Notre Dame 2013 Clinic Nuggets

Bill Belichick
"If you have to "light a fire" in the same players, everyday, that is a Red Flag."

Marc Trestman
"The BEST know WHY they do it."

Chris Ault
"The Pistol Formation presents a one back formation with the effect of a two back offense."

Sam Wyche
"How do you learn? PAY ATTENTION!"

Marvin Lewis
"Challenge yourself AND challenge your staff."

Brian Kelly
"Stress to your players that BEFORE practice is critical:REST and HYDRATION."
 
Mike Denbrock (WR Coach)
"You must PRACTICE full speed so can PLAY full speed."

Harry Hiestand (OL Coach)
referring to the PUNCH in pass protection
"Don't attack the rusher, be patience, to avoid overextending and losing your balance."

Chuck Martin (OC and QB coach)
"Don't complain about what they (players) can't do, Ask them to do what they can do."

Kristin Sheehan (Co-Director Play Like A Champion Today Educational Program)
"How do you find happiness? By serving others."

Don Fellows (HC Grand Rapids Christian  High School)
"We want a double team block at the point of attack on all our runs." 

Nuggets from a former clinic

During Coach Ron Zook's talk...

IT TAKES NO TALENT to

-COMMUNICATE

-know your ALIGNMENT and RESPONSIBILITY

-RUN TO THE BALL

-have the proper BODY POSITION to make a play

-have the proper PURSUIT ANGLE

Coach Grabowski iBook review...FINALLY!

We are on the cusp of the next "big thing"

I consider myself lucky to be coaching at this time. I'm a tech geek and I love my gadgets. I have seen the development explosion (I'm currently writing this note on my phone).

From
Overheads
to computer-laptops
to PowerPoint (Coach Andre Coverdale's are the best!)
to a brief affair with Visio, One Note, and Publisher
to VHS TAPES! > DVD > LANDRO > HUDL!!!
to Webinars and Skyping/FaceTime/Circles?

It is March Madness for Football coaches

Coach Keith Grabowski's iBook  

101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays is available on the iBookstore from your iPad:

101+-pro-style-pistol-offense


I’m calling it the “MindBlower”

Coach Grabowski is the Offensive Coordinator at Baldwin Wallace University. Thanks to wonderful world of Twitter, Coach contacted me about his new creation.

Reviewer disclaimer: This “book” can only be purchased through iBooks and played on an iPad.

Review PROclaimer: I have been saving my money for an iPad. Coach Grabowski’s book allowed me to make an early purchase. RIGHT before the family headed off a Spring Break vacation.

I “read” it almost nonstop. I purchased it on a Thursday night and finished it the next Tuesday.

Places I viewed the book.

While I exercised. (no I didn’t do curls with it)

At School.

At Starbucks.

With my son…Actually he delayed my viewing of the book, I let him check out the new iPad first…(Dad of the Year 2013)

I took it to the weight room to show my HC, he was mesmerized for 20 minutes then started to write down plays on the board.

I was ready to read some of it while waiting at the Barber Shop…but I didn’t have to wait. I was pissed...could this be the only time someone was pissed about NOT waiting?

My first question, "How did you discover this ebook technology?"

Coach Grabowski answers

"I had been looking for a way to publish a multimedia ebook and epub was just too complicated to get dynamic content into the product.  I saw iBooks Author and initially there was a learning curve, but with some recent updates the area which had been somewhat cumbersome-getting video into the ibook, became much easier."

And it is Dynamic…

 

 VIDEO...PowerPoints...and  some words to read too...

And with a quick flip...FULL SCREEN!

After overcoming the initial WOW FACTOR, I was thrilled to see that Coach Grabowski and I have the same run game philosophy.

 “Gap responsibility, blocking angles, and a combo at the point of attack are key to a successful play” 

I do like the ZONE SCHEME with double teams. But I could not “live” without a GAP SCHEME too… Coach Grabowski’s offense combines a mixture of Zone, Gap and Option schemes which produces a POWERful and Multiple running attack.

My next question to Coach,  "How do you find the balance to coach the ZONE and GAP Schemes?"
Inside Zone, Outside Zone, Power and Counter...do you focus on one more than another per week?

He answers
“We find the balance in our planning and truthfully what we may be better at upfront from year to year. Some years we've been better and heavier with zone, others with gap.” 


As I read further I discovered the same we have followed the same path of issues. We have always read the backside on ALL gun runs. We then placed the RB behind the QB to provide a more downhill path. This past year, we wanted an even more quicker hitting run, so we decided, on some runs to have a direct handoff. It worked! But we still did not like the Play Action…

Until,

I came across…


“ In the spring of 2012, we decided to experiment with all of our runs being executed off of the quarterback reversing out after catching the snap. We spent time in each practice practicing the mesh and the naked or naked fake after the hand off. We wanted both to look the same.”

We will most definitely be adding a reverse out handoff to our run game. This will make for a more effective play action game.


The Baldwin Wallace Offense attacks different spots of the defense with an emphasis on a Downhill running game.

The POWER is an A GAP attack.

 The OUTSIDE ZONE is a C GAP attack.

 



The play diagrams were color coded for each OLine assignment. I started doing this to help separate all the overlapping lines…GREAT IDEA!

The formation system combines numbers and base words similar to Coach James Vint.

Simple and easy to remember words for different "surfaces"

The Zone Read play has become multiple too...no longer do teams "just read the backside DE". Coach Grabowski uses some easy terms to change the READ KEY.


“Tags to create variations"


The following tags are used in our zone running game. Currently we don’t use all of these, but we want the structure to work like an operating system on a computer, so when we do install these variations, the structure is in place. Some of these apply to both inside and outside zone while others are used primarily with one or the other.They designate who we are reading or inserting for:​


Split – back side defensive end​

Bob – back side linebacker​

Mike – declared linebacker​

Lead – weak side linebacker
Boss – strong side support​
Wham – defensive tackle



And finally...some of my favorite plays from the "MINDBLOWER" (no more Scanners).

Wanna see them all? BUY the BOOK!

TIGHT BUNCH...(must run more of this in 2013!)

Verbiage to rival Coach Gruden!

WHAM! Madden would love this play.

ohh, so you want to pass too??

DOWN-DOWN-KICKOUT!

How could you NOT like a play with the word TRUCK in it???

Keep on Truckin'

DOWN-DOWN-PULL AROUND!

This play will be assimilated.

After talking with Coach Grabowski, he explained how he can incorporates Multiple Shifts and Motions into his No Huddle operation.
He mentioned that he has procedures for certain shifts and certain motions.
One procedure would be (for example) "End up in Bunch Strong". For this procedures the players can line up anywhere then shift on the QB's signal.
Another procedure would be more specific...(For Example) Line up in ACE RIGHT then shift to TREY LEFT"
I plan further discussions on this subject and will be using this next fall!

It truly is hard to sum up this "experience". This is a MUST buy!

Coach Grabowski on Twitter

Coach Grabowski on AFM


and there will be more "books"  to come...prepare your brain!

Coach Grabowski's blog

As I finish up my review of his eBook....
(Actually debating on whether I include a clip of the movie SCANNERS)

Here are some great articles. Coach really cranks them out!

ONE WORD PLAYS

FOUR VERTS

SPACING

QB MANUAL

WING IT

RETENTION LEARNING