What did you change this year?

I've been asking this for a few years now, but one of my favorite questions each year.

What did you guys do differently that went well? What did you change that didn't have a positive outcome?

Can be scheme/plays/concepts but doesn't have to be, could also be a technique, formation, addition by subtraction/change of emphasis, drill, anything that made your program better or worse.

Thanks!

Our offense.

After 20+ years in some form of the wing T we went to a spread set based directly off of what Sterling does.

It really is too early to tell if this is a positive or negative move. Our HC wanted to create a spark for the program.

I changed professions.

I stepped down after last season, but I asked some of my assistants who coached this year what were some good things the new program was doing we should/could have been doing all along? Their answers included:

1. Daily rewards for position drills at the end of practice - -something simple like a gatoraid for the player who did best in drills;

2. A more spread out summer calendar - they went T-W-Th all summer - as opposed to lifting three times a week and two big camps at the start and end of the summer; and

3. Better utilization of sideline video.

Naturally, there were many other changes, but these were seen as uniformly positive.

OldTitan wrote:I stepped down after last season, but I asked some of my assistants who coached this year what were some good things the new program was doing we should/could have been doing all along? Their answers included:

1. Daily rewards for position drills at the end of practice - -something simple like a gatoraid for the player who did best in drills;

2. A more spread out summer calendar - they went T-W-Th all summer - as opposed to lifting three times a week and two big camps at the start and end of the summer; and

3. Better utilization of sideline video.

Naturally, there were many other changes, but these were seen as uniformly positive.

Im gong from an assistant coach's perspective, my coaching responsibilities
1. Brought up freshmen LB'ers. We have three frosh coaches who do a great job, the head freshmen coach, who is retired,
is by himself the first 30 minutes of practice. Te other two, because other jobs can't be there until 4:00. I worked his LB'ers with the soph/varsity LB'ers. for 30-45 minutes. I learned more about the kids I will get to coach the next three years, they got exposed to the drills. learning by being around some good varsity players, and how the varsity does things.
2. Broke down special teams more, more drills/teaching in segments vs. going thru our opponents schemes full team.
Having your JV team run your opponent's KOR scheme is an exercise in futility. We would break down by position how to defeat the blocks they would see. We got more reps and my blood pressure stayed low.

For us, a more relaxed summer paid dividends. We actually increased our weightlifting times, but were on the field less. The summer before was ambitious to say the least, so this was a welcome change. Despite a change in HC, we honestly didn't change much else as our current HC worked for years under the previous one.

I didn't practice more than 90 minutes after week 1 this year. We started 5-0 and finished 5-4. Though that was more due to my RB getting pulled up weeks 6-7 for an injury, my best defensive player missing our two biggest games weeks 7-8 for a hunting trip and my qb and rb were both pulled up week 9 due to injury. The varsity coaches did comment when they brought up our rb he seemed to have a lot of energy at practice.

Added some wing t to our flex bone. Gambled more on punt block.

TexFB wrote:Added some wing t to our flex bone. Gambled more on punt block.

Where did you coach this past season?

We passed the ball more efficiently at at better points in the game.
We also switched to a Zone Blocking Scheme that really become effective for us in the playoffs.

newcom wrote:We passed the ball more efficiently at at better points in the game.
We also switched to a Zone Blocking Scheme that really become effective for us in the playoffs.

What plays did you zone block.

mc140 wrote: my best defensive player missing our two biggest games weeks 7-8 for a hunting trip a.

and he got to play week 9? I cant fathom that. I know times are different but damn i just cant imagine that. 1) that a player who is any good could actually leave the team, and 2) that he would be allowed to return after abandoning the team.

wolverine55 wrote:For us, a more relaxed summer paid dividends.  We actually increased our weightlifting times, but were on the field less.  The summer before was ambitious to say the least, so this was a welcome change.  Despite a change in HC, we honestly didn't change much else as our current HC worked for years under the previous one.

To add to this, one thing we did change that was beneficial was adding an "outside run" period to our offensive practices. Inside run was strictly power, counter, and iso while outside run was primarily our horn (pin/pull) and jet/rocket schemes

switched(part time) to a 34 defense to help out some of our coverages.

never ran ko against a return team. made up some drills that really strengthened our ko team. in my 31 years of coaching this may have been one of my best cover teams.

Powers, Leads and Sweeps.

net wrote:switched(part time) to a 34 defense to help out some of our coverages.

never ran ko against a return team. made up some drills that really strengthened our ko team. in my 31 years of coaching this may have been one of my best cover teams.

They were good, plus you had a good kicker

wilky wrote:

mc140 wrote: my best defensive player missing our two biggest games weeks 7-8 for a hunting trip a.

and he got to play week 9? I cant fathom that. I know times are different but damn i just cant imagine that. 1) that a player who is any good could actually leave the team, and 2) that he would be allowed to return after abandoning the team.

Yeah... but was it a coyote hunt?

wilky wrote:

mc140 wrote: my best defensive player missing our two biggest games weeks 7-8 for a hunting trip a.

and he got to play week 9? I cant fathom that. I know times are different but damn i just cant imagine that. 1) that a player who is any good could actually leave the team, and 2) that he would be allowed to return after abandoning the team.

He did not play for me week 9. I haven't really spoken to the kid since the day before he left for the trip. I'm not in the building so I wont see him again until track season starts in February.

The thing is the kid was there all summer and never missed a day. Just gave me a new entry on outside reasons kids have missed a game:

Hunting Trip
Hockey Reffing School
Quinceañera
Birthday
Military Graduation
Best man in Brother's wedding

Best man in brother’s wedding is a pretty good excuse.

Teetime wrote:Best man in brother’s wedding is a pretty good excuse.

I was more surprised a 15 year old was the best man.

"Hockey Reffing School"
There is a huge need for officials so I think you have to let that one go LOL!