We got us a ballclub... the annual trip to Highlands

Visiting with Coach Mueller before a July 7 on 7

Every July before workouts would begin, I would be concerned.... will everyone show up, work hard, do what they are suppose to do, etc?  The days between July 4 and July 10 could be a little stressful. As I have been told before, I think too much. 

When I was at Mason County, we really benefitted from doing 7 on 7 with the Highland's Blue Birds, coached by Dale Mueller.  Dale was an elite football coach and the Blue Birds are one of the finest football programs in the nation.  Fort Thomas was only about an hour from Maysville. In fact, during my time at Mason County,  Coach Mueller, his staff, and their program were good resources. I could visit a spring practice or workout and always benefitted from those experiences.  

To stay out of the heat on those 7 on 7 days, we had to get up there pretty early on a July morning. We always wanted to make that trip the first Thursday after the dead period. 

We would take around 25 guys. When we would get there, they would have about 60, or more. One time, Dale caught me off guard.... he wanted to split our squads. We would have offense on one end and defense on the other. Now, keep in mind, to compete with the Birds, it was going to take all we had just to keep seven fresh guys out there out of our 25! They could run bodies off and on that field like nobody else and they could all play.  I acted like it was no big deal, but wasn't sure how in the world we could hang with them for two hours with the limited bodies we had. Still, I was smart enough to know that we were getting more out of the experience than they were, and if that is what is was going to take for us to get this workout, that's what we're going to do. 

Well, we split our squad, and had about 12 guys on each end. We would move guys back and forth between offense and defense so they got both sides of the ball. It seemed like every guy in a white helmet could run, and they had an endless supply. We did that for two hours, non stop. Our guys worked their tails off and hung in there. It was doggone tough but they battled. And, we got a ton of reps and good work. It was always one of the most productive days of the summer. 

After 2 hours of chasing the Blue Birds all over both ends of the field, we would let our guys get a drink. Then, we lined them up to run our conditioning. We called them Royals. Most of the guys (Danville & Highlands) familiar with the conditioning we did, called them jingle-jangles. Now, most of the time, we dramatically abbreviated the number we would run that day. Our legs were shot. But, we start them,  just to see how our guys would react.  Our guys would line up and be ready to go.  No complaining. Tired, but no bad body language.

The best part of those July 7 on 7s... when  they were over and we were headed back to Maysville, I knew we had us a football team.  I knew our guys were tough, would compete and they would work. By the second Friday in July, I felt good about our football team. 

Seems like everyday, something comes up to remind me of an old team, player, game, memory, coach, etc. I guess when HS football has been such a big part of your entire life, it's gonna be that way.  A July morning in Fort Thomas with the Blue Birds and Royals... those were great days. 

Don't Mess with the Purple Haze Defense & Perry Thomas: Paris vs. Campbellsville, 1993

Coach Perry Thomas & I.  2005 All Stars, KY - 41, TN - 27
Papa Johns Stadium-Louisville, KY
Photo by theguru, BluegrassPreps

September, 1993, the Campbellsville HS Eagles coached by Perry Thomas, were ranked #1 in KY Class A. Good grief those guys were good. 

We (the Paris Greyhounds) were also undefeated and ranked in the top ten of Class A.  We were playing at Campbellsville and were excited about the challenge. Their head coach, Perry Thomas, was a good friend and still is today. We had become friends through Chuck Smith because he had been on Chuck's Allen County- Scottsville staff in 1987. They both went to Campbellsville HS in 1988.

1993 Defensive Prep Notes: Campbellsville HS

We did not get off to a good start. We had not charged our headsets. Strike 1. During pregame, I hollered at a coach, "throw me a ball."  He throws me an old kicking ball. I throw it back, "throw me a game ball!"  He throws it back at me and says, "We forgot the game balls. This is all we got."  Strike 2.

The game gets started. This was a good football team. We were battling, but they could move the ball and were tough to stop. Perry is especially a GREAT defensive coach.  We struggled to move the ball all night. And, we had some cats that could play. Good grief, the Purple Haze defense was tough!

Then, we have a fan get ejected. To get the full effect, he is escorted across the game field. This is a great night only getting better. My best guess.... he is mad at me. Not the refs. Usually when my teams have struggled over the past 30 years, I'm the one everybody is mad at. Goes with the job. 

Finally in the 4th quarter, down three TD's, we are moving the ball and about to score.  But, Marcus Anderson (#32) intercepts the ball in the endzone and takes it to the house for a pick six. One of my best players, incredibly frustrated, stands at midfield and flies the double bird at the Campbellsville crowd.... they have a packed house and are going crazy on the play. My defensive coordinator, Phil Burbage, grabs him and pulls him off the field. He tells the player, "You will pay for that on Monday!" The player says, "Yeah, I know. But, it was worth it."

1993 Paris Greyhound Football Staff

Over the years when my teams would struggle and I would talk to my Dad, he would say to me, more than once, "You don't want to hear this, but you need to get your a$$ kicked." He was usually right. Our 93 Greyhounds did not lose another game until Beechwood beat us in a war, round 2 of the playoffs, on their way to a state championship. The Purple Haze had given us a wake up call that we really didn't want, but we sure did need. They showed us what a great Class A football team looked like in 1993 and that we had a bunch of work to do. 

And, looking at those notes... we did not stop #40 (Timmy Mays) or #32. 

Perry Thomas is still a good friend and excellent football coach. We got to coach together in the KY-TN All Star game in 2005 when we beat Tennessee by two TD's. 

Trosper loves Jimi Hendrix. How can you not. But, dang.... every time I hear Purple Haze, I think about that night in Campbellsville and that great defense.  Still, if this Friday night, I could visit with Perry Thomas before the game, and get ready to have the Hounds and Eagles put the ball on the tee and play some football, I sure would take it. And, I bet you it would be a great football game. 

Purple Haze(live) - Jimi Hendrix

Blanton Collier: Quarterback Reminders

 Here are Coach Blanton Collier's "Quarterback Reminders." 

Once again, coaching of the eyes and attention to detail are the overriding theme to his insights.

Film Breakdown: Blanton Collier... the Pioneer

Blanton Collier was famous for his ground breaking work in video analysis. Here is a window into the thoughts and work of a genius. Head Coach, Paul Brown assigned developing a film analysis to Coach Collier when they both coached the Cleveland Browns. 

Now with Hudl and the extensive video work at all levels of football, we take for granted that someone blazed the trail. In the modern era of football, when coaches evaluate video, the roots of that process and what they are seeking to understand and evaluate, go back to Blanton Collier.  

Kay Collier McLaughlin (Blanton Collier's daughter) was kind enough to share this with me a few weeks ago. Considering his NFL winning percentage (76 - 34 - 2; .691), World Championship with the Browns in 1964, innovative contributions to the game of football, and his legacy of how he treated everyone, Coach Collier is most certainly deserving of induction into The Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Blanton Collier: Coaching the Eyes In His Words

Kay Collier Mclaughlin was kind enough to share some of her family treasures with me and my family. Part of the deal is that I share this with others. I am honored to do so. What a wonderful privilege.

If you love football, teaching, coaching, & attention to detail this document is for you. It is an insight into the genius of Blanton Collier. He took his military training in WW 2 and turned those lessons into becoming one of the most innovative minds in the game of football.

"Coaching the eyes" was a foundation of his coaching. It is an area often neglected, but the good ones are deliberate. Coach Bill Curry put a single stripe on the UK football helmets to help his staff coach the eyes... they could tell what their players were watching.

Hope you enjoy this. Please share it. If you are like me, you love this stuff and will appreciate. And, it is handwritten. Very cool.

#CaptainGeorge

Gameplanning : Stealing Ideas from the Greats and Building a System that Works

 

The workload on a Saturday morning is substantial, especially when you got very little sleep the night before. My goal is to be in bed by 2 am after a ball game. The next day it is time to get up and start working on the next game. This game plan procedure has been tweaked over 30 years of being a head coach. It has been efficient and effective. 

This plan has roots in much better coaches than myself. The biggest influencers:

1- Bill Walsh’s Finding the Winning Edge- best book for organizing a football program.

2- Brian Billick’s Developing an Offensive Gameplan- the foundation of how we build our script and gameplan each week. Completely changed how we prepare our offense on a weekly basis.

3- Chuck Smith- UK LB Coach & six-time HS state champion. We coached together when he was the DC at Mercer. His LB’s always called the play the scout team was about to run. Our process tries to eliminate that for our opponent as much as possible. 

4- Roger Gruneisen & Jim Kennedy- our offense is an evolved version of their offense, from the late 60’s and early 70’s at Trinity HS in Louisville. The basis is that you can run a small number of plays but from a large variety of looks and formations. 

5- Homer Smith -Manuals on Football- best source ever on offensive football, gameplanning, attacking a defense, etc. 

Here are the steps to building our offensive gameplan:

1- Offseason Scouting Report on Hudl: Before Christmas vacation -for every team on our schedule for the next season, we will have a scouting report on their defense. In Hudl, it will be labeled under “Opponent Scout” as….”Henry  Co. Defense: 2021 Prep.”

If we have played them the previous season, that is the foundation for this prep work. If it is a new opponent, we try to get video on opponents similar to us, and as late in the season as possible.  I will look for top returning players for the next season. 

A key component to all scouting reports, offseason and in season is the NOTES column we have added for HUDL. This column helps us organize the information and put the scouting report in the order we want our team to watch it. 

       

Some of the info in the NOTES column is self-explanatory.  Every playlist will contain the following:

3/4 & SH: 3rd & 4th Down, short yardage

4/3 & LONG: 3rd & 4th Down, long yardage

RZ: Red Zone

GL: Goalline

1MC means it is their first snap against us. In the example provided, it is their first snap vs. CAL(1CAL). 

Stunts, secondary coverages, exceptional players…. Anything you want can be identified in the NOTES column. For me, this is more efficient than entering data into every field.  I can go to exactly what I think our guys need to see. 

In the NOTES column and in the Hudl notes themselves, I will highlight the BEST defenders. 

Some coaches love to build a gameplan around attacking weaker personnel. That has a place. If you are playing a really good team that is winning, they probably won’t change much and you are probably OK. But, for sure, the good ones are going to be where they should be and you better be prepared for that. You can prep for the bad players, attacking a weakness, your offense takes the field…. And the bad player is on the bench!

After a big playoff upset one November, the opposing coach…. Multiple state titles and hall of fame coach, told me that I had really screwed up his offensive gameplan because I had replaced our weakest defender. My response was that we had needed the bodies through the season, but I knew against his team in that game, he would be a huge weakness and they would exploit him. Our good defenders…. They were right where they had been all season. That part rarely changes for any team. 

I highlight the BEST defenders because you can’t focus on everything. I want to make sure our guys know who we must block to win. And, it builds a healthy respect for your opponent. Focusing on the weak links will set your guys up to be over confident.  No matter the record, EVERY team has a best defender. That can really help your team get the right mindset. 

2- Pre Saturday Prep: Two Wednesdays before we Play- We practice before school every Wednesday.  After that practice, I will do a preliminary scouting report/ playlist for the opponent after this Friday’s game. I will use the same NOTES column to be organized. One timesaver is to get on the KHSAA webpage…. Who is leading the team in tackles, interceptions and fumbles?  That is great head start to looking for the best players. Because there is little time, I start with two filters:

1. 3rd & 4th down 2) YL: between the 1 and 20 (Goalline & RedZone)

If I have enough time, I will add Hudl notes and to the plays that have been filtered. If I don’t have time, I just add the right term in the NOTES column so I can find it on Saturday morning. 

Also, for many defensive coaches, who they are on 3rd/4th down, who they are in the RedZone…. That is who they are! The best video on any coach…. What does he do when the game is on the line…. Especially a game they must win to advance in the postseason.  

Also on Wednesday, I will do a skeleton of the practice schedules for the following week as well as set up the game script format, including pregame itinerary, so that again, it is ready to go on Saturday. One of the biggest takeaway’s from Bill Walsh’s book is that anything you can do ahead of time, do it.  Saturday morning, I am operating on very little sleep. If I can have part of the work for that week already complete, it makes me much more effective, not to mention a huge morale boost. 

3- Building the Scouting Report on HUDL: Saturday Morning- When I get to the office on Saturday morning, the previous game should be over for me. Our position coaches do a great job with feedback for our kids. My number one job with postgame video…. If something did not work, what was the problem?  That gives me a laser focus on what is most important.  Once I have answered that question and begun to work on solutions to those problems, it is time to prepare for the next game. 

I will also take a sharpie and mark through the plays on our script that we actually ran in the game. If there are plays left over that will work versus this defense, that is a great head start. Many of our special situation scripts, we can go several weeks, practice those situations, but never need them. When we do need them, we are glad to have them and glad for the large practice reps for a critical situation. 

By now, I should have the last two games on our next opponent. This part is archaic. After entering ODK, I go through it, play by play, and begin to put info into the NOTES column. I can do that faster than I can send it to HUDL assist. 

Once I have been through all of the video available, I will do a filter of every game or playlist with our opponent’s defense. Now, the only filter I need is NOTES…. That will incorporate everything I want our guys to see. I really like to have a scouting report playlist under 20 plays, but it can grow to 40 or more… which is great for me, but not what I want for our kids.  

Once the playlist is built, I put it in order. The list begins with their 1st snap and base defense from the games scouted. All the following are listed together: 3rd / 4th & Short; 3rd / 4th & Long; RedZone and Goalline. Those four groups go at the very end of the playlist scouting report. We do not use paper scouting reports. My goal is to send our team that scouting report by Noon on Saturday. 

By the time I send the scouting report, I have a good idea of what we are facing defensively. Homer Smith says that conventional names for defenses (4-3 for example) are a poor ways to look at a defense. We look for spacing and the technique played by the front, in addition to the fundamentals and techniques of the other defenders. One 3-5 you can attack like it is an old 5-3. Another 3-5 will turn into a Bear front when the ball is snapped. 

One thing I have to watch…. The older I get, I prefer running certain plays vs. certain surfaces, schemes & techniques. When I was younger, we basically ran everything we had vs. any look with few exceptions. We can still do that, but not really what I want to do.

Also, if your opponent is switching defensive schemes, take advantage of the tougher parts of the scheme they may struggle with executing. For example, if a team switches to standard Cover 2, try to get a WR outside and in the hole between the Corner and Safety.

4- Self Scout-Hudl & Excel: Saturday, post sending out Scouting Report- Once the scouting report is sent out, I download our offensive data from the games that I anticipate our opponent’s DC will breakdown. That data is organized into three sheets:

1. Formations 2) Plays 3) 3rd & 4th- Short/Long

If we are run heavy in some sets, we need to make sure we throw from that set this week. And, the reverse is true as well. We also look at … what sets can we eliminate?  Are there sets we can make them prepare for that we can then make sure they never see in our game?  Also, what sets have they not seen that could give them problems?

Ideally, we would like them to have to prep 10 or more sets they will never see in our game. We would like to give them at least five sets in our game they have never seen or at least it has been a long time.  In a minimum of two games, we would like to give your opponent’s DC 40-50 sets. The way our offense is set up, that is easy for our kids to do on offense.  If I can make the DC’s wife mad at him by Sunday night because he has his hands full breaking down 50 sets, that is a great start to the week …. For US!

In 2020, I almost had to play against my former staff. It fell through because of COVID. But in their preparation, their head coach, Jonathan Thomas, who played for me and is family in every sense, told his staff, “You know these tendencies are meaningless. You know he is going to make it all look different.” That is what we are after. 

On the sheet broken down by plays…. Of our best plays….. how can we run them from different sets that they have never seen?  One of the best moments of the 2020 season, Mike Johnson, a brand new coach on our staff, was really getting the hang of how our offense works. We had put in a new way to run off-tackle that we had never run before, even though it is our most run play over the past 29 years.  Just outside the RedZone, he is fired up and tells me to run that play with the new wrinkle. Great call… TD! We had practiced that new wrinkle several times through the week. Easy for us, but looked very different for our opponent. It was a play we have run a million times, but it had never looked like that before. Coach Gruneisen and Kennedy would have been proud!

Usually, the self-scout sheets, I will take home with me on Saturday when I leave to eat lunch with my family.  While we are hanging out at home, watching college football, etc. that is when the gameplan will begin to take shape. Out to the side of the sheets, I write down the plays I want to script. In addition, by Sunday morning, our QB coach, Graham Heasley, will send me script & concept ideas. Graham is a former head coach and offensive guru. He can look at a defense in a different way, take our offense, and find ways to attack that I will miss. Graham’s help has significantly improved our offense. 

5- Building the Script: Sunday morning- Before church, I will go to the office and begin to physically enter the script. I am using the skeleton I prepped on the previous Wednesday. During this time, I will draw a bunch of this up on the board to make sure what I am visualizing and anticipating is what we will get. We do a bunch of anticipating an adjustment. If it is a new set, we draw up how we think they will adjust. During the game, if we get that adjustment, we keep rolling. If it is not what we expected, we attack where they are not. Very simple approach. 

We have scripts for 3rd/4th Short, Medium & Long. If a play gets used from that script, it is eliminated, previous plays are bumped up, and we add new ones.

For 3rd/4th & Long, we like to mix it up, week to week. One week may be Trips, the next week is 2 X 2, and the next week may be empty. We may change up routes…. One week, the #1 WR runs a certain route…. The next week, the #3 WR runs that route. If possible, when the opposing DC breaks us down, we want something to seem different to his kids when we play. 

6- Final Script & QB Meeting: Sunday afternoon- Once the script is finalized, our QB will come in to meet with me at 1 pm. We will go through the script, any new wrinkles or adjustments. By now, he has seen the scouting report and it should make sense to him. If it does not, we go over it. Due to COVID, we did all staff meetings through email, text, phone calls, etc. It was frustrating but we made it work. My QB was also my son, so COVID didn’t matter since we lived in the same house. 

Here is what the script will look like:

The Script Key:

Blue Letters- Inside Drill: E (everyday), M(onday), T(uesday), W(ednesday)

Red Letters- Outside Drill: E (everyday), M(onday), T(uesday), W(ednesday)

White Letters in Blue Blocks : TEAM OFFENSE

Green N: November Drill- practiced vs. Blitz in Red Zone, every Tuesday , last part of practice. 

White Letters in Red Blocks : Thursday Scripted offensive plays on air…. Usually special plays, etc.

Conclusion:

As much as you can, make this a ritual and embrace the workload.  In the middle of the 2012 season, we ended a 7 game losing streak and went on to win out district and reach the state quarterfinals. Around that time, I started listening to music while I worked every Saturday and Sunday. I start with the same old song every Saturday morning since that season. On Sundays, I listen to music from old NFL Films. 

Don’t copy me…. make your own rituals and traditions. 

This method, being multiple with our formations, is a ton of work. But, it takes no talent to line up properly and it gives us a significant advantage by doing so. My goal is this… do 100% of what can help us win, do 0% of what will not help us win. 

If you have questions, suggestions to make our process better, email me at coachdavidbuchanan@gmail.com. 

Homer Smith said we owe it to our players to burn the midnight oil and give our guys the absolute, best opportunity to win. Go be that coach!

Remembering Homecoming 1974.....Starting the Week with GRATITUDE

photos from Kentucky Advocate

I made it. 

Friday was a tough day. It had been six years since my Dad passed away, October 1st, 2015. We were getting ready to play our Homecoming Game against a Western Hills team that would FINALLY be able to put all of their good players on the field in this crazy year two of Covid. I knew Don Miller would have his guys ready and  they absolutely got after us in a tough ball game. 

After getting our tails kicked at CAL, we had a good week of practice, but one filled with distractions and we were admittedly a little rattled. I wasn't really sure who would play and who would not play until 5:15 pm Friday night.... and has it turned out, we had some pretty good players that would not play.  We were thin, and some of our best players that were playing were banged up.  

In one of those moments, where God is telling you He loves you, I am walking in the complex Friday night to get ready for the game and someone yells, "David!" Nobody calls me David anymore so I keep going and hear it again. This time I look to see who is yelling and it is Lynn Harmon...a wonderful family/church/FCA friend going back to when I was four years old... really more family than friend. I am thinking she has come to check on me because it is the day that Dad has died. But, she has no idea. She does say that Steele (her husband, and one my Dad's best friends) is waiting on me in the office. Sure enough, Steele is there visiting with my coaches. We have fun hearing some old stories and it is a great visit that I really needed. Steele is one of those special people that when he is there, it seems like my Dad is in the room.  Not surprisingly, I get a little emotional as he walks out the door, but thankful for the visit and the very real manifestation of God's love that I have just experienced. 

Our game goes down to the wire and we are fortunate to win. It was a great combination of being happy for our kids and a huge relief that we have survived one of those weeks and one of those nights that not much had seemed to go our way. 

Saturday night as I drove by the HS, and saw all the cars for the dance, I remembered my very first Homecoming at Mercer County in October of 1974. The Scotties had won and were having a really good season, on our way to what would be the first winning season in school history. I was with my Dad after that Friday night game, up at the HS. I think we were working on video or maybe washing uniforms... not sure. The homecoming dance, I think, was taking place. I am not sure how, but I think we found some country ham biscuits that were awful good.  I say, "I THINK" because I was 9 years old. I definitely remember the night, but some details are a little foggy. I am sure of this, my Dad was very happy, and everyone we bumped into that night was awful excited about the win and the football season.  And, although I was very young, I was able to realize something really cool about what was going on.... the Mercer County people really appreciated my Dad. Football had been awful tough at Mercer County. My Dad's team was having unprecedented success. The Mercer folks appreciated my Dad, not just because they were winning more than ever before, but because they knew he loved those young men he was coaching. 

I have always been very thankful for the Mercer people and my Dad's experience there. Robert Allen's death at Boyle took a huge toll on him. And, things got awful tough on the field from 1970 until he left after the 1973 season. Even at only eight years old, I remember well my Dad's last home game at Boyle against Garrard. I remember being behind the home bleachers, on the end away from the elementary school, watching the game, and thinking..."we are getting better and we are going to be really good next year."  Somewhat of a strange thought for an 8 year old, but I had been around enough football and it was important enough to me that I could tell the Rebels were getting better and our best days were ahead of us.  My Dad didn't get to be there to enjoy those good days that were ahead for Boyle, but he loved his Mercer County experience and the people there sure made him feel appreciated... and I was thankful for him and that he had that time.  And, now for almost 50 years, I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for those old Mercer folks from the mid 70's. They made my Dad feel appreciated and wanted. I can never repay or thank them enough for doing so and that gratitude has stayed with me the rest of my life. 

As I get ready for this week, gratitude sounds like a great perspective. I think about another old coach that I love dearly, Alvis Johnson, who has gone out of his way to support me and our program as we work to build something that our community can be proud of and will help our kids. I am thankful for Coach Johnson who has been there for me, going back to 1982 when I was on the opposite sideline. I am thankful for parents that get their kids to practice at 5:30 am every Wednesday. I am thankful for coaches that work like crazy to give our guys their best chance to win. I am thankful for the greatest and most unselfish wife in the world who has supported me for 30 years of marriage and being a head coach through a bunch of great times, but an awful lot of tough ones as well. I am thankful for a community that supports Titan football and our kids. I am thankful for old friends that check on me during tough times, celebrate with me on the good days, and help me be a better person, coach & follower of Christ. I am thankful for administrators, volunteers, officials, concession workers, video guys, radio people, and custodians who make Friday nights happen. I am thankful for old guys that once wore gold, red, white, black, or blue helmets who are still family and keep in touch. I can keep going, but you get the idea. 

It's hard to be unhappy when you are thankful. It is tough to be selfish when you count your blessings. 

Go have a great week.

#GRATITUDE