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Dance With the One Who Brung Ya

by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
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First heard the phrase from Mack Brown during an off-season clinic in 2005 right after Vince Young ran rampant all over the USC defense giving Texas the 2004 National Championship. The line was a favorite of legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal. It refers to finding a way to put your players in the best situation to make plays. And that’s what Coach Brown did – we all remember Young basically strapping the Longhorns on his back and carrying them to the title that year. Sure those plays were designed to be zone option schemes, but in Young’s mind there was no option – he was taking the rock. I always find the speculation the most interesting part of an approaching season. Not just the speculation that comes internally from a coach trying to piece together this giant jigsaw puzzle that will eventually become his team but outside speculation that so many of these pencil pusher journalists have about a new coach coming in to direct a program. The questions are routine and boring: How will Paul Johnson be able to implement and recruit for a triple option scheme in the ACC? How could Rich Rodriguez run a spread offense at Michigan with a QB who hasn’t even had a varsity snap? How can Bo Pelini re-establish a Blackshirt Defense that has been MIA in Nebraska for over five years?

The answer is simple: they will find a way, even if it’s not their way to be successful – all good coaches do. So you may not see Johnson’s Georgia Tech team lining up in the wishbone like he did at Georgia Southern or you may not see any Pat White-like scampers in the Big House. But what you will see is consistency and productivity by making use of the personnel they have on the field. Why? Because good coaches will find out what their players do best and build their schemes around them. They are smart enough to not let their egos get in the way of having a successful season. “Don’t ask a kid to do something that they can’t do” is coach speak that I’ve heard countless times before. Still, we often get so hell-bent on pushing our offensive or defensive scheme on kids that really don’t have the talent to functionally operate it. I was reminded of this by talking to Rodriguez for an exclusive Q and A he did for AFM in this issue. I remember him telling me that he felt the best coaching job he did was his first year at Glenville State in 1990. Guess how many wins that team had? One. He’s won over 100 games as a head coach and a 1-7-1 record was his most shining moment because he felt he maximized his team’s talent and was able to be competitive every game. True story. You’ll find the same philosophy from Warren Central defensive coordinator Steve Tutsie in his piece on the defensive side of the ball in this issue as well. Point is, why run a triple option scheme if you don’t have a QB that can get to the perimeter? Why run an odd stack defense if you don’t have the quickness at the safety and linebacker spots that are necessary to run that scheme? Doesn’t make much sense.

So as we prepare for another fall, let’s just remember that it’s the players, not plays that win football games. But it’s our job to put them in the right spot, wind them up and watch them go.

Yours in football,

Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer
American Football Monthly
MikeKuchar@AmericanFootballMonthly.com





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