I want to thank the AFCA for allowing me
this opportunity to speak about
Georgetown College Football. Several
weeks ago, I was one of the fortunate
coaches to be preparing for a playoff game
when a member of the AFCA staff called
and asked me to speak. I had to pinch
myself to see if I was dreaming. For so many
years I sat in the front row at this convention,
as well as every clinic I could go to, taking
notes and thinking someday and then I
would wake up to reality. This is a great
honor and goes to show you that dreaming
and visualizing can be worthwhile.
As an assistant for 14 years, I was influ-
enced by some great people, three of
whom I thoroughly enjoyed coaching with.
Kevin Donley, my mentor, the man who
began this scoring tradition at Georgetown
College, was a great inspiration to me
because of his persistence to make
Georgetown College a national power.
Ernie Horning, our defensive coordinator at
the time, was a master motivator and a
great teacher of life long lessons. Stewart
“Red” Faught, a legend of small college
football and the guru of the run-and-shoot
offense, set a new trend for Georgetown
College football. It is these experiences
that have enabled me to return to
Georgetown as the head coach and contin-
ue the Tiger tradition.
What a tremendous experience we
were part of this past season. Ranked No.
1 in the country for 13 straight weeks,
undefeated up to the final week when we
met our match, a fine football team from
Northwestern Oklahoma State University,
who we played for the national champi-
onship. Prior to that, we flew for the first
time in school history to California to take
on the defending national champions and
were successful. It was a great year!
Before I go any further, let me say this.
In 1991, I was a part of the NAIA champi-
onship game between Georgetown and
Pacific Lutheran, and it was a very memo-
rable experience for everyone involved.
However, the strides that have been made
by the NAIA, with the help of Team Hardin
County, is unbelievable. I really commend
everyone involved with the championship
series. It is totally a first class operation
and one that our coaches and players are
excited about participating in again.
I feel very humbled in speaking today
because I know many of you are much
more qualified than I. The more I prepared,
the more I realized all I can do is tell you
• Proceedings • 77th AFCA Convention • 2000 •
how we at Georgetown College have been
approaching things the past three seasons.
We have been called the most prolific
It’s More Fun to Score
offense in NAIA history. Now, I am not sure
what that means. It is one of those fancy
terms my sports information director uses,
who by the way does a great job, but I do
know that we averaged 583 yards per
game, which is over 8,100 yards for the
season. That is the highest single-season
total in NAIA history. We scored 710 points
this season, the second time in our
school’s history to score over 700 points in
a season, the only school to ever achieve
that. The stat that I like the most is 97
touchdowns by 15 different players. Now, I
am not a statistics person and pay very lit-
tle attention to them however, those are not
bad numbers. When we score 30 points,
everyone is asking, What’s wrong? We
have spoiled our fans and that’s a good
problem to have!
I'd like to begin by pointing out some of
the things we try to emphasize at
Georgetown to help us develop an attitude
about scoring. Just four seasons ago, the
Tigers went through four years of averag-
ing just 20 points per game. The last three
seasons we have averaged 40 points, and Bill Cronin
this past season 50 points, all because of
attitude! Head Coach
Ten Steps to Score Georgetown College
1. Must have coaches who believe in
your system. Georgetown, Ky.
Everyone must be committed and offen-
sive coaches and defensive coaches must
believe without a doubt that it will work. I
am fortunate to have a great staff, three of
whom are with me today: Craig Mullins, my
offensive coordinator, Dave Campbell, my
defensive coordinator, and Bruce Owens,
my recruiting coordinator, who obviously
does a great job because he supplies us
with all the very talented athletes who
make us all look good.
These guys believe in what we do!
2. Brainwash our players with our
philosophy.
I remember the first spring practice and
sitting with the offense in a room talking
about the success of this offense. How it
will score 40 points per game! They all
looked at me like I was crazy until I showed
them how it had worked before in college,
in high school, and in 1991 when we won
the national championship. We convinced
these players that it will happen, not that it
can happen!
 Our philosophy is very simple but catchy
and sincere. It was taken from the finest
offensive football coach I have ever been
around, Red Faught. I am sure most of you
know him; he coached 36 years at Franklin
College in Indiana. The philosophy is this —
Stay loose, go reckless, and score! And we
truly believe that. Let the defensive guys tear
down the lockers and we stay loose.
3. Practice scoring.
Every drill we do we emphasize scoring,
demand that they get into the end zone at
full speed! In team drills, we want the line-
men to get excited, run to the end zone and
give high-fives. Practice it. Get used to it. It
allows you to have fun in practice.
4. Must play good, sound defense.
Your players must realize how important
the defense is to the offenses scoring. This
is something our coordinators did a great job
of, they complimented each other. It is
amazing how much easier it is to score
when you start on the 40-50 yard line
because your defense put you there. It is
also a lot easier to gamble and take chances
when you know your defense is going to
make it tough for your opponent to score. I
hate to punt and I hate to kick field goals, but
my staff and players know it and are not sur-
prised when we go for seven points instead
of being happy with three. Because of our
defense, we went for it on fourth down 42
times this season. Our opponents went for it
18 times. That is a big difference.
5. We use a tool box approach.
Don’t bring a hammer when you need a
screwdriver. We feel like we have a specif-
ic tool for whatever you do to us on
defense. Then it is all about picking the
right tool and executing.
During the game, my offensive coordi-
nator is in the press box watching the far
side, I am watching the near side and my
offensive line coach watches the box. Each
of them will give me a call, and I will decide
what we run. My other offensive coaches
are watching personnel, and when they see
a weakness, they communicate that to me.
I never want to know what the defense is
doing, but tell me what we should run. This
enables us to pick the proper tool.
6. Execution is the key! Know your
conversion downs letter perfect!
You have to practice it 1,000 times
because 999 is not enough. This is proba-
bly what we do best and practice. I believe
we have a very organized way of practicing
what is important every day.
We spend a lot of time on third down
• Proceedings • 77th AFCA Convention • 2000 •
plays; it is easy to call plays on first and ing we are going to run it a certain percent-
second down, but not every play will gain age, it just depends on the tools we need.
you 10 or 12 yards. You can select the Diagram 2: Goal Line
proper tools to score or advance the ball,
but if you don’t execute your proper tools
have done you no good.
7. Have a plan and practice all situa-
tions possible.
We always want our players to feel that
we have a plan, no matter what the situation
might demand. I believe this puts them at
ease. For example; two-point conversion
plays, two-minute offense, backed up to Diagram 2 is our goal line formation.
your goal line, the last four minutes of the Even though we call it the goal line doesn’t
game, the last three plays of the game, spe- mean we won’t use it elsewhere on the
cials, touchdown now, overtime, safety. The field. We like this formation a lot because it
bottom line is: Practice and have a purpose! is so different from the run-and-shoot for-
8. Recognize players weekly. mation. In the goal line formation, we like to
However you do it, you must do it. use a deep motion and a long motion. We
Players love to be recognized in front of will sweep quite often to the quick side and
their peers and we all do and we try to do it run power, hard-nosed-type plays to the
as often as we can. The thing we try to strong side; it depends on how you want to
focus on is extra effort performances, not defend us. That dictates what tools we use.
every catch or touchdown, but big hits, div- Diagram 3: Scoring Pass
ing catches, breaking tackles. The enthusi -
asm and the effort as a result becomes
contagious.
9. Expect everyone to coach and
coach up!
We believe we have the largest coach-
ing staff anywhere. Expect your players to
coach when they are not actually involved
in the play. What this does is forces players
to get mental reps. A person can only get In Diagram 3 you will see the scoring
so many physical reps, but mental reps are pass, the first of the three S’s. The quarter-
unlimited. When the players really get back will fake to the right half, look at the
involved with this, your young player devel- right half and then hit the left halfback or
ops faster and contributes sooner. tight end. This is a great play on the goal
10. Utilize the three S’s (Scoring line or inside the 10 yard line.
pass, Sideline pass, and Shovel pass) Diagram 4: Sideline Pass
What I would like to do is share part of
our system with you, a part that we really
have had a great deal of success with. The
players love it because they know we don’t
go into a game without our three S’s.
Diagram 1: Run-and-Shoot Formation
In Diagram 4, we have the sideline
pass. Now we have no motion and the
quarterback will five-step drop and read the
cornerback coverage. The left half will arc
release on the cornerback. If he closes on
him, then go deep. If he can’t close then he
First let’s look at our basic formations: will run and out cut. This is a great play if
Diagram 1. This is our run and shoot for- you are playing against a weak defensive
mation that we probably use 70-75 percent back and you want to take advantage of
of the time. We never go into a game think- him.
 Diagram 5: Shovel Pass

Diagram 5 is our shovel pass, and the

third of our scoring plays. We like to use
this as a screen type play when the defen-
sive line is coming up-field hard. The quar-
terback will take a five-step drop behind the
right guard. He will hit the left half after
looking at the fullback flare. The left half will
fake block and on a two count release
catch the ball behind the center’s position;
now score!
The three S’s are three great plays for us Georgetown College averaged 583 yards per game in offense to total more than
and our system. You may have your own 8,100 total yards this season and set a new NAIA record for season yardage in
three S’s, I am sure you do. The point is to 1999.
have something you call your scoring plays.
Let your players know that is what they are for and then practice it. And have fun scoring Georgetown can help you in your program.
and practice them. Practice scoring from all more points than you ever thought possible. Feel free to call my staff if you need anything
areas of the field, not just from the red zone Once again, this has been a great honor. I further from us. Good luck in the new year
area. Talk about it, brainwash your players hope that some of these ideas that we use at and we look forward to next season.

E v e r y b o d y ’s NOT
Doing It
Finger pointing and dismissing unethical acts with an “everyone’s doing it” attitude in
the public arena does nothing to help the game or the image of the football profes-
sion — your profession.

Everybody’s NOT doing it, but those who do flaunt the rules and the AFCA Code of
Ethics are only encouraged if those honest coaches in the profession treat such acts
lightly.

Stand up for your profession by acting responsibly. Lead by example and insist that
your fellow coaches adhere to strict professional standards that are outlined in the
Code of Ethics.

• Proceedings • 77th AFCA Convention • 2000 •