GRANITE HILLS HIGH SCHOOL GRIZZLY FOOTBALL COACHING HANDBOOK 2013 Table of Contents Coaching Philosophy ..................................................................................................... i Defensive Philosophy & Goals ............................................................................................................ 5 Offensive Philosophy & Goals ............................................................................................................. 6 Special Teams Philosophy & Goals .................................................................................................... 7 Coaching Staff ................................................................................................................ 8 Defensive Coaches ............................................................................................................................... 9 Offensive Coaches ...............................................................................................................................10 Special Teams Coaches ......................................................................................................................11 Overview of Football Program .................................................................................. 12 Expectations of the Head Coach ........................................................................................................13 Expectations of the Assistant Coaches .............................................................................................14 Expectations of Players .......................................................................................................................15 Expectations of Parents and Support Staff .......................................................................................16 Development of Student-Athletes ........................................................................... 17 Academic Development .......................................................................................................................18 Physical Development .........................................................................................................................20 Mental Development ............................................................................................................................21 Emotional Development .......................................................................................................................22 Meeting Philosophy ..................................................................................................... 23 Each Meeting Serves a Specific Purpose .........................................................................................23 All Participants Must Come to Meetings Ready to Learn ...............................................................23 Meetings are Treated as a Practice ...................................................................................................23 Effective Communication is Critical for a Successful Program ......................................................23 Practice Philosophy .................................................................................................... 24 Practices Should be More Difficult than Games ..............................................................................24 Practices are for Developing Physical Skills and Execution ..........................................................24 Quality of Reps over Quantity of Reps ..............................................................................................24 All Drills Should Implement Five Critical Aspects ............................................................................24 Major Fundraising Events .......................................................................................... 25 Bike Ride ................................................................................................................................................25 Dinner Auction .......................................................................................................................................25 Passing Tournament ............................................................................................................................25 Coaching Clinic .....................................................................................................................................25 Youth Camp ...........................................................................................................................................25 Individual Player Fundraisers .............................................................................................................25 Season Checklists ....................................................................................................... 26 Offseason (Spring) ...............................................................................................................................26 Preseason (Summer) ...........................................................................................................................26 In Season (Fall) .....................................................................................................................................26 Postseason (Winter) .............................................................................................................................26 Appendix of Documents............................................................................................. 27 General Coaching Guidelines ............................................................................................................... I Head Coach’s Responsibilities ............................................................................................................ II Varsity Coaches’ Responsibilities ......................................................................................................III Junior Varsity Coaches’ Responsibilities ......................................................................................... IV Freshman Coaches’ Responsibilities.................................................................................................. V Open Letter to Parents of Football Players...................................................................................... VI What It Takes To Be Number One .................................................................................................. VIII “If” by Rudyard Kipling ........................................................................................................................ IX Coaching Philosophy Football Teaches Young Men About Life “The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity.” – Lewis Grizzard Football is an accelerated version of life. It requires that young men demonstrate the traits of fully mature adults at a much younger age than would otherwise be necessary. Within each football game, there are ups and downs, emotional highs and lows, successes and failures, pain, and adversity. Being able to overcome all of these obstacles requires an emotional and mental toughness that is difficult to find, even in the adults of today’s world. Football allows coaches to use a game as a platform to teach the players about life. There are many critical life skills that players must use to be successful in life and in football. Some of these are discipline, work ethic, responsibility, accountability, teamwork, and leadership. It is the job of each coach to be more than just a football coach. They must be a life coach, as well. Many young men do not have positive adult role models in their lives. It is a coach’s responsibility to give them at least one of those people in their lives so that they will have an example of how to make it through the challenges they will face in life. A coach can teach his players much more about being a good person, a good friend, a good student, a good son, a good man, a good husband, and a good father than he ever could teach them about the game they play. “What you are as a person is far more important that what you are as a player." – John Wooden Football Teaches Discipline “There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you'll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.” – Nick Saban There are always two ways to do things in life: the easy way and the right way. In today’s world, too many people teach young men to take the easy way, which cripples them for life. The easy way to make money or the easy way to complete a job often results in negative consequences. Teaching the young men to have the discipline to do the right thing, even when it is difficult to do so, will encourage them to not take shortcuts in life. Taking shortcuts in football and life will result in failure in both. Discipline is doing the right thing, even when you know that nobody is watching. “Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.” – Jim Rohn Football Teaches a Good Work Ethic “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.” – Vince Lombardi There