It is too bad he can't be alive to enjoy this football season, because he sure would be proud of the year his two favorite teams - the University of Illinois and the Chicago Bears - are having. Mr. Halas was a Chicago boy whose father ran a tavern. He loved all sports, and attended the University of Illinois, where he played football for the great Bob Zuppke, and basketball and baseball as well. He played in the Rose Bowl, but not as a member of his college team; instead, while in the Navy during World War I, he played for Great Lakes Naval Training Station, in one of the two Rose Bowl games not played between college teams. After graduation from college, he played a season of baseball for the New York Yankees, and in the off-season played semi-pro football for a team in Hammond, Indiana. Around that time, he was approached by a representative of the A. E. Staley Company, a large corn starch manufacturer in Decatur, Illinois, looking for someone to work for the company, play on the company's baseball team and manage and coach the company football team - as well as play on it. (Mr. Staley thought it would be good for PR and good for the workers' morale.) Mr. Halas bought uniforms in the same orange-and-blue as Illinois, and became the team's player-coach. The Decatur Staleys were 10-1-2 in Halas' first year, but the country was in a recession, and Mr. Staley decided against continuing to cover the team's losses, offering to turn it over to Mr. Halas. He provided Mr. Halas with $5,000, on the condition that he continue to call the team the "Staleys" for one more year, and that "the team conduct itself, on and off the field, in a manner that would reflect credit upon the A.E. Staley Company." "From that day on," wrote Mr. Halas in his autobiography, "Halas by Halas," "I have made it a team rule that my players behave as gentlemen and dress as gentlemen. I wanted to end the popular conception that professional athletes were a bunch of roughnecks." (Things seem to have come full circle, wouldn't you say?HW) He moved the team to Chicago, and somehow managed to survive financially. The owner of the Chicago Cubs, William Veeck, Sr. - the father of famed baseball owner Bill Veeck - agreed to let him play games in his Wrigley Field,. After his year as the "Staleys" was over, Mr. Halas considered naming his team the Cubs, out of gratitude and respect for the senior Veeck, but, noting that football players were bigger than baseball players (at least they were, in those days before andro), "Bears" would be more appropriate than Cubs. The team, and the overall welfare of professional football, would become his life's work. Mr. Halas was instrumental in the formation of the National Football League, and his signing of Red Grange, easily the most popular football player in the nation at the time, was the move that earned professional football a place among America's major sports. On more than one occasion, he made decisions that put the league's interests ahead of those of his team, in the belief that what was best for the league was ultimately best for his team. One incredibly farsighted and unselfish decision, a key to the overall success of the NFL, was his agreement, despite the size of the Chicago market, to share network television revenues with teams in smaller markets. Someone once nicknamed him "Papa Bear," and the nickname stuck, but the reality was quite different. Mr. Halas was, above all, tough. He was hard and he was blunt. He was not subtle - he was Chicago all the way - what you saw was what you got. And what you often got, according to people I know played for him and against him, was language that would cost him his job had he been a middle school coach. A player on another team was likely to be called a (vulgarity describing Monica Lewinsky); a player whose courage was in question was a (fornicating kitty). He was honest to a fault, and demanded the same of others. He expected to do business with you on a handshake. He had little use for agents. He had known tough times, years when every autumn he'd have to take out a loan to get him through training camp and the first couple of games. "In truth," he wrote, "the Bears lived hand-to-mouth." People who've worked hard to get where they are tend not to forget the struggle, so Mr. Halas should be forgiven if he remained tight with his wallet, long after the Bears were successful financially. Mike Ditka once joked that he threw nickels around "as if they're manhole covers." But Mr. Halas was capable of great acts of quiet charity and generosity. His care of Brian Piccolo, in his dying days, is one such example. He owned the Bears until his death in 1983 at the age of 88. He coached off an on until his retirement in 1968, when he was 73 years old. He won the NFL title in 1963, when he was 68. When he retired, he had 324 wins, a record at the time. The things he saw, the men he knew, the teams he coached, are the history of the NFL. So long as men like him were alive, the game was able to establish an integrity it struggles to maintain under the stweardship of today's greedy owners. His inspiration to start a professional football team was something he remembered his college coach, Bob Zuppke, saying at his college team's annual banquet his senior year: "Just when I teach you fellows how to play football, you graduate and I lose you."
*********** CONNECTICUT TITLE GAME PITS A PAIR OF DOUBLE-WINGERS With 2001 Double-Wing champions in Iowa (Fredericksburg) and Maine (Boothbay Regional), it is safe to add Connecticut to the list. That's because it's Fitch High of Groton (10-0) vs. Notre Dame of West Haven (10-1), as two of the nation's best Double-Wing teams tee it up Saturday afternoon in the Connecticut state Class L championship game. Fitch, winner of 34 straight, is going for its third straight Class L title. Fitch hasn't lost since the 1998 state final. Notre Dame is making its first playoff appearance since 1992. Fitch, ordinarily a big-play team, put on a display of classic Double-Wing power football to with a couple of drives consuming more than seven minutes each, to down Staples of Westport, 27-14. Dante Ross ran for 142 yards on 22 carries, while Donte Kemp ran for 89 on 22 carries. Kemp also caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Will Deveau. Notre Dame, meanwhile, found itself in a jam against Pomperaug, down 16-14, and on its own 28 with 3:08 left. 72 yards later, Michael Penta went in from two yards out to defeat Pomperaug, 20-14. The key play in the drive was a third-and-14 on the Notre Dame 48, when Joseph Pepe connected with 6-4, 220 pound Brad Listorti for 46 yards to the Pomperaug 6-yard line.
*********** SPEAKING OF GEORGE HALAS... Hey..what's up with the re-make of Brian's Song? That's bullsh--. Some things should be off limits, and that movie is one of them!! Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas Man, I can't believe some of the previews I'm seeing. I swear I heard "Brian Piccolo" (actually the weenie who plays him) telling his roommate, "I'm going to blow you out of the lineup." Well. First of all, for those of you weren't alive back in those days, a little lesson in human behavior. He wouldn't have said that. People didn't brag back then. Today's kids wouldn't relate to a movie in which athletes took pride in letting their performances speak for themselves, and kept their mouths shut on the field and on the court. Or to a time when athletes - people in general, for that matter - didn't go out of their way to draw attention to themselves with jerk behavior. Back then, jerks weren't suffered gladly. (Now, of course, we teach our kids to "tolerate" them. Isn't tolerance wonderful?) Ah, those were the days... But secondly- are you kidding me? His roommate was Gayle Sayers! Not to demean Brian Piccolo or his memory in any way, because he was a very good man, a very good husband and a very good father, and he was a solid member of the Bears' squad. But he was never remotely in competition with Gayle Sayers. Wrote George Halas, Bears' owner-coach, "He was not a star player, but he was a star teammate." Sayers, on the other hand, was The Kansas Comet, a two-time All-American at Kansas and a top Bears' draft choice (along with Dick Butkus - pretty good draft). He not only started as a rookie - he made all pro! And did it again the next year. And again the year after that. And would have done it a fourth straight year, except that he injured his knee. Trust me, should you actually hear "Brian Piccolo" saying something boastful to Gayle Sayers - it didn't happen. Of course, if it were nowadays, the way kids mouth off, he might say it. But if it were nowadays, "Gayle Sayers" (this actor ain't very believable, either) would say, "In your dreams."
*********** First it was an Australian rugby player, giving an opponent uh, uh, a digital rectal proctological exam, and now this... After Jose Antonio Reyes scored the second goal in Seville's 4-0 defeat of Real Valladoid in an under-21 soccer match, he was congratulated by teammates, one of whom, Francisco Gallardo, is accused of "celebrating" by biting Reyes' "privates" as he rolled on the ground. (I am not making this up.) It wasn't until later that Reyes realized what had happened. (Imagine his surprise!) "I felt a bit of a pinch," he said, "but I didn't realize what Gallardo had done until I saw the video." A "bit of a pinch," did he say? Francisco the Nibbler has been charged by the Spanish soccer federation's disciplinary committee and ordered to appear at a hearing next Tuesday. If he is found guilty he faces a fine or suspension for "infringing sporting dignity and decorum."
*********** Dear Coach Wyatt; My deepest apologies for not staying in touch over the past couple of months. September 11th really put a stranglehold on my time. My base went to threat condition Charlie for weeks, and I was taken from my nice, safe duty rotation of once every 16 days and instead stuck out at the gate watch for a 1 in 8 rotation. We're still in Threatcon Bravo, and checking IDs at the gate. Additionally, I found myself on the field coaching for ten hours a week, spending six hours on game days coaching, and breaking down films or scouting an additional ten to twenty hours a week. But it paid off. Last Friday, the Tomales Braves finished their season with a 60-28 win over the St. Bernerd's Crusaders at the Santa Rosa Junior College field in the North Coast Section Division III Class "B" Championship round. Our defense held them to just three first downs in the first half, although they did score a touchdown just before halftime on their only drive of the half. Their remaining touchdowns came late in the second half against junior varsity players we had pulled up to varsity in preparation for next season. Offensively, will the people that think the double wing is easy to stop PLEASE shut the hell up now? We scored 60 points, racked up over SIX HUNDRED yards of total offense, and only started punting because we were so far in the lead. Our season included a win over arch-rival St. Vincent, 28-7 and victories over much larger schools, Albany (Class AA) 23-22 and Drake (Class A) 34-33. Those wins helped to give us the astounding final record of 10-1. (One game was cancelled after September 11th.) Our only loss came to Middletown, in a game I think we could have won if we'd played our "A" game. Two of our running backs had over a thousand yards on the season: Alex Kaplan, who had nearly 1500 all purpose yards before tearing his MCL on Calistoga's horrible field, and Ethan Wyatt, who finished the season with over 1100 yards, despite going into the championship round with just 980. Ethan also caught 19 passes for 563 additional yards, and a host of touchdowns. Every member of our offensive backfield, from first to third string, crossed the goal line at least once this season, and another of our running backs, Caleb Davis, added 632 yards to our total. To get to the championship, we had to beat Pt. Arena, which we did by a score of 8-0 on a muddy field at home, holding the Pirate's Roman Cobaruvia to just 124 yards. (He had been averaging 220.) A fine season, granted to us by a fine body of young men. It was really an honor to share the field with them. I predict great things from the members of this team in the future. However, the most important two things of the season weren't the football games. After September 11th Coach Feleciano and the staff agreed that we needed to be more of a family on this team. As a result, we began team prayer again. It started with prayers for our country, and those never stopped, but by the end of the season, we knelt before and after each game, thanking God, in any form, for the chance to be there, to play, and maybe even emerge victorious. Screw the liberals. We prayed, and we're PROUD that we prayed. As if this wasn't enough to bring a tear to your eye, at the championship game the CD player wasn't working ($1.6 million on a football statium and the $40 CD player craps out. Go figure.). Just when we were all positive the announcer was going to say, "Well, we'll just have to skip the National Anthem." He instead said, "Well, we'll just have to sing it ourselves." And so, in a cracked voice that hit notes the throat was never intended to produce, he led the audience, several hundred strong, in the finest tribute to this country I have seen so far. We all sang, some better than others. Unfortunately, I could only get halfway through the song. I didn't forget the words, but by then I was unashamedly in tears and overcome with emotion at seeing everyone, from the refs to the players of both teams, singing. On a very final note, should you decide to place anything from this email online, please include that I noticed an incredibly wide streak of sportsmanship and class in the St. Bernerd's players and coaches. I felt very lucky to have had the chance to line up across from them, especially one Cody Flynn, a senior I spoke with after the game who gave me a huge smile and said, "You had our number today, Coach. Congratulations."
"I tried to explain the situation to my nephew but he was too scared to stay in the room long enough to hear it. Still, I burned up six pounds of Thanksgiving grub and wrote out a check to the Oklahoma State scholarship fund besides. "Funny thing, after the Texas Tech-OU game two weeks ago (and what was thought as UT's last best shot of seeing OU upended) many Longhorns sold their ducats to the Big 12 Championship game to Sooners via the Internet. After Saturday, those same Horn fans are desperatly trying to get their tickets back from the same Sooners who so greedily gobbled them up prior to the Oklahoma State contest. The Sooners may not be going to the title game but they are going to have a hell of a good Christmas haul up there. "Didn't Lee Corso play for Tom Nugent at FSU in 1955. And didn't Nugent pen that tender love ballad "Cat Scratch Fever?" Or was that Ted ... his son? "Nugent, Tom that is, also came up with another grid innovation besides the I formation. What was it? *** "Hook em, head em, drag em through the dirt." Whit Snyder, Baytown, Texas *** You wouldn't be thinking of the "human scoreboard," Bernardo Bramson, his Chilean placekicker, who started the 1964 season as Number 0, and after every game received a new number reflecting his new point total, now, would you? (He made it to 44) HW Hey, that human scoreboard deal is pretty interesting. No, Nugent, says one of my books, invented the "Typewriter Huddle." I take that to mean the "choir huddle" or the "open huddle" wherein the QB has his back to the defense and the rest of the offense is in two lines, one behind the other, facing him. The first line are backs and receivers with hands on knees, second tier are linemen. Whit
*********** My favorite game of the year is coming up this weekend. I'm getting fired up for the Army -Navy game by watching my tape of one of the all time classics on my exercise bike in the mornings. I'm talking about the 1995 game that Army won 14-13 by driving 99 yards with 8 minutes left in the game. They got 25 yards on a 4th and 24 to keep the drive alive. Ronnie McAda was a great, big play quarterback. Bob Sutton was my defensive coordinator when I was a Western Michigan University. I was right with you concerning your comments when Army fired Coach Sutton. I'd probably be cheering for Navy if they hadn't pulled the same crap on Coach Weatherbie. Dick Vermiel said it best when he was doing the '94 game for ABC. He said its probably the only game you'll see in which all 22 players get knocked down on the opening kick-off. John Zeller, Sears, Michigan (When Army and Navy play, American wins! And if you haven't read it, get hold of a copy of John Feinstein's "A Civil War," the best treatment of the Army-Navy game you'll ever find.HW) *********** Hugh: I know you have mentioned Glenn "Tiger" Ellison before in your videos and clinics. I was watching the Illinois class 5A state championship game between Joliet Catholic (Major Wing-T powerhouse) and Morris (Always a state playoff program). It was obvious from the onset that Morris didn't have the horses to pound with Joliet Catholic and went down early 14-0. In the second quarter, when Morris got the wind to their back, they came out in their "Hawaii" formation. Five offensive lineman ten yards from the ball to the left. A guard and a center over the ball with the QB behind in a shotgun. Then spread to the right would be a trips or twins set. Morris immediately moved the ball downfield and scored two touchdowns to go into the locker room with a 14-14 tie. Catholic called two timeouts but could not adjust to the formation. It was quite interesting and at times amusing. Catholic made some smart adjustments at halftime and won their 14th state title 27-20. Thought you would enjoy hearing that the lonesome polecat was alive and well in Illinois. Bill Lawlor, Hoffman Estates, Illinois *********** My son Ed and daughter-in-law Michelle arrive today for a Christmas visit and the celebration of their first anniversary, and, needless to say, after 11 months in Australia, there is a lot of football-watching on the schedule. Maybe even, as one of Ed's friends wrote him, a trip to warm, sunny Seattle to watch his alma mater, Stanford in the Seattle Bowl: "It also looks like the Cardinal may be in the Seattle Bowl, so you may have someone to cheer for. You may also be the only person in the stands." I personally am afraid that we have come full-circle, back to the days of the Gotham Bowl and the Boardwalk Bowl, but at least in those days, there were only a half-dozen other bowls at most, and it was worth taking a shot at trying to make a new one work, and no disgrace to appearing in one. But will anyone in the world consider it an honor to be invited to play in the Seattle Bowl? Georgia Tech? Bet they didn't ask the players! I said at the time they announced it that it was the damnedest, dumbest thing I'd ever heard of: first, tear down the Kingdome, the only building in which you could possibly justify playing a bowl game in Seattle in the wintertime without being institutionalized - and then go out and get yourself a bowl game. And this was before the downturn in the economy and people's reluctance to fly. Who are the geniuses behind this, I wonder. Oh well, no need to worry about terrorists. They're after large crowds.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." It is NOT "Hollander." It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
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November
30- "At Grambling, it's a cardinal sin if
you get within the 10 and don't score." Eddie
Robinson
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: George Halas is one of the true
giants of the game; few individuals have had close to the
impact he has had.
It is too bad he can't be alive to enjoy this football season, because he sure would be proud of the year his two favorite teams are having. He was a Chicago boy and attended the University of Illinois, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He played in the Rose Bowl, but not as a member of his college team; instead, he played in one of the two Rose Bowl games not played between college teams. After graduation from college, he played a season of baseball for the New York Yankees, and in the off-season played semi-pro football for a team in Hammond, Indiana. There he was approached by a representative of a large corn starch manufacturer looking for someone to play on the company's baseball team and start a company football team. (The owner thought it would be good for PR and good for the workers' morale.) He bought uniforms in the same colors as his college, and became the team's player-coach. When after a year of operation the owner decided against continuing to cover the team's losses and offered to turn it over to him, he took over its operation, moved it to his hometown, and somehow managed to survive financially. The owner of a major league baseball team agreed to let him play games in his ballpark, and the name he gave his team reflected his gratitude. The team - and, in order to help his team survive, the overall welfare of professional football - would become his life's work. He was instrumental in the formation of the National Football League, and on more than one occasion made decisions that put the league's interests ahead of those of his team, in the belief that what was best for the league was ultimately best for his team. He owned the team until his death in 1983 at the age of 88. He coached off an on until his retirement in 1968, when he was 73 years old. He won the NFL title in 1963, when he was 68. When he retired, he had 324 wins, a record at the time. His inspiration to start a professional football team was something he remembered his college coach, Bob Zuppke, saying at his college team's annual banquet his senior year: "Just when I teach you fellows how to play football, you graduate and I lose you."
*********** Alert reader Jim Kuhn, of Greeley, Colorado, noted that I'd mentioned a Colorado coach whose players were caught having sprayed Pam on their uniforms. Perhaps you read about it where you live - the coach was suspended from coaching his team during the playoffs, and last I heard, he wasn't assured of keeping his job. I know the man somewhat, from his having bought tapes from me, and I regret what happened to him. That is why I did not use his name. I hope he keeps his job. His teams are consistent winners, and not because of shady tactics. So why? I did read a comment by him in one of the Denver papers in which he said something about getting tired of other people doing it to his team and nothing being done about it. If that is so, I can certainly understand his frustration. It doesn't excuse the action, but I understand. I know the frustration of watching a passing team continually hold, while the officials do nothing. You want to tell your kids to go ahead and punch them in the balls. But you don't.
*********** John Zeller, of Sears, Michigan, noted with a bit of irony that he'd come across an article by Purdue's Joe Tiller, entitled, "Running the Football From Multiple Receiver Sets." Man, those guys on that web site are real comedians. On the same page, there's a big ad for (I am not making this up) "The Complete Rick Neuheisel Passing Attack Package." ("Great Stocking Stuffer," the ad says.)
*********** I chuckled when I heard Gary Danielson on TV Friday mentioning that Nebraska had successfully run "counter trey," or "counter-gap," the one-back counter play, using our "C" blocking, that the Washington Redskins made popular under Coach Joe Gibbs. Just last week, I had been reading something by Joe Gibbs, and I happened across this: "With the Redskins, we borrowed a play called the 'counter-gap,' which became our signature play in the 1980s. We were in a staff meeting and Don Breaux, one of the coaches, said, 'I just saw a college game on TV, and Nebraska has a running play that's killing everybody.' "He diagrammed it on the board, and right away we knew it was a perfect fit for our offense."
*********** At least now we know what kind of a shot Fresno State would have had at the national title, if the Bulldogs had run the table. No shot at all. Look. This is for all you Cornhuskers out there- I admire the Nebraska program, and the Cornhuskers were my choice to win the National title. Nebraska may in fact still be the best team in the country. But 62 points? You mean to tell me that Nebraska gets its ass kicked, and doesn't drop below Tennessee in the polls? Or Oregon? Or Illinois? Or Maryland? Or BYU? I mean, 62 points? Ahead of Tennessee, two-point, last-second loser to 8-3 Georgia (oops - make that 7-3, better not count the Houston win yet), and winner of six straight since then? Ahead of Oregon, loser by 49-42 to 8-2 Stanford, and winner of its last three? Ahead of Illinois, loser only to 8-3 Michigan, and winner of seven in a row since then? Or Maryland, loser only to 6-4 Florida State? Or BYU, which, if it can survive trips to Starkville, Mississippi and Honolulu (how's that for back-to-back trips?) will have lost to nobody? I thought the polls were based on performance, not potential. Using that criterion, teams don't give up 62 points and rank up there at #5 or #6.. Guys, when you lose by 36 points - to anybody - you don't deserve to be ranked #5. Or #6. Or #7. Or #8. Or #9. Okay, maybe #10. But to get as high as #5, you would need BYU to lose, Colorado to beat Texas, Florida to beat Tennessee, Oregon State to beat Oregon. In the unlikely event of all of those things happening, back up you'd go. Right behind Miami, the Florida/Tennessee winner (assuming they go on to win the SEC championship), Illinois and Maryland. But as it is, there is still a mathematical possibility of Nebraska's being in the Tostito, er, Rose Bowl. The real outrage here is the residual effect of the pre-season polls, which are based purely on speculation, yet lock teams into place before anyone has played a game. It's like inherited wealth. Although Nebraska is the beneficiary this time, I call it the Florida State factor. That's because in seasons past, Florida State always seemed to start the season ranked #1, and the title was theirs to lose. If they won out, they were in the Big Tostito. Simple as that. Didn't matter who else went unbeaten. Not even close games could topple them - they won, didn't they? And even if they did happen to lose a game, they would only fall so far - as if they had been given a parachute. And that meant they would still finish ahead of all the other teams with one loss. Start the season off the charts, though, as Illinois and Maryland did this year, and with even one loss there's very little you can do to vault over the people who were voted ahead of you back before you strapped it on. Damn, I hate the idea of a playoff. But if ever there was a year that called for taking the top eight teams, and getting it on, this is it. Sorry, Cornhuskers. *********** From California, head coach only two years, made the playoff each year. My first year I used the wing-t & dbl-wing, finished fourth averaging 18 points a game. My second year we finished second, runner-up, averaging 28 points a game using only the dbl-wing. Thanks to your system. Coach Chauncey Baine, Vacaville Jr. Bulldogs (11-14) Vacaville, California
I told him that when the Lord came for me, I would ask only that He wait until the Thanksgiving weekend is over - for a college football lover, it is a feast. And so, to re-validate his football credentials, after just having missed a Thanksgiving's worth of football - TO GO TO DISNEYLAND! - he related a Thanksgiving-and-football story:. The only time I've ever been hospitalized was when I was within a year of getting out of the Marine Corps..I was a Sergeant, and knowing it was my "last ball", I got a little "fired up" at the Marine Corps ball (10NOV) --- without going into the details, I'll just tell you I ended up with pneumonia and got placed in an Air Force(zoomie) hospital over Thanksgiving '83.
*********** Coach, I just got around to reading Friday's news. Every time I read about another #$@%&$, that says, "but it won't work at this level," it just makes my blood boil. I would pay any HS the wages of a coach for a year just to let me try it. Then I would be happy. If I couldn't make it work, I would still be happy because at least I had a chance. Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey
"Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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***********
As Mississippi State lined up in a stack-I on
the goal line, Lee Corso said, "See that
I-formation? I played that in 1953 at Florida
State." Okay, let's see who's been reading this
page faithfully and paying attention: who
was his coach? WHO'S BEEN PAYING
ATTENTION??? In 1953, the FSU hired Tom Nugent
as head football coach. In his second season at
FSU, Nugent took the team to the Sun Bowl in El
Paso, Texas -- the first time any Florida
football team was invited to an out-of-state
bowl game. One of the Seminole players was Buddy
Reynolds, a freshmen from West Palm Beach, who
is now better known as film and television star,
Burt Reynolds. Nugent led the Seminoles to one
of their best seasons in 1958, ending with a 7-3
record, beating Tennessee 10-0, FSU's first win
against an SEC team. 1958 also marked the first
time the FSU Seminoles played the University of
Florida Gators, inaugurating one of the greatest
rivalries in collegiate sports. To round out the
year, the Seminoles made their first appearance
on national television during the Bluegrass Bowl
in Lexington,Kentucky, an indication of the
remarkable growth of the FSU football program.
Adam Wesoloski, Menominee, Michigan... Also Greg
Stout, Thompson's Station, Tennessee... Also
Kevin McCullough, Culver, Indiana - i finally
read the rest of mondays "news".....i remember
that coach tom nugent used the the stack "i" at
maryland.....i don't remember if he was at
florida state.....on some of the video games
that you can pick your own formations to use
they refer to the stack as the maryland "i"...
(In the photo at left, Maryland coach Tom
Nugent poses with his team captain on the cover
of the 1965 Maryland media guide. Inside the
guide it says, "'The Father of the I Formation'
is experiencing the busiest year of his life.
Because of the suddenly-rapid spread of the
formation he originated at Virginia Military
Institute in 1949, 'Dr.' Nugent is spending
almost as much time answering queries, sending
diagrams and giving lectures on the 'I' as he is
in preparing for what could be his winningest
season at Maryland. It's beginning to look as if
every coach in the country wants to learn about
Nugent's 'I'." Lee Corso, who'd played QB under
Coach Nugent at Florida State was a young
assistant on that Maryland staff. Now, here's a
real dose of trivia for you: the captain in the
photo is a fullback from Old Forge,
Pennsylvania, a guy named Walt "Whitey"
Marciniak. You may have heard of his daughter,
Michelle. Pretty fair basketball
player.)
It is too bad he can't be alive to enjoy this football season, because he sure would be proud of the year his two favorite teams are having. He was a midwestern big-city boy and attended his home-state's university a Big Ten school where he played football, basketball and baseball. He played in the Rose Bowl, but not as a member of his college team; instead, he played in one of the two Rose Bowl games not played between college teams. After graduation from college, he played a season of baseball for the New York Yankees, and in the off-season played semi-pro football for a team in Hammond, Indiana. There he was approached by a representative of a large corn starch manufacturer looking for someone to play on the company's baseball team and start a company football team. (The owner thought it would be good for PR and good for the workers' morale.) He bought uniforms in the same colors as his college, and became the team's player-coach. When after a year of operation the owner decided against continuing to cover the team's losses and offered to turn it over to him, he took over its operation, moved it to his hometown, and somehow managed to survive financially. The team - and, in order to help his team survive, the overall welfare of professional football - would become his life's work. His inspiration was something he remembered his college coach, Bob Zuppke, saying at his college team's annual banquet his senior year: "Just when I teach you fellows how to play football, you graduate and I lose you." Those words, he would write years later, "were to govern the rest of my life."
My best wishes to coaches Mike Emery of Fitch and John DeCaprio, both of them good coaches and good men. *********** So close, so close... "Driscoll played in the 4A state finals last night. They went into two overtimes and won 42-41 over Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Driscoll went ahead 42-35 and Mt. Carmel scored to make it 42-41. Mt.Carmel went for two and they didn't get it. So, Driscoll wins. This is the second time in my short coaching career that I have coached against and beaten the state champion. When I was at Waukegan, we beat Maine South 6-0." Jon McLaughlin, Rich Central HS, Olympia Fields, Illinois *********** So close, so close... Woodbury, Minnesota, was 8-3 this past year, Paul Herzog's first at the controls. Two of Woodbury's losses, by 21-20 in the regular season and 35-20 in the state playoffs, were to Hastings, which won the 5A state title this past weekend. ***********It sure is nice to be appreciated... Bill Hargis, the Mayor of Woodbury, Minnesota, is a real supporter of its football programs, top to bottom. Sunday night, he took the entire high school football staff - some 15 coaches - to dinner and then to the Vikings-Bears game in the MetroDome. Bill is the real deal - he serves as a volunteer assistant on Coach Paul Herzog's staff.
Grrrr... They are full of $#@%, people who don't bother to read the rule book carefully, but don't let that keep them from popping off. Or, sometimes, officiating games. The rule book says this: (Rule 7 Section 2 Article 7) "Only one A (offensive) player may be in motion at the snap and then only if such motion is not toward the opponent's goal line." And that's it. Period. That's all it says. There is nothing in there about depth of motion, or speed of motion, or duration of motion, or (except as covered in the rule) direction of motion. What is not prohibited is therefore allowed. Don't let any genius try to tell you otherwise. What those people read - just not very carefully - most likely was this: "the player in motion shall be at least 5 yards behind his line of scrimmage at the snap if he started from any position not clearly behind the line and did not establish himself as a back by stopping for at least one full second while no part of his body is breaking the vertical plane through the waistline of his nearest teammate who is on the line of scrimmage."
*********** WHOA! AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE: "If you are ever in the Denver area you will be welcome to spend some time with me in a patrol car in Englewood!! It would be fun. Have a good Thanksgiving week." Coach Tim Mitchell, Englewood, Colorado (Hope it doesn't get Officer/Coach Mitchell in trouble with anybody, but next time I'm in Denver, I'm there!) *********** You know Hugh my older brother is a Pipe Fitter (sprinkler heads) over in the Tri-Cities and he has been doing this work for some time now. He is one of the company's top foremen in the state. The other week his boss called him in and told him to take it easy on some of the apprentices for being late??????!!!!! My brother is the kind of guy that does his work and does it right. He is a perfectionist. When he tells his workers that work starts at 6:00 am he means it. Not 6:01. He called me and told me that he got called on the carpet for yelling at his workers and not to do it any more. He's pretty frustrated. I told him that he should try teaching and coaching. Ha. Ha. How about the old steel workers back in Pennsylvania. I wonder if they ever got after their workers for being late? Art Osmundson, Ridgefield, Washington *********** My Kinda Musician... Charlie Daniels' record "This Ain't No Rag It's a Flag" is said to be getting a lot of requests for play around the country. It is also putting Mr. Daniels at the top of the Diversity Gang's Most Wanted list, because he makes a reference in there to wearing a rag on one's head. He's referring, of course, to Osama the Bad Guy, but that doesn't matter, because this is America and he is making some people feel bad, which as we all know is now a capital offense. Mr. Daniels doesn't seem to care. Take a look at his web site < www.charliedaniels.com > and click on "Charlie's Soapbox." The man ain't afraid to say what's on his mind. For example, in an essay entitled "The Enemy Within," he takes aim (only figuratively, I think) at the mainstream news media, "These puffed up chowder heads," "overeducated cabbage heads" "self aggrandizing pimple brains", as he calls them, who "know as much about fighting a war as a hog knows about an airplane." "You live in an intellectually incestuous world," he tells them. "You never see anybody except each other and you wouldn't know a sledge hammer from a plowshare much less the people who work with them." And as for the peace marchers: "When I see one of you draft card burning love and peace flower children spouting off about what we are doing in Afghanistan or criticizing our government for their efforts on the home front I'd like to pick you up by the nap of your soft neck and shake you like a bulldog shakes a rat." (My italics. HW) He seems to have a bit more faith in Mr. Bush's being able to stand up to the news media than he did in Slick Willie Clinton: "That ole boy from Texas ain't going to give in to your incessant needling. He's made of stouter stuff than the last poll propelled draft dodger who disgraced the Oval Office." Like I say, My Kinda Musician. *********** THE TRIUMPH OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL OVER EVIL: The BCS may suck - in fact, it does - but at least the BCS has people talking college football. Boy, that must really gall the NFL! There was more exciting football this past weekend - and more surprise performances - than you'll see in a year of that NFL dreck.
"Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson
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*********** Coach, Just how good were the Oklahoma Sooners under Bud Wilkinson when they had TWO, 1000 yard rushers in the same backfield? Generally playing nine or ten games (not the present eleven), can be challenging enough for anyone to gain 1000 yards as a player would have to average at or better than 100 yards per game along with a teammate who is doing the same. In addition, (a) by not having the clock stop following each first down, (b) not having one or both teams passing at least 25 to 30 times in a game (by today's standards, that would be from a team that is considered truly ground oriented), and (c) not having extra "breaks" due to TV or radio time outs, the games went by VERY quickly. That, in itself, would limit how many possessions one team could have. Thus, fewer possessions means fewer carries for each player. I am amazed at what Oklahoma was able to accomplish during Coach Wilkinson's era. I know that the Big Eight was often referred to as "Oklahoma and the Seven Dwarfs" but those other seven teams also had some outstanding players and coaches. When you factor in the familiarity issue of Oklahoma not traveling coast-to-coast three to four times yearly to play their non-conference games (thus having a number of their non-league opponents somewhat familiar with the Sooner attack as well as the rest of the Big Eight conference) and always meeting Texas as one, non-league opponent annually, I feel their achievements are even more outstanding. By any chance, do you know who the quarterback was during the time Vessels and McPhail were there rolling up such huge numbers? Keep up the great work and Happy Thanksgiving! ! ! Mike O'Donnell, Pine City, Minnesota Well put. It was different football then. You might have added that the quarterbacks still called the offensive plays. (There were still rigid restrictions against "coaching from the sidelines.") The quarterback in 1950, his sophomore year, was Claude Arnold. In 1952, the year he won the Heisman, four Sooners made All-America: Vessels, center Tom Catlin, fullback Buck McPhail, and quarterback Eddie Crowder, who would go on to be an outstanding coach at Colorado. The other halfback was Buddy Leake. Undergraduates on that team who earned national recognition were guard J.D. Roberts end Max Boydston, and center Kurt Burris.
*********** CALIFORNIA TITLE FOR DOUBLE-WING TEAM This came to me headlined, "The results of taking a chance" - Division 1 Title Game: Lassen Grizzlies 20, Enterprise Hornets 17
*********** Gee Coach, I did catch the Jackson State-Alcorn game on BET last sad'dee (I think it was tape delayed, not sure though). Pretty good game, but the thing that caught my eye was the Jackson State kicker who toes it up straight on! Sadly, the play-by-play guy, noting this unique fact, said the kicker, "had his Pete Gogolak shoes on." Hah? Also watched the SMU-Tulsa game earlier that day. WORST football game I have ever seen. Both squads are polluted with ineptitude. Not surprisingly, Mustang Coach Mike Cavan got the axe on Monday despite beating Tulsa. In reference to Coach Barnes' note on Mesquite's Skeeters; we Texans are lucky to have a TV show which airs every Friday night at midnight on Fox SW called "High School Extra Live." The show serves up a terrific helping of highlights of high school football action from all corners of the state. Amid the parade of crazy uniforms wacked-out player and mascot nicknames of last Friday's show they gave us a snippet of the Plano East-Mesquite contest. What caught my eye was a split-second fan shot of this massive bald guy holding up an equally massive neon sign that blinked "SKEETERS." Yeah, they love their ball up there. Oh, yeah, The Baytown Robert E. Lee Ganders took out the Clear Creek Wildcats 38-28 for Bi-District down here at Baytown's Stallworth Stadium. Heading to East Texas for my Mother-in-Law's good cooking. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, we love it down here as well, why do you think Stallworth Stadium holds 14,000? East Texas may have SOME of the best talent in the state (Houston area has the best, I believe) but West Texas (Wichita Falls, Odessa, Midland and them fellers) is where the best football is played. Kids out there as tough as the back end of a shootin' gallery! Speaking of which, get a good look at Midland Lee's Cedric Benson when he chops up the Aggies this Friday Whit Snyder, Baytown, Texas ********** Last Friday we (Santa Margarita High School - Southern California), played Rialto in the opening round of the Division I playoffs - Markham is there now after coaching at Luezinger... I attended one of your clinics a few years ago in San Jose - We used the D.W. that year for our goaline offense - still use it now - just in Goaline situations...anyway Markham prior to the game bad mouthed his kids in a local paper, saying many were lazy, not committed, ect. .... 4 of his starters were out due to grades..... all seemed lost, but we know the double wing, having played Tustin High the last 5 years. They run the D.W. full time, and featured Deshaun Foster - (UCLA), a few years ago......anyhow....... game night, Markham brings his kids in a scores on an 80 run, on the opening play!! We score, they score, we score, ect..... they start to wear down due to 7, 2 way guys... Final score 44-30... We won. This is division I football, and Markham is doing well. He went 7-3 this year, against some good teams. How long he lasts with questionable kids remains to be seen. It will be interesting... Jerry Holloway, Rancho Santa Margarita, California
*********** EGG BOWL!!! I would hate to live in Mississippi. No problem, really - it's got everything I like about the South. Good people, good football and good food. But I'm sorry - I just couldn't come down on one side or the other. I like Ole Miss and I like Mississippi State, and I find myself watching a rooting for both of them
*********** "Numbers were low but the principal was very honest about that when they hired me. The biggest reason is that football cannot be made easy and there is no instant gratification. There is also a concept that I brought in about being at practice every day if you wanted to be part of the team." Arnold Wardwell, Umatilla, Oregon *********** "I listened to Chuck Knox talk a couple of weeks ago, and he made a very good impression on me. He said offensive line stance is only important in regards to what you are trying to do with your offense. If what you are trying to do is pour off the ball, you are very foolish to have your lineman in a balanced stance. If what you are doing relates 50% to drop-back pass and 50% to the run, you have to get a balance. If your offense is 80% pass, get them in a pass offense set." Jim Sweeney, legendary coach out in these parts (Montana State, Washington State, Fresno State) *********** On another matter which concerns me greatly, a friend of mine was fired as head coach at West High in Salt Lake City, this week. Sam Aloia is one of the best coaches and leaders of young men I have ever met. West High is in an area of the city which for the most part is underprivileged. The students are mainly minorities and there are some pretty talented athletes. Sam took over the program 4 years ago and his win loss record has not been great. But Sam does it right. He told the team right up front that school was more important than football. If a player was missing class or not doing well in school, he benched them. He held a study hall every morning at 6:00 a.m. with the team, and helped them with their studies. Sam has played and coached a lot of football. He was a stellar player at Arizona State; was the offensive line coach at Weber State; and was the defensive coordinator at Highland High in Salt Lake, which is a power-house program. He can flat out coach! He can flat out get his kids to graduate too! His team this year only won 1 game in the toughest region in the state. Consider this; one of his players committed suicide in the summer; his star running back's mom died a week before the season started; his captain, a big stud who could be a division 1 player, went down in the second game of the season with a spine injury and is now a paraplegic. Several players quit after that injury, some forced by their parents. How is a team going to win with all of these factors? The principal said that she wants a winning program. Everybody wants a winning program and no one more than Sam. He will coach again somewhere. I think it is a loss to West High that he will not be coaching there. He was asked to resign, but went to the team and they begged him not to. He said, "I am doing the right thing, if you want to fire me for my record, then do so". He was fired. He will land on his feet because Sam knows he is doing the right thing. Vince Lombardi was misquoted according to his daughter. He is commonly quoted as saying "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing". His daughter says that what he really said or meant was "Winning isn't everything, but trying to win is". The distinction is significant to me and I hope to other coaches in the country. Al Andrus, Salt Lake City (Don't feel bad for Sam. He was in the sort of situation that every coach dreads - it is difficult to win, and yet the administration doesn't appreciate all the things you do for the kids. Screw them. He will wind up in a place were he will be appreciated. HW) *********** A very successful middle-school coach (he runs the Double-Wing) wrote and told me that he'd approached the offensive coordinator - a push-and-grab, zone block kind of guy - about running the Double-Wing at the high school. He and the Double-Wing were dismissed with a condescending "it won't work at this level." Now, it is one thing to say, "I prefer what we are already doing, and here's why..." But it is another thing entirely to answer in a patronizing way that lets the world know how ignorant and close-minded you are. I would fire any offensive coordinator who wasn't able to defend what he was doing with an answer better than that. "Up here?" "At this level?" Where does he think he is? He gives himself away by revealing that he doesn't know what is happening around the country at far bigger programs than the one he's coaching at. WAIT TILL HE FINDS THIS IN HIS
STOCKING! JUST THE THING FOR THE FOOTBALL FAN ON YOUR
LIST-- A life-size, 6-foot-tall statue of a
football player, "carrying the mail" --- paint it
in the colors of his favorite team! only $4995 (shipping not included) http://www.manateemailbox.com/mail5.html allow 2-6 weeks for delivery --- *********** Coach I wanted to let you know how we finished up this season. Rock Creek ended the season with an 8-1 overall and 7-1 league record, our one loss was a 21-20 decision that kept us out of the playoffs. We didn't have any superstars this season just alot of blue collar type of guys that did their job and had success. We rushed the ball 472 times for 2609 yds. and 32 td's, we passed 19-47 for 355yds. 7td's and 2 int. This was a true tough 5 yards type of team and a ball control group. We avg. 58 possessions per game to our opponents 45, and we avg.5.5yds. per carry. The thing that still amazes me is people are still asking why we don't pass the ball more or spread the field, my response to all of the critics is that since putting in the DBL Wing our record is 19-2. Thanks for all of your help and I am looking forward to a DBL Wing clinic this winter so we can all talk some real football. Mike Beam Rock Creek H.S., St. George, Kansas (Coach Beam, like so many Double-Wing coaches, is moving the ball and winning games, but still having to wage a propaganda war - in the same way President Bush was supposedly losing the propaganda war against Osama. I could care less about the propaganda war. "When you have them by the (stones), their hearts and minds will follow.") *********** Coach Wyatt, I don't bother you much but if you think about it, or were to see me then you would know me since I have been to your clinic and talk to you a time or two over the phone. I want you to know that for the past two years I have been not only a double wing purist, but also a Hugh Wyatt purist in the sense that the only plays I run are the ones you have in your playbook and the only changes I have made have been minor to adapt to the talent that I have to deal with. I wondered if you would be interested in see a copy of the highlight video I put together for this 2001 season of my 11 year olds. I think you would be very impressed and perhaps proud of how well a young team can run your system. We ended up 7 and 2, one overtime loss and one loss in the semifinals to go to the championship. We were a real scoring machine putting nearly 300 point on the board during the season (297 to be exact). We could have scored many, many more but in an effort not to run the score up on most games my star running back that could play both "B" and "C" back would not play offense in the second half. There was a stretch of 3 games where in the 10 total times he run the ball 8 of them were touchdowns. Brent Burk, Kaysville, Utah ************ Hey Coach, Our season just ended and I wanted to let you know how things went. We finished 8-3!! Better than we expected with our young team.Since we won't be in a district until next season we are not eligible for the playoffs this season. We finished the season with a 4 game winning streak and beat every team that will be in our district next season. We rushed for over 300 yards per game in our last four games. Our senior QB rushed for over 1000 yards and was 80 yards short of breaking the school single season rushing record. Our A-Back and B-Back (Both freshman) averaged over 7 yards a carry! The only player we lose from our offense is our QB. We have some excellent players who are transferring in and we are very excited about next season. Our best running plays were the Power-Keeps and the 6-G Keep. We also had a lot of success running out of the Stack-I. On defense we were very happy with our new 4-2-5 defense we picked up at Delta State. Our D pitched three shut outs and played well in all but one game. Thanks again for all the help you have given us the past two seasons. I know it is early, but we are planning our off-season camp/clinic schedule and I would like to attend one of your DW coaches clinics. Please let me know when and where your clinic closest to Houston will be. Thank you so much for everything you have done to help us "keep wingin' it" ! Jim Hanley - Cypress Community Christian School, Houston, Texas *********** Coach Wyatt, Just thought I'd take a second to let you know how the Gorham Middle School season ended up. We finished the regular season 9-0 with 310 points scored and 0 allowed. We won our semi-final game 40-0 and even had a 13 year old kick a 31 yard field goal into the wind. We just played the championship game and won 33-18 but the other team's last 2 scores came against our weakest players late in the 4th quarter. Their coach was raving about our lack of sportsmanship for putting our starters back in rather than continue to let his starters pound our subs and try to get back into the game. That article you wrote about sportsmanship a while back was very good and its true, if I take my starters out, he should do it too. Its not fair for them to expect us to let them back into the game we practiced and coached to keep them out of. So, we finished the season 11-0 with 388 points for and 18 against and won Gorham's first championship. In the final game we had 504.5 yards of offense (432.5 rushing on 25 carries, 72 yards passing on 5 attempts). One final note, we designed a pitch back pass where the A back gets the pitch like an 88 Superpower and then pitches back to the QB who is set up and bombs it downfield to a wide open tight end. Its worked every time. The key is an O block on the left tackle, the B back blocks the left end and the A back blocks the right after the pitch. Anyway, thanks for your help with this amazing Offense. Mark Marquis Head Coach Gorham, Maine *********** Q. What do the movies Pretty Woman, Liar Liar, Blair Witch Project, The Story Of Us, Addicted To Love, American History X, Caddyshack, Eyes Wide Shut, Basic Instinct, Show Girls, Gross Pointe Blank, Primary Colors, Rounders, Payback, Election, Analyze This, Return Of The Dragon and Face Off have in common? A. They are the ones that Clean Cut Videos Club ("We edit out sex, nudity, violence and profanity") can't - or won't - edit, "because of theme, overall message, and number of edits in the movie." Clean Cut Videos (www.ecomallbiz.com/cleanflicks/door) will sell you a typical R-rated movie stripped of its R-ness - meaning all sex, nudity, profanity and violence. I really can't say what's left when they're done, but I do know that there are an awful lot of movies in which the sex, nudity, profanity and violence are gratuitous (unnecessary and uncalled-for by the plot) and often merely a blatant attempt to make the movie seem "cool." If you don't want to buy the video from them for $20, you can send them your copy of the video and they'll edit it for you for $12. Not surprisingly, Clean Cut Videos is headquartered in Utah. "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Billy Vessels was the first player
from Oklahoma to win the Heisman Trophy. A home-grown
Sooner, a native of Cleveland, Oklahoma, he was a star on
Oklahoma's first national championship team in 1950. In
1952, he and teammate Buck McPhail were the first pair of
players on the same team to rush for over 1,000 yards
each.
***********
What the Packers and Giants were wearing were supposed to
be "throwback" uniforms - like they wore in the "old
days," nyuck, nyuck. Lemme tell ya - there's not a
self-respecting Lion from the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's or
1960's still alive who would admit to ever going out on a
football field without wearing white sweat socks over
those blue stockings.
*********** WARE SHOALS ONE GAME AWAY FROM SOUTH CAROLINA STATE FINAL! Ware Shoals coach Jet Turner went for it all in first overtime and for that, the Hornets are in the Upper State finals next week. The winner plays a week later for the state championship. Tied 14-14 at the end of regulation, Great Falls scored first in overtime to take the lead, 21-14, but then Mario Evans took over. Evans, who had already thrown a touchdown pass, scored from the four to bring Ware Shoals within a point of sending the teams into a second overtime, but Coach decided to put the ball in Evans' hands again, and he took it in for the win. Ware Shoals is now 12-1. Fan Jody Hagins writes, "They will play perennial state powerhouse Ninety Six this Friday in the semifinals. While the two teams are in separate conferences, they play each year, and Ware Shoals has been on the losing end for quite some time. In fact, Ware Shoals' only loss this year was at the hands of Ninety Six, which is a perennial powerhouse, and handed Ware Shoals their only defeat of the season earlier in the year (34-14)." You would have to understand where the Ware Shoals program was when coach Turner and his right-hand man, line coach Jeff Murdock, took over to appreciate the significance of this achievement. And through it all, they have remained steadfast in their belief in the Double-Wing. *********** GLENELG, MARYLAND HIGH FINISHES REGULAR SEASON UNBEATEN: Coach, In our second year of running the double wing we had an undefeated regular season and won the Howard County Championship for the first time in 16 years. We also won the 2a west region in the state of Maryland. We finished 10-1, had two 1,000 yard rushers, averaged 316 yards per game and 33.4 points per game. Can't wait to see what is next! Coach John Davis, Glenelg High School, Glenelg, Md. *********** ALABAMA PLAYOFF UPDATE: "Thought you'd like some more info on our two DW teams that are still in the AL playoffs. "Wilcox Central is 12-0 having won the first two rounds in the playoffs. The Jaguars won 25-20 last Friday night over Eufaula. For the season Wilcox has scored 467 points in 12 games and has 7 shutouts. "Eric Packer - A back has 2400 yards and 26 TD's. Shedric Spencer -C back has 1400 yards and 18 TD's. Wilcox is coached by John Moton and he is a DW fanatic! They play in Birmingham this Friday against Briarwood Christian. "In Columbia, Coach Chip Harris has his Houston County High (2A) team @ 12-0 as well. They are averaging over 10 yards per carry as a team! A back-sometimes B back Kevin Buze has 1420 yards in 12 games, and Norris Drinkard - C back, has 1825 yards and 34 TD's!!! Houston County has been ranked #2 in the state for most of the year and has won both of their playoff games rather easily scoring 43 points in game one and 42 points in the second. "This Friday they travel to Lineville to play in the quarter final round! "These numbers have been established in spite of the fact that all of us in Alabama are also seeing the 'cutting' of our G's and FB.
*********** "Coach Wyatt, Thanks for sending the Black Lion Award. The player was very appreciative. It is an excellent award and really relates football to real life. Just a reminder, I bought your video and playbook before the season started last July. I am a first year coach for a 3rd grade team. I installed the system and it worked pretty good. I only had two coaches so it was difficult at time to really troubleshoot the problems but we worked through them. We finished the season in the league championship game. We lost the game 12-6. My team finished the season 11-4-0 in a league of 21 teams. Statistically, we scored 275 points, 43 TDs, had 2,676 yards rushing (7.2 yard average), completed 3-7 passes for 148 yards & 1 TD. My A Back had 1400 yards (12 yard average), C Back 700 yards (10 yard average), and B back 219 yards (3.3 yard average). Most of our scores were on 88s, 99s, 38 reach. We ran out of the tight, stack I, wings left, wings right, and unbalanced left & right formations. The unbalanced formations were particularly good against some teams that simply never adjusted. 99% of my players had never played football before. We typically play against teams that have much bigger kids than ours. Our line size is small compared to the rest of the league. We want to improve our blocking next year. Would you recommend a video that will help us work on interior line blocking technique, fin a way to successfully run-block up the middle against bigger defenders? Our defense was excellent last year -- we recorded 9 shutouts. However, I am planning to buy your tackling video. I want to have the best tackling team in the league." Sam Cazzell, Dayton, Ohio *********** NATIONAL FIELD GOAL LEAGUE REPORT --- It was a great weekend for kickers, but not so great for people who prefer that football be played by football players. (Next time you get to watch an NFL field goal attempt from behind, take a careful look at the illegal formations they're letting these guys get away with: every single man on the offensive line has his inside foot locked inside the foot of the man to his inside. No wonder nobody ever gets through. They're all doing it. Just what the NFL needs - something else to make a field goal even more of a sure thing.)
*********** Or is it NO FUNDAMENTALS LEAGUE? The Bears almost blew their game against Tampa Bay Sunday because a pro running back broke the first rule you teach kids in taking a handoff: open wide and don't close over the ball until you feel it on your belly. He grabbed too soon and the resulting fumble - and Tampa Bay drive - led to what could have been a game-winning field goal. Fortunately for the Bears, Martin Gramatica missed. *********** What's with CBS that on their NFL player-intro graphics they no longer show the player's college? Just one more way, in my opinion, that the NFL chooses to portray itself to the yokels as the only football there is. *********** REFLECTIONS ON THE MONDAY NIGHT GAME
*********** Coach, I can tell you it would be close to impossible to break up our three divisions to separate age groups. Our 89ers (2nd, 3rd, 4th grade), Juniors (5th, 6th grade), and Seniors (7th, 8th grade) would not have enough kids to go around. There are several problems. The first being the lack of facilities to use and coaches to staff the teams. With our five teams we are always in a struggle with someone to keep those assets. The assistant principle at the school where we play has told us we're not welcome there next year and he'll do what ever he can to refuse us use of the field. He claims we interfere with after school activities and clash with the local soccer program. Excuse me, we are an after school activity. This guy has really declared war on us. We will win this argument. This other fact is probably the biggest reason. I've not encountered any youth football organization that can agree on the color of their team socks let alone a playing format. The three biggest leagues around here are in a constant battle to keep kids, coaches, and volunteers in their programs. All of these leagues have different playing rules, weights and personalities. I'm working to get these folks to the table to organize a year end state tournament for our senior division kids. It's like the Paris peace talks! I'll keep you posted. I'd like to offer you a job. A job I think you might be very good at if you have the stones, "Washington State Commissioner of Jr. Football". Your job is to standardize all the rules and playing divisions and certify all coaches who participate. There's no pay check and the standard issue shirt you wear at all WSCJF functions is one with a "bulls eye" on the front and "Just Kick Me" on the back. Glade Hall, Seattle (That somehow doesn't sound like a job for me, even if there were pay involved. I am not by nature one who pours oil on troubled waters. I tend to be a combatant myself. And although I admire someone who suffers fools gladly, I can't say I do so myself. HW) *********** (Regarding my wondering whether Washington State was the only team that actually wore two different game helmets.) "I am sure that I have seen Mississippi State wearing maroon on television this year along with the white helmets in other games. I first saw the whites last year in their bowl game." Mike O'Donnell, Pine City, Minnesota *********** Once again, I tuned in BET, looking for the Black College Game of the Week - I think it was supposed to be Alcorn State at Jackson State. Once again, I got the "Top 25 Countdown" instead. You ever seen that stuff? Do you let your kids watch it? Damn! You watch five minutes of that crud and you have to go take a shower. This, of course, is just an example of what we're all fighting to defend. We wouldn't want the Taliban in control of our country, depriving our women of their precious freedom to grind their bums against guys' groins on TV, now, would we? *********** I'm not sure how this played out at Navy, and perhaps it was all done with the blessing of Charlie Weatherbie, but I wasn't comfortable seeing Rick Lantz, who had been Coach Weatherbie's defensive coordinator, on the Navy sidelines, serving as "interim head coach." (Coach Weatherbie having already been fired and removed from the program.) Perhaps Coach Weatherbie preferred that things work this way, so that Coach Lantz might enhance his chances of being hired as the next head coach. If so, fine. Because otherwise, it says something about a guy's loyalty to his boss anytime he accepts the "interim" position, which lets the higher-ups feel safer about getting rid of the boss. *********** Fourth and two and teams at all levels are lining up in empty sets (no running back behind the QB) or one-man shotguns, and running "all hook." Reminds me of playing touch in PE class - three completions for a first down. *********** Brian Dennehy? Playing Bobby Knight? As coach Knight might say, "are you outta your no f--king mind?" *********** I've heard teams shout "The Fourth Quarter Belongs to Us!" but this team means it.... In an Oregon Class 1A (8-man) semi-final: St. Paul 72, Powder Valley 34. Halftime score: Powder Valley 28, St. Paul 22; Score after three quarters: Powder Valley 34, St. Paul 30. ST. PAUL OUTSCORED POWDER VALLEY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER, 42-0!
*********** Hard to have confidence in an airline that starts out its e-mail to you, "Deat E-Savers Subscriber." *********** Hello Hugh.... Saw the results of the IHSA 4A Finals this past weekend. It seems the Driscoll team has made it to Champaign with an 11-1 record. And who do you think that one loss was to??? Your adopted Rich Central Olympians!!! Isn't that something?!?!?!? Rgds, Coach John Urbaniak, Hanover Park, Illinois (Damn! Why couldn't it have been RC? HW) *********** Hey Coach, I wanted to give you some feedback regarding the Chariho team. (Chariho is the Rhode Island team, defending New England champs, that play this weekend for their second straight New England Pop Warner championship. HW) I play in the League with the Bridgeport team that Chariho defeated this weekend. They are usually very fast, very aggressive,huge for their age and everybody in our league knows that the league titles run through Bridgeport on the Division 1 level. For them to beat them is a large testament to how good this offense is. The other team that lost to Chariho, Waterbury Knights is the team from my town that ( I'm sure I told you gets all the talented players in town). They are well coached and generally the best team in their league. To beat them soundly is really interesting and I can't wait to tell our coaches about it. To add to the good news, our Midgets ran your offense and won the Division 2 League title.They went 6-2 in the regular season and beat the defending 2000 New England Regional Champions for the league title. We beat Newtown in the quarter finals 33-0 and advanced to the State Title game. It is unfortunate that we lost 12-7 to Newington but we had a really good season and it proved to everybody in our organization how good this offense is when players,coaches,and a solid system come together. Frank Hackney, Waterbury, Connecticut *********** Coach, Millersville Wolverines 33 - Southern AA Bulldogs 18 - I am pleased to report that we will be playing in our County's Championship Game this Thanksgiving Weekend. You would have been proud of my boys in this game. Last week, we struggled because of faulty play calling on my part, when a defensive line stands up. Well, regardless of how Southern was going to play us, we had planned on running 2-Wedge on first sound. On the third play from scrimmage we gave up a quick score, but stopped the extra point attempt. When we broke the huddle, Southern was in the upright stance - we ran the wedge and it went for about 12 yards in the "RUGBY SCRUM" as I heard someone describing it. The funny part was just when you thought the referee was about to blow the whistle, our B-Back (who ended the day with 3 scores) broke out of the pack and ended up turning the wedge into a 66-yard play. Needless to say, by the end of the day, Southern had seen enough of the wedge, and got a good dose of the DW. We ended the day with 396 yards of offense. We had a 55-yard 47-C called back for illegal motion. Just a few numbers from the game, A-Back 13 carries 174, B-Back 11 carries 101 yards 3tds, C-Back 5 carries 100 yards 1 td. I wanted to thank you for you continued support throughout the season. Regardless of the outcome of the championship game we had a great season. We were able to take a team that went 0-9 without scoring a touchdown last year and turn things around and go 11-0 with the chance to win the county championship. This is definitely a DW success story. I cannot tell you how many times, walking the sidelines, I heard all teams have to do is "shut the "toss play down and we're done!" "The line is too tight,"" your fullback is entirely too close,""those kids cannot pull and trap," "this offense is too complex for kids that age." To my parents' credit, not once did they question why we run this offense, all they were concerned about was their kids being taught the fundamentals and their safety. One thing I truly learned - when the offense has been taught correctly, and executed correctly you cannot shut it down. Something is always there. I will keep you posted on the Championship Game! Thanks again Coach! Jason Clark, Millersville, Maryland *********** Hi Coach - I wanted to let you know that we are 10-1 and playing in the N.H. Senior Football League Championship on Sunday.We lost in week four to our opponents the Soughegan Valley Sabres 70-24.We were tackling safe but not sure.Offensively we have been strong all season rushing for 250-350 yards a game.We have a 6'1" 220 lb. A back and our C back ran for 193 yards on 28 carries last week in a 36-12 playoff win.We've stuck with our tackling technique and it has paid off big time.We have become very physical and have a good shot this week.Have you ever heard of a team coming back and beating a team they lost to by 46 points in the regular season? It makes me giggle just thinking about it.Our team is basically rebuilt every season with new kids.Our success this year is a testament to DW football and continuing to stress proper tackling.I'll let you know how we make out.Thanks for everything you've done for our program. Sincerely, John Trisciani, Manchester, New Hampshire Bears *********** FAQ: When and where will you be holding the ------- clinic? Could you send me an agenda? A. I haven't set a clinic schedule yet, but when I do I will publish it on the "Camps & Clinics" page. I work from an agenda but I have never published one and I don't plan to start now. That leaves me free to cover anything I wish relating to my Double-Wing system, and if I sense it is beneficial to the people in attendance, I will change my agenda on the spot. *********** They are prepping us for a remake of Brian's Song, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Brian Piccolo, and Michael Jackson as Gayle Sayers. Just kidding about the actors, but I do fear that, same as happens whenever they do a football movie, the actors just aren't going to look like football players. You know what I mean - a coupla pencilnecks. They should put them on weights and a special diet for at least a year before starting to shoot. Look how many pounds Robert DeNiro was willing to put on to play a convincing Jack LaMotta in "Raging Bull." I worry about this new version of the movie for more reason than that, though. I think most Americans now will likely see a warm friendship between two young guys, one black and one white, and not even think twice about it. But it was a very big deal back in the late 1960's, when few blacks and whites had much experience living together and dealing with each other as equals. It didn't hurt, either, that many people remembered the protagonists from their playing days. The white guy, Brian Piccolo, was a journeyman pro, and not particularly memorable (although he'd had an excellent college career), but the black guy, Gayle Sayers, was one of the most exciting runners the game has ever known. But the whole seemingly-improbable idea of the black guy and white guy becoming best buds was both intriguing and uplifting to an America that had known its share of racial tension as blacks demanded what was rightfully theirs. Throw in friendly, teasing banter between two likeable young guys, and then break our hearts by telling us that one of them is going to die of cancer, at the peak of his youth, and you had a story that touched people who didn't know a thing about football. . And it was mostly true. Come to think of it, maybe we could stand to watch it again, even though I just know Hollywood is going to blow it. But we've got to begin doing more to counter what the "honor diversity" and "multiculturalism" pimps have been doing to separate us into camps of hyphenated Americans. What may be hardest for most Americans to understand in the context of the professional athlete of today is that there once was a time (was it really that long ago?) when there were lots of guys like Brian Piccolo and Gayle Sayers in the NFL - when pro football players were actually likeable. If you want to read the real Brian Piccolo story (he was a "Legacy" question back on December 1, 2000) read "Brian Piccolo - a Short Season" by Jeannie Morris (wife of former Bear Johnny Morris). *********** You just have to love a guy who never forgets where he came from... "Who cares? I just don't follow college football." Deion Sanders, when asked his thoughts about last weekend's Florida-Florida State game. *********** "Just in time for the heavy Holiday Season traffic," Congress passed an airline safety bill. What horsesh--. Like I already feel safer. Except the problem on 911 wasn't airport security people letting people on planes with illegal weapons. Not a damn one of the terrorists got past airport security with a bomb, a gun, or a knife with a blade longer than four inches. But they did get into our country - and stay in our country - thanks to the failure of the INS and the FBI - employees of the federal government . The same federal government that asks us to trust it to get it right this time. To keep us safe, that same federal government proposes to hire 28,000 security personnel within the next year. Nobody has mentioned how tough that's going to be, but Sunday night on "60 Minutes," a federal official explained that the failure of our INS to protect our borders had a lot to do with the fact that they had had to go out and hire 1,000 new border agents in the last year, and how difficult that was. And then you multiply that 1,000 by 28, and you go, "hmmmm." How much you wanna bet they'll take the very same minimum-wage people now working security and just make them federal employees? *********** Coach Wyatt, we won 40-6 Friday night over Jones Senior, another DW team. The game was called with 5 minutes left to play due to their unsportsmanlike behavior. I have never played a team with less class, they were kicking our pylons off the field, taking their helmets off and baiting our kids to fight, and to top it all off, they ripped a row of lockers off our walls when the game was over. My chain people were telling me last night that the coach was telling them who to go after and what to do on the field. I watched the tape again, and I will send you a copy if you would like. They started going after our kids as early as the 2nd quarter. A kid came up and threw an elbow at the back of the head of our TE. If I would have seen it I am sure I would have gone through the roof. Probably better I was watching the play instead of what was happening behind it. The second play of the game one of their guards blocked my big DT and the tackle cut him, resulting in him having a minor ankle injury. As a matter of fact I think I will send you a copy of this game for you to see. Now we play Perquimans, and the leading rusher in the state. It will be a great challenge and a test for our defense. Chris Davidson, Columbia, North Carolina (While American bleeding hearts cry out about "atrocities" in Kabul, the fact is that the leaders of the Northern Alliance have exercized more control over their troops than certain high school "coaches" have over the young men they're supposed to be leading. I don't know where he got his Double-Wing, but he sure ain't a member of our fraternity. HW) *********** You lameass relatives of Chris Chandler's teammates - you, the ones who cheered when he was injured and then harassed his wife when she stood up to your sorry asses - too bad you weren't in the stands at Lambeau Field Sunday. You'd have seen how important the quarterback you despise is to your relatives' team - if you care about things like that. And, more important, you'd have seen how real fans act. *********** "Went to see my Mesquite Skeeters play round one at Landry (Texas) Stadium Friday night -- my boys romped Plano East 16-3, but it wasn't that close. "Anyway..good football if you are a Skeeter fan! oh yeah..they had over 19,000 people in attendance! that sounds like a lot, but there was 21,300 that showed up for the Mesquite - N. Mesquite game during the regular season...think they like football in Mesquite!? Hell, we didn't have 21,300 people IN Mesquite when I lived there! "But ask most in Texas and they'll tell ya that it starts early in Mesquite -- Their PeeWee football program is probably one of the top in the country -- it's the program my nephews came up through, and it is the real deal... wonder why the High Schools have so much success in Mesquite? -- could it be that the dumb ass youth football guys who don't really know about things like "hydration" (thanks, coach Fisher) might actually be capable of teaching the boys some real football skills? hmmm..ya think?? "Anyway..didn't mean to go on that tangent! have a wonderful turkey day - go Huskers!" Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson |
*********** NORTH CAROLINA PLAYOFF: Columbia 38, Jones Senior 0 -
*********** MISSISSIPPI PLAYOFF: We ended our season Friday night with a hard fought 14-7 loss to NE Jones. It was pretty much an old fashion defensive struggle. They did a great job against us. Our only score of the night came on a spectacular 82 yard punt return by Cory Jones in the 3rd quarter which tied the game at 7-7. We lost our starting right Tackle on the first play of the game with an MCL injury. The back-up was unable to handle their Defensive tackle. Our line has been decimated with injuries this year. I am proud of our team. We finished 7-5 and advanced to the second round of the state play-offs for the 3rd straight year. Over-all, 26 wins with the DW in 3 years.(previous 4 years 10-41) Cory Jones ended up with over 1600 yards rushing in 12 games. 1685 in 2000. Career total for Cory Jones with one year remaining. 3464 yards.48 Touchdowns. 7 punt returns for TD's. Listed as a top 20 prospect in MS (juniors). Can't wait for 2002! Steve Jones, Florence, Mississippi *********** OREGON PLAYOFF: "The Double wing," wrote sports reporter Jerry Ulmer of the Portland Oregonian, "was double trouble for No. 1 Jesuit on Friday night. The Crusaders gave up 385 rushing yards to Churchill's unorthodox, complex and mechanical offense but stemmed the tide in the second half and got another sensational performance from senior running back D. J. Jackson to win 49-26 in the second round of the Class 4A football playoffs." Jackson - you've heard me speak of him - rushed for 248 yards and five touchdowns on 34 carries, and threw a 63-yard touchdown pass as defending state champion Jesuit won its 25th game in a row. Churchill, which finished the season 7-3, came into the game as its league's second seed. "We were sort of outweighed and outsized," Churchill coach Jack Wigmore told Ulmer. "Jesuit is an awesome team. They can pretty much score any way they want." *********** VIRGINIA PLAYOFF: James Madison senior running back Tyler Lee scored from two yards out to give the Warhawks a thrilling 20-14 overtime victory over Edison High of Alexandria in the AAA Northern Region Division 5 semifinal in front of 2,500 in Vienna. Madison (8-2) advances to its first region final since 1996, hosting Mount Vernon on Friday night. "The other players tell me to put the ball in his hands," Coach Leib said of Lee. He obviously listened to his players, as Lee carried 29 times for 156 yards. Twenty eight of his carries - I have Coach Leib's word for this - were 88 super powers. Ryan Ginley added 101 yards on 11 carries, 10 of which were 99 super powers. Madison nearly put the game away in regulation. Tied, 14- 14 with 9 and a half minutes to play in the game, Madison used 19-plays and nine minutes in driving to the Edison five with 35 seconds remaining. Along the way, the Warhawks twice converted on third down and once on fourth. But with fourth-and-goal from the five, Madison was twice penalized for false starts, and wound up missing a 32-yard field goal. *********** Coach Wyatt: Hello again from Centennial High School in Coquitlam, BC. We've had an exciting and successful season thus far. In September we travelled to Los Angeles and got thumped by a very good Wing-T team from Costa Mesa. Since then we've been been on a winning track except for one loss to Holy Cross (we beat ourselves with mistakes) which cost us the conference title. We're now into the third week of the provincial playoffs and excited about our prospects. Last week we knocked off the #1 team in the province (also ranked #2 in the country) St. Thomas More 32-26. They have won the last two provincial championships and had been undefeated prior to our game. We won the game with goal-line stand in the final seconds. They shut down our G-O Reach but could not stop the Super Power, Trap and particularly the Wedge. We scored the winning TD on on 47 Lead Criss-Cross from 70 yds out. We also had success running 6-G out of Stack-I (balanced & unbalanced) with the A-back leading the B-back similar to an underneath ISO off Super Power action. Reg Bradshaw, our C-back (he was our A-back as a junior but I moved him over to C following your comments in the "Trouble-Shooting ..." tape) is having a phenomenal year, rushing for over 2800 yds in 10 games - a new provincial record. This week we face Vancouver College in the semis and are looking forward to a rematch with Holy Cross in the provincial finals. Last week I had a chance to meet and talk to Roger Kelly who coaches with the minor league Chargers in our area. I think you know about the success they have had with your scheme. Your playbook & tapes have been a great help to us this year - particularly the addition of G and Wedge to our inside running game and the use of 6/9 calls on Super-Power. I will keep you posted. Thanks, John Gould, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada *********** A DAY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON THE TUBE:
*********** Another great weekend for the Cowboys and the DW. My Jr Midgets played the Ct. State Champs Waterbury Knights today. The first half was close 12 - 6. They were bigger than us but we wore them right down in the 2nd half and cruised to a 44 - 6 victory. Super powers couldn't be stopped for less than 5 yds. a pop. Our Midget team also came away with a huge win beating the Bridgeport Raiders 14 - 12. That one was classic double wing. Chariho dominated the clock with long drives and kept Bridgeports offense off the field for most of the day. Next stop is the New England finals Vs. the Massachusetts Champions. I'll keep you posted! Ken Brierly, Carolina, Rhode Island *********** (In answer to Tom Hensch's question about whether it is better to have two teams - and 8-year-old and a 9-year-old team - or one combined 8-9 team.) Coach - I think it is MUCH better to have 8's, 9's, 10's etc..I've now Coached under both scenarios and I can tell you that there is a significant difference between a young 10 year old and an old 11 year old. There can literally be a 2 year spread, and at this age it's significant..hell, at Any age it's significant..don't see many 10th graders playing varsity, right? But it comes down to "pool size" -- if you have 30 kids on your 8/9 yr old team, and there are 12 teams in the league then you can certainly make a case that your "pool" is large enough to split..but if you only have 5 or 6 teams with 15 kids each, well...do the math. Of course, if something is important to you then it's worth working for -- if your league is that small, but you live in a town of say 20K residents..then maybe a recruiting effort is required..flyers at the schools, parking lots and grocery stores. We did that my last year in CO and enrollment into the HAWKS program increased by almost 60%. The real issue most areas face regarding team numbers is facilities..You can recruit Coaches and Kids, but you can't build new stadiums or fields. But if it's important to you......Again, The Hawks actually contracted with the school district for field use, and got baseball fields, soccer fields and well, just fields. They didn't have any real football fields until the Super Bowl where we mooched off a private Catholic High School. We(Coaches) had to go out on Sat a.m. (Coaches were "assigned" field duties) and stripe the field, lay out markers etc..then go pick everything up in the evening..but hey..we all had a field to play on. To me, it is all worth it to be able to have more kids play the Great Game, and keep the ages separated.
Q: Why do so many American children play soccer? A: So they don't have to watch it. Submitted by Larry Hanson, Sports Editor of the Rochelle, Illinois News-Leader "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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*********** "Clay Central, Fredericksburg's opponent in the Iowa state finals, beat Alta (double wing team), Galva-Holstein (double wing team), West Bend Mallard (double wing team) and Manning (double wing team). I know why they have....and now so does somebody else. Steve Staker (Fredericksburg coach) saw what I saw and dealt with for an entire ballgame...DE cutting the B Back and when we couldn't get that called, the guard kicking out (which also didn't get called). "They also tackled pullers all night long as well. Officials said they were "crabbing" but as all my coaches and FANS saw, they weren't crabbing they were "grabbing". I hope Fredericksburg kicks the crap out of them. "They have defeated DW teams all year because they cheat, and in my mind they do not deserve to be in the finals... I won't teach my kids unethical things. Any help you could give Steve I am sure he would appreciate. I won't cheer for a cheater, and the DW is a brotherhood, Go Freddy! "Steve's son is the real deal...tough kid, very smart, and did an excellent job singing the Anthem...I know Steve is very proud of him! Also Clay Central runs the quick huddle, and they are NEVER set for a full second (QB especially) but officials are too "reluctant" (I substituted "reluctant" for a much stronger word - HW) to call that penalty more than once or twice a game just like they are too "reluctant" to call tackling pullers or cutting kickout blocks!" AN IOWAN Obviously, I haven't seen this Clay Central team, but the word of a fellow Double-Winger whom I know and trust gets my attention. I have heard enough of what he describes - and seen enough of it myself - to give some credence to the charges. And if, in fact, this is how they are "stopping" Double-Wing teams - if they are teaching, encouraging or condoning the use of illegal tactics - then they are guilty of cheating, and their victories are ill-gotten. I don't know how they can look their fellow coaches in the eye. I am convinced from talking with Double-Wingers around the country that the biggest threat we Double-Wingers face - by far - is unethical opponents, who teach their kids illegal tactics, evidently secure in the knowledge that officials wouldn't dare call a penalty on every play. It's not just Double-Wingers, though. It doesn't matter what offense you run - some of you have to face passing teams whose "philosophy" is, "if it doesn't get called it isn't holding." Nothing is more galling than watching a cheater get away with it. So how do you deal with cheats? I was talking with a veteran official on Tuesday, and he agrees with me that there is a quick cure for cheating coaches: penalize them. As former Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said in advising us to forget about individual terrorists and go right for Osama bin Laden, you don't go after the fighter planes - you go after the aircraft carrier. So when it is apparent that the same foul is recurring, the officials should call the penalty as usual - and then warn the coach. Advise him that the next such violation will result in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty - against him. And the next unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against him, as we all know, will result in his ejection - from that game and the next one. Bingo. Go for the aircraft carrier. Cut down on a lot of flags, and purge the game of cheaters at the same time. Here's something to chew on - since some coaches like to brag about being able to blackball officials, what would happen if officials were able to blackball coaches? We can talk about soccer all we like, but the biggest threat to us and our game is internal - it's unethical coaches. We simply have to go after them mercilessly because they are no better than thieves or card-game cheats. They are not just stealing games - they are stealing your job! Your career! Lots of good men get fired every year because they are beaten by cheats. And you should go easy on them? Do not hold anything back in going after people who cheat. Our game will decay if they gain the upper hand. Make them line up and prove that they can win coaching the game straight-up. A man shouldn't have a problem with that. Otherwise, keep throwing them out of games! Throw them out often enough that anybody will similar ideas will begin to catch on. Throw them out so often that everybody will know them for what they are, and when their cheating asses get fired, nobody else will hire them. They were entrusted with the job of teaching kids right from wrong, and they betrayed that trust. Once again, a gentle reminder, to those who might need one...
*********** Coach:We climbed the mountain! I am one happy (Old Fart coach. The Madison Heights Wolverines were ten & zero, having scored over 260 points. They gave up zero. You were right about how they might react if we scored. Still, to their credit, they came back and scored, so the game at the half was six -six. Still, they were stunned. We scripted our twelve best plays and we stuck to the script. You will not be surprised to learn that the script was comprised mostly of the super powers, G's & C's. We refined it down to which back ran what play best, to either the right or left and what plays went best from unbalanced. We used two backs, in addition to our others, who they had not seen before, but who had caught on and blossomed with the double wing. Their high powered, big play offense, simply waited like a wallflower, while we ran play after play, eating up clock and yardage. We scored again and then just kept the ball. We ended up taking a knee, deep in their end, while the clock ran out on our twelve to six victory. Hugh, running the Double Wing is like making love to a beautiful female: pay attention and make sure you do all the little things well----and you end up with ecstasy! Some coaches from our league and one other, were asking us how we can get our kids(13 years old)to do all that pulling and trapping. Our answer was along the lines of "Just lucky I guess." Let them learn on their own. We have heard all the reasons why we can't do it, but we are a stubborn crew. "It seems ya'll, that if'n ya kin take the time to work vera hard & larn somethin real good, ya'll kin git sorda lucky some time." Hugh, we didn't run the wedge reverse, so I don't have to buy you a new car, but a beer will always be waiting for you, for all of the other good stuff. Take care, Bill Livingstone, Troy, Michigan (I'm not touching that bit about the beautiful female. HW) *********** Wow! what a trip I had to Katy, Texas. The mighty Katy Tigers are rounding into playoff form and thumped their rivals from across town (Katy - Taylor High) 34-3. You should see the stadium they play their home games in. Built 15 years ago, it seats 12,000 and is state-of-the-art in ease of access, huge press box, and beautifully maintained artificial turf. I'm sure there are many smaller colleges that don't have a facility this nice. In addition, I visited the weight room in the field house - next to the rodeo stadium. My gosh, they must have 10 Nautilus machines and enough free weights to start 2 health clubs. They also have a team room where all team members are required to attend a devotional service prior to each game. As my sister pointed out, a Katy football player must be a Christian, and if he's not, he must act like he is one. (Don't publicize this as we don't want the ACLU types to get their nose out of joint!) The only drawback to the day's action was that half time lasted 25 minutes. Apparently, each band gets 12 minutes on the field and more if it's homecoming. The bands did put on a good show, though. Also, during the national anthem, every gentleman, I saw, removed his hat without being told. I went to my son's athletic awards assembly last night. This will probably be no surprise - the best behaved group of male athletes were the football players and the worse behaved were the soccer players. Finally, I received the Black Lion Award for Adam Burmeister and presented it to him. He was extremely pleased (as were his parents). I told him of your website and gave him your email address to write any thoughts he might have on the award. He's only in 8th grade so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't write. Regardless, he's a good kid and, upon reflection, the coaching staff made the right choice. Thanks for your efforts in making this award available. Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** Hi Coach I wanted to let you know about our first season running the Double Wing. I am the offensive coordinator for the Jr. Midget Cambrian Valley Longhorns. These boys are 10-13 yrs old. In each of the last two years they have gone 2-6. This year we went 10-1, losing in our conference championships. They went from scoring 4 touchdowns all last year, by one young man to 38 touchdowns by 10 different backs and ends this year. We had two wings over 500 yards, a B-back over 300, in total we ran for 2400 yards. In all it was just a remarkable turnaround for our program and we are already looking forward to next year. Its done so much that all levels of our association, from Mitey Mite to Midget will be running it in 2002. I'd like to thank you for all of your help in answering my questions to get us going with the offense. I hope that you'll be coming and giving another clinic in the Bay Area again, (preferably closer to San Jose, j/k). Sincerely, Bryan Beacraft Cambrian Valley Youth Football & Cheer Webmaster/PR Director/Equipment Manager Jr. Midget Asst. Head Football Coach/Offensive Coordinator (I just left all those titles in there because a lot of people don't realize all the effort that goes into making youth football work. HW) *********** We led the state in rushing for the second consecutive year. We had 3917 yards on the ground in 11 games (356 per game) and we threw for 703 (61 yards per game). Our total offense was 4620 (420 per game) and we scored 392 points (35.6 per game). We were better on defense this year, but we still gave up 17 points per game. That is something we will have to work on. A-back Zac Wagner and QB Chris Bogner both had over 1100 yards for the season. Our middle linebacker, Andrew Abdulla (b-back on offense) led the state in tackles with 149 in 11 games.
People my age will remember the time when there were only two people in the world - two people! - who had cleared 15 feet in the pole vault. Cornelius Warmerdam was the first. In 1940! And there wasn't another one to do it for more than 10 years! Then, a fabulous athlete named Reverend Bob Richards (he really was a preacher) came along and electrified the track and field world by doing it - a lot. So in awe were people at the feat back then, when indoor track meets were among the premier sports events of every winter, that an appearance by Bob Richards would guarantee a sellout at places like Madison Square Garden and Chicago Stadium. Cornelius Warmerdam got over 15 feet - with a bamboo pole. Not a slingshot. And he landed, not in a Port-a-Pit, but in a pile of sawdust.
*********** Hi Coach, Just letting you know how we made out last week. Our Jr Midgets beat the New Hampshire State Champs, the Nashua Crusaders 33 - 6. And our Midget team beat the Hookset Hurricanes also from NH 22 - 8. Both teams are advancing to the semi-final round of the New England regionals Vs. the Connecticut state champs this weekend. The Jr Midgets are playing the Waterbury Knights and the midgets are playing the Bridgeport Raiders. I'll keep you posted. Ken Brierly, Chariho Cowboys, Carolina, Rhode Island *********** Oregon State's Ken Simonton is 264 yards shy of becoming the first man in Pac-10 football history to rush for over 1,000 yards all four seasons. He has two games left in which to do it. One is against bitter rival Oregon, so if the Beavers are to have the luxury of "feeding" Mr. Simonton, it will likely be this weekend, against Division I-AA Northern Arizona. "If Ken does this," said teammate Terrell Roberts, "this will probably be, I'll say, one of the top five biggest feats as an offensive player in college football history." Now, not to minimize the feat, which is certainly significant, and an indication of his talent and his toughness, but there were an awful lot of good players in the Pac-10 back when they had just three years of eligibility, and when they played fewer than 11 games per season. Oh - and about those "top five biggest feats" - Well, maybe. Gotta think about that a minute or two. But I do think, right off the top of my head, I would put it behind Red Grange's four touchdowns. Against Michigan, In the first 12 minutes!
*********** "I received all the "thanks Coach" cards from parents and players..nice things said, etc..but one in particular from a very quiet kid -- solid player, but nothing outstanding -- his dad got up and told everyone what a difference football has made in his sons life off the field -- he actually started crying while telling this story..it was great..but when I read the card his son gave me it was special..it said the usual stuff, but then had a " P.S. I will always play 4 quarters". Wow..we're not talking football, Coach -- We're talking life...dang I love this game. I'm so blessed to be part of it." Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** "Dear Coach Wyatt, We lost to the eventual State Champs in the Semi-final. We got beat pretty good. We still rushed for over 250 yards, stalled out at the 1 foot line, they deserved to win. We ended 8-3, 2 losses to the state champs, and 1 to the state runner-up." Joel Bickford, Wahpeton High School, Wahpeton, North Dakota
*********** Here's a great web site < http://inside99.net/HelmetProject/ > thanks for the tip to Todd Bross, Sharon, Pennsylvania *********** Hi Coach Wyatt: Well our first season running the double wing is now over. Our team, the Ben Franklin Lions (3rd & 4th Graders from Ben Franklin Elementary, Wichita Falls, Texas), made it to the semi-finals of the Boys & Girls Club Toy Bowl Championship. That means we were in the final 4 of a 14 team league. We lost on Saturday by a score of 7-0. The other team scored on the first play of the game from about 60 yards out. Our defense then buckled down and did not give up a single first down for the remainder of the game. Most importantly, we shut down their sweep which had been our downfall in our 3 regular season loses. Our double wing offense drove the ball well just as they have all year. However, in the second quarter with 4th down and a foot to go on our opponents 5 yard line we failed to get the first down on the Wedge Play with our biggest and strongest back running behind our biggest and strongest lineman. When we failed to make that play I knew the other team had more heart and fire and it would be an uphill battle all game. Eventually my offensive linemen just lost the war in the trenches. They were called for lining up too far off the line of scrimmage 7 times during the game. I called time out twice and made them line up for me on the sideline hoping that problem would be fixed. All year I taught them to line up deep as per your video and we were never called on it in our previous 9 games. It was very frustrating. On two occasions the officials contradicted each other as to which side was lining up illegal (right of the center or left). It did appear to me that we were bowing a bit into the backfield on some plays but I was at a total loss on other calls. The game film didn't lend any help. Nonetheless, the frustration mounted and my 8 and 9 year olds got down on themselves and ultimately they were so concerned about their alignment that they never fired out and blocked anyone and our ability to drive was gone. I am very proud of my guys making it to the semi-final round. Especially since we had to beat the undefeated number 1 seed from the other division to get to this point. I am now a big believer in the double wing and will run it again next year. I would like to attend one of your seminars if it's not too far to travel. Do you expect to teach a seminar in Texas or Oklahoma before next season ? If not, I will keep an eye on your website and try to find a way to get to one of your seminars elsewhere. I coach for fun and would need to blend my travel into a family trip of some sort. My wife would have no objection to a seminar in Europe or Hawaii.
*********** I went to George Luse's funeral Tuesday. St. James Catholic Church in Vancouver, Washington was jammed with friends, family and co-workers to say good-bye to a longtime football official and a heck of a family man, who died last week at 58. George's son, Doug, now an officer on the Vancouver police force, played for me at Vancouver's Hudson's Bay High. I worked for years with George's wife, Carolann, and lemme tell you - I have so much respect for that woman that even if I hadn't known George, I'd just have figured anybody she liked enough to stay married to for 39 years had to be okay. And, Lord knows how many of my games George worked from the time I started coaching on the Washington side of the river in 1980. It was a bummer, but at least when you get to be my age, funerals are a chance to see some old friends. Some young ones, too. One of the old friends was Harold Steele, now retired in Arizona. Harold worked his way up through the ranks of the Vancouver Fire Department to become Chief. Harold's two sons, Ricky and Darren, both played for me, and Ricky later served on my staff. Even after he became a member of the Fire Department himself, Ricky managed to trade work schedules do he could continue coaching. Ricky and his wife, Jill, and their two kids are getting ready to fly back to New York to attend funerals, as a part of the show of brotherhood that exists among firefighters and police officers everywhere. Ricky told me about hearing recently from Sean Lindstrom, a former Hudson's Bay player who is now in New York. Sean said that Ricky was his inspiration to become a firefighter, and he set out to become one. But not just on any department. Nothing less than the Big Time - New York City - for Sean, and so he even moved there and lived there long enough to satisfy his one-year residency requirement. He e-mailed Ricky to say that he had been accepted on the force and was just entering the academy, or whatever they call their formal training. And then, quite by coincidence, I got an e-mail from Don Capaldo, a friend I've made through the Double-Wing, but by now an old friend. Don wrote, "It is very close to the 2nd anniversary of a very tragic accident in our community, Keokuk, Iowa. Two years ago we lost three firefighters to a house fire which also took the lives of three children. I knew all three of the firefighters and one of the three children. One of the firefighters was a coach in our Middle School football system and his loss has been deeply felt since. Don attached a note from a young fellow named Connor Geraghty, 14, from Rockville Centre, New York. Connor lost his dad, Chief Edward Geraghty, Battalion 9, on September 11. Connor proposes that every September 11 be observed as National Firefighters' Day.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson
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A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Bill McColl was big and tough. At
Stanford, he had such good hands that his coach built a
passing game around him. he caught 42 passes - seven for
TDs - in 1951, as his team won nine straight, losing only
in its final regular-season game, and then to Illinois in
the Rose Bowl.
*********** JAMES MADISON WINS DISTRICT IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA: Madison beats crosstown rival Marshall 27-20 to win Liberty District title. Madison ends the regular season at 7-2 and will host the first round of the Northern region next Friday. Tyler Lee ran 33 superpowers for 208 yards. Coach Gordon Leib, James Madison HS, Vienna, Virginia *********** Think I ain't proud: John Lambert, whom I had as a student and player at Hudson's Bay High in Vancouver, Washington, and who served as my right-hand man and then succeeded me at La Center, Washington, just completed the best season in the school's history. I'm telling you, that was one downtrodden program not so very long ago, and this past year John got 'em to the state playoffs. Here are some important achievements of his 2001 team: MOST WINS: 7 * FIRST PLAYOFF APPEARANCE * MOST CONSECUTIVE WINNING SEASONS: 4 * FIRST LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP * MOST TOTAL YARDAGE: 3,792 yards * MOST RUSHING YARDAGE: 3,152 yards * FEWEST PUNTS IN A SEASON: 12 * OUTSCORED OPPONENTS 325-140 (Margin) * AVERAGED OVER 7 YARDS PER PLAY * In addition, in a remarkable bit of good judgment, the coaches in LaCenter's league game the Offensive Player of the year Award to the Wildcats' A, B and C-backs - Micah Aday, Jason Shannon and Zach Martinez. They combined to put up 2384 yards rushing and 28 TD's but none of them had spectacular stats because they were all within 100 yards of each other *********** Coach Wyatt; Please remove ----- from the list. I believe that the Black Lion award is a great way to reward the efforts of our unsung heros, our linemen. However, when I presented it to the coaches, they replied with "We don't give out personal awards." This baffles me as they ask for performance out on the field and then refuse to recognize it. I still believe in rewarding those that put their heart into the game. That's what makes this game great and is the difference between a football team and a "babysitting service." I still believe that the award is a great idea, and will continue to demand the best from my kids. Respectfully; NAME WITHHELD Coach- No problem, except that while this may be a "personal award" it is given in recognition of the qualities - loyalty, hard work, unselfishness, team play, self-sacrifice, etc. - that we'd like all kids to exhibit, and has nothing to do with God-given talent. But participation in the program is voluntary, and we wouldn't want people participating who don't recognize the importance and value of what we are trying to do. Sounds like you at least understand, and I wish you the best. Thanks all the same, Hugh Wyatt *********** Coach I would like to take the time to thank you for the dwing !!!! In our first three years we scored a total of 30 points !!!! this year we scored 226 points in ten games !!! and we had a winning record for the first time in club history !!! We were finally teaching a real system,and not just something we made up !!!! And you can teach this system to 7,8 and 9 year olds !!!! Thank you !!!!!!!! David James, Boones Mill, Virginia *********** O.K. the Trickeration(tm) thing is too much. ESPN actually did a little piece on it. Did you see it? They were so scholarly to point to history, showing some ND Box shift (just the shift) grainy video, before going on about the incredible rise in Trickeration(tm). They also referred to as a halfback pass as Trickeration(tm). Wasn't that pass a big part of Lombardi's T offense? That's part of the reason why Hornung played the position. It was a common play back then, similar to the running option pass form the single wing. Too much. I can't handle so much Trickeration(tm) in college football. AdamWesoloski.com ("Dear Mr. Wesoloski: We represent Mr. Hugh Wyatt in royalty matters, and it has come to our attention that you have been using the word "trickeration" without express written permission from Mr. Wyatt or from us, his legal representatives. The word "trickeration" is the property of Mr. Wyatt, and you are hereby ordered to cease any and all uses of the word for any and all purposes unless you have made arrangements to pay Mr. Wyatt generous royalties for each use. Sincerely, Arnold Brown, partner, Brown, Black, Powers and Wedges, Attorneys at Law.") *********** A coach who wrestled with the fact that while he hates "Daddy Ball," his son was the right choice for his team's Black Lion Award, ran the idea by me, and I told him that it wouldn't be fair to a boy to deprive him of something he'd earned just because his dad was his coach. He wrote back: "Hey Coach - thought you'd want to know -- I announced the winner of the Black Lion Award at our banquet tonight -- I had at LEAST 6 parents come up to me and tell me "good choice! that's the one I would have made"! You know, that's not something that they "had" to say -- it sure made me feel good! and just affirmed the fact that you really only have to worry about a decision when it's a "bad" one." (I'm reminded of Al McGuire, when he coached basketball at Marquette. His son, Allie, was competing for a guard position, and Al told the other guards something to the effect of, "Unless it's a clean knockout, he's the starter."HW) *********** "ACTION" FROM THE NATIONAL FIELD GOAL LEAGUE
*********** Wow! If you like the NFL and everything it stands for, the Titans-Ravens game was right up your alley. On the other hand, to some of us who realize what a farce pro football has become, no game in recent memory has done more to expose the basic sickness in the NFL product. I used to grind my teeth when Howard Cosell would refer to a game as a "show," referring to the start of the broadcast as "the top of the show." And sure enough, Monday night's broadcast was referred to, right from the start, as a show. And what a show they promised - "The Rematch" they called it - introducing it with world-class woofin' that looked like what might result if the WWF were to make a blaxploitation movie featuring a heavyweight title weigh-in. Instead of a football game, it looked like a rumble coming up. At least now we know that all those production people the XFL laid off have found jobs. Who was the unshaven down-and-outer filling in for Dennis Miller? You say that was Dennis Miller? While all the other starters dressed normally for their mug shots, Ray Lewis wore a suit and tie. (Will the defendant please rise...) When the talking heads toss around phrases like "ACL" and "MCL" as if they really understand what the hell they all mean, no one wants to admit that he's been sidelined by a plain old sprained ankle. So I must have heard the expression "high ankle sprain" at least four times. How does eight punts in the first quarter sound? Great, if you like watching punts fly through the air. I don't. I think that pro football should allow the punting team to offer the return team the option of taking the ball 35 yards downfield - no questions asked. And then dispense with the punt. Sort of on the order of the intentional pass in baseball. If the return team wants to go through all that exertion for nothing, fine. But I doubt that it will. The NFL punt is such a monumental waste of time. They never fake it, they seldom go for the block, and even though only two people are able to leave the line immediately, nobody seems to be able to block them, so there's seldom a return. To give viewers an idea of how important ABC thought the game down on the field was, country singer Alan Jackson was interviewed right through a play. He probably has a special coming up on ABC. We went an entire half without anything more than a fumble-return TD called back by a penalty and a bad snap on a field goal attempt. "Our defense is playing fine," said Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher, conveniently overlooking the fact that it was going up against one of the NFL's worst offenses. Bear in mind that the architect of Baltimore's offense is the guy who is so far out in front of everyone else in computerization. So how #$@%& ing bad would the Ravens' offense be if they just used pencils and yellow legal pads? Eddie George, who appears to be underachieving lately, would have been pulled out of most middle-school games for the casual way he carried the ball in traffic - and fumbled - inside his own 20. One of the biggest loud-mouths of the pre-game woofers, Baltimore's Shannon Sharpe, who hinted "at the top of the show" of evil things in store for any Titan who screwed with him, dropped a pass after being hit. The pass hit him in the hands. These things happen, of course, but the people they happen too aren't normally braggarts. The stupid "red zone" cliche has become so old and dreary that the NFL might just as well go ahead and paint the damn thing red and sell the naming rights to it. "He's not content just to catch the ball," the announcers told us about a professional receiver. "He wants extra yardage." Imagine. Soon he'll want extra money for running after the catch. What does it take to get called for holding in the NFL? How many of those $4,000 a game guys in striped shirts do they have to hire to make sure a team is lined up legally? A foot to go for a winning score, and all Tennessee can come up with is a quarterback sneak? with Tony Siragusa and Sam Adams in the middle? Unplug the computers and break out the pencils and yellow legal pads. All the controversy at the end of the game may have created a lot of "buzz," but it shouldn't obscure the fact that two professional football teams, with all legal advantages that the rules give to passing offenses, could score just two touchdowns between them *********** Coach, I have a question on a trend I am seeing in games I have covered. Does it seem like officials are hesitant to call holding on passing teams? I mean, Rochelle, the team I cover, sent outside backers and four linemen often after a passer that threw 25 times Saturday in a state quarterfinal game. Not one holding call. I was just wondering if you were noticing this? By the way, Rochelle, a wing-T team, won 46-16 over Vernon Hills to move into the state semifinals this weekend against Joliet Catholic, the New York Yankees of Illinois high school football. That school produced "Rudy" and Mike Alstott. Rochelle produced actress Joan Allen. LOL Anyway, the most beautiful thing about the game with Vernon Hills was Rochelle ran 51 plays, all runs, for 462 yards, had a fullback go for 232 yards, the wing had 97 and the quarterback had 100 yards rushing. Reading this, I am sure it must look to you like you are reading a report from a DW team. While they didn't pass from scrimmage, Rochelle did pass for two of their five successful extra points. Larry Hanson, Rochelle News-Leader, Rochelle, Illinois Dear Larry- Hooooo boy - did you hit a nerve. You bet your life officials are reluctant to call holding, and as a result, for the same reason that everybody speeds even though the highway signs say "55", coaches teach holding. They know that officials won't call holding every time they see it, for the same reason the state police can't pull everyone over. So an occasional holding penalty is a price they're willing to pay in return for getting away with holding the rest of the time. It's akin to drug dealing, in the sense that the profits are so huge, there is plenty in the kitty to bail out anybody who gets caught. I am reading a book now called "Anatomy of a Game". It was written by by Dave Nelson (inventor of the Delaware Wing-T, by the way) who served for years as head of the NCAA rules committee, and one thing I am getting from it is that basically the proponents of the passing offense heavily influenced the rules committee to push through all the legislation that has made today's "grass basketball" possible. The reason the passing game is now dominant is not because of better passers or smarter coaches. It is because the rules have systematically been revised to favor the passing game - or at least reduce its downside - and the officials have been intimidated to the point that even with holding reduced to ten yards and now stepped off from the line of scrimmage (instead of 15 yards from the spot of the foul, as it was not all that long ago), they are unwilling to call it. Coach Nelson, it appears, was first to use the term "grass basketball" in referring to what we see so much of now. HW *********** Well our season is over. And it was a very good one. I bought you video and playbook and installed as much of the DW that we could teach to the third graders. We had them pulling, and going in motion. We had a lot of first year players but we showed the league what we were all about. We finished the season with an 11-4-0 record. We lost the championship by a score of 12-6. My kids played their heart out in the contest. The team that won the game had not lost in two years. They had a tremendous size advantage. Offensively we put up some good numbers for the entire season. We had 2,676 yards rushing on 371 attempts. We scored 275 points. Defensively we held our opponents to 71 points. My A back had 1,437 yards and a 12.0 average. The C back had 701 yards with a 10.2 average. The B back had 219 yards and a 3.3 average. I had some more back talent but we ended up keeping with the kids that were less likely to fumble. We only threw the ball 7 times, completed 3 for 148 yards and one TD. This was my first experience coaching youth football. I learned a lot. I thank you very much for the information you provided. I plan to pick up where I left off next season. Greg Cazell, Dayton, Ohio *********** Well Coach we did it!! We are in the big show, Championship Sunday! The South Valley Panthers got a little payback for an earlier loss in the season and beat the Reseda Broncos 32-13 to advance to the Tiny Mite Super Bowl this coming Sunday. It was a rainy day, not storming but persistent light rain throughout the game. The field favored our double wing and 10-1 pressure D. The Broncos could not cut whatsoever. The Broncos scored 1st going right of the B gap and busting a 50 yd TD on their third play from scrimmage. The Panthers countered back on a 10 yd run by A back Jamie Silverman(88 SP Reach). The TD was set up by a 3 Blue call on 3rd and 2 from midfield which TE Marquis Jackson took down to the 15 yd. line. XX-56-C and 47-C were the back breakers as the D was lined up to stop the Powers. When they clogged down tight we Reach blocked them, when they opened back up we G'd and SP'D em'. It looked pretty coach. I haven't seen the film yet but I will tell you this, Jamie Silverman had HUGE runs (4X's of over 50 yds., two were called back for penalties-never happened)- do they ever......? I can't begin to explain the feeling of winning this game coach. We get a day or two to enjoy it before we have to begin to prepare for Crenshaw-the defending champs who haven't lost since game 1 of last season. We were beaten by them earlier in the season as well 30-6 (2 TD's coming off of fake punts). John Torres said he is coming down for the game, he promised if we got to the big show he would attend. I look forward to seeing him....... I will do my best to represent the double wing this Sunday Hugh- This championship run is all due to you and your system coach. Thanks again for being there. I still can't believe we are in the big show. Just our second year together as a unit and mine as a HC- Yours in the DW Bill Shine, Van Nuys, California *********** Hi Coach, Scott Kooistra of NC State--(#75) Offensive Tackle, 6'-6", 313 lbs. Junior. He's a true "give 100%, 100% of the time," guy. Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina *********** Ware Shoals defeated Blacksburg for the second time this season, 28-20 (first game was 44-26), and advances to the third round of the playoffs, joining 7 other teams in the Elite Eight. Ware Shoals will play Great Falls this week. Jody Hagins, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina *********** Millersville Wolverines 19 - Severna Park Green Hornets 13 - 3 OTs We were involved in yet another thriller. Each week this season we face different defenses to try and stop this offense. We had beaten Severna Park back in week 7, 20-7. The first time they ran 8-3 and a 6-2. This time, they ran a 5-6 with the lineman standing upwards in a sprinter stance correct me if I'm wrong it's termed Jet Series?? Severna Park have one of the best youth programs in our area - and scouting is allowed in our Association which they are excellent at doing. With about 2 minutes and some change on the clock, my A-Back, Jason Clements broke out of the pack for an apparent 63-yard touchdown on a SP only to have it called back by a clipping penalty about 30 yards behind the play. The game ended in regulation a 6-6 tie. In our county, OT consists of 4 plays from the 10 - both teams get a posession. In the first OT period, neither team scored. We then went to the second period. Severna Park to the ball first and scored on a 2yard QB Sneak. We answered right back with a TR 2 Wedge by our fullback Matt Anderson, which forced a thrid overtime. Our defense stepped up really big in the period. We ended up getting a tackle for a loss on first down, a sack on second down, forced and recovered a fumble on third down. I hate to ramble on Coach, but to show how far these kids have come this season I must. We are now 10 yards and a score away from moving on to the next round of the playoffs. First play, everyone at the park knows that our A-Back (Jason) will be carrying the ball. So I called, Over 88 Power which he picked up about 4 yards. Severna Park called TimeOut. So I told the Offense, that everyone expects Jason to carry the ball -however, it's time for someone else in this huddle to step-up and make a big play. So I called Tight Rip 2-Wedge, we moved the ball 4 more yards making it 3 and Goal from the 2 yard line. Severna Park called there final timeout, Stacked the middle to stop the wedge. I went with the same call TR2-wedge, telling my A-Back, he must sell the Super Power. We punched it over for the game winner. The nice thing our Fullback Matt Anderson who delivers that ever so important kickout block accounted for the last 13pts of the game. We play for the Divisional Championship this weekend for the right to play for the County Championship. Will keep you posted. Talk with you later! Jason Clarke, Millersville Wolverines, Millersville, MD *********** Coach, We finished 9-0-1 on the year. We are 16-1-2 since we put in the DW last year. At no time have I used the "best available athlete" at every position. When you have 30-35 kids to play it is difficult to get all their required plays in so, I use some of the smaller and/or less athletic players and we still do well. In fact, in order to get the required plays in, I put a second offense in and run it until they get their required (or more) plays in. I'm hoping that you will have a clinic somewhere nearby so I can learn more about the DW. Thanks. "Stew" Stewart, Yuma, AZ. *********** From somewhere deep in California... The lovely Mrs. (my wife) got into a verbal exchange with a co-worker who refused to take a moment to walk outside and recite the Pledge of Allegiance a few weeks ago. She told my wife. that "I don't do the patriotic thing...". My wife blew a gasket and asked her in front of about a dozen co-workers, "Do you know how many men died to give you the right to say that you don't do the patriotic thing?. How dare you!". The commie wench walked away and has been the scorn of fellow worker since she showed her true side. (Now that's a woman with stones! She could be a football coach! Remember, folks - the First Amendment guarantees you the right to say all kinds of stupid stuff like that. But that's all. Whatever the weenies in the faculty room may try to tell you, it does NOT guarantee you, if you're given to saying stupid things, that there won't be consequences for what you say. Yes, if you want, you are free to walk up North Broad Street in Philadelphia in your full KKK regalia. It's your constitutional right. You can also stroll through the tailgaters, grilling their boudin outside Tiger Stadium, shouting "LSU SUCKS." Or, you can tell a football coach - or a coach's wife - that you "don't do the patriotic thing." HW)
Q: Why do so many American children play soccer? A: So they don't have to watch it. Submitted by Larry Hanson, Sports Editor of the Rochelle, Illinois News-Leader "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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We ran the 5-3 again playing a lot of man free coverage. Their all everything QB was 12-25 and no Touch Downs. Their All State back had 91 yards on 22 carries Our Kids did a great job of bend don't break while intercepting three passes. He had only one int all year until Saturday. The DW is alive and well and playing for the Gold Ball - Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** FLORENCE ADVANCES IN MISSISSIPPI PLAYOFFS: we defeated Lawrence County 23-20 in a battle of DW teams. We advance to the sweet 16. We will host NE Jones of Laurel. Winner of our division. We lost to them 20-12 in Sept. Cory Jones (leading ground-gainer and scorer) did not play in the second half of that game due to a concussion. Our kids are really looking forward to the rematch! Steve Jones, Florence, Mississippi *********** Fitch High, of Groton, Connecticut, two-time defending state champion, won its 48th straight Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division conference game, trouncing East Lyme, 63-13. Fitch's Dante Ross rushed for 240 yards and four touchdowns on eight carries, and scored a fifth touchdown on a 63-yard pass - in the first half. Fitch led 56-0 at the half, and its junior varsity, which played the entire second half, made it 63-0 before East Lyme scored on a pair of touchdown passes. East Lyme threw 51 times and completed 24 for 288 yards. Four of their passes were intercepted. East Lyme coach Andy Dousis, called his shotgun, throw-every-down scheme "offense of the future." "We wanted to come out and throw the ball and have some fun," he told the New London Day. "We just wanted to score. This program is moving toward that offense." Faithful Fitch alum Alan Goodwin, who was at the game (well, half of it), writes, "In my humble opinion, high school football should be played on Saturday in the bright warm sunshine of an autumn afternoon, not in the cold black of night, at least not at night in New England in November. Air temp last night was in the upper 30's, but the stiff wind made it feel much colder. My poor arthritic knees only made it through the first half, but with Fitch leading 56-0 at the break, I thought the game was well at hand. "I didn't stick around to garner any quotes from the coaches or players, but I did hear some interesting remarks by some of the East Lyme fans around me as I was walking toward my car. Fitch had just scored a touchdown on each of its eight possessions in the first half and had held the East Lyme Vikings scoreless at that point, and yet these geniuses were remarking that Fitch's double wing offense was "boring to watch" and was "just about good blocking". Meanwhile, their team had run every play of the first half from a 4-wideout split shotgun formation, and had executed exactly zero running plays. That's right, they threw (or attempted to throw) the football on every single down.
*********** Anybody else watch the TV shows Sunday night and notice a difference between the two Mark McGwires? The slim, athletic earlier one and the, uh, chemically-enhanced one who broke Roger Maris' home run record? *********** Listen to this - I think it was Madden - "Terrell Owens is one of those guys who can't get along with his coach... but he's productive, and you have to live with that." Oh, no you don't. Not unless you are such a whore that you have sold your soul to coach in the NFL and work with jackasses like that. *********** When two Double-Wing teams play each other, it's going to be a low-scoring game, right? Wrong. So Friday night, I sat there and watched Port Townsend and LaCenter slug it out in a Washington Class 2A playoff game. Final score: 34-31 Port Townsend. In overtime. It was one of the best games I've ever seen, marred only by one thing, from my point of view: The winning field goal was made by a Swiss exchange student. Most of you know how I feel about field goals anyhow, but to have a non-football player decide a superbly-played game between two well-matched football teams was, well.... *********** Boy, I hope Santa brings me Madden 2002. Imagine being able to watch NFL antics any time, any where! *********** Hey Coach -- Well we finished right, winning our last game 14-0 against the Broncos. That leaves us league champions at 7-1. For the season, we outscored our opponents 164 - 42(we gave up 18 of those in 1 game). The game was a slugfest, which is just what we expected. I told my boys all week long to think "three tough yards" (wonder where I heard that?). While practicing, I'd yell "What's 3 time 4, boys?"..they'd yell back "12, Coach!"...Meaning - we get 4 downs to get 10 yds, so we'll ALWAYS get a first down with 3 tough yds, which I've convinced them can get every down with this O! We received the opening kickoff and started the drive from our 17 yd line. We finally ended the drive with a TD on the 3RD PLAY OF THE 2ND QTR! We had a lot of 3 tough yds! but the boys didn't make mistakes and sustained the drive eating up the entire 1st QTR..we didn't do anything fancy..we just pounded the SP's, with an occasional G/O Reach, Wedge and XX...but make no mistake about it..we won this game by slugging them non-stop with our Super Powers. Their boys were MUCH bigger than ours, but by the time the first drive was over they were getting tired -- but they never quit -- I was suprised at how they kept making us work REAL hard for those 3 tough yds. Botton Line - We don't win that game with another offense! It's been a good Marine Corps' B-Day -- My church made a big deal out of V-day, and had the vets stand and tell their rank/branch -- made me feel good to say Sgt, United States Marine Corps. Later on, during the sermon he was talking about "vision, passion and leadership". He started talking about the Mustangs (his boy played on my team), then he had (unknown to me) 7 of my little guys (yep, 7 of my boys go to church with me) come over to where I was sitting and he made me and my assistant (he goes to church with me also..kind of a little football cult, huh?) stand and then he told how our vision, passion and "man's man" Christian leadership was having a big impact on our community.."just look at those boys, talk to their parents, and you'll see what I mean", he said..WOW..what a day, huh?? Talk about making it all worthwhile???? Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas (Now, how many pastors do you know who would dare use the phrase "'man's man' Christian leadership," and risk having all the feminists get up and walk out? It's almost worth dealing with that summer heat to live with people like that. HW) *********** Keep a close eye on ABC Monday Night Football tonight. Remember Tom Hanks' appearance on the sidelines and in the box last week when, by no coincidence, the network was busy plugging its upcoming showing of "Saving Private Ryan?" Keep your eyes open tonight, because on Thursday, at 9 PM (there I go, plugging it) ABC (the network owned by Disney) will be airing a one-hour Victoria's Secret fashion show. ABC (the network owned by Disney) is using all sorts of stunts to promote the show - basically an hour-long underwear informercial - including a bit on "Spin City" (on ABC, the network owned by Disney) in which a couple of the characters go backstage at the fashion show, and guest appearances by Victoria's Secret models on three episodes of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," (on ABC, the network owned by Disney). I think I have a way to promote the show on Monday Night Football: a Victoria's Secret fashion show on the field at halftime! Could it possibly be any less tasteful than the T & A show the average NFL "cheerleaders" put on? *********** Hi Coach, Just wanted to let you know how our season went. We finished 8-3, got beat in the Section Championship by Hastings. We just didn't play well enough up front. We have gotten a lot of compliments on our first season here, we moved into and finished second in one of the so-called "Super Conferences" in our state. We have had a number of parents tell us they didn't expect more than 3 or 4 wins from this group. I don't know if I agree, you don't win 8 games with bad players or a weak coaching staff. I think the real difference is our offense. It gave us something that the kids could learn easily and quickly, it helped us stay in games early, and the kids became more confident as the season progressed. Our coaches bought into the system right away, and that really helped the kids. One interesting thing that has come to our attention; parents of our youth league players report that their kids identify the plays as the varsity runs them in games. Thanks for all your help! Paul Herzog Woodbury High School Woodbury, Minnesota *********** Coach, We finished the season 6-4 again, and missed the playoffs through an at large bid via the tiebreaker. This has happended to us the last two years in a row. I really can't complain since we led the district again with 3809 yards of total offense (380.9 p/game), 3332 on the ground, and 477 in the air. We had the leading rusher in the district, 1216, fourth leading rusher 722, and ninth leading rusher with 540 yards. We had the leading scorer with 100 pts, and we outscored our opponents 366-159. We just had one game that kept us from being the runner-up in our district and getting the automatic bid, and that was a 7-6 lost to Eustis. I don't usually complain about officiating but in that game we had 10 penalties (8 of which were holding), we gained 230 yards rushing, and had at least that much nullified by penalties. The first play of the game we went 67 yards for a TD and it was called back. It seemed like every time we had a decent play it got called back. We never had more than three holding penalties in any other game all season. Even with all of this my kids never quit in that game, and we stopped them on our own 8 yd line with 20 seconds left in the game. We ran a 47-C and after about 50 yards, our C-back cut across field and in the process of being tackled tossed a lateral to our A-Back who took it in for the score. Naturally, they ruled it a forward lateral (which we definitely disagreed with), but they brought it back anyway. On the last play of the game we through a 58-Bl -O Pass and scored again but our QB had gone over the LOS (we agreed with that). I told my kids that they needed to use that game as a character builder and hopefully it would help them somewhere down the road. They responded with three straight wins to end the season, and outscored our opponents 128-21. I can't say enough for how they responded. Another good example of this offense was that the week after the Eustis game we lost our starting QB on Wednesday with a broken thumb. On Friday we used our two sophomore QBs, who had played quite a bit throughout the season, and we won 50-0, and the following week Eustis lost to the same team 21-13. Not many offenses can make that kind of claim when losing their starting QB. All in all, it was a good year, but we have some work to do to get us into the playoffs next year. Oh yes, I lost my starting FB after game 4 with a stress fracture in his right foot, and he is just now starting to work out again. He is a sophomore who started for all last year as a freshman, 5'10" 255, and our best blocker. But we were able to shift some running backs around and do pretty well. The offense is the reason we could do this, and I think the offense also prepares RB's to be able and willing to do this, since they know they are still going to get an eitable share of carries. Let me know if you are going to have a clinic in Atlanta, or if Birmingham is the closest you are going to be. Thanks for all your help and support, and I can see throughout your postings that the double-wing is alive and well and growing throughout the country. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida *********** "...my 8-9 year old team had great success this year. We went 7-3 and missed the playoffs by one loss. I got a great O line coach this year as well as a great O line, so I'm pretty excited for next year. If we had the 3 losses to play again, I think we would make the playoffs. Might not sweep them, but we only needed one more win. We got to see the team from Columbia, Md. run the Wildcat package against us. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk to their offensive coordinator after the game." Jim Runser, Westminster, Maryland *********** Hi Coach - We had a very good season this year considering our talent and experience. All 3 divisions of our team made the playoffs for the first time in Detroit Knight history. Thank you for your knowledge of the doublewing. I'd be interested in seeing the the addition that you have for playbook. Sorry we couldn't make it the clinic last year, We got late notice - be sure to let us know about the coming clinic. Jerome Anthony, Detroit Knights, Detroit, Michigan *********** Hi Coach: Things are going well at Ledyard. We have a different team this year. We start 5 Seniors, 1 Junior and 5 Sophomores. We are presently at 6 Wins and 1 Loss. We average 38 points a game. Our defense has given up an average of 7 points per game. We have had a lot of success with our 36 and 37 pitch play which is like your 88 and 99 super power. Also 2 wedge has worked well for us. I am now the proud owner of the state record with 268 Wins. It was 265. Good players and good assistants is the main reason. We play two undefeated teams next . Stonington this Saturday and Fitch on Thanksgiving. The girl I told you about earlier that wanted to try out for the team became a manager. It is always good to call up your web site. Keep up the good work. You do a great job. You help to keep the rest of us motivated. Bill Mignault, Ledyard High School, Ledyard, Connecticut (Coach Mignault became the winningest coach in Connecticut high school football with his grandson, B.K. Mignault, at quarterback. What a clash it will be on Thanksgiving Day, when Coach Mignault, winningest coach in state history, faces the Double-Wing of Coach Mike Emery and the Fitch Falcons, going for their third straight Class L (Large) state title.) *********** Coach, Been a while since I have spouted off, but I had to agree/disagree with your comments about the player trying for extra yards and fumbling. I would NEVER tell a RB to just go down, take what you can get, and be happy with that. I see that all the time with RB's and WR's who just waltz out of bounds to avoid contact. Drives me nuts! Always, always, always fight for more. You never know when the big play will result from such effort. And the effort often inspires fellow teamates and often myself! Walter Payton was a great example of just such a player who never settled, and he rarely coughed up the ball. I do however wholeheartedly agree that as a coach, you never accept the b.s. excuse "I was struggling for more yards" to explain a fumble. There is NO REASON that fighting for extra yardage should cause the ballcarrier to fumble more. Lack of concentration and poor technique are the causes, not fighting for yards. Fighting for yards is the ballcarrier's job! Also, another little tidbit you can add to those NFL experiences which are great 'teachable moments'. I heard Joe Theisman (that guru of football who always seems to know more than everybody else!) comment on a "perfect textbook tackle" executed by using the "crown" (his actual comments) of a player's helmet. Interesting. I guess the Annual Survey of Football Injury Research 1931-1995 in the AFCA 1996 Proceedings Manual must be wrong. On recommendation #10, it states in bold print "Keep the head out of football" refering to quit teaching that the head should be used as a focus for initial contact. Obviously, we have to go with ol' Joe's recommendation and start paying our lawyers retainers now to beat the rush! Thanks for telling it like it is, coach! Mike Putnam, Stayton, Oregon (Agree/disagree, because none of us wants a player to give up, but the "fighting for extra yardage" excuse is so ingrained in the language of the NFL - broadcasters, not coaches - that it has become something we have to coach against, with too many guys getting the idea that they don't have to take the ball along with them for the extra yardage.) MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson
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He was talking, if you'll excuse the excitement in my voice, about a ball that Jason Elam had just kicked a field goal with! Who knows what arcane significance it had? Yeah, permanent display. I can see people flocking to Canton and asking to see the Jason Elam football.
*********** Just another day of Selfishball. If you didn't know, the horses' asses who sit in the stands at your games and say belittling things about your players have their counterparts in the pro game. As the Atlanta Falcons had their lunches handed to them by the Patriots last week, a bunch of the freeloaders sitting in the section where players' friends and family sit began applauding when Falcons' QB Chris Chandler was hurt, presumably because it meant that Michael Vick would play. (There apparently was no family connection between Vick and the jackasses in the stands). Reportedly, after they were confronted by Chandler's wife, Diane, one of the ***holes threw a can at her, but it was caught by the father of fullback Jim Christian. Diane Chandler has probably had better preparation for this kind of nastiness than most wives: her dad is former 49ers' QB John Brodie. Can you imagine working you butt off to get a bunch of players to play together, with crap like that taking place in the stands? Make sure not to serve alcohol at the team party. *********** Yesterday at practice I was stressing to my players the importance of blocking until the whistle and for our running backs to run hard through tackles (As I always do). Anyway, I said this would be especially important on the Wedge. I said to the players this is a play we intend to run early and often. Then just seconds later, a flock of geese flew over our practice field in a perfect "V" or "Flying Wedge". I was the first to see it and I looked up into the sky and shouted to all the players..."Look - the Wedge!!!" Then I shouted into the sky....."Keep your feet moving!!! Get the weight out on the front hand!! Go!! Go!! Go!! Don't Stop!!!" Well, the place broke up into laughter as the players began to chant out loud....."Wedge! Wedge! Wedge! Wedge! Wedge!" When I got home I told my wife the story. However she did not see the humor in it like I did. I guess it was one of those moments only a Double Wing coach could appreciate. Sincerely, Mike Lane, Avon Grove, Pennsylvania
*********** Since the Pac Ten does not play a pure round-robin schedule, certain games fall out of the rotation from time to time, and as a result, two of this year's top teams, Oregon and Washington - two schools whose alumni detest each other - do not meet this season. Only certain "rivalry" games are assured from year to year, and in the way in which it breaks into five true season-ending traditional rivalries (Arizona State-Arizona, Cal-Stanford, UCLA-USC, Washington State-Washington, Oregon-Oregon State), the Pac Ten has no match anywhere. *********** Coach Wyatt, I wanted to email you and let you know how our teams did this year using the Double Wing offense. This was our first year using the Double Wing on the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Frosh levels. The Varsity team finished the season with a record of 7 wins and 2 losses and a conference championship. We averaged over 300 yards rushing per game. We also had our first 1000 yard rusher in over 14 years. The Junior Varsity completed their season with a 7 - 2 record and the Frosh team was 4 - 0. Our entire coaching staff will again be at your clinic in Philadelphia in March. I would also like to talk to you about coming to our school during the summer to hold a clinic with our players. Thanks again for designing a super offense. Sincerely, Sean Murphy. Head Varsity Coach, Archbishop Curley HS, Baltimore, Maryland *********** Coach Wyatt, Thought I would let you know how another DW team fared this season. As you already know I coached the Churchill Lancer Frosh team this season. We finished the season undefeated @ 9-0!! We scored 367 points to our opponents 88, while rushing for 3,587 yards. This was our starting QB's first year ever of football, and I'm sure you''ll be dissapointed to know that we only completed 2 out of 12 pass attempts for 52 yards (no TD's.) We ran Super Power, Trap, 6&7 G, Sweep, Reverse,Brown-O Pass,G-Pass. 1-day before our final game the players asked to run the Statue -of -Liberty play, (This was their idea of expressing some patriotism.) They took this play very seriously, and we only had time to run it about 5 times during that practice. They executed it perfectly during the game for a 30 yard TD.
************ Hugh, I decided to wait until our season ended to give you an update on our Clarence Bulldog (9-10 yr olds) team from Clarence ,NY. This was my first year coaching any offense and the first team in our organization to run the D-Wing. I am happy to report that we had tremendous success running the D-wing and I think we made believers out of many people. I was fortunate to work with a staff that supported the D-wing 100%, that made it even more enjoyable. We ended up with 35 boys on our squad and decided in August to split the team into two units, offense and defense. I took 16 boys and we pretty much stayed together as one unit the entire year. That helped, we were pretty tight by the end of the year. I am sure my experiences were pretty much what other coaches have dealt with. Early on , the wings wanted to run wide on super power, the linemen weren't very effective when pulling , etc. However, after three weeks of intense practice, we were coming around and I started to get excited about our offense. The team we coached was 2-7 the prior year and went 0-8 the year before that. I am proud to say we finished 6-4 and lost two heart breakers that had us inside our opponents 5 yrd line as the game expired. Offensively, we were as good as anyone in our league and we have the stats to back it up. In 10 games we rushed for 1,958 yards on 300 carries (6.53 yds/per) and scored 31 TD's, 29 via the ground. Armed with your Dynamics and Implementation material, we had success running the base plays that you recommended in your TIPS section #130 (minimum plays for a youth team). As the season progressed, we added 5-X , 6-X and Red-Red post, otherwise we stayed the course. Being a rookie offensive coach, it took me three games to get a feel for calling a game, I still have much to learn, but I did get better. Even the boys started to recognize the logic behind the sequence of plays. In 5 consecutive games we ran 88 Super the first 3 plays, then we ran XX-47C for a touchdown. So much for clock management! In my opinion, the D-Wing gave a youth coach like myself a system, it was more than just running a bunch of plays. There was a purpose for everything we did and by the end of the year, we felt we could run inside, power , or G-O sweeps to take advantage of any defense we saw. The stat that really sticks out in my mind was the number of offensive plays we had for a net loss. Out of 300 carries(not including 5 qb sacks), we had only 4 plays that went for minus yardage. That was one of the greatest strengths of this offense, we always gained positive yards. It might have been only 3 yards, but it always kept us in a position to move the sticks. By the last half of the season, I felt confident that on 4th down, anything less than 4 yards was an automatic first down. I hope I have an opportunity to meet you sometime in the future. The D-wing has a decent following in the Buffalo,NY area. I will follow your clinic schedule closely and hopefully there will be one close enough for me to attend. I am going to put a D-wing highlight film together for my players , I will drop a copy in the mail for you to review. Thanks for all your help and support.
*********** Hi Coach, I forgot to tell you something in my update. In our game on Saturday, after the second touchdown, one of our kids tried a DROP KICK for the extra point. He missed it by only a foot. When was the last time you saw someone attempt that?? (My coaching partner and I like the leather helmet tactics). We talked to two of the refs before the game and told them we may attempt this unusual PAT. One of the refs looked at us like we were crazy, then he look at his ref partner and said "Is that legal"? The other ref looked back at him with a very puzzled face and said "I think so"? My coaching partner is my rules guy, and I order the NFHS rules book every year so there is no question of what is legal. He pulls out the rule book from his back pocket and points to the section and says, "Its legal, look here"! Anyway, the two refs that we told didn't bother telling the other two refs of our intentions and you should have seen the look on their faces when we tried this. It was quite funny. They had no idea what the heck was going on, as did the opposing team. Just thought you might like to hear this short story. Dave Cox, Tucson, Arizona (The last time I saw a drop-kick, I was playing in a rugby game at college, and as I prepared to make an open-field tackle in front of our goal, the runner drop-kicked the damn thing. I remember saying, "Can he do that?" Yes, he could, and so can you. The problem, of course, is that the American football, once shaped the same as a rugby ball, has been aerodynamically redesigned to accomodate the passing game, and the ends, much more pointed than those of a rugby ball, make the bounce of the ball more unpredictable. Wanna improve the game of football overnight? Eliminate the place-kick. HW) *********** "Coach Wyatt, I think I told you in August that our pee-wee league coaches came and met with me about the DW. They decided to go with it this year. The 9-10 year olds advanced to the semi-finals. The 11-12 year olds play for the Jackson Metroplex championship Monday night.(44 team league) It obviously has been a success!" Steve Jones, Florence HS, Florence, Mississippi *********** Although our 12-13 year old, 125-150 lb. team will finish the season with its first winning record in a number of years, the season has been very disappointing. Disappointing because we had a lot of physical talent on this club. For the first time in a while, our team was physically as big or bigger than the other teams in the league. We had some kids with physical skills as well: speed, hands, strength, etc. The kids were very smart too. The problem is one that I wrote earlier in the season to you about. These kids have no heart! We are from a very affluent area and all of these kids grow up living in big house, riding around in fancy (a.k.a. foreign) automobiles (in the DETROIT area no less). Physically, these kids had a legitimate shot at making the playoffs and really winning the championship. But, football is about more than physical ability. It really is 95% mental, attitude is everything, and I think these kids think that the other teams are going to give them a win. Its like they think they're entitled to it or something! I wrote to you a couple of weeks ago to tell you about our victory over one of the very good teams in our league that may have put them out of the playoffs. What I didn't tell you was that their QB was a player. I mean this kid did it all. you could tell by watching the game that he did everything he could to try to will his team to win but, we just had too much that day. After the game, that QB was heart broken, crying, really upset about losing. I know what he felt like, about 20 years ago, I was that kid. I would play with everything I had, leave everything on the field, and be devastated if we lost. I know that winning isn't everything but, wanting to is. I mean if you are not upset when you lose, then you must not have had very much invested in the first place. The next week in practice, I asked my team if they remembered seeing that QB crying after the game during the line-up. They said that they did, so I asked them if any of them thought they knew why he was crying. After several comments along the lines of, he's a girl, or a wimp, etc. I explained to these kids, that the reason he was crying was because he was that upset about losing. That the game meant so much to him, and that he had put so much into the game, that when he didn't win, it hurt. Not like someone poking you with a stick hurt but, like someone kicking you in the gut hurt. Anyway, I'll get to my point, and I apologize for rambling. The two games after that win were essentially playoff games for us and we needed to win at least one of them to make the playoffs. Well, in our next game we played the worst game we played all year. Not to take anything away from the team that won but, we simply did not show up for the game. No effort, no fight, no guts! Nothing! So we go to practice the following week. We explain to the kids about how important the next game is and that if they want to go to the playoffs, we must win. We must go out and fight and claw and take victory away from our next opponent. The kids were very vocal about how important it was to them to win the game and make the playoffs. So what happens on Saturday (the biggest game of these kids lives), we come out and play even worse than the week before. I have one kid actually forget to bring his helmet and shoulder pads to the game. Can you believe it!! Winning this game is really important to me and I can't wait to play Coach but, I forgot my equipment!!!! Anyway after the game, after losing any hope of making the playoffs, you would think that the players would be upset right. Wrong! As I gathered them around for the post-game talk, I could see in their eyes that it really didn't matter to them that they lost. No tears, no looking at the ground in shame, just a question. Hey Coach, can we still go watch the playoffs? I couldn't believe it. This kid just lost any chance of going to the playoffs and the only thing he can think of is can we go watch the playoffs! I don't know. Am I way off base, am I some kind of freak to expect some emotion or disappointment from these kids (even though, "They're only kids"?) I bet if they don't get a new car on their 16th birthday they'll be pissed. But fat chance that will happen. Sorry about the rambling incoherent e-mail but, I just gotta know if I am crazy. Thanks, NAME WITHHELD P.S. Thanks for the system and all of your help. Without the offense, who knows where we would have ended up. The system is for real, it really does work, and it is simply awesome! Sounds like a serious case of "affluenza." Also of American educational philosophy, which is afforded the luxury of being able to downplay competition because of our rich, fat, complacent society. Also of the feminization of America, which tries to protect our kids from anything bad ever happening to them (including feeling bad about losing). Does it surprise you that so many Americans, rather than being pissed at what those terrorists have done to us, are sucking their thumbs, and forming human chains, and holding candlelight vigils, and asking for pauses in the bombing, and telling us we should understand why people are so angry at America? Well, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that you're coaching their kids!
Q: Why do so many American children play soccer? A: So they don't have to watch it. Submitted by Larry Hanson, Sports Editor of the Rochelle, Illinois News-Leader "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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Thanks you for your prayers and God bless you and yours! Cherish your son, he is a precious gift from God. Kathy Miller (Michael's mom) P.S. Michael would love to receive cards or e-mail his e-mail is modelmike_55@yahoo.com 1148 Independence Blvd. Las Animas, CO 81054 Thanks to all of you who have lent Michael your support. This e-mail arrived from Michael's coach, Greg Koenig, Tuesday afternoon:
*********** Would you believe that I had a mother call me on a Friday to tell me that her son was not going to attend practice because it was cold and raining and her son had the sniffles (her word, not mine)? She said that she was going to keep him home so that he wasn't sick for the game on Sunday. Talk about feeling entitled to something. The kid was at practice the night before and wasn't sick and she didn't even say he was actually sick on Friday, he just had the sniffles. But she thinks its okay for her son to stay home out of the cold rain so he will be ready to play on Sunday. Never mind the fact that missing practice (25% of the week's practices) might mean that he isn't going to be "ready" to play on Sunday. Under our organization's rules, I had to consider this an excused absence (Sick) and the kid still had to play the requisite 4 plays per half. I know 8 plays per game doesn't seem like much but when you have 34 kids on a team, that's a lot of plays. And don't even get me started on all the times kids missed practice to attend their band concert, hockey practice, a swim class, a tennis lesson, and the dreaded soccer practice. If you ask these parents why they enroll their kids in so many activities that have conflicting schedules they will tell you that they read somewhere that kids should not focus on one sport/activity exclusively, and they should broaden their horizons. I say, horsesh--. All that does is make the kid average (if they're lucky) at a bunch of different things. I call it the Jack of all trades, master of none syndrome. What it doesn't teach the kid is commitment or dedication, how to be reliable. Football is the ultimate team sport and I can't build a true TEAM if kids are allowed to miss football practice to attend soccer or hockey practice but, these absences from practice are considered excused by our organization. It really pisses me off! We had a meeting at the beginning of the season for all of the parents in the program telling them that we were going to teach/stress teamwork, commitment, dedication, etc. and then we let their kids miss practice for almost any BS reason without any consequence. I mentioned my frustration to a couple of board members and was told that this is only a developmental/teaching program and to only play those kids the minimum number of plays. I told them that the kids that are missing practice are the kids that would only play the minimum anyway and that I can't develop/teach them football if they are playing hockey! The sad part is that there are a few kids that want to play football, but they suffer (the whole team suffers) when kids are allowed to miss practice but are allowed to play in the game and miss their assignments (assuming that they even know what their assignments are) because they weren't at practice to learn them. I, of all people, understand that this league is for teaching the game of football. I am probably the only coach in the league that does not have a son in the program. I do not coach because my son plays (he is only 3 and may never play football, I don't know, it's up to him if he wants to play when the time comes), I coach because I love the game and I love the kids (most of the time) and I want to give back to the sport that gave me so much. I want to see the kid that couldn't tackle a blocking dummy on day one, tackle the opposing team's best runner in a game before the season is over. And, I will continue coaching football even if my son, God forbid, decides to play futbol (soccer). NAME WITHHELD *********** "more proof for not kicking deep. In spite of how poorly we tackled all year, out of 22 kickoffs this year none were returned to our side of mid-field. We always kicked to our sideline and tried to land the kick on the opponent's 25 yard line. We had 3 kicks go out of bounds, and we recovered 2 of them. The rest were barely returned, because our opponents never had their stud ball carriers lined up where we were kicking." Regards, Keith Babb - Northbrook, Illinois *********** "Coach Wyatt, Just writing to give you another success story. I wrote you last year when I was coaching North Douglas High School in Drain, Oregon. We went to the playoffs in my third season there, the first time ND made it in 28 years. So what was the reward? They cut my teaching position with budget cuts and left the school looking for a new coach and athletic director! Well, I wound up at Tillamook High School in Tillamook, Oregon and it has felt like heaven! The school district has been wonderful, I have knowledgeable assistants who are experienced, I have kids with great attitudes, and even a wonderful, supportive teaching staff. In addition, we took Tillamook to the playoffs in my first season there (clinched a berth in the the 3A playoffs with a week to go!). I praise the Lord for the opportunity that has been given to me, by taking something negative and turning it into a positive! While running the double wing offense (with some stack-I thrown in occasionally) my record is now 45-21 in seven years as a head coach at three different schools! The good Lord takes care of those who have faith! Good luck to all coaches out there and don't ever lose your faith." Cal Szueber HFC, Tillamook High School, Tillamook, Oregon ************ Coach, Because of the terrible disaster on Sept 11, *the* USC had to reschedule their game the following Saturday. Coach Holtz didn't want to play a game after Clemson, so the choices were limited. Thus, South Carolina ended up playing host to Wofford College (an in state 1-AA school). They showed a lot of character. I got a kick out of watching them run the ball, and boy did they run. They run a double wing (well, they call it that). They have two wing backs. However, their fullback is way back, and their splits are reminiscent of wing-T splits (tackles way out). They were able to get some really nice blocking angles, but against a much bigger, faster Carolina defense, I think narrow splits would have been better (they lost the inside gap a number of times). Anyway, they would put one WB in motion, and run what looked like 38GO. They also had 3T2 dead, and gained considerable yardage (the wide splits were devastating to the man being trapped). It was fun watching them go for it on 4th down and make it 3 times. It was also fun watching someone run the stinking ball for a change. Except for the splits and positioning of the fullback, the plays looked similar (though they never ran what I would consider a true power play). Anyway, I thought about you all day long (BTW, Wofford is in Spartanburg, which is not too far from Ware Shoals).Jody Hagins, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina *********** Three weeks ago we went to see Carnegie-Mellon vs the University of Chicago.....Carnegie is a wing-t team.....being wing-t'ers we thought we might pick something up.....we did get a good throw back pass out of it.....it was a great game.....both teams played well.....Carnegie won on a 97 yard fumble recovery in ot.....the best part of the game was at half time.....one of Chicago's former players was driven around the field in a car that coach Stagg used to drive out to practice in.....the player was Jay Berwanger.....he could still move pretty well.....it was a great day all the way around.....Kevin McCullough.....Culver, Indiana (Jay Berwanger won the first Heisman Memorial Trophy, in 1935, when Chicago was a member of the Big 10) *********** The Goldwater Bulldogs got their third win of the year Friday to cap of a great Senior night celebration. Goldwater beat the Kingman Bulldogs 14 to 6 in a great hard fought battle. Two years ago, before we go here and installed the DW, they beat us 50 - 7. Last year we closed the gap to 19 - 6 in a cold rainy road trip (they are our only travel team - 4 hours away). This year was a different story. We had over 300 yards rushing, with no single back gaining more than 75 yards. Total team effort. We held the ball for just under 2/3rds of the game and had a gritty 3 play goal line stand from the 1 yard line in the final minute to seal the victory. We installed a couple of new twists to our package including the criss cross pass, counter option and power keep option. It was awesome! We play our rival game this Friday night to finish out the season. If we win, we will have the 3rd best record in school history, and will be 3rd in league. Mike Waters, Barry Goldwater High School, Phoenix, Arizona *********** Coach: We won at the Silverdome, beating the Clawson Mavericks, 12-7. It took a tremendous defensive effort to keep them out of our end zone, as time ran out. They pounded us and we made crucial mistakes on offense. We have tremendous stats, but they don't correlate to the score. Still, we won and we get to play the undefeated, unscored on team, that won its playoff 36-0. God, they didn't even break a sweat! We shared some food and beer with some of their coaches afterward. We all agreed: Whoever loses, we will take it like men, shake hands and hug. We are gradually building this league, by keeping coaches for years(rare in youth football)and running clinics to make the coaching the best it can be. We may pay for our noble stance Sunday, but the Double Wing will be done with courage and discipline--and--ain't nobody lookin back. We don't have the best Cowboy team ever, but I love the kids on this team and their great attitude. Bill Livingstone, Troy, Michigan *********** Coach Wyatt, We finished the season on Sunday playing for the championship. We played an older experienced team that was very well coached. We lost 39-6 but came away with many positives. We have a young team and I'm required to play them all a minimum number of plays. Playing my first team vs their first team we had a 12-6 game going on in the third. After which I had to bring in the first year kids to play. Three of those td's came during that time. So it wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds. We had alot of fun this year running the double wing and look forward to next year. My teams over the last three years have been 8-1, 10-0, and 6-3. That's 24-4, one championship with two runners-up over those seasons. The local high school coach has noticed what were doing and has really come around to support us. (more on that in another e-mail) As always, thanks for all your support and advice. Glade Hall, Seattle, Washington *********** "Ware Shoals won this past weekend (39-0 I believe), and will now play Blacksburg in the second round of playoffs." Jody Hagins, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina *********** Well Coach it wasn't the Chariho Cowboys' finest day and it wasn't our worst either. All 4 of our teams reached the RI Championship games last weekend. Our Jr Pee Wee team lost a close one 14 - 7 to a single-wing team. Our pee wee team picked a bad day to play their worst game of the year and were defeated. My Jr Midget team dominated and won 32-6 over the East Providence Mohawks and are currently 11 - 0. Our Midget team also captured the RI Championship. Both teams now will travel up to New Hampshire to play their state Champs in the 1st round of Regional competition. Ken Brierly, Carolina, Rhode Island *********** Coach - Odd man out after the 3 way coin toss. No playoffs this year. Can't complain I guess, our kids did a good job overall for being a first year ball club. Finished 6-3. We have a "fun" tournament on thanksgiving weekend where I am going to be looking for some new positions for next year. Did I say "next year" already? Yes I did and damn proud of it. Thanks for everything this season and see you this spring at a clinic somewhere. John Torres, Manteca, California *********** Hi Coach, Well, we won our final game, Eagles 20 - Steelers 6. Scored on 88/99 power and under 7G. Also scored a safety. The side judge said, at one point in the first half, "Boy, you guys really are a ball control team". That was a good compliment by my standards. They didn't really have the ball much on offense the entire game. We played some guys at different positions throughout the game, just to get them game time experience at those positions. This game ended the regular season and our record so far is 6-3-0. The win puts us in the playoffs for sure. We play a team that we are 1-1 against this season. So we get to have the proverbial rubber match. They are a good team, as we are, so it will be a good game. All for now. Thanks for the system and the advise this season. It was almost like having you here. Dave Cox, Tucson, Arizona *********** 1st Rd. of play-offs : South Valley Panthers(4-2) 20 vs. Northridge Knights(5-1) 0 Well the team and myself have won our first play-off victory for the Tiny Mite South Valley Panthers. We beat a 5-1 Northridge Knight team 20-0. This victory had special meaning to me because if you remember this was the team that thoroughly thumped me in a scrimmage last year(my first with the DW) and it prompted me to call you at home thoroughly frustrated with a big NG that wouldn't let us get a play off. Anyway this year was a different story, we came out a little tentative on the defensive side and Northridge came out in a No Huddle, running trips. They attempted to pass out of that but the 10-1 brought to much pressure from the DE's. They were successful in running a reverse for a long gain. Their drive went all they way to our 10 yd line when they attempted to run a severely bastardized version of the Double Wing....they fumbled the exchange and we recovered. South Valley proceeded to drive 90 yds. in 12 plays with no penalties and scored on a 2 Wedge by Carlos Lopez. The TD was set up by first year A back Jamie Silverman's 35 yd run off of 88 Super Power Reach. Defensively we shut Northridge down and they quickly got out of their "gimmicky offense" and began to run their base plays, which we had scouted well. South Valley added their second TD when our 35 yd., 11 play drive ended with a QB sneak by Luis Sandavol. The drive was set up by a 16 yd 6-G Pass completion from Sandavol to TE Malik Jackson. South Valley's 3 rd TD was a 8 yd. XX-47-C run by first year C back Dylan Miller. Bill Shine, Van Nuys, California *********** 130 lb. Gold Division BGYFL semifinals: Hanover Park 8 Wheaton 0 - We lost to this team 8-0 during the second week of the season. They have an excellent defense and only gave up 19 points all year. We went "wings on" the whole game and moved the ball and ate clock when needed. Our defense has really stepped up and I am so proud of those kids. They truly played their hearts out on the defensive side of the ball. Our lone score came on a wedge play out of unbalanced single wing, with Nick Fall taking it to the house for a 55 yard score. We dealt with a nasty 6-2 and crashing ends all day....but stayed the course and moved the ball on 6-G and 7-G when trap and wedge weren't there. Next stop - Northern Illinois University and the Super Bowl. Hugh, thanks so much for all your positive comments and help throughout the year. Three years as head coach running Double Wing and we have been 28-4.....and going for our third consecutive Super Bowl. This group of kids were 3-15 over their first three years of football - but the last two years they are 17-4. I am smart enough to know, the system is to be commended a lot more than my coaching....ha. I am really proud of my kids.....they believe in the system and always find a way to get it done. Thanks, Bill Lawlor *********** Huntsville Alabama,(8 & 9 yr old) Monrovia Panthers 27 New Hope Firebirds 6 - Hey Coach, Your Double Wing is unstoppable! After the second round of our 8-9 yr old tournament, we remain undefeated for the year at 10-0. We have out-gained our opponents a staggering 2,630 yard to 212 yds, 47 touch downs to 5. Saturday was no exception. Blue O scored on our first possession on Tight Rip 88 Power on the 14th play of the drive. Had a nice Tight Rip 88 Halfback Pass for about 20 get called back, for an ineligible receiver down field, on the first play of our second possession. On the next play we busted Tight Rip 88 Power for 70 yds and a score. Scored twice more with Tight Rip 88 Power on runs of 60 and 40 yds. Gained 312 yards on the day and allowed 56. We have one more game to win to go undefeated for the year. Thanks for your support. Stuart Whitener, Huntsville, Alabama *********** Not a Double-Wing team, but it's scary to think what they'd look like running it... Seattle's O'Dea Catholic High fell one game short of making it eight consecutive perfect regular seasons, when Rainier Beach High, 10th ranked class 3A team in the state of Washington, defeated third-ranked O'Dea 25-20 in the final regular-season game Thursday night. . O'Dea had won 71 straight regular season games. Coincidentally, Rainier Beach was the last team to defeat O'Dea in the regular season, winning 21-7 on November 5, 1993, the final game of the 1993 regular season. 1993 was also the last year O'Dea missed the state playoffs, finishing that year with a 6-3 record. O'Dea lost only seven other games in the entire decade of the 1990's; its winning percentage of .912 (103-10) was the best in the state. *********** We held the league's best Full Back to 32 yards on 12 carries, Saturday,when he had been running for over 100 a game. We used your old LaCenter 5-3 defense to do it. The D-line did a fine job. Although we gave up 200 hundred yards in the air most of it was in front of the zone with the the exception of a 65 yard post route that split our two deep zone. We felt we needed an extra down lineman so we went with the La Center stuff. I still have the packet of information you sent me on it three years ago. anyway it worked great.Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** Thanks Coach, We are very excited about next season. I forgot to tell you an interesting story about one of our games. We attended a homecoming game of one or our opponents a couple of weeks before we played them. They ran the Maryland-I. They ran an ISO, a Double ISO and a Toss Sweep. They base blocked every play. I remarked to our HC, "They call that the Stack?, Wait until they get a load of us!" Two weeks later we played and ran a lot of stack (Powers, Power Keeps, G's, counter, the whole package). It was 31-0 at half time! Their coaches in the press box were freaking out over our Stack. We could hear the comments like, "That play is killing us, we need to put that in!" Somebody diagram that play so we can use it" "How many guys do they pull on that play?", "Who the heck has the ball?". It was a lot of fun. I will definitely find the time (and money) to get to one of your clinics. Maybe Denver (I have a brother who is a police officer there). Houston would be great. With us and Danbury, plus all the youth coaches running the DW in Houston and Dallas I am sure you would get a good turn out. I'll try to get some feed back and see if we can make it worth your while! Forgot to tell you we ran your DW with our middle school team. The boys loved it! They only lost one game. My son was the only 6th grade starter on the team. He spends so much time with me and the HS boys that he knows every play by heart! (I actually caught him helping one of my lineman review his blocking assignments). He wants to be a Tight End so we are hoping he grows a few inches in the next few years. He is going to be VERY big. Thanks again Coach!! Jim Hanley, Cypress Christian School, Houston *********** Coach, We did it. Finished regular season 10-0. Won our conference for the first time in the schools history. This will be our 9th playoff appearance in 10 years. Last year we were 9-4 (lost in semis to eventual state champ), year before 9-2 and the year before 8-3. I tell you all this to let you know we've been decent lately, but I am truly convinced that without the double wing we would not be where we are today. Out of 54 plays last night 37 of them were double wing. 3 trap a 4 literally ate their lunch. By the way they were 9-0 coming in. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to say thank you for your system. I just hope no one else in this area decides to start using it. =) Larry Bunn, East Newton HS, Granby, Missouri AROUND THE NATIONAL FIELD GOAL LEAGUE Sunday, November 4 will forever be known as the day Kris Brown singlehandedly (singlefootedly?) returned the suspense to field goal kicking.
*********** Vanderbilt, a school with aspiration to be a southern Harvard but nonetheless has delusions of being able to play with the Tennessees, has been to three bowl games in its history. Art Guepe, who coached the Commodores to a 7-3 record in 1955 and 25-13 win over Auburn in the 1956 Gator Bowl, died last Saturday. Coach Guepe. As a player at Marquette, Coach Guepe scored the first touchdown in the history of the Cotton Bowl, when he returned a Sammy Baugh punt 60 yards for a first-quarter score. *********** It is a shame that Navy's poor showings lately cost Charlie Weatherbie his job. He's going to get a generous severance package, but it's still a damn shame. He certainly seemed, to anybody who knew him or read John Feinstein's "A Civil War," to be a great person, certainly the sort of man who should be coaching our future leaders. And, of course, for those of you who liked watching Coach Weatherbie's option offense, brace yourselves for his replacement - almost certainly another spread-it-out-and-throw-the-ball cookie-cutter kinda guy. On the other hand, maybe the folks at Navy will take a look at how successful the spread-it-out approach has been at Army: the Cadets are 3-16 since Todd Berry, undoubtedly a good coach, brought his passing game, the one that worked so well at Illinois State, to a place where previous coach Bob Sutton's running attack was competitive with teams that had far better talent. *********** Tom Holmoe, another guy who certainly comes across as a good man, has resigned at Cal, certainly the surest place in America for a coach to go if he wants to prove that even good coaches can lose. Not since Pappy Waldorf, in the 1950's, has anyone figured out how to win consistently there. Failure at Cal has not necessarily been a career-killer, though: In four years at Cal in the early 60's, Marv Levy was 8-29-3. Steve Mariucci didn't exactly light them up at Cal, either. For all Cal's football futility of late, the Golden Bears have never had a winless season. Coach Holmoe's hopes of avoiding such a record rest on a win in one of Cal's remaining games against USC, Stanford and - ta da! - Rutgers.
"Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson
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*********** Hugh, Read in the news that some "British citizens" and one" American citizen" who had gone to fight for the Taliban had been killed by U.S bombing in Afghanistan. Keep up the good work guys , it will save us the trouble of having to hang the traitorous bastards (or pay their disability pensions) when they get back. Spike (Mike) Kent, Cornwall, England Yes I have been drinking, but it was either that or kicking sh-- out of the TV as I watched a programme on Muslim extremists saying America got what it deserved, and how to buy a fake passport in a London mosque ( they sell them there because they know the Police daren't enter)
*********** A former player of mine named Bob Saberi stopped by to visit the other day. After graduating from Washington State, Bob took a shot as a stockbroker before joining a startup firm named CDcoupon, where he is Director of Marketing. (It's just a title right now, because there are still just a few people on board, and he does everything and anything it takes.) CDcoupon is a fundraising concept that takes the buy-one-get-one-free idea of the Gold Cards and the coupon books to the next level: a CD with which the purchaser prints his own personalized coupons - as many as he wants. There is no initial investment on the part of the fundraising organization other than the cost of mailing the CD's (roughly $8 per 100). There is no candy to buy. The CDcoupons ships the CD's and the organization sells them. The CD's sell for $10, of which the organization keeps $5. I told Bob that it seemed like a pretty clever idea, and that I would mention it. It's up to him to sell it. To give you an idea of how this unique fundraiser works you can get a free sample CD (print your own coupons!), by e-mailing Bob Saberi: robert@CDcoupon.com (The company's web site is www.CDcoupon.com) I replied that there was courage and toughness displayed in that game that soccer people will never know. I mean, what do they do in case of a tie? A shoot-out, for crying out loud! So Jim wrote back, "What we need is a soccer vs. football shootout. I'll load up some of the locals, we'll bring our shotguns, rifles and 4WD's, then we'll have a shootout. No, wait...I forgot... the politically correct soccer types don't own firearms. Hmmm...let's see...I know! I'll load up some of the locals, we'll bring our shotguns, rifles, and 4WD's, then we'll have a shootout. Screw soccer! "I saw an interesting bumper sticker the other day. 'Clinton. One more reason stupid people shouldn't vote.' "How did you like Stackhouse, the Ole Miss fullback? What a B back he would make! I always find myself rating players on their double wing potential." THIS WEEK WITH THE DOUBLE WING (AS SCHEDULES WIND DOWN, I HAVE MOVED RESULTS TO THIS PAGE)
*********** Coach Wyatt, The dream is alive. The Las Animas Trojans won 22-15 over the Holyoke Dragons in the opening round of the playoffs on Sat. This is the first playoff victory in 21 years for Las Animas. It was a hard fought battle against a very big team. We were limited to 315 yards of total offense, but we controlled the ball and the clock for the majority of the fourth quarter and held on for the victory. We now travel to Wiggins for the quarterfinals. They are ranked #4 in the state, and they won the state championship two years ago. They will be a big challenge, but we won't be so outsized this week. What a great feeling for our kids to continue in the playoffs. We are still learning how to deal with success as we are pretty young. If you have any trick plays that may catch someone off-guard, I could use some suggestions. Thanks for everything. And thanks for putting the prayer request on the website. Michael has already gotten some email from around the country. He will be in Denver most of this week for further diagnosis. (Michael Bryning, a sophomore on the Las Animas team, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. His mom's e-mail address is sassykat_45@yahoo.com - I'm sure he would appreciate any words of encouragement and support that you or any of your players might care to send. Thanks to those of you who have already done so. HW) Coach Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado *********** Coach Wyatt, We got back on the winning track Friday night, after a tough loss to Ganado. This past Friday we beat Tidehaven 35-0. This was the first Danbury victory ever over Tidehaven. The series began in 1956. We are now 7-2 for the year. One game left in our regular season, and if we can win we're in the playoffs. Against Tidehaven we ran for 372 yards and passed for 34 yds. Sure was great to go over 400 yds. total offense, as well as notching a shutout. A-back Bradley Gandy ran for 145 yds. and two touchdowns on 26 carries. C-back Nicoli Aguinaga rushed for 77 yds. on only 4 carries (love that 47-C). We used quite a bit of stack formation and were pleased with it. Well, keep good thoughts for us against Van Vleck HS this week. We would love to be the first Texas team to make the playoffs running the DOUBLE WING. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING. Don Davis Danbury HS, Danbury, Texas *********** Hi Coach Wyatt, I just wanted to fill you in on how our season is going. I spent the Summer recruiting like a madman. I signed up anything that moved! As a result, I ended up with 35 Freshmen players. Unfortunately, only about 4 or 5 of them had any Football experience. All the Pop Warner players go to the city high schools. I spent the first week getting them into condition and teaching them "Safer and Surer Tackling". I kept doing that week after week, and added offensive plays as we went along. It took five weeks into the season before our offense clicked into full gear. I thought the season was doomed. We were 0-5. Every week the players would say, "Coach, why don't we run what they do?" or "Coach why don't we just pass more?" I kept saying, "You have to trust me. We have to execute, it's not that we don't pass enough, or that the offense isn't working". Now, we're like a machine! We won 2 of our last 3 games, and out-scored our opponents 44 to 14! My Freshmen team thinks I'm some kind of genius now. (If only they knew it doesn't take a genius, just a "set" and an "alpha-male" mentality) Many teams we play have experienced players, and some teams even throw in some Sophomores to balance out their Freshman team. I stuck to my guns, the Double-Wing, and Surer Tackling, and it paid off. Paul Smith, Bullard-Havens Tech, Bridgeport, Connecticut *********** Hugh- The Taylorsville Warriors Midget youth team kept their dream season intact as they won their 11th straight game without a defeat Saturday, beating the Viewmont Vikings 20-6 to win the tourney divisional championship. Viewmont did a lot more stunting from their split 4 defense and caused some problems in the first half. They submarined their line when they thought the wedge was coming. We countered with unbalanced 88 and 99 supers. We also ran 4-x lead and 44 and 55 base lead effectively. Our big Lihai Makoni had to sit out much of the game with a bruised knee, but others stepped in to do the job. Next up, the East Leopards, whom the Warriors defeated in the pre-season in a thriller 20-15. Both teams are champions win or lose, but one will be the State Champ. Al Andrus Salt Lake City ************ Thanks for the uptight suggestion VS 5-2. We Won our quarter final play off game 20-12. It could have been 50-12 had we not shot ourselves in the foot....3 fumbles in the red zone, one run back 90+yd for a TD. We were called for motion 8-10 times (lead official had an ego enema he was full of himself, stated he knew the rules and I quote "The back in motion must be in motion for a full count before the snap"*). That being said we were down 12-0 after 3 quarters. They never adjusted to the uptight shift and 88 power accounted for over 150 yd. With three minutes left we were tied and had the ball on their 26 yd line. On 3rd and 4 when threw our first pass of the game out of uptight right we sent the C back long in motion after he shifted to uptight and faked 99 the whole defense bit on the 99 and the quarterback rolled right and hit our wide open TE for the Winning Score! We play Highlands Ranch in the Semis Next Week they are a handpicked stacked team made up of several Denver Bronco Players Kids. They are 9-0 with their closest game score being 46-14 (against us 3 weeks ago). The game was closer than the score, we gave up a kickoff return, a fumble, a punt return and an interception for TDs. Hopefully they'll take us lightly and we can eliminate the mistakes and we'll make it interesting. We rushed for 238 yds against them, so we know we can move the ball. Steve Hansen, Arvada, Colorado Diamondbacks (*Don't know where the ref got that "one-second" business. No such rule. Next time ask him if he can show it to you. That's almost guaranteed to piss off refs, few of whom carry rule books with them, because who needs rule books, anyhow? But you shouldn't be put in the position of having to prove a negative. HW) *********** Franklin Cowboys continue holding the rope... Coach, I am so proud of our kids. We are a different team than we were 5 weeks ago. We are a TEAM. Our AAA Franklin Cowboys advanced to the league championship game next Saturday by beating the Grassland Golden Eagles 29-6. Our defense caused 3 fumbles and played a great game in stopping a very good Grassland team. We scored on 5X, 4X and 2 88 SPs. 2-3 passing for 6 yards (2-2 point conversions). I love passing stats like that. Thanks for your help. Greg Stout, Thompson's Station, Tennessee *********** Hey Coach -- Mustangs 28, Jaguars 0. We moved the ball well again today. Their offense only had 7 snaps in the first half, which really demoralized them. I played the entire 2nd half with backups at QB, A, B and C positions. My second team A back just became second team because he's been really bustin' his butt in practice..his first time to run 88sp in a real game went for 8 yds. I love hearing the other coaches yell "follow their motion guy..there he goes..stay with him..."....when I hear that, here comes 3T2, XX47 and 77SP. I don't know why those guys keep coaching to "watch our motion man"....oh well, as long as they're gonna give it to me, I'm gonna take it!! ha.. Well Coach -- next Saturday is my last game Coachin' Austin. He moves on to Jr. High next season-- It's been 5 great years, and I'm gonna miss him as a player. I pity those dads that say "I could never Coach my own kid"...man, they don't know what they are missin! I think I'll pick up Hunter next year and start an 8 yr old team..He's had fun playin' flag this year and wants me to Coach him..Only problem is he's been playin' QB for his flag team, and I just don't care much for QB's!! ha... Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** Good Morning Hugh,Well the Seahawks are the only DW team in the state still playing football. We beat our rival Lisbon yesterday 24-13. Great game by our kids- we had lost to them earlier in the season 22-24. Yesterday's game was a battle we were behind 13-12 at the half. Used your 53 defense to shut down their all conference full back. Played a lot of zone and although we gave up some passing yardage nothing big. Interesting offensive stats each ofour three backs carried the ball 15 times for 160 yards and our QB was 7-10 for 160 yards. Not great running stats but nice balance and we had a seven minute drive to open the second half. As you can tell we are pleased- these kids have really over achieved. We play undefeated Winthrop next weekend for the Western Maine Title. Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Regional HS, Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** Coach Wyatt, James Madison beat McLean High School to take over sole possession of 1st place in the Liberty District. We are headed for the playoffs and must win next week to win the Liberty title. Madison's QB B.T. Good ran 5 times for 122 yards (38 GO Keep(35 yards) and QB Blast (70 yards). B.T. also had a 38 yard punt return for a T.D. Tyler Lee had 129 yards on 13 carries (mainly 77 special power and 88 superpower). Thanks for your support and God Bless! Coach Gordon Leib, James Madison HS, Vienna, Virginia *********** Florence 51, Philadelphia 20 - Great offensive effort Friday night by the Eagles! Cory Jones rushed for 301 yards and 5 TD's. We finished regular season 6-4. We start the play-offs next week vs. Lawrence Co.(9-1) Steve Jones, Florence HS, Florence, Mississippi *********** Coach, We ended our season yesterday losing badly (29-8) to Amsterdam who is ranked #1 in the state. We both had over 300 yards of offense but they completed their drives and we did not. One thing I have decided is that I'm going to use the no huddle arm bands next year. We ran some simple no huddle in a series in the game that really wore them down and caused them to get a penalty trying to sub guys in. (12 men on the field) Disappointing but 7-2 isn't bad and finishing 2nd in Offensive yards this year in the section behind Pete Porcelli's Lansingburg double wing makes double wing look pretty good !!!! Thanks for everything and I'll be watching for the Providence clinic dates and info. John Irion, Queensbury High School, Queensbury, New York *********** Season-ending stats from Lansingburgh, New York, where Pete Porcelli just completed his first season, after moving over from Troy Catholic Central: A back Marcel Youngs 150 carries- 1,261 yards - 19 td's; B back Kareem Jones 148 carries- 1,329 yards - 21 td's - Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh HS, Lansingburgh, New York *********** Coach, Millersville Wolverines 19 - Cape St. Claire Cougars 0 - We finished out the season 9-0, and the number one seed for the playoffs. This game was a bit challenging for us because we have never faced a 9-man front. It confused the guys for a little while after a good halftime talk and revisiting the GAP-ON-AREA rule we were able to start moving the ball. Our first score came late in the 2nd quarter on a Stack-I 88 Super Power by Jason Clements who happened to end the regular season with 18 touchdowns (2 by way of defense). In the third quarter we unveiled our WOLVERINE Formation (Wildcat) for the first time. Which thru Cape St. Claire completely for a loop. We marched right down the field with 3 88 powers, then capped the drive off with a Wildcat 47-C that went for a 39 yard score by Joseph Thornton. (We only ran two series of the direct snap mainly to get the boys game tested with the formation before the playoffs.) Cape St. Claire played the Super Powers very good all day, and again like you said, something has to be open. Well, it took me 3 quarters to remember that, and I put my fullback to work. 5-X and 6-G were very wide open - our fullback scored the final touchdown of the game on a 6-G that went for 20 yards UNTOUCHED. Cape had soled out to the A-Back in motion completely forgot that fullback can carry the ball as well - I guess! We have had an excellent season - thanks for your support and help. My staff and I took a players from two teams that had a combined recored of 2-16 (0-9 and 2-7) and have put together a very impressive 9-0 team that will contend for a county championship! I have 22 kids on roster, 11 of them with 1 year or more experience. We outscored our opponents 263-67. I will keep you posted on the playoffs. Thanks again, Jason Clarke, Millersville Wolverines, Millersville, Maryland *********** No. 1 Fitch hosted No. 16 Norwich Free Academy (NFA), the largest high school in Connecticut. For the first time this year, Fitch played a team that was as big (if not bigger) and strong as it was, and it showed. NFA manhandled Fitch on the line of scrimmage at times and Fitch had trouble moving the ball, especially in the first half. The Falcons actually were forced to punt twice in the first quarter, a real rarity. So rare, in fact, that on the first punt the snap sailed over the head of the punter and, when it was recovered, gave NFA the ball on the Fitch 9-yard line. The Wildcats ran it in on the next play, tying the score at 8-8. Capitalizing on a couple of lost fumbles by NFA in the second quarter, Fitch was up 20-8 at the half, and increased its lead to 44-8 after three quarters, breaking off some nice runs. (This is when I left, thinking the game safe at hand.) However, NFA wasn't finished and scored threeTD's in the fourth quarter. Final score: 44-30. Alan Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island ************ A Double-Wing coach wins game Number 100! Michael Press ran for 202 yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns, Jason Dexter had 100 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns, and the Lakeside Lions of Seattle defeated Cleveland High, 53-20, to give Lakeside coach Bill McMahon his 100th win as a head coach, all at Lakeside. *********** JUST ANOTHER DAY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL (AND STILL BETTER THAN THE BEST DAY EVER OF PRO FOOTBALL)...
*********** A CURSORY LOOK AT THE NFL...
*********** I saw my first football game in 1945, and I have learned several things since. First and foremost is this: you can watch football for a long time, but will never see everything. I learned that once again on Thursday night, while attending a high school game. It was a dismal, rainy night, and after nine weeks of football games on it, the field, as you might imagine, was a muddy mess. The home team put up a fight but wound up being beaten, finishing with a final record of eight losses against one win. The two teams went through their compulsory, perfunctory (done merely out of routine) walk-by handshakes, and then gathered at separate places on the field for the usual postgame talks. Now, everybody's postgame routine is different, of course, but most teams that I am aware of gather briefly as a team following the game. I consider this time together to be an important part of our work week. In a minute or two, we'll go our separate ways, milling around on the field and talking to well-wishers, but right now, this is our final time together after a week of dedicated effort. So we'll first take a moment to pray. (That is, I'll pray. The kids don't have to, but I invite them to join me if they care to. Mainly, I'll thank the Lord for watching over us, and for having given us the chance to spend the evening together playing a great game in a great country.) And then we'll say a few words, always stressing the positives. That's not difficult if you've just won. But even when you've just got your butts kicked, there are still positives - things you can build on, things you need to work on. It's part of a coach's job to find them and stress them. And then we'll break, and until they go into the locker room (or get on the bus) they belong to their family, or friends, or whoever. So as I watched the home team players assembled out on the field, I looked for the coach. But he wasn't there. He was some 30 or 40 yards away, on the other side of the 50, and when the kids realized that, they raced over toward him. But as they did, he redirected them, waving them toward the stands, evidently indicating for them to go visit with the fans. Nothing wrong with that. But as the opponents still remained in their huddle, and his own players gathered in front of the stands talking with fans, the coach walked over to the sideline where two assistants grabbed him from behind, picked him up, slammed him down in the mud and piled on top. And there, in full view of the spectators, the coaches wallowed (an appropriate metaphor, under the circumstances). It was easily the most juvenile, unprofessional conduct I'd ever seen "coaches" engage in on a football field. Now, while trying to picture three grownups out there making fools of themselves - if you can - bear a few things in mind...
*********** Coach Wyatt: I know the photo at the end of today's 'News' (ABOVE) is meant as humor, but as a University of Tennessee grad and loyal Big Orange football fan, I resent soccer balls being shown anywhere near my revered Neyland Stadium. I'm sure you are unaware that local ordinance forbids soccer being played within a 5 mile radius of the stadium and that no soccer game has ever sullied Shields-Watkins' hallowed turf. I suggest that a more appropriate venue for displaying this humor would have been Notre Dame Stadium (where they even permit girls soccer!), the big house at Michigan (where half of their fans don't know the difference between soccer and football!), or Vanderbilt stadium (where those snobby Commodores (commode-doors) deserve no respect!). Regards, your still loyal 'NEWS' reader, Keith Babb (UT alum), Northbrook, Illinois (My deepest apologies to Tennessee fans. My thinking was that if this guy will drop soccer balls into Neyland Stadium, he will stop at nothing! Plus, it was one stadium that I was able to find a good aerial shot of. HW) "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry
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"In Search of a Hero", by David Zimmerman, retails for $24.95 - it can be purchased at leading book stores or ordered direct from Eagle Books P.O.Box 253 Hales Corners, WI 53132
*********** I learned yesterday that one of my sophomore football players has a brain tumor. His name is Michael Bryning. He will be going to Denver later this week for further testing to determine the appropriate treatment. Please pray that God would strengthen Michael and his family as well as our players in this trial. Last Friday night Michael suffered a concussion in our final regular season game. He was taken to the hospital, and they did a CAT scan which revealed a brain abnormality. Yesterday they did an MRI and that showed the tumor. If he hadn't gotten the concussion, this tumor would not have been detected. How amazing that our God would use an injury to the head to cause the doctors to do further testing to reveal the tumor. Michael has already recovered from the concussion, and he is in good spirits, but this will be a big challenge for him. Again, please pray that God would be at work in this situation. We are preparing for the playoffs this week, so our team is dedicating the rest of the season to Michael. Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado
*********** "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." United States Consitution, Article III, Section 3 (1) ABC News President David Westin, the boss of Peter Jennings and a rather powerful influence on American public opinion, told a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism gathering, back on October 23, that he didn't have an opinion one way or another on whether The Pentagon was "a legitimate target" of terrorists. Westin was responding to a questioner in the audience who asked him, "Do you believe the Pentagon was a legitimate military target, even if the missile was not?" Here is the complete text of his answer: "The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don't have an opinion on that and it's important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we're not doing a service to the American people. I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that's perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it's for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it's for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that's something that I should not be taking a position on. I'm supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be." Now, after some people with stones got hold of his remarks when they were replayed on C-SPAN four days later and began raising hell, and Disney Executives (ABC is owned by Disney) were reported to have been pissed by his remarks, the weasel is apologizing ("I apologize for any harm that my misstatement may have caused..."), making it sound almost as if he wasn't sure exactly what he was answering when he said what he did. I think he should have just denied saying it. Hey - it worked for Peter Jennings, who, after being caught scoffing at President Bush's being shuttled around from place to place on September 11, went on the attack against his critics. Mr Jennings' very words that day were, "The country looks to the President on occasions like this to be reassuring to the nation... some presidents do it well, and some presidents don't." We all knew what he was insinuating. You'd have thought he'd have had guts to stand behind his words, and say, "I said it because I didn't think Mr. Bush was being very reassuring." But instead, Clintonlike, he came up with a limp denial, then turned the guns against the shooters. I'm telling you... the way these self-important snotnoses are "reporting" this "war," placing their own interests ahead of their country with their leaks of military secrets, their frequent interviews with the ten-percenters who disgree with our President, their second-guessing of our strategy and their over-portrayal of the civilians and Red Cross warehouses allegedly being hit by our bombs, we are either going to have to string up a couple of them as traitors ("adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort"), or start buying our prayer rugs and finding out which way Mecca is. (After writing this, I watched ABC News Thursday night, as a reporter named Dave Harris was reporting to us from "The Taliban." I swear to God - there he was, dutifully interviewing the f--king enemy, as they showed him a formerly peaceful village, full of innocent women and children, that those cruel Americans had destroyed! Hitler sure missed his chance. He would have loved dealing with today's American news media. Those slimy bastards, so proud of their "neutrality," so reluctant to "take a position" that something is "right or wrong," would be over there "reporting from The Third Reich", passing along to us Hitler's side of the story: the Jews had it coming.) *********** (A while back, on October 12, I printed "Hold the Rope," sent me by Sonny DiGregorio, a youth coach on Long Island, and a couple of coaches have written me to tell me that it helped their kids understand the idea of teammates depending on each other.) Coach, I am just sitting here with a dumb grin on my face after reading your E-mail from Coach Greg Stout.I'm glad I sent you that letter - it meant so much to us, and now it has spread. I wonder how many other Coaches and teams are using Hold the Rope cry across the country.What's that saying - that if you help one coach you help 20 youth football players. To Bring you up to speed- we are in 2rd place with a 2-2-1 record.our wins are 21 points in each game and our 2 losses are only 7 total points we tied the undefeated 1st place team. We run that damn DW hard and it looks good.We have installed the mirror version of the basic 88sp,3 trap@2 plus the counters ect, and we run them without errors now. We are not overpowering any team but we control the markers and the clock.We have 3 more games and playoffs and I feel we will be at the championship games.Thanks again Coach Sonny DiGregorio, Valley Stream, New York (HOLD THE ROPE - October 12) *********** Coach....I had written you a little earlier in the year to let you know how well the double wing was progressing for us here at Edwards County High School in Albion, Illinois. Just wanted to follow up and let you know that it never let us down this year. We rushed for 2700 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry with our best back out with a badly twisted ankle for the first 4 games of the year. He came back in week 5 and rushed for 825 yards (mostly 88 SP and 56C)in those final 5 games. On the year we had possession of the football 241:35 compared to our opponents 191:25 and we did this in what we considered a "rebuilding year" after 7 kids decided not to play this year (to our unfortunate surprise). The bad news is that we finished at 5-4 and got squeezed out of the playoffs by the narrowest of margins. 3 of our losses were by 1 TD or less. Out of the 256 total teams in 8 classes that made it in,,,we were the 257th team. While this was really sad for us, i wanted to say that the DW was great for us and certainly was a large reason why we even came close to getting in to the playoffs. We went 8-2 last year running the straight T and felt so strongly about the possibilities of the DW that we switched. None of us regret it. Here is the real bummer.....remember when you always say to not kick it deep on kickoffs? Well....2 of those losses came as a result of our opponent returning kickoffs for touchdowns I'm afraid to say. Let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks kicking the ball deep to your oponents' returners (who are usually their best runners anyway) is sound. It kept us from being 7-2 and getting a good playoff seed. We always keep up with your site...and always promote what we do even when we get questioned about it from others who don't understand why we are lining up in this crazy looking offense. It truly is a great HS offense and thanks for promoting it. Jeff Lonnon (offensive coordinator, Edwards County High School, Albion, Illinois) *********** Coach, I enjoyed the piece on the NZ soccer mums. As I've mentioned in the past, my family and I lived on the North Shore of Auckland for 4 years. No matter how bad it has gotten over there with regard to soccer vs rugby, I find it hard to believe that the situation has deteriorated to the level that it has in the states. I just can't fathom the soccer mums in NZ being as obnoxious, misguided and wimpy as they are here in the states. I'd like to think that there are still a few good blokes left in the country that wouldn't stand for it (the blokes are pretty old fashioned, they don't learn to boil water or help out in the kitchen, figuring if they learn how to, they'll just end up having to do it all the time). I enjoyed the candor of the Kiwis when discussing the reality of the situation. The polynesians are pretty impressive as athletes, big, fast and not afraid of mixing it up. I remember playing in a basketball league against such a team, and although we had a couple of Yanks, and a couple of tall tough Brits on our team, they pounded us into the floor (not just talking about the score). We didn't back down (even after the refs had long lost control of the game) but my Yank buddy ended up with 4 stitches in his eyebrow (finished the game of course). Well, I'm sure that things have softened up a bit over there in the burbs, but I have faith that the kiwis haven't lost their perspective and touch with reality to as large a degree as we have here in the states. For example, one of my daughter's friends told us at dinner last night that her mom was trying to do away with the Presidential fitness awards at the school, I gathered because her younger, slightly overweight sister got a little psyched out running the mile for time. I pointed out to her that the award is a nice goal to shoot for and that this was real life, etc. (as a 4th grader, my daughter did more pull-ups than any girl or boy, and immediately made me go out and buy a pull-up bar for home, so she could go for the school record). Anyway, this is just another example of parents doing a disservice to the kids so they don't have to face challenges early on in their lives to better prepare them for what they'll have to face later on. Lastly, the kiwis don't worry too much about being PC. If I'm not mistaken, the NZ soccer team is the "All-Whites", which is kind of ironic based on your article, and the basketball team is called the "Tall-Blacks", which would go over quite well here in the states I'm sure. Thanks as always for your great commentary and observations. Kind regards, Rick Davis, Duxbury, Massachusetts *********** How many of you work for an administration like this? Mike Glodowski, of Cleveland, was an early convert to the Double-Wing, and used it to help turn around a sorry program at Richmond Heights. But he finally resigned over the sort of "right to fire" issue I described on Monday, and now he is an assistant coach at Mayfield, Ohio, where they finished 8-2 and made the state playoffs (Ohio's computerized ranking system is so cold that one of Mike's Richmond Heights teams lost its last game to finish 9-1 - and failed to qualify for the playoffs). The school administration hired six substitute teachers Monday so the football staff could spend the day going over videotapes and scouting reports in preparing for next Saturday's opponent, Lakewood St. Edward's. *********** Don't like seein' the pics of Afghans being killed? then we should be showing pics of the body parts still being dug out of the WTC...and show the human remains from the flight in Pennsylvania.and let's see the bodies of the folks that have died from anthrax (that is a gruesome sight) -- lets show some of these pics to get us focused and remember why we should be doing what we are doing..I bet some folks never bought into the WWII thing until they saw the pics from the death camps... whew..got me started...Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** "I read a sign on the door to our school today and it read, "Donate a dollar to help the Afghan refugee children." Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for kids who are suffering anywhere, but what about OUR kids in the USA who are suffering because their Mommies and Daddies died on Sept. 11th.??? " NAME WITHHELD Agreed. I'm sorry , but the biggest weapon that Osama bin Laden has going for us is our "compassion." (In case the Man From Hope - The Man Who Felt Your Pain - is still worried about his legacy, that's it.) That towel-head knows us better than we know ourselves - he knows that we have become so soccerized that the mere sight of a little Afghan baby with blood on his cheek is enough to send most American women - and a large number of the kind of "men" who give real women a bad name - wailing into the streets. HEARD BY A FLY ON THE WALL OF OSAMA'S PR HEADQUARTERS: "You say US newspapers want pictures of dead babies for their front pages? How many they want? We got plenty babies. Go kill as many as you have to."
*********** "Their coach came to me after the game and said, we are sorry you lost the big boy (A-Back), but with him in there we just could not stop you. It's a very interesting concept, where did you get it? We told him, it's the old Rutgers Fly." NAME WITHHELD *********** Hello Coach Wyatt, I am requesting the new (bonus) play you have for us. I might need it this weekend in the playoffs, or if I'm not getting to far ahead of myself, for the Superbowl in the near future. I might add that the season has been outstanding, the HazelCrest Peewee Mustangs have a 7 and 1 record, won their division for the second year in a row and the future looks promising. I will get back to you with the results of this campaign. Coach Nick Moyenda, Head Coach HazelCrest Peewee Mustangs, Hazel Crest, Illinois *********** Coach- How are things? I thought I would let you know how our season went this year, our third year of running the double wing. This year we (West Seneca West HS JV) went undefeated for the second straight season. (We didn't have one offensive starter from last year). We averaged 6.61 yards a play and outscored opponents 206-35, including pounding Jamestown (Western NY power - HW) 44-6. (It was 44-6 at the half.) And of course, just like last year our cross town rivals boasted how they knew how to stop the double wing. They even got a copy of your video and watched it. They ran a 5-4 and dove at our legs to stop our pulls. We just ran 44/55 and 2 wedge at them all day. I'm looking forward to your next video/playbook. Hope all is going well. Thanks again. Joe Cantafio, West Seneca West HS, West Seneca, NY. *********** 'Regarding your Oct. 26th 'News' question about Admiral Stufflebeam - check out page 28 of this week's Sports Illustrated. Admiral Stufflebeam averaged 39.1 yards while punting for Navy from 1972 to 1974." Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** Wanted to let you know I got the Black Lion certificate in my mail on Monday and just went out to get it framed. It looks great and I wanted to say thank you. Regards, Bill Lawlor *********** I was watching TV the other night and by accident I came across a baseball game. The Yankees were playing some other team called the Diamondbacks. Probably some expansion team. But before I switched the channel, I saw some graphic come on. It called itself "Virtual Owner," and evidently it was a poll of some sort. The question was, "Renew Torre?" Well, the numbers certainly were in favor of renewing Torre: 85 per cent for, 15 per cent against. Okay, okay. I knew what I was watching. But "Renew Torre?" The guy's got his team in the World Series, for crying out loud! With the kind of idiots in the media who would ask a question like that, I saw how it might be possible for them to ferret out the ten percent who oppose our President's conduct of the war. *********** Fredericksburg 10 Postville 7: First round of playoffs. It was a struggle. They ran their QB 35 times mostly QB sneaks behind a center 6'1' 260 and 2 guards, 1 at 6' 280 and the other at 6' 2" 315. They ran the ball 67 times for 277 yds and only 1 TD. What a gutty performance by our under sized defense. We scored on a Tight I rt 22 draw 75 yds early in the 3rd qtr, and then kicked a 22yd field goal with 4 sec. to go in the game for the win. We now play the #2 ranked team in the state in the quarterfinal round at our place. Coach Steve Staker, Fredericksburg, Iowa. *********** With the Pac-10 Game of the Week (Stanford at Washington) available on radio only (ABC chose to give us the Clash of the Titans - USC at Oregon State), Christopher Anderson, a Seattle native now living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, writes about the last time Stanford and Washington met in Seattle: Here's the hit list on the 1999 Stanford-UW game (which I attended): 1. A big TD run that was called back when the official - incorrectly - ruled that Stanford's Bryan Allen stepped out of bounds ten yards away from any defender. 2. A no-call delay of game that allowed the Huskies to get off a forty-some-yard field goal. 3. A bogus pass-interference call that gave UW a first down deep in their own territory, leading to the go-ahead score. 4. A first down awarded to Washington when there was clearly two inches between the ball and the end of the ten-yard chain. I could see it from my seat. 5. And as UW was running out the clock, the umpire became the 12th man, effectively blocking Stanford safety Tim Smith from making the tackle on Maurice Shaw who went the distance - another in a long line of less-than-impressive, "all the talent went into Corey Dillon" running backs at UW. Whew. You can tell I had some beef. Worst officiated game I've ever seen (keep in mind I never actually saw any of those Rose Bowls with Charles White getting a touchdown and other random screwings of the Wolverines.) Weird things happen in that stadium up there. I think it's the Starbucks. *********** Hi i'm a coach from Québec,Canada. We're running your system for the first year and the results are outstanding we are 4-1 and the game we loose was only by a point. This weekend we're playing our last game against the team that beat us by a point for the 1st place. Your system really makes the difference. Last year our record was 2-4 , and this year we have (in talent) weaker players and we got better result than the year before . Your system is the best for beginning players !!! P.S. : excuse my English , i'm french speaking - Coach Bouchard ( My French should be as good as Coach Bouchard's English. HW)
"Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Michael Robert Patterson
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LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Last week I featured Charlie Justice,
who was recreated for literary purposes as a guy named
Gavin Gray, nicknamed The Gray Ghost. But Tony Canadeo,
the man picured at left, was the original Gray Ghost.
While in college at Gonzaga, his shifty running earned
him the nickname "The Spokane Spook." As his fame grew
and he went on to stardom in the NFL, his premature gray
hair and his hailing from Gonzaga caused sportswriters to
change "spook" to "ghost" - hence, The Gray Ghost of
Gonzaga." (The photo is taken from the cover of a book I
just finished reading, a biography of this great
All-Timer by David Zimmerman. )