Serious Question about preparing for a game.

[wildboy44]

Do most coaches prepare for teams specific skill set or do they just treat every team like the same team? In other words would the scheme for Wynne be the same as a PA scheme. My knowledge in football is limited, someone help me.

[RamFan06]

Do most coaches prepare for teams specific skill set or do they just treat every team like the same team? In other words would the scheme for Wynne be the same as a PA scheme. My knowledge in football is limited, someone help me.

I can only speak for the teams I have been around, but I assume, as competitive as Arkansas High School Football is these days, each team gets a new game plan and specific preparation. You may not change your overall scheme, that would be a bit much for most teams to handle each week, but I have seen scouting reports and game plans for specific teams that are fairly detailed. Hudl has made that not only much more feasible for most teams these days, it also makes it necessary since your opponent has seen everything you have done all season already. Change it up, add something new, or they will be ready for you.

[Chief-Chickasaw]

Do most coaches prepare for teams specific skill set or do they just treat every team like the same team? In other words would the scheme for Wynne be the same as a PA scheme. My knowledge in football is limited, someone help me.

Most teams I've been around will prepare for each team individually.  This can go from running more plays to the left because the left side seems weaker then the right.  Or they may change how they block certain plays by pulling a guard or zone blocking.  On defense they may decide to blitz more or on they may do line slants to help against the run.  You usually don't change what you do but you do make slight changes on how you do it if that makes sense. 

[Chin Music]

The amount of "film" coaches have at their fingertips today is amazing, even at the junior high level.  In my day, it was an ordeal to get your film exchanged with an upcoming opponent.  There are more resources and more time to study and opponent so I think most coaching staffs will game plan each opponent. 

[Complete Biased PoV]

Hudl has changed EVERYTHING!

[Rampage72501]

Do most coaches prepare for teams specific skill set or do they just treat every team like the same team? In other words would the scheme for Wynne be the same as a PA scheme. My knowledge in football is limited, someone help me.

If you prepare for PA the same way you do for Wynne, you're going to have a VERY short evening.  Heck, most will have that anyway, but I'm talking giving up triple digit points in the first half (if Coach Kelley were so inclined)...

[Jacketalum07]

When I played for coach Campbell and Singleton in Wynne we prepared for each team different. On offense we ran the same offense maybe just a little more to the weak side. We changed our defense every week depending on who we were playing. Every week we exchanged tapes with our opponents from the previous weeks game and we would use those tapes to prepare for the game that friday.

[CIA]

Your chosen base offense and defense defines you.  Its tweaked each week to your opponents tendencies and strengths and weaknesses.  There are some teams that are more difficult to prep for in a week due to  the complexity or uniqueness of their schemes. 

[Redbird88]

It also helps to have a playbook bigger than a post it note and a qualified OC and DC!!!

[Grond]

Do most coaches prepare for teams specific skill set or do they just treat every team like the same team? In other words would the scheme for Wynne be the same as a PA scheme. My knowledge in football is limited, someone help me.

What a beautiful, elegant question! 

Most coaches do some type of preparation for the opposing team. This may involve choosing existing offensive plays that the coaches think will work better, or even adding a special play that is specifically for the team they will face Friday night.

But how the coaches respond to an opposing team varies greatly. Some coaches will run the SAME defense the whole game, while other coaches will change their defense from play to play, or even move the defense around depending on how the offense changes their formation prior to a play.

This is why football can be endlessly entertaining, because of all the different philosophies on tactics. Some teams run one offense (such as Wynne running the flexbone offense), while other teams like Batesville run the Spread and the I-formation.

Scouting opposing teams occurred long before Hudl (a website used by coaches for video review; a controlled "YouTube" for football coaches & players). At White Hall high school in the early 1980's, offensive linemen had to be at school at 7 am for two or three mornings a week, for a 'class' to review opposing defenses. The Offensive Line Coach would even give us written tests. We went 10-2 that year.

[Youngsta71701]

It also helps to have a playbook bigger than a post it note and a qualified OC and DC!!!

No doubt, that would help. But haven't you heard? As long as you have a degree in something you're qualified to coach. Even if the degree is in religion or nepotism.

[spongebob]

It also helps to have a playbook bigger than a post it note and a qualified OC and DC!!!

No doubt, that would help. But haven't you heard? As long as you have a degree in something you're qualified to coach. Even if the degree is in religion or nepotism.

HAHA

[Overdahill]

It also helps to have a playbook bigger than a post it note and a qualified OC and DC!!!

A deep playbook and players who are indoctrinated in it sure makes useful in-game/half-time adjustments a lot more likely. Drawing up plays with sticks in the dirt only works in the movies (or perhaps in lower classifications)

[Chief_Osceola™]

A deep playbook and players who are indoctrinated in it sure makes useful in-game/half-time adjustments a lot more likely. Drawing up plays with sticks in the dirt only works in the movies (or perhaps in lower classifications)

I think on-the-fly and halftime adjustments are probably what separates the elite teams from the good teams.  The coordinator's ability or inability to adjust to an opponent's wrinkles that don't show up on film win and lose more games than we probably realize.

[RamFan06]

A deep playbook and players who are indoctrinated in it sure makes useful in-game/half-time adjustments a lot more likely. Drawing up plays with sticks in the dirt only works in the movies (or perhaps in lower classifications)

I think on-the-fly and halftime adjustments are probably what separates the elite teams from the good teams.  The coordinator's ability or inability to adjust to an opponent's wrinkles that don't show up on film win and lose more games than we probably realize.

^^^ THIS!

Talent can win you games against teams with less talent, but when you are playing a team with equal or more talent, the coaches ability to make adjustments, and how well they have prepared their players to execute those adjustments, win the important games.

[Cardinalboi07]

From my years of playing, on good teams in junior high (I know, but i was good darn it), the coaches would never change a scheme, just figure out different ways to adjust it. I played on a team that was good at running, if we knew we were playing a team good at stopping the run, we wouldnt start passing because we werent built like that. The coaches would come up with different ways to run it and put in some easy, sure fire passes and only used them if needed.
on defense we would look at what the other teams offense would look like. we always ran a 4-3 even if we were playing a pass heavy team. We didnt switch to a 3-4, but we would just find ways to add more pressure in the 4-3.
Then of course you make adjustments, not just at half time like you hear a lot of people say but when you notice a weakness/opportunity