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AFM Magazine


  - More Solutions to Problem #10

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

Problem 10: Poor personnel management from the sideline; penalties for not lining up properly, offside penalties, and your athletes' running onto the field late. Is it the coaches' or the players' fault or both?

Our philosophy is simple: what you see on the film is what we taught. This means it is ultimately the coaching staff’s responsibility to coach not only the techniques and schemes of the game, but also the football knowledge to them as well ( we call this football savvy). Each player is different and requires the coach to coach them at their level.

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

In this solution, the fault falls on the Head Coach. He must provide specific management from his coaches and in staff meetings, all preparation and planning are staged. Each coach has a depth chart involving players at each position with reserves in place. This is rehearsed on friday walk-throughs or on Thursday. Players are called out by teams, with backups knowing their rules. We also run a chaos drill on this day, creating situations of panic and confusion to prepare the players in game situations in order to eliminate mistakes.

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

After 15 years of yelling at linemen to hustle to the line, I finally gave up and went no huddle. We verbally call out the formation on the sideline and if you’re part of that personnel group and you want to play you better be out there. One coach on the sideline carries the depth chart for all positions including special teams. His job is to make sure if someone can't go for whatever the reason and he gets his replacement in the game. Each unit has a player, usually a senior responsible for getting his unit on and off the field and making a head count. During the week our receivers coach is responsible for calling formation penalties on the offense during scrimmage periods. His guys are always the ones that can't get aligned right anyway. We run all of our sprint work all year long on movement. We stand in front of our guys and call cadence after cadence but they don't move until the coach picks up his foot.

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


I put this on the coaches. It's our job to deal with sudden change and personnel groupings. If we are not lining up properly and having offside penalties, getting on the field late, then we are not getting it done in practice. So we need to re-evaluate how we practice.

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


Meet with your press box guys and let them know exactly what thier responsibilities are. During the week, most likely Thursday, run 10-15 plays with them up in the box with your offensive game plan and let them know the things you want them to look for. Practice it enough so there are no surprises on game night.

Bill Cretaro, Assistant Varsity Coach

“Players win games.... and coaches lose games" so if you lose games due to poor sideline managemnet then the fault is solely on the coaching staffs’ shoulders. As the head football coach you are viewing the whole football game and thus cannot control every aspect of the game so you must hire good assitants to help with sideline management. I usually have a "get-back" coach who is responsible for keeping players off the sidelines and helping trainers fix equipment issues. I have another coach who has the OFF/DEF sub sheet and another coach who has the SPEC TEAMS sub sheet.

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


Fire myself! This is not acceptable.

Bob DeLong, Offensive coordinator
Xenia High School (OH)


Usually, these kinds of problems result from trying to do too many things that are poorly practiced. You never take enough time to do a few things right. Just as actors don't walk onto a stage without rehearsing, the same can be said for game management. The head coach must lay out who is responsible for what, who reports to whom, what each coach is accountable for and how we communicate. There also needs to be quality control people who are watching and listening to be sure things are properly done. Many times there are coaches, players, fans, etc. who get overzealous and want to run things. Game day communication needs to be practiced. Coaches can do this by viewing a game tape and having the head coach orchestrate the communication process. Each coach has a job, a location and another coach with whom he communicates. Once you have your game day communication process in place with your coaches, take practice time and simulate a game.

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


Both! Coaches need to have their players ready and need to have them in the game. If a player is consistently making the same mistake, like not lining up properly, then he should not be on the field. That is up to the coach to make sure the best player is on the field to do the job. There should always be communication between the coaches and the players as to what is going to happen. That way when a certain situation arrises the players are ready to get on the field. It is also the players responsibility to pay attention to the game so when they are needed they will know it.

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


Personnel management rests solely with the coaching staff. Our staff is aware of their game responsibilities, and are schooled to be alert and prepared for game injuries, inadequate or unattentive personnel, sudden change in ball possesion, etc. Our special teams coach is responsible for being aware of game fluctuations. In addition we have a coach assigned to sideline demeanor. Usually our enthusiasm on the sideline is such that we need to be cautious about too many men on the field or out of the sideline players' box. Hopefully,we have a good plan and policy for sideline deameanor and coach it, just like all aspects of the game.

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


If it happens, we either tolerated it or taught it. That is what we believe about all of our players' actions, so we, as coaches and I as the head coach bear ultimate responsibility. We post all special teams lists, with depth charts as well as offense and defense before Tuesday's practice and in the team meeting we will double check those lists on Tuesday before heading out to practice. We have specific substitution periods as well as sudden change situations in every week's practice. Also, we will have a game day packet for all coaches with all depth charts in each coaches hands on game nights. Finally, since we have more out for the team now than when we began, we utilize more kids as our ‘special forces’ (again a tip from the CMSU staff).

Many times this is an older player group (junior/seniors not quite good enough to start on offense/defense). This group will do a good job on their own of recognizing game situations before they occur and have even sought out subs on their own when they see an injury. Those players have specific T-shirts earned weekly for key plays. These may be as simple as being on the field to replace an injured or winded player. We give those shirts out also on Tuesday's meeting and try to reinforce that there is no such thing as a "little thing.” When I, as the head coach, have a mistake on the depth charts or don't give subs enough reps, it is my fault and I must improve. We also schedule when to use a time out and when not to if there is a substitution problem (never burn one for a kicked PAT for example) and will again create those situations as part of Wednesday's team period and then repeat any foul ups with corrections on Thursday. I wish that solved all problems but it has cut down on them!

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


We hold everyone accountable for sideline management. Our coaches all have responsibilities and our players have ownership in these matters. We push the fact that we all are accountable to each other and must work together to fix all problems. If their is lack of ownership by a player then we will make a change in playing time.

Joe Pearson, Head Coach
Solanco High School (PA)


Both. All of these things can be addressed during practice. Creating game like situations at practice only reinforces what actually takes place on game day (personnel changes, lining up, etc). The actual game is nothing more than a dress rehersal for the prior week of practice.

Gerald Aubrey, Asst.Coach

We do an offensive and defensive walk through to start every practice. Personnel groupings with a assigned coach are called out during practice and games. If the three items listed above are a consistant problem it’s the head coach's responsibility to fix the issues that are hurting the team.

Harry G Bellucci, Head Football Coach
Hartford Public High School (CT)


This is the coaches fault. It is up to us to manage the team while our players' "manage" their play on the field. As a staff it is imperative that we are all on the same page and that each one of us knows our duties. As well, we all need to have our heads in the game and know the current game situation and how our specific duties play a part. We have a specific meeting to discuss game day and what we want to accomplish and what we expect of each other.

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


Coaches. We set the stage with organization and discipline. When these things happen it is our fault. The product on the field is a reflection of the staff. We don’t always have superior talent, but we can be organized!

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


This is coaches' fault. The players are doing what they have been taught and if there is a foul up, the coaches should not look to the players for blame. If the expectation is to pay attention and keep your head in the game, then it will happen. Practice subbing in any and all situations with ‘sudden change’ will be productive. Coaches also need to practice that a player or two will be injured and the seconds must be aware of what is going on and be responsible. Careless coaching is not acceptable.

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


It is the coaches’ fault. I apologize to the players and then kick some coaches butts. We try to be more organized. Most of those things happen because we are not organized enough. We have breakdowns in communication. I take this very seriously. We try to get better every week. It is going to happen but it must be kept to a minimum.

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


Both. Players can often zone out or not pay attention. Using a junior high coach to help with substitutions is helpful.

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


It's both coaches and players. We have a coach that manages the substitutions. He keeps the players who are to be rotating in and out by formation/package near him and makes a special personnel call. We run team and pre-game practices in this same way. We haven't had many problems in this area and we make a lot of personnel subs.

Barton W. Miller, Offensive Coordinator
Trinity High School, Camp Hill (PA)


Coaches fault usually. If a kid can't remember to pay attention and listen to his special teams coach, maybe you should have another kid in his place.

Ron Moore, Defensive Coordinator
Azle High School (TX)


It's the coaches fault if these tye of mistakes continue to plague the team. Things like this must be done in practice. The best way to get them to concentrate is when they are tired. Place them in situations towards the end of practice to see how mentally tough your team is. If their is a mistake, grass drill for the whole team should do the trick. This is a concentration problem, not a physical one.

Anthony, Defensive Coordinator
Lawrence High School


Usually it's the coach. But sometimes if a player is injured and the trainer hasn't cleared the player to go back in, he doesn't know if he is going back in or not. Good staff communication is the head coach's responsibility. He lets the personnel coach, who is bringing players on and off the field for each call, the status of every player. The next players up are standing right next to him.

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


It is always the coaches' fault. These penalties can be significantly reduced if you are organized. Also, these situations need to be practiced. Every situation that may occur in a game should be practiced in order to properly prepare your players.

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


Coach problem. Either the coaches must do a better job of getting the players on and off or eliminate the chance they will make mistakes.

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


On game day all our coaches have specific assignments including puting the right people in the game both offensively and defensively. So that is the coaches’ responsibility! Penalties are caused when players are not focused or tired. During practice we try to train our players to be alert and we do our best to make sure they are conditioned. Penalties are a part of the game. We try to make sure that if we do get one it does not hurt our chances of being successful.

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


This is a coaching error. We use a simulated game practice routine that has the sole purpose of eliminating those mistakes.

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


Always the coaches for not keeping the kids in the game and ready. When we work team we work it from the sideline running kids in and out like it was a game. Now we will have coaches on the field to correct mistakes and a couple of coaches on the sideline running kids in and out on both sides of the ball. The penalties for not lining up correctly or offsides must not be tolerated during practice. We will move the ball back five yards and make them huddle again. It all starts with me as the head coach and how I want them to practice and the importance I place on these things. We also have a coach during team calling out penalties as well.

Danny Gouin, Head Football Coach
King


This is almost always the coaches' fault. Lack of organization - coming from the sideline is the responsibility of the coaches. If this is still happening once the season has begun, we would spend a practice or two with the game clock on and playing real situational football to get plays in on time, get personnel on the field quickly, etc. We have done this, although most often we solve these problems during pre-season and in our final (pre-season game) scrimmage.

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


Usually coaching. We reduced or eliminated offsides by running all plays on 2 or 3 in practice, so the player always has to think. We also had one assistant subbing at will on offense. After I found out during our first game I told all players and coaches that no one subs but the head coach on offense. Also, all subs had to be ready a full play before they are to go on and not have a coach sub in after a whistle blows.

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


In my opinion, offsides or illegal formation penalties are completely avoidable. We have adjusted our formation so the same players are on the line every play or off the line every play. No confusion and the players understand the expectation. To combat offensive offsides we have gone to the freeze" or "chatter" concept. We go on ‘one’ all the time unless we call a "freeze.”

Sam Nichols, Head Coach (MI)






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