The guest on today’s USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast is Jason Bornn, head coach at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California. Bornn is in his 16th season as the head coach at Saugus. Last season, Saugus finished its season 6-7, but still made an appearance in the state semifinals game. In his tenure, Bornn has compiled an 85-75 record with four semifinals game appearances. That also includes five seasons of seven wins or more.

Before coaching at Saugus, has made several coaching stops in California. Bornn was an assistant coach at NCAA Division III school Occidental College for one season in 2002. Prior to Occidental, Bornn coached and taught one year at Canyon High School. Bornn spent five seasons as an assistant coach at John Muir High School from 1996 through 2000 before Canyon. His coaching career started at Village Christian Schools from 1990-95. Bornn graduated from California State University-Northridge in 1995.

On today’s show, Bornn and host Keith Grabowski discuss how to prepare for and adjust to opposing offenses, how to conduct practices and more.

Show Notes

1:27 What is a specialty offense

2:46 Preparing to play against the specialty offenses

4:40 Adjusting to the different offensive formations

7:34 Planning the practices in the offseason

11:12 Categorizing the different formations a team may see

14:32 Handling unbalanced sets from the offense

18:03 Being in the right position against a misdirection formation

22:57 Using technology to help prepare for different formations

24:39 Ensuring players are comfortable in unique situations

28:00 Avoiding panicking when specialty plays are run

29:05 Effective time management of their practices

31:59 Identifying problems within their own defensive set

35:42 Preparing to face gadget plays on offense

39:35 Focusing on the overall offense and not the trick plays

41:50 Checklist of ways to prepare for specialty offenses