.

Twist. A workout partner throws a 20-pound medicine ball at an athlete’s midsection. This helps the athlete get used to activating the core before collisions and helps build mental toughness.

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Blocking Sled. This fine-tunes an athlete’s ability to accelerate. Stand one foot from the face of the sled. Crouch in a defensive back’s stance.

Explode toward the sled, with knees and arms bent. Hit the sled with palms and extend arms.

40-Yard Dashes. These are designed to improve foot speed and acceleration. Rest 20 seconds after each.

400-Meter Dashes. Darius recommends three runs, taking only a 60- to 90-second break after each. If doing this with a partner, as soon as one person gets to the finish line, the other starts.

Heavy Bag Drill. This exercise helps with strength, endurance, flexibility and hand-eye coordination. Train for five rounds at 90 seconds per round with 45 seconds of recovery time between rounds. Stand on balls of feet, which are slightly more than shoulder width apart. Keep body weight centered and balanced. Throw straight strikes, hooks and roundhouse blows (all with both arms).

Leapfrog. The athlete grips a medicine ball, spreads his feet slightly wider than his hips, squats and holds the ball between his feet. Jump straight up, for maximum height, and raise the knees as high as possible.

Catching Footballs. Using a throwing machine, Darius recommends athletes test their handeye coordination by catching 100 balls a day from distances ranging from 10 to 40 yards.

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longevity in the NFL – a 10-year career from 1998 to 2007 – to his strength and conditioning program. He divided his training into four cycles – preseason, first eight weeks of the NFL season, second eight weeks, and the offseason.

The offseason program was designed to make him more explosive.

“You’re only as strong as your base and foundation,” Darius said. “I wanted to train my nervous system to fire. It didn’t matter how strong I was, it was how fast I could apply the strength that I had.

I wanted to retrain my body to be explosive in the offseason.”

The majority of his training was designed to make him more explosive in his hips.

“Whether you’re blocking or tackling, the goal is to set your feet and explode through your hips,” Darius said.

“The more I trained my body and reintroduced those movements, it helped me.”

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INNOVATOR’S SPOTLIGHT

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BY HOBBY HOWELL, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF COLD DADDY

I think all coaches would agree that preparation is very important to the success of any team or individual in life. From playbooks to practice schedules to game plans, preparation is key. Player safety is no different. You must prepare for it by teaching new tackling techniques, supplying the best equipment and adhering to UIL practice guidelines.

Have you given any thought to preparing for a heat-related illness that will occur to an athlete in your care?

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) published a study that stated heat illness is the leading cause of death and disability among high school athletes. The CDC estimates that an average of more than 9,000 high school athletes are affected by heat illness each year.

Cold-water immersion is the most effective way to treat heat-related illness, and the fastest method of lowering an overheated athlete’s core body temperature. But you must be prepared. Scrambling around for ice, water and a tub takes time - time critical to the survival of your athlete.

“We have all of that in the training room.” You have 15 minutes from the onset of heat illness until permanent damage to your athlete begins. That 15 minutes begins much sooner than the point they fall out and are non-responsive.

The warning signs occur earlier in the process than that. The time between the recognition of heat illness symptoms until the athlete’s body temperature is lowered is critical!

Programs of all levels and sizes recognize that having an ice bath ready and on or adjacent to your practice area is the best way to ensure that you are prepared. In many programs, an ice bath involves a black plastic tub, water and a large quantity of ice. The challenge here is in keeping the temperature of the water low enough throughout the day to help the athlete that needs it. Ice, as we all know, melts and during practices in late summer, it melts fast.

Cold Daddy began helping programs of all levels prepare for the treatment of heat-related illness in 2011 by developing a patented portable water chiller capable of chilling and maintaining water temperature most suitable for treating this malady. While Cold Daddy products are used routinely as a recovery tool for all athletes after practices or heavy workouts, the instant “on-field” access to cold-water provides the most effective and quickest treatment for heat-related illness.

In preparation for your upcoming season you will make many plans. The responsibility of any coach and his entire staff is not only to win and grow young athletes in the right way but also to ensure their safety.

Whatever you are planning for this year, be prepared for the unfortunate event of a heat-related illness.

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Free Coaching App Simplifies Team Communications and Saves Time Coaching a football team can be hectic as well as exhausting. And as a coach, time management has its challenges when fitting in team meals, meetings, film sessions, scouting, practices, and games. Make your life as a coach much more enjoyable and easier to manage with the sportsYou team communications app.

BY HARRISON HEFELE, SPORTSYOU

WHAT IS SPORTSYOU? A FREE COMMUNICATION

app, sportsYou was created specifically for the needs of coaches. It gives coaches the ability to privately communicate, schedule and share media with their team. With no character limits and the ability to send one-way messages, sportsYou is a highly versatile communication app for coaches.

GET THE APP:

go.sportsyou.com/fnfc1/ download EMAIL: info@sportsYou.com ■■The SportsYou app helps coaches communicate with players, parents and staff.

FACEBOOK: @sportsYouApp INSTAGRAM: @sportsYou TWITTER: @sportsYouApp

A free communication app, sportsYou is created specifically for the needs of coaches. It gives coaches the ability to privately communicate, schedule and share media with their team. With no character limits and the ability to send one-way messages, sportsYou is a highly versatile communication app for coaches.

Whether on your phone or computer, in minutes you can set up as many teams as you want on sportsYou. You can create private teams or groups for the varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen programs. You can also take it a step further to share specific information to only your defense, offense, special teams and so on.

Rodney Webb, the varsity football coach at Rockwall High School and president of the Texas High School Coaches Association, has this to say: “I used sportsYou to communicate with and manage my team this season. The benefits were that everyone was on the same page, communications were easier and better than ever, and everyone saved significant time. I highly recommend that all coaches and sports organizations use the sportsYou app and website. In addition, it is easy-to-use and free.”

In addition to easy-to-use instant messaging, sportsYou allows coaches to display a calendar for their athletes and

family members to see games, practices and events. No more questions and confusion on schedules as everyone knows date, time, location – and gets notifications on changes immediately through sportsYou. Using sportsYou provides coaches with the unique ability to increase accountability. As an administrator of the team, you can see who has viewed your posts and who has not. You can set calendar reminders so that team members are notified before games and events. These features help coaches emphasize the importance of responsibility.

Stephanie Bartkus, who coaches soccer, basketball, and lacrosse at Seaford High School (NY), said: “As a coach in three seasons, using the SportsYou app has made my life so much easier. I love being able to change or add to my calendar and have the players see an alert. It’s also great to have it communicated to me when someone will be late or if they have a question without me having to give out my phone number.

This is so much more efficient than using Remind and constantly reprinting a calendar!”

Download the easy-to-use sportsYou app and save yourself countless hours of tedious managerial work – and have more time to coach.

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MENTAL PERFORMANCE

10 Tips to Improving a Team’s Mental Performance According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, almost 32 percent of adolescents deal with anxiety. Learning to channel that anxiety can help student-athletes perform better in practice and on game day. Consider staffing a mental performance coach to help players conquer the mental side of the game.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN ■■Hempfield High (Pa.) mental performance coach Melissa White

GETTING RAVE REVIEWS HEMPFIELD ATHLETIC

Melissa White is one of just two mental performance coaches at the high school level in the state of Pennsylvania. She recently finished her second season as mental performance coach for the Hempfield High football team. White holds a doctorate degree in sports psychology and is a sixth-grade teacher at Hempfield’s Wendover Middle School.

During the football season, White met with players after practice and also coached from the Hempfield sideline during games.

She offered these 10 tips to help players build self-confidence.

Re-enforce a team-first mentality. “Teach them how to be a good teammate and encourage others. Through that, they become anxious about their individual performances and end up building confidence.”

Establish an open line of communication. “We talk about how practice went each day. Some days, they’ll say, ‘We did this play over and over again, maybe six times. The coach got mad and told us we were done.’ They’ll say, ‘I think if we would have had it if we kept doing it.’ I’ll say, ‘Why didn’t you say that to the coach?’”

Visualize successful outcomes. “We didn’t have a winning record the first year I was coaching.

Going in to that situation, I thought we could try some sports psychology techniques like visualizing what it would take to win.”

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Set specific goals. “I teach them to break down

goals by play, series, quarter, half, game and season. It’s very detailed.”

Plan for the worst. “There are injuries in football, so I’ll say, ‘What if this person isn’t here? What are we going to do?’ They adopted a next-man-up mentality for dealing with adversity. That helped build confidence.”

Empower players. “By allowing them to come up with solutions for problems, I give them a chance to take ownership of their team. They understand it’s not just a bunch of individuals working together for a goal.”

Control heart rates. “I was on the sideline on Friday nights, and a big part of the job was getting players to calm down. If I could see someone crossing over the edge, I tried to help them refocus on the goal.”

Preach composure. “How will a 15-yard personal foul affect your goal for this drive or this quarter? That will be detrimental.”

Stress staying present. “Maybe a player just got yelled at by a coach. I’ll check in with him.

‘What’s going on? Why couldn’t you focus? Be where your feet are at this moment. Right here, right now.’”

Move on. “If you make a mistake, look at the next play. I’ll ask them where they need to be on the next play. What’s their job? Who are they covering?”

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Director Greg Meisner believes White is best served coaching football – of all the sports – because so much of the success is determined by mental toughness.

“Other than the first day of football camp, there’s not a day you go through the season where you feel 100 percent healthy,” Meisner said. “Something’s always nagging you.

So you need to learn to mentally overcome that and play. It actually makes you play better knowing, ‘Hey, I’m not 100 percent so I’ve got to pick myself up.’

That’s how NFL players make it through a whole 16-game season.”

Hempfield head coach Rich Bowen believes his players genuinely enjoy the sessions with White.

“It’s basically a lot of leadership type stuff and how to support each other,” Bowen said. “We get great turnouts and the kids look forward to it. She’s just been a great part of our program.”

TAKE PRACTICE TO THE

NEXT LEVEL

CHAD FOX Head Coach, Wahoo High School

AND SEE THE RESULTS ON FRIDAY NIGHT

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LIVES OF COACHES WIVES

The 6 Roles of a Coach’s Wife One of the more underappreciated roles on a football team is a coach’s wife. The in-season schedule does not allow for much family time at home, and the emotional toll of the season can leave a coach’s wife playing armchair psychologist. Two wives of coaches offer their tips for getting through the season.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

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was to keep the kids alive. I felt like that was my support for the program. Early on, my expectations were severe. I didn’t get it. Now, we’ve all gotten how it’s going to work. I plan our suppers, and if he’s there, great. I don’t expect or demand him to be there. He’s mature enough to know when he should be there. He knows how to balance kid stuff with his stuff.”

Late-Night Host. “After home games, we always have the coaches at our house. We know sometimes after a hard game, it’s either going to be really great or really terrible. After away games, I’ve always known he needs time to decompress and hang out at the field house. I try to wait up for him, but I don’t expect him until after midnight.”

Ms. Fix It. “If something breaks in the house, I take care of it. I don’t wait for him to fix it over the weekend because he’s involved with the PeeWee league to grow his program. He’s at the field all day Saturday, and then he’s getting prepared for Sunday meetings.”

Vagabond. “Early on in his career, I always called him a mountain climber. He always wanted to go to a bigger school. I would brace myself that if this job opens, he’ll look at that.

We had a verbal agreement that once the kids were in school, we would build a dynasty and not move from school to school.”

Team Chef. “We have pancake suppers for the offensive linemen to celebrate pancake blocks. We have dinners for special teams, quarterbacks, defense; we have all of the groups. I’m working at the school now, so they start bugging me about pancake suppers in August.”

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4 ■■Jamey Simpson, wife of Southside Batesville (Ark.) coach Kenny Simpson

Jamey Simpson is finally starting to feel as if she has a handle on the high school football season. It only took the wife of Southside Batesville High (Ark.) coach Kenny Simpson a couple decades to get the hang of it.

Now, with her three kids becoming more independent – with one in junior high, one in middle school, and one elementary school – she’s able to strike the balance of being supportive of her husband while holding down the fort at home.

“I get to be more involved with the team now,” Simpsons said. “For a long time, I had to keep the family rolling when he was gone.”

For any aspiring (or inevitable) coach’s wife, Simpson offers advice on how to fill six essential roles.

Taxi Mom. “We have three kids, and they all have their own stuff to get to. I do a lot of taxiing and still try to support Kenny.”

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Single Parent. “When I was younger, my role

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LEAN INTO IT CHELSEA SIMPSON,

wife of Pilgrim High (R.I.) coach Blake Simpson, has some advice for coaches wives: Have fun with it.

She sets up a live stream on Instagram during games, makes hype videos, chooses an MVP after each game, and conducts post-game interviews, which she also posts to Instagram.

“The schedule has never been a problem for me,” Chelsea Simpson said. “I really look forward to the season. Post-season depression sets in after the season ends.”

Simpson does admit that her enthusiasm for the football team is likely heightened at this stage in her life before she has kids. Still, she thinks her husband will continue to make her feel included and prioritized after they decide to start a family.

“Blake is really good at that sort of thing,” Simpson said. “After they win, the coaches go out together. After a loss, they go right home, but he’s not sulky all weekend.”

TECH CORNER

Use the Anchor Audio Portable Sound Systems at practice Having a sound system that is portable doesn’t do you any good if the battery isn’t going to last the length of your event. When you are looking for the best battery life on the market, you won’t find any better than Anchor Audio.

BY MATT STARR

While most stadiums are wired for sound, it is relatively inconvenient to use audio systems during practice, especially when most teams practice on a completely different field. It is also extremely time-consuming to get a traditional sound system out to the practice field, run power and cables – all while steering clear of any area a player might navigate during a practice.

Enter portable sound systems. As the name suggests, they are easily portable, and take only seconds to set up. They are scalable, so you can add additional speaker sets as needed.

There are a variety of sizes, so you can choose a system that best fits your program and need. Most importantly, they are multi-purpose.

With a portable sound system, you aren’t limited to one application. The sound system can be used for various applications around campus like pep rallies, track meets, schoolwide assemblies, marching band and color guard practices. If you need a speaker for an event, a portable sound system is a practical and easy way to get it done.

But what makes a good portable sound system? The most important thing is battery capacity and run time. With up to eight hours of run time, Anchor portable sound systems easily cover almost any event imaginable.

Next, you really want something that is durable. There is no sense spending money on a product that could break easily. You need durability for indoor and outdoor environments. Anchor is SO confident in its products that the company offers a six-year warranty on all products.

Finally, it needs to be easy to use.

Anchor portable sound systems take less than 10 minutes to set up initially and mere seconds to set up and use every time after.

ONLINE: SIDELINEPOWER.COM PHONE: 1-800-496-4290

As I mentioned earlier, scalability is key. With Anchor AIR, you can wirelessly connect multiple companion speakers to increase coverage without changing your base systems.

So, the real question is: How big do you need to go? That depends on how you want to primarily use your system. An Anchor Go Getter will reach crowds of 500-plus, while the Anchor Bigfoot will reach crowds of 5,000-plus. The Beacon is a fantastic option for those who want to reach large crowds, but also want a speaker array that packs down to the size of a large suitcase.

For help finding the right Anchor Portable Sound System for your program and school, visit sidelinepower.com or call 800-496-4290, and see how we can help your program get #PoweredUP.

I’M MATT STARR,

Founder and CEO of Sideline Power.

Sideline Power works to find and bring cuttingedge technology MATT STARR to the football industry in order FOUNDER AND CEO, SIDELINE POWER to help coaches win. Sideline Power has partnered with FNF Coaches to create an educational article each month on various innovative products. It’s time to get #PoweredUP with this month’s featured product, portable sound systems.

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FUNDRAISING

Hour-A-Thon is a Quick Way to Earn Big Most coaches think of fundraising as a necessary evil.

Although many of us don’t have the training to run a fundraiser, we can find companies to help. Fundraising revenue can help us improve the product on the field, update existing technology, and make the game safer for players.

BY DAN GUTTENPLAN

Mark Nolan is like most coaches when it comes to fundraising. The Trabuco Hills High (Calif.) coach wants it to be quick and easy.

He’s done the golf tournaments, the lift-a-thons and the year-long fundraising efforts, and he’s never felt completely comfortable walking around with his hand out.

“So many fundraisers are labor-intensive, and you have to rely on coaches and parents to put it on,” Nolan said.

Nolan found a new fundraiser last spring, and it fit the bill of being quick and easy. Trabuco Hills raised about $30,000 with an Hour-A-Thon online fundraising effort. Ninety percent of the fundraiser took place in one hour’s time with players taking responsibility for their own efforts.

During the hour-long fundraising event, each player sent a text message to 20 potential donors, and then followed up with a phone call. This level of interpersonal contact has been documented to garner comparatively more donors

than other methods of online fundraising where donors are encouraged by email to make a donation.

The only work done prior to the hour-long campaign is each player’s drafting of a contact sheet with 20 phone numbers. The online fundraiser also remains open for a week after the hour-long campaign, and players follow up with one more text and phone call to those who haven’t replied before the campaign is closed.

“Coaches can use hundreds of different online campaigns,” said Hour-A-Thon representative Michael Braunstein.

“Most of them require 20 email addresses, and you’re waiting 3-4 weeks to get donations. Then it takes 2-3 weeks to get the money. This campaign lasts a week, and we cut the coaches a check right away.”

Hour-A-Thon has representatives all over the country, so it deploys one representative to each high school for the one-hour fundraising session. The representative will help the players

■■Teams can raise as much as $30,000 in an hour through the Hour-A-Thon fundraiser.

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FUNDRAISE WITH HOUR-A-THON FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOUR-

A-Thon, visit hour-a-thon.com or call 1-800-484-0423. Hour-A-Thon funds are collected within an hour and made available to the team within five days.

“With spring football and the end of the school year coming, schedule Hour-A-Thon now. Use one day of spring practice, and have the money before the summer starts so you can spend it in the fall.”

– Michael Braunstein, Hour-A-Thon

with scripts for the text messages, phone calls and thank-you notes. The rep also sets up a digital leaderboard to create a competitive fundraising environment.

“One of our reps takes them through the entire thing,” Braunstein said. “The live leaderboard allows the players to see the money coming in.”

Nolan says his players like Hour-AThon because it appeals to their digital sensibilities.

“They’re terrified of making phone calls,” Nolan said. “They text the people on the list, and they get experience making sales calls. That connection is great in terms of job training and practical experience.”

Trabuco Hills will run its second annual Hour-A-Thon this June. Nolan believes his team can increase fundraising revenue by 30 percent.

“You just want to be able to raise money and not have it be an albatross or ball and chain,” Nolan said. “Fundraising is something no coach wants to do, but it’s a necessary part of the job.”

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INSPIRATION

Many of the best football coaches and players provide inspiration to the people around them on a daily basis. We often present quotes from former players/coaches on Twitter @FNFCoaches. The following quotes received the most buzz from our followers.

RELENTLESS

The competitor who won’t go away, who won’t stay down, has one of the most formidable competitive advantages of all.”

– Bill Walsh

Once you have done everything that you possibly can – you’ve put forth your greatest effort – then I can live with whatever’s next.” – Bill Parcells

LEADERSHIP

When the older players are willing to help the younger players every day, then you’ve got the right environment to build a winner.” –Hank Iba

The only way to help people improve is telling them the truth. That builds trust. Without either, we have no chance to move forward.” –Frank Martin

EXCELLENCE

We create a standard for how we want to do things and everybody’s got to buy into that standard or you really can’t have any team chemistry. Mediocre people don’t like high-achievers and high-achievers don’t like mediocre people.” –Nick Saban

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