HOF Insights- Approach to Post Season

What was your approach to the post season? Was your approach to the post season any different than to regular season? Were there things you did or didn’t do that you felt were important to the success you had in the post-season? 

It should be noted that the three coaches who answered this question had TREMENDOUS post-season success. Kathy Bresnahan (Volleyball), Mike Tracey (Football), and Tim Engebretson (Football) consistently had great post-season runs. 

One thing opposing coaches knew about these threes teams- Their teams played their best in the post-season. 

Kathy Bresnahan- Iowa City West

The post season is the most exciting time of the year…every practice, every film session, every weight room session is to prepare for the post season.  It’s easy to have rhythm and continuity in the regular season because our conference matches are on Tuesday and tournaments every Saturday so it’s imperative for coaches to maintain some sense of normalcy when the playoffs begin. Matches are held on different days but try to keep your film sessions, skill work, weights, and team dinners consistent with the regular season

Players - especially seniors - are keenly aware that a loss means they’ll never put on that uniform again. Reduce their sense of urgency and keep them focused on the task at hand. Stay with your regular routine. 

I always worried about that end of season injury so once we qualified for the State tourney, I reduced some net drills as we didn’t want to blow out an ankle or knee.  We still had intense practice but dialed them down a notch

Finally I suggest to young coaches to keep copious notes during the post season, especially the state tournament. What worked, what didn’t?  Little things like team meals before the game. What time to arrive at that venue.  What distractions should be eliminated/reduced?  It’s up to the head coach to put their team in the best position to be successful so evaluate everything after the season is over. 

Mike Tracey- Alleman, UT

First of all, we looked at making the playoffs as a great accomplishment and honor. We shared our feelings with the players and community members every chance we got.

The main thing we did was cutting back our running, conditioning, etc. during practice. We kept our two days of lifting as critical. We did our best to stay strong and not be physically tired.

Lastly, we did our best to keep everything positive. We did extra film study with our guys to make them as confident as possible. This was very important in "the old days" of the Wednesday-Saturday games. I do not believe we ever lost a second game. We certainly lost games in all the other slots, but if we won game #1, we won game #2.

Tim Engebretson- United

It was not drastically different because we wanted to stay with what helped get us to the postseason. However we did alter a few aspects. 90% of playoff games for us were played on Saturdays. So we had one extra day of practice. With one extra day we could afford to shorten up our practices. I always felt that helped the crispness of practice.We also felt it helped our players' mentally. 

We spent a little more time on our opponent and the scouting reports. Especially if it was someone who was unfamiliar to us. Practice was less physical and we had a lot more walkthroughs. 

We also reinvested time on special teams. The last thing we did was revert back to preseason fundamentals. We tried to stress to our players that blocking and tackling were still the most important aspects of the game.

One of my personal favorite things of postseason practice was watching the underclassmen. Players not needed for scout teams were given tremendous freedom to do what they wanted in another practice area.  You could see the leaders by who was setting everything up. You also found out who was aggressive and who didn't want to be very physical. Without coaches controlling the environment you could learn a great deal about each individual. The great thing about it was those players never realized how much we observed them.