As a coach that took 8 years to become a varsity defensive coordinator, I feel I have some expertise on the journey to get there. However, once there, I felt like a rookie coach all over again. It gave me a flashback to my days of picking up team meals and finding the other rookie coach that’s wandering around waiting for film trade at a Denny’s parking lot on a Saturday morning at 7am (I started pre-Hudl, dudes). So I’m going to offer 5 tips on how to be a new Defensive Coordinator.
Tag Archives: ironman
Sprint Out Passing Game
This article will discuss two sprint out combos that we’ve put in as well as our sprint out protection. I have included diagrams in 3×1 and 2×2 as well as cut ups.
Group Periods on Offense
Even at small schools, when we have enough coaches we can break off for indie time and small group periods before coming together for full team. My series that covers drills for beginning coaches and players takes us through indie period and into group periods during practice.
Coaching Beginning Defensive Line
This is my second to last post in my series on coaching specific positions when you have new players to the game of football. I feel as if these drills can be used from youth through high school, but especially in the earliest stages of learning the fundamentals. This article focuses on Defensive Line play.
Power, Trap or Counter?
We’re a small-school team that doesn’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to any one aspect of the game. Last season we attempted to run trap and power but hit road blocks every time the front changed or didn’t look right (lots of bastard fronts at the indy level), someone showed blitz, or we had a starter go down.
Pros and Cons: Personnel Groups on Offense
Last spring, my first as head coach at CCA, I introduced our players to the idea of personnel groups and #’s. We ran two groupings (21 and 12) from three formations (reg. I, twins I, and dbl tight- ace). When we adapted our offense during the fall* we added two new groupings to our offense (11 and 10) and three new and important formations (doubles, trio, and quads) with converting our 21p from a stacked I to a split pro. While everyone changes formations and thus personnel groupings on a written level, at a few schools I have coached at we haven’t changed the actual personnel on the field with the new formation. What this article will discuss is the pros and cons of personnel groups at the ironman level when we actually change the players on the field.
