PHILOSOPHY.MOTIVATION.
AND MANAGEMENT 185
conhol the football, and suddenly,I can't block
anybody and I can't l'un \.ith th€ ball.
So we went with an offense where we would
use the baseblock and run the football.We wodd
simulate what Ohio State did becausewe wanted
to stop that Ohio State attack. We put in a de-
lense that was based on speedand quickness so
we'd be able to pursue and to tackle. We used an
agil€ defense because we werc not a big defen-
sive t€am. And we wanted to win the kicking game
every time we played. This may sound strange to
you, but we zeroed in on the best team in the
league, Ohio State.
Avoiding Lapses
We used the phmse "You get bett€r or you get
worse;you never stay the same."we used it con-
stantly and talked to the playerc about it: "Every
time you take the field to practice or play a gam€,
regardlessofthe oppositionor what we do, when
we go otr the field we're either better or we're
wome. You're damned sure not gonna stay the
In rhe 19706,w. won our shareofchampion-
ships and our program was quite successful. We
were r-unning the football, we were playing d€-
fense, we had great, classic confrontations with
Ohio State in the last game ofthe year.
Aimosl eveD,ycar we played for lhe champi-
onship in the last game. Those games were some-
thing special.We were playing against the great-
est football coach and one ofthe great€st schools-
particularly the ereatest football coach-the Big
Ten Conference has ever seen,
We w€re succeBsfuland happy. And then I
learned very quickly that you can't become self-
€entered. You can't take for g"anted that even
afler 10 yeals of successthat the problems the
losing teams have you can't have just as quickly-
in the wink olan eye. I learned this great lesson
in 1979,when we had pmbably the worst kicking
game in the history of college football.
We d always placed such emphasis on the kick-
ing game. We spent 15 minutes a day on it, every
day We coached punting the same we\e coached
it for 20 years, and yet 11'ehaal punts blocked, we
had punts rcturred on us, ard we averaged some-
thing like 36 yards a kick. We couldn't cover, we
couldn't punt, we couldn't do an)'thing
Wly did this happen?Becauseall ofus coaches
stood there that 15 minutes. We folded our arms.
We didn't coach rtith the same enthusiasm and
with the same drive thai we should have, on a
play that doesn't change from year to year.I prom-
ised to never,ever let that happen again.
ln the 1980 Beason,I gave ever:y singl€ coach
on our staff a responsibility for a position on
punt€. I told them if there was a breakdown at
that position on a punt that that coach was re-
sponsible and that we had no long-term con-
hacts at Michigan. We suddenly approached it
with a lot more enthusiasm.
I took over th€ rcsponsibility of coaching the
punt retum. I have kept that responsibility, and
I will never relinquish it. The man responsible
for the kicking game at Michigan is me! And if
I'm responsible for it, all of thoBe playem look at
that and say, 'Hey, this is something special if
the old man is going to take all the time to con-
duct all the drills and do all the talking in prac-
tice to make sure that kicking game iB done dght."
In 1980,becauseof \ hat happenedlo us in
1979 and the renewed emphssis on the kicking
game, we led the nation in net punting We werc
th€ finest punting team in the United States of
You've got to teach it every single day. Once
you take for ganted that you'rc gonna have a
great team becauseyou\e got great talent, you've
got another thing coming-because the single
most important factor is attitude. And the only
way you're gonna have a great attitude is to coach
it every single day on and off the field!
Keys to Winning Programs
Organization
'
. Masteryofbasics
. Work ethic
. Courage
. Loyalty
. Inteerity
Organization
If I were to tel you today how to \ .in, this is what
Id tell you. Be an organized guy. I would have
those practiceswell-organizedand the staffwell-
organized, and everybody knowing what they'rc
gonna do.
If you don't have organization, and you're not
prepared, your team will never be competent.
Thelrc only competent when they know you have
done a g"eat job of simulating what's going to
happen to them in a game. And you can't do that
unl€ss you'r€ properly organized.
I had Bill Walsh at my clinic last summer'
Walsh is a great coach. He's proved that. He was
186 FOOTBALLCOACHINGSTRATEGIES
telling those coachesout in the audiencehow he'd
won a game. He f€lt he'd won it becauseof his
organization, becausehe cloBedevery offensive
pmctice sessionwith a play that he'd rr]n if it
were fourth down and 25 from his own 3o-yard
line with 30 secondsleft on the clock.
How many olyou coacheswork on that play?
That is not a real goodsituation tobe in ifyou're
trailing But he works on it. It's a special play
where h€ puts three wide receivers out on one
side and puts this euy (Jerry) Rice out on the oth€r
by himself.
If they cover these three receivers ov€r here
and leave on€ guy on Rice, they'rc gonna throw
the ball to Rice. Walsh worked on that. Th€y got
into a game that year in which a very similar situ-
ation occurred, and he told the guys to run that
pals plal,.
And all the guys said, "Hell's fire, we practrce
thiB. We've got a shot. We might possibly hit this
play becaus€we work on it." And damned il the
guy didn't go back therc alld throw th€ ball to
Rice on a sheak mute for a touchdown and they
Now that isn't gonna happen all the time, but
it damned sure never would have happened had
he not practiced that situation. You must antici-
paie and organize and practice every single thing
that possibly could happen in a game.
Mastery ol the Basica
The secondthing to do is master the basics,the
balic fundarDentalsofblocking and tackling, and
you teach 'em with great enthusiasm. The great-
est teacher I have ever been arcund in college
football by far, no one has ever compared-was
Woody Hayes.
Woody Hayes was the advocate of the old full-
back off-tackle play A11old coachesknew Woody
was gonna run 26. He had all kinds of blocking
adjustments up there to do it. I coachedwith him
lbr6years. For6 springs and 6 falls, as we put in
the ofTenseon the first day, the old man would go
to the board and. as if ir wab t hc greatpsrinvpn-
tion in fbotbau, he would describe to the staffthe
26 play.
Bccausphe raught ir $irh such cnthusiasm,
you sat there and watched every move and you
learn€d something diferent----€very time. Maybe
it wasjust a slight lateml step of the fullback, or
maybe you were really gonna change the play and
hav€ a new blocking adjustment rp front.
When he took that play to the players, he
taught it with great enthusiasm. Whenthe play-
ers were in the huddle in a game and the play
came in and it was 26, there wasnt a damned
one of 'em and you can talk to any guy who
play€d Ohio State football-who didn't feel they
were gonna gain yardag€, becausehe had sold
those men that no one can stop 26.
To me, that's important ilyou want to \a.in-if
the play's sound and you teach it that way. It
would have been easy for him to say,"OK, we're
gonna run 26. You all know how to run it." No!
That isn't the way Woodyput it in. He prt it in so
everyone would think, "This is the greatest thing
we could do.'
Motivation and Courage
The next thing you've got to do to be successful is
be willing to work. There's no substitut€ for hard
work.Theres no substirurF for carcfulplanning.
There's no substitute for putting in the time.
Motivationl You must have your heart in your
work so you can motivate others your coaching
colleaguesand the players on youi team. You must
set goals.Any t€arn that s not a goal-oriented team
is not going to have much chanceat success.
There's no substitute for hard work. I admire
coacheswho are willing to put in the time. It's
not a pad-time job. Even though you may have
other responsibilitiesto your school,as I have to
mine, coachingfootball is afull-timejob, and you
don't punch a time clock to do it.
In order to win, everybodyon the staff must
undemtand that hisjob is important. One ofmy
pet peevesis the assistant coachwho is always
looking for the big break or the n€xt job or the
next head coachingjob.
Anybody who wants to become succ€ssful in
football should become the greatest coach, at
whatever rcsponsibility he has, andhe should be
happy doing it! I can say to you in all sinceritt I
never had a bad job. I never had a job I didn't
lik€, whether I was a graduate assiBtant, or coa€h,
ing the guads or tackles or center, or whatever
it might be.
I talked about discipline and the importance
ofit.I want teams with great courage,t€ams that
are able to play under great pressure.That s im-
portant- There's pressure in Michigan football.
There's pressure in your place. If you've ever
taken a teenage kid and run him out in front of
105,000peopleand say,"We want to win . . ."
That's pressure.That takes coulage.Football
teaches that. And when it's done properly, it's a
great teaching aid lor these kids, becauselater

PHII,OSOPHY,
on they're going to have to make somedeosrons
more important than wheth er theyre gonna block
or tackle somebodtr
Loyatty
I believe in loyalty, loyalty to yourseu and loyalty
to those who depend on you. The geatest example
ofthat I\e ever been around was manyyears ago
when Texas A&M was trying to hire me. I was
going to help Bear Bryant coachin the East-West
Shrine Game.
He was going to be the head coach.He'd just
b€cometh€ \.inningest coachin history in Divi-
Bion I; he was the greatest of all time. He and I
had coachedin some all-star gamesbeforc, and
when they asked him to be the head coach,he
said he'd do it if I'd come-because he kn€w he
would have me do all the work.
I got out to San Franciscoand met him at the
Shrine Hospitalwe wercvisiting. I said,'l've got
to talk to you, coach."He said,'Yeah,I beenread-
ing the pap€rs about yor. You and I better sit
down and have a litUe talk." I said, "Great, as
soon as we get back to the hotel." He said, "I'11
give you a call."
He called and carne down to my suite, sat down,
and started to talk. He looked over and said,
"Aren't you gonna offer me a d nk?" I got a bottle
ofbourbon. He potred himselfa d nk and said,
"Texas A&M wants to hire you, eh? I'll never for-
get when I was down therc."
He went on and on. He told stoies and rcmi-
nisced about all his backeround and his coach-
ing. Finally after about an hour and a half, he
looked ovff at me and said, "Well, Bo, we\e talked
about you enough. Now we're gonna talk about
I said, "Wlat kind ofproblems do you have?"I
thought he was gonna say something about his
h€alth. But he said, "Bo, I don't want to go back
to the office. I don't want to call the ofFce. I don't
want to recluit one more kid;I want to quit."
I said, "Bear, everybody in the world expects
you to quit at your aee.You'vejust broken the
rccord. You've done everything yol1 could possi
bly do. Its time lor you to quit. Why dont you
just go aheadand do it?" So I put on a little show.
I grabbed the phone and said, "Here, lefs call your
president ght now."
He said, "Oh, no. Itt not that easy.You'rc gonna
find that out some day I've got 47 people back
1989Pro@dinss. Coach Schembechler uas h.ad caach at the Uniuercit! ol Mi.higan
MOTIVATION,AND I&NAGTMXNT 18?
there thai I hircd at the Univedity ofAlabama.
What's gonna happen to them jfI quit?"
You know the story: He went back and coached
again.He didn'twantto. Hewas sick, andhe was
old and tired. He coachedone morc year, finally
quit, and soon afterward was dead.
That, to me, demonstrated loyalty. He
wouldn'tjust walk out on hisjob.It wasn't that
easy.Now, gentlemen, I call that loyalty. I see
gxys flyinc around. jumping arnund. leaving
people sittins cold and not knowins what
they're doins. Bryant couldn't do that. Wh€n
he finally did leave,I'm sure there were people
who were out in the cold.
tntegfity
I believe in honesty and int€gity As you d€al with
your pl ayers and your coachesand everybody else
connectedwith football, gentlemen,you must be
honest and you must do it with integdty.
I don't feel sorry for those people who g€t
caught and put on probation. I don't feel sorry for
people who get the death penalty. We have rules
and rcgulations we have to opemte under, and
when you break those rules you must pay the
price.
There's enough criticism at everylevel across
the country that we as coachescannot afford
to operate any otherwaythan witb honesty and
integrity. That's yourjob, and if you can't win
legitimately that way, maybe you shouldn't
If) ou re In a sirualionwhereI great.easoni"
winning half your games, realize it, and nake
sure the people around you realize it. We must
conductou$elves so that we are abovereproach.
Thats the only way to sall your progmm.
And that last thine I believe is that when we
coach,every single one ofour playeN must feel,
when his career is ended, that it was one ofthe
most meaninetul exp€riences he's ever had or ever
will have. Ifit is not, then we'rc at fault.
All of us coach for on€ reason, and only one
r€ason:what efect it bas on the guy we coach.I
don't mind filling that stadium at Michigan. I
don't mind making millions of dollaN. But I'm
gonnatell'emone thing:We're only gonna do it if
it's in the best interests ofthose guys who play
That's important. If they come back and say,
"Hey, tbis was the greatest thing that ever hap
pened to me," then it was all worth it.
188 FOOTBALL COACHING STRATEGIES
rl * 3 A e l B ii g $ $ 1}t :: !? r * c $ F $ i l { g g * * [ g € & *, d
Things I've Learned From Goaching
JOE PATERNO
: 1* E U€ ]] * g3$]i; 1 1i * X X Q e* * E{ $ $9 A g$'$$
I'll never forget the frlst time I spoke at the At-
lantic City coa€hesclinic way back in the old days,
when Dr. Harry Scott was running it. He set me
up one night. We had a little dinner, and Harry
said, 'Joe, I've been reading everything you have
had to say about football. I've been wat{hing you,
the way you have coached,and I've asked a friend
of mine who is an author to put together a book,
and I want you to have thtu. The title of the book
h Whdt I Knoo About Foorball by Joe Patemo." I
col d hadly wait to get at the book. I opened it
up, and there were 200 €mprl pages.I still have
that book.
The first clinic I went to was back in 1950,
when I waE in my first year of coaching at Penn
State. Four of us got in the car and drove all night
fr.m SrateCollegeto Dallas.and ne werpgoing
to stay at the Baker Hotel. The university gave
us $50 each for expenses. We rented a room and
shared the expenses of the cax We walked into
the Baker Hotel about twelve or one at night, and
i C
there was a whole crowd of people in the lobby
There was this kind of heary guy holdins court,
running the clinic. That was Woody Hayes.
Woody had just had ar undefeated season at
Miami of Ohio and was in the proc$s of being
int€rviewed for the Ohio State job. He was in there
talking about how he blocked the off-tackle play.
We were there until four in the moming, and I
was fascinated. That was my introduction to the
American Football Coaches Association clruc.
About Teaching
I know most ofyou may have heard this before,
but first and foremost, what I have learned is that
a coach must be a teacher. I was able to learn
thft from a pe$on who I truly believ€ to be one of
the best coachesand t€achem ever: Rip Engle.
Rip would never let us put in more than the kids
could handle. He was constantly evaluating the
assiBtant6 to determine how much new material
they were putting in and how quickly the kids
were comprehendingit.
I can't tell you how important that is. The
minute you have to play a kid that can't learn
quickly, can't handle some things you want to do,
all of a sudden your whole schemehas come down.
We couldnt do some things we do in our second-
ary if we didn't have four bright kids back there
who could handle sorn€ of the adjustments, the
checks, the change-ups on coverages.We can only
go as fast as the slowestlea.ner
About Players
In evaluatirg pemonnel, I've always believ€d that
the frrst thing was consistency, the second thing
was the RBI-the guy that can mak€ the big play
and $.in the same for you-and the third thing
was the guy that makes the major er'ror.You can't
play him. I try to remember what players can do
well. Ifyou hav€ a player that can do something
particularly well, don't forget it. In the €lutch,
that's what vou want to use.