Black Americans Owe Donald Trump a Great Deal of Gratitude

 Black Americans Owe Donald Trump a Great Deal of Gratitude

By  Mike Craft

    When history looks back at the one term of the 45th President, he will be celebrated by more people than you could imagine. Black folks young and old will look in reverence at the man who woke us up.

    It seems that after Barak Obama's election, we patted ourselves on the back and said "Let the brother man handle this." At the same time, the "alt's" kicked it in to high gear. That monster gain was followed by a thousand paper cuts that bled our advancements dry. During the height of the black lives matter protest across the country, I told my football players if they were looking for someone to blame -- to blame me.

    I wanted to fall on the sword because, I had laid mine down after it looked like we had finally crossed the finish line in 2008. Instead, I figured that the only thing left to do was sit back and watch my 401k grow.

    Now, in my own defense I wasn't totally idle. I volunteered at my children's schools. Then there was the time, I stepped up to fight a greedy developer whose intentions for our neighborhood were less than honorable.

    However, since then I have been M.I.A. when it comes to truly shaping my community politically.

    As they say, "Life gets in the way."

    Then along comes Trump who entered politics mouth first.  It was laughable when he first starting talking about putting our Hispanic brothers on the other side of a great wall.

    It was a little unsettling when he struck fear into the hearts of Muslim Americans.  I was heart broken to hear about the traumatic impact this was having from my new sister in law's mother, a women with a beautiful spirit. Still I did nothing.

    One by one, Trump pointed out THOSE people to his people and said they are not worthy.
Then he came for me.

    The "dog whisperer" made it loud and clear who the fine people were while at the same time began to attack members of my extended family.  If he came to the hood and trashed talked one of our women folk like he did Maxime Waters...enough said.  In doing so, he lifted the veil of racism and made it plain as day. For that, we owe him thanks.

   I used to hear my elders say the Klan put up their robes a long time ago and put on three piece suits.

    They weren't burning crosses in a field in the back woods, but torching the hopes of our people with roll backs, red lining and other hateful policies.

      Even if they weren't card carrying members, they were doing the white supremacist business by making separate not equal and justice for some.

    Still some of us, benefitted greatly from the advancements won by people like my father in law, former state senator Henry L. Marsh.

    I for one, rested on their laurels while the opposition hammered home messages of reverse discrimination and stripped away many of the programs that gave our people a leg up.

    A true confidant and mentor of mine who happens to be white asked me  - what can be done?
I said, "The next time you get a chance, promote free pre-school for all children. That would be a step in the right direction."  As Frederick Douglas said, "It's easier to build up a child than to fix a broken man."

    I don't want to hear that it's a luxury we can't afford when, at the same time, we spend millions in aid to other countries.

    Please don't confuse this for nationalism.  I believe that we ultimately will be judged by the fruit on the tree. Without a proper educational foundation, our fruit will fall far from the tree and our country's promise will wither and die.

    On election day, I think we as a people finally realized what was a stake.

    It was only fitting that the folks from cities like Philadelphia and Atlanta made their presence felt.  No doubt the phrase better late -- well actually it was early - than ever comes to mind.

    Mr. Resident for everything you have done to wake us up over the past four years, I offer this advice - "Be a man about it." You don't have to go home but you have to get out of our house.

The Catch of a Lifetime

Today was my 56th birthday. So this afternoon, I decided to cap a quiet day with a little fishing. While heading out the door, I grabbed my prized straw hat that my son, Morgan gave me as a birthday present two years ago.  He bought it for me while we were on a family vacation in Cherokee, NC. It's a quality hat but if you know me, anything my kids give me is worth it's weight in gold.  

Often at Christmas time or on my birthday, I will immediately put on anything they give me and will often wear it with the tags still on it for weeks.  

So you can imagine the sheer terror when a gust of wind  blew it off my head and into Lake Norman.

I hadn't caught a thing and to add insult to injury there set my prized hat bobbing up and down on the water.

The symbolism was almost overwhelming and began to break me as cast after cast I came up empty handed. The frustration started to build. The sun was in my face and  made it hard to see especially when tears began to well up in my eyes. Some might say it's just a hat.

For me, it was a microcosm of parenthood. For most of their lives, I always kept my kids within reach. In the blink of an eye, they have spread out from coast to coast. Begrudgingly, I allow them to pursue their dreams wherever it may lead. To make matters worst, covid has also upended our lives. We had to shelter in different places because of various health concerns. And this year, we had to forgo our annual fourth of July family vacation - a promise I force them to keep.  Through no fault of theirs, you feel like they are drifting away.

No, I wasn't going to let Morgan's birthday gift go that easily. 

There it sat. I was amazed it stayed on top of the water. Thankfully, it landed right side up so there must have been enough air trapped underneath preventing it from sinking into this deep area near our community dock.

After several near misses with my fishing line and lure, I paused and said out loud, "Lord, don't let me loose this hat."

A few cast later, I hooked the back end of the hat and began to reel it in. The now soggy hat was heavier that any fish I had ever caught on the 8 pound test line. To keep from breaking the line, I slowly cranked the handle and ever so carefully lifted it over the rocks that lined the bank.

Sometimes, it seems like families are held together by the thinnest of  threads.  You wonder are you doing all you do to keep them close to you.  Shamefully, in brief moments of doubt, I wonder do they even need me any more?

The good thing about my pity parties is I don't throw them often and the ones I do aren't well attended.  I'll keep making the cast over and over again because as they say anything worth having is worth fighting for.

Just the facts...Coach

      This time of year, coaches across America are gearing up for spring football.  Most have spent the winter, combing over stats as they self scout their team and find their direction.  Many will attend conferences like the AFCA, which by the way was held in my hometown of Charlotte.  A great number go to these clinics to find the latest, greatest play.
       My philosophy has been to look for little nuggets on process - especially more efficient ways to practice and teach.
       Early in my coaching career, I was fortunate to work with Greg Richardson, former defensive coordinator at Johnson C. Smith University.  The career coach was always dispensing words of wisdom.  One of the first things he told me was to go through his drill book and find my every day drills.
       He said, "A position coach is only as good as his drill set."
       That sage advice really helped jump start my coaching career.
       Another big boost came from a YouTube video of the late Bill Walsh doing a clinic while at Stanford University.  Walsh talked about finding the balance between the number of plays that you were trying to run and making sure that you had enough practice time to run all the drills necessary to master each play in your playbook.

      That being said, the next question is -- how much is too much?  That answer can slap you in the face, especially when you consider that on every level - little league to the NFL - limitations are being placed on the amount of time that you have on the field.
        I found that on the college level the 20 hour rule has severely hindered coaches ability to really teach the game.  However, rules are meant to be followed.   So, no matter on which level you coach, adjustments have to be made on exactly how much you are trying to accomplish.
        As a journalist, one of the things that I have mastered over three decades is - asking the right question.  Every time I come into contact with a fellow coach I ask, "Coach, what do you hang your hat on?"
   

The answer varies.  Former South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier gave me one of the best answers during a break at the South Carolina coaches convention several years ago.  The Ole Ball Coach said, "Well, it's real simple. I try to get the ball in  the hands of our best players."  Spurrier's inference was, of course, that this isn't rocket science.
         Well, if you buy into that premise then you will probably agree that it doesn't take a playbook the size of a phone book to accomplish the feat of winning football games.
         I was taught this lesson first hand going head-to-head with coaching legend Jim Oddo for three years.  You could call it a baptism under fire or you could just say we got baptized.
         The former Charlotte Catholic head coach has long been known for running the triple option.  Truth is when they run it, they run all over you.

         In our match ups, it was always such a stark difference -- our fast-paced spread offense would move down the field with the ability to take it the distance on any play while Oddo's team would play keep away for what seemed like hours when we didn't score.  I wondered why they were so good.
         My quarterbacks coach Wayne Starkes would say, "Those kids have been running those same seven plays since they were in elementary school. 
         The thought occurred to me and was confirmed by Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo that the key is indeed repetition.
          Their offense, and in turn their practices, were designed to make sure that players got enough reps to master the techniques as Walsh discussed. So, what is the right number?  Personally, I went on a quest to boil down my offense to the bare essentials.
          After years of self study, I arrived at a formula of 5 runs and 10 passing plays.  To be more specific, it's concepts not plays.  For instance,  outside zone is a blocking concept or scheme.  Using the same blocking scheme, we can hand the ball to the running back, slot back (jet sweep) or even have the quarterback run.  The largest group on the field, the offensive line, only learned one concept no matter what goes on behind them.
           In the passing game, we run schemes that attack front to back and challenge the defense from sideline to sideline.   Each scheme can be run in two-by-two, or three-by-one sets.  Motions and tags can challenge the defense as well. The result is an offense that can be installed quickly and more importantly get players playing fast because they are not bogged down with too much information.
           From that point, coaches can focus on refining techniques to make sure that these plays are run correctly. 
           Here are a few questions to ask when developing an offense:

1.  How many total plays do you run in a game? I hear the number 80 thrown around a lot.  I'm not sure if defenses coaches would be in full agreement but it's a round number.

2.  How many unique plays or concepts do you run in a game?  I remember when I first started putting together a play sheet.  It was printed on 11 by 14 inch paper.  To steal a line from my full time work - a lot of that was left on the cutting room floor.

3)  How many times do you run those plays during practice?  If you have three heavy lifting days of practice a week with 12 plays of team each day that means you have the opportunity to run 36 plays during the week.  One of the things I tried to do on my practice script was carry the same play from team apart (two offensive huddles running our first ten script in rapid succession) on to inside run or seven on seven and eventually onto the script for team.  

4)  How many times do your players (1st and 2nd team) run each play during the week?Dividing up reps can be tricky. While you want to make sure your starters get enough to be ready, you also have to consider that at some point you may have to count on one of your reserves at some point of the game.

5)   Is that enough to get good at it?  I remember Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy saying that he sent his coaches home at 6 o'clock because he said,  "If they stayed any longer, they would come up with some plays that we don't have time to practice."   One of my biggest fears would be to get into a game and call a critical play knowing that my team may have only run that play once or twice in team during the week.

     You can get a further explanation by watching this Players2Pros clinic at Village Christian Academy in Fayetteville in February 2018.

       
To hear it straight from the Master Bill Walsh himself click on these two links to here his clinic:

Bill Walsh Clinic Part 1
Bill Walsh Clinic Part 2

Please email me with questions and comments at coach.mcraft@gmail.com.



     

Check Downs to First Downs

Very few people get excited about the check down pass.  These mundane little plays usually never make the cut on the highlight film.  But for those closest to the game, they are the building blocks to bigger and better things.
Check downs can extend drives.  More importantly, check downs beat the alternative of taking a sack or throwing an interception. 
There are times when this last option is the only option.  This happens when the defense is bound and determined to not get beat deep.   As seen in the picture below, on third-and-long in the second quarter, the 49ers’ defense is lined up with one high safety and the other safety is hovering in the middle of the field as a "robber". 

When the ball was snapped, the corners will drop into a cover-3 defense. The corners and safety divide the field into thirds to make the offense pay for any throw down field.  With the coverage retreating downfield, the defense is vulnerable in the flats.
Instead of risking the turnover, offensive coordinator Mike Shula calls a simple swing pass to running back Christian McCaffrey.  You can tell it's a called play, because right tackle Darryl Williams pulls as if it's a run play (picture 2).

In reality, it is a run play with a long handoff and it makes total sense.  It's also worth noting that the Panthers didn't even block the play side defensive end on the play.  Tight end Greg Olsen headed up field to block, along with wide receiver Devin Funchess.   Newton's quick throw negated the rush.

When the Panthers drafted McCaffrey in the first round of the 2017 draft, plays like this had to come to mind.   When Newton gets the ball into McCaffrey's hands, he has the ability to turn a simple check down into a special play.
In this case, McCaffrey caught the ball five yards behind the line of scrimmage (Picture 3) and after a burst of speed he cruised out of bounds with a 16 yard gain and the first down.    The play helped set up a field goal heading into halftime on the way to an opening day win.   

Is it pe-CAN or PE-can?

     If I had to write one book about football, the title would be -- "8-Million Ways to Run Smash". This passing concept means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  But my understanding of smash is an overall concept that involves attacking the corner with a hi-low read.          The reason for running any of the variations of this concept is to attack the vulnerable areas when faced with a two-high safety look with the corner covered down on the number one receiver.
As you see in the diagram to the right, every defensive set has vulnerable areas.  One thing you may notice is that these windows bracket different defenders.  For instance, the cornerbacks are bracketed by what we call the "flat" window and the "hole" window. The SS is bracketed by the "hole" window and the the "deep middle" window.
     The main reason we draw up plays to attack these windows is that it forces one defender to make a decision and from an offensive stand point that defender can never be right.  A little disclaimer here, when I say draw up plays; I have to admit to plagiarizing the master of the west coast offense -- Bill Walsh.  It goes without saying that west coast concepts appear in every level of the game and in every type of offense including the spread.
      The smash concept increased in popularity

at the same time as cover-two defenses.  With a hard corner taking the underneath route (hitch), the safety is left one on one with a receiver who has a two way go.  To make his job more difficult, we have our receivers run a post-corner.  We count on our number two receiver beating the safety on his corner route and making the catch behind the corner.  If the corner drops underneath the corner route, the quarterback hits the hitch and we take the gain.
      When you think about it, there are so many ways in different formations to set up this same scenario.  I will ask players to think of how many different routes attack the flat window.  Instead of a hitch, you can run - bubble or tunnel screen, flat, quick out or swing route.  In order to attack the area behind a hard corner you can run- vertical (forced outside release), curl, deep out or sail route. Here are some of those combinations and the terminology we use for each:

• Smash = Hitch (#1) and Post-Corner (#2)
• China = Spot (#1) and Post-Corner (#2)
• Basic = Vertical (#1) and Speed Out (#2)
• Flag = Out (#1) and Corner (#2)
• Bench = Stem Corner (#1) and Flat (#2)
• Curl/Flat = Curl (#1) and Flat (#2)

Follow this link to hear an explanation of attack zones.

A Speedy Way to Flip the Field

   One of the watershed moments of my coaching career occurred on a flight to the Senior Bowl when I just happened to sit behind a scout from Canada. Before I knew who he was, I found it striking that on the video players were motioning all over the field, in some cases more than one player at a time. That's when I got a lesson in Canadian football rules, or lack there of, in reference to motions.
    I was struck by the way the motion kept the defense off-balanced before the snap of the ball and was determined to incorporate it into my offensive philosophy.
    Even though American rules for football prevent more than one player in motion before the snap and also prohibit that player from moving towards the line of scrimmage before the snap, I found a way to incorporate "Speed motion" into our offense at Phillip O. Berry High School.  When I became offensive coordinator in 2012, we differentiated between speed motion and slow motion.
   The call "Mo" meant that a receiver would cross the formation as fast as possible and carry that momentum into his route which more than likely was a flat route or wheel route in some cases.  Another speed motion was tagged "orbit" which required the receiver to loop behind the tailback.  We also incorporated a motion from our jet sweep package that required the receiver to run right over the toes of the quarterback.
    As we quickly found these speed motions, allowed us to flip the field from 3x1 to 2x2 and vice versa. In two back sets, we could go from 2x1 to 3x1 or 2x2 by running "bounce" motion with the running back.  That was a little gem that we picked up from coaches like Noel Mazzone and Larry Fedora's staff at coaching clinics.

    This became a great way to challenge the defenses responsibility and force players (not coaches) to make split second decisions.  Don't sleep on that part of the game.
    In the above example, the left slot motions to the right side and becomes the third option in the flood play.  Because our offense was based on concepts, we developed hard rules on numbering.  A receiver motioning to the two receiver side would carry the designation of number 3 and run the corresponding route.
    The hope is the read player designated on the play would be forced to question his responsibilities because he went from dealing with a two receiver concept to a three receiver route in the blink of an eye.  Any bust on the play resulted in a positive play.  In the video below, the motion with the running back, draws the alley defender away from the post run by the number two receiver who makes the catch for a touchdown.  The speed motion allowed the quarterback to make a quicker read and deliver the ball before the receiver was covered up by the safety.  I am a firm believer that every fraction of a second counts in the game of football.

Pass with Bounce

Flash concept with motion

   One other benefit of speed motion is that it makes it really difficult for man-to-man defenders to disrupt a receiver's release. That was one of the things I noticed when watching Canadian football. Speed motion along with picks or rubs can be a deadly combination for you offensively.
     Before incorporating speed motion into your offense, I would recommend teaching:

1) Base passing plays conceptually and make sure that every receiver learns the corresponding routes.
2) How each motion changes the numbering of the wide receivers.
3) Quarterbacks to understand pre-snap reads and how motion will adjust those reads. After all, the offense knows what coming and the defense does not.

Below is a link to some Canadian football. Hopefully, it will spark some ideas for how to attack defenses with motion.

Canadian Football Video

When is empty not empty?

      On film, I noticed that Giant's Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo had mastered the technique of getting every available receiver into route without advertising it to defenses by lining up in a traditional empty formation.
        Against the Dolphins, his unit lined up in a routine two by two formation with 11 personnel on the field.   What made the Giants different from most NFL teams is their refusal to go "hat on a hat" in protection. Instead, they forced the defense's hand by putting everyone including the running back into the route structure.
        It reminded me of a practice back at Johnson C. Smith, when Offensive Coordinator Maurice Flowers answered the question of "Who is going to block the blitzer?" by asking likewise "Who is going to cover the back?"
         In the Monday night game, the Dolphins kept coming up with the wrong answer and it cost them dearly.
        As you see in the play below,  the Fins chose to drop the free safety down into the box, to account for the running back who delayed and attacked the alley. My guess is their intent was to roll to a three deep coverage with the other safety moving to cover the middle of the field.

         Unfortunately, he didn't roll in time to help the play side corner who just happened to be covering Odell Beckham, Jr.  The second year receiver was running a "slant and go" or "sluggo."   In case you haven't seen the highlight, Beckham torched the Dolphins and the Giants went on to win the game.
         The reason for camouflaging an empty formation this way is simple.  Most defensive coaches lick their chops when an offense lines up in empty formation.  In these cases they almost always bring the heat.  It's  a numbers advantage -- with only five blockers left in protection it only takes six rushers to get a free shot on the quarterback.
         In the Giants case, it worked out because the Dolphins blew the coverage. They chose to take a away a shorter route and gave up a home run in the process.  However, if you are going to flood the field with receivers you have to take a few things into account:

1) Can my five block their four or five?  In games where you are losing individual battles at the line of scrimmage, it could be a long day.  If it's five on four with big on big protection, you get one double team. Use it wisely.

2) Are we blocking the right five?  This is a difficult proposition against a team that specializes in masking the  blitz.  They will present seven potential blitzers at the line of scrimmage and then at the snap drop one or two into coverage. If your offensive line makes a mistake when divvying up the assignments -- it could be a problem.

3) Am I asking too much?  As I learned early in my coaching career, leaving five in to block and running all verticals is not a good idea.  In one of my first games at Phillip O. Berry, we gave up a sack while trying to hit a big play down the field and when asked why  I said, "Because they brought more than we could block."  When I took over play calling duties the next season, I made sure if we were going to empty the formation, the quarterback had options to get the ball out of his hand quickly.  It's a good idea to run quick game concepts when you are only keeping five in to block.