We all lost a great coach and great friend yesterday in John McGregor.  For everyone that reads this blog, or has my books or iBooks, you should know that John has influenced so much of what I know.  

When I first met John in 1996, I was a young coach who was thirsting for knowledge.  He had coached under Dan Henning both with the Falcons and Boston College, so he was obviously well-versed in one-back football.   He had been at places like Florida State, and was a Division I offensive coordinator.  In short, I had nothing to offer him, but he decided to help me. He saw something in me, luckily, and opened me up to a wealth of knowledge.   John also had countless friends in the profession,  and was an avid student of the game.  He taught me the phrase "if you're not learning, you're just dying."  I took this advice to heart, which is why I strive for continuous improvement; this is why there are always "tweaks" in the system.  

Because of Coach McGregor, I had VIP access to the Bruce Arians-led Browns offense, and Mike Martz's "Greatest Show on Turf" in their heyday.  I was able to sit in installation and "7 on 7" meetings with the Rams, which was an experience like no other.  Because of John, I had the latest NFL or college coach's film to study every year for almost 20 years.   He would give me his honest opinion on everything, and was always a great sounding board for new ideas.  Moreover, John would do what he told you he would.  It sounds simple enough, but one could only imagine how much better this world would be if everyone did that.  

Most of all, John believed in me.  He has seen me through the most trying of time both personally and professionally.   He never wavered in his support, though he would tell me when I was wrong and needed to change.  Lastly, he never stopped believing in me as a coach.  Our last several conversations were on film I sent him on my son, and things to improve on mechanically.  We spoke just last week, and he told me to tell Austin he was proud of how he was growing up.  You see - he was so much more to me than a coaching buddy.  

He was a mentor.   A friend.  He was family. 

When I urge coaches to be the best they can be for their players, conversations with John are what I think of.  He will be missed.

As I have been preparing for installation this fall,  I detected several facets of our system that could be presented in a better fashion.  There was nothing wrong, mind you, but I am of the opinion that we should put our players in the VERY BEST position to be successful.   I know it is late in the year for many school teams to make changes, but my particular situation allows for this.

Every aspect of the offense, from snap count to signals to protection route technique was examined.    Some of the key points discovered were:

1. It is easier to protect the passer from the pocket.  Multiple launch points used to be all the craze as I was coming up in a pro style system, and a widely accepted idea in conventional football wisdom.  However, much of this thought process was developed before the propagation of spread formations as a base operating system.  With defenders now stretched across the width of the entire field, and the edge pressures/ zone blitzes becoming the norm, the traditional sprint-out actions can prove to be futile.  A properly trained passer is in a more advantageous position to hit the weakness of a pressure defense, and protection schemes are given more reps, resulting in better execution.

2. RUN/PASS OPTIONS (RPOs) can take the place of many play action systems.  RPOs have built in answers to pressure - something hard run action play action schemes lack.  With the decision to protect the pocket, along with screens and RPO plays eliminate a lot of unnecessary practice minutes.

3.  ACTS works!  We win practice repetitions back for things that are really important to the offense, like ADVANTAGE routes and principles, such 7 route:

...and CONCEPTS with moving parts.  Here, we are working SEAM READs vs 1 -high Safety.  Note the coaching points, such as eye on the advantage before hitching to the concept, can be taught to youth players.  Drops mechanics have been adjusted of course to account for physical development, but sound teaching is sound teaching -- regardless of level of competition.