nathangstanley

Recently on the Texas High School Football Twitter chat, the question was asked, “How do you define “old school” coaching and is it still relevant today?”

What surprised me was how many responses chose to interpret “old school” as being a pejorative term.  While I like to use every “best practice” strategy that I can, I would characterize how I was taught and how I try to run my program as being “old school.”

Over the past several years, I have found many coaches who are impatient early in their careers and feel that they instantly need input on scheme, play calling and other responsibilities that it took me years of being a “get back” coach to acquire.  Part of this is that some coaches get play calling duties early in their career due to lack of other coaches rather than having earned that position over time.  The other part of this is that millennials in general have not been asked to do the grunt work that many of us in previous generations were asked to do.

I feel I was lucky that as a part of my development I started coaching freshmen, with very few real responsibilities other than to scout opponents, help the varsity coaches and learn how to coach.  Over time, I got to coach a varsity position and help with game planning and then finally, begin to coordinate a sub-varsity program and later a varsity program.  The long process of being a yeoman and learning that there are lots of important jobs that are less than glamorous helped prepare me as much as anything to become a head coach and varsity coordinator.

As a part of my early development, I learned that there were a number of “non-negotiables” to be able to coach in our program.  I am sure that there are many more than I can remember but, the ones that really stuck with me and that I incorporated into the programs that I have run since becoming a head coach in 1999 include the following:

• If you are 15 minutes early, you are 15 minutes late.
• Encourage all players but coach only your own.
• Wear coaching gear to practice.  Don’t wear your work clothes to the practice field.
• Wear coaching shoes at practice.  Do not wear sandals or flip flops to practice.
• Set up your drills before practice.  Don’t waste time during practice setting things up when you can have it done ahead of time.  Don’t take gear from other coaches’ drills.
• Loyalty–When we leave the meeting room, we never question or criticize another member of the coaching staff publicly.  We may have it out in the meeting room but, we will not criticize others in the program.
• Dependability–You have to have the time to coach and when you are assigned a task, follow it to completion.  Shrugging your shoulders and saying you didn’t know what else to do is not acceptable.
• Your wife is not my problem.  You know the commitment you have made and that your wife doesn’t like the time involved is something you should have covered before the season.
• Don’t say the word, “hot.” Ever.

To me old school is about a process that begins with selfless commitment to the program’s process whether that process is glamorous or not.  It’s about loyalty and dependability and attention to detail.  I know one could choose to associate it with a fixed mindset (we have always done it this way) but I’ve seen too many coaches like Rick Jones and Craig Ruecker who continue to grow and adapt to feel this is an accurate statement.  Regardless if you see yourself as being Chip Kelly or Bear Bryant, holding kids and coaches accountable, demanding focus and attention to detail and remaining loyal to the program will never get old.

John Wooden one time said that the thing he missed most about coaching was the practices.  I have found that the more I enjoy the process of trying to improve and perfect our practices, the more I enjoy coaching.

Pete Carroll has put together a great video outlining some principles that guide how the Seattle Seahawks practice.  I thought I’d share and hope that you find some things to take away and think about when planning your practices this upcoming season.

Below the video, I’ve selected some highlights to paraphrase.  Hope you enjoy.

• Everyday you should feel the energy, even in stretch and the early part of practice.  We’re trying to set the tone for the rest of practice.  You should see the coaches working really hard trying to “juice” guys up.
• If you are here at our practice you’d recognize that our guys always “tap in,” that means they hit the I’m In sign.  That’s the start to their whole process.  When they hit that sign they are making an affirmation and they say, “I’m in.”  It’s a positive statement of what they are about to do. Give everything they’ve got, hold nothing back.  The whole world may be troubling them and they put that aside and commit to practicing our way.
• It’s crucial that we make everyday be a great day.  That starts with the coaches.  We get together in a disciplined fashion, to make sure we cover all the practice schedule.
• I don’t think the format is as important as having one.
• It’s all about attention to detail.  How we organize the drills, where we line-up, field organization.
• It’s on the coaches to have their minds right and their attitudes.  They have to be jacked up every day.  We take just about 5 minutes to get everybody on the right page, and make sure everyone is tuned in, waked up and ready.
• One of the really simple guidelines we use is to critique effort first.
• We’re always disciplined as coaches to talk about what we want to see, the desired outcome.  Not about what went wrong or what the mistake was.  We have to be disciplined about how we use language.  We’re always talking about what the next thing we can do right.
• I can’t stand watching coaches stop drills and talk to players while everyone else is standing around watching.
• If you’re walking you’re wrong around here.
• Competition is a central theme in our program.  Competition is what elevates the guys involvement in and the enjoyment they have in practice.
• We compete everyday and these guys understand its about striving for what you want, not beating somebody down.
• We have ways of keeping score on 7 on 7.  We have ways of keeping score on 1st and 10 drill, red zone drills, blitz periods, we’re tracking it so there’s something at stake and it seems to elevate everyone’s focus and attention.

This past weekend I had the honor of speaking at the Portland Nike Coach of the Year Clinic on Building a Championship Culture Using Core Values and “The Process.”  It was a great experience and I am very honored so many great coaches sat in on the two sessions I did.

Several coaches in attendance asked if I would share the presentation so I am going to post it here.

Here is the link: http://bit.ly/2mS3Yv4.

I am in the process of doing a screencast for the presentation for coaches that couldn’t make it.  I did a quick 10 minute screencast prior to the clinic that you can see below.  I plan on doing a full version in the near future.