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Building The Team

It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit. Robert Yates

Great teams don’t just happen! Great teams are built, and the building process starts when the clock strikes 0:00 of the previous season.

A “Team” is a combination of the organization, coaches, players and parents. No one is more important than the other. All must exhibit the “Team First” mentality in the execution of the plan in order to have a successful season.

Finding Players

Coach’s Second Commandment

Good players make coaches look smart. Bad players make coaches look dumb

Players come in four categories:

 Existing Players: From last year’s team.

 Rising Players: Coming up from a lower level.

 Other Players: Coming in from other places.

 Christmas presents: Unsolicited players that just show up on your door step or develop early as a more significant player.

Existing players: Good coaches always get their returners back. These are the leaders of your team and carry the team traditions with them.

Rising players: Whether it is 110lb coming to 125lb, JV coming to Varsity, high school advancing to college or college players moving to the pros, it is important that during the current season, the coach takes a look at, and meets the rising players. They are the guts of next years team.

It is the responsibility of the Existing and Rising players to help find the others. We can not emphasize how important it is for them to help secure the best players possible for the team. Have an off season cook out so the coaches and key players can meet and set a plan for next year. Have some fun but make sure they know this is their team and it is up to them to get other key players. This also helps secure some key players that may walk away because of a previous uninspired year. Tell them to harvest players from their lacrosse, soccer or baseball teams. Lacrosse players are money.

The others: These are players who may have wandered from the sport for a year or two or are new to the sport. Because football is a team sport and every position has rules, it is easy to take an athlete and get them up to speed on a specific job. You meet them early and talk them into coming out. They are the game changing players.

Christmas presents: These are players that are a surprise. They come out of nowhere and are significant players. Many teams are always “one player away”. Christmas presents help fill out the team.

In 2010, we had 2 Christmas presents

A son of a family friend wanted to play QB, but he was trying to jump from 95 lbs to 125 lbs and skip 110lb (big jump). Second, He was only 12, and would be competing against 14 and 15 year olds. The third obstacle was he was an offensive tackle, yes tackle. Well I love the kid and the family, but not that much. He came out and starting throwing darts at our receivers. He hit short passes, out routes, dump passes, basically everything. It was so fun to watch him throw; it was hard to stop him before he hurt his arm. He was a freak. He made reads, fought off tacklers and had nerves of steel. He threw for 28 touchdown passes and over 1500 yards with 3 interceptions. Merry Christmas.

In this picture, Billy is getting ready to run a goose for a touchdown. Before he does, he is pointing to the left and right to move the linebacker where he wants him. As soon as the backer takes a step, he gooses Sarge and they are in for 6.

They pulled this all year. Wait, is the nose of that ball uncovered?

Present #2

Joel may have been the smallest guy on the field, but he sure could kick.

Another kid came out in 2010 after we had picked the team. His dad said the two magic words: Soccer and kicker. We had lost 3 games in 4 years all by extra points. The kid was small but a player. Our special teams became the driving force of our 2010 run to the championship. It was a great Christmas.

My Son Plays Quarterback

There are kids and parents that spend a lot of time, and money, at certain positions and that is where they want to play. There is no more heavily contested position than QB.

Here is my letter to QB dads and their kids:

Dad:

Thanks for writing. I have been looking forward to talking to you about your son. I have dealt with this situation many times and here are some things to consider:

A friend and my brother both had sons who were great QBs. They both went to a high school with an All American QB. As a junior, one of the QBs decided to play wide receiver and now plays at UVA. One QB played tight end and they went on the win the state championship. Mulling over not playing QB would have wrecked those kids, but instead they learned to make the best of it, have productive careers and contribute to their team.

Harold Sweet played tackle and D end for the Steelers for two years. His confidence and football intelligence level was so high, he walked onto Marshall’s football team (Yes the “Remember The Titans” Marshall) and said he wanted to be a QB. He had no experience, but started as their QB for three years. Harold, more than most Steelers, learned how to fight for what he wanted.

One year a kid’s dad wanted him to play QB. I told him his best position was tight end. The dad hated me. Throughout high school he played tight end. He won all region honors and was recruited to play college as a tight end. His dad still hates me.

We had a 4 back who was a lock Division 1 prospect at H back (wing). His dad wanted him to play QB. He switched high schools to play QB. I don’t think he ever did. I never heard from him again. He was a lock college prospect at receiver. They hate me too.

One last story: Morgan Marr was an “all state” pitcher for Madison High School softball and had a full boat to the U of Kentucky. I walked by the Shamrocks practice and Leslie Palmer, a great pitcher for O’Connell, was pitching and Morgan was playing right field. The Shamrocks are a national powerhouse coached by Tom Orndorf, who was also the O’Connell high school coach. I asked Morgan why she would play on a team with Leslie. She said she wanted to win a national championship so she played right field and was their back up pitcher. They won the national championship. She doesn’t hate me.

Okay, one more: Jack Sullivan was the starting 95 American QB for Donnelly’s Cowboys. He stayed back at 95 lb the next year, which should have ensured him of the starting QB job, but the American team had a QB so they sent him to us at the Central level. We had a QB who had just won a county championship, so Jack played receiver and safety. He had the best attitude on the field and so did his parents. Imagine starting on the American team and at the same level the next year and you couldn’t even play QB at the Central level. He had a huge career at Paul VI Catholic High School as a starting pitcher, currently plays for an Ivy league school, but more importantly he is a great person. He is the poster child for “team first”. If you are reading this in 2035, he is probably the President.

Last one: My son was an all district tight end as a junior in high school. The team wasn’t much of a throwing team and he got maybe 10 balls thrown at him his senior year. He never let it get to him, played hard and won the Conference “Defensive Player of the Year”.

The list goes on. Some years you play your favorite position, some years you learn humility, patience and other positions. Almost all Steelers play skill positions in high school regardless of what they play in youth football. All of our O linemen from last year, will run the ball this year. They played O line with passion even though they could have played running back. Getting the best players to play O line is the MAIN reason teams win.

Players must always be ready. The proposed starting QB could throw out his arm in baseball, wreck on a skateboard or get hurt in a game. We always want three QBs. Great teams have 2-3 of everything. If one man goes down, someone else steps in and we don’t lose a step. We have great receivers and we are always good for an aerial bombardment. The attack does not stop because one man goes down. Actually most passing practices stop because we do not want to overuse a QB’s arm.

There is more to football than playing the position you want. Learning character traits, putting team first and gaining football intelligence is 10 times more important. Depending on the high school and talent pool you may, or may not get your first choice.

We do take into account a parent’s investment in his or her player’s development, but my best advice is: be aggressive and let the coaches decide his highest and best use.

I hope this helps and I am available to discuss further.

Regards,

Casey

Football is a level playing field

There is no prejudice on a football field. There are no colors or economic lines to cross. There is only the cans and the can’ts, the do’s and the don’ts. You either can learn to: run, block, tackle, catch, and throw or you can’t. You either do learn work ethic, personal responsibility, discipline, focus and put the team first, or you don’t. If you can, you play. If you can’t you watch. If you do learn character traits, you move on to the next level, if you don’t, you are cast into the trash bin of wasted talent. It is the job of football coaches and their organizations to turn the can’ts into the cans, and the don’ts into the dos.

As players advance in age, the chance to build strong character traits is greatly reduced. You need to get to players early, which is why we coach youth football.