When I began my coaching career right out of college, I took my first job in part because of the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the "Run N Shoot."   I can honestly say that that single year I spent there impacted me, from a learning standpoint, as much as any time in my football life.  I was already well-versed in the "West Coast" or "Pro Style" way of doing things (I really hate those labels!), but the 'Shoot literally changed the way I looked at throwing the football to this day.

As I re-configure (as described in my previous posts) the METHOD in which the offense is delivered, I am, time and again, brought back to the fundamental reasons I *loved* the run and shoot offense to begin with:

- An economy of concepts
- Efficient teaching
- Having an answer to the defense you are confronted with ON THAT PLAY, not the next play, when the defense has a chance to adjust
- Balance, in the true sense of what it should be offensively
 
From my first coaching stop, no matter what the presentation (the presence of TE/ H-Back/ Fullbacks, multiple shifting and formations), the foundation, principles of attack, and route structures -- all had it's roots springing from the Run 'N Shoot.  There was, admittedly, the real danger of being considered for jobs in declaring my passing game to be "Run and Shoot" -- so I described my offense as a  "multiple offense that blends quick-rhythm passing with the ability to adjust to coverages" -- I smirk as I type this now. :)

 

As I go back through all the film and notes I've gathered from clients, study material from various offenses across the country, and update my teaching materials (such as the PowerPoint slides above), I inevitably come back to the notion that the Run and Shoot provides some of the simplest, most effective, and easiest to learn methods for attacking defenses. 

Many of the bedrock principles in the passing game I have used are rooted in the Run and Shoot; I'm going to spend the next few entries talking about my system, give a little historical background, and hopefully develop conversations discussing this and other sytems.

Until then -- enjoy this clip of June Jones covering 60 Z GO....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

In my first coaching stop, I was exposed to a wonderful blend of ideas: Houston's "Run and Shoot" passing game, (thanks to Wes Cope, a former UH graduate assistant) and a fulltime singleback offense, featuring 1 RB, 1TE, and 3 wide receivers as a base offense.  This combination, while alarming to R&S purists, was perfect for me; I still see advantages that a TE/H-Back body provides that a fourth wide receiver simply cannot replace. The protections were what needed tweaking for my taste; more on that later.

At any rate, we ran the complete array of Run 'n Shoot routes (Coach Cope didn't just install the basic 5 patterns; we even got to Wing Post or Flag, Throwback, Hook, etc.), and used the traditional quick combinations in a "Check with Me" manner.  The QB would come into the huddle (yes, the good 'ol huddle days) and say something like "Right 90 or 91, Check with Me" -- which married a "Hitch" combination vs. soft corners, and "Fade/Out" vs. hard corners:

Likewise, we paired slant/flat combinations vs. single-high safety looks with double slants vs. two-high safety configuratons.   All this was pretty standard operating procedure for many offenses back then, but the funny thing about our pocket-based protections (the standard Dennis Erickson-esque 7 man drop back pro) was that it really did not allow for us to tap the passing system's full potential.  It bothered me, even back then, that we almost always kept
"attached" receivers in to block -- again, a product of my experience in Coach Mackovic's system.  The backside features of the Run and Shoot were, to me, some of the best parts of the offense:

I spent one season at that initial coaching stop, but at my next assignment (at Abilene Christian in 1996), I was further exposed to some truly great resources: Norm Chow, and the late Mike Heimerdinger.  Though I had working knowledge of the West Coast Offense from my playing days, the time I spent visiting with these masters of offense was invaluable.  Along with Coach Chow's flood game, and the intricate details of the drag concept from Coach 'Dinger, I learned the details of "F Scat" and "Spacing" from them, respectively.

"66 F Scat"  -  this was the offense's (BYU in 1996) version of "Y Stick"  In the words of Coach Chow himself -- "the thing that makes this play work is the hook over the ball."  Conceptually, it was a quick defender key followed by the quarterback scanning into a receiver breaking back into his vision.  Of note, I distinctively remember Coach Chow talking about experimenting with "X Scat"; college football would become well acquainted with this play as Reggie Bush and USC wreaked havoc on defenses some years later.

In the WCO's spacing idea, an individual quick route was called, and the QB could throw to the primary reciever in normal 3-step rhythm, or progress to alternate receivers across the field:

The advantages to this approach, in which the quarterback can come off of a quick target and "hitch up" to alternates, were clear to me.  The pattern did not waste receivers, and if you taught the QB to progress to alternates in rhythm with his feet (his "hitch steps") in the normal dropback game, he would not feel as if the "rug had been pulled from underneath him" if you called a quick pass, and the defense had it covered.  All the benefits of attacking the full width of a defense, with no new learning for the quarterback! 

The above ideas were nothing new to football in 1996, and yet so few coaches were taking advantage of them.

In the upcoming posts, I will reveal how I blended all these ideas into the quick game that I teach in my system, and also how I have expanded the definition of the quick concept in our terms, enabling an offense to carry very little dropback passing game, and yet still attack a defense consistently through the air.