(S28) PT 4 - Back to School

[shadyshoelace]

When De La Salle high school asked star alumnus Dante King to serve as an interim football coach for a game, he was shocked. Not only was he fresh out of college and lacking the leadership or scheming experience that most teams look for in a coach, but he had simply coasted through his high school years on his unparalleled athleticism that he never really needed to study up that much on playbooks. But, duty called, there was no way Dante was going to turn down this opportunity to give back to the program that put him on his path to the pros. First, he had to figure out his philosophy. Athleticism is the essence of speed, and speed is the essence of football, so he had to make sure that his best athletes were in a position to make plays at all times. Even though most high school offenses are built around power run games, Dante's team was going to go all-out spread option to confuse defenses and get his playmakers in space. Next, he only has so much attention to give in practice so the defense is just going to have to figure things out on their own this week. Who cares if they give up 40, the offense will be scoring 60. After a full week of workouts and installing this mentality in his team, gametime is on the horizon. Only time will tell how these plans work out...

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[Luciddreams702]

4 months from now, at The London Royals Offseason Media day.

“Defensive End Lucid Dreams walks to the podium”

Hi Lucid , Molly Times of the ISFL Now. Over the Offseason you took up the Position of Head Football Coach at your old High School in Boise Idaho. How did that come to be? 

I still remember that phone call, my first DSFL season had just ended when I received a call from the principal of my old High School. The Eagles current Coach had fallen ill and needed to step away from the Team. They had reached out to a few other options before calling me. They needed a temporary Coach and knew London’s Offseason workouts didn’t start for a few weeks. At first I was flattered but wasn’t sure Coaching was for me but after mulling it over I decided to accept the offer. I mean what’s the worst that could happen in two weeks?

The next day I was on an International flight heading to Boise. I arrived to the school only two days ahead of the first game of the season. With no chance to install an efficient game plan in two days I focused with my Team on a simple Play Book and Team Communication. In Boise, High Schools take over Alburtsons Stadium (Boise States Stadium) on Fridays. Standing at the end of the tunnel with my Team overlooking the field I spent four years playing on, the feelings rushed back to me. Looking at my Team with one final message before they took the field. “No Matter What happens, We refuse to be Outworked... Eagles on three, Eagles on me. 1..2..3.. EAGLES.

The first half was close but we were ahead 17-14 on the back of our Running Back Luke Swift, Luke was phenomenal scoring both touchdowns on plays of more than twenty yards. He’s a name we will definitely see at the next level.

After a scoreless third quarter I knew we needed to catch them off guard. I gave my Quarterback three options and told him to take the open shot. While the pass was far from perfect the total play went for sixty five yards and took us all the way to the ten yard line. On the back of Swift once more we were up 24-14. We needed one more stop and our defense was up for the task.

After the game I was offered the position of permanent Head Football Coach. A position I promised to accept as soon as my ISFL playing Career was over. For now I’m focused on continuing my Success in London and I Couldn’t be more thankful for the Experience I had during the offseason. I also happen to know that Coach Rossi will be the perfect man to lead the Eagles to success over the next few years. 

Thank you that’s my time.

[firstfray]

While Dexter hall prepared for the Coyotes' next game, his high school contacted him asking him to come coach for one game while they looked for a replacement head coach. With a genuine passion for football and a desire to inspire the next generation of football players, Hall accepted in a heartbeat. When he arrived at his high school, he was told that they were going to face the reigning champions. Up to the task, Hall decided that he first needed to see who he had to work with on the team. He set up a small scrimmage between the offense and defense and he discovered that (thankfully) the team had a really strong LB core and an amazing young QB. After a few more practices, Hall was able to come up with a gameplan. On the day of the game, it was absolutely miserable. Rain was pouring down and it did not look like it would stop. This was great for the defense but horrible for the offense. The weather would force both teams to have to run more often and be really careful with passing. The defense was well suited for this with some great LBs but the young QB on offense needed to step up if the team wanted to win. Hall brought the team together before the game with his usual KCC chant to inspire and hype the players up for the game. This was the spark that they needed as the team torched the reigning champions by a score of 52-20. Unfortunately, Hall was too focused with his DSFL and ISFL duties to take the permanent head coaching job.

[Attopax]

Given that Los Alamitos High School was always a talented school, Asher would expect to be able to step in to a team with heart and a desire for excellence, because high school is where those values were instilled in him. Asher would step in and run the team largely like it was run before. Even if Asher didn't like some of the drills or had a different philosophy, he knew that repetition and stability were more important to performance than changing up the focuses of practice for a week or so. He knew that the new coach would come in and install whatever kind of offense or defensive schemes they wanted and whatever type of training regimen they wanted, so Asher would avoid creating too much change in a small amount of time. Asher would hype the team up through the same types of things that they did at the ISFL level -- Hollywood style speeches and epic music! Asher would expect to be competitive during the game as they are normally competitive. Asher ultimately would not look to take up a permanent job at this point in his career. He was still in his prime as a player at the highest level, and having the distractions of flying between California and Hawaii regularly would only harm his performance in both settings. He would wish the new coach and the team the best of luck moving forward and would return to Honolulu to continue his efforts there.

[ckroyal92]

SHL PT 59-1

[Mojojojo]

It was a Sunday evening like any other in the Lover house, when the phone rang. Constance called up to Ernest, who was putting their daughter to bed, to say that it was Coach Cares on the line. This was an unexpected treat, since it had been over a month since Ernest had last spoken with Coach Cares, right after Ernest’s brother Keane was drafted into the DSFL. Coach Cares had been instrumental to Ernest’s life, helping him through difficult times in high school and shaping him into the competitive athlete that had helped him secure a career in football. So, when Ernest picked up the phone, it was a blow to hear that Coach Cares was resigning from his role as head coach of his home town’s Ripley High School football team. Coach Cares had been diagnosed with colon cancer and was stepping away from his duties to receive treatment. He asked if Ernest would fly up from Sarasota to West Virginia to coach the team in their final game of the season. Ernest immediately agreed and made plans to visit Coach while he was back home as well.

It was Tuesday evening and the Ripley Vikings were taking on the Lewis County High School Minutemen. The Vikings were already eliminated from any post-season games and so few expected them to put up much of a fight against the Minutemen. Ernest could see that the players were rattled with the sudden loss of Coach Cares and so he sat them down before the game in the locker room and he said: “Coach Cares is not giving up in his fight against cancer. And tonight, we will do him the greatest honor we can muster and not give up this fight. Win or lose, we will go out there and play football the way that Coach Cares has taught us all — even me.” Ernest called an aggressive game plan, pushing on tough 3rd and long and even 4th down situations, catching the other team off guard. The underdog Vikings put themselves into a position where they could win with a last-minute field goal. While they missed the kick, the hometown crowd still cheered. It was a personal victory for all of the players, and for Ernest. But he found himself emotionally exhausted and looked forward to going back to being a player rather than a Coach.

[StamkosFan]

SHL PT

[GuitarMaster116]

Mellott’s old high school was a small and not very particularly special one. It was not well known as a place that pumped out a bunch of good players that would go on and get scholarships. Because of this he was a pretty well-known name as he was the only player from the school that had ever made it to the major leagues. The kids all looked up to him and admired him. Since Mellott only played OLine really, he had no real clue how to coach. As an OLine, he only really knew how to do one thing, take down and pancake anyone in your way. So that is what he taught the kids. Instead of focusing on trivial things like different formations, plays, and drills, he just showed them what needed to be done to pancake fools and also ran them through blocking drills. When game time came, at first the offense started off with an aggressive passing attack, but after multiple unnecessary roughness penalties as the kids kept pancaking everyone. So instead they switched to a run heavy game plan, and that worked very well. They still got a bunch of unnecessary roughness calls but it was harder to call those on run plays where the teams job is to block. By the end of the game their rushing game had about 500 yards and 6 TDs. Mellott was immediately asked to become the new head coach, but with a life of being a professional football and baseball player, he did not have the time, so he declined. Before leaving, he told the kids to always remember something, “If someone is in your way and you want to pass, make sure you grab them and put them on their ass!”

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[mango8154]

First Daniel would be confused why his head coach was fired, but would take the job quickly if the opportunity arose, he would have to fly over and I imagine playing the first game pretty soon after only having a few training sessions. He would be harsh in the training to get them trained enough in his system, which would be a simple game plan so that it would be easy to play in a game without an offseason of training. I imagine in the first half of the game the DeMontford Devils would get largely destroyed as the players struggled to implement even the simple system, leading to O’Leary to get very animated on the sideline in an effort to get a slightly competent performance. During the halftime Daniel would be yelling and throwing water bottles around, after the outburst he would try to focus the players to do simple things, and the second half would be better but the team would still lose, making O’Leary angry, getting into arguments with other coaches, players and parents that attended to watch their children. O’Leary would then be called to the head office of the principal and let go after the game for being a simply horrible head coach and getting into arguments with so many people.

[Oles]

It’s no surprise that the Oles family would receive a call about coaching for their old high school. The Oles legacy follows through the same high school for every single one, sticking to their roots and staying in a place that Tyler Oles SR knew well. Every Oles member has gone to the same high school, going through the same place, so when they return it will be very familiar for the group that creates ISFL pro after ISFL pro. Having already run a training camp in the past will help the case as well and will help build these young players to the future and help them figure out how to win some games. It’s actually a surprise that they haven’t extended an offer to any of the Oles gang in the past, considering the pedigree of the family. For much of the actual game it’s clear that the old coach was a bit reliant on the youngest Oles to come through, and never really was able to recreate the success he brought them, as the team is in shambles, him being fired seems to have been the best thing for the team. All the training in the world can’t change a bad team overnight, but with the right hands the team could be good in no time, so while the game with the Oles gang is a loss, it’s more than just about one win or one lose, it’s about building for the future. (246 words)