Coach ,

My high school coach used to say, “Give me players, not plays.” I think we all agree that a great player makes us look so much better as a coach, but those players rely on us to have a plan that positions them for success.

What’s the value of a great game plan? It’s the difference between hoping you call the right play and knowing that you called the right play because you and your staff put your work in as coaches. 

The game planning process varies from level and situation, but to do it right, there are commonalities that apply across all programs. Here are 5 tips to help you be the most effective you can within your game planning process.

#1 Understand how much time you have

Preparing for game day is a race against time. That’s just not the time we have as coaches, it’s the time that we have to get our plays the work they need in practice. 

Andy Kotelnicki, offensive coordinator at Kansas, explains it here (click on images for videos):

#2 Divide and conquer

Regardless of the size of your staff, there is work that must be done on the game plan. Dividing that amongst your staff and allowing each of them to take ownership in a segment of the game plan is something you will find common across successful teams at every level. 

Six-time state champion head coach Jason Mohns explains how they handle it at Saguaro High School:

#3 Evaluate and adjust during the week

What looks great in the office on the weekend needs to translate on the field, and the work done evaluating it should happen throughout the week. 

Jim Collins, offensive coordinator at the University of Dayton, explains how they grade and calculate the efficiency of their practices so they can make decisions on what stays, what goes, and what may need some adjustment in the game plan in this video:

#4 Make sure your players get the touches they need

As I mentioned earlier, we need to be sure we put our players in position to succeed, and that starts with the basics of making sure they get the ball enough to make things happen. 

Running backs coach at Mississippi State Eric Mele explains how they do that in Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense here:

#5 Be efficient with your time by the discipline of setting parameters

One of the best things we did after reading Brian Billick’s book on game planning was to put parameters on how much offense we would carry in a game plan.  

This forced us to make better decisions and with some simple technology, script it all out instantly. I explain it here:

These are five sound tips for your game planning process regardless of the system you utilize. Spend some time this summer evaluating what you do to find the areas in which you can get better. The results will show on game day this fall.

All five of these courses are available in a special bundle to help you save here.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski