Old School Coaches- What Made A Difference In Your Program

This Week’s Question

There are many things involved in creating a successful sports program. As you look back, what a couple of the things that made your program successful?

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS

I learned a very important lesson after my first year of head coaching. We always spoke about putting the emphasis on defense, but we always ended up spending more time on offense.

We decided to make a firm commitment to defense in practice in year number two. The basic practice structure stayed the same for me for the next 11 years.

This structure was dependent upon the number of kids on our team and the number of coaches available that could actually teach what we needed taught. After our stretching and specialty periods, we went to defensive stations, followed by defensive group, and ended with team defense. The kids and coaches caught on very quickly.

After we completed our defensive work, we always took a water break. We then practiced offense in the same manner. We went stations, group, and teamwork. 

Our practice ended with the kicking game and conditioning. We would often take a short break before we started the last two segments. 

As we got more accustomed to this plan, we found we could prioritize more clearly what we wanted to teach, and getting it done in a shorter period of time. We also learned that if we needed to add five minutes here or deduct five minutes there from whatever practice segment in defense or offense ,we could do that because we knew where we were headed next.

I think this organization really helped our kids and our coaches to grow. Practice was not a mystery and everyone knew what to expect. I honestly believe we became more confident and executed better with this structure. 

Massey- Mike, can you explain how you divided players up for the skill work?

Honestly, we divided groups numerically as much as possible.

We would have preferred a perfect balance of positions, but usually ended up with a large number DB’s for defensive drills and WR’s for the offensive drills.

Also, one coach would take all the QB’s in the program and work together on the passing and running fundamentals. The QB’s got a very valuable extra 15 minutes during each defensive and offensive sections.

Defensively, the stations were as follows: 1. 4 point agility over 5 bags, 2. Shed drill on 7 man sled, 3. Shed drill on 2 man sled keeping hands inside our shoulder pads, and 4. Form tackling on a tackling sled or ball carrier with alternating shoulders.

Offensively, the stations were  1. 2 point upright sprint over the bags and separate plant and cut drills with eyes up, 2. 7 man sled emphasizing team take off, right and left shoulder blocks, and leg drive to the whistle, 3. 2 hands inside our shoulder pads and firing out to a 2 handed pop, and 4.2 blockers on the two man sled, emphasizing take off and balance.

We allowed 12-15 minutes for each defensive and offensive segment.

The purpose of these stations was to become a fundamentally better football team by continually learning, through repetition, the proper use of the hands and feet. This was fundamentals at its most basic. Our kids believed in this approach as they saw the improvement over the course of a season.

Jeff Parsons- Wethersfield, Fulton

Three things that we did with our program was the starting of our Youth League on

Saturdays. It was a 6 week program that focused on teaching 1st thru 4th graders the basic fundamentals of basketball. Our Varsity Boys coached them and referred their games. We would only play games after 45 minutes of fundamentals and each session was 90 minutes.  We would have 1st and 3rd graders on an 8 foot hoop. 2nd (8 foot hoop) and 4th graders in the second session. It's was awesome to watch our kids coach our youth. It taught many lessons, one was the Varsity players teaching them Geese basketball and referee the youth.

It taught them that referees are human and miss calls from time to time like they make mistakes from time to time. Later in my career the girls programs joined us. 

Secondly, was having players that played for us coach our youth levels from 5th and 6th to JH. It kept the programs consistent and the teaching points similar. This is when we went from good to state level teams.

Thirdly, the later we got in my coaching career, the more we did shooting drill in practice. We still did 45 minutes of fundamentals regardless of it was a regular or post season game. Players spent less and less time working on their game outside of the season, so we had to create an environment of fundamentals and shooting. It's amazing to watch the defense improve immensely when shots are going in.

Mark Massey- Clinton

Good Things: coaches often say, “don’t look ahead.” I get that, but we began to drill to stop certain teams, in the summer & throughout the season. 

Going to clinics as often as I could. This permitted me to get a glimpse of some of the statistical analysis that college coaches were using, as well as a drill refresh, etc. 

Attending team camp helped in many ways. Team bonding can be a cliche, but it is a thing & the camps definitely fostered that. It also was an early opportunity to start putting together the puzzle of that season. 

Mike Cooper- Ottawa 

The little things that we did that we felt helped our program were:

1. Providing a summer program that would force our players to get better both as an individual and as a team. We tried to go to shootouts that would expose our weaknesses and force us to get better. Going to all day shootouts were also good for team bonding. We tried to have an overnight trip each summer in which we did a lot of team bonding activities and mixed in some basketball. 

2. We limited the summer program to the month of June. I asked for a 30 day commitment as opposed to spreading it out for the entire summer. We were playing almost everyday in June. We had better focus going almost everyday.

3. I tried to treat my coaching staff and spouses like family. I would take them out to eat as a group at the end of the season, we would also do things after games which allowed us to get to know each other in a different way. It was a great way to build trust among the staff.

4. Finally, we would have an end of the year banquet for all levels at a banquet hall, it gave the younger kids a chance to see how important the program was to the older players and listen to them speak about the sacrifices they made to make the program successful.  I felt like it motivated the returning players to work on their game. 

Greg King, Sterling

A couple things stood out to me on this question. 

One was the way we organized our staff.  The last few years when I was at Rock Island, we were a two-platoon system where guys either played offense or defense.  While we never two-platooned at Sterling, we did two platoon our coaching staff.  In other words, our coaches coached 1 position group.  Coaches were going to be the experts of our staff in those position groups.  They were taught the same fundamentals, same verbiage, same techniques, and schemes.  When varsity would be on offense, the sophomore staff would have been in their defensive periods.  At a smaller school, you could include the freshmen into this as well.  We would sometimes take our sophomore and freshmen staffs and do drill or teamwork together so the same things were being taught at the younger levels as well.  

Probably the best thing we ever did was do a summer retreat, much like you would have seen in Remember the Titans.  We went to Augustana College for 3 days.  We would have a number of practices, but more important we had team-building activities as well.  The players were also given responsibilities of getting everywhere, by themselves.  Coaches were not going to remind them when practices, meetings, and meals were.  They had to do that all on their own.  One of the activities, was a player led meeting, where they had to come up with the team goals for the year.  The 1st year, I thought I was going to have to step in and settle things down.  But they figured things out on their own…Thank Goodness!  

The next year…like all good coaches do, I stole an idea from IHSFCA Hall of Fame Football Coach Mike Noll.  At that time he was the Head Football Coach at Glenbrrok South. We added a book to our regimen.  They would be assigned a certain book to read.  Throughout the day, they would be assigned certain pages to read.  They would have questions to answer on their own.  We would also have small group meetings and all team meetings detailing the information we had read.  To me these were more valuable than any practice.  I also did not want to take 50-60 HS kids and give them any free time on a college campus…or coaches for that matter!!! One year I learned that we had 2 of our players’ parents going through divorces. I also learned who were the real leaders on the team.  The books we read were Seasons of Life by Jeffrey Marx, Always Compete by Pete Carroll, and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.  

I truly believe these 3 days were one of the reasons of our success at Sterling HS.

Greg Bennett- Lewistown

One of the most significant things I learned as a young coach, that helped me to improve and led to successful program development, was the importance of adaptability.

During my formative coaching years, I often made the mistake of having my teams, in both basketball and football, run offenses or defenses primarily based upon “what we did in the past,” simply because it was what I was most comfortable with. When you utilize a “what we did in the past,” approach, you often times run into the problem of trying to “force a square peg into a round hole.”

To be a successful coach you have to be adaptable. Having as offensive or defensive philosophy is important, but it is equally important to adapt what you are running from year to year to best fit with the strengths and weaknesses of each new group. 

Just because it worked in the past, doesn’t mean it is the best thing to do moving forward. If your defensive personnel in football are not suited to running a 4-4, don’t run a 4-4. If your basketball personnel are not a good fit for pushing the ball and playing full court defense, don’t push the ball and play full court defense. 

Most of the successful coaches I know, are those that are able to evolve each season with an altered coaching mindset, based upon making the system suit their personnel, instead of forcing the personnel into a system not suited for the maximization of their overall abilities.

Evan Massey- Galesburg

Man to Man Defense- We expected that our JH and FS level coaches taught man to man defense. My belief was that if we were to compete at a championship level, we needed to play good half-court defense. MM defense set a tone of toughness and accountability. 

Core Offense- We asked our JH and FS to teach 5 basic man to man offensive plays. I felt these five plays required the coaches to teach concepts of side ball screens, middle ball screens, screen the screener action, high low offense, and flex action. By the time the players got to the HS level, these basic plays were “automatic” for them. Then on the varsity level, we could take those plays and modify them to meet the strengths of our team. For example if we had a big guard, we might take a flex action and turn it into a post up for the big guard. So by the time they were on the varsity level, we might take the basic play and add an up, down, stay, etc to meet our needs. 

Tough Competition- Derril Kipp of Maine West talked me into going up there to play two weekends each summer for 30 years. We were the only downstate school there for many years. We played the best teams in the suburbs. And Mike Hellenthal as our AD, encouraged us to do the same in the regular season. We regularly played schools like Maine South, Maria, Buffalo Grove, New Trier, and Barrington. Both these experiences toughened us up and gave a great team bonding experience. 

Summer League- We took the concepts of Kipp’s summer league and created our own league. At its peak we had 50+ teams per summer. It gave our Galesburg girls from 7th thru 12th grade a chance to play a lot of basketball. 

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield

Here are 3 things we found really helped our program in the later years. 

#1 was getting the ball into the lane if we didn't get an easy one off our break. We got it into the lane either by pass,  dribble or however. It really created some great shots. 

#2 is we tried to cover more situations in practice. You can't cover them all but the more you cover the better prepared you will be. 

#3- We did give our asst. coaches little things to look for during practice- blockouts, going to the off. boards or perhaps setting screens. When the asst. coaches saw something which needed attention they would let that individual know what we expected. 

We felt all 3 of these things greatly improved our teams during these later years. hope this helps evan and thank you for including me, coach a.

Thom Sigel- Rock Island

As I look back at my time in coaching and what we did that I felt contributed to our success, things like attention to detail, being disciplined, working hard, and "program first" all come to mind.  But I think the question is asking for more specific aspects of the program.

I suppose the first thing that comes to mind is trying to develop a coordinated program and building through our youth program.  Within the framework of building a coordinated program, I will list what we emphasized.  (1) Buy-in from the coaches was instrumental to what we were trying to do.  This didn't happen quickly at Rock Falls or Rock Island.  At Rock Falls, there were five separate junior high districts feeding into the high school, so there wasn't much control or coordination.  We began by having coaches' meetings with handouts of philosophies, expectations, and the basics of our offensive and defensive systems.  We invited coaches to practices and even started to include photos of each junior high team and coach in our game programs.  (2) In the systems we stressed with each grade school and junior high coach, it was based on the principles of starting with half court man to man on defense and Open Post/Positionless motion offense.  Offensively, we wanted to work with ALL players being able to develop ball skills and learn how to screen, use screens, and cut without designating kids to certain positions before they even get to high school.  (3)  Finally, we wanted our lower level coaches to hold players to a high standard as well as coach them to compete.  While we wanted players to develop a competitive spirit, we wanted to make sure we didn't promote winning over development.  There are a lot of ways to win games at the youth level that don't help players improve.  So we wanted to play to win, but wanted it to be more about making sure they improve in the process.  Also, when we had multiple teams at grade levels while in Rock Island, we believed in splitting them evenly and not have "A" and "B" teams.  Most of points #2 & #3 go back to point #1 - we constantly had to work at getting coaches to buy in to our philosophies.

I know this makes my answer longer, but I wanted to mention some things we did to promote the program over individual success.  I played at Rock Falls, so coming back to coach there was special.  I talked a lot about the history and the program.  At Rock Island, we also talked about the tradition and all the teams that helped build the program into something special.  We also implemented some standards to promote selflessness.  We believed in getting team shoes, did not allow other gear that wasn't team issued (unless the trainer approved a brace, etc), and also wearing the team gear properly (ie. shirts tucked in, etc).  We said they weren't out there to try to be different and stand out from their teammates.  We would also find volunteer opportunities such as bell ringing for the Salvation Army to do our part to give back.  It was satisfying to hear them talk about how nice it was to put in that time to help others.

Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS

Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8. 

Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS

Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.

Tim Engebretson- United HS

He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.

Greg King- Sterling HS

In his head coaching career at Sterling, his football teams went 78-28, and had 10 straight play-off appearances and 5 conference titles. In addition to his success as a football coach, he was inducted in the Illinois Athletic Director's Association HOF. 

Mark Massey- Clinton HS

Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.

Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS

Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS

Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. He is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year. 

Greg Bennett- Lewistown

Greg coached many sports at Lewistown. He had teams go to State in girls basketball and football. He is in the Illinois Football HOF as well as being in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He is know for his commitment as a coach and his high energy level. 

Jeff Parsons- Wethersfeild, Fulton

Jeff was a highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Kewanee Wethersfield. He was inducted into the IBCA HOF. Presently he is the Athletic Director at Fulton.