Coach and Coordinator Podcast

The Game Plan: Steve Fairchild The Red Zone Show Notes This week in the Game plan series Keith and Coach Coiner have former coach NFL Offensive coordinator and college Head Coach, Steve Fairchild, to talk about ways to be proficient in the red zone. Coach Fairchild gave his areas within the red zone he like to mare with certain plays he felt fit within those areas. The coaches discuss different plans they thought were good in the red zone and Steve expressed it as an opportunity to get creative without doing too much. He even gives examples of ways to take some of your play calls and incorporate them into your red zone attack. Steve Fairchild was a 5 year NFL Offensive Coordinator servicing the Buffalo Bills, St Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers. He spent 18 years in the collegiate game spending 4 years as a Head Coach at Colorado State. 01:20 Steve Fairchild Bio 04:10 Identifying the red zone 05:02 Have a plan to manage points 06:06 Prepare for the worst 07:00 Planned plays by areas 07:37 Have a 3rd down, play action and end zone call 10:30 Having a catalog of plays per field zone 12:10 Not giving up on the run 13:00 Handling the extra defender 16:10 Personnel and matchups in red zone 18:00 RPOs 19:55 Working with limited schemes 21:10 You can get creative 21:50 What Steve likes in red zone 27:00 Working the protection 29:05 Steve Fairchild’s QB development 32:00 Working horizontally 32:55 First down playbook resources

This is the weekly breakdown of USA Football's Coach and Coordinator Podcast Series by Keith Grabowski. These short clips highlight snippets of what the episodes from the week feature and the different guests on the show. Highlights from this week on Coach and Coordinator: The Game Plan - John Palermo, Defensive line guru Deliberate Practice - Attention to detail in Up Tempo Practice Coach Grabowski's Notebook - Calibrating the Passing Offense The Leadership Journey - Next Man Up Smart Coaching - Managing Mid-season Slumps

Smart Coaching: Managing Mid-season Slumps On this episode of smart coaching Keith and University of Denver sport coaching professors, Dr. Brian Gearity and Dr. Clayton Kuklick dig into a very relative topic, the mid-season slumps. For most of you, you’re in the mid-season regardless of where your team is in the standings you must be cautious of morale wavering just from a long season. Slumps are natural, and the doctors point out what can factor into those slumps and how we can properly identify slump like behavior. Also, how we must be aware of not causing ourselves to go into a slump and the same with our athletes. 01:00 Where can we slump 02:25 Academic idea of slumps 02:50 Definition of a slump 04:40 Are there triggers for a slump? 04:50 Arousal 05:45 Different causes of slump 07:10 Practical ways to prevent slumps 08:10 Visualization and Self talk 09:12 Identify the cause 11:40 Involve experts 13:00 Hidden Causes 14:00 Involve the team and look outside your team 15:20 Team cohesion affecting slumps 15:35 Planning 16:40 Keep working the plan 17:06 Doing things regularly and constantly 21:45 Keith talks about a restart 22:40 Refocusing 24:15 Start with focus on the process 26:15 Final thoughts 27:02 Enjoying the process 28:10 Athlete performance variations

Leadership Journey Next Man Up Show Notes: This week on the leadership journey series Keith and Brian talk about the idea of next man up. They talk about the importance of how you get there. What kind of preparation you need for that to be true for your team. They use E+R= O (Events+Respones+Outcome) on how coaches and players are to be scaled in their possibility to be the next man up. Explaining ideas of how to give and receive feedback so the players can know where they’re at and where they need to be. 02:44 You can’t give what you don’t have 03:05 Teaching E+R=O 04:00 Coaches help level players up 05:40 You have to train like a starter everyday 07:00 Use E+R=O where you are 07:45 Train what if your number never gets called 09:39 Bill Walsh contingency plans idea 11:00 There’s a team and there’s an individual 13:10 Roles must be clarified and its importance 14:45 Show your skillset 15:25 Discipline is the shortcut 18:00 You can’t be totally prepared 19:00 Getting into the mechanics of E+R=O 19:30 R factor limit 20:20 E what players are good at or need to get better at 26:20 You have your own E+R=O 28:20 Daily Discipline 30:30 National Conference Information

Coach Grabowski’s Notebook – Calibrating the Passing Game In this episode host Keith Grabowski shares another page from his notebook, this time discussing on how calibrating the passing game and focusing on the details can help the passing game from the mid season on. 00:19 An example of how rhythm and timing is affected on game day 01:05 Evaluate how a wrinkle affects the timing for QB and receivers 01:30 Background in learning from Homer Smith’s teaching 02:20 1.8, 2.4 and 3.0 as key points in a progression 02:43 Value of understating the details of your concepts especially as related to timing 03:21 Understanding common calibration times 03:35 Move eyes and feet through the progression 03:50 Timing of common routes 04:21 Escape route for the QB as part of the progression 04:45 Dub Maddox and Dan Gonzalez rhythm features of their system 05:26 Navigation tags 05:38 Rhythm feature as applied to QB drop 06:15 Rhythm feature as applied to receivers 06:55 Benefits of using the rhythm feature 07:45 Routes requiring hitch steps in QB drop 08:30 Counting receiver steps 09:29 Using the stop watch in practice and film to calibrate the passing game 11:35 Evaluation through calibration 11:47 Quick game timing 12:10 Defensive considerations to hurt calibration 12:29 RPO calibration

Deliberate Practice week 6: Attention to Detail in Up-Tempo Practice In this week’s episode of Deliberate Coaching Keith and Andy investigate ways to be efficient, as well as, productive coaching in an up-tempo practice environment. Keith brings back a clip with Nebraska Defensive Coordinator, Eric Chinander, who talks about the culture working with coaches Scott Frost and Chip Kelly. They highlight the importance of having communication and understanding amongst the coaching staff and that flowing down to the players. The common point is to be focused and have attention to detail for the team as a whole to thrive in that environment. 01:00 Balancing the up-tempo environment 02:50 Eric Chinander quote 09:20 Importance of time 10:20 Creating a language 11:50 Sharing game plans 13:00 Coaching on the run 14:50 Having learning ques 16:00 Practice rep v. gameday 17:00 Having fun with it 20:00 Inter-staff communication 23:20 Detail translating into drills 25:00 Lowest affective dose 26:00 Protection on special teams 27:00 Brace and hop drill 28:05 Putting it all together 29:10 Resources 30:00 National Conference Information

Game Plan John Palermo D-line Show Notes: This week on the Game Plan series Keith and Coach Coiner have defensive line coach legend John Palermo. Coach gives coaches great ways to coach up defensive linemen. He gives coaches the throwback mindset and focuses on fundamentals of defensive line play. How in his time in coaching fundamentals helped him and it can help coaches even with the demand of defensive line play. 01:12 Joe Palermo Intro 03:50 Joe Palermo Bio 07:00 Difference in the game 08:20 Great hands, eyes and feet 09:30 Playing the option 10:12 Playing the spread 11:20 4 Technique 12:08 The 3-4 12:55 Fundamentals in collision 13:35 Stopping the run first 14:50 5 technique 15:30 The changes in defensive line 17:05 Teaching young players 17:20 Playing your personality 19:00 Keep it simple 19:35 What to teach about the eyes 19:58 See the different levels of offensive linemen 20:23 Keep your eyes up 22:00 How to play RPO (Run Pass Option) 23:40 Do your job 24:50 Defending screen pass option 25:20 Coaches must control it 26:26 The assignments 29:15 Drills used to react 29:30 Screen angle drill 32:11 Keep feet moving and always fight pressure 33:00 Reminiscing the Notre Dame championship season 38:45 Football Development information

This is the weekly breakdown of USA Football's Coach and Coordinator Podcast Series by Keith Grabowski. These short clips highlight snippets of what the episodes from the week feature and the different guests on the show. Highlights from this week on Coach and Coordinator: The Game Plan - Jim Arthur, Strength Coach, Miami Dolphins Deliberate Practice - 9 Drills to create task focus Coach Grabowski's Notebook - A Process for Adding a Wrinkle The Leadership Journey - Win by Don't Smart Coaching - Understanding and Dealing with Coach Stress

Smart Coaching – Tips for Dealing with Coach Stress: Keith and the doctors (Brian Gearity and Clayton Kuklick) talk about coach stress, something that may go overlooked in sports. The trio shares personal battles they have had in their careers dealing with stress. They cover the many different factors that boost stress in most coaches. They also look at some tangible ways to deal with stress to manage that as a coach with so much to balance. 01:05 Keith reflects 02:30 What are stressors 05:30 Strategies 06:00 Look at causes 07:10 Changing the environment 08:00 Too many expectations 09:30 Having a network 10:00 Normalizing the stress 10:44 Dr. Kuklick’s experience 12:19 Making it fun 17:20 Looking at the literature 19:00 Applying the strategies 20:13 Managing the stressful situations 20:10 Avoid and reappraisal 22:21 Time and a place 25:30 Using the most efficient tools 27:40 Don’t use the tools to overwork 30:00 Stop guarding the desk

Leadership Journey – “Win by Don’t” Show Notes: This week on the Leadership Journey podcast, Keith and Brian get in depth on behavior. Brian calls this “Win by Don’t,” by painting a picture of how behavior is core to a program’s success. He gives us the five “Don’ts” that are pivotal not only to football but life. The hosts give real life examples of how this works and how they have been affected by different behavioral situations, emphasizing why it is important to have these instilled in your program if not already implementing them now. 02:14 Behavior runs everything 04:00 Influences of behavior 05:45 Grinder mentality 08:00 Culture and strategy 09:25 Execution is the intersection of culture and strategy 10:00 Culture is to drive winning behavior 12:40 Simplify behavior 13:00 Behavior is 3 things 13:10 What you do 13:28 What you don’t do 13:50 How you do it 17:20 Win by don’t 17:30 Success begins with the things you choose not to do 17:55 Don’t do anything that can cost you everything 18:25 5 Don’ts 19:25 Don’t do anything that can take away from practice or playing time 21:03 Do not lie 24:07 Don’t BCD - blame, complain or be defensive 25:15 Don’t violate the culture 27:15 Don’t get involved with the wrong people 30:00 You can do everything but those 5 31:30 Success begins with giving yourself a chance 33:00 All of it transfers 33:45 Make sure you’re living what you promote

From Coach Grabowski’s Notebook - A Process for Adding a Wrinkle On today’s podcast, show host Keith Grabowski takes another page out of his notebook and shares a process for adding wrinkles as well as three strategies for utilizing motions and shifts to add a wrinkle to the offense in-season. 00:46 Message from 5x state champion Strait Herron Points to remember when adding a wrinkle in-season: 02:00 Focus on what you do best. 02:40 Keep it simple 03:23 Tendency after the first game of using this wrinkle 03:53 Progressing the package 04:55 Strategies for Movements (Shifts & Motions) 05:25 Three opportunities created by movement 05:55 Ways to stress the defense with mo 06:17 Know the breakdowns and film analysis 07:30 Use movement for personnel advantage https://youtu.be/dhLO7q7td2I 08:50 Create an extreme shift in strength 10:21 Bazooka shift 12:15 Take advantage of defensive checks 13:35 Stay a step ahead of the defense 14:45 Challenges and tips for implementation of movement 16:09 Anticipate adjustments from the defense 17:15 Coach and Coordinator in-season line-up

In this week’s episode of Deliberate Coaching Keith and Andy look into the idea of focus and ways coaches can get their athletes to maintain focus in different situations in practice which will can translate to games. The coaches introduce multiple drills that can help train an athletes focus while simulating real time situational football. 01:15 Intro 02:53 Tony Franklin quote importance of practice 07:12 Running back A Gap to A Gap Drill 10:25 RPO focus linebackers 13:20 Quarterback Power Read Mesh Drill 16:55 Defensive end pass rush 17:10 Be accurate with the rush 17:17 Set drill 18:49 DE focus for film study 20:20 Ron Lewis quote on wide receiver deep ball 23:00 Defensive back “cover regardless” drill 25:35 Offensive lineman stretch drill – “eat grass” 29:05 Understanding what people are trying to do 29:42 Interior defensive lineman “feel” drill 32:00 Snappers and punters specialist drill 36:00 National Conference information

The Game Plan Show note: In week 4, the coaches point out the importance of the strength and conditioning of the athletes. On this episode Miami Dolphins assistant strength and conditioning coach Jim Arthur joins the coaches to help expand our knowledge of strength and conditioning for athletes. They dive into the importance of work load and maintenance for the players’ bodies should be monitored and controlled. Keith points out the strength and condition of an everyday person looks different in some ways in comparison to an athlete. They discuss resources that may be available to find relevant content for coaches to take the best care of the athletes. 01:46 Jim Arthur intro 02:35 Different body types 04:25 Coaches wearing multiple hats 07:20 Jim Arthur bio 09:00 Work load for the athletes 11:35 Conditioning differences 13:13 Regulate the load 14:00 Fueling the athletes 15:10 Carbohydrate issue 18:00 Strength for high school 20:10 Balance of strength 25:00 Knowing the issue 27:20 Who wears the strength and conditioning hat? 29:00 Resources 30:30 Reviewed content 33:25 Charting the injuries 34:40 Accumulate the information

The Smart Coaching Series on the Coach and Coordinator Podcast is designed to help coaches improve over the course of the season in the areas outside of the X&O’s. Coaches need to be able to take care of people and this podcast will give pause for reflection and well as generate ideas for the coach to be smart about how he improves his players and team. This week on the series Keith and the doctors focus on the issue of player stress. Giving the coach the opportunity to not only be looking in the athletic perspective, but the human perspective that will ultimately affect them the rest of their lives. Also, the importance of watching the different types of stressors for players. They give different ideas of which a coach may find ways to monitor stress in their players, as well as, the ability to get involved and help players. 01:20 The different stresses an athlete may face 02:00 The different types of stress 03:35 Sources of stress 05:55 Seeing the subtle signs 07:00 Dr. Brian Gearity’s example 09:20 Tools for athletes 14:00 Keith’s truth statements 15:20 Communicate to the athlete authentically 16:40 Share personal tools 17:30 What does a coach do? 19:25 There is support 22:10 Subtle example 26:05 Emotion affecting stress 27:25 Distracting the mind 29:30 Changing the environment 30:30 Making it creative 31:35 Make it different 32:50 Talk to them after the fact 33:45 Final thoughts 34:00 Make a stress plan 35:05 Be cognizant

Leadership Journey: Self Awareness & Entitlement Show Notes On this episode of the podcast host Keith Grabowski and co-host Brian Kight look at the importance of self awareness and entitlement. Having a consistent sense of self-awareness is what enlightens a coach, and allows him/her to be more effective. Keith and Brian both observe the culture of coaches and describe how self-awareness can fix some of the issues coaches face. They give different ideas of what kind of self-awareness is necessary and ways to incorporate those in-season and out of season. 00:46 Chuck Kyle Quote 02:10 2 ways to look at self-awareness 02:55 Defining self-awareness 04:25 Being the coach you have been, instead of the coach you want to be 06:12 Keith observing coach culture 10:00 Film a coach’s self-awareness tool 11:45 Being self-aware in-season 13:20 Make time for self-awareness 14:25 How it works 16:45 Brian’s Observation 17:46 Put your own self-awareness tools in place 18:32 Making micro changes 19:30 Being reflective 22:41 Don’t underestimate the power of 1 23:13 Coaches struggles 24:25 Integrate one behavior 25:55 Self-awareness is a tool 29:00 “I’m always trying to get better” 31:15 Real deep self-awareness 32:06 The entitlement of adult professional 33:00 Open yourself up to time and people 34:00 Put weight room expectation on self- awareness 35:40 Focus 3 36:45 National Conference information 38:50 Daily Discipline