Workouts

Yesterday we had a good day of work. In one on ones the d-lineman put a lot of pressure on our o-lineman. One of our best lineman had a tough day as we used speed to rush him. After the workouts his father was talking to me saying "My son got his ass kicked today."

He is worried that he is getting too caught up in all his recruitment. It is hard to remember that when it comes down to it, these players are just teenage boys having to deal with all that. This player is a good young man, just needs to refocus a little and I am confident that he will. He knows what he needs to do and won't let those outside distractions affect his play.

Overall we are seeing improvement in many players. This won't be that easy of a season coming up, but we do have a lot of returning talent. Since we platoon players too, the development of these players is increasing.

Many sophomore players watched the championship game from the stands, they came up to after that game and said "We want that too coach." They know what is expected of them, this is a winning program and this causes them to raise their play as well.

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Wendover Clinic

This past weekend Utah high school coaches had a clinic in Wendover NV. We went to Wendover but mostly went to have our meeting as coaches about the upcoming season. There we determined basically where players would be situated and what we looked like for the upcoming season.

Earlier in the day we attended the golf tournament and the four coaches who had never golfed before were put together. Let's put it this way. Someone needed to have a camera following us around because it would have been a comedy. We did better than expected and had a lot of fun as coaches. I guess I should take up golf because it is a way to get to know other coaches and forge relationships.

While there I did attend one session of the clinic. I went to Robert Anae's session about the passing game. I am finding that I like the Air Raid system more and more because the reads are very easy for a QB when starting out. It gives them confidence and can force the defense to do what you want. The weekend was fun especially with the free meals I received. One of our coaches went home with 330 bucks won in blackjack.

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What We Do

Here at Timpview we run the spread offense, and we do a good job at it. We actually tend to run the ball more than pass but we can still be dual threat which helps a lot. We have fast lineman that allow us to pull them to lead block and our receivers are good at beating their defenders. Our running backs do a good job at having vision and the cut back lanes. My favorite play we run is the QB counter, it is a money play that very rarely is stuffed.

Defensively that is the trade secret that we guard closely. Coach Wong doesn't share it with anyone so out of respect to him I won't share too much of what we do. Let's just say I am at the program that fits with my coaching philosophy perfectly.

Another thing that makes us so good is that we platoon players. Our players just have to worry about one position during the week can focus on that and go against each other in practice. When you work against good players you have to get better as well. This has helped our players grow tremendously.

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Workouts today

Workouts were good except it started to snow as we ended doing one on one's. The Varsity D-line coach couldn't make it so I ran their practice and coached them at the end. I really feel like I am growing into this role more and starting to be more assertive. The time for learning is over. We had a guest visitor, Coach Crowton from LSU was out to look at some of our boys. He really likes a couple of our lineman and then noticed one of our safeties. It should be interesting this year to see what we can do.

Tomorrow we head to the clinic, we are supposed to golf before getting to the clinic. I have never golfed in my life so this will be a funny experience. I might as well learn great way to do networking. As I write this now it is sunny so go figure, looks like we might be able to golf tomorrow after all.

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Humility

Remembering last season an event occurred which could have changed my path into coaching high school ball. Remember that I was given the job to be the line coach for the sophomore team, since the previous coach had left to go to Hawaii to be with a program there.

Unfortunately this previous coach couldn't find a job on the big island and so returned to the program as a sophomore line coach. Now I could have thrown a fit about being hired as the line coach and that it wasn't fair. I didn't and humbly just decided to continue learning from an experienced coach. My advice to any coaches is that sometimes you have to be humble to actually learn and grow as a coach.

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Drills

We have been doing some workouts outside recently and watching the lineman I realize that we have some talented players returning. One of the best things about this team being so competitive for your position is that it makes you a better player. Right now I am seeing that as we have very good players going against each other, but also players getting better through drills. This Friday we head to Wendover for the annual coaches clinic and discuss the upcoming season. Since I am now caught up with everything in summary form I will now be able to give you more detailed info as we go along.

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Off-Season

Since the end of last season I have decided to not go back and coach youth ball, it was too much to handle and I do need a break. I still will return to Timpview and hope to see another ring come home. We return some key players that are garnering national attention from recruiting services. Currently we are in a 23 game win streak, the state record is 28. If we continue winning we could have a third straight title and a state record in wins on record. As we start doing drills, I will comment on how those are going, but the players know that to play on this team they need to compete for a spot. The question is are we rebuilding, or just picking up from where we left last year?

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High School Season

As we went through the rest of the season. Every team in the program continued on winning. At the end of the season we had our final game which if we won, would mean an undefeated season, the first in school history for the sophomore level. From the beginning of the game the opposing team was outclassed as we seemed to score at will. We ran the ball as we attempted to run out the clock. One of the best plays of the season was when we had one of our lineman run in for a touchdown. We finished the sophomore season undefeated as the Varsity prepared for for a run at the playoffs. We were the number one 4A team in the state of Utah and seed so we hoped to dominate on the run to the state title.

It didn't seem to matter who we played as we dominated teams on the field. Heading into the state championship game we actually faced the only other undefeated team in the state, Pineview. This was a good team that actually was number in total offense for the state. This would be a real test for our team but our players were confident that we could do what we needed.

We started the game and our players came out on fire, we struck immediately and had a quick td on the board, their first possession we intercepted the ball which was returned to inside the 5 yard line. From there we ran the ball in and was immediately up 14-0 in less than 5 minutes. From that point on it became a rout as we won the game 50-7. As we shook hands with the players you could see the pain in Pineview's eyes as their seniors and other players were crying from the loss. They were a good team that unfortunately ran into a very dominant team. Many saying that this was the best team out of Utah in years.

This was the first time in Timpview history that we won back to back state titles and went undefeated. As we went into the off season we now prepared for going for a third straight title. Many in the local papers have commented that a dynasty is brewing with this school

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Youth Season Continued

We continued through our season on the youth team and lost only two games to the same team. They seemed to have our number and I knew we would have to play them in the championship game. I didn't change anything in our game plan as I prepared I knew what we had to do and I planned out my gameplan and didn't worry what they would do.

We headed into the championship game and started out slowly as neither team could get going offensively. Finally before the end of the first half we hit a routine 5 yard out that our receiver broke for a 65 yard TD. Being first on the board took a lot of pressure off and our players relaxed. We came out in the second half and proceeded to put up three more touchdowns en route to a shutout victory for the league championship. To finish the scoring we ran the hook and ladder play which worked to perfection with everyone enjoying themselves on our sideline.

What I had learned from the high school staff rang true that day. Only worry about what you are going to do, not what they do. If you worry about what they will do, you will never be able to beat them.

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High School Season starts

The first game of the season the Varsity team won 14-0. Many mistakes were made which were attributed to the jitters of the first game of the season. We were on the way to starting the goal for the Varsity team though, be the first team in school history to go undefeated and win back to back state championships.

For the Sophomores we started preparing for our first game of the season against Spanish Fork High school. I was nervous headed into the game as I didn't know how our team would do. Those fears took shape when we gave up a touchdown right off the bat on a long pass play. However our team responded wonderfully and we proceeded to run and pass en route to a blowout win. We prepared well and the players responded to what we wanted them to do. Our backs ran hard and defensively we settled in and began to stiffen as we played. Privately I felt that this coming season would be a good one.

The Varsity game the next night was the turning point in my opinion of the entire season. Unfortunately for the rest of the teams in the state who might have hoped that this didn't happen.

The game started out alright, Spanish Fork came out with a good plan of attacking with short passes underneath our coverage and we had to adjust. Fortunately we held them to a Field Goal Attempt which they missed. The game was going in our favor up until the end of the third quarter beginning of the fourth quarter. We started putting our backups in as we led 30-0. They scored and on the ensuing kickoff we fumbled the ball. They scored again and suddenly it was 30-14. On the ensuing possession we fumbled the ball again on the first play of the drive which they converted into points. Suddenly it was a 30-22 game as they converted the two point conversion. Our next drive stalled and they started to drive. You could feel the momentum with them and they drove down for a fourth td. They attempted a two point conversion again but our linebacker was able to make the tackle to stop it so we held a 30-28 point lead. On the next possession we were able to drive and hold onto the ball to finish the game with a win.

After the game you would have thought they had won and we had lost. Our players were sullen and quiet even yelling at each other at some points from the frustration. Their fans and players were yelling and smiling and laughing.

Coach Wong pointed out it was a win and that the goal was still intact and keep their heads up. From that point on no team ever came that close to beating this team again. The players ensured that they never relaxed on another team. Another reason that as Spanish Fork came back our players started to press harder to make plays and made mistakes. This was a lesson for them to not do that again and just do what they are taught to do and everything will take care of itself.

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Youth Team

Remember how I had asked for the chance to run the offense for the youth team? Well I decided to coach both teams that fall and so prepared for the upcoming season. I went into the season with a young man already in my head as our QB as he was a playmaker and wouldn't fall apart if a mistake occurred. This years team would be 13-14 year olds with a lot of returning core players to help us out. We were excited for the season and started practicing with the team. It was a small league and we were picked to finish third. We headed into a pre-season scrimmage with a total of four plays really installed just out of multiple formations and run to perfection. In the scrimmage we took chances we normally wouldn't have (Consistently going for it on 4th down) and lost by one touchdown but we came away confident that our offense would work.

We headed into the season and prepared to play a team that we were told hadn't lost in three years. The game was a hard fought battle with us this time playing field position. We punted the ball and pinned them in their own ten. They punted and we began our drive from the 35 yard line after a great return. I proceeded to call a run play which worked so well I called it again. We ran the same play four times which led to a touchdown to seal the game. We won the game and prepared for our next game. I felt that something big was on the way for the coming season.

As for the QB position I actually chose a new player that joined the team as our QB he had those factors that you can't teach a QB, not as fast as the other guy and not as strong an arm but he was accurate and a leader of the team so I chose him as my starter.

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