By Jeff Minter

Columnist

X&O Labs

Editors Note:  Since 1998 Coach Minter has served as a head coach, coordinated all three phases of the game, and worked with the defensive line, offensive line, linebackers, quarterbacks, and wide receivers. In the past few years, Coach Minter has become one of the most popular and respected coaching bloggers on the web and is excited to be a regular contributor for X&O Labs.

The best teams are almost always great closers.  They don’t just start fast, but they get better as the game progresses.  This same logic can be applied to seasons as well.  The teams that understand how to continue to get the most out of their players as the regular season comes to an end and the post season begins.  So, with that in mind, I have put together a list of do’s and don’ts that should be applicable for any team, anywhere.

Practice Planning “Do’s”

Do… Film Everything

With the increasing access to technology, and the growing popularity of the iPad, it has become exponentially easier to film practice sessions for later viewing and correcting. You can now easily use apps such as CoachMe and Coach’s Eye, along with any video app, to film practice for immediate feedback or diagram things on the go. Even if you’re still using cameras, DVD duplicators, allow you to quickly burn anything for multiple players or coaches to watch at home. By using technology to help you teach either before, after, or during practice you are more likely to be able to coach on the run…which happens to be the next key idea.

Do… Coach on the Run

Don’t take time to stop practice for each coaching moment. Especially if you are able to teach off the practice film, make sure you are coaching as practice is moving. Ever see a coach stop the whole offense to review something with one player? It kills the tempo of practice and can lead to players losing focus.

Do… Script Everything

Seems obvious, but it sounds like this doesn’t happen everywhere. Scripting accomplishes a few things. First of all, you can control what your team is practicing as you aren’t doing it on the fly. This gives you a better opportunity to spend quality time on reps your team really needs. Scripting also allows you to control the number of reps your team is getting. When you chunk a team time into 20 minutes you are likely to go the whole 20 or possibly over. However, when you follow the script you can avoid over repping your players by going longer than is necessary to accomplish your goal. Finally, scripting allows you to work in special situations or field position needs.

Do… Properly Label Scout Cards

How many times have you told your team where they will be and then run the play only to be told that the defense was in a different place?  Fix that problem by being more specific with the scout team and give them more information.  Tell the scout team they are “X”, “H”, or “32”. Whether you use numbers or letters is up to you, but it’s a lot easier for the kids to get where they need to be if they only have to look at one position.

Do… Use Your Terminology for Scout Teams

Whenever possible use your own words for plays, formations, and alignments so you can effectively communicate with your scout team. This is especially helpful with the scout defense and offensive lines. Your offensive line probably has a counter trey blocking scheme, so no matter what the backfield is doing, if that blocking scheme is being used make sure it is noted on the scout card.

Do… Use Two Huddles

If you have the players available use two huddles. Yes, your scout team won’t be as good when it divides into two groups, but more players are active, more players are getting reps, and your first team is able to get more looks and reps as well.

By Eric Anderson
Inside Linebackers Coach
Bishop Chatard High School (IN)

As coaches, we all would like to maximize the quality of practice. If you can create an environment that has energy and efficiency, it will definitely transfer into good things on Friday night. We all attempt this. Some days it works, some days it doesn’t but we all strive for that perfect practice. I believe, as I’m sure many of you do too, that in order to even have a chance at creating this environment for your two deep depth chart (the guys that play), the competition they face must be formidable. Enter the Scout Team.

If you don’t have the opportunity to two platoon, then you definitely use a scout team.  Most teams use scout players in all phases of practice. If you want your offense, defense, and special teams to get the hands-on experience they need, then their competition must be able to effectively recreate their opponent. We want our players to be ready for anything on Friday night, so we must try to create that environment during the week. 

Buy in

When you want your players to buy in, the first step is to show them that you have bought in. So, if you are in charge of teaching the scout team, it is important that you are well versed in the scheme they need to know. Be able to answer questions about the scheme and provide them coaching direction as if you are the coordinator.  As a scout coach you should also bring a positive and competitive energy to the task.  Once they see you are excited about the opportunity to coach them, they will be eager to compete against the starters. Enthusiasm won’t solve everything, but it is a good place to start.

There are a few other things we do to try to create buy in. The most important being recognition. We have “Scout Players of the Week” every Thursday before we start our walk thru practice.  The Head Coach will announce these in front of the players. Some kids like the mention, but most of all it allows them to see that they are being evaluated. Every year a few guys that started on the scout team earn a chance to play on Friday Nights.  When players know they are getting a chance to “show what they got” you get a unique kind of energy.

Personnel

Scout Team starts with scout players. We want to face the best competition without putting our starting units at risk. Early in the season we as coaches collaborate to create what we call a “Scout Depth Chart.” I’ll use Scout Offense to explain this.

I first work with the D coordinator and D assistants to know who will be taking 1st and 2nd team reps that week of practice. Once we have that, we go to the Offensive Coaches with the leftover players to see who we can’t use for the sake of the team. The common players on this list include your kickers and O starters. Once you have your scout players you create a depth chart according to the opponent’s personnel.  We pay attention to skill, size, and position. The closer we can mimic our opponents, the better. We have a depth chart ready to go by Monday, but it is a rough draft. You will have to be ready to adjust because of injury, kids missing school, or even JV games, etc. We are fortunate to play a lot of our JV games on Saturdays, which allows a scout preparation period on Mondays.