7 Weeks to go and Stack Formations

Today marks 7 weeks before our first league game.  Unlike in the U.S. where you get at most 3 weeks before you start the season, we have been practicing since November.  The majority of our workouts from November until February were all inside.  This is where we focused on conditioning and agility.  I was pleased with both the participation and the results.  We really pushed them this off-season and they accepted the challenge.  A sign of progress of the work we have done was when we had a player from last season come in late to our sessions.  This player had told me that he had worked out on his home and felt that he was in good shape.  He didn’t last more then 5 minutes, while the rest of our team completed the workout without a problem. 

Usually the conditioning is the first hour of practice and then we work on technique the second hour.  This seemed to be a new concept to our team as coaches in the past had not done this.  I personally think the time we put in the 2^nd hour is invaluable.  We have a new defensive coordinator this season and I felt it was important that our defensive players got as much exposure as possible to the new defense we would be running.  Offensively, we were able to add in a few wrinkles to our already established offense.  Unfortunately the gym we used wasn’t huge so getting 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 drills done were tough.  Now that we are outside we have more focus on the 7 on 7 and 11 on 11.  This is always interesting as the defense will win most battles.  Our timing on offense was not very crisp and we have been breaking in a new QB with some new receivers.  We also have a smart defense that recognizes the majority of our plays from last season.  These can make practices frustrating from a offensive point of view, but at the same time will only make us better as we prepare for our league schedule.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a colleague contact me about a topic we were discussing on Coach Huey.  By the way if you haven’t been on Coach Huey I highly recommend you do so.  It is a great coaching resource where coaches from across the world discuss various football topics.  We give each other suggestions, thoughts on everything related football. 

Anyways, we were talking about Stack formations.  Stack formations have been becoming more prevalent in the game, this season I saw the University of Michigan used them a lot in 3x1 and 2x2 sets.  I used stack formations a lot last season.  Now there are various reasons to use these type of formations, for me it was a way to try to get guys out of the box.  Eventually, we ended up getting one on one to the outside which opened up our pass game.  Unfortunately we never fully took advantaged of the one on one coverage as much as we should have.

When we run a stack formation we are looking at getting numbers to run the ball.  Last year it started with teams placing 3 players over our stack and leaving us with a 5 man box.  Obviously we had great success running the ball, which then had teams putting two guys over the stack and placing the FS into the box giving us a 7 man box.  Naturally we want to throw the ball with this defensive alignment and have a few routes that we like to throw against it.  My favorite one to run is 4 Verticals, with the top receiver in the stack running almost a slant/seam to the hash marks with the back receiver running his usually sideline vertical.  We can also run what I call shallow/follow where #1 runs a 6 yard shallow and #2 “follows” behind at about 8-10 yards.  You can also run the same concept with a slant by #2. I just feel that if we get the Cover 0 look or even Cover 1 we have more open spots on the field to throw the ball. Below is a couple diagrams with what we will see and the two main routes we like to throw.

Ultimately we will be a run first team, but we have to find ways to throw the ball.  I like to make the throws/reads as easy as possible and try to put our receivers in as much open space as possible.  I think stack formations gives us that opportunity.  Of course it all boils down to execution which comes to coaching and teaching our players how to properly execute these plays.  Only time will tell if us coaches are dong our job.

Success begins with your assistants

As I have said before I am terrible in keeping up with this blog.  Since my last entry I would kick around ideas about what I would want to write about, come up with a subject, and then just not write about it.  I would like to tell you it was because I was on a worldwide speaking tour about our undefeated season, or that I was busy fielding offers to coach the United States National Team.  Nope, that would be a lie.  I just didn’t do it because well I didn’t do it.  I don’t think I’ll be getting blogger of the year either.  Moving on…..

As you know we finished the 2011 season undefeated and were promoted to the 2^nd Division of the German Football League.  As I look back at the success we had during our season, I can’t help to see how we avoided the traps that we could had fallen into.  As many teams do during a season they face challenges that could possibly derail a team’s focus.  We were no different.  We had injuries, we had tough games, and we also had two coaches quit in the middle of the season, which could have destroyed our season.  Luckily we had a TEAM, and when we had those guys jump ship we rallied together and finished our mission.

Looking back on what happened when I had two people put themselves before the team, we were very lucky.  A common theme you will find with almost all good football teams is that the Head Coach is surrounded by good assistants.  Take a look at the University of Alabama, this year’s National Champion.  Nick Saban is a great coach, but he has some great assistants.  Jim McElwain is the offensive coordinator and QB coach for Alabama and he was a big reason why the Crimson Tide ran away with the National Championship.  He called a great game, and really coached up AJ McCarron who played one of his best games of his young college career. Now it wasn’t just McElwain as that entire Alabama staff is very good at what they do, hence the product you saw on the field last night.  However, if your assistants aren’t very good coaches who can trust then you will be lucky to have a good team.  Again we got luck last season.

One of the first things I wanted to do in order to prepare for this season was make sure we had good assistant coaches, starting with a solid defensive coordinator.  Last season one of the individuals who quit on the team was the Defensive Coordinator.  I was at fault for even bringing the guy on staff, but he was a guy that had a long history of being part of the team and thought the transition would be more smooth even with all the shortcomings I knew he had.  It blew up in my face.  But the good thing about making mistakes is that you get to learn from them, and that is what I did.  The search for a DC wasn’t very long as we had a call from a guy who was interested.  He was a Head Coach, but was released from his duties after the season after management thought they had under achieved.   He felt slighted and wanted an opportunity to prove that he was indeed a good coach, and felt that our team would be a great opportunity to show that.  After a dinner interview I came away impressed, but we are a team so I wanted him to interview with some key players from our defense to get a feel from them.  So I had set up another dinner interview, one which I would not be a part of so both sides could feel they could speak freely.  After I got the report from my players, it was easy for me to make this hire.  Our new DC has been beyond great thus far.  We are light years ahead of where we were last year defensively, and I’m excited to see the success we will have on the field.

We also have upgraded in other areas.  I have picked up an offensive line guy that I can trust, which is tough considering I’m an O-line guy as well.  We were also fortunate to keep a former player on as a secondary coach.  He will help our defense immensely as well; he understands the game and how to relate to the players.  I’m not sure how much coaching he had done prior to this, but he has a definite future in it if he continues to pursue it. I also was lucky to retain one other coach until March before he has to move back stateside. 

As I have said before our league may change but our goals do not.  We are going into our 2012 season wanting to win a championship.  That is why we compete.  But in order to do that I have to assemble the best staff that I can in order to have a chance.  Right now I think we are on the right track.

Regionalliga Mitte Champions!

Last week my squad, the Kaiserslautern Pikes, completed our season with a 27-0 win over the Frankfurt Universe.  The game was special for multiple reasons:

1)      We completed the season 10-0 and were crowned Regionalliga Mitte Champions

2)      We set single game home attendance record with over 1600 fans attending the game.

3)      It was the first championship that I won as a coach on any level.

The feeling I had as the clock started winding down is tough to explain.  At the time it was exciting, but there wasn’t an outward amount of emotion on my part.  To me it was just another game, another win.  This was something that I had stressed the week before to me my team, as we didn’t changed anything in our routine and maybe I had just conditioned my mind to think that way throughout the entire day. 

The celebration was great!  The management had arranged for T-Shirts right after the game, and we even had a champagne celebration.  I was given the customary “Gatorade” bath…..multiple times, which ultimately destroyed my phone.  But still the impact of what we had just accomplished had not hit me, until two days later. 

As a coach I have never finished a season undefeated, and as a player I only did that once as a JV football player.  I don’t care what league you play in, winning all your games is special.  We had our close calls and a bounce here or there might have had alter that course, but it didn’t.  I stressed to my players that this will be something we all look back on 20-25 years from now and we can reflect on special it was.  I only wished I had told myself that as the game was ending.   I still get that “euphoria” feeling as I think back to that game that is only 8 days old as I write this.  This is something that every coach who works his butt off for his team deserves at least once.

I would like to thank my assistant coaches, Shawn Miles and Mike Castro (though I don’t they read my ramblings).  Both of these guys volunteered their time to help our team achieve our goals.  I imagined it was just as tough for them as it was for me to mesh together as a coaching staff.  They did a great job the whole year and stuck with our team through some tough times during the season. 

Now its’ off to the 2^nd Division.  The offseason can be tricky in Germany as turnover is inevitable, I really like the core group of guys we have but with every team on ever level you sometimes have to make some tough decisions regarding personnel.  Just because we have moved up to 2^nd Division doesn’t mean I’m satisfied.  I want to do more then just compete, I want to move up again.  

Happy Football Season Start Day!

Good Luck to my coaching brothers in Texas and Indiana as today is the beginning of fall camp, while I believe Wisconsin and Florida begin next week.  Best of luck to everyone, as I wish you a injury free camp!

Who's your all-time team?

In two weeks I will have concluded my 13th season as a football coach. During that span I have worked with 5 different teams and have had the pleasure of coaching several players during this team.  As with other coaches, I've had players of all kinds of ability.  So I was thinking, who are some of the players that I consider the "best" I have coached? Here it is, my list of some of the best players I've ever had the chance to coach by position.

Quarterback: Jeff Donovan--Wauwatosa East High School.

Jeff is and probably will be the best quarterback that I will have the chance to coach.  He was 2 time All-State and Player of the Year in Wisconsin. Jeff would go on to a great career in both football and baseball, winning a National Championship as the starting quarterback at UW-Whitewater.

Running Back: Eric Walton--Kaiserslautern Pikes, German Football League

Eric is my current running back and has been outstanding.  I've only had him for 8 games thus far but I'm comfortable putting him on this list.  In 8 games Eric has accumulated over 2100 yards and 23 TD, which is impressive in any league.  

Wide Receiver: D.J. Cupertino--Wauwatosa East High School

Tosa East was one of my most successful stops.  We had a influx of talent during my 4 years there, including a very good receiving corp my last year.  D.J. was a terrific player, who also played DB for us.  One of my favorite moments from his Senior season was in our opening round playoff game and the team went for a surprise onside kick, only kicked it 8 yards but didn't touch it.  D.J. being both intelligent and sneaky swooped in, picked up the ball and returned to the 2 or 3. To this day D.J. remains one of my favorite players of all time.

Offensive Line: Nico Dohring--Kaiserslautern Pikes, Kai Lehmann--Kaiserslautern Pikes, Ryan Stasinski--Wauwatosa East, Alex Alzade--Wauwatosa East, Greg Kowalski--Milwaukee Pius

Nico and Kai are the two linemen who have helped Eric achieve his great success.  I'm a firm believer that if these guys were placed in a United States youth program both would have gotten scholarships to NCAA schools.  Ryan and Alex were two classes apart both were expected to make an impact.  Alex was part of one of the best Tosa East squads in school history, one that should have went to the State Finals instead of losing in the 1st round of the playoffs.  Ryan anchor another good offensive line 3 years later that ended up being one of the best offensives in school history.  Greg, unfortunately never experienced such team success.  Our teams at Pius were challenging for a variety of reason on and off the field.  The thing about Greg was that he never complained.  He wanted to get better, and he did claiming all-conference honors his senior year.

That's my list.  For the record I've been a offensive guy the vast majority of my 13 seasons.  I have witnessed some really good defensive players during this time as well.  But I'm sure I would miss a guy that should of been on the list.

Another game, another win, promotion

I have not done a very good job of keeping this blog updated.  Since my last entry the World Championships have come and gone (USA, USA, USA!) and the Pikes kept on winning by posting a 28-21 win over rival Mainz.  The win pushed us to 8-0 with two games left.  As I said in my last post, we had already been selected for promotion to the 2^nd Bundesliga.  The decision was made a month ago that the top two teams from our league (Regional Center) would automatically ascend to 2^nd Liga, and thus eliminating the playoff series with the teams from Regional South.  Now to this day I still am not sure why this decision was made or why it was made in the middle of the season.  I’ve heard that teams from the Regional South were not happy with the decision as the 2^nd place team in that league won’t even have a shot at promotion, can’t blame them either.  Personally, I’m happy that we are moving up to the next league but I don’t like the idea that they are bypassing the playoffs this year.  Doesn’t seem fair and if I was on the other side of the fence I would be livid. 

The game versus Mainz was a tough one.  We were coming off another 3 week break and faced probably the most physical defense we will see this year.  It was truly a grind it out victory that included a touchdown pass with about a minute left to break the 21-21 tie.  However, the game shouldn’t have come to that as a late turnover on a mental mistake gave the Golden Eagles the ball at our 22.  They would go on to score and tie the game, setting up our own game winning drive.  Though these types of games aren’t anything I hope for before we start, I think it was good experience for our guys as we prepare for two very big games to finish the year.  I can’t think of a situation we haven’t been through yet as we end the season.  I like where we are at as we head into the season’s last two games against Montabauer and Frankfurt, with the latter going to be for the league championship.  I picked up this saying from another coach I used to work with, "you either get better or you get worse but you never stay the same".  He would always say that when talking to his players about practice habits, but the same holds true in a team concept.  There have been points in this season where we could have "peaked", but we haven't.  Not every game has been pretty, but we have gotten better from game to game in one phase or another. We have also digressed in some areas as well, but overall I think we have improved as a team from game to game.  As coaches that is all we can ask for, and luckily for my team that continual improvement has put us in the position to win our league in two weeks.

USA USA USA!

This post was originally going to be about how our camp was doing in Milwaukee, but due to some technical difficulties (I didn’t get a flight out of Germany) I won’t be able to do that.  So I missed the camp and though I was disappointed I knew that we had some great coaches to make sure the players got a great experience. 

Since my last post we have had one game, which we won 34-17.  It was road game that required a 3.5 hour bus ride.  The one thing that I have learned about my team is that we don’t travel well.  We have had some long road trips and I’ve tried different things, so far I haven’t found the right way yet.   Regardless, we came out on top!  The win clinched our division (which turns out didn’t matter) and remained on top of the overall table (which now does matter).  We also have clinched a spot for promotion to GFL 2.  I will have to write about this in another post, hopefully tomorrow, but it was an anti-climatic experience.  But now to the purpose of today’s post…….the World Cup, well really the World Championships.

As you know (or not) the Women’s World Cup is being played in Germany, but that isn’t what I want to talk about.  Three days from now in two Austrian cities the World Championships of American Football will be played.  This will be the fourth time the World Championships have been played, and the second time the United States has taken part.  The United States are defending champions, defeating Japan 23-20 in double OT in 2007.  That was the U.S. first appearance in World Championships. 

The first World Championship was held in 1999 with Italy as the host nation.  It was a 6 team tournament that was broken up into Group play, and then teams were matched up based on Group Play results.  Japan took the 1^st World Championship with a 6-0 overtime win over Mexico, and then would repeat four years later beating Mexico again in a 4 team tournament held in Germany.  This year’s tournament has expanded to 8 teams with Canada and Austria being first time participants.  They will join the United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, Mexico and France.

Team USA is a roster selected by USA FOOTBALL, the players selected come from various NCAA and NAIA programs in the United States.  Team USA is coached by Mel Tjeerdsma, former Head Coach at Division II Northwest Missouri State. 

Although I don’t know much about the other countries, I would have to imagine that Team USA is the favorite going into the tournament.  They begin Group play on Friday, July 8 against Australia at 9:00 am EST.  They will then play Germany and Mexico before moving on to the Medal Round (hopefully). 

I know in Germany the games can be watched online at Eurosport2.de for about 4 euro, not sure if you can do the same back in the United States.  If you can I would take the opportunity to check out Team USA.    Posted below is a more links that can provide information about the World Championships and USA FOOTBALL. 

History of the World Championships:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFAF_World_Cup

International Federation of American Football: http://www.ifaf.info

American Football World Championships Website: http://www.americanfootball2011.com/en/

USA FOOTBALL:  www.usafootball.com

TEAM USA SCHEDULE

DATE	GAME	TIME
July 8	United States vs. Australia	9:00 a.m. ET
July 10	Germany vs. United States	1:00 p.m. ET
July 12	United States vs. Mexico	1:00 p.m. ET

*Games above will be played in Innsbruck, Austria

2011 IFAF Senior World Championship Medal Round Schedule:

DATE	GAME	TIME
July 15	Bronze Medal Game	1:00 p.m. ET
July 16	Gold Medal Game	1:00 p.m. ET