Why I Oughta...

Late last week, I met with the Head Football Coach and the Special Teams Coach  to go over our plan for Spring Football.  We start practice at 6 am on April 12th.  The times work out for me with work - I can get to practice in the am, then hop on the Metra and head downtown in time for work. The NCAA allows us a certain number practices this spring and we only have one kicker returning.  We'll have plenty of time to get him focused on kicking this spring.  He doesn't really love punting, but we're going to have to figure out a way to get him to fall in love with punting - my favorite part to coach.   The real reason why I like it is because you actually can "coach" a kid up in punting.  Sure...with placekicking, you can tune someone to get the ball further or more accurate, but placekicking is a lot about leg strength.  Punting, on the other hand is all about mechanics and being deliberate.  And...when you connect on a punt?  It might ...

Last fall, I c oached the kickers and punters at Elmhurst College - a Division III football team in our town.  I had contacted the head coach early in 2009 and interviewed for the job.  After a few rounds of chats, they gave me the role.   I inherited a senior kicker/punter and a junior kicker. I joined the team a month or two before fall camp, so we had a few workouts before the season hit.  The season team-wise was a bust.  We went 4-6 with a couple of heartbreaking last minute losses including a triple overtime loss. But in coaching, I had a ton of fun and gained a bunch of new friends - both players and fellow coaches.  There's not many people that provide more laughs than a bunch of college-aged men on a football team.  I would leave practice every time with a big smile on my face. Fortunately, my work schedule was flexible enough for me to be able to get to a few practices during the day- but not every one - and to most games.  They...

The NFL voted to change their rules recently that limit the endzone celebrations that have been ramping up in the past few years.  Some folks think it's a great idea to curb this behavior because kids are starting to emulate these guys and have begun dancing and other things: Kids imitated Johnson after scoring touchdowns in sandlot football games. Years later, those kids' kids imitated the "Ickey Shuffle," created by Cincinnati Bengals fullback Ickey Woods, who shuffled all the way to the Super Bowl. And there was the California Quake by the Dallas Cowboys' Butch Johnson, before coach Tom Landry banned his players from celebrating scores.  Oh...the horrors! Kids are celebrating?  This is a stupid change and I think they've made a mistake.  These guys are entertainers and they should entertain us. (as a side note, I always enjoy the guys who just toss the ball to the referee and trot off to the sideline...) As a result of this new rule change, we ...