The Madden Curse: It is Contagious?

The Madden Curse. Those who have appeared on the cover of Madden NFL games have had to fight off the curse that comes with it, be it injury or a disappointing season. It's real right? And highly contagious? I didn't catch the main strain, but a brand-new hybrid - the fan curse. I am a walking agent of losing.

Symptoms? Whoever I pull for loses. That's tough enough. However, the losses only start to pile up when I turn on the tube to watch my team. If they do not lose, then they take a dive as soon as I tune in. It has a devastating effect, for whatever reason. Sometimes, I don't even have to watch the game, just keep tabs on it and the team tanks. Highly infectious.

Peyton and Co. blew a 24-0 lead they had to lose to the Pats. That's when I turned the game on. Tennessee lost to Georgia, blowing their shot only after I began checking in, immediately following a wedding. On the hardwood, the only loss Duke has suffered this year is the one that I sat down to watch. Oh yeah, sorry Cardinals.

Rationally, I know that there is no way that tuning into a game can affect the team and their outcome, yet the correlation and reach of this diseased curse is staggering.

There are only two possible solutions to assist my team. First, never watch a game or check the scores until the clock hits zeroes. Second, become a rogue agent of athletics, and pull for teams that I never would before in order for them to tank and my teams turn things around.

The first option is almost impossible as I am a self-proclaimed sports nut that loves to watch. I would even watch a Browns/Raiders game because I love to watch that much. So avoiding a game that my team is in would be infinitely impossible.

Go Ducks! Just practicing as it seems that pulling for teams that I loathe in order to put the hex on them is a more viable option. Attempting to put the curse on the opposite team is my only recourse, right?

Competition is unpredictable. One fan tuning in can't change the outcome of a contest. I don't get in the head of a QB when I am sitting on my couch. It's hard to get past it, but here is no fan curse.

It comes down to preparation and execution. Positive plays and turnovers. Coaches versus coaches. It comes down to the decisions that everyone involved with the team makes, not me.

My doctor just recommended this - Go Buckeyes - just to be safe.

Discipline Poll

Please take a moment to answer the following questions regarding discipline.

Setting Team Goals

In my post, Failing to Plan? Plan on Failing, I write about planning out and accomplishing personal coaching goals. Do that first. Always. Secondary to your personal goals, as they will drive everything else, is setting team goals. 

Here are three tips to help you as you look to establish your team goals from year to year.

Be inclusive. Be specific. Be an evaluator.

Be inclusive. You are not heading into each season on your own, so don't set goals like you are. Generate goals with your coaches. Especially your coordinators. If you are a coordinator, then go ahead and make your goals to share with the staff. These are the guys that will drive you and your team to reach your goals. Share the goals, the vision, of the program. When everyone can see it, they can buy in.

Make sure to include your players. They are the ones that are actually going to make them a reality. Either through the use of team captains, or team units, do it together. Write them down, and let everyone see them. Let them drive your team. If offers up player buy-in and responsibility. The same goes for the coaches.

Be specific. You want to win 10 games? Great, but too vague. How will you measure success beyond a W or an L on your schedule? Set specific, achievable goals. Don't over think this, just give it a number. In a spread, passing offense set your goal for your QB to reach 2,000 yards. It's an achievable goal that gives your QB something to focus on each time he drops back. O-line? Earn an 85 percent blocking grade. D-Line? 20 sacks. DBs? 10 picks. Come up with a goal, a specific number to let the kids work toward it. If they are behind, then it gives them something to work toward. If they surpass it, then you can set another one. At the end of each season, evaluate the success or failure of each goal. Tweak your numbers to your staff and to your personnel, but be working to reach a milestone.

One of the best, specific goals I have is on offense. 10 yards of offense gained should equal 1 point on the scoreboard. At the end of the game, I can quickly evaluate the efficiency of our offense. 200 yards of total offense should show as 20 points. Any less than that and we weren't efficient or we were turning the ball over.  You can easily factor in turnovers and defensive scoring. 

Be an evaluator. Evaluate often. See what it working and what is not. If the team or a position isn't meeting the expectation, then adjust and make changes. Whatever it is, keep evaluating. If the goal is to complete 60 percent of passes between ten and twenty yards and you aren't close, it may require a change at a position(s) or a change in play calls.  It could be personnel, or game plan, but now you have a baseline standard to measurably compare your results to. Things will fluctuate from year to year as no two teams are the same, but this puts you in the ballpark each year, especially after first-year results.

Play 'Em All: Allowing Kids to Play Multiple Sports

As a coach, let kids decide which sports they are going to play.
Don't make them pick.

Some coaches have rules against it. If it isn't directly stated, it is usually implied. Schedules are made so that there isn't room for anything else. You make kids choose. 

If you are like most coaches, your team isn't brimming with D1 talent that you can easily recognize in the seventh or eighth grade. A kid doesn't come into your office, or classroom, and say, "Coach, I want to dedicate myself only to (insert sport here) because I know I am that talented or dedicated that it will be my future." While some of you may have had this happen, most of us can't relate. 

The reality is that there are millions of kids who play ball who don't make it past high school.

Why make kids give up a sport sooner than they have to?

Don't!

High school and junior high especially are training grounds. It isn't until then that they can really give it an honest shot to choose one sport anyone. Just think, a kid playing youth ball that is voluntarily coached by a dad, you know, the one whose son is actually a guard, but somehow is the best QB on the team. How many times have you either seen or heard something like this happening. It's not until kids get an honest coaching shot, that they should even consider one sport over another. 

Let kids play 'em all. 

Kids should play everything. Not only does athletics build many of the character traits they will need for the rest of their lifetime, but it makes kids better athletes. A certain skill in one sport, can hone another skill in a different sport. Baseball requires that kids learn to see the ball and focus on it. Doesn't that help your wide receivers? Aren't good pitchers usually good QBs? A post player on the basketball team works one-on-one, using their hands all the time. Don't your defensive ends do this too? 

Have you ever heard a coach say, “I can't wait for my guys to come into summer camp out of shape? Lying on the couch all summer will surely give us an edge?" Of course not. Football coaches should want kids coming into camp that have been playing ball all summer, who are conditioned, and have been competing. Basketball coaches should want the same thing when the winter rolls around, right?

The only issue that could arise is other-sport practices while your sport is in season. Work this out with the coaches of the other sport. Create a cooperative system that benefits you both. It will benefit you both.

This shouldn't even apply to junior high. Let kids go to basketball practice on days when you don't have football. Let kids be kids and play them all. We have the opportunity to have summer workouts and conditioning early in the summer. The problem is that's the heart of baseball season in our area. I will hold off the beginning of my practices because I know that so many kids are playing baseball. Those that can make it, will. Those that have practices or games, they are excused as they are still in season.

Be telling a kid to pick a sport, they may be deciding between two things, or more, they already love. Let them decide when it is time to choose. In the mean time, tell them to, "Play 'Em All!"

Thank You!

Writing can be a difficult task. Finding reward and fulfillment in it takes effort and persistence.

You are making this blog and this experience worth it all. It blows me away when I check on the readership of this endeavor to I see that people are reading my tiny piece of the ever-expanding web.

I know that you could be spending your time doing something else, yet you take the time to read.

If you like what you read, please subscribe to recieve posts via email by signing up in the field on the right-hand side of the page. Also, you can see when new posts go up by following me on Twitter at @bmofat.

Thanks for being a part of Coach Em All.

Sincerely,

Coach Moffitt

The Difference Between Winning and Losing

The difference between winning and losing is preparation. The following are key ingredients to winning on the scoreboard.

Guest Post by Mark Jackson

 Superior Personnel. Not just talent, but personnel. As in, who you are using and where you are utilizing them. Yes, a team needs highly skilled (fast, strong, talented) players. However, it needs football players more than it does athletes. Putting players in the right spot for your offense/defense is what makes your personnel. Make sure it is maximized

Superior Condition

Both physical and mental conditioning are vital. Strength of mind often determines strength of body.

Superior Attitude

Players need to be taught how to focus and to develop their mental attitudes. Too many times I've been around people who could not re-focus once some unfortunate happened. Their mental attitude was poor, and it typicall led to more 'misfortune' as they were unable to overcome that small bit of adversity.

Superior Teaching

I call it teaching, rather than coaching, because I truly believe we are teaching our players football (much like a professor teaches his class about chemistry). Coaching, well, that is merely the name I give to it. The coaching staff that can teach their players the proper techniques to execute their schemes will have a distinct advantage. It is easy to talk football, and hard to apply. Teaching movements, blocking, tackling, etc. are the things that win. What you know has very little bearing on the game, it's what your players know and can execute.

Fewer Mistakes

If you properly take care of the first 4, then, by the nature of your teaching, conditioning, attitude, and personnel matchup, your team should make few mistakes. Elimination of missed assignments, penalties, missed blocks, and missed tackles is the real proof of your ability as a coach.

Sell Your System

Decide what offensive/defensive system you will use. Totally sell your team that your system is the best. Make believers of them and use "propaganda" whenever possible. Make sure to use the words "our program" as opposed to "my program" (and even "their program"). Using "our", "we", "us", etc. helps bring everyone together and show that we are all in the same boat together. Convince them you have a well thought out reason for everything you do and everything they are asked to do. They must believe that what you are asking them to do is for their ultimate good. Sell your program to the public as well. This includes student body, faculty, parents, boosters, news media, and the 'future' players (elementary & middle school). What they think of you and your program is highly important. Their opinion and the environment it creates affects your players. The more successful you are in handling the people in these areas, the more success you should enjoy. Likewise, you will have fewer headaches and problem.

You Must Have Discipline

Instill in each player at the very beginning what you expect of them in regards to: practice, equipment, locker room, dress, school work, training guidelines, relationship with teachers, coaches, teammates. Get rid of those who can't follow the rules. It's usually ok to have one jackass, but not 2, because they'll breed. You won't win with jokers and without discipline on the team, you have nothing. Be firm and fair. Teach and stress character, accountability, and self-discipline.

Be For the Players 

Do something extra for your players. Let them see you "going to battle" for them. They must see you throughout the year. Attend other sporting events. Be visible. If a player is convinced of your extra efforts for them, then he is more likely to give extra effort of his own. Be sincerely interested in them outside of football. Take pride in their achievements, both athletic and otherwise. Show interest in every player on the team. Remember, each one goes home and talks to their parents about their coach.

Coach Mark Jackson has 20 years coaching experience in junior and senior high school football in Missouri and Tennessee. Currently, Jackson is the offensive coordinator at Obion County Central High School located in Troy, Tennessee. Jackson and his wife, Kim, reside in Union City, Tennessee. Follow Jackson on Twitter @CoachMAJ, or on his blog at coachmaj.blogspot.com

Cool as Ice: Keeping Your Cool in Stressful Situations

Letting the ref know what colorful adjectives describe him. Taking out frustration on a headset. Slamming your hat into the ground. Grabbing a kid by the facemask.

Either you’ve done some of these things yourself, or you know someone who has.

Let’s face it, football is an emotionally-charged, ticking time-bomb.

It’s easy to let all of that emotion out. It can feel good, right? But does it make things better? Blowing off this steam may make you feel better, but your coaches, fans, and most importantly, your kids, may feel otherwise.

At some point in your career, you are going to be completely dumbfounded by something that a kid, or official does. It’s a guarantee. How you handle yourself in that situation has the power to define who you are as a coach. Blowing up, while it may prove a point, can have far greater negative implications that positive results.

Consider the following:

There is a game going on. A heated competition. Is that really the place to blow a gasket. While you are displaying your mastery of English semantics for the official, your QB is waiting for a call. Your team is falling behind. You lose the advantage of being steps ahead of your opponent. Unless there is a stoppage of play, you can’t afford to waste time with officials. Does this even work? Try talking to your wife that way. Ouch.

Does blowing up prove anything? It can. Don’t get me wrong, I think that in certain situations that over displaying emotion can serve a purpose. But it has to be used a tool, a specific, situational tool. You can’t scream, rant and throw things all the time, especially not during a contest. When it’s all you do, then it’s all people expect. Think of it like the boy who cried wolf. If you are constantly harping every call, or jerking kids around by the facemask (which I detest), there is no distinction of conduct. People write you off as angry and you don’t have a valid argument that you are not. Practice is the place to get it out. Tossing your playcall sheet when the offense isn’t executing shows your kids to get it together. Toss it during a game and your administration may be discussing conduct with you.

It’s hard on you. No coach wants to die from coaching, do they? Blood pressure spikes are for real. Some guys have to teach a class the next day, or play with their kids, and they need a voice to do it. It’s not worth it.

Here’s a scenario: Craig is your starting left tackle. He’s a kid with monster ability. You asked Craig to carry the football bag to the practice field. Instead, he gets someone else to do it. During practice, Craig sluffs through plays that are not called to his side. It’s time for team offense. You have two choices, A) scream at the guy, letting him know he isn’t doing his job and he better pick it up, or,  B) put someone else in. Both options are going teach Craig a lesson. Option A takes a great deal of effort on your part and then you hope he picks it up. Option B requires less of you, and shows him a consequence. Both teach. B is more effective because it teaches without you having to be a berating bad guy.

What effect does this have on your kids? This may not be something you have thought of, but kids, even the ones you aren’t blowing up on are, paying attention. If a kid is yelled at all of the time when he is at home, football may be all too familiar and uncomfortable. Aren’t we supposed to be role models? Don’t belittle kids. They don’t know as much as you. They aren’t as strong as you. They are not you. Find a way to relate before it’s too late. This is especially true in youth and junior high sports. An article by veteran coach and speaker Bruce Brown cites that “72 percent of athletes in America drop out of organized athletics by the age of 13.” 72 percent? That’s 7 out of 10 kids that play junior high ball that don’t make it to high school. Make them want to play football, not hate it. One of the greatest indicators of anger that we can perceive as humans is yelling. Don’t be angry. Be productive.

The bottom line is that if you want to get ahead, either on the field, or in relationships with your kids, coach smarter, not harder.