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AFM Magazine


AFM Subscribers Ask...with Chuck Martin

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All Chuck Martin did in his first three years as head coach at Grand Valley State was lead the Lakers to two NCAA Division II National Championships, 38 total wins and the nation’s longest active winning streak at 28 games. This fall, Martin’s fourth as head coach at GVSU, the Lakers went 10-0 in the regular season and now have a 38 game winning streak going into the Division II playoffs. Previous to being named head coach, Martin was the Lakers’ defensive coordinator. The 2003 GVSU team also won a National Championship and ranked in the top ten in four defensive categories. Martin also coached at Mankato State, Wittenberg, Millikin and Eastern Michigan. He answers your questions...

Q. Being a defensive coordinator before becoming a head coach, how difficult was the transition to both HC and being comfortable with your offensive system? What was the transition like? Steve Jordan, Assistant Coach, Cornerstone Christian School, San Angelo, TX. AFM subscriber since 2006.
I would say the transition was very difficult. Looking back to 2004, it was quite a transition. We won 10 games that year and made it to the third round of the playoffs. It was a lot for one year and a transition offense. I’ve been on defense most of my life and it was difficult going from defensive coordinator to head coach. I found it’s a lot to absorb and learn. I thought it was the best move for me becoming head coach and, in the long run, for Grand Valley State. It was a little crazy and risky but the move was made for a variety of reasons and we went with it.

Q. What defense causes you the most trouble in regards to your linemen zone blocking and how do you adjust? Bryon Smoot, Assistant Coach, Estill County HS, Irvine, KY. AFM subscriber since 2006.
I think that the teams that stem a lot change your blocking combinations on the zone play. These are combinations that cause the most difficulty. Different fronts being multiple and moving around cause some issues but the adjustment is pretty easy. The adjustment is when a team wants to stem around and change their combinations; you usually get up and change cadence on first down which often takes the stemming away. Teams don’t want to be out of sync when the ball is snapped. If we’re facing an even front, it allows you to run the ball to the tight side end or split side more but there are disadvantages as well. The odd fronts, I believe, limit to some degree where you can run the ball. But there’s more space to run effectively inside. There are pros and cons to both defenses and both can be effective but they also give offenses some benefits as well.

Q. Do you have any rules with your blitz packages? What are some of the kinds of blitz packages you prefer? Joe O’Connor, Assistant Coach, Heritage Christian School, Indianapolis. AFM subscriber since 2007.
The biggest thing for us as it relates to the blitz packages is that we are a big zone pressure team. We’re not a huge cover zero team – not that we won’t run an all-out blitz – and play man coverage behind it. Zone pressure gives you an opportunity to have some negative plays defensively without risking being in cover zero and giving up some big runs and big passes. For us, we don’t have tons of rules with the blitz packages. We like to blitz a variety of different people from a variety of different places. The biggest thing is we bought into the zone pressure concept when the idea and concept came about. We like the safety of the zone pressure.

Each situation is different for blitzes as it relates to down and distance, the score, time remaining and special situations. If we know the opposing offense is going to look at our tape and break down our tendencies, we try to take that into account. If we have certain situations where we might blitz at those times, we try to break our own tendencies.When they get in the red zone, like everyone else in the country, we try to intensify the pressure with our back up against the wall. But even there we try to mix it up, play different coverages and bring different combinations to our defense.

Q. Playing against a spread offense, how would you employ your goal line defense? Do you assign specific responsibilities once your opponent is in the red zone? Steve Phelps, Assistant Coach, Lakewood High School (CO). AFM subscriber since 2005.
We really don’t play our goal line defense against the spread offense. If you stay in a spread offense near the goal line, it forces us to stay in our normal defense. Everything changes in zone coverage as you get closer to the goal line. As that happens, your zones get shrunk down. You usually have an underneath coverage and a deep coverage but the two coverages really become one in this situation. Our techniques change as our underneath guys shorten their drops, the deep guys shorten their drops and each guy plays more aggressively. You’re not worried about the same situation in the middle of the field.

Q. Over the last few years you’ve had some outstanding offenses and defenses at Grand Valley State. What about the role of special teams? How important is it and what specific emphasis do you give it? Do you spend more time preparing for one aspect of special teams play – such as punt return coverage – than you do any other phase? Jon Kearney, Assistant Coach, Washington HS (IA). AFM subscriber since 2005.
We emphasize all six phases of special teams play. If there’s any more emphasis on one phase of special teams, it’s on the punt team because the punt team is so crucial to today’s game. Not that we de-emphasize anything else, but we pay more attention to the punt team. Protecting the punter is one of the more difficult things to do. Each week, if our opponent has a special teams play that is particularly stronger than others, we try to emphasize that phase. One week our opponent may be lights out on kickoff returns so we may spend some extra time on that and how to defend it. Or, if with another opponent we feel is great at rushing the punter, we will spend some extra time on that. Each week we spend the most time on the punting game and then go to the phase of special teams our opponent is best at.

Next Month: The Air Force Academy's Troy Calhoun had the biggest turnaround in 2007 among all first year coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The Falcons improved from 4-8 in 2006 to 9-3 this past fall and a bid to the Armed Forces Bowl. Calhoun is only the sixth coach in the AFA’s history but the first graduate of the Academy to hold the position. Quarterback of the 1986 Falcons team, Calhoun coached at Ohio and Wake Forest and eventually came to Colorado Springs from the Houston Texans where he was OC and quarterbacks coach. Replacing the legendary Fisher DeBerry, Calhoun meshed the option with the West Coast offense. Coach Calhoun answers your questions in our February issue. Go to www.AmericanFootballMonthly.com/askacoach or send your question to AFM’s Managing Editor Rex Lardner at rlardner@lcclark.com.





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