A lot of coaches, with the innovations in the spread offense, have forgone the tight end. They say they go to the spread because their is no tight end in their program. They don’t have that 6’6″ great athlete. I simply feel this is an excuse to not use tight ends. I think it’s a lazy answer for coaches. I mean, I don’t have 5 6’4″, 300lb offensive linemen, but I still have 5 of those positions.

The tight end is a huge benefit to a spread offense. Even if the athlete isn’t the best, if he puts in good effort blocking, he can be just about anyone as...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, 3 Reasons to Use the Tight End at the High School Level, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

I feel it’s time to finally say this. I will be taking this year off of coaching. Given my relocation to Indianapolis, a new job that isn’t friendly to coaching hours, I’m going to take a break.

I’ve had opportunities and offers from some really good programs down here in Indy, but time constraints won’t let it work out. I’ve considered youth coaching, which I might do next year, but given the fact that my wife’s favorite season is the fall, we’re going to take advantage of it.

I’m looking forward to checking out some programs, seeing what they do differently. I will try to get to college practice...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Brief Pause from Coaching, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

I’ve recently discovered Vine, a twitter app for iOS (and soon android) that takes short snippets of video and shares them easily. I’m going to start sharing a few of these football videos that I do on Strong Football’s twitter account. I wrote my first vine… Tweet on cover 2 trap you can see the video later in this post.

The big advantage of vine is how quickly it works. I will be starting chalk talk sessions using the #fbcoach hashtag. If you have questions or thoughts, please share them by messaging my twitter account or retweeting it. There is a lot of great football coaching material using...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Cover 2 Trap: A Fire Zone Blitz, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

The smash route in football, better known as the smash concept or smash pattern in football, is pass pattern designed to attack the defense vertically. When used as a full field concept, rather than a two man half field concept, it becomes both a horizontal and vertical pass pattern. The smash route or smash pattern is one of the most utilized football passing plays.

We say the smash route pattern is a vertical pass pattern because it stretches the defense between the corner and safety mainly. When a single route (like a drag, in or dig) stretches from the backside or the backfield,...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Football Passing Play Series: The Smash Route or Smash Concept, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

Do you ever wonder why some of the most simple drills are the most effective and elevating the level of football practice intensity? This may seem simple, but there are really two specific ways in drills that football practice intensity can be increased.

The first way to increase football practice intensity in drills is simplicity. It’s simple for both the coaches and the players. Coaching points are simple, short, and two the point. “Keep your feet moving when you tackle!” Short. Powerful. Addresses the problem, and provides a solution. The best kind of coaching statement.

At the same point in time, this makes it ideal...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, How to Improve Football Practice Intensity, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

I’m a big believer that defensive ends should be taught separately, if the resources are there, from interior defensive linemen. When I say defensive end, I mean anyone who is primarily a rusher from the end of the line of scrimmage. Specialized defensive end drills and defensive end techniques will help these edge defenders, whose play in space is different from those inside.

For the most part, I think a 7 technique skills, aka inside alignment inside of a tight end for this post, can be taught like an interior linemen. However, a lot of times a 7 technique will be playing a 5 technique. For these players, it...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Defensive End Drills and Technique, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

As coaches, we need to realize that our kids each respond differently to different interactions. I understand that some coaches believe in positive or negative interactions to get a charge out of their kids. Motivation, and even developing a good relationship with any of our players, goes much further than that.

I’ve been doing some reflecting and I came across a book called the Five Love languages. I haven’t read the entire book, but I think there is some application. Now, this may seem corny to some, but I think it has some merit for us as coaches.

The five love languages, according to the book...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Enhancing Player and Coach Relationships: Using the Five Love Languages, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

Build. Measure. Learn. In football, we often talk about being data driven. For the most part, we’re not. We’re driven by instincts. Calls on a sheet that may have some data behind it, but aren’t really driven by measures. Football play calling should be something we constantly build and measure.

Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and leader of the series which includes Lean Analytics by Ben Yoskovitz and Alistair Croll, discusses the use of “lean” as the foundation for startups, product management in business, marketing, and analytics.

The term “KPI” should sound familiar to many, especially in the business world. KPI stands for key performance...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Lean Football Play Calling, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

This is a 101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays review, detailing what author Keith Grabowski, offensive coordinator at Baldwin Wallace, has developed as part of his offense. I will start off by saying, and this is important, you can only buy this from the iBookstore, and it can only be used on the iPad (not the iPhone). That being said, this is the e-book that all football coaches have been waiting for. It changes the dynamics of what can be done for coaching books, no matter what the sport really.

101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays itself, I doubt, actually really covers...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, 101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays Review, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.

Watching the IU – Syracuse game last night got me thinking (and usually basketball doesn’t make me think) about the the needs for football playbook answers. I don’t watch much basketball at all, I’m not even really a fan, but IU really only had a couple of options with that 2-3 zone that Syracuse played, especially considering their size and physicality inside.

Every football playbook, and I use that term loosely because it doesn’t have to be a playbook per say, needs to have some kind of answer for basic problems. IU couldn’t score on the outside so they needed to get it inside. Then they struggled because they couldn’t...

Continue Reading This Post »

This post, Thoughts Behind Building Football Playbook Answers, was written by CoachCP at Strong Football by CoachCP.