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AFM Magazine


10 Offensive Strategies

Go Inside One of the Best Offensive Minds of the Past Two Decades
by: Mike Kuchar
Senior Writer, American Football Monthly
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Charlie Stubbs is to coaching what IBM is to computers. Now at 53, chances are he’s logged more hours under a headset than the entire American Airlines flight crew. He’s spent 19 years in collegiate coaching, including the last eleven as a coordinator at such high-profile schools as Louisville, Tulsa, Alabama, UNLV and Oregon State. Perhaps it’s just coincidence that after his stint in Louisville, where the Cardinals averaged 32.5 points per game under his tenure, he landed in the lap of old friend and head coach Willie Fritz at Division II Central Missouri. But what is no coincidence is that Stubbs has the Mules offense rolling – scoring 38 points per game en route to a 4-0 record for the first time in eight years.

Stubbs took some time away from what seems to be a historic season for Central Missouri to share with AFM some vital qualities it takes to be a successful offensive coordinator. Like any other profession, coaching is one that relies on trial and error through experience – and Charlie has plenty of experience to speak of. These are what he calls his “Golden Ten” qualities that he’s acquired throughout his tenure of calling offenses. They are in order of significance and filled with coaching gems which can be applied at any level of football.

1. Evaluate talent and get the best 11 players on the field that play within a team concept, regardless of how gifted they may be.

Sounds like coach speak, we know. Sure we want the kids to always buy into what we preach as coaches, but we also know that we ain’t winning too many games without the best athletes on the field. So how do we mesh the two to produce an indestructible powerhouse? Charlie’s got the answer. After every spring season, he sits down with the staff and ranks his top athletes, regardless of position for the purposes of estimating their value to the club in the fall. Then, he designs his system around his personnel that doesn’t limit or pigeon-hole his play-calling to a specific scheme. “Some years we may be more gifted at the running back spot or tight end position. We may have two All-American type tight ends and that’s what we will build the offense around. If those kids seem not to be the type of kids that you can rely on, it’s part of our job as coaches to preach them about the ultimate team game. You have to find those guys that want to play within the team concept. Bring him to the side and talk to him. Show how you can get the ball in his hands. Eventually he’ll start to believe you – they all come around in the end.”

2. Develop flexible schemes that can adapt to the players available (i.e., that can overcome injuries that may occur throughout a season).

Once Stubbs evaluates his personnel in the spring, he starts to lay the foundation of a scheme that is flexible enough to go around. It resembles more of a smorgasbord of offensive concepts in the outset. He tries to get as many schemes in as possible early in the season, then he starts to narrow down his catalog by selecting what his team does best. “You have to have enough vision and flexibility to use their skills. You can’t be so forceful on pushing your scheme on your kids if it doesn’t fit what they do. We are fortunate that we can try to recruit what we want to be. In high school you can’t cut your nose off by only playing the kids that fit into what you want them to – mold your offense around them. Now we can always change a package or two but we like to always have our zone blocking schemes and various personnel groupings. Injuries happen to us, but you can’t just make wholesale changes offensively. It shows a lack of confidence in your replacements. You just start to feature some different things.”

3. Have an ability to instill confidence in players – get them to play above their God-given physical ability.

Now, Stubbs is not referring to the “artificial assurance” that comes with telling your kids they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Stubbs’ brand of confidence relies in the honesty to tell them what they can do, and perhaps more importantly, what they can’t do. “The first thing you try to do is be honest of them. Don’t ask them to do something they can’t do. I wouldn’t run fade routes to a split end that runs a 4.8 forty. Find other ways to get him involved. Maybe he’s a good possession, crossing receiver. Maybe he’s got a good jump off the line of scrimmage to run the quick game. Give him a little and once he’s had some success, then you can start to give him a little bit more. Get them to play with all the ability they have every play. As the game goes, that average player plays well above average.”

4. Recognize the need to get the ball into the playmaker’s hands; have a plan to stay on track and to utilize playmakers properly.

This perhaps is the most under coached aspect of football. It seems as coaches we’re always battling the thrill of out-coaching someone with scheme, rather than letting our players make plays. So, what if an opponent knows who you’re holding in your deck and they are eliminating ways to get him the ball? Stubbs has some ideas. “I’ve been known to move my players around; that is, to position players like wide receivers in the backfield, snap the ball to him, get him involved in speed sweep, arc motion from the slot position and get him the ball as the option on the zone read scheme. I’ve got some key words like “change” in formations that tells the QB and receiver to switch positions, so the key player can get the direct snap. You have to try to use some creativity. I’ll try to get him five touches a game as a ball carrier, five as a receiver and the next thing you know you got him ten touches. At the end of the day you put your best foot (player) forward by the end of the game. I guess my creativity lies in identifying them. What I do in the press box is chart my three best playmakers to see how many touches they have.”

5. Develop a system to evaluate the offense with specific goals and objectives. Offenses must improve throughout the season and not plateau.

“The biggest thing I do is evaluate ourselves through practice. I tally every play I call in practice and we practice things we use the right way. After every single game, the most important thing I do is cross check what I practiced during the week and see if I used it during the game. Sometimes you get into a game and you’re not using any of them. As far as goals go, we try to instill the following five every game.

1. Win the game.
2. Average four or more yards on first downs.
3. Goal line production and short yardage.
4. Positive third down conversion and red zone ratio.
5. No turnovers nor three and outs.”

6. Jump start the offense and team with special plays. Stress the importance of scripting the first 10 plays of the game and know when to strike with a big play.
Studying under the tutelage of offensive legends like Mike Holmgren and LaVell Edwards taught Stubbs the importance of scripting the first ten plays of the game and sticking to it regardless of circumstance. These scripts are based on various personnel groupings and formations so Stubbs has an idea of how they will align or adjust. “I also want to make sure I script plays to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers – and keep the ball away from inexperienced players who cannot handle it. We practice this script the day before. Our kids rest well the night before when they know how Coach Stubbs will open the game. The only time I’d really change the batting order of our script is if we got a kick return in the red zone or our defense gets a takeaway. Then I might take a chance. But I’ll come back to it.”

7. Be able to recognize the strength of your offensive staff and delegate assignments accordingly to improve weaknesses.

Delegating responsibility and managing your coaching staff is certainly something we don’t hear enough about when running an offense. But Stubbs leaves nothing to chance, and he feels that the way a coordinator handles his position coaches is vital to the success of his offense. “You don’t want to undermine your coaching staff by stepping on their toes. The rule of thumb is never to reprimand them in front of the players. I would often meet with them personally and privately perhaps during a video session to make sure he understands. I try to take them all and teach each and every concept of a given play. You get all kinds of degrees of coaches. Some guys need help with the X and O’s; some guys need more help with recruiting; some guys need help with dealing with players. We want to try to help them get through that. Like we spoke about with the players I try to give them duties they are capable of performing and let them grow as coaches. You have your chiefs and Indians – your idea guys and your motivators. Not everyone needs to be an idea guy. If I can identify that we can be pretty productive.”

8. Be efficient with practice and meeting times. Don’t waste a student-athlete’s time.

Sure, this may not be a concern for high school coaches, but NCAA restrictions hamstring most college coaches with time spent with athletes. So Stubbs makes sure nothing is wasted. He’ll have a test every week for his position players, written or orally – such as the QB’s who don’t really have the time to write anything down anyway. It even carries over into practice sessions. Stubbs will script everything including what players are in on which plays. “You only get so many snaps on a given practice. You also have to be smart with overtraining them. You can’t run your guys into the ground. When I was at Alabama with Coach Dubose, we had tremendous speed so I would make sure we won’t take too many strides to cut back on their speed. We want to make sure we get everything presented. You have to be organized as a coach and you need to give your players as much learning tools such as walk-through, meetings, etc.”

9. You must have a method of studying video. You must have a procedure and system to hold your players accountable.

How many times have we told our players to go in and watch film, yet tell them nothing about what they are watching for? Most times we catch a running back looking at how good an arm the opposing QB has. Well, Stubbs has his own method for that and it relies on individual worksheets that he gives his players every film session to fill out (Free version of Worksheet). It’s more like a film critique – but it’s no Hollywood Blockbuster they are watching – it’s film of their next opponent. “We even have a meeting in the spring where we have a presentation on exactly how to watch film. We do this every spring to educate the guys on what they’re looking for. The kids don’t understand, and it’s our job as coaches to teach them that. Let’s say a receiver is reading the corners and the secondary and keying those safeties, understanding their alignments or what they do on motions. Do they give a hand signal on clouding a particular coverage? They should look at the person they are playing against. Who gives cushion? Who can be cut? What routes do they have deficiencies on? This is what is important.”

10. You must be even keeled. A coordinator cannot get too high or low. Be consistent when dealing with your fellow coaches and players.

Stubbs stresses the idea of poise in the game, but pressure in practice. “Usually when you win you can be more demanding. When you lose you need to be careful when dealing with your players. But it does depend on what kind of loss you get. If you take a heartbreaker that is when you have to recognize the good things that you did do, and evaluate what things you need to correct. If you get your butt kicked, you need to be stern and talk about what you have to do. The biggest thing you can’t do is be a frontrunner. You can’t be all chuckles when you win and an ‘everybody stinks guy’ when you lose. I learned this from LaVell Edwards. You would never know if we’re 11-0 or 0-11. Bottom line is you need to expect to be good, and expect to have a lot of touchdowns. If that doesn’t happen, then you can’t be affected by it, at least in front of the players. They look to someone for direction. If you panic, they panic.”






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