Coach and Coordinator Podcast

From the Archives: The guest on today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast is Andy Kotelnicki, offensive coordinator at the University of Buffalo. In his fourth season at Buffalo, Kotelnicki worked with the quarterbacks his first two years at the program before turning to the running backs last season. Offensively, Kotelnicki led Buffalo to ranking second in the Mid-American Conference in yards per game last season and set a school record for total offense in a single season. Kotelnicki has coached three All-MAC players and helped quarterback Tyree Jackson set the school record for passing yards thrown by a freshman. Before Buffalo, Kotelnicki coached at the NCAA Division III level for two years with Wisconsin-Whitewater, also as offensive coordinator. The two years Kotelnicki was there, Wisconsin-Whitewater went a combined 28-0. Kotelnicki also had stops at the University of Mary (Bismarck, North Dakota) at the D-II level, his alma mater UW-River Falls, and FCS school Western Illinois, as an offensive assistant at each stop. On today’s podcast, Kotelnicki and host Keith Grabowski talk about moving from coaching Division III to FBS, having multiple schemes and the keys to having a high-powered offense. Show Notes 0:49 Coaching history, staff moving from Wisconsin-Whitewater to Buffalo 4:28 Differences between FBS and Division III football 9:14 Adjusting to the personnel of a new team 13:18 Having flexibility within your scheme 14:40 Balancing complexity and ability to learn 15:30 Working through adversity last season at Buffalo 19:16 Accountability with how a game goes 20:32 Emphasizing ball security and drive efficiency 24:16 How to set and maintain the tempo of a game 29:26 Coordinating tempo with the rest of the team 31:41 Use of RPOs, trying to distort the defense 34:09 The Winning Edge

From the Archives: Scott Peters, Assistant Offensive Line Coach, Cleveland Browns Today’s guest on the Coach and Coordinator podcast is Scott Peters, a former NFL player who originated the Tip of the Spear System for blocking and defeating blocks. Peters played for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers. After his playing career ended, he began studying Brazilian jiu jitsu and other mixed martial arts disciplines to rebuild strength and mobility in his ankle while recovering from an injury, and he continued training following his NFL career. A two-time world champion in submission grappling, Peters has combined his football and MMA knowledge to create a revolutionary program that assists players in improving performance while building blocking, tackling and block defeating fundamentals. In today’s podcast, Peters and host Keith Grabowski talk about how Tip of the Spear developed, how it works and more. Show notes 1:35 Peters’ background and how Tip of the Spear developed 6:30 How the system is applicable at almost every position 9:40 Why the technical aspect of blocking is so important 14:00 How the name “Tip of the Spear” applies to the system 18:30 Examples of how Tip of the Spear has been effective 21:55 How taking the head out of the contact makes the game more physical 25:50 How every part of each drill has a purpose 29:30 Peters’ current training schedule

From the Archives: Today’s guest on the Coach and Coordinator podcast is Bill Bedenbaugh, co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the University of Oklahoma. Bedenbaugh is in his fifth year at Oklahoma working with the offensive line. Under his direction, several offensive linemen have had successful college careers that turned into pro careers in the NFL. These include Daryl Williams of the Carolina Panthers and Orlando Brown who was just drafted in 2018 by the Baltimore Ravens. Brown was also an All-American during his time with Bedenbaugh at Oklahoma. Before coming to Oklahoma, Bedenbaugh had several stops across the FBS. He was the offensive line coach at West Virginia for two seasons, worked in the same position as an offensive coordinator at Arizona for four seasons, and spent time at Texas Tech coaching offensive line and running backs. Prior to that, Bedenbaugh worked as an offensive line coach at NCAA Division II school Ferris State (Michigan), two years at Central Michigan as a graduate assistant and a year at Valdosta State (Georgia) coaching offensive line. At Ferris State, Bedenbaugh was named the Division II Coordinator of the Year in 1999. After graduating and playing four years at Iowa Wesleyan, Bedenbaugh began coaching as an offensive line coach at Oklahoma Panhandle State. In today’s podcast, Bedenbaugh and host Keith Grabowski talk about teaching blocking technique, developing younger players, and Bedenbaugh’s experience with Scott Peters and the Tip of the Spear blocking system. Show Notes 0:46 Coaching solid players to success 2:08 Sticking with fundamentals in different offenses 4:16 Changes in technique to promote safety 5:52 Preparing playing against elite athletes 7:42 Adjusting practice to different kinds of players 9:00 Developing players with limited practice time 10:39 Working on blocking technique in-season 11:29 Evaluating players throughout the season 12:46 Making adjustments to make players better 14:36 Building a bond within the players you coach 16:27 Expectations for the season 18:25 Improving movement skills through strength and conditioning 20:26 Working on the skills of contact with the time given 22:08 Upperclassmen helping develop younger players 23:42 Advice to moving up in the coaching world 26:07 Keys to solid recruiting 28:35 Leading blocking technique with the hands 29:44 The Winning Edge

From the Archives: Today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast, the “Home Team” series returns, which will broadcast twice a month featuring guest host Joel Nellis. On today’s episode, Nellis is joined by Sean Lewis, head coach at Kent State University (Ohio). Upon his hiring, Coach Lewis became the youngest Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coach in the country at the age of 31. Together, Nellis and Coach Lewis discuss the importance of his wife, balancing football with family and the legacy he wants to leave with his players. 00:19 Home Team intro 02:00 Sean Lewis intro 04:30 Meeting his wife 05:50 Coach Lewis’ wife involvment 07:32 What makes her so valuable in Lewis’ life? 08:35 Coach Lewis’ son, Rory 10:15 Deciding to go into college coaching 12:36 Wife’s support being instrumental 14:20 Decision to have kids 16:35 Suggestions in the moving process as a coach 18:25 Small things Coach Lewis does to help his marriage during the season 22:55 One thing Coach Lewis does to help on the home front 24:35 Deciding to take a trip with the wife while coaching 27:03 You must be able to detach 27:38 How to manage phone time at home 32:22 All that matters is what the kids know 34:15 A struggle Coach Lewis has overcome with family and coaching 37:20 Lewis family increase in communication 38:25 How Coach Lewis’ commitment to family helps his players grow as men 39:23 Be the alpha 44:36 How Coach Lewis makes his players feel cared about beyond football 46:50 One thing Coach Lewis changed in the last three years to become a better coach 48:12 Victory formation 49:20 The legacy Coach Lewis wants to leave

From the Archives - Robby Discher, Special Teams Coordinator, Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Today in the Coach and Coordinator podcast, Keith Grabowski has coach Robby Discher, University of Toledo tight ends coach and special teams coordinator, to talk about the nationally ranked special teams unit. Toledo led the nation in blocked kicks, punts and are top 20 in punt return average. Keith and coach Discher talk about what impacted him in his coaching journey, what makes special teams so dynamic and how they’ve had this success this past year. 01:05 Coach Discher’s coaching journey 04:15 Key lessons learned as a coach 06:05 Player relationships 07:25 What’s special about being on the Toledo staff 09:55 Bringing in the right guys in recruiting 11:15 Player ownership 13:35 Do your job to the best of your ability 15:10 Have something that makes you different as a coach 15:35 Keith’s first experience as a college coach 17:12 Keys to excelling on special teams 17:30 The fundamentals 19:00 Scheme matching the players 19:45 Coach Discher’s special teams drills to evaluate who plays on special teams 22:33 How Toledo uses starters on special teams 24:50 Finding opportunities to block punts 27:20 Bring pressure once every game 29:35 Attacking the shield 32:10 Advantages in the return game 34:05 Vertical separation 34:55 Own the ball, no penalties 36:50 Coach Discher’s favorite stat, starting field position 39:40 Winning edge 41:12 Connect with coach: Twitter: @robbydischer

On today's Coach and Coordinator Podcast, the godfather of the Air Raid offense, Hal Mumme discusses Mississippi State and Mike Leach's big win over defending National Champion LSU. Then, we share a Q&A session with Mike Leach from the Air Raid National Clinic help in June of 2020. :47 Coach Mumme's thoughts on Mississippi State's win over LSU 2:36 It's the same plays over and over 3:38 You have to commit to the way they practice 4:20 MSU practice 5:13 It took 7-8 years to develop the system 6:25 Must have a great capacity for boredom 7:20 Practice is still pretty much the same as 1991 9:10 Developing as an Air Raid coach 13:45 The Air Raid National conference - introduction 16:35 Graduate assistants and opportunities to get into coaching 20:23 In season practice schedule 22:09 Quick game versus drop back footwork 26:09 Evaluating QB in recruiting 29:21 Scouting a defense if they are not playing an Air Raid team 31:21 Game planning and scripting decisions 33:25 Running the Air Raid in the SEC https://coachtube.com/course/football/2020-official-air-raid-certification-by-hal-mumme/6945551 https://www.storyoftheseason.com/

From the Archives - Michael Lombardi, Former NFL Coach/GM, Author of Gridiron Genious On this episode of Coach and Coordinator, former NFL GM and coach, Michael Lombardi shares his stories of coaching with iconic coaches Bill Walsh and Bill Belichik, and Raiders owner Al Davis. Lombardi gives insights into the coaching profession which he learned from the best to ever coach the game. All of these are detailed in his book Gridiron Genius - A Master Class in Winning Championships and Building Dynasties in the NFL. 00:19 - Intro/Book 01:57 - Bill Walsh 04:46 - Al Davis 06:27 - What makes a great coach? 08:19 - Culture 11:51 - Divergent in thought 13:43 - Evaluation 16:51 - The Middle 8 23:00 - Managing the downs 25:44 - Over-complicating 26:43 - Coaching Staffs 28:43 - Program Guys 30:27 - Player Development 33:55 - Working with Saban and Belichick 35:46 - Special Teams 38:35 - The Winning Edge

What if you were armed to make better decisions on game day? How valuable is information that allows you to make decisions as a coach that increase the probability of your team winning. That's the idea behind the Edj Series in collaboration with Edj Varsity. VP, Anthony Jones will join us weekly to highlight some of the best decisions and worst decisions from the previous week with an analytics perspective. In addition, we discuss how analytics are used at every level and educate the you, the coach, on how you can get started integrating analytics into your program. Today we discuss decisions from week two of the NFL season with the best decisions coming from Kansas City Chiefs and the LA Rams, and the worst, analytically speaking, from the Seattle Seahawks. We also cover some top decisions from the high school level and how they impacted the game. https://edjvarsity.com/blog/week-2-best-worst-decisions-2020/ Twitter: @CoachKGrabowski @aj_anthonyjones @EdjVarsity

From the Archives: Today’s guest on the Coach and Coordinator podcast is Van Malone, former defensive coordinator at Southern Methodist University. Malone played three years in the NFL for the Detroit Lions, then transitioned into coaching. Malone was named the 2017 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year. On today’s episode, Malone talks with host Keith Grabowski about important lessons he has learned throughout this career. Show Notes 1:24 Transitioning from playing in the NFL to coaching 4:13 Key lessons that have helped Malone develop as a coach 7:51 The defense installed at SMU 10:28 Taking away the RPO 14:48 Advice to coaches who are looking for their next opportunity 19:39 Coach Malone’s next step in his career

From the Archives: Today’s guest on the Coach and Coordinator podcast is Mike Denbrock, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Cincinnati. Denbrock enters his second season at UC, along with head coach Luke Fickell. Denbock's other college assistant stops include Notre Dame, Indiana State, Washington, Stanford, Buffalo, Illinois State and his alma mater, Grand Valley State. On today’s podcast, Denbrock and host Keith Grabowski discuss Denbrock’s experience on both sides of the ball, the best ways to get maximum effort from players and how the RPO fits into his offense. Show Notes 1:34 Learning points early in coaching career 4:25 Balance in setting goals and focusing on current position 6:28 Having a variety of coaching skills 10:00 Offensive and defensive staffs working together 13:04 Bringing together all three phases 15:11 Aligning culture within a program 17:15 What he expects out of his Cincinnati players 20:23 Keys to effective recruiting 22:51 Ways to teach players the game 25:43 Helping players understand the “why” in schemes 27:12 Being efficient in practice 29:55 Key points to Cincinnati’s offense 33:44 Balancing RPO and the play-action pass 35:42 Developing players to run Level 3 RPO 37:15 The Winning Edge

From the Archives: Hall of Famer Mike Singletary Today's podcast is an in season series from 20`8 on which Charlie Coiner, former NFL coach, joined my as a guest host. This week in the Game Plan series, Keith Grabowski and Charlie Coiner have a legendary figure as a guest in former Chicago Bears linebacker and NFL coach Mike Singletary. The Hall of Fame linebacker discusses the middle linebacker position and how playing middle linebacker has evolved against today's modern offenses. Singletary gives a real vivid explanation on what he coaches up at the position. He also gives insight on what makes him successful and what can make the young players successful going forward. 01:04 Mike Singletary intro 05:15 What are your eyes looking at as a middle linebacker? 06:10 Guard - center - guard read 08:25 Adapting to pistol and shotgun 11:20 Effect of hiding the ball in play action 12:50 Coaching up against the RPO 13:05 What do they normally do? 15:10 Important to have the philosophy of the offensive coordinator 16:55 Advice to a young linebacker or coach 18:12 Study the film 20:30 Important to develop an identity 21:20 What is my personnel? 22:40 Endzone copy of film 24:15 Coach Singletary’s pop steps 26:00 Coach Singletary's in game technique scenario 29:55 Coach Singletary being a student of the game 30:53 Having players in a system 32:32 Coach Singletary's unique situation 34:02 It’s a thinking man’s game 35:00 Every offensive play or player tells a story 36:05 First Down Playbook

From the Archives: Phil Longo, Offensive Coordinator, North Carolina This podcast was originally recorded right after Longo made his move to Ole Miss from Sam Houston State. Today's guest is Phil Longo, offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. Longo talks about the difference between playing enthusiastically versus emotionally, how he evaluates players on instinctiveness and how he tweaks 7on7 time to make them even more effective for his team. He also discusses how he turns weaknesses into strengths by always optimizing his playbook. Show notes 1:53 Start as a football coach 2:52 Lessons learned as a young coach 4:33 Building culture within an offense 6:30 Establishing relationships with players 8:28 Emphasizing instinct with players 9:57 Longo's grading system for evaluating instinctiveness 12:30 How Ole Miss breaks down its spring practice schedule 14:09 How Longo turns weak links in the playbook into strengths 16:39 Tweaking plays for red zone and goal line situations 18:04 Special Teams and trick plays 19:35 Don't install RPOs just to say you run RPOs 20:59 Play repetition 22:23 Coach technology 24:45 Keys to running an effective walkthrough 26:17 Role of assistant coaches on game day 27:28 Getting the most from 7on7s 29:25 The winning edge Coach Grabowski’s 3 key takeaways 1) Playing enthusiastically not emotionally 2) Having 26 plays and sticking with it 3) Get your players to play instinctively

From the Archives: Serving Others Through Football with Mike London, Head Coach William & Mary On today’s episode of the Coach and Coordinator podcast, host Keith Grabowski sits down with Mike London, head coach at the College of William & Mary. Coach London has an extensive coaching history dating back to the 1980s. In 2008, London led the Richmond Spiders to their first FCS National Championship in school history. For his work that year, he was named AFCA’s FCS National Coach of the Year. In 2011, as head coach at Virginia, London won ACC Coach of the year. Most recently, London was the head coach at Howard University, where, in 2017, he led the Bison to one of the greatest upsets in recent NCAA history as they upended UNLV. This past off-season, coach accepted the job at William & Mary to be closer to his family. Coach joined the podcast today to talk about how his experiences in life have helped shaped who he is as a football coach as well as talk about the culture being built at W&M. Show Notes: 1:27 Coach’s incredible journey 6:05 How did his journey as a police officer and through life reflect on his decision to coach 11:32 Servant leadership 16:00 How much the history of W&M means to him 18:43 Depth of his staff 22:14 Constant evolution at W&M and their work with USA Football 27:07 Evolving role of sports training technology and science 31:09 How the game has changed and how W&M prioritizes it 33:33 Winning Edge Related Content: User-804678956 – Erik-korem-director-of-sports-science-houston-texans User-804678956 – Richie-gray-skills-acquisition-and-coaching-education-specialist User-804678956 – Vision-decision-action-andy-ryland-senior-manager-of-education-and-training-usa-football User-804678956 – Ncaa-leaders-brennan-marion-howard-university-offensive-coordinator

From the Archives - Scotty Walden, Head Coach, Austin Peay After success at the D3 level, Walden made the move to D1 Southern Miss, being promoted to Co-Offensive Coordinator and after one game in 2020, interim head coach. Austin Peay hired Walden as their head coach. Scotty Walden sits down with host Keith Grabowski in today’s episode of the Coach and Coordinator podcast. Walden was the youngest head coach in the NCAA last year when he led Division III East Texas Baptist University at the age of 26. This offseason, he accepted a job coaching tight ends and receivers at Southern Miss. He discusses the simple drills he likes to teach accountability and responsibility and why young coaches should seek out non-prestigious jobs. Show notes :30 Coaching philosophy 1:39 Start as a football coach 3:36 On being the youngest college head coach in America last season 5:45 Key learning moments early in career 8:33 Building culture 13:35 The 5 core values of Walden's program 16:45 Pat-and-Go and run-throughs, not walk-throughs 22:43 The versatility of Inside Zone 24:15 Maintaining tempo while using motion and changing personnel 27:15 Breaking down Walden's Y Cross 30:55 Approaching situational offense during the week 33:25 Keeping things simple (K.I.S.S.) 35:30 Advice to a young coach 39:15 Coaching technology 42:45 Two-minute drill 44:15 The winning edge

Today’s guest on the Coach and Coordinator podcast is Travis Johansen, the newly appointed defensive coordinator at University of South Dakota. Previously, Johansen served as the defensive coordinator at Grand View since 2013. The Vikings were 61-11 in his six seasons with five conference championships, six NAIA playoff appearances and won 2013 national title following a 14-0 campaign. Grand View finished in the top 15 of the national rankings all six seasons including four top 10 rankings. Johansen was a finalist for Heart of America Assistant Coach of the Year in each of the last two seasons and was a national coordinator of the year finalist in 2015. He was even featured in a Sports Illustrated article, “The Search to Save NFL Defenses,” this past November. Grand View ranked as one of the top NAIA defenses throughout Johansen’s tenure and produced seven defensive All-Americans. Coach Johansen joined the podcast today to talk about his famous positionless defensive concept as well as discuss some of the pillars of his defense. Show Notes: 2:03 Coach’s start 4:23 Key lessons Coach learned on his journey 6:37 Pillars of coach’s defense 9:31 Coach’s definition of toughness 12:29 Changes to the game 13:13 The culture that is developing at South Dakota 16:40 Evolution of defenses 20:56 Schematically putting together the defense every year 24:21 How his new way of thinking of defense affects his recruiting 27:38 How to prepare players during the week to play different techniques 32:11 Teaching the big picture 34:56 Defining coach’s defense and how he makes it his own 37:23 Tips to coaches who would want to run a similar scheme 39:25 Winning edge 41:19 Connect with coach Connect with Coach: Twitter: @CoachTJohansen Website: goyotes.com/index.aspx?path=football Related Content: www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/14/defe…ers-naia-grand-view User-804678956 – Match-quarters-hybrid-defenders-cody-alexander