CONCLUSION
In order for the head coach to get the maximum from his assistants, he must set a good example. Since others will follow a leader who actually leads, rather than one who merely tells what to do, I believe a head coach must work longer, harder, and stay a jump ahead of his assistants and the other coaches in the profession. He must be dedicated to the game of football, well organized, sound in his thinking, and have the ability to delegate authority and responsibility to his assistants if he expects to build a successful program.
CHAPTER 4
Defense: Our Kind of Football
We believe defense is one of the most important phases of football. As a matter of fact, we work on defense more than we do on offense. We feel if we do not permit the opposition to score, we will not lose the football game. While in reality most teams actually score on us, we still try to sell our players on the idea that if the opposition does not score we will not lose.
If you expect to have a good defensive team, you must sell your players on the importance of defensive football. Our players are enthusiastic about defensive football. I believe we do a good job of teaching defensive football because the staff and players are sold on what we are trying to do. Defense is our kind of football.
DEFENSIVE OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of defensive football is to keep the opposition from scoring. We want our players to feel their ultimate objective is to keep the opposition from crossing our goal line.
A more functional facet of the primary object is to keep the opposition from scoring the “easy” touchdown, which is the cheap one, the long pass or the long run for six points. While a singular long run or a long completed pass may not actually defeat us, it is very likely if either play breaks for the “easy” touchdown we will be defeated.
Secondly, our kicking game must be sound, which I shall discuss fully in [Chapter 6]. We must be able to kick the ball safely out of dangerous territory. Providing we do this, and eliminate the “easy” touchdown, we believe our opposition’s own offense will stop itself 65% of the time through a broken signal, a penalty, or some other offensive mistake. Therefore, if my boys are aggressive while on defense, we’ll probably keep our opposition from scoring about 25% of the time they have the ball. The remaining 10% will be a dog fight. Therefore, we must instill in our defensive men a fierce competitive pride that each player is personally responsible for keeping the opposition from scoring.