The Firm- Smith, Smith, Coverdale & Holcomb

Trosper & Coach Chuck Smith, November 2014

This was from my column in the Maysville paper and later added it to BLACK SHOES & WHITE SHOESTRINGS. 


I hear an expression several times through the season (including last week) and every now and then during the offseason: The Firm.

The Firm is Smith, Smith, Coverdale and Holcomb: specifically, Homer Smith, Chuck Smith, Andrew Coverdale, and Mike Holcomb.

John Arn, our former offensive line coach and defensive coordinator, came up with the phrase. Shawn Thompson, the defensive coordinator before John, was the first to announce that the way to get me to do something was to call Chuck Smith and tell him the situation, and Chuck would call me and make me do it.

My coaches sometimes claim that if an idea does not come from The Firm, I am not going to do it. That's not true, but I will admit those four guys are great coaches and great resources when I have a question.

I never met Homer Smith, but he is regarded as one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of the game. He held several positions, including the offensive coordinator job at both UCLA and Alabama. He was also the head coach at Army in the 1970s. Coach Smith passed away in April 2011. Coach Smith put together a number of manuals on football, coaching and teaching. I have most of them. His ability to explain football concepts and the teaching of the game was incredible. He wrote one complete manual devoted to practicing football, and you can apply the information in his manuals to any offensive system. Sometimes in preparing for an opponent, when I see a coach being creative in getting players across the midline, I immediately think of Coach Smith.

In 2005, Fleming County had the best team they have put on the field in my 19seasons here. Jordan Fritz was their quarterback and we were coming off a 1-9 season. Our offensive game plan came straight from Homer Smith’s concepts. Our kids executed the game plan to near-perfection and we won a game that many thought would be a blowout loss for us. If a young guy wants to learn the
game of football, I would get my hands on everything written by Homer Smith.

The other Smith is Chuck Smith, whom I have written about before. I regard Chuck as one of the best defensive coaches and high school head coaches in the history of the state, winning five (six) state titles at Boyle County. What he did with the linebackers at Kentucky was also outstanding. Besides being a great coach, Chuck’s philosophies on football and people are consistent with mine.I sometimes call and ask Chuck football questions, but most of the time when I call him it is about dealing with people -- staff, players, administration, etc. I even called Chuck to ask him if writing this column was a good idea. As you might have figured out, he said yes.

Andrew Coverdale is the offensive coordinator at Trinity in Louisville. When we were getting ready to play Breathitt County in the 2003 Recreation Bowl, Coach Coverdale was kind enough to let us use video from the Shamrocks' 2002 state championship game versus Male. Male and Breathitt County ran similar defenses, and I wanted to see how Trinity attacked the Bulldogs' defense.Trinity's QB was Brian Brohm. Ours was Dustin Grutza. We got a lot of good ideas from that video. Dustin and our kids executed that game plan exceptionally well in the Rec Bowl versus Breathitt County. Through the years, when I have had ideas and questions about offensive concepts, Coach Coverdale has been a great resource.

Mike Holcomb is the head football coach at Letcher County Central and led Breathitt County to three state titles. Most people believe when Hal Mumme came to UK in 1997, that is what started the advent of the spread passing game in the state of Kentucky, but Coach Holcomb had the Bobcats throwing the ball and winning back-to-back state titles in 1995 and 1996. Mumme, Mike Leach, Tony Franklin and Chris Hatcher are outstanding football coaches who helped make Kentucky high school football more wide-open, but the first to make it go were Coach Holcomb and Mike Whitaker at Leslie County, who had a pretty good QB named Tim Couch.

Because of my experiences playing QB in high school, we have never had a five-step-drop pass play from under center on any team I have coached. The timing required and the pass protection ability needed by the O-line is tough on a high school player. Whenever we had a five-step pass play called in high school, I knew I was going to get blasted. As I got older and matured, I realized if I was going to get hit, I might as well complete the pass, and I quit worrying about it. When we finally put in a five-step pass package at Mason County, we did so from the shotgun to help with the protection issues. Coach Holcomb was the coach I went to for help in setting up our five-step passing concepts. I don’t know anyone that has a better grasp of the passing game than Mike Holcomb.

Though I do use guidance from The Firm, most of my decisions are really our decisions as a staff. I do pull rank at times and make the call as the head coach, but when I do go along with an idea that I am not crazy about from one of my  assistants, I just tell them to “make it work.”

And yes, I got that from Chuck.

Coach Cal, Coach K & Colossians 3:23

One of the best parts of being a dad, playing basketball with Trosper on a warm spring night over the years

Coach Cal and Coach K sure don't need me to defend them. Those guys have had incredible careers and I can't imagine anyone a better fit for the programs they lead. But, the social media criticism of these guys who are at the top of their profession, despite the fact that they lost the last game they coached,  is a great reminder that pleasing people is an impossible task.  

Colossians 3:23 says... "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters". (NIV)

Aaron Hogue, the leader of the University of Kentucky's Fellowship of Christian Athletes, explained to the HS coaches at our clinic a couple weeks ago, that we are all performing for an "audience of One."  That "One" is Jesus Christ.

A few years ago, a parent told me that she would hate to have my job and trying to keep everyone happy. I explained that I am not trying to keep anyone happy!  That would be impossible. Even if that was my goal, every decision I made to please one group of people would make another group angry, or they would disagree, etc. Pleasing people is impossible and is therefore a waste of time.  I told the parent, I do what is right and let the rest take care of itself.

Colossians 3:23 helps me to focus and keep the noise out. Ultimately, I answer to ONE, my LORD & Savior, Jesus Christ. That focus is liberating. Your guide becomes God's Word... not trying to read people's mind and figure out how to keep everyone happy with you or liking you. He rescues me from the impossible task of pleasing people. 

If you are chasing your tail, trying to please people, you will reach an incredible level of exhaustion and frustration. Quit wasting your time, and SERVE HIM. Serve the One who gave His all for You.

QB Camp & Instruction: 2019

In February and March, we've had over 40 QB's come to Harrodsburg for camp and small group instruction. Tyler Mattingly (Central Hardin), Boone Goldsmith (Lincoln Co.), Josh Painter (Mercer Co.), Josh Davis (Campbellsville U.) & my youngest son Trosper (will be a sophomore at Mercer) have all helped with the instruction.

We've had guys from Mercer, Boyle, Central Hardin, Bardstown Bethlehem, Barren, Rowan, Harrison, Lexington Catholic, LCA, Lou. Holy Cross, North Laurel, Russell Co., John Hardin, Simon Kenton, Collins, Frankfort, South Laurel, Ballard, Dunbar, Madison Southern and more schools (can't remember all of them as I type this out).

As an entire group, the level of QB play has improved over the years. More kids are doing more in the offseason than in the past.

Over the past two weekends, we have been to the KFCA/KY Fellowship of Christian Athletes Clinic at UK, and then the Notre Dame Coaches Clinic. 

We have picked up some stuff to make our QB Camp better and worked some of that in this past weekend. We will have a camp in Pikeville on May 11th and again in Harrodsburg on June 14th. Individual instruction & group instruction are available also. 

If you have a young guy that wants to attend one of the camps or get some small group/individual instruction, email me at coachdavidbuchanan@gmail.com. 

This camp started in 2002. We try to make each session the best one ever!

Here are some pictures:

                                     

Spring practice 2019.... #23 and counting

All guys with no unexcused absences got a spring football t-shirt

We shut down spring practice today for the 2019 season with a team meeting, followed with video by position. The state of Kentucky brought back spring football practice in 1998.  Counting the spring of 2015 when I was at Mason & Mercer both for spring practice, this makes the completion of 23 "years" of spring ball.

Today's itinerary

I believe we do a better job coaching spring practice each year. We constantly try to fine tune what we are doing and improve our methods. This year, I thought we did a better of adjusting when we would have to be inside than we have in the past. We were more deliberate in picking what we would work on and trying to stay on track in regards to new learning.

In the spring scrimmage, we tried to do better with the young guys. They got 20 plays and then we tried to make sure they had our attention today in position video meetings. Going forward, I hope we can continue to do a better job each year in how we coach the youngest guys on our team and those that are further down the depth chart.

Discussion topics for team meeting

So... where do we go from here?  We talked about that substantially today. We are excited to return an experienced football team for 2019. That is a huge positive. But, older guys also have access to cars, more "stuff" to get into, and can escape supervision more easily than younger players.  Doing "what is right" is important to the safety and well-being of our players. But, it is also important that they make good decisions because the little ones in our community look up to them.

I am excited about our team going forward. I believe our guys will make the most of the next few months to get stronger and earn the right to be champions by working hard and going above and beyond what is required of them. We also discussed that on a daily basis to seek improvement in regards to being unselfish and serving others. Great teams have guys that put the team first. We can "practice" that attitude and skill.... every day!  

If you have ideas to make spring football practice more productive, please send those to me at coachdavidbuchanan@gmail.com

Titan Football Spring Practice- 2019

We will begin our spring practice on Monday (3/4). We can adjust from day to day, but every practice schedule is completed and reviewed by our staff before we begin. All offensive period & some scout offensive scripts are done ahead of time as well. The planning ahead makes sure that we get everything covered and we don't leave anything out. 

Our first two days are almost exclusively individual/fundamental work by position and special teams.  The 3rd day we will go 11 on 11 scrimmage. Regardless of how many days we go, the first scrimmage is usually rough and ugly. I like to get that done and start building on the mistakes/corrections ASAP. We have good video to help us get started on what needs to be addressed. 

 Our spring scrimmage will be on Friday, 3/15 at 3:30 pm.  Spring practice is the time that our guys will get the most live reps. It is an important time for us. But, we also want our guys to run track. It helps them in football, we have a great track program/coach, and this is their time to be a kid. 

Any HS coach that wants to visit a practice is welcome to attend.  If you see something that will make us better, that helps us. If you want to come by practice, email me at david.buchanan@mercer.kyschools.us.

Following the examples of Charlie, James, James & Henry....building relationships & healthy attitudes about ethnicity

Charlie Mayfield running for a Touchdown, early 70's

We started this in Mercer County Schools a couple weeks ago and are off to a really good start. 

Goal: To help form & promote positive attitudes about ethnicity for our youngest students in Mercer County Schools.

Action: Every Thursday morning, 2 or 3 football players (and include possible expansion to other student-athletes and potentially all students) will eat breakfast with students at MCES.  The high school students that attend the breakfast will be of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The topic of conversation does NOT need to be about ethnicity or “race.”  What we want is very simple… friendly conversation and acts of kindness between the elementary students and the football players.

Rationale: We want to promote positive interactions and attitudes for our youngest students, before their heads are filled with stereotypes and negative messages regarding people of other ethnicities. The basis of this goes back to my experiences with my Dad’s players when I was 4, 5, 6 & 7 years old. Before my brain was tarnished by prejudice & false information, guys like Charlie Mayfield, Henry Ewing, James Tarrance & James Scruggs taught me the truth through their kindness, friendship and positive words to me at a very young age.  If we ever discussed racism or ethnicity, I don’t remember that. But, what I DO remember is how they treated me and that is what has made all the difference!

For me, one of the biggest highlights was the reaction of our players. One afternoon I explained to some of our older guys what we wanted to do and why.They immediately began to speak up and volunteer. I am exceptionally proud of their leadership and their willingness to help and serve others.

We have much work to do at Mercer County, on and off the field. But, we are working at it and I am blessed to be coaching wonderful young men who want to serve others and make our community better now and in the future!

Xenith Shadow- new helmet for 2019

Here is the new Xenith Shadow helmet for 2019. I've been a fan of Xenith from the beginning. The helmet works with shock absorbers instead of padding. Also, the shock absorbers are in a bonnet that is pulled around your head when you fasten the chinstrap, separating your head from the helmet shell.

Mercer County HS became the first Xenith Elite football program in the nation last spring. Ron Tanner is our rep and has been outstanding. Ron played DB for Ohio State's National Championship team, coached by Urban Meyer.

If you want to get Xenith Shadows for your team this season, you can contact Ron on twitter or his email at rtanner@xenith.com.

We are fired up for spring practice and to begin using the Xenith Shadow!