Jim Hilvert joins this In Season edition of the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast. Hilvert is in his first year as the head coach at Baldwin Wallace University (Ohio). Before starting with Baldwin Wallace, he served as the head football coach at Cincinnati powerhouse La Salle High School in 2015 and 2016. In the podcast he discusses leadership, mindset, and ways to maintain focus throughout the season.

Show notes

:54 How the team builds leadership throughout the season

2:57 Adjustments in practice to keep players healthy

4:43 The mindset to achieve goals

6:24 The most improvement happens after the first week

9:09 Introducing something new in the middle of the season

12:06 How to keep the focus during a long season

15:50 Pre-game rituals

Scott Girolmo joins today’s episode of the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast. Girolmo is the head coach at Lee High School (Staunton, Va.). In the podcast, he discusses how he measures growth, evaluates effort and make adjustments throughout the season.

Show notes

:41 Team growth from the first game to the end of the season

2:01 Evaluating effort

5:05 Breaking down schemes for offense and defense

7:38 Always searching for film

9:43 End game adjustments

12:58 Managing game mentality

15:52 Adjustments for high school players

18:56 Inspirational pregame speeches

Today’s USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast, part of the High Performance Series, features Shawn Myszka, the pro performance director of Explosive Edge Athletics in Minneapolis, where he consults several NFL athletes. Myszka and USA Football’s Dr. Joe Eisenmann discuss movement and agility in football with host Keith Grabowski.

1:49 How Myszka got his start in studying football player movement

7:26 How you teach agility and reaction on the field

12:38 How to teach agility concepts to high school players

20:33 How to teach fundamental agility drills to youth players

24:51 Myszka’s views on “The Agility Ladder”

31:20 Tips that will improve player agility drills

Today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast, The Game Plan, features former coach Terry Shea, who does consulting work for future NFL Draft prospects. He’s served as the Chicago Bears offensive coordinator as well as quarterbacks coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and St. Louis Rams. The Game Plan is a weekly in-season feature that shares thematic ideas that can help coaches and teams once the season begins.

Show notes

1:15 How the beginning of the season is different compared to the rest of the year.

3:14 The importance of setting the tone to start the season and building a theme

6:12 Why setting a weekly theme specific to your opponent is helpful

7:46 What your message should be to your team during Week 1

11:25 How to approach the pregame speech

14:56 How to plan out the halftime talk

17:40 Why you should test props beforehand if you use them in a speech

19:19 How to get upperclassmen to encourage underclassmen before games

22:39 Coach Shea relates his experience working with Bill Walsh and scripting opening games

28:30 Why you should call an explosive play early in the game

30:06 In-game adjustments you can make

31:19 How to collaborate with your staff to script the game’s beginning

32:26 Establishing “an aura of confidence”

Brian Kight and Keith Grabowski team up for this special Leadership Journey edition of the USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast. This podcast will reoccur weekly throughout the season, focusing on issues that teams face during the season. Kight, the CEO of Focus 3, discusses emotions, energy and attention in today’s podcast.

Show notes

Season long journey called what we call the leadership journey.

1:54 Emotion and attention play a huge role in the sports journey

7:14 Having the right energy and emotion can combat uncontrollable situations

13:50 "Great coaches are the coaches who know how to move the human heart"

17:33 Focusing in on energy

18:38 Steps to creating your own energy

21:38 Conditioning drills

24:45 Giving your attention, time and energy to things that matter

28:47 Building focus as a coaching staff

32:11 Players pick up patterns from coaches

38:32 Maintaining physical energy

42:02 Discussing work-life balance

Matt Drinkall joins Keith in today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast. Drinkall started as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan in 2014. After his arrival, the team has had great success, winning a school-record 10 games last year and earning a spot in the NAIA Football Championship Series for the first time since 2002. Drinkall discusses his rocky start with the Coyotes, how his team has fun, and breaks down his offense in the podcast.

Show notes

1:10 Drinkall’s start at Kansas Wesleyan

3:50 Balancing fun and hard work

7:07 Defining success and failure outside wins and loses

8:58 How Drinkall prepares incoming freshman

10:21 Why seniors are responsible for creating a legacy

13:11 Breaking down the power spread offense

19:15 Why he keeps a thin playbook

23:31 Focus on being a teacher of the game

27:38 Breaking down the weekly practice schedule

34:10 The benefits of shoulder tackle

40:14 Why the team tackles QB during practice

41:51 The winning edge

Sam Watts brings his kicking, punting and special teams expertise to today's USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast. Watt was a special teams consultant and kicking coach at Erie Community College for 15 years. While at ECC he helped place kickers, punters and long snappers at Division 1 programs. Watts serves as a personal coach working with NFL, CFL, AFL, college and high school kickers and punters, along with 20 years as a Special Teams Advisor working with college and high school coaches. Today, he talks to Keith about all things kicking, punting and special teams related.

:57 Why Watts wanted to become a kicking and punting coach

3:04 Key things he's learned in his development as a coach

4:24 Watt's general coaching philosophy

5:58 Building culture and integrating special teams into the whole team

8:17 How he builds the extra point unit

11:20 "The holder needs to be like the QB"

15:45 Recommendations when hiring a young kicking coach

19:33 Making coaching adjustments during a game

21:02 Using technology to give players better feedback

23:37 The winning edge

Andrew Murray joins Keith Grabowski and Joe Eisenmann on today’s Coach and Coordinator podcast. Murray serves as the Director of Performance and Sports Science at the University of Oregon. On the podcast, he gives insight on training load management.

Show notes

:54 What led him to sports science with Oregon

3:02 How Oregon is different from other programs

5:23 Technology to monitor QBs

8:30 How coaches can build a plan to keep QBs healthy and make them better

13:55 Concept of acute and chronic loads

16:19 Managing training loads for high school QBs

18:08 Trusting the program process

19:02 The 24-hour athlete

21:30 Coaches need to monitor loads in practice

24:04 Balancing strength with technique

25:47 Key points for high school coaches on load management

Rob Everett, defensive coordinator at Bridgewater (Va.) College, joins today’s USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast. Before Bridgewater, Everett was the defensive coordinator at Westfield (Va.) High School for five seasons, where he boasted a record of 61-8 and went 15-4 in state playoff games. He has also been a coach advisor for HigherEchelon Inc., which developed the GoArmy Edge Football App, and other companies, including Automated Sports Analytics and GameSense Sports.

Show notes

:52 Why Everett became a football coach

2:35 Takeaways from early years of coaching

4:50 Understanding the needs of a diverse learning community

6:24 Building culture among the players and coaches

8:24 Breaking down Everett’s defense philosophy

10:48 Defining the phrase “flush it”

11:42 Go Army Edge flips the classroom

14:48 The workflow that goes along with Go Army Edge

20:53 Using technology to simulate game situations

24:22 How coaches can set up Go Army Edge

29:50 Technology is constantly evolving

30:21 Using Go Army Edge for offense

37:37 Mistakes made as a young coach

39:06 “Be a sponge”

40:02 Everett’s advice to young coaches

41:17 Book recommendation

42:03 His takeaways from coaching clinics

47:05 Concerns for the future of football

48:55 Two-minute drills

51:23 The winning edge

The Game Plan, a weekly podcast that is designed to help coaches learn during the season, will make its debut next week. Today, USA Football’s Keith Grabowski explains the The Game Plan, along with some preseason intangibles to help team-building and set team camaraderie expectations.

Keith Grabowski compares football teams to geese in this edition of The Game Plan.

2:03 Why geese fly in a V formation

6:52 Team is as strong as the weakest link

7:17 Designing practice around the geese metaphor

8:02 Practicing celebrations

9:25 Sideline expectations

10:15 “Encouragement is expected”

13:42 Rest with your head up