IN 18 YEARS of being a head football coach, I’ve become convinced that getting players to play hard is of the upmost importance. For years I thought that players either play hard or they don’t. But I have come to believe that effort must be coached — and if we’re going to coach effort, then we must have a plan or we are doomed to failure.

Most people don’t think they need to read about coaching effort. Our program, however, believes it’s of the upmost importance for our team, and we take extreme pride in our style of play. The great effort of our players is the biggest reason for our success over the past few years.
The following is a list of what we do to ensure that our players are playing to the effort level that we expect.

1. Play Hard Or Do Not Play
This philosophy sounds easy and we coaches all say we follow this in some way, shape or form. But the truth is that most of us do not. Do you allow the studs to take plays off or do you strictly enforce this point? The idea of total effort will not take hold until you sit one of your studs.

When players begin to see that this code of play is demanded without question, your program will change. Over time, everyone understands that players who loaf will embarrass the program.

2. Pace of Practice
The pace of your practices have a lot to do with whether or not your players are playing hard. playing hard. Players become accustomed to a pace or style of practice. If your practices are slow with lots of standing around, then players get stuck in that mode. It then becomes difficult to switch gears on game nights.

Our coaches demand an up-tempo, fast-paced style of practice and it prepares our players to play at that pace.

3. Two Whistle Drill
This is one of the greatest drills ever invented. Any time we practice defense, we practice with two whistles. On the first whistle, the ball carrier is stopped and by the second whistle all defensive players must be at the pile. This creates a feeding frenzy atmosphere around the ball on game nights.

There’s nothing magical about this drill, but the most important aspect is enforcement. We tell our players if they aren’t at the ball by the time the second whistle blows, then they are “fired.” If you get fired you have to stand and watch, and this becomes embarrassing for players.

4. Off-Season Planning
Our players work extremely hard during the off season with weight training and speed work. The most important aspect may be creating competition during off season. We try to make what we do during off season as competitive as possible at all times. We split kids into teams and make them compete. Stress going hard so you do not let your team down.

During the off season is when you’ll find out which of your players is competitive and which ones aren’t.

 5. Create Adversity
Many players do not play as hard when things go bad for them during a game. Our job as coaches is to create as much adversity as possible during practice.

Put players in bad on-field simulated situations and see how they react. Make bad calls during a scrimmage, for example, and see if they keep playing hard. Or, put the defense in a hole and make them fight back out of it. Make it tough on them and observe how they react.

6. Shame
This sounds cruel, but it is a necessity. During film sessions and practices point out the players who are not giving total effort. No player wants to be pointed out for not playing hard in front of their peers. Conversely, point out the kids who are giving great effort and make a big deal about it.