THE EDITORS of Gridiron Strategies recently took in some great sessions at the Mega Clinic in Chicago, Ill. and found that successful coaches seem to have one thing in common: a great desire to swap football knowledge with other coaches.
Here are some nuggets of wisdom from some of the clinic’s speakers that we’d like to pass along:

Effort, Attitude
¸ Practice hard! Get the juices flowing. The players will respond if you practice hard and teach them to carry themselves as if they are a good team.
¸ Tell your players to quit accepting the fact that mistakes are OK! Get them to stop accepting poor attitudes from teammates.
¸ Meet with every player at least twice a year. Before each meeting make sure that you have a folder prepared for that player. The folder should include his gains in strength, speed, conditioning and any notes regarding attitude.
¸ My teams are as fundamentally prepared as any team you’ve ever seen. We continually reinforce fundamentals and perform tough drills from the first practice of pre-season until the last game in November.
–Randy Walker, Head Coach,
Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.

Coaching Approach
¸ Having knowledge is one thing, but knowing how to apply it is critical. How you approach things makes the difference.
¸ Players need to be intense and give great effort in order to develop skills and gain good habits.
–D.W. Rutledge, Head Coach,
Judson High School, San Antonio, Texas

Toughness
¸ Coordination is the key to conducting a good practice. We haven’t had a bad practice in 6 years.
¸ Preach toughness to your players. This is a rough game! One team will be bigger, stronger, and better coached.
¸ Work on goal line offenses and defenses everyday in practice. Develop a goal line philosophy.
–Pete Ventrelli, Head Coach,
Downers Grove North High School,
Downers Grove, Ill.

Parents
¸ Invite parents to attend practices anytime they want to come. After watching practices, parents will understand why you do things and understand why some players don’t play.
¸ Teach your coaches to drill properly. It is critical that players perform drills correctly and always go full tilt! If players jog someplace during practice, they’ll end up jogging during a game.
–Rick Bojak, Head Coach,
Riverton High School,
 Riverton, Utah

Drills
¸ Drills should simulate playing situations as closely as possible. Drills must be relevant to your schemes. Make sure that your players know why you’re doing a drill.
¸ Demand perfection. Do it over if it’s done wrong! Emphasize the little things like body position, etc.
¸ Nobody stands around during practice. Be organized and have no more than 3 players in a line.
¸ Space your drills properly and have a good mix of strenuous and slower-paced ones.
¸ When running drills, create an atmosphere of competition for your team. Competition between groups and individuals is essential.
¸ Have fun and be enthusiastic! Players take their cue from you.
–Mike Noll, Head Coach,
McHenry East High School,
 McHenry, Ill.

Using Signals
¸ Use signals during every drill in practice so that they become automatic to players in a game.
¸ The worst thing that you can do as a coach is stand behind your players during practice. Stand out in front of them so that you can give them signals.
–Kevin Wilson,
Offensive Coordinator,
Northwestern University,
Evanston, Ill.