Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match
    Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match
    Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match
    Ebook144 pages2 hours

    Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match

    By Al Groh

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    As an intense student of the game with a knowledge that few can equal, he brings coaches and sophisticated fans in insight that no other author has ever offered. For coaches, even at the highest levels, this book will make you rethink your theory of how to win. Having more total offense yards doesn't always win. Having the most total yards in turnover ratio, opponent's penalties and kicking is more important. Practicing the situations that "cause you to win" is also critical—but not often done.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTotal Health Publications
    Release dateJun 1, 2015
    ISBN9781513096568
    Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match

    Related to Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match

    Related ebooks

    Football For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Golden Touch

      Sep 1, 2019

      Golden Touch
      15 min read

    • Article

      What Players [really] Think

      Mar 28, 2024

      What Players [really] Think
      11 min read

    • Article

      Tony Brown

      Dec 31, 2019

      THE GAME is more defence-focused and kick-focused at the moment. As far as all the innovations coming around, it’s on the defensive side of the game and shutting down attacks. With that it can become a predictable game, which is probably what we saw

      2 min read

    • Article

      Mind Matters

      Nov 30, 2023

      Mind Matters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Talking About The Victory Against Cincinnati, The Tight Ends’ Role In The Run Game, And More

      Oct 4, 2019

      Man, it feels really good to handle our business, and we did so tonight. Really just with outstanding effort in all three phases. It needs to be a springboard for us as we move forward. It was significant tonight on a lot of fronts, obviously. Partic

      6 min read

    • Article

      It’s Time To Put Catcher Pop Times In Their Place

      Nov 5, 2019

      BASEBALL FACTORY’S CHIEF BASEBALL OFFICER We hear it from catchers after nearly every one of our Baseball Factory tryouts, “What was my pop time?” When meeting a catcher’s father for the first time, pop time usually comes out shortly after his name a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Lee Blackett

      Mar 9, 2021

      Lee Blackett
      3 min read

    • Article

      The New Season Level-up!

      Jul 28, 2021

      Next time a corner gets swung in –!either defensive or attacking –!we want you to leap up like a fish out of water and connect sweetly with it. Prove to yourself you can win a header! There aren’t many better feelings in football than slyly droppi

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Secret Player

      Apr 6, 2021

      The Secret Player
      3 min read

    • Article

      Should The Match Clock Stop For Scrums?

      Jul 7, 2020

      AS RUGBY (and all sports) battle Fortnite, YouTube and Netflix for the attention of future generations, how our game presents as a spectacle is becoming of greater importance. Not only is style of play incredibly important but so too the flow of the

      2 min read

    • Article

      Small Changes Big Improvements

      Jan 20, 2021

      Getting better at golf can be a daunting prospect. Lessons, new gear, hours on the range … it all adds up, both in terms of money and time. However, there is another way to improve. The marginal gains theory is all about making small, incremental im

      16 min read

    • Article

      Developing the Motor

      Jul 2, 2019

      If it takes no talent to hustle, why aren’t we seeing more of it? I am beginning to praise players too often for “hustling” and playing the game “hard” when that should be the norm. Baseball is a sport that requires effort to succeed and a “grind” me

      1 min read

    • Article

      Fairway Wood Tips

      Jul 22, 2021

      Fairway Wood Tips
      1 min read

    • Article

      Max Your Game

      Nov 11, 2021

      We all want to play well every time we tee it up, but the reality is that very few of us play to our potential at all, let alone in the ‘big rounds’ when we really want to. It could be a club competition, an away day at a trophy course or a special r

      8 min read

    • Article

      Stuart Lancaster

      Sep 7, 2021

      Stuart Lancaster
      2 min read

    • Article

      Rising Baller Special!

      Nov 3, 2021

      Rising Baller Special!
      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Coaching Football--More than a Jousting Match - Al Groh

      MEET THE AUTHOR

      mage result for AL GROH PHOTOS

      Al Groh knows football. He has been a head pro coach with the Jets and a head coach in college at Wake Forest and Virginia. He was the ACC Coach of the Year twice. He also served as an assistant coach to Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells, with whom he coached in two Super Bowls. He has now retired to the broadcasting booth.

      As an intense student of the game with a knowledge that few can equal, he brings coaches and sophisticated fans in insight that no other author has ever offered. For coaches, even at the highest levels, this book will make you rethink your theory of how to win. Having more total offense yards doesn't always win. Having the most total yards in turnover ratio, opponent's penalties and kicking is more important. Practicing the situations that cause you to win is also critical—but not often done.

      If you are reading this book as an e-book there will be times when you can click a link and see an appropriate video if you have access to wifi. Print books obviously cannot connect with the Internet.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      FOOTBALL COACHING

      CHAPTER ONE

      A FOOTBALL GAME IS MORE THAN JUST JOUSTING

      It comes down to doing the little things that help us win big!

      Fundamentals are fundamental!

      Executing the fundamentals.

      Individual Statistics

      Motivation and team cohesion.

      The next level of coaching.

      Winning the Situation.

      Planning for, and winning, the impact areas of the game.

      A typical high school or college practice.

      A PHILOSOPHY OF COACHING—TO BUILD A TEAM

      HAVE A VISION OF WHAT YOU WANT YOUR TEAM TO LOOK LIKE.

      CHAPTER TWO  THE HIDDEN STATS

      JUST FOR FUN!

      CHAPTER THREE

      AVOID PENALTIES—THE INTERNAL VIRUS THAT CAN KILL YOU

      Practice to avoid offensive false starts.

      COACHING TO PREVENT A DEFENSIVE OFFSIDE

      Teaching to avoid illegal motion of a set back.

      Avoiding penalties on downfield or kick return blocking.

      Other areas where penalties can be reduced.

      YOU GET WHAT YOU DEMAND

      CHAPTER FOUR  TURNOVER RATIO

      Ball awareness leads to ball disruption.

      Stripping a ball carrier.

      Ball carrier takeaway drills.

      Quarterback strip drills with the quarterback in the pocket.

      Interceptions.

      Pass disruption drills.

      Defending the receiver.

      Recovering fumbles.

      Ball protection and eliminating fumbles.

      Drills to prevent fumbling.

      Practice it if you want it in a game.

      Use your practice time for teaching what will win for you.

      CHAPTER FIVE  BIG PLAYS

      Big Plays By the Offense.

      Big Plays Must Be Denied by the Defense.

      CHAPTER SIX  THIRD DOWNS

      When you must throw.

      CHAPTER SEVEN  THE BLITZ

      Planning Your Blitz.

      Playing zone behind the blitz.

      ESSENTIALS FOR A BLITZING DEFENSE

      ESSENTIALS FOR BLITZ PICK UP

      CHAPTER EIGHT  SCORING ZONES

      The Fringe Zone.

      Red zone offense.

      Goalline Offense

      Goal line offense in the closing seconds.

      Red Zone Defense.

      From the fringe area.

      Goal Line Defense.

      CHAPTER NINE  HANDLING THE CLOCK

      End of the Half.

      End of the Game.

      Considerations When You Must Score.

      Play calling.

      Playing for the last second field goal.

      FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN CLOCK MANAGEMENT

      CHAPTER ONE 

      A FOOTBALL GAME IS MORE THAN JUST JOUSTING

      mage result for photo american football

      —«Football is a game of inches.»

      Click here for a costly penalty

      —«Coaching is a race against time.»

      Both of these coaching maxims are true. So our concern is coaching to gain the greatest amount of inches and yards in the shortest amount of time. But just as accurate is the reality that a football game is much more than sixty or seventy plays run successively to test a team’s execution; rather it is a kaleidoscope of a variety of ever-changing  situations. A team’s ability to simultaneously execute assignments and fundamentals while recognizing and managing game situations is what determines its performance as a total team.

      —«You win with defense.»

      —«The losing team generally makes two more mistakes in the kicking game than the    winner.»

      More truisms! It is certainly important to increase the effectiveness of our defense and win the kicking game. But we cannot take these segments of the total game out of context.  Offense is, after all, where most of the points are scored. So we must see these three aspects of the game and prepare out teams to win in each area. We must develop a team concept  or collective mentality so that our players and coaches understand how to think and react in each of these areas of a football game. We need to develop a total team concept for handling a complete game—with all the changing situations which give us the opportunity to win.

      It comes down to doing the little things that help us win big!

      At my first college job we often ended our practice with a 3 on 3 line with a running back. The team would gather around. Give me your best three defensive guys. We’re going to blow you out of there. And the defensive coaches are pumping up there guys. Here we were looking for high level competition, for toughness.  That was a spirited jousting contest but the time wasn’t used to teach the players to play the real game.  There is a time at all levels of football for a «compete and win» type of practice—such as one on one blocking or one on one tacking. Physical toughness is certainly an essential part of the game. But it is not THE GAME. To win the game we must be prepared for all of the situations which we will encounter. We must be prepared to play intelligently.

      The jousting part of the game, the necessity to beat a player physically, is the essence of the game, but it is not THE GAME. Just like catching a ball is not baseball, but is essential to the game. And shooting a basket is not basketball, but is essential to the game.  Blocking or beating a block, tackling or evading a tackle, catching a pass or making an interception are all parts of the physical aspect of the game—the joust. But the game is much more complicated than just the joust!

      I can imagine that in the early days of jousting the knights merely held their lances out and spurred their horses on—until the crash. One of them probably went down. As jousting became more common more effective knights began to look for their opponent’s weaknesses. Did he hold his shield to high or too low? Did he hold his lance high or steady on his approach? Was he better with his lance or mace or sword.  As a medieval knight, any tip of  my adversary’s behavior might give me a better chance to win the joust. What if I’m knocked off my horse. What if my right arm is injured? The joust still goes on. Have I prepared myself for all of the possibilities?

      ––––––––

      mage result for photo knights jousting

      So with football, we want to find the winning edge. We need to practice the things that will win when their defense stacks up against our offense and when our defense is equal to their offense. Our game has changed since the days of the flying wedge. It goes well beyond the jousting contests of blocking and tackling.

      I’d tell my coaches that we could be the best 3 on 3 team in America, we’ve got tough guys, we never give up. We know how to block and how to beat blocks. Our runners run hard. Unfortunately we are not playing 3 on 3 football in this league. The game is more complicated than that. What if the defense blitzes in that 3 on 3 drill. If you can’t pick up the blitz you are going to lose.

      Fundamentals are fundamental!

      Walking is fundamental to running—but it isn’t running. Blocking and tackling are fundamental to playing the game of football—but they are not THE GAME. If you can’t block and tackle, you can’t play the game.

      mage result for photo american football

      Certainly the fundamentals are important every level of football. I remember talking with the perennial All Pro linebacker Matt Millan one time. I asked what do you do in a game when things are not going right. He answered, First I check may stance, then I check my reads, then I evaluate my reactions to the opponent’s plays. Yes, fundamentals are certainly  essential at any level.

      Executing the fundamentals.

      Knowing how to execute their assignments. A Vision is Needed for Everything That Is Important to Accomplish!

      Individual Statistics

      Effective play execution is another essential of winning in football—as it is in other sports. The double play is practiced in baseball, the full court press is practiced by the basketball team, and the punt is practiced by every football team. But does punting effectively win the game? It helps, but there is much more to the game.

      Football is the most complicated and interesting of all games and it takes more than merely perfecting the fundamentals. Certainly blocking, tackling, throwing, catching and kicking are absolutely essential to playing the game. But just as having a strong forehand and backhand is essential to a tennis player, it is how and when you use them that is essential to the game.

      Being able to execute the required assignments with the appropriate fundamentals is certainly important. Missed assignments are a major cause of losing games.  Some years ago some of the players for one pro team decided that they could hit harder if they were high on uppers. Some took those uppers. They hit hard—but they didn’t hit the right people. It was soon learned that using uppers interfered with the essential of executing as a team.

      mage result for photo american football

      I picked up a challenge drill that Jim Owens used at the University of Washington, one on one with a ball carrier. On Wednesday I let any defensive lineman challenge anyone who was playing ahead of him. I had one third stringer who could whip anyone in this drill. He would get to start the next game. But in the game he didn’t have that simple 1 on 1 situation. He played too high. He didn’t do his assignment. He didn’t pursue. He was soon out of there. After repeating this scenario for three weeks I finally abandoned the drill—and he quit the team.  It was made clear to me that the individual joust doesn’t win the game.

      Motivation and team cohesion.

      Motivation and team cohesion are certainly more important in football than in any other sport. How do you plan for this? How can you develop in your players the same feeling of the importance of winning, on the field and in life, that you feel?

      It goes without saying that your players must be motivated. They must want to become the strongest and quickest possible. They must want to learn  so that they can perform in the game.  Motivation is an essential to perform at a higher level in any sport. And no team game requires the type of collective motivation that football does.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1