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Ten Things You Must Do...


aujeff11

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Ten Things You Must Do To Play or Coach for Gus Malzahn:

Everyone knows the story by now. Gus Malzahn is the Chosen One, the high school coach who made it big. From tiny, downtrodden Hughes High School in far eastern Arkansas to, now, a $50 million man at Auburn.

Malzahn told that story to a gathering of coaches at the AFCA Convention last week in Charlotte. But he also explained what that path from the lowest of the low to the biggest stage in college football has taught him along the way.

Call it the Ten Commandments of Football, according to Gus Malzahn — the ten things he believes are most important for building a winning culture.

1. Coaches being great examples for our players. “I want our staff to show our players what a great dad looks like, what a great husband looks like,” he said. “I don’t want a bunch of profanity and all that.”

“It’s bigger than the Xs and Os, man,” he continued. “You’re making a difference in a young people’s lives.”

2. Sportsmanship. Malzahn says Auburn practices how to celebrate together after big plays, and said he administers “accountabilities” for not handing the ball to the referee after a play and for taunting. “These coaches that let their team do all that bullcrap taunting,” Malzahn said, “I don’t think there’s any place in football for that.”

3. Define who we are. “I think it’s very important you put it on paper, offense, defense and special teams,” Malzahn said. “Our offense, we’re a two-back, run, play-action team. We’re not a spread team. ‘Oh, they run the spread.’ No, we’re a two-back, run, play-action team. We put constant pressure on the defense but running our offense at a 2-minute pace, wearing down our opponent mentally and physically. That’s what our whole offense is built upon.”

“If we have a bad game or two,” he said, “we’re not changing. I think that’s real important.”

4. Be very good at a few things. Malzahn said the best advice he ever received as a head coach came in his first year on the job. “I went and talked to a guy named Barry Lunney, Sr., in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He said, ‘How many plays do you have an offense?’ I said, ‘Coach, we got 100, maybe 200. We can run anything.’ He said, ‘How many can you run perfect?’ We can’t. He said, ‘Pick out four or five plays, and get it where your plays can block any front and run them perfect. When you get those four or five perfected, then you go out and add one,'” he said.

Malzahn said his assistants tell him he will take that 20-plus year-old advice to extremes at times. “We run the inside zone, we run the power to the right, we run the counter to the left, and we run the buck sweep. That’s 80 percent of our runs,” Malzahn said. “But I’ll tell you this: We’re going to know who to block. I don’t care what front, I don’t care what blitz.”

5. Build around the strengths of your best players. “Being a high school coach, that’s what you naturally do. You take what you got, and you build it,” he said. Malzahn said his background as a high school background gives him an advantage in this area, and informs his coaching even to this day. Need an example? Malzahn said he runs his power to the right and his counter to the left because, when designing this offense in the Arkansas high school ranks, he decided to put his two best lineman on the right side and run behind them as often as possible.

“I’ve seen a lot of schemes where they’re asking their quarterback to do something he can’t do,” Malzahn said. “But that coach, that’s all he knows.”

6. Straining your players to be perfect on the field, and love them off the field. To illustrate this, Malzahn told a story about Cam Newton. “The Thursday before we played our first game (in 2010), he called my wife. ‘I can’t do anything right. Coach is all over me.’ Let me just tell you, after that season he was the No. 1 pick in the draft, won the Heisman, won the national championship,” Malzahn said. “Know what he says today every time I see him? ‘Coach, thank you for coaching me hard.'”

7. Set goals high. “When I was a high school coach, every year I told our team our goal was to win the state championship,” Malzahn said. “When I started saying that at Hughes, they hadn’t been to the playoffs. They looked at me like I was crazy. But we got to the state finals. We would have never got there if we hadn’t had that dream.”

Malzahn said setting high goals can lead to success through having a better offseason that the competition. “I believe you can beat people just by being motivated,” he said. “I want (our staff), when it’s April, to think about playing in the national title game. We were that close.”

8. One standard. “That’s the head coach’s standard,” Malzahn said. Being a Gus Malzahn team, he said, means hustling on and off the field, displaying good body language and playing with great effort.

9. Getting your staff on the same page. “The longer that I’m in this coaching proffession, the more I understand that this doesn’t happen everywhere. The egos, ‘I thought this, I’ve been doing this.’ I always tell my coaches that when they’re talking through the game plan, it’s okay to have some dialogue and to disagree. But once they come out of that room, everybody’s on the same page,” he said.

10. Outwork opponents. Malzahn is an admitted workaholic, one who had his high school quarterbacks take footballs on family vacations and check in at night with how many passes they threw that day.

These days, Malzahn wakes up around 5:30 and stays at the office until midnight. To gain an extra edge, though, on Friday mornings from 7 to 11 a.m. he’ll take a coordinator or a GA and triple-check the game plan one last time.

This advice came with a disclaimer, though: Malzahn’s two daughters are grown and out of the house. He regrets the “selfish crap” he did as a high school coach by working the most hours of any high school coach and keeping his golf habit. “Don’t neglect your family,” he said.

http://footballscoop.com/news/ten-things-must-coach-play-gus-malzahn/

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1. I will always appreciate Gus for the content within numeral number one no matter if he wins more championships or if he’s fired two years from now. He runs a tight ship and he doesn’t let his players embarrass the school that they represent.

2. I appreciate Gus for cutting down on the showboating that goes on after TD’s and big plays. A lot of people had issue with his “We kicked the dog crap out of them didn’t we!” comment to the reporter after beating Georgia in game one. I have no problem with it and I don’t consider it bad sportsmanship. 

3.

1 hour ago, aujeff11 said:

We put constant pressure on the defense but running our offense at a 2-minute pace, wearing down our opponent mentally and physically. That’s what our whole offense is built upon.”

I wish this was our identity.  We haven’t run a true two minute offense since he’s been here. 

4. I guess we can blame Barry Lunney, SR. of Fort Smith Arkansas for Malzahn overusing 3 or 4 plays. I guess this works in HS...

5. I saw what Malzahn did with Chris Todd and Cam Newton. I truly thought he could successfully adapt to any type of QB. I no longer think he can. Gus has his limits. 

6. No thoughts. Gus has always demanded accountability as a coach. 

7. At this point, I think he draws upon his HS experiences too much. People scoff at his expertise and his offenses by calling him a high school coach, but he apparently likes it. I believe I read that his dream job was to coach HS football in Texas and he said it was  easier to get a job at Auburn than to coach HS football in Texas.

8 & 9. One Standard and Get Your Staff on Same Page

It makes sense for the coaching staff to operate in unison and with uniform principles, but I question whether Gus is open to the ideas of his assistant coaches. 

10. It doesn’t surprise me to hear that Gus is a workaholic that likes to double check his offensive gameplans. I had a feeling he was this way when he was calling plays and he was getting frustrated with it. I think he was simply pressing too much. 

Overall, there are a few insights that I enjoyed, but most of them provided confirmation to my own thoughts of Gus’s program. 

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Yep. He has some excellent points, but I see from what he said that we may as well stop pining about over-running the zone read, even when the opponent knows it's coming.

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I agree with @aujeff11 assessment on each point.  Well done.

2 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

 

4. I guess we can blame Barry Lunney, SR. of Fort Smith Arkansas for Malzahn overusing 3 or 4 plays. I guess this works in HS...

Hammer, meet nail.

If Gus would figure out that he hired Chip Lindsey to run the offense and not Barry Lunney, Sr. then I suspect this would become a dominant football team once again.

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Loved the article. Best one ever written on Gus imo. I agree with AUJeff11 that it was more of just a confirmation to our suspicions more than anything. I mean yah you do not need 100 or 200 plays you can run but we need a lot more diversity than we have. I think the simplified playbook and running the same type of play over and over again to perfection works against the Ole miss, Miss st and arkansas of the worlds defenses but you cannot live like that against the top teams. I think gus realized that against georgia and bama because we came out with a lot more passing. The 1 thing that was missing that I wished was in the 10 commandments to coach under gus IS A RELENTLESS PURSUIT on the recruiting trail. Life blood of any major program. You got to get the jimmy and joes. He does not mention it once. The top coaches all have a understanding of how important recruiting is. You can have the best gameplan in the world and double and triple check it for hours before a game but sometimes it just not matter if you do not have the best players on the field. 

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I would like to see an addendum to #9. I'm good with being on the same page obviously but if things aren't working out at halftime can we turn the page please. 

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Well, this article is telling.  What I read is Gus will never evolve into a successful college head coach as he has not adapted to anything that is not done in HS.  All the people that has said that he now sees the light and is a changed coach should read this article and never say that again.

This one quote sums up Gus:  “If we have a bad game or two,” he said, “we’re not changing. I think that’s real important.”

I wonder (as Jeff mentions) if Gus has real dialog in his coaching meetings.  If we indeed, replace some more offensive coaches, it will be very telling who he hires.  If they are from his coaching tree, there will be no growth out of Gus.  The man doesn’t like to be out of his comfort zone, no growth.

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..."we’re a two-back"...     :dunno:         Does having one back sitting on the bench unprepared to play constitute a 'second back'?

So we now know we have what we expected we had. Gus' team knows 6 plays and practices them to perfection.  When they no longer work, we run them anyway, because that's all we've really got.  Then, when things look really bad,  run play #7 or #8 - plays we don't practice much and don't do well.  No wonder they look like the acts of desperation they are.   

Gus in a nutshell.  At least there will be no more Gus has changed comments.  And thanks for that, Jeff11.  :thumbsup:  It's been hard getting to the laughing out loud and face palm emojis on my mac... 

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5 minutes ago, AURealist said:

..."we’re a two-back"...     :dunno:         Does having one back sitting on the bench unprepared to play constitute a 'second back'?

So we now know we have what we expected we had. Gus' team knows 6 plays and practices them to perfection.  When they no longer work, we run them anyway, because that's all we've really got.  Then, when things look really bad,  run play #7 or #8 - plays we don't practice much and don't do well.  No wonder they look like the acts of desperation they are.   

Gus in a nutshell.  At least there will be no more Gus has changed comments.  And thanks for that, Jeff11.  :thumbsup:  It's been hard getting to the laughing out loud and face palm emojis on my mac... 

H back?

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Very telling and damning comments from Gus.  Gus needs to learn and adjust.  But ultimately,  Gus needs to win and win big (this means not wetting the bed in big games like the SECCG and games against rivals which to Gus' credit, he did beat UGA (then wet the bed against them in the SECCG) and spuat during the regular season in 2017. Also, it would be nice if Gus could find the motivation to coach the team adequately to win a bowl game of significance.  Bottom Line- Just win Gus.

wde

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11 hours ago, aujeff11 said:

7. At this point, I think he draws upon his HS experiences too much. People scoff at his expertise and his offenses by calling him a high school coach, but he apparently likes it. I believe I read that his dream job was to coach HS football in Texas and he said it was  easier to get a job at Auburn than to coach HS football in Texas.

Overall, there are a few insights that I enjoyed, but most of them provided confirmation to my own thoughts of Gus’s program. 

Great analysis on every point...on #7, could he and bigbird trade positions/locations...if dream jobs are in question? ?

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Funny...we've been saying this stuff on here for 2-3 years, but people still turn a blind eye to it. I agree...the next hires will tell the tale of what direction Gus is going or if he has any aspirations of growth as a HC. This "yes man" stuff has to stop if he ever expects to elevate to the next level. 

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1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said:

Well, this article is telling.  What I read is Gus will never evolve into a successful college head coach.....

 

He is already a successful college head coach and has been for some years now.

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20 minutes ago, Mikey said:

He is already a successful college head coach and has been for some years now.

Mikey...this is too simple. Baiting, so I'll bite. You are right in one sense...but most understand that the elephant family in the room continues to be the lack of predictability, the difficulty in winning the big games outside Jordan Hare, and the wonder of what measures of accountability exist for the lack of execution on players' parts, injuries aside (common to all teams, "next man up"). We still suffer from an extreme allergy to apparently having an effective "Plan B", which gets even more obvious around halftime.  Nothing in the article addresses these observable "elephant babies" that are attached to the parent. Unfortunately the article addresses the REASON for them, REASON ultimately being it's not perceived as worth adapting to, by CGM. We're talking moving from good to GREAT, here, Wooden-Dungy style. Character always first, but accountability at all levels right up there, too.

It's very easy for me to get behind a leader willing to seriously analyze, seriously adapt, and seriously know why he or she must. I contend I'm not alone. 

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Also I cannot believe I did not take this to task above but I HAVE to address it now. Gus, A COACH CAN STILL BE A GREAT EXAMPLE to your players even if they curse. You are seriously handicapping yourselves on hiring the best coaches if you are looking for the guys who curse the least.  I can just imagine him interviewing guys for open positions and him asking sooooooo well Dell McGee and how much do you curse now in your time away from Auburn since 2013? I CRINGE! haha. For goodness sakes you have rodney freaking garner on staff who you have said has a place at AU as long as you are head coach. I do not think he is all about being no cuss gus on the practice field!!! You can still be a good dad and a good husband like garner and other cussers are and can be! lol.

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27 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

Also I cannot believe I did not take this to task above but I HAVE to address it now. Gus, A COACH CAN STILL BE A GREAT EXAMPLE to your players even if they curse. You are seriously handicapping yourselves on hiring the best coaches if you are looking for the guys who curse the least.  I can just imagine him interviewing guys for open positions and him asking sooooooo well Dell McGee and how much do you curse now in your time away from Auburn since 2013? I CRINGE! haha. For goodness sakes you have rodney freaking garner on staff who you have said has a place at AU as long as you are head coach. I do not think he is all about being no cuss gus on the practice field!!! You can still be a good dad and a good husband like garner and other cussers are and can be! lol.

I read that to mean that they shouldn't talk like a sailor off the field.

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2 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Also I cannot believe I did not take this to task above but I HAVE to address it now. Gus, A COACH CAN STILL BE A GREAT EXAMPLE to your players even if they curse. You are seriously handicapping yourselves on hiring the best coaches if you are looking for the guys who curse the least.  I can just imagine him interviewing guys for open positions and him asking sooooooo well Dell McGee and how much do you curse now in your time away from Auburn since 2013? I CRINGE! haha. For goodness sakes you have rodney freaking garner on staff who you have said has a place at AU as long as you are head coach. I do not think he is all about being no cuss gus on the practice field!!! You can still be a good dad and a good husband like garner and other cussers are and can be! lol.

Don't kid yourself... we have coaches that curse, Garner most likely being one of them. Gus just encourages people not to and I totally respect that. Scientifically, the only value that's ever been shown for cursing is that it's known to help with pain. There's never been any proof that it's motivating. In fact, outside of things like pro sports, it's actually a huge risk in the workplace, because it can be considered creating a hostile work environment.

I love the overall environment of respect that Gus creates in his team. We need more of that in more places.

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1 hour ago, ToraGirl said:

Mikey...this is too simple. Baiting, so I'll bite. You are right in one sense...but most understand that the elephant family in the room continues to be the lack of predictability, the difficulty in winning the big games outside Jordan Hare, and the wonder of what measures of accountability exist for the lack of execution on players' parts, injuries aside (common to all teams, "next man up"). We still suffer from an extreme allergy to apparently having an effective "Plan B", which gets even more obvious around halftime.  Nothing in the article addresses these observable "elephant babies" that are attached to the parent. Unfortunately the article addresses the REASON for them, REASON ultimately being it's not perceived as worth adapting to, by CGM. We're talking moving from good to GREAT, here, Wooden-Dungy style. Character always first, but accountability at all levels right up there, too.

It's very easy for me to get behind a leader willing to seriously analyze, seriously adapt, and seriously know why he or she must. I contend I'm not alone. 

We can all pick apart his style or the mistakes that have been made over his tenure, but Gus has still been ranked in the top 20 coaches in the country every year of his tenure at Auburn. I'm going to have to support @Mikey's retort to @I_M4_AU's overly negative comment. Gus is already successful.  He's not the best of the best, but he is successful.

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2 hours ago, Mikey said:

He is already a successful college head coach and has been for some years now.

Right Malzahn has his missteps, what coach doesn't. But how many coaches have beat two number 1 ranked  teams in a span of three weeks. I don't know of a coach who has.

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1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

Also I cannot believe I did not take this to task above but I HAVE to address it now. Gus, A COACH CAN STILL BE A GREAT EXAMPLE to your players even if they curse. You are seriously handicapping yourselves on hiring the best coaches if you are looking for the guys who curse the least.  I can just imagine him interviewing guys for open positions and him asking sooooooo well Dell McGee and how much do you curse now in your time away from Auburn since 2013? I CRINGE! haha. For goodness sakes you have rodney freaking garner on staff who you have said has a place at AU as long as you are head coach. I do not think he is all about being no cuss gus on the practice field!!! You can still be a good dad and a good husband like garner and other cussers are and can be! lol.

I like that that is Gus's preference to have an environment like that. That being said I doubt it would be a huge deal to most players. Show them how to be good men, good husbands etc. Just be honest with them and don't be a hypocrite acting one way on the field and one way off of it. That would be important to me as a player. 

 

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I actually came away more frustrated than feeling the warm and fuzzies after reading this. It's got a mix of it's positives and negatives to me and at this point I'm exhausted and I really came away from this with limited confidence that Gus evolves and becomes a heavyweight of the coaching ranks which he very much has the potential to do.

 

I loved #1 and #2 (coaches being great examples, and great men - minus the cussing part).

#5 and #3 spit in the faces of each other though, as I see it. He says you have to define what kind of team you want (2 back, power run), and then goes to say "You have to adapt to your personnel". I wonder which holds more value to him (serious question)

#4 (be great at a few plays)...you've got college players now, coach, you can have more than 5 plays. In fact, the defense wants you to run just 5 plays.

#6 is great -- coach em hard, love em equally as hard

#7 set goals high? That Clemson gameplan in 2016 was devised by a guy who certainly didn't look like he had high goals.

8,9, and 10 are solid in theory, although I'm not sure what to think about how he said his assistants get on him about using just 5 plays and then talks about the importance of everyone being on the same page.

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5 hours ago, AURealist said:

..."we’re a two-back"...     :dunno:         Does having one back sitting on the bench unprepared to play constitute a 'second back'?

 

Nope, Running back is one, quarterback is the 2nd

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Gus describing himself just as I have thought he was. When his offense fails to make a first down for an entire half of football it is execution, and not scheme that caused it. The World ACCORDING To Gus.  if any of you have any inkling that the offense is going to evolve and we are suddenly going to become a prolific, and consistent offense through the air, you can put that out of your mind.

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