Coach Russell’s Ruminations – December
I hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy holiday season! It’s the best time of the year (Bowl Season!) as we get to take some time to be around our friends and family, and reflect on how lucky we…
Hartigan Continues to Prove Himself as a Program Builder
Jim Hartigan is only adding to his reputation as JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano (CA) continues to win. Hartigan took over at the private school in 2007 after it had gone 2-27 the three previous seasons and…
Why Run The Ball?
Many new fast-paced, no-huddle offensive philosophies are not about taking as much time off the clock as possible. Rather, these offensive sets are all about trying to score as many points as possible in the shortest amount of time. Personally,…
Coach Russell’s Random Ruminations
Happy November, Coaches. I realize that our readership spans the profession, from youth coaches on up through the college ranks, so a lot of you are currently in different phases of your seasons. If you’re into your post season, good…
Post Season Analysis: Factors Affecting The Passing Game
The off season gives a coaching staff the opportunity to go back and evaluate their work from the previous season. Done in detail, the process can serve to identify the effectiveness of passing concepts. By charting key data on each…
Blanton Collier: Coaching the Eyes, Leading the Heart
“You can accomplish a lot if you don’t care who gets the credit.” This Blanton Collier quote is posted in our weight room. During my eight years in Paris, I really enjoyed meeting people that knew Coach Collier. His daughter,…
Putting Together and Practicing a Game Plan
The season has reached the point where you’ve been able to see plenty of film on opponents and you know what they will do against certain formations and in certain situations. Of course, the opponent knows the same things about…
Detailed In-Season Practices for Skill Maintenance
As we all are in the midst of the season and we are focused on teaching our players about our opponent and the specific schematic things that we will implement during the practice week to take away what they do…
A Legendary Kansas High School Coach
Bill Freeman was a legendary high school football coach. One of the most successful football coaches in Kansas history, Freeman had an overall record of 242-81-3 over a 36-year career. Now 83, Freeman suffers from Alzheimer’s and is living in…
Making Offensive Personnel Groupings Easy For Your Players (And You)
I was recently asked by a friend how to make sense of utilizing multiple offensive personnel groupings and make it simple enough for all players to understand. Years ago I went from just one personnel group to multiple personnel groupings…