My Coaching Philosophy

”If you don’t invest very much, losing won’t hurt too much and winning won’t be very exciting”

Many people want to know if I coach like I outwardly appear to be which is assertive, aggressive, energetic and effusive. Many times I have been called a straight shooter. Some act like that is a bad character trait. I feel it is better to deliver honest news and clear and concise assessments rather than wishy-washy blather meant to assuage an individual’s self esteem. For being myself, I have often been castigated. That’s fine with me. I have big shoulders and can take it. When given the opportunity I would rather “go through the door than run around the barn”. In other words, I am a direct and pointedly exact individual. I am unique in the respect that I find very few shades of grey in my life and the way I carry out that life. I suffer fools poorly. This all dovetails back to my coaching philosophy.

I coach high school football and the last thing a 15 to 18 year old kid needs in his life is a coach constantly in his ear reminding him of how much he is wanting. He already has parents, peers, teachers and others to fill that role. I am an observer and I am a teacher. I use the inevitable failures of the game to instruct proper technique and game savvy. The new, trendy term is a “coachable moment.” I prefer to call it the “Ahh” moment. This is when the kid looks at you after performing to your and HIS expectations and has the look in his eye that says: “Ahh, now I get it!” I’ll come back to this later. First, you need to learn the genesis.

I will always remember my first defensive coordinator at UCLA, Dr. Jed Hughes. He would be screaming and yelling all practice long with wisps of spittle streaming from his listless lips. Everyone thought he was insane. Practice after practice screaming at the top of his lungs. During the games, however, his genius was revealed.  When the defense would come off the field after a series he would calmly ask if there was anything we didn’t prepare for. If there was, he would illustrate how we could counteract that. Genius! No raised voice, no wild antics or arm waving. Ahh! Challenging a kid’s manhood is bogus and shows your own insecurity as a coach. I always remember that the other team is trying to win too. I Watch and teach but I always look for the “Ahh”s.

Here is my first “Ahh!” moment. We were in round one of the playoffs and my sophomore free safety bit on a dig route and the opposing QB lofted a pass to the post for an easy score. When the defense came off the field after the PAT our Defensive coordinator was blistering him and the kid was really feeling it. Obviously he felt bad and knew the error he committed. After suffering his lambasting I called him over and asked him what happened. He stated very clearly that he saw the dig and the QB looked straight at him as if to throw. One of our keys that week was the QB very rarely looked off his main target so he charged the route only to see in his horror the late developing post route. I asked him what he learned. He said he wasn’t going to react so quickly on the next dig route. I said good, because they are going to come back to it later in the game and at a critical point. Fast forward to the fourth quarter and we are trailing by 7 with 2 and half minutes remaining and it is 4^th on 9 from our 28 yard line with no timeouts left. The opponent calls time out. We gather and I go to our free safety and remind him of the dig/post combo route and they are coming to it right now. He said he was ready. Sure enough, they ran the route and instead of biting the dig my FS held high ground and then broke up the post. He came off the field smiling ear to ear! I was never so proud.

So, what is my philosophy or style? What do I believe in? How do I coach? I am an attacking defensive backs coach who prefers his DBs to be aggressive, intense, quick, confident, intelligent and brash. When in doubt I attack and I want my DBs to have the same mentality. This does not mean that I want my secondary to abandon their responsibilities for the sake of a good hit. I want my kids to play fast and hard within the framework of our defense and as our Head Coach advocates: “Be physical when you get there!” Above all, I am a teacher, a father and a coach and want my kids to understand that their “life-life” is longer than their football-life. We all make mistakes, learn from them.