The ‘art of coaching’ is a phrase that exists for a reason.
Aside from that, a baseline must be established in terms of the athletes work habits and trainedness. There’s no way I would have provided the current leeway in previous seasons. We have now come to the point in which the majority of the program runs itself.
You would be hard pressed to accomplish this at the high school level because there is so much physical development that lies ahead.
In my case, while the player’s development is varied, I have a handful of players who are as physically developed as they’ll ever need to be at this level or the NFL.
That’s not the end of it, however. The players who have much more room to go are aware of it and I like to think that the way that I interact with them inspires the proper courses of action to be taken.
Don’t think that it’s a free for all though. Our program is very well run and I provide more structure for those players who have not proven themselves to be as responsible as I require.
Remember, January up to Spring Ball and May, June, July, are highly structured months of training. So we can afford to loosen things up, appropriately, during camps and the season.
As I stated earlier, while auto-regulatory options are in place, there’s more structure when the game season starts.
For any deeper discussion I’ll direct you to my two most recent lecture DVDs as they contain charts, graphs, and example sessions.
Thanks for your insight, your DVD is definately a resourse on my to get list…
On the subject of resourses. Do you have a contact at the NSA in bulgaria, I have emailed Prof. Daniela desheva enquiring about a translated copy of ‘training and adapataion in sport’ is available to order? I haven’t herd a reply and resourses like that are hard to come by in australia
Have you had any success in influencing the structure of camp and practice training loads in a manner that you find more appropriate and perhaps untraditional by football standards?
If so, in what manner, and if not, do you see this ever happening at the collegiate or professional level?
I would prefer to not discuss this, as it pertains to my role at PITT, on an open forum. Feel free to email me
Regarding the future of the collegiate or pro level,perhaps; however, the key is that all coaches, physical preparation and technical-tactical alike, are more well informed and that the physical preparation coach has the complete trust of the head sports coach to truly manage all physical stressors.
without going into too many details, it’s important to know that behind every great RB, WR, is a good enough offensive line and QB that is providing the necessary blocking, pass protection, and passer ability to give the perimeter skill guys a chance.
It’s important to note that our G, C, G, TE, and QB are 1st year starters.
Having said that, Miami has phenomenal talent on the field and their defense will probably be one of the nations best by the end of the year.
As I walked around on the field during pre-game I was very impressed with the amount of ‘athletes’ on their team. They look and move exceptionally well.
