Coaching Knowledge Project #6 Urban Meyer

      Over the last few summers, I have started taking notes on some of the coaching biographies and books that I have read. One problem that I have had over the years is that I read so much and look at so much different info that I don't ever retain the knowledge for future use. I will read about a drill or a philosophy and I will think "Hey, that fits pretty good with my guys. I wanna use that this year." Then I will lay the book or the info to the side and forget all about it.
       Earlier this year, I began to compile & organize these notes & axioms into a single document. Ideally I would like to eventually have a notebook that I could add to each offseason and look at again each pre-season as I reevaluate my program. I thought that as part of this blog and my compilation efforts, I would share some of the things that I've found.
       These are quotes about coaches, quotes from coaches about their influences, and outside observations on coaches and their programs. Some of these are Hall of Fame coaches, some have losing records, and some are career assistants; all have good things to offer.
      Unless you have been living under a rock for the past several years, then you should be familiar with Coach Urban Meyer of Utah, Florida, and now Ohio State. These notes come from the book Urban's Way ,written during his Florida days.

URBAN MEYER

·         He has a conviction that he owes every player a chance to play, to graduate, and to achieve a normal, happy life by sorting out whatever demons haunt him.

·         He talked about total commitment for the 107 days leading up to the SEC Championship Game. I try to break everything into segments. On our bowl preparation, I don’t go beyond 4 or 5 day segments because you lose the players.

·         Tucked inside Meyer’s 129 page document is the Plan To Win. It’s only one page.

·         It drives every player personnel issue, every game plan, and every decision he makes in football.

·         PLAN TO WIN:

-Play Great Defense

-Turnovers

-Score in the Red Zone

-Win the Kicking Game

·         CORE VALUES For Players:

Honesty

Respect Women

No Drugs

No Stealing

No Weapons

·         DO YOUR JOB for coaches

-          Take care of your family and your health

-          Take care of your players (academic, social, spiritual, family)

-          Be an expert at your position and excel as a teacher

-          Recruit every day

-          Be passionate about coaching & football

·         I never got a book like that from a coach. I just kind of put it together myself. I wanted to have a resource when the situation called for it – I didn’t want to have to grab from air.

·         Four to six seconds of relentless effort.

·         If you are a teacher, you teach, and if you don’t teach your players properly, then it’s on you.

·         The Champions Club – It is a circle of trust based on adherence to team rules and putting forth a higher degree of effort in the classroom and on the field.

·         Players have responsibilities / obligations, not entitlements.

·         Selfish people fail

·         We know we cannot save them all, but that is what we must try to do. In the end, that is a coach’s responsibility, and not what people think.

·         Some of you woke up on third base and don’t even realize how you got here because you didn’t hit the triple.

·         Just to watch Coach Lubick operate, the way he treated everybody – secretaries, everybody!

·         Are you changing people’s lives? Are you really involved?

·         Relationships with players became everything.

·         My job is to get that kid the ball.

·         It’s not a very good job. Of course it’s not. If it was, why would they call you?

·         The fruits of all his note taking over the years was his manual.

·         Just as he had reinvented himself as an athlete, he would do so as a head coach, jettisoning bad habits as he moved from job to job.

·         We’re going to figure out whether we’re going to be coming together or we’re going to be going apart. If at any point and time you want to leave, you’re more than welcome to quit. But I’m not going to quit on you.

·         If you screw up, you run.

·         So disgusted with losing were the players that they welcomed coaches who offered a personal touch, who invited them over to their houses and encouraged them to stay committed to their education.

·         Every player just wants to be helped.

·         Because Meyer paid tribute to his seniors and said he wanted to send them off on a good note, they felt a sense of purpose and responded positively.

·         It was really just going to be a personnel-driven option out of a spread formation designed to get the ball thrown, pitched, or snapped to speedy athletes in space.

·         The first day I thought I was going to die. The second day I was sure I was going to die. And by the end of the week, I was hard as a rock.

·         If done correctly, the player-coach relationship is the most meaningful relationship, second only to the parent-child relationship.

·         At the insistence of their coach, Utah players began to find out the family backgrounds of their teammates, their hometowns, their high schools, their likes and dislikes. If they didn’t have the correct answer, they had to run.

·         Everyone is so tight because you’ve been thru so much together. Those mental barriers are broken down. You found yourself really engaging that stuff and really wanting it, knowing it was going to make you better and pay off.

·         Try to be the most invested team in the country.

·         At the retreat, they openly challenged each other’s theories & philosophies – they would be encouraged to give their opinions & challenge fellow staffers, even when their opinions were different from the boss.

·         The “Do your Job” mantra goes for assistant coaches as well as players.

·         He not only recruits the player, but also the 13 or 14 people around him.

·         How important that relationship is with the kids, how to get involved in their lives and how to develop their trust.

·         Discipline is 90% anticipation, not reaction. Discipline is making sure you talk to them before that party & then have someone there if it happens.

·         The idea behind the offense is to have one more blocker than they have defenders – or “plus ones”

·         Spread Offense

-          One High = equal numbers, you can run the ball & be OK

-          Two High = You’re Plus One. Run the ball, because they can outnumber you in the passing game.

-          No Deep = You cannot run the ball. You are Minus One. There are two answers: Run the option or Throw the ball

·         He let you know that if you didn’t want a part of this, now was the time to leave. “If you want to get off, get off now. But when it’s all said & done, we’re going to get the train back on the track with you or without you.”

·         Mental toughness would be a requirement for all.

·         Even in our off-season workouts a lot more of the stuff was team-oriented instead of individual stuff. If a teammate fell down, you had to have his back. You don’t want to be that weak link.

·         Something was going to happen, somebody was going to make a play but we weren’t going to lose those games.

·         If you love football and you’ve got somebody coming in to help you, then why not accept them?

Sun Tzu and the Art of Football

              I believe that most coaches have at least heard of the book The Art of War by Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu. Written in the 2nd Century BC, the book is said to be the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. It is still widely read, not only in military circles, but also in several other professions in which competition is a key component, including certain levels of coaching. Most coaches have at least a passing familiarity with the most common sayings, such as "Know the Enemy", but I became curious as to how much of the actual writing can carry over to coaching the game of football. What I found is that a huge amount of this book can be regarded as relevant specifically to the game of football. By no means am I comparing coaching football to war, but if you look as this book as a guide to competition while directing larger numbers of people (as many business leaders do), then it is a fascinating piece of coaching material.
               The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters, each devoted to a different aspect of warfare. For the purpose of this analysis, I have used the translation that was edited by author James Clavell. For each relevant  chapter, I have included a sample of the writing, followed by notes connecting the strategy to
 the game of football.

Chapter 1   Laying Plans

The art of war is governed by five constant factors, all of which need to be taken into account. They are: The Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, The Commander, and Method & Discipline.

The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

• The Head Coach is in charge and the players and assistant coaches believe in him.

Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

• Weather variables on gameday

Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes.

• Down and Distance, Time factors

The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.

• The players play hard and are mentally ready.

Method & Discipline are the marshaling of the army in its subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers...

• Every player and coach knows his role and his job.

The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.

• Which coaching staff does a better job of gameplanning before the actual game?

Chapter 2  On Waging War

Cleverness has never been associated with long delays. The value of time - that is, being a little ahead of your opponent - has counted for more than numerical superiority.

• The team that is more sure of itself, more sure of its assignments, can play faster that a team with more stopwatch speed.

Chapter 3  The Sheathed Sword

The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans...

• The most difficult coaching to accomplish is to completely surprise the opponent.

...The next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces...

• Coaches should try to take away the opponent's best plays.

...the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field...

• This is when the coach leaves it up to his players to out-athlete the opponent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

...and the worst policy is to beseige walled cities...

• This is when the coach attacks the opponent's strength. For example, playing a single, static front against an opponent with a superior offensive line.

If a general is ignorant of the principle of adaptability, he must not be entrusted with a position of authority. The skillfull employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.

• A good coach must be able to put his players in a position to be successful. He must be able to determine "How can a player help us?" by focusing on what the player can do, not what he cannot.

There are five essentials for victory:
  He will win who knows how to fight and when not to fight.

• The coaching staff must have a good sense of play-calling strategy on both sides of the ball.

  He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

• The coaching staff must have a plan for games when they have better athletes than the opponent, as well as for games where they do not match up athletically.

  He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.

• The coaching staff must have the entire team mentally prepared and ready to play hard.

  He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. 

• The coaching staff must prepare and have plans for whatever strategy the opponent may employ. They must go into the game anticipating possible strategies and they must have already thought of possible counters that the opponent would not anticipate.

  He will win who has the military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign. 

• The coaching staff must have the support it needs from administration without being handcuffed or limited.

The following is probably Sun Tzu's most famous teaching:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

• If you know your team's strengths and weaknesses and your opponent's strengths and weaknesses and you can take advantage of that knowledge, then you will win most of the time.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

• If you know your team's strengths and weaknesses, but cannot determine your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, then you will lose as much as you win.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

• If you, as a coach, cannot figure out your own team's strengths and weaknessess, you will lose many games.

Chapter 4      Tactics

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. He wins his battles by making no mistakes

• A cliche, but true: The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins.

Chapter 5        Energy

Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all.......Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline.

• Be effective at disguising, stemming, and moving on defense. Use misdirection and play-action on offense.

The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. He takes individual talent into account, and uses each man according to his capabilities. he does not demand perfection from the untalented.

• A good coach evaluates his player's abilities and put his them in a position to be successful.

Chapter 6    Weak Points & Strong

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight.

• Try to be the first team out of the huddle and lining up.

Appear at points that the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.

• No-huddle, hurry-up offense can put a great deal of pressure on the opponent.

Therefore, the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

• A good football team can use tempo, both fast & slow, to dictate the pace of the football game and what their opponent is allowed to do.

You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places that are undefended. The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known, for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points.....with his forces being thus distributed in many directions

, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately fewer.

• A good team is multiple on offense and can attack in several different ways.
• By being multiple, a good coach forces the opponent to prepare for several things, limiting the number of quality reps practiced against any one aspect of the offense.

Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against several possible attacks. Numerical strength comes from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.

• A good coach forces the opponent to waste valuable preparation time on several different things.

To Be Continued...

Coaching Knowledge Project #5 Barry Alvarez

Over the last few summers, I have started taking notes on some of the coaching biographies and books that I have read. One problem that I have had over the years is that I read so much and look at so much different info that I don't ever retain the knowledge for future use. I will read about a drill or a philosophy and I will think "Hey, that fits pretty good with my guys. I wanna use that this year." Then I will lay the book or the info to the side and forget all about it.
             Earlier this year, I began to compile & organize these notes & axioms into a single document. Ideally I would like to eventually have a notebook that I could add to each offseason and look at again each pre-season as I reevaluate my program. I thought that as part of this blog and my compilation efforts, I would share some of the things that I've found.
           These are quotes about coaches, quotes from coaches about their influences, and outside observations on coaches and their programs. Some of these are Hall of Fame coaches, some have losing records, and some are career assistants; all have good things to offer.
             Being from the South, I was that familiar with Barry Alvarez. A friend recommended his book and I found it to be one of my top five coaching books of all time.Alvarez served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons from 1990 to 2005, compiling a career college football record of 118–73–4. He has the longest head coaching tenure and the most wins in Wisconsin Badgers football history. He also played for Bob Devaney at Nebraska and coached the defense on Lou Holtz's Notre Dame National Championship team. Alvarez stepped down as head coach after the 2005 season, remaining as athletic director. Alvarez was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2010.

BARRY ALVAREZ

·         He made us feel like we had an edge on every opponent.

·         His personal motivation each day in practice was an inspiration to every player.

·         He instilled confidence in the team.

·         I’ve established a philosophy that fits my personality and developed my plan to win.

·         I wanted them to dress nicer than the other team’s players. I don’t care what the competition is. We’re sending a message – we came here to win everything we do.

·         We know the game plan and there’s no reason to be hesitant. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. But play fast. Let’s go turn it loose, men.

·         As a more mature player, you have to lead by example – making sure things are done the right way.

·         I tried to get everyone involved at every level because I needed to sell myself and my program.

·         7 areas of a football game

-Turnovers

- Kicking Game

- Big Plays

- Goal Line Fundamentals

- Mental Errors

- Minus Yardage Plays

- Foolish Penalties

·         When you get in big games, you have to realize that you can drain your kids by getting them too cranked up, too emotional. Just concentrate on the game and don’t try to be superhuman. There is nothing magical about the formula. Your great players have to play great.

·         I was confident, and I wanted to send him one message – loud & clear – that I was ready to be a head coach.

·         A rebuilding project is about creating an attitude and an image, and it’s about making a statement “This is how we are going to run our program.”

·         I wanted to learn the history behind everything. I wanted to identify certain hurdles.

·         In the after practice meeting on Thursday, sometimes I might hand out pens & postcards and tell them to write a note to their mother or someone special in their life, someone they really care about. Take the time to tell them you love them.

·         The best teams take tremendous pride in their chemistry.

·         Leaders: Don’t change, just try to set an example for everybody else.

·         If you have 5 great players – and you surround them with players who wouldn’t hurt you – you had the makings of a championship contender.

·         These are the principles I want coached. Take care of these and you’re not going to have any problems with me.

·         He was nurturing me. That’s the greatest sign of a leader – if he can get you to do things without you knowing it.

Human Computer Post of the Week

Putting this in my head every day this week:

FAITH:
    "The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise man grows it under his feet."
                                                                                     James Oppenheim
         I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
                                                                              Philippians 4:11

FAMILY:
      "Children learn to smile from their parents."
                                           Shinichi Suzuki (Japanese Violinist & Instructor)
With two children under 3 in the house, I really need to keep this in mind. They are like sponges, watching everything my wife and I do.

PHILOSOPHY:
                                   Make Full Use of What Happens To You
    Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inward and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths. Remember to turn inward and ask what resources you have for dealing with the problem.
                                                                     Epictetus

FOOTBALL:
           Two key points to motivating kids:

• They have to know you care.
• They have to be getting better at what they are doing.

      

Human Computer Post of the Week

Stuff That I'm Gonna Try To Think About This Week:

FAITH:    "Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money."
               A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
                                                                                                  Luke 12:15

LEADERSHIP: The Law of Solid Ground - Trust Is The Foundation of Leadership
No leader can break trust with his people and expect to keep influencing others. Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible.

• Character Communicates Consistency - Leaders can be counted on to perform day after day.

         "You can't get too much done in life if you only work on the days that you feel good."
                                                                             NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West

• Character Communicates Potential - Weak character is limiting.

         "No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character."
                                                                        John Morley

• Character Communicates Respect - Respect is essential for lasting leadership.

   "The only thing that walks back from the tomb with the mourners and refuses to be buried is the character of a man. This is true. What a man is survives him. It can never be buried."
                                                                           JR Miller



PHILOSOPHY: A few nuggets that I found from Bruce Lee (yes, the martial arts guy) concerning adversity

• "Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is beneficial to us."

• "It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to reflect on why you are being knocked down, and see if can you change it."

• "To be able to do the things we want sometimes requires the performance of a few we don't"

• "Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is concentrated strength."

• With adversity, you are shocked to higher levels, much like a rainstorm that is so violent, but yet afterwards all plants grow."

FAMILY: "There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the dominating virtues of human society, are created strengthened and maintained."
                                                                             Winston Churchill

FOOTBALL / COACHING:
"He will never be a tough competitor; he doesn't know how to be comfortable being uncomfortable."
                                                                                           Lou Piniella
I found this quote to be very interesting & shared it with my players. Can you be comfortable being uncomfortable? Can you handle criticism? Can you handle being put into pressure situations in practice? Can you adjust to different environments and adverse situations? We try to sell our kids on how good it is to be coachable and that, if we are animated and tough on them in practice, it will allow them to see actual games as being easier.

Philosophy Thoughts #2

A little more Stoicism from Epictetus....
"Events happen as they do. People behave as they are. When something happens, good or bad, the only thing in your power is your attitude towards it; you can either accept it or resent it."
I think sometimes people misunderstand what a Stoic is. Some people believe that a stoic is someone with no emotions, cold & calculating. That is not true. In fact, many of the roots of Stoic beliefs bear striking resemblance to Christian concepts.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
                          The Serenity Prayer
The Stoic philosphy is to concern yourself with the things that you can control and don't waste emotion, time, or energy on the things that you can't. I find this to be very valuable as a high school football coach.

What is the Human Computer?

Previously I posted some principles of personal development taught by Coach Homer Rice. A few years ago, at the AFCA Convention, I was given a complimentary copy of the book Leadership Fitness written by Coach Rice as a textbook for the course he taught at Ga Tech. One of the key concepts that Coach Rice focused on in his book is the idea of the "Human Computer".
       " The brain has two minds: the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind accepts our thoughts and passes the information on to the subconscious, which records, sorts, and produces our thoughts. I call this the Human Computer because of its similar functions to the manufactured computers we use every day. This process is the key determinant of the actions we will take.......There is a simple secret that makes this computer analogy valuable. By controlling what comes into your conscious mind, you can influence your own actions....The Human Computer accepts as input whatever the conscious mind allows it to receive. Our subconscious does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined; it only processes the input passed to it.........Give it clean, wholesome, and positive information, and you will act as a person motivated by those traits. Convey this to your team, and they, in turn, will become believers and winners."

I tend to agree with Dr. Rice's belief that we can control our attitude & viewpoints to make ourselves more successful. This is hardly a revolutionary idea;

• The vision that you glorify, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart...this you will build your life by. This you will become (James Allen)
• Man is what he thinks all day long (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
• The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes. (William James)
• As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world, as in being able to remake ouselves. (Gandhi)

What I really like about Dr. Rice's "Human Computer" is that it gives us a tangible concept to focus our energies upon. One of my reasons for starting this blog is to provide myself with a focus point each day and to be sure that I am putting the right stuff in my own Human Computer.
Coach W

Stoic Philosophy from Epictetus

Happiness & freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.