“What Do You Do When You Have Hit Rock Bottom?”
By: David Young-Head Coach-Pontiac H.S.
I. Introduction
a. Coaching Background
1. Schools coached at (IVC, Olympia, Pontiac)
2. Coaching Influences (Warner McCollum, Dan Bertrand, Mick Peterson)
b. Pontiac’s Successful Background-How Tradition Was Created
1. Mick Peterson hired in 1989-1st State Playoff appearance in school history.
2. 1990 to 1992-Coming Down To Earth-The Development of the Program
3. 15 straight state playoff appearances-last of those was in 2007(the year I took over)
a. 2 Championship game experiences (winning in Class 3A in 1993 over Waterloo and finishing 2nd in 2002 to New Lenox Providence in class 5A)
* I also had a championship game experience in 1985 as an assistant coach with Olympia (finishing 2nd to Kankakee Bishop Mac in Class 3A)
b. 2 Semifinal losses (losing to Metamora in 1997 and Joliet Catholic in 2000 in Class 4A)
c. 3 Quarterfinal losses
d. 3 Second Round losses
c. The Takeover of the Program and “The TRAP”
1. Tradition will carry you through.
2. I don’t have to change.
3. I can do it all myself.
d. What Did I Do When I Realized That Our Program Had Hit Rock Bottom.
1. Commitment and purpose
2. Getting out of your comfort zone
3. Brainstorming Committee
4. The Response
Results of the Pontiac High School Football Brainstorming Meetings for 2010 Season
Meeting Date: Wed., Jan. 5th, 2011
*Next meeting will be held on Wed., Feb. 2nd, 2011 in the High School Teachers Lounge at 6:30 p.m.
I. Introduction-Purpose of this meeting
Code For What I Have Indicated After Each Item:
Already=Already doing, but what can we do to make it better and more appealing?
Planning= Planning on doing it this coming year or going to do it again after not
having done it the last couple of years. What are your ideas for
implementing it this year and making it a success.
Would Like To= Would like to have this happen, but unsure what the commitment would be by all individuals involved. I would love some input on what it would take to get the job done. What are your ideas for being able to implement any ideas?
*=Things discussed at the meeting.
I. Player Recruitment and Enticement To Stay Out For Football For 4 Years
JFL
a. Get lists of all JFL participants and mail them an invitation and
application form to our Champion Fitness camps.-Already
*JFL will give us all participant lists of every age group.
b. Send out Champion Fitness camp forms to every feeder school so
that they are handed out to every 2nd through 8th grader by school personnel.-Already
c. Go on a tour of all feeder schools and talk to each 8th grader about participation in all sports, but specifically having a chance to promote participation in football.-Already
* Planning for Thurs., Feb 3rd, 2011
d. Encourage each 8th grade boy at our high school incoming-freshman
orientation to sign up and participate in football. We also provide information on when our official sign-up is.-Already
e. Captains and next year’s seniors call every 8th grade boy that signed up at the incoming-freshman orientation, and personally invite them to the official sign-up.-Already
f. Complete collaboration between the JFL and the high school program. Attend all JFL meetings and be integral in JFL decisions.-
Would Like To
* I have arranged for getting a list of the dates that the JFL coaches will meet.
g. Have current players attend JFL practices and games, whenever possible.-Already
* We will schedule groups of players to attend at least one practice a week.
h. Have each JFL team and coaches recognized at each of the different home high school football games. The players on each team would then help form the tunnel for the team to run through before the start of the game-Already
* We will arrange for having different levels of the JFL to attend each home game and be recognized before the game.
i. Hold more Sat. and Sun. JFL games on the high school field.-Would Like To
*We will arrange for having more games scheduled on our high school field
j. If a JFL banquet is held I would like to be invited to it, and if possible be able to speak to the kids.-Would Like To
k. Develop a free JFL football coaches clinic that will be run by our coaches on the Sat. before the high school sponsored JFL age football camp to teach the JFL coaches the techniques and strategy schemes that we would like them to use during their seasons-Already
*I need to get the addresses of every JFL coach so that I can personally invite each coach to this function
High School
a. Ask every “boy and their brother” to join the football team. What do you think I could entice them with so that they will want to be a part of the team and want to continue playing for rest of their H.S. years-Already
* We are trying multiple approaches to spur on the interest of playing football.
b. Get closer at platooning players and get closer to equalizing playing time on both sides of the ball for players who have shown a commitment to the team at the Freshman, Sophomore, and Varsity levels. Fill the Special Teams with players that are not on the starting offenses and defenses. The Freshman and Sophomores need to play kids on both sides of the ball for some period in each game.-Would Like To
c. Give helmet awards to Freshman, Sophomore, and Varsity levels to acknowledge achievement.-Already
* We will be handing out helmet awards on every level, and announce special weekly awards that the kids will compete for on a daily and weekly basis(Battle Axe Award, The Hammer Award, Flat As A Pancake Award). We will also have statisticians on every level of our football program so that the players can monitor their accomplishments.
d. Recognize and give more credit to more players when putting the results in the newspaper or on the radio.-Already
* We will be expanding our individual name recognition when talking to the media, as opposed to talking in general about the team as a whole.-Already
* We will try to put pictures of the players of the week in the newspaper and post statistics each week on our school website.-Would Like To
II. Player Development and Team Building
a. Meet with and evaluate each player in the program after each season to establish what his strength’s and challenges are. Help the player determine what his goals for the upcoming season are and what role he could fulfill in the upcoming season.-Already
* I will continue to interview each candidate for the football team and discuss his feelings, goals and ambitions.
b. Establish a weight training and conditioning program that allows the majority of Varsity(some Sophs) performers to consistently develop themselves within the school structure by lifting during their PE class. We still offer weight training and conditioning to an athlete that is not in an out-of-season sport after school. We still have a problem with some Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior’s not being committed to the after school program, and need encouragement from the athletes parents to take part in this program if they are not in an out-of season sport. We also battle some coaches’ that do not have weight training as part of their in-season program-Already
c. Encourage all football athletes to participate in a sport every sport season.-Already
* We will promote the importance of being competitive year round.
d. We expect participation in our Champion Fitness High
School football skills camps.-Already
* This point will continue to be emphasized as an important and expected part of preparing the football athlete for the upcoming season. We will also give the athletes the opportunity to earn money to attend the camp and other camps by participating in this spring’s Liftathon.
e. We encourage participation in other skills camps that are available in between our team activities in the summer, and would like to help them with acquiring assistance in paying for these opportunities-Already
*We are preliminarily holding a Liftathon on Sat., March 12, 2011, which will hopefully offset some of the costs of attending other camps.
f. Develop a Leadership Workshop for senior players to educate them on how they can become a positive leader on their team.-Already
* I will be arranging a Leadership Workshop with Lon Alderman, a Leadership Workshop counselor, to promote leadership qualities in our football players. We may be expanding this.
g. Arrange a team function (going to Great America-example) after the first team camp to kickoff the beginning of the summer.-Already
* I am looking into other possibilities. Part of the fundraising proceeds from our Indian cards will be used for purchasing whatever we choose to do. The kids will have to come up with part of the purchase price depending on how many tickets they sell.
h. Arrange a Fresh.-Sr. team Christmas party.-Already
* We will hold this function again and will be a great way to build team cohesiveness and chemistry.
i. Arrange a playoff party, regardless of whether we have made the playoffs or not, to show that there is always going to be the expectation that we will be preparing for our first opponent in the playoffs.-Already
* We will hold this function again, and hopefully will be attended by every Fresh.-Sr. football player. We want the kids to believe that we are expecting to make the playoffs every year.
j. Arrange a Super Bowl party and invite every Fresh.-Sr. football
player.-Already
*We will hold this function again on Sun., Feb. 6, 2011.
III. Fundraising
a. Selling Indian Cards-This is our only school sanctioned fundraiser that pays for major equipment needs, orange and blue paint used for the painting of the field, nameplates on jerseys, volunteer coach stipends, banquet expenses, and miscellaneous expenses. This is the only fundraiser that we are allowed to have during the school year.-Already
b. 7-on-7 Tournament-This is a privately sponsored fundraiser that pays for coaching clinic expenses, coaches’ and managers apparel, and expenses incurred in putting on the JFL coaches’ clinic.-Already
c. Car wash, Helmet Stickers, and Replica Footballs- This is a fundraiser by the football parents that pays for the pre-game meals and meals on the road. I was interested in having the freshman participate in the pre-game meals, but they will be playing on Thurs. this coming year. It would be great if we could provide our freshman and sophomores food after each away game. –Already
*We will have to see whether we can afford feeding everyone! All football coaches will be required to make a showing at the car wash to support the players and parents.
d. Pontiac H.S. Football Fan and Alumni Golf Outing-We will have someone other than ourselves organize this to provide for any overflow of equipment needs outside our budget, camp scholarships for athletes in need, a charity of the senior players’ choice, volunteer coaches’ stipends, and any other discretionary team needs. Since we can only hold one fundraiser a year then we would have to have someone front this fundraiser and earmark the proceeds toward the football program, a charity and a senior scholarship.-Already
* A group of Pontiac Indians Football supporters have begun planning the outing, which will be held on Sat., June 18, 2011.
e. Liftathon-We will hold a Liftathon in collaboration with other sports to earn enough money to update our weight training equipment and provide a moneymaking opportunity for athletes to offset the cost of attending camps.-Already
* We have already scheduled Sat., March 12, 2011 to hold our 2nd Annual Athletic Department Liftathon.
IV. Athlete, Parent, Community Support, Involvement, and Excitement
a. Football Team Kickoff Cookout-To be held in conjunction with the
team meeting on the Saturday after the Orange and Blue scrimmage. A parent meeting will follow the cookout.-Already
* Preliminarily, we will hold this on Sat., Aug. 20, 2011. Planning on staying at Odell Park. Details will be worked out as to what this will entail.
b. Team Meals-To be held before each home game(Do we think we could have it for every game?) How can we get greater parent attendance
than what we had this last year?-Already
c. Create a Sign Club. Have parents and community supporters make
signs that have motivational expressions or supportive messages,
The sign could either be displayed on windows downtown, in their front yards, lining the road leading to the high school, or permanently attached to part of the stadium.-Already
· Sign info. will be given at the football signup on March 6th, 2011.
V. Other Items For This Coming Year To Consider
a. Impact Testing-look into all of the details involved in carrying through on
administering this program.
b. Who is going to be responsible for the painting of the football field, the
buying and shooting off of the fireworks, and the blowing of the train horn when we have scored or made a big play?