Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

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Football,like noother sport, combines a rich history
$.ith the most recent innovations. Our fondest
memories of plays, games, players, and
coaches somehow make the modem gam€ more
meanjngful and more enjoyable.
What now works on the gridiron does so becaue
olthe many lessons Bhared by coaches and playen
from practices, games, and seasons gone by Today's
sophisticated yideo and mmput€r technology, pl ayels'
equipment, training tables, conditioning prcgrams,
and sports medicine services are valuable
only when they co€xist {.ith the oldest football principles
of all----organization, t€achin g, blocking, tackline,
t€amwork, etroft, and sacrifice.
Innovarion and Iradi(ionr )uung. brighl aspiring
coaches a]ld old, wise veteran coaches; upstaft
teams breaking irto the top 25, and perennial powels
that seem to never leave it. No other sport is so
high-tech and yet so de€ply root€d in the lessons of
the past; so rcady to chanee with the times and yet
so set in its ways; so ready to hail todals stam as
the gr€at€st of all time and yet so appreciative of
the legends who preceded them.
Rarely do we have the opportunity to present,
in one book, insights from football's pasi and
prosent as we do in ,'oo tbary Coachins Strateeies.
We get this chance onlybecause somanysuccessful
coaches have taken the time to share their
t€aching and practice methods, tactical ap
proaches, and philosophies duing the pasi 25
The proceedings ftom the American Football
Coaches Association's annual convention and articles
for the AFCA Summer Manual sinc€ 1970
capture both the crcative genius and the €nduring
principles that have shaped the mod€r'n same.
What Woody Hayes, John McKay, and Darrell
Royal told us a quarter century ago is as important
as what Dick Tomey, Dennis Green, and
Steve Spurrier have to say today. And you']I be
able to read passages from all six of these fine
coaches and many olhcrs in this book.
Footbary Coachitug Stru,egr"s presents much of
the most important tactical thinking in football-
From the Wishbone to the Eagle, the book describes
and illustmtes a wide selection of popu'
lar offensive and defensive fonnatiom, schemes,
and plays. Also inelud"d ar" Limeresrad, Fllective
attacks for th€ all-important kjcking game.
In all, more than 300 detailed djagrams of formations
and plays are shown.
But success in football isn't achieved through
Xs and Os alone. Proper philosophy, motivation,
and management are equally importani, and
these subjects are addressed atlength in Part IV
The book includes 67 articles contributcd by
many of the greatest football coaches tbe game
has ever known, all addrcssing topi€s in shich
they hav€ special expeftise or interest. We wanted
to include th€ most coaches and the most strat€gjes
possible. To do that, we had to ablidge and
revise the original adicles-in some cases, considerably
without eliminating the substance of
the coaches' messages.
Among the pdmary consid€rations in our selection
pmcess werc to
. dirtribura tha arjrclFs across rhe 25 \ aar r ima
period (1970 1994), but to emphasize more
recent works;
. present a variety oftopics within each of lbur
cat€gories: otrense: defense; spocial teams; and
philosophy, motivation, and managementi
. include at least one coach from the high
school, junior college, each NCAA divtston.
and prolessional levels;
. feature coaches presenting on their area oi
. fit as much infonnation in as $e possibly
could, given the book's page allosance: and
r make the book highly readable, useful. and
entertarning.
Re$ettably, we had to omit many very $ orth)
articles presented by bun&eds ofcreat coaches.
Bui all of you undemtand that whcn you're tied.
and it's 4th-and-goal with littl€ time remaining,
you have to make the tough call. And together
with Human Kinetics we had to make several of
them during the cou$e ofthe book's dcvelopment.
FootbaLlCodchine Straregi€s is for the teteran
c^ach whoconLinues roadd rohi.Ln"" cdgc oas..
for the less experienced coach who is srill leamine
many facets of football and hos to coach ii,
for th€ playef who is looking to improve hrs unde$tanding
and pedomance, for the studont of
the game who wants an inside look at the spo 'g
nuances, and for the fan who wants to be a more
informed spectatox For all ofyou,thebook's blend
ofthe best lessons ofthe past with the most current
thinking in today's game should make next
footbal season andtheseasons that follow all the