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A GHS Offensive Football Coach
A day in the life of an offensive coordinator is more than just training and watching. The coach up in the box controls it all. Photo by Jessie Fossenkemper
Written by Jessie Fossenkemper - Editor-in-Chief
“This is where the magic happens,” joked Justin MacDonald, Gilbert High School’s offensive coordinator, as we settled high above Tiger Stadium on the top of the press box where I would join him for the following three hours as he coordinated the Tigers’ offensive attack against the Westwood Warriors in the season’s last game. The average spectator at a high school football game sees players running, blocking, tackling, and catching, while coaches seem to just run up and down the sidelines yelling at players, but a coach’s job is more than spectators can see. I spent the day with Coach MacDonald to find out what being a football coach is really like, and what I imagined being an offensive football coach was like and what it actually was like, were completely different.
From all of the football movies I have watched, I imagined constant yelling, pulling players off the field, and pushing new ones on, and a lot of bad words. Not only was there no yelling, almost no interaction with players, and very few bad words, where we were sitting, most people in the stands wouldn’t even know we were there. I know that I didn’t even know that there was a coach up there influencing the entire game like some sort of Wizard of Oz.
MacDonald said preparation for a game begins almost exactly seven days before, right after the previous game ends. He begins grading film immediately after so the team can improve on their mistakes. This takes until 11:45 pm, then he finishes the second half at 6 am the following morning, and the coaches review with players at 8 am. Once players leave around 11 am, the coaches break down the next week’s opponent to analyze schemes, tendencies, and find player strengths and weaknesses. Then they watch three to seven films on the team they will be playing so they can identify predictable patterns, and develop a game plan that may include changes to offensive strategies based on what they think they are going to see, and they come up with a modified offensive package to gain an advantage on the opposing team.
Throughout the week the offensive players run 55 min – to 1 hour of drills a day, offense vs. defense, individual fundamentals, and group work. The team sets aside time on Thursday to evaluate the game plan and throw out any plays that aren’t polished, as well as review special situations such as the 2-minute offense, special teams etc.
Game day begins with warm-ups then simple position drills and finally six offensive plays as a team. At this point, MacDonald claimed the “Chili’s in the pot” which is coach-speak for there being nothing else the coaches could do to prepare the players, and like chili, all one can do is wait for it to slow cook. After returning to the locker room while seniors were acknowledged on the field then joined the team for a last minute power talk, MacDonald and I sat on top of the press box to call the game. It was so much calmer then I had ever imagined, and there was constant chatter via radio head sets between MacDonald and wide receiver coach Ron Daugherty on the field who signals the plays in to quarterback Brandon Bialkowski. This was one of the more fascinating points of the evening since everything MacDonald said seemed like some sort of code.
“Spence blocks man on.” Which I assume is preferable to “man off”.
“Tell him to take a peak at the post.” Duh! who doesn’t take a peak at the post every once in a while?
“Left bundle power hula.” This was my favorite, as it sounded warm and exotic
It was all gibberish to me, I kept leaning over and asking what each phrase meant, but I started to understand why one coach sat above the field; it makes it easy to see what is going on, and know which way to go next, it also takes away from a lot of the emotion of the game so the ability to make more rational decisions is compromised.
MacDonald and the offense opened up the game with a 12 play, 75 yard touchdown drive, often utilizing a new formation for that week that he thought would catch Westwood off guard. And though it looked efficient and nearly effortless and that the Tigers would have their way with the Warriors all night long, MacDonald assured me the team would find a way to make it “interesting” by allowing the opponent to keep pace with their scoring so the game would come down to the last seconds, as six of the Tigers games had this season.
Sure enough, the score was tied 21-21 at half, and all the boys marched into the locker room to review the game so far. The coaches all gathered in the office to talk, then eventually pulled the offensive line in to show them a new strategy. The boys were a little tense, scared that the other team might catch up, but MacDonald gave them a pep talked that raised their spirits. He talked about regrets. He encouraged the players to think about the next half, the last 24 minutes of their football season, and for some, their lives, and told them to not miss the opportunity to do something they would regret not doing for the rest of their lives. He told them he believed that they would win, but they had to take it from their opponents; it wouldn’t happen on its own.
The boys went out after half time, and tensions started to rise. The coaches started to get frustrated, and some of the cuss words and yelling I imagined started surfacing.
The last two minutes of the game were intense, the crowd was on the edge of their seats, and MacDonald was out of his. With a 10 point lead for most of the fourth quarter, the players were making little mistakes that allowed Westwood back into the game, and the coaches were yelling at the players, trying to keep the lead. Westwood scored a touchdown with 31 seconds left in the game, recovered the onside kick, and only needed a few yards to get into field goal range to send the game into over time, or march the 46 yards to win. After a controversial facemask penalty on Westwood, moving them out of field goal range, the Tigers sealed the victory on a Zach Mendez sack with no time left on the clock, in what became typical, last-second fashion for the Tigers, and just as MacDonald had predicted.
After the game, amidst the hugs, high-fives, and helluvagames, it is back to the office to grade film, while the players celebrate, and the seniors soak in their last game, because this is where the magic really happens, and the truth is there isn’t any magic, just hours of preparation.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:13 am
WOW this is really good GREAT JOB!