JSU Zack
How do I IT?
I've come across a few useful links over the past few days for folks who are looking to build "their" offense. Many of these links are useful for folks that just roll with a default playbook, but this thread is specifically targeted to folks who want to build their own playbook.
Eventually, this thread will be used to house all the sources we use in the other strategy threads. Feel free to share you thoughts & resources here.
Creating an Offensive Philosophy
One of the first parts of almost any playbook is the Philosophy section. Even thought these typically come at the beginning of a playbook, and should set the tone for the rest of the offense, they are often overlooked and feel tacked on. In my opinion, that is a big mistake. This part of your playbook sets the tone and lays out the road map of your team’s success.
Setting Goals
Goals should be an important part of everyone’s life, but many people never sit down to explore and develop their goals. Goals can give you a long-term plan that allows you to have a vision for the future. They also give you short term focus and motivation for what needs to be done now.
Play Call Procedures
The link above isn't very useful in the video game world, but it's great for new coaches.
Playbook/Scheme Sites
These sites are a dime a dozen, but you won't see any "Madden Glitch Offense" articles. These are legitimate football sites designed by and for real coaches.
Chris Hatcher 2000 Valdosta State Playbook: The Hatch Attack is now at UAB, but it started at VSU with the grandfather of the Air Raid, Hal Mumme.
Mike Leach's '99 OU Playbook: Not quite the Pirate we know and love today, but this is a great playbook for anyone who wants to pass first but have the ability to run at will.
John Grass' '01 Hoover Playbook: Grass, a member of the Rush Propst coaching tree, built a dynasty at Hoover before he made the jump to Jacksonville State. In two seasons at JSU, he has a 23-3 record, two Ohio Vally Conference titles, and the best start for any FCS coach in history.
The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle: Gus Malzahn's book leaves as many questions as it does answers, but for riders on the Gus Bus, start here. Added bonuses in the book include practice organization and playcalling processes.
SmartFootball: Chris B. Brown, a Grantland writer and author, is the frontman for football strategy from a fan's perspective. His books, The Essential Smart Football and The Art of Smart Football, are must reads for anyone who wants to start understanding the game on a micro level. His books and site include film analysis, playbooks, and interviews with the men who made football what it is and what it's going to be.
James Light: An assistant at Michigan prep powerhouse Macomb Dakota, Light has a ton of knowledge of the game at large but specifically pro style offenses. His live analysis of games on Twitter is better than most commentators on television. Light's site is a game film goldmine, so much so that Auburn's coaching staff tried to take his site down - and did - for a short period of time.
Football Study Hall: The lovechild of numbers nerd Bill Connelly, Football Study Hall is SB Nation's sabermetrics site. If you're a neckbeard like me, you value Connelly's stats gathering and analysis-based rankins more than the opinions of the playoff committee.
NY_Kia31: A member of the old guard when we were still NCAAStrategies.com, NY_Kia31 has a lot of great videos on YouTube explaining what it means to play "sim football" in the NCAA & Madden games. His Twitter and Twitch feeds are pretty good. "Kia" was the first source that got me into studying offenses long ago.
Eleven Warrios: 11W is an Ohio State fan site and great resource for advances in the spread's arsenal. Also, their website design game is on point.
CougCenter: SB Nation's Brian Anderson is the X's & O's guru for CougCenter, the Wazzu fan site. Warning: These are pirate waters.
BuckSweep.com: Brian Schaumloffel's site is a great resource for old-school offense. He's one of the best at explaining the constraint theory of offense, the foundation of the Wing T.
Flexbone Academy: For option fans, this is a great place to start.