Coach ,

The season is upon us and we will be teeing up that first kick-off soon. I can feel the excitement that we all have when we send our offense onto the field for the first time in the season.

How successful they will be from that point forward depends on their willingness to work hard and pay attention to detail, and the discipline of you and your staff to be sure you always put them in a position to win.

So many things go into coordinating an offense and putting together a winning game plan. Today, I wanted to share three concepts that have helped the coaches sharing them to succeed on offense year in and year out.  

#1) Be Simple and Efficient

Phil Longo joked on the Coach and Coordinator Podcast once that his playbook at home is as tall as he is, but his playbook with his team is as streamlined as possible.

Over the course of a season, it’s easy to say, “Wow look at that play that this team ran against them. We could do that!” It’s a slippery slope that leads to confusion.  Confusion for you as the play caller, and confusion for your players who won’t get the reps to be good at that play.

The best approach is to stay simple and make your plays as efficient as possible through coaching and refining. Coach Longo explains how he takes that approach in this video (click on image for video):

Video: Coordinating an Offense

#2) Players - Formations - Plays

Geoff Dart, Head Coach at Mount Union learned it from his mentor, Hall of Fame Coach Larry Kehres, and you will hear it from any former player or coach who spent time at Mount Union, Players-Formations-Plays. Coach Dart explains the philosophy here (click on image for video):

Video: Players-Formations-Plays

#3) Get the Most out of Practice - Practice Values

The new Head Coach at Wittenberg Jim Collins HS had success wherever he’s been and a big part of that is the focus and organization that he brings to his offense. For him, it starts with understanding exactly what they want to get out of practice, and he’s done that by putting an emphasis on Core Practice Values as he details here (click on image for video):

Video: Core Practice Values

The season is long and grueling, full of twists and turns, and the teams who are still playing late into the year are the ones who keep it simple, focus on what they have, and are clear on expectations. Hopefully, the excellent advice provided by these three coaches helps you to more wins!

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

P.S. My Game Planning Master Class which shares insight from offensive coordinators from the podcast and includes the Game Planning System excel sheets to making your practice scripting automatic is available now at 55% off - Game Planning Master Class