Are You Ever Satisfied With Your Playbook?

[Texas_D_Coach 14]

Is it just me, or does everybody try to improve their playbook at the beginning of each season?

It seems I always want to make things a little better than last season. Find that perfect play that will score every time against any defense. I know it's crazy and my wife thinks I'm obsessed.

Just wanted to know if I'm the only one who does this... Ha!!

[Husker Fan 2]

I tweek my playbooks all year as I see what is working and what is not, in additional to pre-season changes. Your wife is not alone in thnking something is wrong with their husband!

Have Fun

Husker Fan

[Coaches Chair 0]

I'm shuffling through the playbook steady and comparing the plays I love to the personnel I know that is coming back for next season. Lets face it, sometimes you won't have the players to run the offence that you want, so you need to simplify things so that they can handle it. It'll save you a lot of frustration on game day!

Cheers!

[Johnp2 21]

You are not alone. If I've learned anything:

1. Know when to scrap plays. So many times I've had plays that looked good on paper and in practice, but bombed in games. I'd say each season I have about five plays that we run only once because of this.

2. Fine-tune the plays that do work well.

As Coaches Chair stated, designing plays around your personnel is also key. Like most of you, I continue to tweak my plays throughout the season. I also love watching other teams, taking a play they run and customizing it to meet our team's strengths.

So no--you are not alone. ;-) I also spend as much time on my line-ups as I do my playbook. The night before a game I'll spend a few hours determining which plays we want to run, and which players will be on the field when we run them.

[rushbuster70 16]

I always think it can get better.It usually does as I see what more guys can do.But its an always in progress thing with mine.

[Orange 26]

I'm constantly tinkering with my plays. I have some that are handwritten and my regular plays that are laminated, I write over them with a pen sometimes when I want to change something. It's a mess by the end of the season.

[YMCA Coach 1]

I think every coach tinkers with their playbook at least some at the start of the season. It's a necessity, as players and rosters change and we adjust and adapt to new players.

Last season I coached a 10-13 team at the Y, and it was the smartest and brightest team I've ever been privileged to coach. Everyone on the team was eager to learn, quick to pick up new ideas, and accepted their roles without issue. In that season, I expanded the playbook. Alot. I started with a playbook of about 24 plays (10 run, 14 pass). 10-12 would be used pretty much every game, maybe 4-5 others would make an appearance 5-6 times a season. I ended up with a playbook of 72 plays. Most of them didn't get used (they were designed for very specific situations), but the kids picked on plays even if they only saw it on paper.

With that team I could adapt quickly, even draw up a play in the sidelines and they got it. We had one play I put in the playbook just before the championship game. I called it 657 Tango, and it was effectively a double reverse ending up in a hook & ladder. It was almost a joke, more than anything else, but one of the assistants saw it during halftime and pushed hard for it to be used. Third play of the second half, I called it. It ran to perfection - in fact it was better than I envisioned it, because one player (Ben) saw a hole and adjusted his route - and when Nick got the lateral on the hook & ladder he ended up giving Ben a lateral a few moments later, turning a 10 yard gain into a 55 yard touchdown. But as much as they want to give me credit for it, it was the players who did the play. (Including Kara, a little wisp of a girl who completely stunned the blitzer by appearing out of nowhere.)

Okay, I'm talking too much. About the playbook ...

I created my own playbook in Excel, using the spreadsheet things to make the plays up. It shows great when having 2 plays per page, a little harder when it goes smaller (I get 8 per page with my older boys now), but it's functional and easy to adapt.

This season I'm going to cut back tremendously, probably back close to the original 24, more likely 30 or so. Is that alot? A little? Let me know your thoughts, everyone, I'd love to learn if I'm as crazy as my wife thinks I am!

[Texas_D_Coach 14]

I created my own playbook in Excel, using the spreadsheet things to make the plays up. It shows great when having 2 plays per page, a little harder when it goes smaller (I get 8 per page with my older boys now), but it's functional and easy to adapt.

This season I'm going to cut back tremendously, probably back close to the original 24, more likely 30 or so. Is that alot? A little? Let me know your thoughts, everyone, I'd love to learn if I'm as crazy as my wife thinks I am!

Sounds like you've got quite an extensive playbook. I'd like to see some of your plays if you will share them. Especially the 10-13 age group. You can post them in this forum:

http://www.y-coach.com/forums/index.php?showforum=23