In about my sixth or seventh year of coaching with the Detroit Lions one fall my Dad had come to Detroit from Pennsylvania for a visit. He and his wife Judy spent a week or two with us and obviously he went to see some games, and he also came to work with me to watch how this professional football thing worked.
As I recall he came with me for a Friday practice and Wayne Fontes our head coach was his usual gracious self – inviting Dad in on any meetings and work sessions we had for the day. One thing you can count on with Wayne – he was always available and he made most parts of our operation open to anyone his assistant coaches brought around.
Friday is a pretty relaxed (but fiercely focused) day whether it was the meetings or practice. The pace is high, but everything is shortened down to top off the week for the players. It is also the only day the coaches get to go home at a normal time.
Most people think I am joking when I tell them that in the NFL the short day (Friday) is only from six to eight hours unlike some of the mega-days you have during the earlier part of the week.
Many fans don’t realize that it is a seven-day a week job. I believe they think we just show up and then try to figure out what we do on the day of the game. I guess sometimes it may appear that way when they watch the games.
In reality, the coaches have no days off unless there is a bye week or a Thursday game. Yup, it’s seven days a week from July until at least January. Trust me I am not bitching here – this is a fact of life for 32 coaching staffs throughout the NFL. No complaining it is just the grind of the season.
Although the players are required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement to have one day off – the coaches do not. This is why many rookie players – and first year pro football coaches – start to fade when you hit Thanksgiving. When you pass Turkey Day you still have five weeks to go!
Well, my Dad got to see a pretty compressed day of how we operated. Obviously later we discussed what he had seen and I was curious to his observations. Aside from the size and speed of the players he saw close up and their skills during practice (which is unpadded on Fridays) he was impressed with the organization of the day.
Now you have to understand that my father is an electrical engineer and he is very smart. Academics are of utmost importance in his mind for children in this country. To this day he was disappointed that only one of his four kids ever did anything worthwhile in school. (Which one of us … I’ll leave that up to you – and it isn’t me.)
But our discussion was centered about the teaching and coaching and how we went about it in football. Being someone who put a premium on education (especially math) he was taken aback that I thought coaches were good teachers and our system might be the best way to train (educate) people.
He disagreed with my comment. Now, he has been around his sons playing football for most of our lives so, he knows about the game. He is not an amateur.
For instance, he knows that unlike the Madden players and people who play fantasy football we don’t just get together on Sunday, put the pads on, roll the ball out and then smash into each other senselessly. We don’t have random drafts to acquire players, we don’t invent plays during the game – there are things like scouting, practicing and yeah that thing called the salary cap.
I pointed out to him that when you are an educator in a school you have a basic premise on how you instruct and develop a student.
In simple terms – first you present the information to your class.
In this stage, you obviously use as many different methods as you have at hand to try and reach each pupil. Relying on books, computers, Power Points, slides, and video. You have to find a way to reach the kids you are teaching.
Teachers have lesson plans they and train their pupils in fundamentals and build by stacking theories and ideas on top of each other. Coaches do exactly the same thing as they present the game plan and teach it to their players – and trust me it is in great detail and it is serious.
Just as teachers use feedback with discussion and quizzes so do their counterparts in football. As coaches we spend the same amount of time educating individual groups like wide receivers, defensive backs, linebackers, quarterbacks etc.
Plus, we add a few extra things to the mix. Each day we have what we call a “Walk-thru.” A walk-thru is basically a slow motion practice of what you are going to do in a full speed practice later that day. After our morning meetings we go out onto the practice field in sweats and jerseys and we jog thru the plays and schemes we will use in practice that day.
That walk-thru session is video-taped.
Following the walk-thru coaches grab a quick lunch from the cafeteria and bring it to the different meeting rooms and watch the video of the walk thru.
We eat taking notes and making corrections so that when we get on the practice field in full pads that afternoon we can be ready to fix anything that didn’t play out the way it should have during the walk-thru.
What you are looking for is any confusion between players and coaches during the meetings. So, we are constantly checking our teaching techniques and trying to improve our communication with our charges so that on game day we are ready. Coaches are not only trying to help the players to become better, but we are constantly looking to get better as an instructor.
Incidentally this is not unique to one team in the NFL. Every single team – all 32 franchises follow similar models. It is carried on in each city that has a professional football team.
This is a work model that is carried out every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday throughout the National Football League. Unquestionably there is a tremendous emphasis on athletic ability and the skills needed to play football. But what many people never see is the pressure coaches feel to continually improve their ability to communicate information to their players.
OK, let’s add one more layer to the day. The practice itself and how it is performed. Everything is choreographed – the amount of time you have to work with your individual group, the number of plays run by the offense and defense in each group period. The drills you will use, coverages that will be played on each repetition, the offensive personnel groups and plays to be employed.
To an outsider it can be amazing how smooth an operation a practice is and how things flow from minute to minute. There is very little confusion about what is happening. Now, there is a constant exchange of information, questioning and correcting between coaches and players.
Corrections are not personal – they are useful. The players welcome a chance to improve. Coaches are constantly motivating and pointing out helpful suggestions. There is tremendous communication on the practice field.
Naturally, there will be some yelling and sometimes it can be a little intense. But whenever you have a high level of competition in pressure situations there is going to be some stress. The key is to keep things professional with a good working environment.
Again, the entire practice is video-taped. That tape is divided into offense, defense and the special teams. There are camera shots from the sideline and end zone. Those plays are spliced together by our video team so players and coaches can watch each play from both angles.
More to the teaching.
Following the practice the players quickly shower – then hustle to the meeting rooms where we watch specific parts of the practice videos. Since things are fresh in our minds it is a great time to review what has occurred in practice. Corrections are made, techniques refined, questions answered.
As a team, you practice this same format with different parts of your game plan throughout the week. There is great camaraderie amongst teams and obviously the players do have fun being around each other – but everyone knows the only way you can get ready to play on a Sunday afternoon is to approach every meeting and practice with great attention to detail. It is a very serious operation when you get into your day of work.
My Dad agrees that it is a great model – but he is still somewhat skeptical of my claim.
But, then I add that the pressure on coaches mounts as the week progresses. In most jobs you can be fired for poor performance. But, most of the time you depend on your ability to produce a successful result.
In coaching you depend on your ability, but you have to count on someone else to actually perform. Trust me that is exciting, but it can be nerve wracking as well. Factor in the injuries that can happen, the ability of players to grasp a game plan, and sometimes just plain luck and game day can be an extremely hectic and stressful day.
I think sometimes school educators fail to see the value of testing. It isn’t just if the pupils get the subject matter. It is also a barometer of how well you are teaching. (I really see this in college where professors throw out their information – test the kids and say OK you got it you are smart – you didn’t so you are not so smart and you get a failing grade.)
Think about this for college professors – if most of your students do well – you keep your job. If they don’t – well you still get keep your job. If the college put pressure on them by saying your students better pass – they better master the material or you will be fired. Hmm… you might find that those office hours expand and they do a better job of finding tutors – study groups etc.
But, it coaching that is the way it works. You have a test every week – you either pass or fail. If you fail too much well then you lose your job.
Pardon me – I digress.
It is the way we coach as professionals in both college and in the NFL. But, coaching is done in even a more robust manner than teaching in school.
So, in review – this is how it all comes together in pro football. Here is how the week starts on the Wednesday of each week. It is actually a reflection of a typical day in 32 NFL cities.
The players wander into the practice facility between six and seven in the morning – perhaps spend some time with the strength coach in the weight room. Or if they are a little banged up maybe they see the trainers to get some treatment or rehab work.
They then make their way into the cafeteria and have a solid breakfast with fellow teammates and the football staff and any members of the organization who are in the building by 7:30. This by the way is prepared by an outstanding group of cooks and assistants.
In Detroit we had a tremendous chef and staff that would be at work by five in the morning to get the food ready for the team. These men and women are there from before daybreak until seven or eight o’clock at night. They were very dedicated – attentive and cognizant of an athlete’s nutritional needs and also what certain players enjoyed in regards to food.
A thirty-minute Special Teams meeting would then start every day. Sometimes if there was a critical game this meeting might even happened before the 7:30 breakfast. This intensely specific session would be followed by a team meeting conducted by the head coach.
The head coach would lay out the week for the players and then talk about where he felt the team was and what he expected for the upcoming game. He would highlight certain players on the opponent squad or perhaps talk about something unusual we might see in the upcoming game.
Generally, this was a very upbeat meeting with a lot of motivational talk and an attempt to get the squad in a positive frame of mind. If you were recovering from a loss the previous Sunday you could expect a lot of positive reinforcement to get the troops excited for the next game. Following a win sometimes it was a cautionary tone to push the players back into a rhythm or concentration and solid preparation.
From this meeting the team will split into offensive and defensive squads and enter the large rooms to gather as “O” and “D” units – generally 30 or so giant men in the two separate areas.
Once divided the respective coordinators paint a more specific picture of the overall team game plan. In these meetings there are more focused details presented and emphasis in respect to their part of the team’s plan (for instance the defensive backs don’t need to know what our offense is doing etc.)
After the offense and defensive team meetings conclude each position group divides and goes into what we call individual group meetings. The linebackers separate from the defensive line, just as the running backs are apart from say the quarterbacks. This is where the fine details of the game plan are laid out and discussed by position coaches.
In each of these sections – Team, Offensive and Defensive Squad and finally Group meetings all types of teaching techniques are employed. Lectures, game plan books for each player, whiteboard diagrams, videos, power points etc. It is a very detailed process.
When those meetings are finished (usually around three hours) the team assembles on the field in sweat shirts and sweat pants (offense at one end of the field and defense at the other) and we have a 30 minute “walk thru” where we actually “act out” in a jog our practice involving all the new plays and schemes.
Special Teams walk thru of 15 minutes follows the offense/defense period.
The players eat lunch.
We go to practice and now we go thru the actual game plan at as close to full speed as possible. It is detailed and fast paced (there is nothing like a pro football practice … it is fast and there is great concentration for close to two hours. (Naturally, the whole thing is video-taped.)
When practice ends you give the players about forty minutes to shower and have a minute to themselves. Then you break up into your groups and watch the practice video – which is critiqued by the coaches and corrected.
The players go home and the coaches go to the staff rooms and prepare for the next day. Players are usually out of the complex by 4 or 4:30 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Coaches rarely leave before midnight Monday – Wednesday. 8 or so on a Thursday and right after practice on a Friday. Saturday is early practice and either travel or assemble later at the team hotel for meetings.
So, the whole week is pretty much mirrored in 32 different cities by their respective pro teams.
Then guess what – like in school you have a test. But that test is a full-on contact, full speed, head knocking effort for three hours on a Sunday (OK maybe Monday night or Thursday night). You either pass or fail (Maybe once every few years you might get a tie.)
So, think about the week.
You teach the game plan in broad strokes, and then it gets more and more detailed. You then “walk thru” your game plan. Each day practice that game plan as close to game speed as you can. You correct the mistakes with video and diagrams on white boards. You do that all week.
Then you have a full out test that is presented in front of millions of people – I don’t think many classroom subjects are taught that well. Oh yeah if the teachers don’t do a good enough job – yeah you get fired. (“Be good – or be gone!”)
Again, I truly believe football is a very well taught subject!