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   - More Solutions to Problem #4

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Continued from:
32 Solutions for the 12 Biggest Problems You'll Face this Season

Problem 4: Dealing with an early season setback such as an injury to your best player...how do you counter this setback and what is the contingency plan if this occurs?

Having multiplicity in one’s scheme is very important at any level. Being a small town school we are not always blessed with great talent or depth on a consistant basis and we have to adapt within our scheme to fit what we have when we have it.

Keith Wheeler, Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach
Holbrook Roadrunners (AZ)


The solution: injuries might happen at anytime? We need to be prepared in all faucets if we lose a player of this magnitude? The key is: what is the strength of the offense? The defense? In order to regain the confidence of the team is to see who will emerge as a leader and best player You need to have an alternative plan in which you, as the coach, instill your leadership and confidence.

Ron Price, Assistant Coach
Santa Rosa High School (CA)


The injury problem is one reason why we are a spread option team that runs a 35 defense. The spread option puts the ball in many players hands reducing the punishment that any one player, such as an I tailback, has to endure. We run a 35 defense because at our school we have many of those linebacker type bodies and very few big linemen. We also remove key personnel during the week in our scrimmage situations making the first unit run with a second team tailback or QB. We also try to package center personnel groups with different offensive and defensive packages. If we lose a player in the course of the game we may shift to a different personnel group and run the plays they are most suited to run to get us through that game.

Randy Pinkowski, Head Football Coach
C.B. Aycock H.S. (NC)


We are actually dealing with this situation. During a 7on7 scrimmage our best all around player, (RB, Power Corner, punt returner) tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL. There is no contingency plan. You just have to deal with it. We are lucky that we have a whole summer to prepare for a season without him. You remind the other players that someone who was not counting on a lot of playing time now has a great opportunity to become a starter and contribute. You create as much competition as possible, and when the season starts, you line up and play. You cannot feel sorry for yourself because believe me, no one else does.

Bill Kennedy, Head Football Coach
Spring Valley HS (NY)


We are not able to \two platoon, so a lot of our players go both ways. We put the 11 best players we have on the field. Sometimes an injury may cause us to move players that start in one position and move to another so we still can get our best remaining players on the field. In pre-season we play the ‘what if?’ so and so is injured and can't go. We develop a small package for the player that takes his place. It may limit us at the time, but at least we are prepared. Obviously, you don't have time to do this at every position. Just the one key player or two.

Sam Harp, Head Football Coach
Danville High School (KY)


I actually had this happen to me this year! This past season was my first year as a high school head coach and I unfortuately had two of my top five players go down with a serious injury. Injuries are things we as coaches have really no control over and when they happen you must have a contingency plan if this occurs. By contigency plan I'm meaning giving multiple players looks at multiple positions early in the pre-season so that they are comfortable with any new positions in case of injury. I'm a HC at a very small school so one injury can really hurt a season but you cannot throw your hands up and surrender! You and your coaching staff have to go with the next best guy at that position. For example, I have all my O-linemen practice at all positions on the line from right tackle to left tackle and in-between because you never know when you’re going to need someone and they have to be prepared!

Jared Van Acker, Head Varsity Football Coach
Galax High School (VA)


Good planning would be that the solution has been previously addressed. I think the bigger issue is the frustration level of the coach. The coach must control his emotions and go to work.

Bob DeLong, Offensive coordinator
Xenia high School (OH)


Coaches have depth charts that they use and adjust weekly and, sometimes, even daily. It is essential that during spring classes and two-a-days that second-level players get a lot of opportunities to learn. When an early season setback occurs, coaches have to seek to improve the contingencies that will allow for rapid progress to fill weak areas. You have to be clear in what you want done and provide the structure wherein quick response cycles can occur. The goal is to get a lot of repetitions in a short period of time.

Larry Payne, Assistant Coach (retired)
North Bend H.S. (OR)


As a coaching staff, we need to preach to our team that we will be okay. Maybe make a few game plan adjustments and move on. Maybe we eliminate certain parts of our offense, but use others more if we lose our best player.

Zak Bessac, Head Coach/OC
Warner Park, Madison (WI)


Early season setbacks to good players are inevitable. They are part of the game. We coach ALL of the kids, drilling into them that they are always a play away from being the starter. If a good player is out for any reason, we do not make excuses, but rather play the next player in line. The contingency plan always is to play the next player behind him. It is SO Important to give all of your players sufficient repetitions so that when a situation arises we can still do the best we can with what we have. Our history is replete with players stepping up to fill a role when called on. Our contingency plan is based on the premise that we try to play as many players as we can in game situations. From game one, substitute early and often, get a number of players involved, so that they are ready to play. One other thing we do is to encourage our players to learn more that one position in order to allow them to be able to step up when needed. This is accomplished by simplifying, in drill and practice, the fundamentals and techniques of each position. A player that is sound fundamentally is more ready to step in and up when needed.

Ron Stolski, Head Football Coach
Brainerd High School (MN)


Knock on wood a lot! However, all players in practice rotate - our starter takes 6 snaps in each group or team situation, and then we rotate for 3 plays. We stagger the rotation so key backups are always with other starters so we are not always running just a #2 unit. Secondly, we do have a special set of script offensive plays for such a situation where we might lose a key player (point of attack OL; QB; RB; TE, for example). We believe we can execute with any sub against any opponent and our kids believe they will succeed. On defense we have personnel groups which can be used to change up our front or our style. This allows us to not rely only on a certain one or two players. We have a "Bandit" group to put faster, quicker rushers on the field, for example, and will most often stunt with this. All our players know this and when Bandit personnel comes in and two of our bigger, stronger but maybe not as quick defensive linemen leave, we still believe we will succeed. Hopefully, if a key front player were lost, we could use those Bandit players as a group or have developed a successful sub for the starter in case of an injury. We also have a rotation for special teams - long snappers, punters, etc. but these positions are actually the most difficult sometimes to replace. The backup simply has to be ready so we simulate an injury often in practice situations and call out for key subs on all phases – offense, defense, and special teams. Having said all that in high school football this is still our greatest challenge: to prepare backups and to do so while still improving.

Steve Hopkins, Head Football Coach
Basehor-Linwood H.S. (KS)


First, the issue of one no one player makes or breaks the team. Secondly. find more creative ways to get the ball into other playmakers hands more than usual, but still stick to what you do well.

Gerald Aubrey, Asst.Coach

Whether it involves preparation season absences by a stand-out player or injury/ineligibility by a stand-out player, the solution is in the preparation. All players must be taught that it takes a team from the end of each season to the end of the next."

J. Gawen Stoker, former HFC
Indian Valley HS (PA)


We always stress the importance of preparedness with our back-up players. Also, when our non-starters get on the field and have success we take the time to point it out- no matter what point that player gets into the game. For example, we always recognize successes even if they come when we are up several touchdowns or during the waining minutes of a game. Also, we'll adjust our schemes to somewhat meet the skills of the back-up and we'll attempt to exploit his particular strong points.

R. Scott Thompson, Head Football Coach
Montgomery Lonsdale JHS (AL)


We truly believe and talk up that FB is a team game and while losing a key player is never good it is not fatal to the season. It is an eleven player game. We ask who will step up and take up the slack. Last fall, in our only loss, our tailback broke his arm early in the second half. Though we lost, we came together and actually played better after his injury. We won out the rest of the year with several backs contributing.

Allan Amrein, Head Coach
Kennedy Middle School, Hays (KS)


This is an area where we need to plan. The first group usually is pretty easy to identify but the twos (backups) often do not get the needed reps. Therefore, the head coach must plan to make sure the twos get plenty of reps. This is tough to do, but many coaches ask the kids to discipline themselves---this also applies to the coach to make sure he adequately plans.

*Jerry Parrish, Retired Head Coach
North Kitsap High School (WA)


This is a tough one. Be positive! Be flexible. I can't tell you how many times I've found a diamond in the rough when my plan A went south. Get your staff together and come up with the best direction to go. Utilize the talent you have. Don't try to make some poor kid fill a super star’s shoes. Move on in a direction that can help you win.

Thomas Taylor, Teacher/Football Coach
Weir High School (WV)


We try not to have our offense or defense to reliant on one position or player…we minimize stars and maximize team.

Fred Wieck, Head FB
Clear Lake High School (IA)


Stress the importance in the new role of the backups. Motivate them to fill the void.

Bob Reeves, Offensive Line Coach
New Hope High School (MS)


Keep going. We experienced this last year. In our final pre-season scrimmage we lost our starting SAM linebacker for a month. Bottom line, some one has to step-up and the rest of the troups must rally.

Anthony, Defensive Coordinator
Lawrence High School


When this happens we try to make sure the athlete is still involved with his replacement and is on the practice field, sidelines during the game, etc. It becomes his job to “coach up" his replacement and give him "an edge.” It's amazing what confidence a replacement kid has when the starter is right there helping him every step of the way. Team work never fails.

Louis Farrar, Head Coach
Charter Oak High School (CA)


Stay positive and try to turn lemons into lemonade. Explain to the team that this is a great opportunity for others to step up and help contribute to the team's success. Hopefully, the backup players have experienced some reps during the off-season. I think as a coach you have to start instilling confidence in those players that are going to contribute in the absence of the best player.

Andrew Cotter, Head Football Coach
Moreau Catholic High School (CA)


Find your second best player and put him in the spotlight. If that is not possible explain to the team how the situation is affecting all of us. Use this as a moment to rally the team together. Take a the point of view that if we come together nothing can stop us. We have to become more united and more unselfish. Everyone's job has just become more important to the success of the team."

Jim Glover, Assistant Coach
Jackson Central-Merry High School (TN)


We went through four fullbacks and three QBs in the first six weeks of the season. From day one, we let every player know that they are one snap, one play, from being a starter or the first back-up. We emphasize in individual and group periods that every player MUST be ready to step in and play when called upon. They MUST know their assignments and they MUST be prepared to make plays when called upon. We use Coach Jim Tressel's philosophy when something bad happens: “What's next?" Every player knows from day one that they may be called upon to be the "man" so to speak. It helped us through our injury prone period. We ended up 13-1 losing in the State Championship game."

Joe Bosley III, Assistant Football Coach
Hereford High School (TX)


This is a tough question because it happened to us right before a State Final in 2004. The player was the County’s Leading Scorer at the time and probably ranked 10th as far as the state was concerned. The day he got hurt and the next day was a period of mourning knowing we would not have our best player on the field for the State Championship. After that our assistant coaches did a great job getting our players to step up. Our older players did a great job bringing our team closer together (‘circle the wagons,’ so to speak). We won the State Final 6-0 on a Defensive TD.

Ed Sadloch, Head Football Coach
Cedar Grove High School (NJ)


Another philosophy of our program is to rep our #2's and #3's as much as possible. Our practice routine allows us to do this. It also allows us to coach next year's team this year. If a starting player is unavailable, we expect to win anyway and we expect his replacement to play well in his place. I don't think I have ever been a part of a losing effort because a starting player was unavailable to us - we've lost because we didn't play well enough to win. "

Thomas A. McDaniels, Head Football Coach
Massillon Jackson H.S. (OH)


In pre-season we try as much as possible to establish some depth at every position by playing a lot of players (and/or moving players around to alternate positions) so that if/when this happens we can better deal with it. Coaching a small (numbers) team, this often means we will either have to move a player to a new position or shift our focus to another position (or offensive series) to take the best advantage of what we have in terms of personnel. Injuries always happen, but more times than not, we've found that a worthy sub can surprise us.

John R. Mackay, Director of Athletics/Head FC
St. George's School (RI)


You must have developed from the beginning that we are a team and everyone has a role to play. When one player goes down it is up to the rest of the team to dig a little deeper. This is something that is taught from the beginning and waiting until this happens after focusing too much attention on one player is a sure way to have your kids cash their chips in.

Casey Ruthenberg, Head Coach
Annapolis High School (MD)


Show confidence in the other players, and the system as a whole. Maintain a confident approach, not being in a hopeless nor panic state. The players see that and they will also be confident.

Robert J. Sayfie, Coach
IHM (7 - 8 grade)







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