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 2nd 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.
