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OCTOBER 2005

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 28, 2005 - "Good fellows are a dime a dozen, but an aggressive leader is priceless." Earl "Red" Blaik, legendary Army coach   Anyone wanting to donate to the three assistant coaches from Ocean Springs, MIssissippi who lost their houses - and all their possessions - can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 Unlike certain emergency funds - according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night - your donations will be well spent. Coach Jones informs me that they have received $1600 from other Double-Wing coaches. Many thanks to those who helped out. The need is still there! HW   *********** Eat your hearts out, all you single-wingers and football historians out there. But while you're at it, get your checkbooks out.   Eat your hearts out, because I was fortunate enough to have a conversation last week with Andy Kozar.   That's Andy Kozar, who played linebacker and single wing at Tennessee for the legendary General Bob Neyland (yes, the man the stadium's named for) in the photo at left.   It was pretty exciting for me, talking nuts-and-bolts single wing football with a man whose 1951 Cotton Bowl performance as a sophomore (two fourth quarter touchdown runs that enabled the Vols to come from behind to defeat Texas, 20-14) earned him a spot in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame, who starred the next year on Tennessee's 1951 national championship team, and made All-SEC as a senior.   Andy Kozar came from the Johnstown, Pennsylvania area originally, and recalled being recruited, along with an undersized guard from the same are named Frank Kush, by Michigan State's Duffy Daugherty.   But he chose Tennessee, and despite his size - 6-3, 230 pounds, quite large in those days - he was converted from a lineman to a fullback his freshman year.   He told me that Coach Neyland didn't particularly care whether his players were big - he wanted them lean and fast, and he tried in vain to get his fullback's weight down. When his best efforts were to no avail, he did the next best thing, and listed Kozar in the game program at only 192 pounds.   Andy remembered his first game against Alabama, when a Bama defender tackled him, and finding him quite a handful, looked at him as they both lay on the ground and said, "By God, you ain't no 192!"   In 1952, his senior year, he led the Vols in rushing. Think about that one a minute, you single-wingers - your fullback is your leading rusher! For his performance that year, Andy Kozar was named All-SEC.   Following graduation, he pursued a career in physical education, earning both his Master's and his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan. (In 1998 he would receive the Alumni Achievement Award from Michigan's Division of Kinesiology.   After Michigan, he returned to Tennessee, where over a 37-year academic career he advanced from instructor to professor to department head to executive assistant to the President of the University.    He became a nationally-renowned expert on paddleball and racquetball, and among his many achievements, he has been a national champion in paddelball and a Michigan state champion in racquetball, and has written several books on both sports.   Now Professor Emeritus of health, exercise and safety science at the University of Tennessee, Dr. Kozar remains very close to Tennessee sports. "Phil Fullmer and Pat Head (Summitt) were both students of mine," he told me proudly, and now his game-day responsbility entails arranging for the clergymen who give the invocations at every UT game. ("This is the Bible Belt," he reminded me.)   Dr. Kozar remains a strong advocate of exercize himself, and still works out faithfully five days a week, riding a stationary bike every morning for 30 minutes and running in the pool at the University twice a week.   Our conversation went on at some length, touching on the General's dabbling in sidesaddle-T, as well as his decision to run his single-wing from a balanced line. Believe me when I tell you that Dr. Kozar really knows - and remembers - his football.   Now- here's why I said, "get your checkbooks out."   Dr. Kozar's book, "Football as a War Game: The Annotated Journals of General R.R. Neyland" (Falcon Press, 2003) is an amazing look into how the General approached the game of football.   It is like going to a college library and digging into the notebooks of a great coach, except that Dr. Kozar has already done the hard research for us, with page-by-page copies of General Neyland's journals, along with explanatory notes, photographs, lists, practice schedules and, yes, doodles. Even great coaches doodle occasionally. (Remind your wife of that the next time she catches you drawing plays on the placemat at the restaurant.)   In the words of Dr. Kozar, it's "the general's own words and thoughts on a day to day, game to game basis, as he wrote them on paper." And the general certainly kept amazingly detailed journals. He wrote down everything, including his innermost thoughts on his players and his opponents.   "Football as a War Game" contains more than 200 pages of General Neyland's handwritten thoughts, coaching strategies, play diagrams (including some really wild ones, from formations you've probably never seen anywhere else), practice schedules, lists of maxims and beliefs, anecdotes and more. There are more than 250 photographs. Dr. Kozar's commentary all along the way provides his personal insight into the general's thinking.   The book is beautifully bound, and in my estimation is well worth the $75 price. It is not for the casual fan, but for the serious football historian, for the devoted single-winger, and anyone building a football library, it is a must.   Mail orders to Dr. Andy Kozar/ 6501 Sherwood Drive/ Knoxville TN 37919 - and make checks payable to FALCON PRESS   Incidentally, Dr. Kozar told me he sold a couple of copies not long ago to Bill Belichick, who I am betting kept one for his own private collection (I am told he has a very extensive one) and gave the other to his dad, Steve, a long-time college coach who once coached against General Neyland while at Vanderbilt.   Opponents of the Vols may not like to hear this, but all proceeds from the sales of Dr. Kozar's book will go to the Robert R. Neyland Athletic Endowment in the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund.   *********** Coach, Great to see Army finally win, and with Arkansas State and UMass still to come, the Black Knights should prevail at least twice more. As I sit here watching the traitorous Boston College Eagles play the Hokies in Blacksburg, it occurs to me that Virginia Tech has leapfrogged both Miami and Oregon into sole possession of first place for the Ugliest Football Uniform &endash; College Division. The nauseating school colors of maroon and orange are bad enough, but you can get used to them after a while. However, the new unis that the Hokies rolled out in tonight manage to take ugly to another level. The left shoulder and sleeve are orange, while the remainder of the jersey is maroon. Some guys are wearing long sleeves under the jerseys, which of course are orange on the left sleeve and maroon on the right. Doesn't anyone associated with this team have any sartorial taste?   Naturally, these new uniforms were created especially for Virginia Tech by Nike. It is of interest that Nike also custom-designed both the Miami and Oregon uniforms that, until tonight, were deadlocked in the race for ugliest college uni.   On a more serious note, my UConn Huskies are in deep trouble. We've lost 13 starters to injury so far this year, including the first and second QB's. Last week against Rutgers a true freshman started at QB, and kept the Huskies in the game until he lost a wet football through the endzone for a safety in a 26-24 loss. We may not get another W this year, with West Virginia next Wednesday night (ESPN 2) and Louisville among the last four games. Ouch.   Alan L. Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island   Aaargh! Can't we win anything out here in the Northwest this year? Not even the Ugliest Jersey Award? Nope. Oregon's Lightning Yellow uni's can't hold a candle to Virginia Tech's we-ran-out-of-orange dye-before-we-could-do-both-sleeves jerseys. Ugly doesn't begin to describe them. Is the XFL back in operation?   *********** In the years my wife and I taught, we paid thousands of dollars in union dues, money that went to support liberal causes and Democratic candidates, and defend bad teachers that everyone knew deserved to be fired. And not once did I ever see a teacher's union come to the support of a coach who was being screwed over by a school administration.   So here we are, in the eighth and next-to-last week of the Oregon football season and the teacher's union in Sandy, Oregon, has just gone out on strike. And Sandy High's homecoming game has just been cancelled. Sandy's kids had been practicing all week under the supervision of a school administrator, but it was announced on Thursday that its opponent, Forest Grove, would forfeit the game because its teacher/coaches refused to cross a picket line.   No matter that those kids worked all summer to prepare for this season; no matter that for the seniors it could be the end of their season.   Just remember this the next time you hear some teacher say, "We're in it for the kids."   ********** Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry has been doing some serious explaining after saying that the Falcons lost to No. 20 TCU, 48-10, because the Horned Frogs were faster. But he didn't stop there. They had, he said, more black players who "can run very, very well." As he told a Denver television station, "It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."   He pointed out that Air Force has fewer minority players than TCU, and that that accounted for the great disparity in speed between the two teams.   For this, he has been ripped. "DeBerry Not Fired!" has been the tone of most headlines, as if he had said something truly racist.   Initially, when asked if he believed it was wrong to make such comments, DeBerry said: "Do I believe it's wrong? I just want to recruit speed. We need to find speed as much as anything. The black athlete seems to have, statistically, program to program to program, seems to have an edge as far as the speed is concerned. That's got nothing to do with anything except ability."   But as the fire began to build, the heat grew. The Air Force Academy, accused over the last few years of not fully investigating female cadets' charges of sexual assault and of allowing Christians to openly proselytize other cadets, has become a very, very sensitive place, and something had to be done about what the media chorus began to call Coach DeBerry's "racist" remarks.   No, he wasn't fired - not after 25 years of distinguished service to the Academy - but he was officially reprimanded, for what the AFA athletic director called his "inappropriate comments."   And Coach DeBerry issued the usual apology. I can just picture a 10-year-old being dragged down the street by his ear to apologize to the lady whose window he'd just broken.   "Today it is my desire to make a public apology for remarks I made recently about minority recruitment," he said, reading from a formal statement. "I realize that the things I said were hurtful to many people and I want everyone to understand that I never intended to offend anyone. Gazette columnist Milo Bryant was right today when he said that however well-meaning my comments were, I should never have said what I did.   "I have made a mistake and I ask for everyone's forgiveness. I hope these statements will not reflect negatively toward the academy or our coaches and players."   Hmmm. The conclusion that there may be a certain difference in athletic abilities is inescapable to almost any coach who has ever timed a race or measured a jump. But I am not going to get trapped into saying that there actually is something inherently different racially, because that can lead to jumping to the unfortunate conclusion that other traits may be racially-linked, too.   The study of racial differences is best left to scientists, and an open exchange of opinions on the subject is a minefield that I choose to avoid.   But no one can deny that there may be cultural and socioeconomic factors at play.   Certainly, there are cultural factors involved - many black kids grow up where toughness is valued - a toughness that translates well to football. Maybe there are lots and lots of very fast white kids out there, too - but if so, they are playing something other than football.   There are certainly socioeconomic factors as well - a larger percentage of white kids live in affluent suburbs where their mommies and daddies start them playing soccer when they are three years old, and a larger percentage of white kids live in large houses with their own bedrooms, where they can go into hiding and play sports hero on PlayStations.   As Coach DeBerry noticed, TCU had faster players. Very simply, TCU recruited the best players it could find, and then put the best players it had on the field. In doing so, it wound up with 11 black kids on defense. To TCU's credit, it didn't strive for some crazy-ass racial balance, saying "we've got to get some white faces in there."   Coach DeBerry happened to make note of the fact that those 11 TCU players were very, very fast. And he happened to note that Air Force doesn't have that many minority players on its squad.   Neither, I might add, does Army or Navy, which is a subject for a major national debate.   In the meantime, though, Coach DeBerry's team might have an even bigger problem than a perceived lack of speed.   Last season, he was forced to remove a Christian banner from the team's locker room and then to go undergo training (I would call it indoctrination) on religious tolerance. This season, as a result of the"guidelines on religious expression" established by the Air Force in late August, for the first time since he became coach, Coach DeBerry has not been permitted to lead his team in pre- and post-game prayers.   The now-secular Falcons are 3-5. Coincidence?   ************* My friend Bill Mignault, of Ledyard, Connecticut, is the winningest coach in Connecticut high school football history. Last Saturday, Bill won his 300th game.   *********** Coach, We are in the playoffs. 1996 was the last year Columbia made it in. The game Friday against Cedar Grove could determine seeding and give us an opportunity to finish 8-2. Maybe the best finish around here since Larry Harrison was the quarterback. Marist will most likely be our opponent.   Tough win Friday after two thunderstorm delays. Two fumbles early killed two drives. We really played well though in the second half. Speak to you soon.   Kevin Latham, Columbia HS, Decatur, Georgia (This is especially sweet, because Coach Latham's hiring at Columbia, despite his success as a middle school coach, was roundly panned in the Atlanta newspapers, which thought that several more experienced coaches were better qualified. What did they know? HW)   *********** Coach, It's almost Christmas season I hope all our DW brothers are making up their Christmas lists and putting their Tapes and ordering address where Santa can find them.   As you know we are playing in the toughest Junior High Football league in all of South New Jersey maybe one of the toughest in the country. We are competing against schools that carry 40 to 80 players on there rosters. We play with an average of 33 players. In the last 6 years we have won 2 Championships and were runner-ups twice, and are undefeated regular season this year.   I feel the biggest reason for our success is believing in, and using your training tapes "Practice Without Pads", "A Fine line" (etc. please add all your tapes to this) and attending your clinics, We start our season on the beaches and fields in June utilizing the knowlage of the tapes while working without pads. Then when the season starts all we need to do, is put on the pads and have fun.   There is no way I can express my strong feelings as to the importance and necessity of these tapes to teach young men the fundamentals of football. Any High School or Youth coach, regardless of what offence of defense they run that dose not have your tapes (I would just as soon they never see the Double Wing tapes, just kidding) in their Football Liberties, are missing some of the best teaching tools in football.   Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey (I will take my endorsements wherever I can get them, but I am especially proud to receive one from Frank Simonsen, a youth coach for more than 25 years who is a legend in South Jersey and one of the best youth coaches I know. And by the way, for Christmas lists, there will soon be a "virtual clinic" available on DVD. HW)   *********** Some points about running DW with 7 year olds:   1. After you shoeshine a guy a few times, he just stops coming   2. The pulling linemen on power rarely get a big hit on LB, however, they screen the play and get in the way. I did hoop drill to teach them to look inside. You must do this not only to get them to screen LB, but also to get them out of the way of the play. I think if you saw my little guys on film the 1st thing you would notice was them looking inside.   3. Run 6G. 3 trap 2 too complicated. Your guard will love this play. Tackle and TE love blocking down. Again, naked boot kept the end right where he needed to be for guard to kill.   4. I had to go Wildcat because every combination of kids I tried fumbled the snap. I installed it in one day. Used it next day in game. This also solves the problem of pulling linemen getting tangled up with QB. We had no fumbled snaps from wildcat from day one. Every day I required the centers to snap 25 perfect before practice started.   5. I had 8 different backs score using Wildcat. I used 2 complete offenses to get all my kids in the game. We are required to get each kid 5 plays per half and special teams do not count. I put my best backs with my weakest O line and my weakest backs with my big boys. My 2nd team offense was my most productive.   6. Do not base block any play. Pull on every play. Confuses 7 year old defenses. Also, if someone decided to key pulling linemen, run boot. FYI. Nobody keys linemen because we were the only team in our league pulling linemen.   7. We ran one pass play. I called it 88 pass. QB hands off to 'A' out of Wildcat. 'C' runs banana. 3 TDs this year.   8. I rarely ran 47C because I didn't need to.   9. We put in plays using your grid system. There was little crowd noise so we could yell the play to entire team while they were in huddle. This allowed me to control the tempo of the game without teaching the kids to do it. When I wanted to go hurry up, put play in as soon as previous play was over. If slowdown, waited until 15 secs ran off before I put the play in.   Coach, all of this is stuff I learned from your tapes and play book. I've read and watched them so much that I may be quoting them.   Thanks for all your help this year. Dennis Cook, Hidden Valley Pee Wee Titans, Roanoke Virginia   *********** Dick Galiette died the other day in New Haven, Connecticut. He was 72, and he'd spent his entire career in radio and TV in New Haven, and all but 10 of the last 42 years as the play-by-play man for Yale football.   Except for a 10-year spell from 1988-97 when Yale changed flagship stations, Dick was the voice of Yale football since 1963. He did his last game just a week ago, before falling ill.   I remembered him as a sports radio guy from my days in New Haven, and I asked a more recent Yale grad, Lou Orlando, now living outside Boston, if he'd heard of Dick's passing. Lou wrote...   Dick was awesome, very distinctive voice. My memories of him were that we saw A LOT of him on campus during Yale-UCONN week, and each year he would narrate the Yale Highlight film. It was good stuff with sideline cameras and slo-mo, movie techniques we take for granted today. When I was a sophomore during UCONN week he was on the practice field interviewing Carm (Cozza) and Stone Phillips (now a network TV star, but then the Yale QB) , in addition to just getting some film footage for his broadcast that evening on WTNH. We were going over punt protection and I was standing next to the cameraman.. I asked him "Is that thing on?", he answered "Yes."   Well, the long snapper snapped the ball, the line made their blocks on the rushers, then Mike Southworth the punter caught it, took his two steps and blasted a nice, high, spiraling kick.. I shouted out "Way to go Orlando!!".. that night on the broadcast that footage was shown along with the audio...a bunch of my Dad's friends saw the piece and said to him the next day "Hey, Louie must be doing great up at Yale, is he on the punt team? We heard some guy give him an 'attaboy' on the news last night!!"   *********** When the TV camera showed us Chief Illiniwek, proudly (in my judgment) representing the University of Illinois, an announcer (I think it was Mike Gottfried) said, "The NCAA needs to get after AAU basketball - and leave the Chief alone!"   *********** Coach, It's almost Christmas season. I hope all our DW brothers are making up their Christmas lists and putting your Tapes and ordering address where Santa can find them.   As you know we are playing in the toughest Junior High Football league in all of South New Jersey maybe one of the toughest in the country. We are competing against schools that carry 40 to 80 players on their rosters. We play with an average of 33 players. In the last 6 years we have won 2 Championships and were runner-ups twice, and are undefeated regular season this year.   I feel the biggest reason for our success is believing in, and using your training tapes "Practice Without Pads", "A Fine line" (etc. please add all your tapes to this) and attending your clinics, We start our season on the beaches and fields in June utilizing the knowledge of the tapes while working without pads. Then when the season starts all we need to do, is put on the pads and have fun.   There is no way I can express my strong feelings as to the importance and necessity of these tapes to teach young men the fundamentals of football. Any High School or Youth coach, regardless of what offense of defense they run, that does not have your tapes (I would just as soon they never see the Double Wing tapes - just kidding) in their Football Librarieses, are missing some of the best teaching tools in football.   Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey   *********** Coach, In the most exciting game I've ever been involved in, the Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans beat the Lewistown Indians 32-31 to end the regular season at 8-1, and conference co-champs, for the third consecutive year. Their stud quarterback (140 passing, 165 rushing) against our stud running backs (165 and 165 by the wings). They scored first and then it went back and forth. I thought we were finished with about 2:30 to go in the fourth on our own thirty. It was 4th and 10 and I didn't have a clue what to call. We can't throw the ball to save our lives (qb looks good in practice, but not in games). Luckily, our right wing spoke up with a brilliant play - Trips Right Split Left Draw (tackle trap). He got 10 yards and 1 foot. Hyperextended his knee in the process.   So only one of our starting wings is in the game. We ran Super Power for a 5yd gain, then two incompletions. On 4th and 5 with the clock running Cody Black pounded through the line on Super Power and rumbled 55 yards for the score to go up 30-25. He then threw the whole team on his back and drove the pile into the end zone for the 2-pt conversion. 32-25. Their qb hurt us quickly, throwing a beautiful fade with :44 on the clock. 32-31 us. On the conversion our defensive end played the qb sweep beautifully and planted him at the sideline. We recovered the onside kick to win.   It was one of those games when kids rise to the occasion. Things that make you proud to be their coach. It was a game that made me proud to be involved with high school football. After the game it was more than the standard handshakes. Everyone involved knew they had just played a pretty special game. I can't tell you how many times I've heard around town what a great game it was, how exciting it was, etc.   We are in the playoffs and at home this Friday night. The second season begins.   Good Luck, Todd Hollis Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** I didn't pull any punches in this week's Stanford Daily column, as evidenced by this excerpt:   "We're starting to see Division I college receivers drop balls with regularity.   A generation ago, every guy on the high school team could catch as well as today's top-flight wide receivers. That was in the days before video games and soccer became popular afternoon diversions in the United States, stunting the development of upper-body gross motor skills. Anyone who watched last year's Big Game (between Cal and Stanford) knows what I'm talking about."   Although I have no way to prove it, I believe that I see far more missed balls than formerly in the NFL as well.   I think it may have something to do with the fact that baseball is no longer the universal American young male activity, and even when kids do play, that's all they do - they get a ride to the game, and they play, and they get a ride home, but that's it. They don't spend their spare time playing catch, or throwing tennis balls against a wall, or playing what we called "running bases", or playing pick up games by the hour (with occasional breaks for meals).   *********** We beat Harrison Central 41-14 friday night. We spotted them 14 before we woke up. We were up 21-14 at half time. We play at home vs. Pascagoula Friday.   FEMA is really dragging their feet on temporary housing. None of our coaches have received any aid as of today. The red cross has given money for temporary expenses. The death toll reached 257 on the Gulf Coast after more bodies were found in rubble this week. The area within 4 blocks of the beach is unrecognizable, complete devastation as far as the eye can see.   It is really amazing we are in school and playing football. Again, thanks for your help and all those who have sent cash and clothes. Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi   *********** Other than taking a knee as time runs out, there are few plays in professional football less suspenseful than a field goal. In the NFL, fully 80 per cent of attempts are good.   The stunning conclusion of the Eagles-Chargers game, in which a Chargers' field goal attempt was blocked - blocked! - and returned for the winning score should awaken the NFL people to the chance to put a little excitement into an otherwise ho-hum play.   Why not try making the kicking team play a man short?... or letting the defense play with 12 men?... or allowing the defense to pull blockers out of the way (remember last week's Atlanta-New Orleans game?)?   *********** John Simar, Director of Athletics at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, is a former Army football player as well as an assistant coach there, and he currently serves as President of the Army Football Club. And now, as Major John Simar, he is headed for Iraq. He wrote to say...   I have been recalled to active duty to serve in Iraq as a MWR (Morale, Recreation, Welfare) Coordinator for one year. I got a call from the G-1 office in August and I honestly thought that I'd be gone by the end of September, but the date is now 6 November. This is "not a drill", this is the real thing and I am looking forward to it. I have to go to Ft. Benning and Ft. Bliss for at least 17 days of training. I will be a Major in the Adjutant General Corps, which is what I was when I retired while coaching at West Point. I will coordinate such off duty activities as fitness center operations, sports activities, and celebrity tours. It will be a good year of training, sort of like a sabbatical, for my current job. This is right down my alley.   *********** Monday, we had one of the best practices we'd had all year. We actually looked like a pretty decent football team. Tuesday, though, we had six people missing - SIX. On a team with 21 healthy bodies. One had to attend a hearing of some sort, another had a date in court, one came in with a note saying that because he'd suffered "a contusion" (that's a bruise, folks) on his arm playing a game of football with some buddies, he wasn't to take part in PE or athletics for a week, another was suspended from school for fighting, and two more were just plain no-shows. Just another day at the mill...   *********** Coach Wyatt -  The Legendary Coach From Salem H.S. Ken Perrone ( whose teams I played against well In H.S. and watched growing up )  ran  what was called  in these parts the Stack I, i just stumbled across that the actual name is the Maryland I,  Do you know the background of The Maryland  I  ?  - any info would be helpful  ,see ya friday  John Muckian   Lynn,MA   John, I have never actually heard it called the "Maryland I", but that is an appropriate name for it.   It was actually invented at VMI in 1949 by a New Englander named Tom Nugent (his first coaching job was at Essex Training School in Lawrence, Mass.), who then ran it at Florida State before taking it to Maryland where he coached from 1959 through 1965. (In those days, it was definitely a step up to move from Florida State to Maryland.)   I lived in Maryland from 1961-1975, and I remember Tom Nugent well. And fondly. He was quite an innovator and quite a showman. He evidently tried to give his formation a catchy name, because I found a publication from the 60's in which he called it the "Shifty I" (they'd sometimes shift out of it). The tag never caught on.   Frank Leahy at Notre Dame got the I-formation from Nugent one spring while visiting him at VMI, and in addition, he got what Nugent called his "typewriter" huddle, the first non-enclosed huddle, in which the QB faced two rows of players, one standing and one semi-erect, with hands on knees. Leahy adopted them both, and as Notre Dame was one of the few teams to be televised on a regular basis then, Leahy was often credited with those innovations, but I haven't found any evidence that he took the credit.   By the way, one of Nugent's assistants at Maryland was a guy named Lee Corso, who went on to be a decent coach himself (before landing on ESPN Game Day). I have some clinic notes from his days as head coach at Indiana, in which he shows the stack-I.   *********** Coach Wyatt, Chestnut Ridge (Fishertown, Pa) 7th grade football team just complete its 3rd season using the double wing. We finished 5-1-1. Over the past 3 seasons we have had a record of 18-2-1. Doug Pauley, Bedford, Pennsylvania   *********** Coach Wyatt- On Saturday I concluded my 5th season of running the double wing. We started these kids in the 4th grade. I selected your instructional package and system because the presentation and teaching was the cleanest method of all the wing games available.   Over 6 seasons of youth football (3rd-8th grade) these kids only lost 5 games. They finished a combined 44-5-2. We did have some talented kids, but like any team, we had kids suffer injuries and didn't play full strength all the time. Over the last three years they lost 2 times.   While many might think of this offense as clock grinding and ball control, we found it to be quite explosive. In official games, we averaged over 7 yards per rush and over 22 yards per pass. We were known to score in three plays when using a no huddle attack.   Let me be your reference if anyone reports that you can't use your package with young kids.   Thanks again for the great offense.   Sincerely, Michael Rutherford, Leawood, Kansas   PS- You can see our stats for the year at http://www.statsandgo.com. Click on football, Teams: Other State: Kansas We are the 8th grade Lancer. The kid with all the yards is the fullback. I put in the 43 tackle trap the last game. It worked magic. Wish I would have put it in soon.   *********** I don't know if you remember me , but I' ve attended 4 of your clinics : Orange H/S , Burbank , and the 2 that were held in Stockton . Anyways I'm sending you this e - mail to give you an update of our current season . We are currently 4 - 0 in (our). Senior division , and we are off to our best start since 1994 , my very first year coaching in the League. Well we are having some problems with our overall blocking on offense . We keep getting leakage from our A - gaps and backside of powers , A gap leakage on 6 & 7G , and trouble getting our linemen and wingbacks to block the CORRECT people and to maintain those blocks for at least 5 seconds . Also because we are in the highest division that we can go, I'm having difficulty with our offense keeping their "icepicks" up . The players want to use their hands ( shove blocking ) . All the other coaches in the divisions below us all teach and employ their offensive linemen to use their hands when blocking .NOBODY down here. runs the D/W, so by the time the kids get to us they all feel that it is written in stone that they must use their hands when blocking on offense . My point is this: Do you have any suggestions on how we may be able to fix this dilemma ? We are going to be in the biggest game of our season this weekend against our downtown rivals who are also undefeated with a record of 5 -0 . The winner of this game will probably determine who will be in the Super Bowl for the senior division. Any suggestions , tidbits and or helpful advice would be most appreciated .   Not sure how to correct the "hands blocking" situation. Maybe you just have to go with the flow. The biggest problem, I think, is that kids won't think in terms of "getting into" the defenders, so that they stay "welded to them."   The problem of the gap penetration may be directly related to "hands blocking," because the key is to coach a stance and a first step that allow the blocker to get his helmet "across the bow" - to get it into the gap before the defender gets there, with the result that the defender hits with his playside shoulder. This is really crucial for the playside tackle blocking down on 6-G.   In the case of the backside A gap, it is probably a matter of your center needing special work on stepping into the gap as he snaps. We had a center who was having problems doing this, and we found that his stance was too wide, resulting in the fact that with his feet already spread as wide as possible, he simply couldn't take a step!   *********** Another blow for home schools and private schools, and another stake in the heart of public education...   Three Oregon middle schools - one in Salem the state capitol, and the other two in the small southern Oregon city of Grants Pass - have been told by the state educational bureaucrats that they are in danger of being labelled "persistently dangerous," a tag that under No Child Left Behind would mean that their students would be allowed to transfer to another school.   To understand what's going on here, you have to understand how educational bureaucrats work. But don't worry - if you didn't understand before reading this, you will after having done so. See, what those three schools actually did was try to make themselves less dangerous. But in the process of doing so - by expelling their bad actors - they actually marked themselves as more dangerous. Huh?   See - according to the pointy-heads at the state, any school that expels more than one per cent of its students - for such things assaulting other students, or for bringing drugs or weapons to school - is considered dangerous.   And those that exceed one per cent for two straight years will be put on the "Federal Dangerous Schools" list.   So to prevent that from happening, the state now requires those three schools to submit plans showing how they will "improve student behavior."   And a major part of the plan must be - only people who have worked with educational bureaucrats can truly appreciate this - to reduce expulsions. In other words, they have to stop getting rid of those little punks with the drugs and weapons in school, and instead, keep them in school. Uh - I'm kind of new in town, but doesn't that make a school more dangerous?   Well, yeah. You would think. But actually, the geniuses in the suits don't really care whether a school is dangerous or not. Or how many troublemakers walk its halls. They're just worried about how the statistics make them look. So do whatever you can with your incorrigibles, they tell those schools, but whatever you do - please - don't expel them.   *********** My letter to a high school principal...   Dear Ms. Hunter,   I am the head football coach at Madison High School, and I want to tell you about the act of sportsmanship demonstrated by your coach, Diallo Lewis, at our game last Friday night.   As you may or may not know, we were greatly overmatched. Grant is very good, and we have been struggling. We started four freshmen against Grant, one of the best teams in the area.   Coach Lewis allowed his starters to do their best, but once the game reached a point where he could have humiliated our players, he chose instead to substitute and play conservatively.   In doing so, he allowed his opponents to walk off with some dignity intact.   I applaud that in a coach, and I wanted you to know that.   Yours truly,   Hugh Wyatt/Head Football Coach/Madison High School   Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 25, 2005 - "It is better to have faith in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will tultimately fail." Bobby Bowden   YEA! THE SITE IS BACK UP! I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT WENT WRONG TO KEEP IT DOWN ALL DAY MONDAY AND MOST OF TUESDAY, SO I CAN'T PROMISE IT'LL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. MAYBE IT WAS HURRICANE WILMA (THAT MIGHT NOT BE A JOKE AFTER ALL - MY WEB-HOSTING COMPANY IS LOCATED IN SOUTH FLORIDA.)   Anyone wanting to donate to the three assistant coaches from Ocean Springs, MIssissippi who lost their houses - and all their possessions - can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 Unlike certain emergency funds - according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night - your donations will be well spent. Coach Jones informs me that they have received $1600 from other Double-Wing coaches. Many thanks to those who helped out. The need is still there! HW *********** Madison High is now 0-7, as we ran into the best team we've face all season, the Grant Generals, and fell, 49-6. We simply could not stop Grant, and didn't have much more success on offense. On a positive note, we had four freshmen starting for us, and they showed great promise; on the negative side, that means we had to disband our freshman program. The kids' attitude remains good, and they fought to the end against a superior opponent. And as one of our senior leaders said, "I'd rather lose with y'all than win with a bunch of a**holes."   *********** ARMY WON! ARMY WON! ARMY WON!   *********** I like Lou Rawls, but the National Anthem ain't his song. He proved that Sunday night, as players from the two World Series teams stood in the rainy 45-degree weather and waited for him to wrap it up, after what seemed like five minutes. And as for that trumpeter who "played" God Bless America (at least that's what they said it was) - somebody stuff a shoe in that horn.   *********** Coach, I am proud to say I was in the Rubber Bowl last night, in the rain, in the cold, watching my 1st D-1 football game in person ... ever.   The entrance ramp was 5 yards from the visiting locker room, so I got to see the Army team take the field. Goosebumps all over when one player picked up the Stars & Stripes to carry, while another carried the Skull & Crossbones Army Football flag.   Army's special teams were excellent. Punter/kick-off & coverage did a great job, and they converted 2 field goals in that nasty weather, including a 49 yarder that would have been good from 55. Defense was attacking, the 4 man line did a great job pressuring the Zips all night. The tailback had the game of his life - outstanding. The stretch play slowly got better & better, and their screen series worked very well.   I know Coach Ross doesn't have to do any pursuit drills - while not the quickest the Black Knights DO pursue the ball with a fervor.   The Army team certainly gets outsized (almost a helmet difference on average) but man, they don't understand quit... quite a "knight".   Let Coach Ross know that, since I am undefeated in attending Army games, that I will trade my good luck karma for flights, room & a ticket. Todd Bross, Sharon, Pennsylvania   *********** Coach, I bought your playbook and your tapes, I am coaching a 6 grade team and helping with a 4 grade team. Our 4th grade team is 6-1 and scored 248 points. However, I am not having the same success with my 6th grade team. Not a lot of skill and talent especially on the line. we have been taped and scouted as most teams do and I need help on what to do when they bring the house every time. I have my line blocking in but as soon as my guard pulls they send a linebacker. I don't even have time to try and pass without major pressure. Do you have any suggestions on how to block this our what plays to run. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.    I can't say what needs to be done without seeing it. And even then, it's often just a matter of saying that the talent isn't there.   Usually it is a lack of talent (sometimes smarts, sometimes attitude), sometimes it is a matter of attention to detail), sometimes a combination.   I wish I could be more helpful, but there is none of us who runs this offense that hasn't had people "bring the house," and usually it does not deter the offense.   Since the problem does seem to be in the line, I would strongly suggest that you pay careful attention to the line details on page 2, and whether you are sticking with them to the letter. These things are so crucial that they are also covered extensively in Installing the System, Troubleshooting, and A Fine Line.   *********** Coach, Like you and many of your readers, I too have been watching Bound for Glory. I agree the product placements are way overboard. Even the Army drill sargeant is a product placement. I don't doubt Sgt. Self is very good at what he does and that he could probably help the team in some way, but what could he do with a football team that any competent coach could not do? And wouldn't the Army be better off if he was training recruits rather than serving as a marketing tool?   I think the producers chose Dick Butkus for the job because he seems to fit the mold of what many people think a high school football coach should be like. If somebody is making a movie or TV show about high school football and needed somebody to play a coach, Butkus would probably be one of the first ex-players that comes to mind for the role. In fact, he did play a high school basketball coach in the Saturday morning TV show Hang Time and he played a coach in Oliver Stone's movie Any Given Sunday. The problem, of course, is that this isn't fiction, this is real life. That's basically my whole problem with the show. Unlike most reality shows, this isn't a group of people thrown together for some made-for-TV competition like American Idol or The Contender (and don't get me started on that show. As big a boxing fan as I am, I made it a point to avoid the show. I can refer you to an article by Thomas Hauser that echoes most of my issues with the show). This is a real team in real sanctioned athletic competition that would have taken place had the show never happened and ESPN had no business inserting itself into the situation.   One thing I did wonder, however. As much as I am opposed to the concept of the show itself, might it have worked better if a former coach taken over the team, maybe Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Marv Levy, Jimmy Johnson, Mike Ditka, or maybe even Lou Holtz?   Now, as far as good TV is concerned, I always enjoyed watching Almost Live when it was on Comedy Central. Does you son know if there are any plans to release it on DVD?   Have a good week, Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts (I don't think that any of the real coaches you mentioned would have stepped on another coach's - the real head coach's - toes the way Butkus did. Not everyone will believe this, but there is a code of ethics among coaches that Butkus, never having been a coach, wouldn't have known about. I am just amazed that his advisors didn't point out to him the damage that playing such a role coould do to his reputation. Or maybe he was just hard-up for work.   The cast of "Almost Live" did everything they could to acquire the rights to their show - a very, very popular comedy show that for years was a Saturday night staple in Seattle - but as I understand it, they simply couldn't get them from the TV station - KING-TV - that owned them. HW)   *********** ARMY WON! ARMY WON! ARMY WON!   *********** Nothing against Ladainian Tomlinson, you understand, but I just don't see him in the same class - yet - as Lenny Moore. Yes, I am biased. I will be a Baltimore Colts fan until I die, and I must admit that I was happy to see the Eagles keep Tomlinson under wraps Sunday, preventing him from breaking Moore's record for consecutive games scoring a touchdown.   By tieing Lenny Moore's record, Ladainian Tomlinson is in great company. (Read about Lenny Moore in the JUNE 02 NEWS)   *********** I realize after reading some of your site that you can't stand soccer and anything connected with it, such as most kickers at or above the high school level and the field goals they boot.   (I was putting together a chart on Lenny Moore and resorted to Google when none of my reference materials (NFL Record and Fact Book, Colts media guide, Total Football II) could explain why Lenny Moore had a 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, yet wasn't credited with a return).   But when you let the young woman from Wisconsin go off on Minnesota's "keeker," I think you failed in your job as a football educator. Unless I missed something, it wasn't the kicker, but the punter who blew the snap, then tried to punt anyway, got it blocked and allowed the Badgers to score the winning touchdown. Big difference, especially to someone who feels the way you do about kickers.   Go around the NFL and even the hypocrisy known as "college football" and you'll still find that most punters have the ability to be position players and might very well be (Sammy Baugh, Yale Lary, Rohn Stark (near-Olympic level decathlete), Tom Blanchard, Tom Tupa, etc.).   Since the Gogolaks and Stenerud, most kickers tend to be good soccer players, although you do have the Fuad Reveiz's of the world (NFL kicker who had been a linebacker in high school).   But, I agree with you that the punter should've just taken a safety. Heck, I wondered why the announcers didn't make a bigger deal over Wisconsin barely managing to recover the blocked punt before it went over the end line to be a safety.   And the defensive holding call in the Atlanta-New Orleans game hardly is obscure. That's a violation I'll occasionally watch for on a gimme field goall.   David Neal, Miami Beach, Florida Red meat-eating, Mustang-drivin', sports lovin', grade-inflation hating...liberal.   Dear David- Point well taken.   I should have jumped on the lumping of punters in with "keekers" (I despise the unlimited substitution which has allowed non-football players to decide games), and I was remiss in not doing so.   I would early love to return to the days of drop kicks, but I will hold out for a rule specifying that no player on the roster may kick the ball more than once per game.   As for punting, it is directly inherited from rugby, where it is a major way of moving the ball.   I am well aware that many punters grew up as football players - real football players. And some of those who didn't - such as Darren Bennett - paid their dues in rough sports such as Australian Rules.   Thanks for writing. PS - Since you are Red meat-eating, Mustang-drivin', sports lovin', grade-inflation hating, I can forgive your liberal ways - so long as you don't support Hillary.   *********** The ref called 30 yards in penalties on our center. He said it was illegal to roll the ball up on it's tip. He said the ball must remain flat on the ground. I asked him if he had watched any TV lately because almost all centers roll the ball back on it's tip  away from the neutral zone before the snap. He then said what he meant to say was you can't roll the ball forward up on it's tip. He then stated that the ball can be no more than a 45 degree angle. I asked him to produce the protractor he used to enforce this rule. He threatened to throw me out of the game. What is the rule?????   Rule 7, section 1 covers this and there is nothing in there that supports the ref's contention.   *********** ARMY WON! ARMY WON! ARMY WON!   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt; Looks like there's ONE team in the NFL - the Steelers - with the stones to run the damn football! When was the last time you saw an NFL team run the ball 21 straight times? Very Respectfully, Derek Wade, Petaluma, California (The Steelers rushed for over 220 yards and completed only nine passes in whupping the Bengals. Let "The Bus" speak for all of us: "People get so enamored with the ball in the air, they don't understand what it takes to build an offense. This game was designed as a running game, and then the pass was introduced -- and now people want to make the pass the strong point. But that's ultimately why we're competitive every year; because we can run the football."   *********** Thanks for all your help this year. I ran wildcat 88/99, 88/99 bootleg, 6G. I rarely ran 47C this year because I did not need to. I can't tell you how many times guys came up to me this year and commented on 6G. It was a sweet play. I had a 7 year old guard that truly understood. He annihilated his man whenever I ran this play. Football geeks kept coming up to me and commenting " I can't believe you were able to teach 7 year olds to run a trap." Dennis Cook, Roanoke, Virginia   *********** Lansingburgh 62, Hudson Falls 20 - C back Brandon Canty had 10 carries 180yds 3 scores; B back Mike Hepp had 9 carries 70 yds 2 tds; A back Kenny Youngs had 10 carries 84 yds and a score. Next week we play in the sectional semifinals. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York   *********** Coach Wyatt, The Ridgeview Mustangs finished the regular season 7-2 this year after a 12-7 win over the Flanagan Falcons. Pretty much a defensive struggle tonight as we struggled up front on offense. We ran a 3 trap at 2 in the second quarter that broke for a 55 yard TD and a 38 G-O Reach in the third quarter that broke for a 21 yard TD. Other than that we struggled tonight. We ended up with 235 yards total, 211 of it Rushing. We will find out what kind of draw we will receive this next week, but it was good to finish with a win tonight even if it was ugly. Mike Benton, Ridgeview HS, Colfax, Illinois (Every win is a thing of beauty. HW)   *********** Galva-Holstein (Iowa) 50, River Valley 0 - 515 total yards of offense, 3 backs over 100 rushing, 2 for 2 for 84 yards and 2 TD's passing. 1 more win and it is 7 consecutive district titles and 8 consecutive playoff appearances. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa   *********** Coach - had a thought for the guy with the frequent injuries etc. In our program (and maybe it is a bit harsh) - if a guy does not practice (sick or injured - even minor) they can't start. It might only be a series, but they don't start. We tell them it is out of concern for them (if they were sick enough or hurt enough that they couldn't go at all - how healthy are they Friday night??) and it is out of fairness to those in their postion who have been their all week. It is often just a formality. Nonetheless, it does keep the starters especially from faking injuries. AND - it clearly demonstrates that their health is important.   We sat our center for a series early in the season (i shouldn't say "sat" - we emphasize that it is not a punishment). He understood and so did the team. We rarely have fake injuries and illnesses. Hope this helps.   John Dowd, Oakfield-Alabama HS, Oakfield, New York   *********** The ending to the Virginia-North Carolina game was as bizarre as a game can get.   UVa, down 7-5 (actual score) with 6 seconds remaining, had the Tar Heels backed up, and forced them to punt. An earlier North Carolina punt from roughly the same spot had resulted in a safety when the ball went over the punter's head, so nothing was guaranteed.   This time Tar Heels got the punt off, but - what? - there was no one back to return!!! The last play of the game, and they let the ball roll???   So the clock expired. And then, in a moment of exuberance, a Tar Heel player kicked the ball before it was blown dead, and North Carolina was penalized half the distance, and forced to run another down.   But UNC's John Bunting wasn't stupid. He knew time had run out, so all the Heels had to do was take a knee. Game over, this time.   *********** No more Rutgers jokes. The Scarlet Knights are one win away from being bowl-eligible.   *********** All five of Michigan's wins have come either in OT or within the last 24 seconds of regulation   *********** Did I mention earlier that Army won Saturday? I didn't? ARMY WON! ARMY WON! ARMY WON! They beat Akron, 20-0.   Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 21, 2005 - "I'll find out what my best team was when I find out how many doctors and lawyers and good husbands and good citizens come off of each and every one of my teams." Knute Rockne   Anyone wanting to donate to the three assistant coaches from Ocean Springs, MIssissippi who lost their houses - and all their possessions - can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 Unlike certain emergency funds - according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night - your donations will be well spent. Coach Jones informs me that they have received $1600 from other Double-Wing coaches. Many thanks to those who helped out. The need is still there! HW *********** The wordsmiths who write the tired, old cliches that come out of "Coach" Butkus' mouth every Tuesday night trotted out a few new retreads this past week. Gone was the "man in the mirror" stuff, replaced with "the glass is either half-full or half-empty," and "success is a journey, not a destination." Say what? That one was too philosophhical. I had trouble believing that it came from Dick Butkus.   *********** For the second time in the "Return to Glory" series, KFC was the restaurant of choice for chowing down, and the show made prominent mention of that fact. A couple of weeks ago, the cheerleaders headed there after a grueling workout, and on Tuesday night's show, some of the moms fed the entire team fried chicken from KFC (they made a point of telling us so), served in buckets all turned so the label faced the camera, with cans of Pepsi (all turned so the label faced the camera) to wash it all down. And then - to my utter surprise - the very next commercial at the very next commercial break was one for - amazing - KFC! Now, that is the most incredible coincidence I've ever seen! There the kids were, being fed Kentucky Fried Chicken on the show, and I'll be damned if we didn't see a KFC spot at the next break! (For those of you who really think that actors just happen to use a particular product on TV or in movies, this thing called "product placement", in which manufacturers are shaken down in return for displaying their product as if it is just part of the show, has been refined to an art form. That's the real reason why I was shocked - I couldn't believe the clumsy way that ESPN handled it, not even bothering to be subtle about it. It said plenty about the respect they have for their audience's intelligence.)   *********** "Coach" Butkus got into it with the defensive coordinator Tuesday night. Right out on the field. In front of the kids, no less. And then he tried to pass it off to the kids at a team meeting as "just something that happens in the family."   Yeah, right.   Well, maybe it happens in that family, but if you're a coach, and you call your team a family, it's something that you'd better never let happen in your family.   (I also think it's a pretty good idea to make sure that it doesn't happen in your "at home" family - that any squabbles between you and your wife take place out of sight and hearing of your kids.)   *********** The Tuesday night show took us along with the kids from Montour as they (nyuk, nyuk!) paid a visit to their upcoming opponent's school and hung an opponent's flag - which they'd defaced - over the school's main doorway.   Number one, I thought, "those kids may not be losers, but they sure are acting like losers."   I mean, come on - here they are in the middle of a long string of losing seasons, going up against a team they haven't beaten in nine years or so, and they're out on a weeknight, engaged in a prank that can only piss off their opponents even more. Why don't they work a little harder at winning?   And then it hit me - Hey, wait a minute!!!   Those kids were trespassing, and vandalizing another school's property, and they were doing it right there in front of us - which means they were doing it in front of cameras! In other words, ESPN was complicit in the prank! It reminded me of those traitorous TV reporters who hang around with the PLO while they're plotting to kill more Jews.   And the whole stung was probably done with the full knowledge of the Montour administration.   Now, I know school administrators, and I know how paranoid they are about even the most minor pranks escalating into something ugly and/or costly (can you say School Initials Burned Into Field Turf? - it happened near me). It is not unheard-of for kids to be suspended for their roles in such pranks. Yet there the doofuses from Montour were, doing their stuff on national TV. Huh?   So what about the opponents' administrators? Did anybody at ESPN clear that stuff with them? Did they consent to let their school be vandalized, their symbols disrespected, for the sake of our entertainment? ("Hey kids - that flag out there? The one that says they're going to kick our ass? Don't let it bother you. It's just part of the ESPN show. It;s just entertainment.")   I rather doubt it.   As usual, our old friend ESPN putting the "E" ahead of the "S." Way ahead.   *********** Coach - I say GOOD RIDDANCE to Butkus (I would rather not refer to him as Coach Butkus. It would demean our entire profession). I saw as much of each episode/practice/skit as I could stomach and always turned it off when it just got too much for me. I know I am just a dumb ol' youth coach but I could out-coach BUTkus with my eyes closed. He knows very little of the X's and O's. He knows nothing, nada, zero of what else it takes to make a team A TEAM. No team building skills, no leadership and very little patience. Don't get me wrong. I am not Mother Theresa while I coach, but I know when to "turn it on, and off" when the situation dictates. Good riddance I say to Butkus. John Torres, Los Angeles   *********** A reader in Oklahoma writes...   I root for OU unless the play Kansas, my alma mater.  The KU-OU tilt this weekend was probably the worst offensive game of the year.  Mangino and Stoops both need to take some pages from your playbook.  OU fans are all over OC Chuck Long for not airing it out more, but that is nuts.  I think OU should run their 2 TE goal-line package all over the field: iso, power, and a fair dose of play action and QB keep/bootleg.  OU isn't ready to run an offense for NFL-type athletes now; better to run a team-oriented, grind-it-out offense that allows Bomar to get his skills (football & leadership) together.   I concur that OU and similar struggling teams could make better efforts to adapt their offenses - and their offensive thinking - to their personnel, but I suspect that even as they play, they are recruiting, and their fear is that if they run the ball they will scare off NFL-calibre wide receivers and quarterbacks. Such a switch would not go unnoticed by opposing recruiters, who would be sure to point it out to the blue-chippers. They would probably tell kids that the word was out that OU was switching back to the wishbone.   As it is, if they are throwing the ball, and doing so ineffectively, it may be seen by those top recruits as a sign that OU needs help.   Sounds a little like NBA teams jockeying for a lottery pick, doesn't it?   *********** I concur with the article in your 10-18-2005 news post about pro football and how it sux ( how boring and predictable it is). First off, Here is a compilation of the greatest football players in the world, coached by (supposed to be) best coaches in the world and if you look closely, you will see incredible things that great athletes do, but TEAM. Nah! No team anymore, just stars, stars, and more jive-assing stars. All pro teams run the same plays, the same formations, the same routes, the same stretch play, etc. etc. No more creative football but plenty of creative dancing after a routine tackle or a TD or an interception or sack. These are plays we used to make all the time with no fan fare, it was a guy doing his job, playing the game, no need for special attention. Yes the crowd cheered because it helped the team but now the crowd is reacting to the gyrating garbage of the aftermath. There are some really fine human beings in the game today, but the media seems to be more interested in the thugery of the league, for after all, It's shock value that sells these days, and not the game of the week. Now when you see a great play and there is no after dance, we sit there waiting breathless, thinking, well?????? where is your jive? The strategies of today in the pros and big college is NO STRATEGY but a grab bag of try this or try that, or that is what it looks like to me. You won't see a team playing the smash mouth football we play in high school. Not with those 370 pound blobs of pass protection. Oh well, the truth is that the pros probably couldn't hold up for 60 minutes of our run oriented, smash mouth tactics. They would have no energy left for the dance, and the fantasy footballers and mush-head media guys would call it boring football. But 3 incomplete passes and a punt, 10 times a game, now that is exciting! Larry Harrison, Siloam, Georgia   *********** Coach, Just finished reading the recent News Page and had a quick story to share with you....   Every year since 1992, the year I returned from the Army, I have gone to the White Sox opening game. I never had the opportunity, and quite frankly the money, to go when I was in high school. Having had my parents die when I was young, I never got to go to a game as a kid, my older siblings couldn't afford it. So you have to understand how proud I was, when I finally was "making it" after the Army. Some guys saved money for cars or trips, not me, I saved all my Army cash for college and for Sox tickets.   Well each year I would hold on to the ticket stub from opening day, in the hopes that it would be a magical season. Usually, by June, when the Sox were not going anywhere I would throw out the ticket. (Your boys in the Pacific Northwest broke my heart in 2000, when they swept us out of the play-offs, in what was a royal butt whup-pin). So my little ritual went on for 13 years, until thankfully this year.   Anyway, I would like to be able to blame somebody for this, my wife, my kids, somebody....but I can't. Like an ass, I inadvertently threw out my opening day ticket stub. I can't believe it!!! I guess I had a bad case of the head in the rectum syndrome, and I just threw it out one day while cleaning off my dresser.   On the lighter side, my buddies all think that my ticket stubs have been cursed over the years, and finally, the Sox made it. Who knows...?   Take Care Coach, Bill Murphy. Chicago   *********** It has gotten ridiculous here.  We have had 17 kids quit since the first week of the season, including a starting offensive tackle.  Also, our softness has haunted us again.  We have a local chiropractor who will pull kids for a week at a time because of things like "lumbar pain."  And we have parents who allow their kids to miss school for headaches and runny noses.  Last Tuesday we had 15 players who were either home "sick" or on "injured reserve."   The varsity team that we are now putting on the field is nothing more than an average jv team in size and ability, and we are getting hammered each week.  To make it worse, our kids have given up.  They show no pride on the field.   I don't think I have ever been as discouraged as I am right now.  However, I will continue to plan useful practices and do my best to prepare our kids for our last two games.  I will, indeed, keep fighting the good fight!   That is, indeed, a challenge.   The toughness level sounds a bit like what many of us get from our freshmen and first-time sophs - the slightest little "owie" or case of the sniffles and the kid is out. Mom tells him whether or not he can practice, etc., etc.   We even experience it some at the varsity level, but we have so few kids that it isn't as extreme a case as yours.   I'm not sure what you can do when the problem seems to be so embedded in the town culture.   Certainly, a fundamental change is needed. I know that it can be done, but it can't be done if the community doesn't want it, and I do think that you will want to consider a spring meeting with parents for the purpose of determining what kind of a program they want.   If it is determined that they really do want the best program possible for their kids, then you are going to have to explain that they play an important role in its development - that they are going to have to have a better understanding of the demands of football, a very tough team sport in which players depend more heavily on one another than any other sport, and they are going to have to understand that there is a certain amount of mental toughness required not just of the kids, but of their parents.   Maybe they even need to hear this from an outsider - possibly from a coach at a very well-known, successful HS program in your state. Not for the purpose of selling their program to the people, but to let them know that this isn't just their own coach trying to make waves.   That sort of approach is almost certain to ruffle some feathers, but very frankly, it does sound as if some of those people are raising their sons to be pussies.   The interesting thing to me is that, knowing the powerful influence that kids have over their parents in matters of curfew, etc., and how easily the parents cave in, the kids seem awfully quick to comply with their parents' wishes where excuses from practice are concerned.   PLAYLET #1:   Modern Mom: "You're not going out tonight. It's a school night and you got home late from practice and you still have homework."   Modern Kid: "I'm going out anyhow."   Modern Mom: "Okay."   PLAYLET #2:   Modern Mom: "I don't like the sound of that sneeze. You're not going to practice today."   Modern Kid: "Okay."   In other words, it doesn't sound like they want to play all that bad.   You know, there is always the chance that you will find that the parents don't really want the kind of program that you believed they wanted! Let's hope not.   *********** I received an e-mail from a coach I respect saying that he, just like Romanowski, did some things he's now not so proud of. I almost sensed a little sympathy for Romanowski, and this is how I replied...   If Romanowski had just done a few dumbass things that he now regrets and apologizes for, that would be one thing, but besides the drug use, that guy ruined the careers of a lot of good people by the cheap, dirty shots he took at them - in practices as well as games, which means hurting teammates, too. Not to mention spitting in an opponent's face. And now he wants us to feel sorry for him? Nice try. Wouldn't have anything to do with that book he "wrote," would it?   *********** Coach, Just wanted to ask, is it legal to run the center sneak in Washington H.S. football rules? I coach youth football at the 9-10 yr old level. I was just trying to add a couple wrinkles in my scheme and thought this would be fun for our center,he's a great kid and I would like to kind of give him his own play as a kind of reward for being a great kid. Well, I introduced it last night at practice and was told by the president of our league it was illegal in the state of Washington. I really don't think he knew for sure and was wondering if you could help. Thanks for the great resource for our kids.   I'm assuming that you are referring to the old stunt we used to pull when we were kids, where the center "snapped" the ball to the QB but never actually released it, instead holding it there between his legs until the defense ran off in pursuit of the QB, leaving the center free to run with the ball.   I'm afraid your president is right. It is illegal in Washington and every place else football is played.   The only way you could bring it off would be if the ball were to first hit the QB's hands and then drop to the ground, making it a fumble, which your center could then pick up and advance - assuming that the defense didn't notice!   *********** Hello Coach, Best to you and yours,   That devastating (Minnesota-Wisconsin) finish has been rehashed seven different ways since Saturday. Coach Mason was upfront and admitted that he did not speak of emergency actions before the kid went out there. His analogy was "it's like giving someone too much golf advice, don't do this, that & the other" his belief was he would jinx the kid.   We had an endzone view, it happened right in front of us. The Sconnies' inside rushers came very hard and when they met the upbacks they leapt up in the air. I think the punter was looking up at them, even though they were 9 yards away. Took his eyes off the ball, and clank. The kid just panicked then and well . . . . as a colleague remarked, the gold pants got a little yellower.   Personal opinion, the punter saved the defense the chance of being humiliated again and allowing the tie at best or a score at worst. I was thinking we should have gone for it 4th and 1 from our own 20 with 33 seconds left. Sound coaching, conventional wisdom, common sense all say kick it and play D. What is our better hope, that our very solid O line with two very good running backs can make 1 yard, or our defense which just allowed Wisconsin to go 70 yards in 70 seconds is going to keep them out of the end zone or field goal range in 35 seconds? Sometimes fortune favors the very bold.   Anyway, it was a gut wrenching defeat, our program can't seem to get over the hump from respectability to serious contender. Totally agree, Saturday was a great, great day. You have even heard rumblings from USA Today about how the NFL game pales compared to college football.   1 last note, I did catch the Football America program on NFL Network on dish. It is the only worthwhile program I have seen, because it doesn't exclusively deal with the NFL. There was a long biography of Frank Kush, from his high school days, college at MSU, and coaching at ASU, and the Colts. He took the cameras through his hometown, the field, the mines of Penn. It was outstanding, his philosophy on football, committment, role models and saving kids. I am too young to remember him, but I was wondering if you had any recollections. His time in Baltimore / Indianapolis was not successful.Good luck in your game this week,   Mick Yanke, DCHS, Cokato, Minnesota (Frank Kush was one of my "Legacy" questions, back in the days when I had time to do all that research and handle all those e-mail answers. Check in my archives - January 2003.   He was fantastically successful at Arizona State, where he built the program from Border Conference status to Pac-10 level. From the sounds of things, he was about as powerful on his college campus as any football coach could be.   As is usually the case when a college coach goes to the pros, he could never have that same power. And, of course, he was dealing with professionals, who were not inclined to suffer the indignities of the stern disciplinary measures once common in college programs.   I have been told - but I do not know it to be true - that he and his hardnosed reputation were the reasons why Jack Elway - a college coach himself - advised his son, John, not to sign with the Baltimore Colts, after they had drafted him #1.   That may not be entirely true, because the Colts were also suffering from the alcohol-abetted mismanagement of the late Robert Irsay, one of the sorriest owners in the history of professional sports.   Elway, fortunately, had an ace up his sleeve - he was a good enough baseball player that he was able to sign with the Yankees and play a year of Class A baseball, enabling him to sit out a year of football until the Broncos were able to arrange to acquire his rights. HW)   *********** The NBA dress code is an interesting issue - I must say, I think I do agree with Stephen Jackson - suits and dress shirts make sense, jewelry does not. You may not like chains or earrings, but African American guys are wearing them and have been for years. I don't see that as a turnoff if the guy's in a smart suit. Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia   I kinda agree with you on the jewelry issue.   But gaudy jewelry is an ever-present part of the rap scene, and in the public eye, bling-bling equals hiphop equals thuggery. I am betting that Commissioner Stern has heard the message loud and clear and often from major sponsors - and the TV people - that there are just so many things that can be sold to the hiphop crowd, and for those with other things to sell, they have many more effective ways - such as baseball, football, hockey and NASCAR - of reaching the much larger and far more lucrative market of sports fans that are, uh, "put off" by the hiphop thing.   *********** Can you believe this dress code stuff for the NBA guys! I mean, I haven't been able to stop howlin'! Like thats gonna make these guys straighten up? Put a little paint on it and it's brand new? Why do I smell a "right" lawsuit comin' on! Although I have to admit I liked Stephen Jackson's (Pacers) comment: "You have to listen to the people who employ you. The people who are paying us make the rules. You need to abide by the rules or don't work. I want to work."   Thus continues the soap operas known as pro sports. Sheesh! Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey The dress code, I think, is an effort to show the public - but especially big sponsors and TV networks - that the NBA is not synonymous with hiphop and gangsta rap and street crime. (To the untrained eye, it may be hard to make a distinction.) Undoubtedly it will be thrown out by some lameass Clinton-appointed judge. HW   *********** Unlike the NBA, the NFL obviously has no need for a dress code. Why, even the food they eat is properly attired. Sports Illustrated reports that one of Ray Lewis' favorites at his Baltimore barbecue joint is "collared" greens.   *********** Actually, it's going to take a lot more than a dress code to clean out the moral sewer that is the NFL.   Last Monday night, the Seahowks' Ken Hamlin was beaten nearly to death in a fight outside a nightclub. Gee, an NFL player in a fight outside a nightclub - now that's news. Reportedly, the other guy had been persuaded to back off, but Hamlin kept pressing the issue, and he got the worst of it. At least at first. Because a little later, a guy who is rumored to have been one of his alleged opponents was found shot to death. Not making any accusations, you understand - not me - but when you make the kind of money those NFL guys make, and you consort with the kind of people some of them hang with, anything is possible.   Leave it to NFL players to turn a seemingly-innocuous dinner-cruise run by a firm called Al and Alma's (now how Midwestern - how Minnesota Nice - is that name?) into a disgustingly vulgar public orgy. Supposedly, it was the Vikings' annual "Rookie Party." Where's it gonna be held next year? In a church?   *********** Greetings Coach!   Last week we beat Averill Park 20-6 and improved to 5-1 on the season. I had 13 different kids run the ball and they had lots of fun. Our second team offense and defense played 3 quarters of the game. Would you believe that after the game many of the opposing players wouldn't shake hands with us? We could have spanked them 50-0 if we wanted to! That's what we get for showing good sportsmanship I guess. We have 2 more regular season games before the post season begins. We have scored 101 points in 6 games. We would have scored more but in our PW District they have strict rules about running up the score. Our defense has only given up 25 points so far this year.   On Sunday afternoon our Pee Wee Team played at home against a team from Scotia and they ran the DW. In fact, they ran it so well that they beat us 12-0! After the game I made a point to seek out the HC, A guy by the name of Frank Leffler. I introduced myself and told him that we run the DW at the older level. He said that he was familiar with you and that he also coaches at Scotia High School and that they run the DW there also. We both laughed when he asked me what other coaches in our organization think of the offense. I told him I don't care about what other people think about it. I only care about my kids and they LOVE it and that's good enough for me. He couldn't believe it when I told him that I couldn't get the 3 other teams in our organization to even attempt to run the DW, even with the success that we have had the past 3 years. A quick overview of our other 3 teams: combined record of 5-12... average 9 points / game on offense... an overall -94 point differential   The other coaches keep calling it "MY" offense and I tell that that they are giving me entirely too much credit. I didn't invent this offense. I was lucky enough to come accross it and wise enough to see how it would benefit our players. I only wish I could get them to check their egos at the door, so to speak, and look at the DW for what it really is.   Thanks for all your help this year and I am sure I will speak with you before our season is over. God Bless!   Mike Cahill, Guilderland Dutchmen, Guilderland, New York   *********** My question is as long as I can remember, when you run a double reverse, the handoff should happen to the back and a front handoff was a penalty.  Is this true?  I have had some coaches tell me that it was okay to run an offense, using a double reverse with the handoff being exchanged with the back handing off in front.  To me, not only does it make the handoff visible to the defense, it still seems to be wrong to me.    Rule 7, Section 3, article 2-   No player may hand the ball forward except during a scrimmage down before a change of possession (which rules out punt returns- HW), provided both players are in or behind the neutral zone, and it is to:   a. A lineman who has clearly faced his goal line by moving both feet in a half turn and is at least 1 yard behind his line when he receives the ball.   b. To a back or a teammate who, at the snap, was on an end of his line and was not the snapper nor adjacent to the snapper.   In other words, it is not likely, unless the ball is being handed forward to a lineman, or the handoff is taking place downfield, or it is taking place on a kicking play, that there is anything wrong going on.   Our criss-cross counter, by the way, has been run for years, long before I started running it, with a forward handoff, from one back to another.   *********** Responding to some comments on Tuesday's NEWS...   (About the backstabbing assistant) "This guy has turned out to be a know it all who won't be coaching on my staff next year but I am torn as to whether to relieve him of his duties at this point of the season."   I wouldn't even hesitate -- he can go watch the game in the stands with the rest of the parents. Been there, done that!! Coach, life is too short to have a guy turning what you do for "fun" into something you dread. I don't care if there is only 1 game left, that guy would be gone from my sidelines.   "What a college football Saturday! Amazing games, with amazing endings."   Gosh..I think the entire season has been like this!! Maybe it's because I don't have a youth team this season, but I don't remember spending so much time watching college football!! it has been SO enjoyable! the games are terrific, the atmosphere electric. I really, really enjoy it..I'm with you when you are deciding on where to retire...there MUST be a college with a football team nearby.   "God, it was touching, watching Bill Romanowski start to choke up on camera as he told the interviewer on "Sixty Minutes" about the time his young son asked him why he'd used drugs. The poor guy! (Sniff.) If ever there was a victim of steroid use, "Romo" is it. Did you cry, too?"   Oh yeah..I wept myself to sleep after that...Hey -- his wife is a victim also -- she was forced into forging the prescriptions and buying his drugs. The GAME demanded it Coach. It's all because of the GAME...it's not THEIR fault! (give me a f'n break!   Hope all is well with you -- take care -- Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas   Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 18, 2005 - "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. " Mark Twain *********** Coach - We won Friday night. We are now 5-1 and ranked #8 in the over-all state poll. We defeated Biloxi 22-7. We held Biloxi to 29 yards rushing. They were led by Damion Fletcher, a 6'1" 185 lb Southern Mississippi committment. We shut him down. Next week: at Harrison Central   As of today I have received numerous clothes for our coaches and $1600. A BIG THANKS!!!! Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi  Anyone wanting to donate to Coach Jones' three assistants who lost their houses - and all their possessions - can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 The money will be well spent, unlike certain emergency funds - according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night.   OCTOBER 17 - 9 PM EASTERN ON PBS - AMERICAN EXPERIENCE PRESENTS "TWO DAYS IN OCTOBER" --- CHECK YOUR LOCAL CHANNEL --- THE SHOW DEALS IN PART WITH THE BLACK LIONS AND THE BATTLE OF ONG THANH IN VIETNAM, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON OCTOBER 17, 1967. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SHOW ALSO DEALS RATHER GENTLY WITH THE PROTESTS - AND PROTESTORS - TAKING PLACE ON THE HOME FRONT AT THE SAME TIME, WHICH EVEN NOW, NEARLY 40 YEARS LATER, MIGHT PROVE A LITTLE HARD TO TAKE FOR ANY VIETNAM VET (some whom I have heard from have seen the show already and are not at all happy with what they consider to be the minimal treatment of the bravery of the American soldier, as opposed to the near-glorification of the peace protestors.)   *********** We got hammered Friday night, 44-0, by Jefferson High. But believe it or not, I think our kids are getting better. Certainly, the attitude is better than it has ever been, and the kids continue to work hard. We are now starting two freshmen and four sophs on offense, and four freshmen and a soph on defense. We are hampered by blown assignments and a lack of strength on offense, but we are making progress nonetheless. Now we face Murderer's Row - our next three opponents are three of the top four teams in our league. This week, we play Grant High, the defending league champ, and a team with no apparent weaknesses. Grant is big and fast and talented. Nobody in town gives us a chance. Except us.   *********** Writes Coach Bill Murphy, a Chicago cop and lifelong South Sider, "Go White Sox!!! The real Chicago baseball got into the World Series!! Hell, I'm 35 and it has seemed like a REAL LOOONG time to me, you can't imagine how happy I am. The place we took you to when you were here, Bourbon Street, well, they have been on the news every Sox game. Thousands of people cramming in to catch a game. You'd think it has been about 80 some years since we have had baseball in October around here...."   *********** Coach- I happened to catch Bound For Glory the other night. Butkus is a class A jerk. He would be "fired" at G-H for language in about 10 seconds. Brad Knight, Galva-Holstein HS, Holstein, Iowa - Good Luck Tonight! Go Fightin' Fillibusters! (That's Coach Knight's jibe at our nickname, the Senators. HW)   *********** Coach: The Cheyenne (Middle School) Mustangs are Edmond City Champs! I just wanted you to be the first to know, we won 14-12 over Edmond Summitt. Summitt came into the game as the 2 time defending city and division champs riding a 24 game win streak. The combination of Green/Gold Wing and Wildcat gave us great ball control. In the second half we had the ball 12 of the 16 minutes played, we had it 10 min of the first half. They scored on a kickoff return and a reverse. We had two drives over 70 yards, we had around 200 rushing. Ironicly the winning score came on Omaha Gold Wing Blue Blue to our C Back for 55 yards. We had over 100 yards passing. (lightning and thunder were big plays that we haven't ran previously) One of the opposing coaches said this was the toughest offense he's seen as a coach. I really owe you for the chance to learn this system. Our kids executed to perfection, but we couldn't have done this running anything else. Gabe McCown, Piedmont, Oklahoma   *********** Sent to me by a (proud) redneck friend...   We have enjoyed redneck jokes for years. It's time to take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country, and God.   If I had to stand before a dozen terrorists who threaten my life, I'd choose a half dozen or so rednecks to back me up. Tire irons, squirrel guns and grit -- that's what rednecks are made of. If you feel the same, pass this on to your redneck friends. Ya'll know who ya' are...   You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, "One nation, under God."   You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.   You might be a redneck if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter Festival."   You might be a redneck if: You still say "yes sir!" when your dad calls your name.   You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.   You might be a redneck if: You stand, remove your hat, and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.   You might be a redneck if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and always have.   You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag.   You might be a redneck if: You stand and take off your hat when the American flag goes by in a parade.   You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.   You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and expect your kids to do the same.   You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.   You might be a redneck if: You pull to the side of the road and take your hat off when a funeral procession passes.   You might be a redneck if: You would rather work for a dollar than have the government give you someone else's hard earned money for nothing.   *********** Hi Coach, Our Jr High program will have it's last game tomorrow. We finish by playing our archrivals who have a similar record. We have separate 7th & 8th grade teams that practice together and play games back to back. We run the same double wing offense that our high school does. They call it the "Wing T", but it is the "Double Wing" run the same way as shown in your videos. Our 7th graders are 6 & 0 and have not yet been scored upon. The 8th graders are a respectible 4 & 2 and improve every week.   The comment that I would like to make is that a running offense like the double wing also produces a defense that is physical and aggressive. The kids just get used to continual physical contact on offense and it carries over to their defensive play. The players get used to the fact that contact is an intergal part of the game, learn how to be physcial and learn to love it. We don't need to score 40 points to win with a good defense.   Your blocking and tackling instructional fundamentals from your video have allowed us to gradually ease the players into contact and have been important in producing players that are not afraid to play football. In the "old days" we would line up the players and let them smack the heck out of each other. The result was that 1 player knew he was the toughest player on the team and the other 30 players knew that it really hurt to tackle the guy that was the best player on the team!! It is so much better to ease into the process of physical contact.   Thank you for all your help in videos and with your coaching tips.   Marlowe Aldrich, St Francis Jr High, Billings, Montana   *********** Coach, The Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans got back on track this week with a 46-0 victory over the Peoria Heights Patriots. We were all business before, during, and after the game, something we were lacking last week.   Offensively, we did whatever we wanted. 350+ yards on 34 carries. One touchdown pass (32 yards). The running clock started in the first half with us up 40-0.   Defensively, it was even better. -2 yards allowed in the first half, 20 yards allowed in the second half.   We play 5-3 Lewistown at home for our final regular season game. They have a stud quarterback who can run and throw. They make no attempt at any other running game, so it comes down to us defending the pass in the secondary and defending his run up front. Some nice, long drives by us will ease my mind a little bit.   Good luck to you. Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** Good Morning Coach, I hope things are going well health wise for you and your family and that your football team is starting to turn the corner. I have been coaching Pee Wee this year and although we are having a fairly competitive season, I am seething today from actions by some of my staff.   When we started the year, I had selected a defensive coordinator who I know and trust implicitly but before we even started he got a job as a high school coordinator. I replaced with someone else on the team whose kid had come over from another association. Two of the other dads basically begged to coach and I allowed them to do so after discussing with them that the only thing I require is absolute loyalty. HA HA....you can probably fill in the rest.   Yesterday we played a power house team that is loaded with returning athletes and our kids hung in there as best as they could. We were down 8-6 at the half by virtue of them blocking a kick and returning it for a TD, but wound up losing 28-6. During the game the DC made several sarcastic remarks to the tune of "I guess you better go perfect your superpowers", far enough away where I couldn't hear him.   This guy has turned out to be a know it all who won't be coaching on my staff next year but I am torn as to whether to relieve him of his duties at this point of the season.   What really gets my goat is that he thinks when kids miss tackles his reaction is "they are there, they are just not making tackles" but on offense he must think the offensive scheme puts the kids somewhere where they can't make the blocks.   We are 4-3, the kids love the traps, counters, superpowers and the wedges. We have 12 first year players out of 26 and have come a long way.   Do you think there would be any positive results from removing backstabbers at this point of the season, or should I suck it up the last 3 games and remove them in the offseason?   Sorry that things have worked out like that.   Even with all the misery and heartache of our winless season, at least I have a great staff that remains positive and is not getting after each other.   If it were me, I'd probably cashier them, but I've been known to do rash things.   If you do let them go, the result is fairly predictable - there will be a scene, but after that, they will be gone.   If you let them hang around, and things don't go well, there is always the potential for a confrontation as the DC covers his ass and tries to pin everything on you. The confrontation might very well be ugly, and it might be public, and in front of the kids at that.   For sure, things won't improve, but you may very well be able to steer the ship without having to do anything.   I don't know all the ramifications, but my inclination - I told you I sometimes acted rashly - would be to lance the boil and be done with it.   *********** LANSINGBURGH (New York) 69 ALBANY ACADEMY 28 we totaled over 500 yards on the ground.g-o down and g-o reach looked good. We are hosting the first round of playoffs. This is where it really counts. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York   *********** Galva-Holstein (Iowa) 47, Lawton-Bronson 8 Almost 500 yards of offense. Played great team defense, and really got after them on offense staying very basic. My team has really started to believe in one another. Playing the big rival this week - they are 1-6, but always play us tough. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa   *********** Corning West (Elmira, NY) 41, Elmira Southside 12 - Led by 109 yards rushing by Craig Smith and 98-yards passing by Jody Kizis, West had more than 410 yards of total offense in qualifying for a state playoff berth   *********** Nebraska - The Stanton Mustangs remain undefeated at 7-0 after defeating the No.4 rated Plainview Pirates. Outweighed 240 to 180 average on the line, the Mustangs rushed for 306 yards on 42 carries and threw for 87 yards on 7 of 10 passing. We held their running game that averaged 305 yards per game to 81 yards. They did throw for 181 yards, but that meant they were playing catchup. Had some wrinkles on offense to throw in if we needed them, but we never needed them. Ran the BASE STUFF!!! It gets kinda boring getting 7-15 yards on a Super Power every play!! Just kidding!! They knows it's coming, but they can't stop it!! GO DW!!!!!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** Miami, Florida - Dear Hugh, Just a short note to let you know that we won this past Friday. We beat Hialeah 21-16. Our guys played real well - we ran 88 super power about as well as I have ever seen. Clinic stuff. Of note we were down 15-16 with 5:30 left in the game. We took over on our 20 and proceeded to put together a great drive which ended with a 30 yard run 47XX for a touchdown. It took 3:19 to do it. We did not pass and we did not run any real hurry up. The kids were very composed. The reason I bring this up is the whole game we had two armchair Qb parents informing all within earshot how F_ _ KED UP we coaches were for not running a no huddle throw it all over the field 2-minute drill. These people are deranged. We were picked in the paper to lose 34-14 what do they want???   Does no one understand the philosophy behind the DW? We don't need to pass and get all up tight when behind. Sure we have a 2 min drill, but we don't panic. It's like they have to find something to bitch about. We can't be happy just to win and have a bunch of kids do their best. They have to find fault. Anyway enough of this. I do hope you are good and again best of luck with everything.   Leonard Patrick, Goleman HS, Miami, Florida   *********** I had a game today and we started wedging.  It was working.  Then they they started to power.  They got so afraid of the wedge that they started  blitzing.  I dont know if it was luck or not.  But they blitzed the center hard, sometimes attacking so hard we couldnt get the play off.  They knocked the center back, often into the quarterback.  What can I do?  We just started the double wing and the wedge is our base play.  We couldnt run anything.  We are not that talented and the wedge was causing us to win.  The game was 0-0.  But I felt if I could get those guys to block we would have won the game.  I started to wedge because we had problems blocking.  Like I said we are not that talented.  Any suggestions.   Coach, You need more than one base play. I wouldn't advise anyone to have the wedge as his "base play" unless he has other things in his package.   The point of a base play is to make defenses do unusual things to stop it, and then to have alternatives.   The wedge can be stopped. Any play can. And when defenses stack up to stop that one play, you have to be able to go elsewhere.   *********** What a college football Saturday! Amazing games, with amazing endings.   USC-Notre Dame... Penn State-Michigan... Minnesota-Wisconsin... West Virginia-Louisville... Alabama-Mississippi... UCLA-Washington State... BC-Wake Forest... Northwestern-Purdue... MIssouri-Iowa State. And that's just Division I-A.   And it was real football! Only two of them (Ole Miss-Alabama and Missouri-Iowa State) were decided by last-second field goals.   There were surprises, too - Virginia's upset of Florida State and Oregon State's upset of Cal.   Truly a day to remember for college football. Perhaps the best day in my long memory. If I get to live another 20 years, I doubt that I'll see another one like it.   It sure does leave Big Football with a lotta 'splainin' to do, because it will take the NFL another 20 years - 12 games a week, 16 weeks a year - to provide the excitement that college football gave us on just one Saturday.   The problem is that the NFL is so into marketing its product that it has forgotten the product itself. The NFL has sold its soul to TV, which then tries to boost its ratings by glorifying individual stars, promoting "T-O" and "Randy" and "Peyton" and "Eli" instead of teams. The League panders to the fantasy market by pushing individual stats, and it allows the media to celebrate the antics of the showoffs to such an extent that it seems not to realize that its product - the actual game itself - has become vastly inferior to the college game. After a Saturday like this past one, it makes you wonder how much longer the NFL suits can continue to deceive the casual fans into believing that the pro game, so dull and predictable, so colorless and bereft of excitement, so full of jiveasses, is real "football."   In the space of five minutes of watching NFL football Sunday, I saw one game decided in OT by a team (Dallas) that won the OT toss and "drove" close enough to kick a 45-yard field goal, I saw another one decided in OT by an interception return (by Jacksonville), and another fail to go into OT when a team (Atlanta) missed a last-second field goal only to be given a second chance because of some obscure rule, which it then made. (Wouldn't want any missed field goals, now, would we? In a league in which more than 80 per cent of field goal attempts are good, a field goal has become as thrilling as a three-foot putt on the PGA Tour.)   And now you'll have to excuse me as I get ready to watch the Seahawks-Texans. I shiver in anticipation. (Just joking. I haven't watched an entire NFL game in years.)   *********** Reggie Bush is amazing. However, I don't like his slowing down going into the end zone  (I am an ND fan though - but I would say that about someone like a  Ricky Watters too). The reason that hotdog stuff bugs me is because I have to teach my kids not to do it. This year we had a kid put his arm up in the air on the ten yard line going in and I had another kid slow way down from the 5. We've never had much of that before, and I certainly don't condone it - (the one kid apologized immediately and the other got me in his face telling him to sprint his ass into the endzone). It trickles down all right. John Dowd, Oakfield, New York   That was disappointing, wasn't it? I expected more of Mr. Bush. At the least, it was unforgivable grandstanding. At the worst, he could have been hurt by the shot in the back that the pursuing Notre Dame defender gave him. But wow - what a great example it would have been to kids everywhere if an selfish, look-at-me stunt had ended a Heisman season prematurely.   And I didn't care for the commentators saying he "slowed down a little too soon." How about waiting until after crossing the goal line?   *********** In the Minnesota-Wisconsin game Saturday, if the keecker (who had a last-minute punt blocked, which Wisconsin recovered in the end zone for the winning touchdown) had turned around and punted the ball out of the end zone . . . would it have been a safety?  what if he had just fallen on it (Wisc gets the ball on the 2)?   Would he have been told his options before he went out on the field? Or just coached on the options during practice?   Of course, we wouldn't have these problems if we didn't have soccer players masquerading as football players . . . Veronica Anderson, Madison, Wisconsin   Yes, if he had just turned and punted it out of the end zone, it would have been a safety - and Minnesota would still have had a lead, a 30 seconds in which to defend it.   Yes, it does say something about keekers playing football, but it also says something about coaching. I presume that with NINE paid full-time assistant coaches, MInnesota has one whose job it is to make sure that the punter understands all his options.   Granted, Wisconsin could still have returned the kick and then driven into field goal range, but I am a little surprised that I haven't read anyplace where it was suggested that Minnesota might have taken the safety (running maybe 10 seconds off the clock) and then turned it over to their defense.   *********** Speaking of Reggie Bush, some Notre Dame fan in the broadcast booth kept insisting that he'd "aided the runner" (Matt Leinart) on USC's game-winning (and game-ending) QB sneak.   Spoken as one who always worries about some overzealous official nailing us for that whenever we run a wedge (I can just see him some day at the Retired Referees' Hall, telling the other old geezers about this Double Wing feller that he got one time for assisting the runner), I didn't see it that way, and felt that if in fact it had occured, it was very minor compared to what we see all the time, especially in the (ugh) NFL, any time a QB sneaks on short yardage.   (I am totally unbiased on this, by the way. I had no rooting interest whatever. I don't care for either team.)   PS- Has anyone ever seen Hurdling called?   *********** God, it was touching, watching Bill Romanowski start to choke up on camera as he told the interviewer on "Sixty Minutes" about the time his young son asked him why he'd used drugs. The poor guy! (Sniff.) If ever there was a victim of steroid use, "Romo" is it. Did you cry, too?   *********** So you'd like to be a comedy writer...   Senator Edward M. Kennedy, of Massachusetts, who nearly 37 years ago swam to safety while a young woman drowned in the back seat of the car he'd driven off a Massachusetts bridge (he was married at the time - she was not), is now being credited with helping in the recent rescue of a couple of boaters.   You take it from there.   *********** FOR THE ONE-THOUSANDTH TIME --- YES, KIDS THIS YOUNG CAN RUN OUR SYSTEM!   Hi coach, Just wanted to drop you an email and let you know that the Kettering Youth Firebirds K-2nd grade team finished the regular season 10-0. We play in a 42 team league and we have the top scoring offense and have given up the fewest points in the league on defense. We know head into the playoffs. Hopefully the DW can take us all the way. Thanks for all your help over the years. Coach Craig Thomas, Kettering, Ohio   *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 14, 2005 - "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the difference between a dog and a man. ." Mark Twain   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to Coach Jones' three assistants who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 (The money will be well spent. Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night.)   OCTOBER 17 - 9 PM EASTERN ON PBS - AMERICAN EXPERIENCE PRESENTS "TWO DAYS IN OCTOBER" --- CHECK YOUR LOCAL CHANNEL --- THE SHOW DEALS IN PART WITH THE BLACK LIONS AND THE BATTLE OF ONG THANH IN VIETNAM, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON OCTOBER 17, 1967. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SHOW ALSO DEALS RATHER GENTLY WITH THE PROTESTS - AND PROTESTORS - TAKING PLACE ON THE HOME FRONT AT THE SAME TIME, WHICH EVEN NOW, NEARLY 40 YEARS LATER, MIGHT PROVE A LITTLE HARD TO TAKE FOR ANY VIETNAM VET   *********** Hugh, In my 38 years involved in football and organized sports, I have never heard anything so screwed up as the story of the kid who practiced with you and yet played for your opponent. This story need some serious nation wide attention regardless of where it is. I give you a helluva alot of credit for putting up with this crap! Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey (He didn't play for our opponent, although there's no doubt in my mind he would have, if all the necessary paperwork could have been done on such short notice. What he did do was stand on their sideline - just the same as a team member - wearing their jersey. HW)   *********** Coach, Are you kidding me!?! Having the kid on the sideline!! My blood is boiling thinking about it!! That coach, and the kid, are lucky they were able to ride away afterward. My Best, Bill Murphy, Chicago, Illinois PS. I have to believe there are a lot of coaches who feel the way I do about this. What an A-hole. My blood is still boiling. That is the kind of guy who finds himself falling down the stairs at the police station while going to the lock-up. (Coach Murphy is also a Chicago police officer. I think I know what he means.)   *********** WOW Coach - That is unbelievable that he showed up on your opponents' sideline! I would have had a word or two with that coach. Man, the audacity of that kid. Does not surprise me though. John Torres, Los Angeles   *********** Coach Wyatt, I just read your news page, that is terrible about the kid switching teams. Illinois has a rule that any transfer has to sit 30 days before he can play for another school and if the school is in the same area he is ineligible to play at all that semester. I couldn't imagine having problems like that.   My problems are with a few parents that think their kids should be playing more than they are. I have learned a valuable lesson-get in the locker room more quickly after the games. Some people would be happier if we were 1-6 and their kids were playing more, than being 6-1 and going to the playoffs for the sixth straight year.   Just hang in there Coach, Believe me, I have been in the same situation as you a few times and I look back on it very often. It makes a person appreciate winning more when it happens, but it also puts things in perspective, when we went 0-9 two years in a row, I looked for the little victories, and I remember those kids because they were super kids who were coachable and classy. Good luck this week!   Mike Benton, Colfax HS, Ridgeview, Illinois   *********** Dear Hugh, Just read about your kid transfering to your opponent's school on Wednesday. Sounds like it's Miami on the West Coast. All I can say is that I have been there!!! I love my kids, but let me tell you they have little to no loyalty now a days. We play Hialeah High on Friday. We can win and actually I think we are getting a bit better, but who knows what team will show up this week. Any way "LOST" is on in a minute let me go escape to another reality. Best Wishes and Remember it's not your fault... it's our Society. Leonard Patrick, Miami, Florida   *********** I want to thank you for sharing your unbelievable stories of your team, the school, quitters, and the referees. It is flabbergasting. Some life lessons buried in there. The incident of the kid showing up on the opposing sidelines &endash; NUTS! - I will have to relate that one to the folks at the Park Circle Grille in Hagerstown. Mike Talentino, Twinsburg, Ohio   *********** Hugh, Your news about the kid you had on your team that pulled that switcheroo just about floored me. The kid obviously is clueless, but unfortunately, it sounds like he is yet another product of an extremely flawed public education system. And as long as these special interest groups that act as "advocates" for students and parents continue to excercise their political influence, and hire money hungry lawyers to do their dirty work, our public education programs will continue to deteriorate and our young people will never know what it means to have character. The scary thing is that these same kids will be parents themselves someday. Just thank God that you and I are in the twilight of our careers.   I had some good news yesterday, and in a season like this good news is always a welcome relief. The white hat of the officials crew that did our game last Friday contacted our sup to tell him how classy our boys were during the entire game. They were taken back by how our kids responded to them with "yes sir" or "no sir", and how well disciplined they were. The sup forwarded the letter to our principal and AD, and wrote to me to congratulate me, the coaches, and the team. I guess the foundation is starting to take shape. All that's left is to build on what we've established. But foundation building sure can be exhausting!!   Hang in there old buddy. We definitely will have to get together during clinic season and have a few cold ones, and share some stories. Take care, and keep the faith!! Joe Gutilla, Columbus, Ohio   *********** Coach, I wonder if you saw the blatant cheap shot taken by a Virginia o-lineman against BCs best defensive player Saturday. After the play, and in plain view he chopped the BC guy in the back of the knee . Of course the ever vigilant refs only saw another BC player come to his teammates defense and ejected him. I've never seen a more blatant attempt to injure. I wonder if the ACC will respond. Dan Lane Canton, Massachusetts (I have read all about it, and I think BC Coach Tom O'Brien was remarkably restrained in his comments. I was pleased to see that Virginia dealt with the problem on an institutional level (by suspending the guilty player for one game). That was the honorable thing to do - anything less and UVa would have appeared to be condoning dirty play. HW)   *********** My son, Ed and his wife, Michelle, threw a 50th wedding anniversary party for Michelle's parents, Frank and Bev, two wonderful people. All sorts of relatives attended, including Uncle Ray from Echuca, up in the bush country on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. As you may know, Australians love to cook food on the grille - the "barby" - and Uncle Ray surprised Ed by telling him that he'd bought a George Foreman grille. "Yeah," he said, in the Aussie manner of starting every sentence with "yeah," - "But I had to build a platfrom to level it - all the fat kept ruuning off!"   *********** Anybody happen to notice how quickly the schools that the ACC brought in from the cold - FSU, Miami, Virginia Tech and BC - so that it could go for the big bucks as a football - not basketball - conference, have elbowed all the original members aside? As of this writing, they all sit on top of the conference standings, while the Old ACC achools wait for basketball to start.   *********** Coach Wyatt, Our season finished last night. We are now 6-0 and have completed 2 undefeated seasons. Last nights game was a slugfest (14-8) and we made several mistakes that stopped ourselves. The other team ran the ball and had about twice as many offensive plays as us.   Still, we did what we had to do and I'm proud of our season. My overall record now stands at 17- 5. I couldn't have done it without the double wing. Thanks again coach! Dan King, Riverside Middle School Eagles, Evans, Georgia (Man, you have got to be sad to see a season like that come to an end! HW)   *********** Just read your latest "news you can use" and saw your reference to defensive woes at the halfway mark.  We are experiencing a similar pain with our youth team.    Our HC runs the defense and has given me carte blanche on the offensive side saying more than once that he knows nothing about offense.  Unfortunately, after an encouraging start in our lone preseason game, we've gone 0-4, surrendering almost 30 ppg.    While we've done well with this DW thing, we've had no room for error.  Even driving the field and burying the opponent in their own end has been fruitless.  We literally must score on each and every possession.  I've found myself pressing as a result.  We've been averaging 5 yards a carry on the powers, running them from spread and unbalanced, and 47-C has been a homerun play for us in all but one game.  Our passing game stinks though, but I loathe switching my QB for a kid who lacks my starter's toughness &endash; physical and otherwise.    Overall, the kids are having as great a time as a winless squad could hope for.  Our roster has actually grown as the season has gone on, a testament to the program.  Attitudes are great; though you can see the disappointment and hopelessness creep in after a loss.  We've had a tough schedule with 3-of-4 games on the road mostly against teams with better numbers and talent, but the next few games are very winnable.   We've recently put our heads together and worked on d-side solutions together.  I was careful however not to overstep my bounds out of respect, simply making suggestions and explaining how I would attack it.  I didn't want to step on his toes, not after he's given me so much support.  Some of the issue has been scheme, defending a higher level of football than what we actually face.  The rest has been tackling and confusion with assignments.  We've worked overtime on both in recent weeks.   Yes, it does put a lot of pressure on your offense when the defense is performing poorly.   The problem with defense, if you haven't noticed, is that you need athletes - at every position. You can't really hide a weaker, slower kid on defense.   But - this is no joke - maybe you need to score slower. You can shorten the game by playing conservatively and taking the maximum amount of time between plays.   It is amazing what a couple of 7-minute drives can do to keep a game close!   *********** Our frosh were beaten Thursday night by Wilson High, 59-0. It could have been worse.   Madison and Wilson are both Portland Public High Schools, but there's where the resemblance ends. Madison, you see, has been ruled the standards of No Child left Behind to be a "Failing School." That means our kids can transfer out to any other school, at any time, for any reason whatsoever (the better, it is believed, to escape the educational slum that the Feds proclaim Madison to be).   Wilson, on the other hand, is an elite school, the equal of any in the Portland area. Its kids routinely go on to Ivy-League colleges.   Wilson showed up Thursday night with more than 50 freshmen in uniform. (Wilson also has a large JV squad, with comparable numbers.)   Madison's freshman team has 15 kids. There is no JV team. Three freshmen are starting on the varsity.   The Wilson coach graciously apologized at halftime (score - 39-0) for the fact that he hadn't been able to put all of his kids in the game, but the problem was that Oregon allows a kid to play just five quarters in any week, and all of his B-squad members had already played a game earlier this week.   Say what? A freshman B squad?   Here were two teams in the same league playing each other - one with two freshman squads, and the other doing its damnedest to field a freshman team at all.   *********** Michigan is now 3-3, and sophomore tailback Mike Hart says it is "a nightmare." Huh? Maybe every college football player needs to spend a year playing at Temple, in order to gain a sense of perspective. (If you hadn't noticed, Bobby Wallace has resigned at Temple, after eight years there. Now, there is a man who has lived a nightmare.)   *********** Ted Leland is gone as Stanford's AD, off to some fund-raising position at University of Pacific, his alma mater. It is entirely fitting that Pacific no longer has a football program, because if Leland had stayed much longer at Stanford, it mightn't have one, either.   Leland's the one who made the crony-hire of Buddy Teevens as Tyrone Willingham's replacement, and in doing so, helped turn Stanford into the Duke of the West. Without Coach K, I might add.   Leland has hidden behind Stanford's overall athletic excellence in Sports Nobody Except the Participants Care About (I'm thinking water polo), as if that can offset the joke that Stanford football has been allowed to become on his watch. Perhaps at such a well-funded school as Stanford, he has had the luxury of ignoring the elephant in the living room, but I suspect that even there, powerful alumni are unhappy at seeing what has happened to the Cardinal football program while at the same time archrival Cal has become a national power.   My late friend Bob Brodhead was AD at LSU back in the 1980s, and while he took great pride in LSU's winning the Bernie Moore Trophy (for all-around SEC athletic excellence), he knew damn well that that wasn't going to save him if he couldn't put a winning team on the football field. He knew that support for the entire program depended on the football team's success, and he knew that, ultimately, that was his responsibility.   At LSU, the effects of a losing football team are immediate and they are terrible to behold. At laid-back Stanford, the effects are a bit more subtle, but a look at the dwindling game attendance tells me that they are there, all the same.   And the fault is Ted Leland's.   Unfortunately, knowing Stanford, they will probably hire the water polo coach to succeed him. The women's water polo coach.   *********** This one arrived in a rather roundabout way, from a friend of my son in Australia, who happens to be a West Virginia grad and a huge fan of Mountaineer sports - it's from the WVU sports home page...   Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese made an excellent point recently when discussing the losses his league has sustained during the last two years.   "Name any other conference that wouldn't be impacted by losing its top three teams." he asked.   The Big East's three losses are currently third (Virginia Tech), seventh (Miami) and 14th (Boston College) in the AP poll and third (Virginia Tech), sixth (Miami) and 14th (Boston College) in the Coaches Poll.   To illustrate his point, let's eliminate the top three teams from the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10: ACC 1. Virginia Tech 2. Florida State 3. Miami SEC 1. Georgia 2. Alabama 3. LSU Big Ten 1. Penn State 2. Ohio State 3. Michigan State Big 12 1. Texas 2. Texas Tech 3. Colorado Pac 10 1. USC 2. UCLA 3. Cal Here is what you end up with: the ACC (Boston College), the Pac-10 (Oregon) and the Big Ten (Minnesota) having only one nationally ranked team remaining and the Big 12 having none. Only the SEC with its great depth (six ranked teams) could manage to overcome the same losses the Big East has endured the last two years. But could you even imagine the SEC without Georgia, Alabama and LSU?   As irony would have it, the Big East is really the same as the other leagues minus its top three teams, with Louisville nationally ranked in both polls and West Virginia cracking the Top 25 in the Coaches Poll.   That's why no one in the Big East office has hit the panic button because the conference is only 4-10 against other BCS conference schools and traditional teams like Pitt and Syracuse are presently struggling with new coaching staffs. It's going to take some time for the league to rebuild and those involved in the BCS process understand that far better than the Mark Mays, Rod Gilmores and the Lee Corsos of the world.   *********** What is your take when the Principal meets with the Sophmore/jv staff and doesn't tell the head coach?   This is a gross violation of the chain of command. I wonder how he'd like it if his head coach were to go directly to the superintendent with something?   My take is   (1) He is going behind the head coach's back and building a case against him   (2) He is hoping to keep the soph/JV staff loyal to him and not the head coach so that they won't bail if the head coach is fired.   *********** Been running wildcat entire season. Would like to run stack 88/99. Is it possible to run this indirect snapping to QB? Don't think I have time to put QB under center. Game is Saturday.   My horse is my C back. Think it would really throw a monkey wrench in other team's game plan to line him up in I formation with threat of him going either direction.   It is possible to run an indirect-snap I formation - stack or otherwise.   You will have to work out the timing and exchange issues, but it can be done.   *********** Imagine what I thought when I received the following e-mail, entitled, "You Saved My Marriage..."   Okay, so I know it sounds extreme, but it's true!!!  After purchasing your "Dynamics of the Double Wing" playbook and video, you actually saved my marriage.  As I'm sure you know, that come pre-season is a stressful time in every coaches home.  After watching and reading everything that we ordered, our football arguments were over!!!!   My husband was dealing with a 2-6, 9 year old youth football team.  For his birthday, (which is in early August) I purchased him your "Dynamics of the Double Wing playbook and video.  After it's arrival he decided to modify the high school version so that the 9 year olds could comprehend it.  Well, to all of our surprise it worked!  It worked so damn well that this "Bad News Bear" team is going to the divison playoff's next week.  We are 4-1 and have never felt more confident about our ability to win.    I personally have studied your system as well as my husband, (obviously) and it is so easy to teach to the younger kids as well.  Your tape has been passed around to every player's home and back again!   We will keep you posted on our success, and we owe it all to "Dynamics of the Double Wing".   You can check us out and even sign our guestbook, (which the boys would think is too cool) at http://eteamz.active.com/gm3/    It's all right with us if you want to post this email in any of your web pages as well!   I will also be purchasing "Dynamics II" ASAP as we have been "scouted" for the first time and need to change a few things up.   Again, Thank you, Jen Green, Sponsorship Director, Green Mountain Junior Football Association/www.greenmountainfootball.org (& wife of the Head Coach of GM3 9 year old D2), Lakewood, Colorado   Dear Jen - It was awfully nice of you to write and - among other things - give me credit for "saving your marriage." I have been given credit (and blame) for many things, but that is a first. I do know that marriage counselors make more money than football coaches (although I doubt that they have as much fun).   Your husband is a very lucky man to have a woman like you beside him.   Right now, things are not going as well as they could for my team, and the one constant in my life - the thing that keeps me sane - is MY marriage. HW   *********** I've been following your web site for a year now, ever since my son began playing in a double wing offense. As a fifth grader, he played guard and was successful because of quickness and smarts. This year's coaches prefer bigger kids on the line (there is a weight limit for ball carriers of 120 lbs at the sixth grade level) and he's been moved around a bit and settled in at tight end (he's only about 88 lbs). Anyway, he's OK with it, but some members of the coaching staff would like him to try quarterback because of his smarts and willingness to hit.   I played offensive/defensive line in my career and don't have a clue about quarterbacking, especially in this offense. Would you recommend a book or tape from your library (or elsewhere) that might be useful for me to show him some footwork when we play catch during the off season? Or at least to help me understand the position?   Sounds as if your son must be a good kid if he "the necessaries" that coaches notice.   I am, in fact, working on a tape on developing a young QB, but with a team of my own - struggling - it is on the back burner.   A basic thing you can do is teach him "pivots" - essentially, how he steps.   Tell him to imagine himself standing in the middle of a clock dial - an old-fashioned clock dial. That means that six o;clock is directly behind him, three is directly to his right, and nine is directly to his left.   Now, tell him which foot to step with, and where he should step to ("left foot at nine," "right foot at seven," etc.   Have him freeze after the first step. His head should be no higher than it was when he was "under center."   (Have him practice with the ball extended, as if it were at the point where he would take it from center, then, pull it to the groin as quickly as possible while he takes his first step.)   That's for running plays.   For pass plays, he should practice drop-back (assuming a right-hander, for 3-step: right foot at six, crossover, right foot planted at six, push off and step at target with left foot, and throw) roll-outs (Left foot at 5 or right foot at 7) and sprint-outs (right foot at 5 or left foot at 7).   And now, instead of bringing the ball to his groin, he brings it to throwing shoulder as soon as he gets it from center.   You can incorporate this into your catches.   I hope that helps some. Let me know how it goes.   *********** "Let down the curtain: the farce is done." So said the French satirist Rabelais, who lived nearly 500 years before Dick Butkus, but could recognize a farce when he saw one.   "Coach" Butkus, if you hadn't heard, has fled the scene. After calling the kids at Montour High quitters and losers, challenging any of them who didn't have the heart to continue to hang it up, "Coach" Butkus informed the people at Montour that his contract with ESPN called for him to work eight weeks, and so last Thursday, with a record of 1-6 and two games left on the schedule, the Great Winner revved up the RV and headed west.   Lou Cerro, who was hired last winter as Montour's real coach, and then informed that the local school board had pimped their football program to ESPN, in exchange for assorted goodies such as a scoreboard and new uniforms, diplomatically called the whole farce "a distraction."   "Maybe this (Butkus' leaving) will bring some sanity back to the whole program," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The kids know no one is here now but me and the rest of the coaches. They're not going to have to worry about television interview times or things like that."   Linebacker Morgan Singletary told the Post-Gazette that he never trult understood what Butukus' role was. "I understood most of the stuff he was saying," he said. "But at times, it was awkward the way he would yell at us. He wouldn't really talk to us at all during practice, then he'd come out and start yelling at us at the end. That was awkward. If I had my choice, I probably would not want to do this again. I met a lot of cool people, but I would've just rather had coach Cerro. I think it would've been a lot of fun, with or without cameras. Without cameras, there would've been a lot less problems."   The show will continue for a few more weeks, with "Coach" Butkus continuing to play the fool's role.   But Butkus is not to be blamed for trying to hustle an honest buck.   It's just that someone at ESPN obviously never read (or even hear of) Ralph Waldo Emerson, who nailed it: "Every hero becomes a bore at last."   Butkus was grossly miscast, undoubtedly by someone who doesn't understand today's kids lack of respect for history, and actually thought that the name "Butkus" would somehow carry some weight with them. As one of my assistants, Jon Christopher, pointed out, most of them don't even know who Jerry Rice is.   But the casting of Butkus obscures the main point, and that is that ESPN so brazenly stuck its nose into the last bastion of football purity, the high school game. At a time when pro football will sell anything, and college coaches get million-dollar shoe-and-apparel contracts for forcing their players to wear the sponsor's gear, the marketing slicksters are just licking their chops at the prospect of moving in on high school ball. Some of them already have begun to do so.   Shame, shame on ESPN, for having the gall to dare to intrude on something as semi-sacred as high school football, and shame on the fools on the Montour School Board, who so crassly peddled their football program and their kids to the ESPN shysters for a few lousy shekels.   The lesson - one would hope - is that our game is so strong, so deeply-imbedded in our culture, that nobody - not even Almighty ESPN - can f--k with it and get away with it.   In the meantime, though, Reebok is said to be coming out with a line of "Montour" sports apparel. Great idea. I definitely want a Montour tee-shirt that says "COACH BUTKUS" on it.   *********** I really liked your post recently about Butkus' playing record. I guess I didn't realize he was more reputation than substance before that.   When Ray Nitshke was alive there used to be a Green Bay car dealership that had Ray as a spokesman and Ray always had his dog "Butkus" with him in the commericals. I often wondered if that was a sign of friendship or more of a dig against the Bears (my preference). Adam Wesoloski, Pulaski, Wisconsin   *********** Without Coach Marcus Borden, East Brunswick (New Jersey) High School's football team doesn't have a prayer. Literally.   Coach Borden, whose record over 23 years is 116-100-1, resigned after a meeting with his superintendent over the issue of pregame team prayers.   "There was a meeting with Marcus because it had come to the superintendent's attention that there was prayer going on at the pregame activity," said, a spokesperson for the school district. "Certainly students have a constitutional right to to engage in prayer on school property, at a school event and even during the course of the school day. But it has to be student initiated. Truly student initiated."   Coach Borden, whose Bears won last year's Central Jersey Group IV championship. was honored by USA Today magazine as a winner of its national Coaches Who Care award in 2003. In 1990, he founded the Snapplke Bowl, an All-Star football game he founded that has raised more than $150,000 for charity.   Other New Jersey coaches were quick to rally to Coach Borden's support.   "If that's the law of the land, then I've been doing the wrong things for 48 years at Brick and 10 years before that," Warren Wolf, head coach at Brick Township High School for 48 years, told the Asbury Park Press. "If somebody's complaining that there's a prayer before the game that no one gets hurt, and that's wrong, then I think that the law is crazy. We pray after the game and we thank the Lord for no one getting hurt. If that's wrong, then I'm wrong, and I would venture to say that 99 percent of the coaches that I know are all doing the same thing. I am unaware of it (being unconstitutional). If that's the case, the law ought to be changed. It's just crazy."   Said Freehold Township football coach Dom Lepore, "We say the "Our Father,' which is pretty much a universal prayer. We just pray for kids to be injury-free on both teams and for strength and courage. We don't make it mandatory. I would continue to do it, because that's what I believe in. We've never had any complaints."   Myself? I coach in Portland, Oregon, perhaps the most Godless city in America, and we pray before games. Our kids wouldn't have it otherwise. As the folks in New Jersey would say, you got a problem with that?   *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 10, 2005 - "Mothers invented soccer, because they don't want their sons to get hurt." Jim Sweeney, former head coach at Montana State, Washington State and Fresno State. (He said that in 1978)   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to Coach Jones' three assistants who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565   MARK THIS DOWN - OCTOBER 17 - 9 PM EASTERN ON PBS - AMERICAN EXPERIENCE PRESENTS "TWO DAYS IN OCTOBER" --- CHECK YOUR LOCAL CHANNEL --- THE SHOW DEALS IN PART WITH THE BLACK LIONS AND THE BATTLE OF ONG THANH IN VIETNAM. UNFORTUNATELY, IT ALSO DEALS WITH THE PROTESTS TAKING PLACE ON THE HOME FRONT AT THE SAME TIME, WHICH EVEN NOW MIGHT PROVE A LITTLE HARD TO TAKE FOR ANY VIETNAM VET   *********** We got spanked Friday night, 39-6. In truth, it was a shutout, because we scored on a 90-yard kickoff return by freshman Ronald Briggs.   Those who know me well know that I'd rather not be passing except to try to catch the defense napping. There have been many, many games when we haven't thrown six passes at all, yet there we were Friday night with six sacks!   Yet for all that, it was actually something of an encouraging outing offensively, as it was our first time all season with our quarterback under center (our direct-snap center, a sophomore, missed practice all week because he was at a family reunion in Texas).   But that's life at Madison, where every day brings a new surprise and a new challenge.   And, too, our opponents did have a pretty decent report on our game plan.   For those of you who think you've seen everything, trust me- you haven't. I cut my coaching teeth in the minor leagues back East, where things could get a bit cut-throat, to say the least, but nothing prepared me for an incident that occured last week.   It concerned a kid who'd been a starter for us all season. He transferred into Madison from another school - actually, he never really attended Madison, but rather a districtwide vocational school, but he was living with his brother, or cousin, or somesuch, in our district. He certainly seemed to be a pretty good kid. Nothing special as a player, but when you're as low on players as we were, everybody helps (emphasis on "body").   I think it's fair to say we treated him well and did a lot of things for him - in fact, the last thing I ever did for him was to lend him $1.20 for bus fare home. That was Wednesday night and he was complaining that someone had stolen his bus pass as well as $30 in cash from his locker. He kept saying that someone on the team must have stolen it.   I told him that I was as sure as I could be that we didn't have any thieves on our team - that lots of people have access to our locker room while we're out on the field, and that's why we tell kids to give their valuables to a coach to hold rather than leave them in a locker. We've told our kids this, oh, maybe 10 or 11 times. In fact, only a week or so ago, this kid had given me $70 in cash to hold.   Anyhow, he was an integral part of our defensive plan this past week, and he got all the practice reps at his position on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But he missed practice on Thursday - which was unlike him - and after no word from him, which is about par for our kids, he finally did show up on Friday night - on our opponents' sideline.   WTF?   Talk about a gut shot.   Friday, another one of our kids, who also attends that same vocational school, told us at our pre-game meal that the kid had been wearing our opponent's jersey to school that day, and said that he intended to play for our opponent. (In our f--ked up district, nothing would surprise me.)   Presumably, he'd told the opposing coaching staff something similar, and they, apparently seeing nothing inappropriate about welcoming a kid from the next night's opponent into their midst and giving him a jersey to wear, had allowed him on their sideline for their game against his former teammates. So there he stood, staring across the field at them.   The kid actually had the effrontery to walk across the field during the post-game handshakes, but I guess that with their heads down, none of our kids saw him, because no one slugged him.   There was a near incident following the game as their kids boarded their bus, and some of our kids came streaming out of the locker room, but our school officials managed to turn them back.   I found myself half wishing that things had gotten out of hand, so that some people would have been called on the carpet and asked to explain the thinking behind allowing that kid to join them under what anyone would call questionable circumstances.   In the meantime, we are more than halfway into our season and still looking for a defensive scheme that our kids can play.   *********** Dick Butkus stars in RETURN TO GLORY...from the same folks at ESPN who brought you The Junction Boys...   Hello, Coach Wyatt:I thought you might be interested in hearing an insider story about the Montour football program and the phony TV show being foisted upon the public by ESPN. The story comes from a senior Montour Area administration official, who happens to be the neighbor of our Midget head coach. (The Montour district is only about 1/2 hour from Beaver.)   Last week, "Coach" Butkus decided to get tough with the kids. He threw all of the other coaches out of the locker room, and launched into a profanity-laced tirade, calling the kids pussies, cowards, losers, etc. At that point, one of the veteran players stood up, and said "Hey, old man, everybody in this room knows that 5 minutes after the season is over you will be on your way out of here. We don't have to take this from you. If something needs to be said, go get our real Coach to say it, otherwise.....Shut the F--- up!"   Butkus reportedly went nuts, throwing stuff around the locker room, kicking things, then stormed out. Lou Cerro came in and restored order. (Coach Cerro is the big guy with the tie and the GI haircut hanging in the wings in the locker room shots. Last week, he was the guy calling to get the medical clearance faxed to the away game. He, not Butkus, is listed as the head coach in the local press guides.) It was not made clear whether or not the private lecture by Butkus was part of the ESPN script, or if the guy actually thought he was a real coach for a minute.   This same administrator says that Ray Crockett actually works very well with the kids, has earned their respect and is teaching them a lot of technique. Butkus, on the other hand, is characterized as a miserable old man, not enjoying himself at all, and the kids, after the novelty wore off, have come to despise him. Normally, one would not condone a teenage kid adressing an adult like the kid in the locker room did, but from what I gather, Butkus earned it.   Respectfully, Mark Rice, Brighton Township Bears, Beaver, Pennsylvania (Oo-whee. The one thing that the ESPN suits never counted on - hardnosed Pennsylvania kids seeing through all the bullsh--. Out of the mouths of babes... HW)   *********** We defeated 4 time AAAAA state Champion Moss Point 17-7 friday night. We are 4-1 over-all and 2-0 in the division. This friday; Biloxi, at Ocean Springs. Thanks again for your help! Still do not have internet at home. I will keep you posted.   Good luck with your team! Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, MIssissippi (Coach Jones writes that thanks to kind donations, his coaches no longer need clothes. But they lost their houses and their cars, and I managed to pry out of Coach Jones an admission that what they really need more than anything is cash. Understandably, they are proud family men who would never stick a hand out, but when Coach Jones tells me how tough things are for these guys, it is hard to hold back. He told me that one of his assistants and his wife just had a baby girl, and "They are living with 4 other families in one house in a room above the garage. He lost both cars and his house." You can send donations to The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club/c/o Coach Steve Jones/11800 Bluff Ridge Road/Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 and you can trust Coach Jones to see that your donation gets into the deserving hands of brother coaches. Brother Double-Wingers, in fact.)   *********** Coach, The Ridgeview Mustangs are now 6-1 after a thrilling 27-26 overtime victory over the Fieldcrest Knights. The Mustangs rushed for 289 yards on 48 carries and threw for another 36 yards on 2-4 completions. In the end, it was our kicking game that won the ball game for us over a very good team. Next week we play the undefeated defending conference champion Deer Creek-Mackinaw Chiefs. We will need to play our best to beat them. Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois   *********** Sure was a nasty confrontation down on the Dallas sidelines between Drew Bledsoe and nutcase Keyshawn Johnson, with Johnson jabbing his finger at Bledsoe and having to be restrained by a coach. Supposedly it was over something Bledsoe said, and came right after Bledsoe hit Johnson on a pass into the flat, and Johnson, hit almost immediately, coughed the ball up. My guess is that Bledsoe said, "Excuse me, Keyshawn - but wasn't the title of your book 'Just Give Me The Damn Ball?'"   *********** Cincinnati's Chad Johnson appears to be looking to achieve Terrell Owens/Randy Moss status, at least as a braggart. Much is being made of the chart he's keeping on which he lists the names of all the corners he's faced, with boxes next to their names to be marked "yes" or "no" depending on whether they've "shut him down." A pre-game show gave us a look at the chart, with all the boxes so far marked "no." Sunday, Johnson caught five passes. For 52 yards. As a team, the Bengals completed 22 for 232. Now, considering that The Great Mister Johnson was among the league leaders going into the game, honesty should prompt him to at least consider checking the "yes" box this week.   *********** Lansingburgh (New York) 40 Cohoes 0 - A- back Kenny Youngs 10 carries 92 yds with a td. B back Mike Hepp 10 carries 140 yds - 3tds... C back Brandon Canty 10 carries 97yds 1td - 5-1 now and head to Albany Academy for a Saturday game. Pete Porcelli, Lansingburgh, New York.   *********** On Saturday, 90,000 sat in the Coliseum and watched USC play Arizona, while a couple of hours later, across town, 80,000 were at the Rose Bowl to take in the UCLA-Cal game. Boy, they sure do miss the NFL in Los Angeles, don't they?   *********** And by the way, you guys back on the East Coast and in the Midwest, don't get so caught up in all the Matt Leinart hoopla that you already hand the Heisman to him before the season's half over. Sit back and ask yourself which one player would make any team better - even a bad team without pass blockers and receivers - and you'd have to answer, "Reggie Bush." The guy is a threat to score any time he has the ball in his hands. And while you're at it, move UCLA's Maurice Drew up the ladder, too. He might be as good as Reggie Bush.   *********** Galva-Holstein (Iowa) 42, Kingsley-Pierson 0 - We rolled them. Had over 400 yards of offense. Their good back, Iowa's fastest HS sprinter was held to 153 yards on 25 carries. Popped 3 or 4 big runs of 25 to 30 but never any more. Goes to show that 1 guy does not make a team. Brad Knight, Holstei, Iowa   *********** Hello, I am a teacher in Canada who is in the process of applying to an exchange program to teach in the US.  Teaching is my profession, but my passion is football.  It is easy enough to find teaching salaries by state, but incredibly difficult to find out how much coaches earn.  No matter how little it is, it will be more than we get here, which is a pat on the back/kick in the rear.  You know how it is; coaching can be done with a few hours a week during the season.  Coaching WELL tends to eat up all of your spare time, making the balancing act between 'job' and family hard work.   Honestly, the volunteer system is really getting to me.  Roles are poorly defined, old, bad habits creep in and things are done 'the way we've alyways done them' instead of encouraging innovation and excellence.    Is there any way to find out about coahcing stipends? I really need to know for budgeting purposes.  Should my searches be by school board, rather than by state?  I know it's a privacy issue, but I need a more accurate range than between $2000 and $80000.  (Hey, I know I won't be on the Jenks, Oklahoma staff.)   It is hard to answer your question because there is so much variance.   I can. however, tell you that depending on the part of the country, the size of the school, and the ardor of the community, a head coach with five years' experience can earn anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 for the season. The trick here is that while the pay is for "the season," the job has become a 12-month monster.   I have discounted southern states located in the "golden crescent" that runs from South Carolina through Texas, including Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and possibly including Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. They are in a class by themselves. The coaching stipend itself may not be so great in those states, but they will normally supplement a coach's teaching pay with pay for off-season training as well as keeping the weight room open, and extra teaching days, too. In some cases, that can add an extra $10,000-$15,000 or more to a teacher's pay. I should add that there is often NO security at those places - typically, when you are "relieved" as a coach, you lose your teaching job, too.   If you want to know exactly how much any specific district pays, though, you will have to address it individually, since coach's pay is a district-by-district thing.   *********** The Stanton Mustangs move to 6-0 with our win over the Neligh-Oakdale Warriors, 60-16. We rushed for 506 yards on 47 carries and completed 3 of 7 passes for 65 yards. We popped a 2 wedge for a 91 yards touchdown!! Also successfully converted on a 2 minute drill before the half when we move 67 yards on 1:36 to go in the half, WITHOUT COMPLETING A PASS!! We attempted one, but it fell just incomplete in the endzone. The base plays Super Power, GO Reach and 43 tackle trap SHOW PASS tore huge holes through their prevent defense. Scored with 5 seconds to go in the half. Who says you have to pass to move the ball in a 2 minute drill?? Good luck in your game next week and GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** Minnesota busted a big run to set up their game winning kick. It was sprung by a great reach block, if by reach you mean 'hold both the front and back of the defender's jersey.' Refs will call PI on defensive backs who have a hand on the back of the receiver - I don't see why they don't have a de facto rule like that for blocks off tackle. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California I am becoming a strong advocate of putting thumbless boxing gloves on all offensive linemen. HW   *********** In so many ways, with so many of my favorite teams taking their lickings, this has been a dreary football season for me. One thing that sustains me is the proof positive that Joe Paterno has NOT lost it, that he is still competent to coach, and that Penn State is back on the road to being a national power. How many coaches do you know who have had the luxury of being allowed to rebuild their own fallen program?   *********** Props to Mike Leach, whose head coaching career started in Pori, Finland, at the same time I was coaching over there. His Texas Tech Red Raiders went in to Lincoln and beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers. KInd of stupid of that Husker, wouldn't you say, after coming up with the game-clinching interception, to try running with the ball? If you didn't see the game, the ball was knocked loose, giving TT a new set of downs and the chance to score the winning TD.   *********** Props also to Karl Dorrell. When he was hired, I questioned his credentials, and his first couple of years at UCLA bore me out. But I have watched his Bruins play on three occasions this year, and they are solid. After the way they came back against Cal, I have to believe that they do have a chance of knocking off USC.   *********** Coach we beat Holley 36-12 (36-0 through 3 quarters). We ran 39 times for 280 yards and threw 4 for 4 for 73 yards and a TD. Our 2nds played most of the first half - although due to low numbers etc. we left a few starting linemen in the whole game. Our JV B back is up with us and ran 7 times for 67 yards all on trap. Would've been over 100 but our backup tackle wouldn't cut the BST. (wide 50 - can you believe it). Ran some from wing rt and left for the hell of it. Superkeep was nice out of those formations. We play the last reg. season game vs. Alexander 4-2 and they are TOUGH. They lost to Attica who we beat by a FG and to Elba 13-7 (Elba beat us 43 - 29 - we fumbled the game away). If we win we will be top 3 in the section and get a home playoff game. If we lose we should still be in the top 5 (because we play mostly bigger schools in our league). We are playoff bound and have rushed for over 2000 yards in 6 games. Can you believe that we only play 7 reg season games (because of state playoffs and sect. playoffs). Keep in touch. John Dowd, Oakfield-Alabama HS, Oakfield, New York   *********** I was watching a high school game tonight (yes - some teams play on Thursdays in Connecticut) and saw a team use a formation that I've never seen before.   On several occassions, they ran twins on both the right and left side. On the short side of the field, they lined their two tackles with the receivers. This left, of course, the center, two guards and the QB.   I thought I was hallucinating at first when I saw six players split out so wide.   The formation raises the following questions:   1. Is there a name for such a formation (I've seen the "swinging gate" used once on offense, but this is much different)?   2. Have you ever seen said formation?   3. What in the wide world of sports is the purpose of this formation?   I'm not a coach, so I really didn't get the point of using it. On one occasion, the QB sprinted to the short side with the two tackles   I suppose that one could also throw a short pass to a receiver on the short side and run behind the three blockers.   I'm all for running something different, but this had me scratching my head. That team also lost tonight, 38-31   They were able to put up points with their spread formation, but defensively, they couldn't stop their opponent's power rushing game run out of the I.   Thanks in advance for whatever insight you can give me about this allignment. Ned Griffen, The Sun, New London, Connecticut   Although I can't say that I have seen anything exactly like that, it does sound something like the Lonesome Polecat, originated by an Ohio coach named Tiger Ellison, who is acknowledged as the inventor of the Run and Shoot offense. It was given that name by one of his assistants, because, in his words, "it stinks."   I'm not sure why someone would do this sort of thing other than to catch an opponent unawares, or to mask some sort of deficiency on his squad (such as a weak defense, perhaps?). It would seem to me to be limited as to what you could do, and since it would also seem that after the first time or two, when you may have caught opponents unawares, defenses will have you scouted and will start throwing curve balls of their own at you, so any advantage would be short-lived.   However, it is possible that in the case of this particular coach, a 38-31 loss was better than he expected, and therefore this unusual formation was something of a success.   *********** Some of the NBA players are all up in arms about the league's new dress code (or is it just a proposed dress code?) In any event, when players are trevalling with the team or sitting on the bench in street clothes, the prescribed dress is "business casual." No jeans. Nor, I assume, will there be saggin' and lotsa bling-bling and yellow NY Yankees caps worn with the bill - unbent - askew, keeping the sun off the ears. Apparently someone in the NBA office got wise to the (or should I spell it "tha") fact that the league's TV ratings are suffering because while hip-hop may dominate youth culture, it isn't held in great favor by the people who buy the tickets or watch on TV. Or sponsor the broadcasts.   *********** I had an interesting conversation with our ref before Friday night's game. It seems that our opponent never comes to a full stop before the ball is snapped - invariably, they come to the line and as the QB goes under center, a man goes in fly motion.   Rule 7-2-6- "After an huddle or shift all 11 players shall come to an absolute stop and shall remain stationary, without movement of hands, feet, head or body for at least one second before the snap."   I pointed this out to the referee, Mr. Clark Sanders, of Portland, Oregon, and his response was, "It's technically the rule but I'm probably not going to call it..."   And sure enough, he didn't.   *********** And then came incident number two. We took the opening kickoff and drove inside their 20, where we faced a 4th-and-4.   Time for a shift - Right to Left. If they jump, it's first-and-ten. If they don't, we run the play called.   But we got 'em. We shifted slowly, so slowly, in fact, that they probably jumped not so much because of the shift but because of the change in our snap count.   Our kids clapped in excitement.   But wait a minute - the officials conferred. What's to discuss? I wondered.   And then - I'll be damned - we were penalized for illegal shift.   Now, I've been doing this very shift - and catching people - since 1982, and I called a timeout specifically to talk to the aforementioned Mr. Clark Sanders, of Portland, Oregon, asking what we did wrong, and this is what he said:   "if the defensive jumps offside, it's an illegal shift."   Oh. I see.    *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 28, 2005 - "Good fellows are a dime a dozen, but an aggressive leader is priceless." Earl "Red" Blaik, legendary Army coach   Anyone wanting to donate to the three assistant coaches from Ocean Springs, MIssissippi who lost their houses - and all their possessions - can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 Unlike certain emergency funds - according to the New York Times, the federal government has moved hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina into hotel rooms at a cost of about $11 million a night - your donations will be well spent. Coach Jones informs me that they have received $1600 from other Double-Wing coaches. Many thanks to those who helped out. The need is still there! HW   *********** Eat your hearts out, all you single-wingers and football historians out there. But while you're at it, get your checkbooks out.   Eat your hearts out, because I was fortunate enough to have a conversation last week with Andy Kozar.   That's Andy Kozar, who played linebacker and single wing at Tennessee for the legendary General Bob Neyland (yes, the man the stadium's named for) in the photo at left.   It was pretty exciting for me, talking nuts-and-bolts single wing football with a man whose 1951 Cotton Bowl performance as a sophomore (two fourth quarter touchdown runs that enabled the Vols to come from behind to defeat Texas, 20-14) earned him a spot in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame, who starred the next year on Tennessee's 1951 national championship team, and made All-SEC as a senior.   Andy Kozar came from the Johnstown, Pennsylvania area originally, and recalled being recruited, along with an undersized guard from the same are named Frank Kush, by Michigan State's Duffy Daugherty.   But he chose Tennessee, and despite his size - 6-3, 230 pounds, quite large in those days - he was converted from a lineman to a fullback his freshman year.   He told me that Coach Neyland didn't particularly care whether his players were big - he wanted them lean and fast, and he tried in vain to get his fullback's weight down. When his best efforts were to no avail, he did the next best thing, and listed Kozar in the game program at only 192 pounds.   Andy remembered his first game against Alabama, when a Bama defender tackled him, and finding him quite a handful, looked at him as they both lay on the ground and said, "By God, you ain't no 192!"   In 1952, his senior year, he led the Vols in rushing. Think about that one a minute, you single-wingers - your fullback is your leading rusher! For his performance that year, Andy Kozar was named All-SEC.   Following graduation, he pursued a career in physical education, earning both his Master's and his Ph. D. from the University of Michigan. (In 1998 he would receive the Alumni Achievement Award from Michigan's Division of Kinesiology.   After Michigan, he returned to Tennessee, where over a 37-year academic career he advanced from instructor to professor to department head to executive assistant to the President of the University.    He became a nationally-renowned expert on paddleball and racquetball, and among his many achievements, he has been a national champion in paddelball and a Michigan state champion in racquetball, and has written several books on both sports.   Now Professor Emeritus of health, exercise and safety science at the University of Tennessee, Dr. Kozar remains very close to Tennessee sports. "Phil Fullmer and Pat Head (Summitt) were both students of mine," he told me proudly, and now his game-day responsbility entails arranging for the clergymen who give the invocations at every UT game. ("This is the Bible Belt," he reminded me.)   Dr. Kozar remains a strong advocate of exercize himself, and still works out faithfully five days a week, riding a stationary bike every morning for 30 minutes and running in the pool at the University twice a week.   Our conversation went on at some length, touching on the General's dabbling in sidesaddle-T, as well as his decision to run his single-wing from a balanced line. Believe me when I tell you that Dr. Kozar really knows - and remembers - his football.   Now- here's why I said, "get your checkbooks out."   Dr. Kozar's book, "Football as a War Game: The Annotated Journals of General R.R. Neyland" (Falcon Press, 2003) is an amazing look into how the General approached the game of football.   It is like going to a college library and digging into the notebooks of a great coach, except that Dr. Kozar has already done the hard research for us, with page-by-page copies of General Neyland's journals, along with explanatory notes, photographs, lists, practice schedules and, yes, doodles. Even great coaches doodle occasionally. (Remind your wife of that the next time she catches you drawing plays on the placemat at the restaurant.)   In the words of Dr. Kozar, it's "the general's own words and thoughts on a day to day, game to game basis, as he wrote them on paper." And the general certainly kept amazingly detailed journals. He wrote down everything, including his innermost thoughts on his players and his opponents.   "Football as a War Game" contains more than 200 pages of General Neyland's handwritten thoughts, coaching strategies, play diagrams (including some really wild ones, from formations you've probably never seen anywhere else), practice schedules, lists of maxims and beliefs, anecdotes and more. There are more than 250 photographs. Dr. Kozar's commentary all along the way provides his personal insight into the general's thinking.   The book is beautifully bound, and in my estimation is well worth the $75 price. It is not for the casual fan, but for the serious football historian, for the devoted single-winger, and anyone building a football library, it is a must.   Mail orders to Dr. Andy Kozar/ 6501 Sherwood Drive/ Knoxville TN 37919 - and make checks payable to FALCON PRESS   Incidentally, Dr. Kozar told me he sold a couple of copies not long ago to Bill Belichick, who I am betting kept one for his own private collection (I am told he has a very extensive one) and gave the other to his dad, Steve, a long-time college coach who once coached against General Neyland while at Vanderbilt.   Opponents of the Vols may not like to hear this, but all proceeds from the sales of Dr. Kozar's book will go to the Robert R. Neyland Athletic Endowment in the Volunteer Athletic Scholarship Fund.   *********** Coach, Great to see Army finally win, and with Arkansas State and UMass still to come, the Black Knights should prevail at least twice more. As I sit here watching the traitorous Boston College Eagles play the Hokies in Blacksburg, it occurs to me that Virginia Tech has leapfrogged both Miami and Oregon into sole possession of first place for the Ugliest Football Uniform &endash; College Division. The nauseating school colors of maroon and orange are bad enough, but you can get used to them after a while. However, the new unis that the Hokies rolled out in tonight manage to take ugly to another level. The left shoulder and sleeve are orange, while the remainder of the jersey is maroon. Some guys are wearing long sleeves under the jerseys, which of course are orange on the left sleeve and maroon on the right. Doesn't anyone associated with this team have any sartorial taste?   Naturally, these new uniforms were created especially for Virginia Tech by Nike. It is of interest that Nike also custom-designed both the Miami and Oregon uniforms that, until tonight, were deadlocked in the race for ugliest college uni.   On a more serious note, my UConn Huskies are in deep trouble. We've lost 13 starters to injury so far this year, including the first and second QB's. Last week against Rutgers a true freshman started at QB, and kept the Huskies in the game until he lost a wet football through the endzone for a safety in a 26-24 loss. We may not get another W this year, with West Virginia next Wednesday night (ESPN 2) and Louisville among the last four games. Ouch.   Alan L. Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island   Aaargh! Can't we win anything out here in the Northwest this year? Not even the Ugliest Jersey Award? Nope. Oregon's Lightning Yellow uni's can't hold a candle to Virginia Tech's we-ran-out-of-orange dye-before-we-could-do-both-sleeves jerseys. Ugly doesn't begin to describe them. Is the XFL back in operation?   *********** In the years my wife and I taught, we paid thousands of dollars in union dues, money that went to support liberal causes and Democratic candidates, and defend bad teachers that everyone knew deserved to be fired. And not once did I ever see a teacher's union come to the support of a coach who was being screwed over by a school administration.   So here we are, in the eighth and next-to-last week of the Oregon football season and the teacher's union in Sandy, Oregon, has just gone out on strike. And Sandy High's homecoming game has just been cancelled. Sandy's kids had been practicing all week under the supervision of a school administrator, but it was announced on Thursday that its opponent, Forest Grove, would forfeit the game because its teacher/coaches refused to cross a picket line.   No matter that those kids worked all summer to prepare for this season; no matter that for the seniors it could be the end of their season.   Just remember this the next time you hear some teacher say, "We're in it for the kids."   ********** Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry has been doing some serious explaining after saying that the Falcons lost to No. 20 TCU, 48-10, because the Horned Frogs were faster. But he didn't stop there. They had, he said, more black players who "can run very, very well." As he told a Denver television station, "It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."   He pointed out that Air Force has fewer minority players than TCU, and that that accounted for the great disparity in speed between the two teams.   For this, he has been ripped. "DeBerry Not Fired!" has been the tone of most headlines, as if he had said something truly racist.   Initially, when asked if he believed it was wrong to make such comments, DeBerry said: "Do I believe it's wrong? I just want to recruit speed. We need to find speed as much as anything. The black athlete seems to have, statistically, program to program to program, seems to have an edge as far as the speed is concerned. That's got nothing to do with anything except ability."   But as the fire began to build, the heat grew. The Air Force Academy, accused over the last few years of not fully investigating female cadets' charges of sexual assault and of allowing Christians to openly proselytize other cadets, has become a very, very sensitive place, and something had to be done about what the media chorus began to call Coach DeBerry's "racist" remarks.   No, he wasn't fired - not after 25 years of distinguished service to the Academy - but he was officially reprimanded, for what the AFA athletic director called his "inappropriate comments."   And Coach DeBerry issued the usual apology. I can just picture a 10-year-old being dragged down the street by his ear to apologize to the lady whose window he'd just broken.   "Today it is my desire to make a public apology for remarks I made recently about minority recruitment," he said, reading from a formal statement. "I realize that the things I said were hurtful to many people and I want everyone to understand that I never intended to offend anyone. Gazette columnist Milo Bryant was right today when he said that however well-meaning my comments were, I should never have said what I did.   "I have made a mistake and I ask for everyone's forgiveness. I hope these statements will not reflect negatively toward the academy or our coaches and players."   Hmmm. The conclusion that there may be a certain difference in athletic abilities is inescapable to almost any coach who has ever timed a race or measured a jump. But I am not going to get trapped into saying that there actually is something inherently different racially, because that can lead to jumping to the unfortunate conclusion that other traits may be racially-linked, too.   The study of racial differences is best left to scientists, and an open exchange of opinions on the subject is a minefield that I choose to avoid.   But no one can deny that there may be cultural and socioeconomic factors at play.   Certainly, there are cultural factors involved - many black kids grow up where toughness is valued - a toughness that translates well to football. Maybe there are lots and lots of very fast white kids out there, too - but if so, they are playing something other than football.   There are certainly socioeconomic factors as well - a larger percentage of white kids live in affluent suburbs where their mommies and daddies start them playing soccer when they are three years old, and a larger percentage of white kids live in large houses with their own bedrooms, where they can go into hiding and play sports hero on PlayStations.   As Coach DeBerry noticed, TCU had faster players. Very simply, TCU recruited the best players it could find, and then put the best players it had on the field. In doing so, it wound up with 11 black kids on defense. To TCU's credit, it didn't strive for some crazy-ass racial balance, saying "we've got to get some white faces in there."   Coach DeBerry happened to make note of the fact that those 11 TCU players were very, very fast. And he happened to note that Air Force doesn't have that many minority players on its squad.   Neither, I might add, does Army or Navy, which is a subject for a major national debate.   In the meantime, though, Coach DeBerry's team might have an even bigger problem than a perceived lack of speed.   Last season, he was forced to remove a Christian banner from the team's locker room and then to go undergo training (I would call it indoctrination) on religious tolerance. This season, as a result of the"guidelines on religious expression" established by the Air Force in late August, for the first time since he became coach, Coach DeBerry has not been permitted to lead his team in pre- and post-game prayers.   The now-secular Falcons are 3-5. Coincidence?   ************* My friend Bill Mignault, of Ledyard, Connecticut, is the winningest coach in Connecticut high school football history. Last Saturday, Bill won his 300th game.   *********** Coach, We are in the playoffs. 1996 was the last year Columbia made it in. The game Friday against Cedar Grove could determine seeding and give us an opportunity to finish 8-2. Maybe the best finish around here since Larry Harrison was the quarterback. Marist will most likely be our opponent.   Tough win Friday after two thunderstorm delays. Two fumbles early killed two drives. We really played well though in the second half. Speak to you soon.   Kevin Latham, Columbia HS, Decatur, Georgia (This is especially sweet, because Coach Latham's hiring at Columbia, despite his success as a middle school coach, was roundly panned in the Atlanta newspapers, which thought that several more experienced coaches were better qualified. What did they know? HW)   *********** Coach, It's almost Christmas season I hope all our DW brothers are making up their Christmas lists and putting their Tapes and ordering address where Santa can find them.   As you know we are playing in the toughest Junior High Football league in all of South New Jersey maybe one of the toughest in the country. We are competing against schools that carry 40 to 80 players on there rosters. We play with an average of 33 players. In the last 6 years we have won 2 Championships and were runner-ups twice, and are undefeated regular season this year.   I feel the biggest reason for our success is believing in, and using your training tapes "Practice Without Pads", "A Fine line" (etc. please add all your tapes to this) and attending your clinics, We start our season on the beaches and fields in June utilizing the knowlage of the tapes while working without pads. Then when the season starts all we need to do, is put on the pads and have fun.   There is no way I can express my strong feelings as to the importance and necessity of these tapes to teach young men the fundamentals of football. Any High School or Youth coach, regardless of what offence of defense they run that dose not have your tapes (I would just as soon they never see the Double Wing tapes, just kidding) in their Football Liberties, are missing some of the best teaching tools in football.   Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey (I will take my endorsements wherever I can get them, but I am especially proud to receive one from Frank Simonsen, a youth coach for more than 25 years who is a legend in South Jersey and one of the best youth coaches I know. And by the way, for Christmas lists, there will soon be a "virtual clinic" available on DVD. HW)   *********** Some points about running DW with 7 year olds:   1. After you shoeshine a guy a few times, he just stops coming   2. The pulling linemen on power rarely get a big hit on LB, however, they screen the play and get in the way. I did hoop drill to teach them to look inside. You must do this not only to get them to screen LB, but also to get them out of the way of the play. I think if you saw my little guys on film the 1st thing you would notice was them looking inside.   3. Run 6G. 3 trap 2 too complicated. Your guard will love this play. Tackle and TE love blocking down. Again, naked boot kept the end right where he needed to be for guard to kill.   4. I had to go Wildcat because every combination of kids I tried fumbled the snap. I installed it in one day. Used it next day in game. This also solves the problem of pulling linemen getting tangled up with QB. We had no fumbled snaps from wildcat from day one. Every day I required the centers to snap 25 perfect before practice started.   5. I had 8 different backs score using Wildcat. I used 2 complete offenses to get all my kids in the game. We are required to get each kid 5 plays per half and special teams do not count. I put my best backs with my weakest O line and my weakest backs with my big boys. My 2nd team offense was my most productive.   6. Do not base block any play. Pull on every play. Confuses 7 year old defenses. Also, if someone decided to key pulling linemen, run boot. FYI. Nobody keys linemen because we were the only team in our league pulling linemen.   7. We ran one pass play. I called it 88 pass. QB hands off to 'A' out of Wildcat. 'C' runs banana. 3 TDs this year.   8. I rarely ran 47C because I didn't need to.   9. We put in plays using your grid system. There was little crowd noise so we could yell the play to entire team while they were in huddle. This allowed me to control the tempo of the game without teaching the kids to do it. When I wanted to go hurry up, put play in as soon as previous play was over. If slowdown, waited until 15 secs ran off before I put the play in.   Coach, all of this is stuff I learned from your tapes and play book. I've read and watched them so much that I may be quoting them.   Thanks for all your help this year. Dennis Cook, Hidden Valley Pee Wee Titans, Roanoke Virginia   *********** Dick Galiette died the other day in New Haven, Connecticut. He was 72, and he'd spent his entire career in radio and TV in New Haven, and all but 10 of the last 42 years as the play-by-play man for Yale football.   Except for a 10-year spell from 1988-97 when Yale changed flagship stations, Dick was the voice of Yale football since 1963. He did his last game just a week ago, before falling ill.   I remembered him as a sports radio guy from my days in New Haven, and I asked a more recent Yale grad, Lou Orlando, now living outside Boston, if he'd heard of Dick's passing. Lou wrote...   Dick was awesome, very distinctive voice. My memories of him were that we saw A LOT of him on campus during Yale-UCONN week, and each year he would narrate the Yale Highlight film. It was good stuff with sideline cameras and slo-mo, movie techniques we take for granted today. When I was a sophomore during UCONN week he was on the practice field interviewing Carm (Cozza) and Stone Phillips (now a network TV star, but then the Yale QB) , in addition to just getting some film footage for his broadcast that evening on WTNH. We were going over punt protection and I was standing next to the cameraman.. I asked him "Is that thing on?", he answered "Yes."   Well, the long snapper snapped the ball, the line made their blocks on the rushers, then Mike Southworth the punter caught it, took his two steps and blasted a nice, high, spiraling kick.. I shouted out "Way to go Orlando!!".. that night on the broadcast that footage was shown along with the audio...a bunch of my Dad's friends saw the piece and said to him the next day "Hey, Louie must be doing great up at Yale, is he on the punt team? We heard some guy give him an 'attaboy' on the news last night!!"   *********** When the TV camera showed us Chief Illiniwek, proudly (in my judgment) representing the University of Illinois, an announcer (I think it was Mike Gottfried) said, "The NCAA needs to get after AAU basketball - and leave the Chief alone!"   *********** Coach, It's almost Christmas season. I hope all our DW brothers are making up their Christmas lists and putting your Tapes and ordering address where Santa can find them.   As you know we are playing in the toughest Junior High Football league in all of South New Jersey maybe one of the toughest in the country. We are competing against schools that carry 40 to 80 players on their rosters. We play with an average of 33 players. In the last 6 years we have won 2 Championships and were runner-ups twice, and are undefeated regular season this year.   I feel the biggest reason for our success is believing in, and using your training tapes "Practice Without Pads", "A Fine line" (etc. please add all your tapes to this) and attending your clinics, We start our season on the beaches and fields in June utilizing the knowledge of the tapes while working without pads. Then when the season starts all we need to do, is put on the pads and have fun.   There is no way I can express my strong feelings as to the importance and necessity of these tapes to teach young men the fundamentals of football. Any High School or Youth coach, regardless of what offense of defense they run, that does not have your tapes (I would just as soon they never see the Double Wing tapes - just kidding) in their Football Librarieses, are missing some of the best teaching tools in football.   Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey   *********** Coach, In the most exciting game I've ever been involved in, the Elmwood/Brimfield Trojans beat the Lewistown Indians 32-31 to end the regular season at 8-1, and conference co-champs, for the third consecutive year. Their stud quarterback (140 passing, 165 rushing) against our stud running backs (165 and 165 by the wings). They scored first and then it went back and forth. I thought we were finished with about 2:30 to go in the fourth on our own thirty. It was 4th and 10 and I didn't have a clue what to call. We can't throw the ball to save our lives (qb looks good in practice, but not in games). Luckily, our right wing spoke up with a brilliant play - Trips Right Split Left Draw (tackle trap). He got 10 yards and 1 foot. Hyperextended his knee in the process.   So only one of our starting wings is in the game. We ran Super Power for a 5yd gain, then two incompletions. On 4th and 5 with the clock running Cody Black pounded through the line on Super Power and rumbled 55 yards for the score to go up 30-25. He then threw the whole team on his back and drove the pile into the end zone for the 2-pt conversion. 32-25. Their qb hurt us quickly, throwing a beautiful fade with :44 on the clock. 32-31 us. On the conversion our defensive end played the qb sweep beautifully and planted him at the sideline. We recovered the onside kick to win.   It was one of those games when kids rise to the occasion. Things that make you proud to be their coach. It was a game that made me proud to be involved with high school football. After the game it was more than the standard handshakes. Everyone involved knew they had just played a pretty special game. I can't tell you how many times I've heard around town what a great game it was, how exciting it was, etc.   We are in the playoffs and at home this Friday night. The second season begins.   Good Luck, Todd Hollis Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** I didn't pull any punches in this week's Stanford Daily column, as evidenced by this excerpt:   "We're starting to see Division I college receivers drop balls with regularity.   A generation ago, every guy on the high school team could catch as well as today's top-flight wide receivers. That was in the days before video games and soccer became popular afternoon diversions in the United States, stunting the development of upper-body gross motor skills. Anyone who watched last year's Big Game (between Cal and Stanford) knows what I'm talking about."   Although I have no way to prove it, I believe that I see far more missed balls than formerly in the NFL as well.   I think it may have something to do with the fact that baseball is no longer the universal American young male activity, and even when kids do play, that's all they do - they get a ride to the game, and they play, and they get a ride home, but that's it. They don't spend their spare time playing catch, or throwing tennis balls against a wall, or playing what we called "running bases", or playing pick up games by the hour (with occasional breaks for meals).   *********** We beat Harrison Central 41-14 friday night. We spotted them 14 before we woke up. We were up 21-14 at half time. We play at home vs. Pascagoula Friday.   FEMA is really dragging their feet on temporary housing. None of our coaches have received any aid as of today. The red cross has given money for temporary expenses. The death toll reached 257 on the Gulf Coast after more bodies were found in rubble this week. The area within 4 blocks of the beach is unrecognizable, complete devastation as far as the eye can see.   It is really amazing we are in school and playing football. Again, thanks for your help and all those who have sent cash and clothes. Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi   *********** Other than taking a knee as time runs out, there are few plays in professional football less suspenseful than a field goal. In the NFL, fully 80 per cent of attempts are good.   The stunning conclusion of the Eagles-Chargers game, in which a Chargers' field goal attempt was blocked - blocked! - and returned for the winning score should awaken the NFL people to the chance to put a little excitement into an otherwise ho-hum play.   Why not try making the kicking team play a man short?... or letting the defense play with 12 men?... or allowing the defense to pull blockers out of the way (remember last week's Atlanta-New Orleans game?)?   *********** John Simar, Director of Athletics at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, is a former Army football player as well as an assistant coach there, and he currently serves as President of the Army Football Club. And now, as Major John Simar, he is headed for Iraq. He wrote to say...   I have been recalled to active duty to serve in Iraq as a MWR (Morale, Recreation, Welfare) Coordinator for one year. I got a call from the G-1 office in August and I honestly thought that I'd be gone by the end of September, but the date is now 6 November. This is "not a drill", this is the real thing and I am looking forward to it. I have to go to Ft. Benning and Ft. Bliss for at least 17 days of training. I will be a Major in the Adjutant General Corps, which is what I was when I retired while coaching at West Point. I will coordinate such off duty activities as fitness center operations, sports activities, and celebrity tours. It will be a good year of training, sort of like a sabbatical, for my current job. This is right down my alley.   *********** Monday, we had one of the best practices we'd had all year. We actually looked like a pretty decent football team. Tuesday, though, we had six people missing - SIX. On a team with 21 healthy bodies. One had to attend a hearing of some sort, another had a date in court, one came in with a note saying that because he'd suffered "a contusion" (that's a bruise, folks) on his arm playing a game of football with some buddies, he wasn't to take part in PE or athletics for a week, another was suspended from school for fighting, and two more were just plain no-shows. Just another day at the mill...   *********** Coach Wyatt -  The Legendary Coach From Salem H.S. Ken Perrone ( whose teams I played against well In H.S. and watched growing up )  ran  what was called  in these parts the Stack I, i just stumbled across that the actual name is the Maryland I,  Do you know the background of The Maryland  I  ?  - any info would be helpful  ,see ya friday  John Muckian   Lynn,MA   John, I have never actually heard it called the "Maryland I", but that is an appropriate name for it.   It was actually invented at VMI in 1949 by a New Englander named Tom Nugent (his first coaching job was at Essex Training School in Lawrence, Mass.), who then ran it at Florida State before taking it to Maryland where he coached from 1959 through 1965. (In those days, it was definitely a step up to move from Florida State to Maryland.)   I lived in Maryland from 1961-1975, and I remember Tom Nugent well. And fondly. He was quite an innovator and quite a showman. He evidently tried to give his formation a catchy name, because I found a publication from the 60's in which he called it the "Shifty I" (they'd sometimes shift out of it). The tag never caught on.   Frank Leahy at Notre Dame got the I-formation from Nugent one spring while visiting him at VMI, and in addition, he got what Nugent called his "typewriter" huddle, the first non-enclosed huddle, in which the QB faced two rows of players, one standing and one semi-erect, with hands on knees. Leahy adopted them both, and as Notre Dame was one of the few teams to be televised on a regular basis then, Leahy was often credited with those innovations, but I haven't found any evidence that he took the credit.   By the way, one of Nugent's assistants at Maryland was a guy named Lee Corso, who went on to be a decent coach himself (before landing on ESPN Game Day). I have some clinic notes from his days as head coach at Indiana, in which he shows the stack-I.   *********** Coach Wyatt, Chestnut Ridge (Fishertown, Pa) 7th grade football team just complete its 3rd season using the double wing. We finished 5-1-1. Over the past 3 seasons we have had a record of 18-2-1. Doug Pauley, Bedford, Pennsylvania   *********** Coach Wyatt- On Saturday I concluded my 5th season of running the double wing. We started these kids in the 4th grade. I selected your instructional package and system because the presentation and teaching was the cleanest method of all the wing games available.   Over 6 seasons of youth football (3rd-8th grade) these kids only lost 5 games. They finished a combined 44-5-2. We did have some talented kids, but like any team, we had kids suffer injuries and didn't play full strength all the time. Over the last three years they lost 2 times.   While many might think of this offense as clock grinding and ball control, we found it to be quite explosive. In official games, we averaged over 7 yards per rush and over 22 yards per pass. We were known to score in three plays when using a no huddle attack.   Let me be your reference if anyone reports that you can't use your package with young kids.   Thanks again for the great offense.   Sincerely, Michael Rutherford, Leawood, Kansas   PS- You can see our stats for the year at http://www.statsandgo.com. Click on football, Teams: Other State: Kansas We are the 8th grade Lancer. The kid with all the yards is the fullback. I put in the 43 tackle trap the last game. It worked magic. Wish I would have put it in soon.   *********** I don't know if you remember me , but I' ve attended 4 of your clinics : Orange H/S , Burbank , and the 2 that were held in Stockton . Anyways I'm sending you this e - mail to give you an update of our current season . We are currently 4 - 0 in (our). Senior division , and we are off to our best start since 1994 , my very first year coaching in the League. Well we are having some problems with our overall blocking on offense . We keep getting leakage from our A - gaps and backside of powers , A gap leakage on 6 & 7G , and trouble getting our linemen and wingbacks to block the CORRECT people and to maintain those blocks for at least 5 seconds . Also because we are in the highest division that we can go, I'm having difficulty with our offense keeping their "icepicks" up . The players want to use their hands ( shove blocking ) . All the other coaches in the divisions below us all teach and employ their offensive linemen to use their hands when blocking .NOBODY down here. runs the D/W, so by the time the kids get to us they all feel that it is written in stone that they must use their hands when blocking on offense . My point is this: Do you have any suggestions on how we may be able to fix this dilemma ? We are going to be in the biggest game of our season this weekend against our downtown rivals who are also undefeated with a record of 5 -0 . The winner of this game will probably determine who will be in the Super Bowl for the senior division. Any suggestions , tidbits and or helpful advice would be most appreciated .   Not sure how to correct the "hands blocking" situation. Maybe you just have to go with the flow. The biggest problem, I think, is that kids won't think in terms of "getting into" the defenders, so that they stay "welded to them."   The problem of the gap penetration may be directly related to "hands blocking," because the key is to coach a stance and a first step that allow the blocker to get his helmet "across the bow" - to get it into the gap before the defender gets there, with the result that the defender hits with his playside shoulder. This is really crucial for the playside tackle blocking down on 6-G.   In the case of the backside A gap, it is probably a matter of your center needing special work on stepping into the gap as he snaps. We had a center who was having problems doing this, and we found that his stance was too wide, resulting in the fact that with his feet already spread as wide as possible, he simply couldn't take a step!   *********** Another blow for home schools and private schools, and another stake in the heart of public education...   Three Oregon middle schools - one in Salem the state capitol, and the other two in the small southern Oregon city of Grants Pass - have been told by the state educational bureaucrats that they are in danger of being labelled "persistently dangerous," a tag that under No Child Left Behind would mean that their students would be allowed to transfer to another school.   To understand what's going on here, you have to understand how educational bureaucrats work. But don't worry - if you didn't understand before reading this, you will after having done so. See, what those three schools actually did was try to make themselves less dangerous. But in the process of doing so - by expelling their bad actors - they actually marked themselves as more dangerous. Huh?   See - according to the pointy-heads at the state, any school that expels more than one per cent of its students - for such things assaulting other students, or for bringing drugs or weapons to school - is considered dangerous.   And those that exceed one per cent for two straight years will be put on the "Federal Dangerous Schools" list.   So to prevent that from happening, the state now requires those three schools to submit plans showing how they will "improve student behavior."   And a major part of the plan must be - only people who have worked with educational bureaucrats can truly appreciate this - to reduce expulsions. In other words, they have to stop getting rid of those little punks with the drugs and weapons in school, and instead, keep them in school. Uh - I'm kind of new in town, but doesn't that make a school more dangerous?   Well, yeah. You would think. But actually, the geniuses in the suits don't really care whether a school is dangerous or not. Or how many troublemakers walk its halls. They're just worried about how the statistics make them look. So do whatever you can with your incorrigibles, they tell those schools, but whatever you do - please - don't expel them.   *********** My letter to a high school principal...   Dear Ms. Hunter,   I am the head football coach at Madison High School, and I want to tell you about the act of sportsmanship demonstrated by your coach, Diallo Lewis, at our game last Friday night.   As you may or may not know, we were greatly overmatched. Grant is very good, and we have been struggling. We started four freshmen against Grant, one of the best teams in the area.   Coach Lewis allowed his starters to do their best, but once the game reached a point where he could have humiliated our players, he chose instead to substitute and play conservatively.   In doing so, he allowed his opponents to walk off with some dignity intact.   I applaud that in a coach, and I wanted you to know that.   Yours truly,   Hugh Wyatt/Head Football Coach/Madison High School   Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 6, 2005 - "In a coach's life, every victory is a big victory." Hayden Fry, all-time great coach (SMU, North Texas and Iowa), when asked to name his biggest victory   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to our three coaches who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 I will forward donations to the coaches. They are also in need of basic essentials of coaching. Shorts(sizes: M, L, and XX) and T-shirts (Sizes L, XL, XX) we are blue and grey, but any color will do. They will wear your used coaching gear proudly. It will also show our kids that D-Wer's stick together. Any other clothing will be acceptable. These guys lost everything but the shirt on their back. As you may know the Insurance companies are claiming the houses were destroyed by tidal surge and not wind and they are refusing to pay. If there isn't anything left but a slab, who knows what destroyed the house? Data released by the Red Cross: there were 175,000 homes on the Gulf Coast(3 Mississippi counties) 38% were completly destroyed. 25% were significantly damaged or flooded and uninhabitable until repaired. 28% received some damage. Only 9% received no damage. Water in Biloxi is still undrinkable. The coast line looks like a nuclear bomb was exploded. However, we will rebuild and be stronger than ever! (A check for $1000 in the name of the Madison High Senators is on its way. HW) *********** ADDITIONAL FLASH - THERE'S A NICE ARTICLE ABOUT THE "MULTIPLE WING" - AND THE OLD FART WHO COACHES IT- BY DAN MOONEY IN TUESDAY'S PORTLAND OREGONIAN. -   http://www.oregonlive.com/prepsports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/112781871719950.xml&coll=7   *********** Thursday we learned that Josh Jenkins, who although ineligible since day one has been practicing with us, will be eligible! Josh is a 6-1, 240-pounder who can play almost anywhere we need him. But the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away... another of our players who attends another school in Portland (but plays for us because his school doesn't have football), didn't show for Thursday's practice. Just didn't show. We'd been working him at a starting defensive spot all week and he just didn't show.   Our frosh won, 16-14, stopping a Marshall two-point conversion with just over a minute to play, and our frosh coaches learned, in the midst of the post-game celebration, that it was a two-way starter's last game. He's transferring to another school in our district (Madison being a "failing" school under "No Child Left Behind" guidelines, Madison kids are free to go anyplace else.) Nice of the kid's parents to give his coaches a little notice.   Just another day at the mill.   *********** I have a question regarding the passing game.  If our QB throws a "swing pass" (or, "backwards" pass) to our RB and he catches it "behind the QB" (i.e., if the RB drops the pass, it is a live ball and a fumble), does this play count as a passing attempt and a reception (if he catches it), or is it (like a lateral, or toss) a running play?   Technically, it is a run, just the same as if the ball had been tossed underhanded.   A common misconception in football is that a forward pass is determined by the manner, rather than the direction, in which it is thrown.   *********** Hi coach, just writing to give you an update on our season. I coach 11-12yo. We run your double wing offense right out of your playbook including all of the blocking schemes. This is my third year running the DW and by far this has been our best year.   We are 5-0 out scoring our opponent 177-47. We are averaging 35 points a game. We are averaging close to 300 yards a game on the ground. Our games have been blow outs except for one so we've had to pull our starters in the first half. On two occassions we have been ahead 27-0 in the first quarter...We only have 17 players. The one game where we won 32-28 I left in my better wing backs and bback. My a-back which has played for me for 5 years, has been incredible he rushed the ball in that game 20 times for 265 yards. He has grown so much and has really become an elusive runner but is also very punishing. He was b-back the last 2 years.   Right now we run- 88/sp, 99/sp, 77/sp, 66/sp, 3 trap @ 2, 6g, 7c, 47c/xx, 56c/xx, red red, blue blue, wedge with motion and without   We run quick motion every play except wedge on go.   Thank you Coach. Chad Clark, Concrete, Washington   *********** Former Double-Winger Dante Ross, the smallest player on the Bucknell University football roster at 5-foot-8,164-pound, led the Bisons to a 27-7 Homecoming Day victory over Marist Saturday. Ross, from Groton, Connecticut, was a standout running back at Fitch High School in coach Mike Emery's Double-Wing offense, but at Bucknell he had been playing cornerback and returning kicks.   In his career, has been named Patriot League Player of the Week on Defense, and last season he was Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Year. Add another trophy to the case.   With Bucknell's two starting QB's out with injuries, Ross stepped in and rished for 268 yards - all but 31 of the Bisons' total yards - and three touchdowns,breaking Patriot League records for yards rushing by a QB.   But get this - he never came off the field. On defense, he made five tackles and came up with an interception (the seventh of his career), and he returned kicks for 57 yards.   For his efforts, Dante Ross was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week, making him the first player in league history to be named Offensive, Defense and Special Teams Player of the Week honors during his career.   *********** Coach Wyatt, We played our game Saturday afternoon instead of our usual Tuesday night. This was due to the governor closing school last Monday and Tuesday. He thought we could save money on gasoline. We won 31-30 going 80 yards with about 2:30 minutes left on the clock. We didn't try anything unusual on the drive. We did get a crucial 1st down by running 2 blue to the tight end and getting a 20 yard gain. On 4th down we went back to 2 red to our fastest player (Kendrick Wilson- C back) on the fade. It was completed for the td with 24 seconds left. I called for the extra point try and we made it after a delay of game penalty due to too many men on the field. One of our kids didn't come off the field because he thought we would try for the 2 point conversion. We still have 2 games left, but neither team has a winning record. So far we have scored 124 points and given up 48. We have a chance to complete 2 undefeated seasons back to back. I don't think this has been accomplished in our county since we began playing in our 7 team county league. Since I became head coach 4 years ago, we have averaged over 200 yards rushing a game and have won twice as many games as we've lost. The last 2 years we are scoring over 30 points a game. The only drives that have not resulted in touchdowns were due to turnovers or penalties. I haven't had our punt team on the field the past 2 years. We still practice it just in case! I try and send some game tape and the end of the season. Dan King Riverside Middle School, Evans, Georgia (I hope that you are able to convince the other coach that holding is holding, whether it's on offense or defense, and teaching kids to hold - on either side of the ball - is cheating. HW)   *********** Hello Coach Wyatt, Thought I would update you on the DW teams in Texas. Last week we traveled to Eagle Pass and got blasted 42-14. It was a case of "anything that could go wrong, did". We had four turnovers and essentially got outmuscled. We contributed to the fiasco by several kicking game mistakes, as well.   Last night, however, we played at home and got back on track. We beat United South HS 49-0, rushing for 412 yds. We are now 2-1 in district play. Our a/c backs Andy Jasso and Andy Reyna had 161 and 132 yds respectively. Jasso had one touchdown and Reyna had three touchdowns. We alternate them play by play to either position, explaining that they HAVE to block for each other. Also, quarterback Joey Gonzalez had 43 yds and two touchdowns. We threw four times, completing one for fourteen yds from Gonzalez to A.J. Walker. Our defense played very well, limiting South to only 104 net yds.   Also, over in East Texas, Coach Wayne Gandy's Joaquin Rams (class A) won last week, defeating Tenaha HS 54-20. I believe Joaquin is 5-1 for the year, running the double wing.   Good luck this week. We'll stay in touch.   Thanks for everything. Don Davis, Head Football Coach, Martin High School, Laredo, Texas   *********** Coach Wyatt,I just wanted to send you an update on our progress running your double wing offense this year. We are 5-0 for the first time in school history. We play Oct 7th for our 1st league championship since 1979.   After winning our 1st Sectional Championship in school history last season, and reaching the state quarterfinal game, we will probably be ranked #1 going into our sectional playoffs this season. We are currently ranked 8th in the state. We are averaging almost 400 yards rushing a game and almost 45 points a game. Our QB is our leading rusher with 688 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging over 11 yards per carry. I attached our 5 game stats below. This is with our starters only playing in one 4th quarter yet this year. In 5 games we have only punted twice.   This season we were also part of one of the highest scoring games in state history. We won 72-51 over a tough Batavia, NY team. The only game in state history to have more scoring was a game played in 1913. Locals joke that they were probably running the same offense. Our state playoff game was lost last year by a score of 67-49. That game was also on the top 5 all-time scoring list for New York State. I also attached a news article that was printed in our Rochester, NY paper on the double wing offense. Thank you again for your support over the years. John Gammon, Head Football Coach, Eastridge HS, Rochester, New York   *********** The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Game of the Week features Booker T. Washington (4-2 after an upset loss last week) against Columbia (5-1).     The reporter referred to Columbia's "unorthodox offense," which it called a "unique form of wing-T." Washington's coach, Rodney Cofield knows that Columbia is running - he has run some of my Double-Wing himself, with considerable success, and he attended one of my clinics in Birmingham.   He told the reporter, "That's what I call it: rugby. They hide that ball and get that wedge going and you are in trouble," Cofield said of an offense that relies upon misdirection and overloading with extra blockers on one side of the line.You have got to be disciplined because of the way they hide the ball. It is all about assignment defense."   Last year, Washington beat Columbia 42-0. But this year, the Columbia kids are a year older. Running backs Taurean Rhodes and Demareus Gaines are averaging more than 7 yards per carry, and QB (and Black Lion) Evrick Hall has completed more than 60 per cent of his passes, for an average completion of 18 yards.   *********** OK - I've got to admit -- I've seen some Butkus bashin' on your site, but didn't really pay attention as to why -- but I'm surfin' DirectTV sports channels and I see this show called "Bound for Glory"...Butkus becomes a Coach..blah..blah..anyway..I tune in...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??   First of all, the show lost all credibility because the first 10 minutes I watched (I jumped in late) was a PC tribute to the cheerleaders including giving them their own "trophy case"..you and I both know you could never build a case big enough for all the b.s. trophies the cheerleaders bring home..you know, things like the "spirit award"....anyway..even the superintendent showed..I'm sure it had nothing to do with the camera crew being present..anyway, .I digress..   So then it goes to pre-game with "coach" Butkus giving us great quotes like "it's Duck Soup for you guys"..."let's have some damn good fun tonight"...and other profanity ridden stupid comments, and then off to the game with the annoying fake announcer... those Spartans are up 28-14 at half, and the boys get an inspiring "somebody remind somebody on defense it's 3 and out"...from Coach Butkus..what the hell does that mean? Then some sideline shots of the boys -- guess what? they have to bleep out several of the boys..after all, Coach talks that way so why can't they?   Overall, a ridiculous show -- but more than that, I really lost respect for Butkus. I had already lost a bunch when I heard a story about how he turned tail from Deacon Jones, and then listening to some of his ridiculous comments on some of the pre-game nfl shows. But the way he was behaving in front of those high school boys was an all-time low. He should have just bought a bar in chicago...I promise you this. I have met at least 40 YOUTH COACHES at YOUR clinics that I would rather Coach MY SON than Dick Butkus. What a pity. Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas (Roger on that cheerleader nonsense - including bringing in the "strippers" (Miami Heat cheerleaders) to "coach" high school girls. The part I had to laugh at was Butkus telling former pro Ray Crockett that he was going to have to take on more responsibility on defense because "one of the assistants got suspended for a racial slur." Are you kidding me? Suspended was all? A guy uses a racial slur, and he's going to come back? How can he return and still coach? HW)   *********** Corning West (Elmira, NY) 28, Johnson City 7 - West's Joe Perez carries the ball 32 times for 163 yards, as the Vikings moved to 4-1.   Hi Coach, Great Article about you in the paper. Well, we once again met up with a team that dives their ends at our FB and Guards kicking out. I asked them to watch for it in the first half and of course they just don't see it happening...I had 2 kids come off of the field hurt in the first series with knee injuries. They toughed it out and got pissed off...we made sure that we aligned as far off of the ball as legally possible...we ran it right down their throat...my fullback had a heck of a day running 6G and Trap vs. their 6-1 defense...you were once again right about G being a big play against that defense...thanks- Mike Johnston, Elmira, New York   *********** Hello Coach, We beat El Paso /Gridley last week 14-0. We are now 5-1. We were a bit of an underdog going into the game but we played well and were fortunate in that we didn't beat ourselves. Our team controlled the ball for 33 minutes Friday night, which made my defense look real good. After the game reporters kept asking me what I thought about my defense, I said they played well but when the offense controls the ball like that, defense is alot easier!   Next we play Fieldcrest, a wide open 5 wide team that will play a 5-4 defense with crab and grab technique. I'll keep you updated. I hope Madison can get a win this week, I know they are being coached well! Best of luck to you and your team.   Mike Benton, Colfax, Illinois   *********** John Feinstein will be back on the air for Saturday's Navy-Air Force game despite dropping an F-Bomb during the radio broadcast of last week's Navy-Duke game.   Feinstein, the author of numerous books on sports, including "A Civil War: Army vs. Navy," a book about the Army-Navy football rivalry and a member of the Navy broadcast team, became upset with the officials after a Duke receiver appeared to push off a Navy defender, enabling him to catch a pass for a 2-point conversion that tied the score 21-21 with under four minutes to play. (Navy came back to win 28-21.)   Feinstein pulled himself off the air for the rest of the broadcast and offered an on-air apology at the end of the game. He also immediately offered his resignation, but it was rejected.   "No one feels worse about this than John. He made a mistake," a Navy spokesman said..   The irony of it all is that Feinstein is a Duke grad.   So what did he say? Here it is, cleaned up for family consumption: "F--king refs!"   Certainly not something that you or I or any other coach would ever say.   *********** As a Stanford dad three times over, I greet the news that sfter 14 years as AD at Stanford, Ted Leland is moving on with one word - Yippee. Leland took an exceptional amount of pride in all the titles that Stanford teams have won - water polo, tennis, golf, volleyball, etc. - but on his watch, Stanford football has become an embarrassment. His hire of Buddy Teevens was beyond comprehension. True, Teevens had worked for him successfully at Dartmouth, an Ivy school where recruiting just sort of happens, but his only shot at real (scholarships 'n' everything) football had been at Tulane, where it overstates things to say he was a flop. And after Teevens took the program to a new low, and Leland was forced to let his "buddy" go, he went and hired another crony, Walt Harris, who was head coach at Pacific when Leland was the AD there. Harris, whose hasty departure from Pitt was accompanied (some would say caused) by well-documented stories about his dalliance with a wealthy donor's wife, is not, in my opinion, the sort of individual one would normally choose to lead the football program at a school of Stanford's stature. Perhaps a new AD will recognize this before it's too late, but Stanford being Stanford, my bet is that they will replace Leland with a woman. (Is it too early for me to nominate Barbara Hedges, who did such a wonderful job at Washington?)   *********** Coach Wyatt, After a slow start, (0 to 0) at halftime, we got it together and won 22-0. I have read about teams that have their d line dive and grab the legs of pulling lineman, but hadn't had it happen until our last game. On 88 super my left tackle was almost into the backfield. I was rather ticked at him for pulling so deep that the qb kept the ball instead of pitching because the A back and the tackle collided. The tackle said he had to pull deep to get away from the defender who was grabbing his legs. I called 2 wedge about 3 times in a row. One wedge went about 30 yards. You have got to see the film to believe it. I am going to have a few words with that other coach after watching the game film. We are now 5-0. We have scored 145 points and given up only 48. We have given up only 1 touchdown in the second half. Dan King, Evans, Georgia   *********** Coach, The Stanton Mustangs defeated the Lutheran High Northeast Eagles 68-0 to move to 5-0 on the season. We outyardaged them 649-66! They were 3-1 before we played them. They stacked 10 men with 5 yards of the LOS, trying to stop our run and daring us to pass, so that's what we did, 15 times, completing 13 passes for 289 yards and 3 TD's. 2 Blue scored 2 TD's alone. Our JV's played all but 2 min. of the second half. We rushed for 359 yards on 45 attempts and 25 of the attempts going to our JV's and freshmen. A freshman was our leading rusher with 5 carries for 79 yards and 2 TD's. Versatility is the name of the game!!!! In the pre-game talk show their coach said he was more afraid of our runningbacks running downhill than our playaction passing game.... hmmm... wonder what he thinks now! Good luck next week and GO DW!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska   *********** Had a guy named Dave Thomas on our radio show (not the late Wendy's founder of course)...a Black Canadian kid, played on Michigan State's 2000 NCAA basketball championship team, now playing for the Melbourne Tigers. Great guy. I asked him if he skated and he said "of course" - used to clear off a pond across the street from his house and play hockey. He's 6'7" by the way. Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia   *********** How do an angle block and hook block differ?   Terminology will differ, but in our terminology, an angle block is a block on a defender from outside-in (sometimes also referred to as a "down" block).   A hook block or "log block" is a block from inside-out, but instead of driving the defender to the outside ("kicking him out"), as expected, the blocker establishes outside leverage on the defender. *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

NO MORE 2005 CLINICS 2005 Clinics (UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) October 3, 2005 - "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Mark Twain   NEWS FLASH From Fellow Double-Winger Steve Jones: Anyone wanting to donate to our three coaches who lost their houses can send checks to: The Ocean Springs Touchdown Club c/o Coach Steve Jones 11800 Bluff Ridge Road Vancleave, Mississippi 39565 I will forward donations to the coaches. They are also in need of basic essentials of coaching. Shorts(sizes: M, L, and XX) and T-shirts (Sizes L, XL, XX) we are blue and grey, but any color will do. They will wear your used coaching gear proudly. It will also show our kids that D-Wer's stick together. Any other clothing will be acceptable. These guys lost everything but the shirt on their back. As you may know the Insurance companies are claiming the houses were destroyed by tidal surge and not wind and they are refusing to pay. If there isn't anything left but a slab, who knows what destroyed the house? Data released by the Red Cross: there were 175,000 homes on the Gulf Coast(3 Mississippi counties) 38% were completly destroyed. 25% were significantly damaged or flooded and uninhabitable until repaired. 28% received some damage. Only 9% received no damage. Water in Biloxi is still undrinkable. The coast line looks like a nuclear bomb was exploded. However, we will rebuild and be stronger than ever! (A check for $1000 in the name of the Madison High Senators is on its way. HW) *********** ADDITIONAL FLASH - THERE'S A NICE ARTICLE ABOUT THE "MULTIPLE WING" - AND THE OLD FART WHO COACHES IT- BY DAN MOONEY IN TUESDAY'S PORTLAND OREGONIAN. -   http://www.oregonlive.com/prepsports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/112781871719950.xml&coll=7   *********** Our gallant band of Madison Senators gave it a good shot Friday night, but no matter how you slice it, we got our tails kicked, 28-0, by Franklin High School. It was not a great week overall. On Wednesday, we lost a starter to a knee injury, and on Thursday we were informed that a mommy had called our AD saying she didn't want her son - another starter - playing football any more, and that a third starter had been suspended for fighting in school, but despite going into the game with 14 healthy, eligible varsity players, I still felt we had a chance. Was I wrong! Playing in a driving rain that actually should have given us an edge over Franklin and its decent passing game, we committed two special teams turnovers - a muffed punt inside our ten (no, we didn't want it fielded) and a fumble on a kickoff return (one hand on the ball) set Franklin up for two of their scores, and three times we turned the ball over inside their 25, but even without all the help we gave them, Franklin still flat beat us. Our kids left the field very down - physically and emotionally drained - but after talking to them over the weekend, I'm confident that they'll rebound this week, which - AIEE! - is Homecoming. *********** Our senior fullback has really stepped up for our team this year by playing guard due to injuries. He would have been all conference for sure at FB. This move necissitated a number switch from #32 to #52. We like to use him at fullback in our power backfield formation. Last week our official notified us that #52 can line up in the backfield but cannot catch the ball. No argument there, eligible by position, but not by number. But, he also told us that #52 cannot carry the ball. I lost this argument. Was I in error?   You are correct. The official is WRONG. #52, no matter where he lines up, is NOT an eligible receiver, and cannot catch a forward pass. But there is no prohibition against #52 or any other player with an ineligible number lining up in the backfield and carrying the ball. There is probably not a coach who visits this site that hasn't at one point in his career lined up an offensive lineman in the backfield and given him the thrill of carrying the ball.   Good luck with officials like that, who are absolutely certain about something that is dead wrong. Mark Twain must have had him in mind when he uttered today's quote.   *********** I call them Sideline Bimbos because the so-called sideline analysts at televised football games are usually ditzy blondes. Usually, the blonder they are and the better looker they are, the more inane the questions they ask of coaches. And then there is Lynn Swann, who is neither female of blonde. He is a really good sideline analyst, with the credibility of one who understands the game and can ask the sort of question we'd like to ask if we were in his shoes.   So there he was at halftime Saturday in State College, Pennsylvania, where Penn State's talented freshmen speedsters were in the process of taking unbeaten Minnesota apart.   "Coach," Swann asked, "are you comfortable playing all these freshmen?"   JoePa is at the stage in life where he'll give a reporter the have-you-been-watching-the-game? look when he's asked a stupid question, but Swann obviously had asked a question that caught him off guard, and before he could compose an answer, laughing, he replied, "Not really!"   *********** Back in the early days of Monday Night Football - back in the days before ESPN or SportsCenter - halftime consisted of highlights. We all tuned in, because that was the only way we could se what went on around the league. They were narrated by Howard Cosell, unknown to today's viewers, but is the one Chris Berman imitates when he says his patented line, "He... could... go... all.. the... way."   Howie was controversial, and even those of us who sorta liked him will admit that he could be obnoxious.   But last night's halftime show? Tom McGraw? "I Like it, I Love it - I Want Some More of it!" ??????   Bring back Howard Cosell.   *********** If you want to know why I despise the NFL, you had only to catch the end of that Tim McGraw halftime C&W show and the tag line, "That's Why the NFL is the Most Popular Game in the USA." Notice that those arrogant a**holes didn't say "football." It still galls them that there is some money that they aren't getting - there were at least 10 college football games this past Saturday that outdrew every single NFL game. (Except, of course, for the Cardinals-49ers game. It was played in Mexico City.)   *********** What a blowhard John Madden is. What a sad transition he has made over the years, from a solid NFL coach to a pathetic piece of self-parody, hawking anything that can be sold on TV. So as the Packers' Terrence Murphy lay still on the turf Monday Night, the Big One prattled on about the dangers of helmet-to-helmet contact, and how the helmet, originally designed to protect, is now used as a weapon, blah, blah, blah. Yet over and over, as he spoke, replays (which he could have seen on his monitor if he'd bothered to look) showed that Murphy's helmet was hit from the side by a tackler's shoulder.   *********** Come on - admit it. Weren't you pulling for Brett Favre to take the Packers into overtime against the Panthers?   *********** For those who love the NFL's "wide-open" offenses... Baltimore 13, NY Jets 3 - Three field goals, one touchdown... Oakland 19, Dallas 13 - Six field goals, two touchdowns... Cincinnati 16, Houston 10 - Four field goals, two touchdowns... Arizona 31, San Francisco 14 - Six field goals, two offensive touchdowns (both 49er scores resulted from fumbe recoveries)   *********** Sam Ryan, sideline reporter, was really encouraging when she first filled us in on Terrence Murphy's condition. "The good news," she told us, "is he can wiggle his fingers!" Wow, I thought. That's really good news. The guy was just been wheeled off on a gurney, totally immobilized, after taking a vicious hit, and she tells us the "good news" is that he may only be paralyzed from the waist down!   *********** Coach, We traveled to Bushnell last Friday for a battle of 5-0 unbeatens in our conference. All three sports writers for the local paper picked us to lose (even though they picked us to go undefeated this year). We were facing an "all-world" running back who was averaging close to 200ypg.   How did the game go? We pounded the ball down the field and scored on our first posession. We then forced a fumble on their opening posession, and marched right back down the field to score again. We scored once more before halftime to go up 19-0.   Although we didn't score in the second half we put together a couple of long drives that ate the clock. They were forced to pass in the fourth quarter, resulting in two interceptions. Our offense: 336 rushing hards on 57 attempts. We were very balanced (18, 19, 19 carries). Their offense: 99 yards on 29 carries (the all-world kid had 55 yards on 19 carries).   The Bushnell fans tore down their "6-0 Here We Go" signs pretty quickly.   5-1 PORTA will be coming to town this week for our homecoming game. They're the only team to beat us in the regular season the last two years. It won't be difficult to get our kids focused on these guys.   Good luck this week, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois   *********** Comments from a friend...   *All those undefeated school you mentioned (Kansas, Vandy, Indiana) were beaten   Of all the people for Vandy to lose to...   *Huskies look as if they lost a heartbreaker   I thought they outplayed UCLA. But a fumbled punt at the start of the 2nd half hurt, penalties really killed them (a 4th-quarter TD ran was brought back), and a non-call (on of those "uncatchable ball" deals in the 4th quarter) finally did them in. But Stanback looked really good, they made some good catches, and Kenny James (RB) is the real deal. And they looked like a Don James team on defense.   *Nice comeback by Beavers, Ducks no problem with Stanford   Wazzu gets to the one and throws incomplete three times - and gets a procedure penalty - and settles for a FG. 600+ yards of offense and they lose. Christopher Anderson said yesterday's performance had to be an all-time low for Stanford football. He said the Duck moved the ball at will, and only turnovers and a huge number of penalties kept it "down" to 44.   *Great wins for Penn State and Bama   HUGE for both. Guess maybe JoePa can still coach. Penn State has several really talented - and FAST - freshmen.   *Is Tommy Bowden gone at Clemson?   He's been on thin ice for some time now.   *********** We defeated Hancock (42-6) Friday night. Ironically Hancock is a double wing team. There head coach came and met with me back when I was at Florence, but had not put in the DW. Our kids adapted very quickly, since we see it every day in practice. We travel to Moss Point on Friday. I received your check and clothes, they are greatly appreciated. We also received clothes from Ron Timson from Umatilla, Florida. Thanks!!! from the Gulf Coast. Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi   *********** I wanted to touch bases with you and ask if you heard Josh McCown's wonderfully Christian sentiment's last night? He was "miked up." First, we got to hear his response to throwing a TD pass, "Praise Jesus! Thank you Jesus!"   Ten seconds later we got to hear his real attitude: "Step on their throats! STEP! ON! THEIR! THROATS!"   Wow, I'm sure glad that sixty million viewers, many of them children, got to hear that on national TV!   And then, when closing out the game, we got to hear Joe Thiesmann (rhymes with Heismann!) provide his opinion, "You heard Josh McCown, and he's right, 'step on their throats.' This is a young quarterback providing leadership to his team."   Say WHAT? I have to do "walk away" drills and waste my practice time teaching sportsmanship and game-day etiquette because THIS jackass thinks leadership involves threats to maim your opponents? WTF? Will someone PLEASE brick his blasted mouth SHUT!?!?   Anyway, I thought you'd have a blistering opinion of this as well, and if you'd missed it, I wanted to make sure you heard about it.   My best to Connie and the team;   Derek "Coach" Wade, Petaluma, California (I missed those comments. I didn't watch much of the game. Unlike Mexicans, I'm not into futbol to the extent that I can watch a game in which the best that two professional offenses can come up with is two touchdowns and six - SIX! - field goals. HW)   *********** Lansingburgh 42 Taconic Hills 0 - Lansingburgh moves to 4-1. a back Kenny Youngs 8 carries 123 yds- 2 tds; b back Mike Hepp 8 carries 116 yds- 2tds    *********** Galva-Holstein 42, Westwood 0 - We rushed for 473 yards on 47 carries; 3 of 9 passing for 33 yards; Held them to 30 carries for 36 yards, and 1 of 6 passing for 10 yards. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa   *********** Crusaders WIN! On Thursday night, CSCA traveled to hostile territory for the 4th Annual, Battle for the Sword. This is our game with Highlands Christian Academy which is not only a district game, but also our biggest rival. The first 3 games were all Crusader victories, but two years ago we won in overtime and last year we won with no time left on a 2 point conversion pass that we had to snap from the 25 yard line due to a penalty. This year, the word on the street was that Highlands was really going to win big!   First Half we completely dominated them but went in at half down 0-7! Second half we scored quickly but PAT was blocked. We then experienced a couple of bad breaks and suddenly we're down 6-20 going into the 4th quarter. One of backups scores on a sweep and we make the 2 point pass to cut it to 14-20. Now our kids are jacked up and Highlands goes 3 and Punt. We take over on our own 30 with 5 minutes to go. We work it down the field and then on 3rd down our QB throws a strike to TJ von Scherrer who makes a Circus like - ESPN Highlight catch for the TD! We kick the PAT for a 21-20 lead which we hold onto as time runs out! A Great WIN made even better by seeing my son make the "game winning" score!   The other nice thing was that as the defense took the field after the score, knowing that they had to stop Highlands to preserve our win, our team breakdown chant was " Black Lions on three - One, Two, Three , BLACK LIONS." Another great moment!   Hope everyone else had a great weekend. Jake von Scherrer, HFC, Coral Springs Christian Academy, Coral Springs, Florida   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, My name is Coach Beau Drake. I first became involved with the Black Lion award while coaching at Coral Springs Christian Academy, in Coral Springs, FL. While working with Coach Jake Vonscherer we presented this award to the most deserving player. We had the honor of Gen. James Shelton and Sgt. Steve Goodman to present the award one year and come to our school! The players were very estatic about the Black Lion award and we used it as a constant reminder of what it means to be the ultimate team player.   Currently, I am coaching in North Carolina. We are the West Carteret High School Patriots. I would like to have the honor to start the Black Lion tradition at my new school.   Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon. I also hope it is not too late to enroll my team for the award this year.   Coach Beau Drake, West Carteret High School, Morehead City, North Carolina (Coach Drake: it is not too late for you - or others - to sign up. HW)   *********** I got an unsolicited e-mail from one Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Gerber, who represents an area in Montgomery County, not far from where my wife grew up. I don't know the guy, and I don't know what his party affiliation is, but I greatly admire what he's trying to do: I participated in a Little League opening day ceremony with another soldier who had served in Iraq. Again, his bravery and selflessness humbled me. This soldier, U.S. Marine Corps. Reserve Staff Sgt. Joe Renner of Conshohocken, thanked me for supporting the little leaguers and in the same breath, said he was headed back to Iraq. His care for others, modesty and selflessness struck me and made me realize that I was doing nothing to say "thank you" to those in service. With the guidance of a constituent, Beverly Hahn of Whitpain, I am organizing a collection of new or used CDs and DVDs to be sent to our troops serving overseas to let them know people back home are appreciative and care. We chose CDs and DVDs because Staff Sgt. Renner explained to us that many soldiers have CD and DVD players and like the escape the music and videos provide. You know, I'll bet there are guys over there who would even enjoy looking at your highlights DVDs. (Most of them that I've seen are quite well done.) Send them to 20 E. 11th Ave., Conshohocken, PA 19428 ---- Rep. Gerber's office phone number is 610-832-1679 (I wrote for permission to post this on my site, and I heard back from Rep. Gerber's office. Turns out I do know the guy. This is sort of freaky - a couple of years back I got a call from a Mike Gerber, a youth coach in Pennsylvania, who purchased some of my materials. One thing led to another, and it turned our that we'd gone to the same school - Germantown Academy - although many years apart. We probed further, as usually happens in cases like this, and it turned out that his close friend and classmate, Mike Turner, was the present coach at GA, and Mike was the son of a former longtime GA coach - and a classmate and teammate of mine - Jack Turner. Mike played football at GA and at Penn, and like so many of you, despite having a real life, he was hooked on coaching youth football. Completely off the wall came his e-mail, and it turns out that that Mike Gerber, the youth football coach, and this Mike Gerber, the state representative, are one and the same! Also turns out, by the way, he's a Democrat. What do I give a sh--? He's a football coach, isn't he? And he's a damn good man to be doing something like this. HW) More From Representative Gerber: Dear Coach, One of my staffers just showed me the posting on your site re: my CD/DVD drive for the troops. Thanks so much. I want you to know that your help several years ago has turned into a double wing tidal wave in this area. My organization, the Ambler-Whitpain Trojans, as well as several other organizations in the Philadelphia suburbs and in the city are running some form of your offense now. I was unable to coach last year because of my campaign, but I look forward to getting back into it someday. Our mutual friend, Jack Turner, is doing great. His son, Michael, is also doing well, having won the Inter-Ac two years in a row. I hope all is well with you. Thanks again. Best wishes, Mike Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners