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Pre-Season Preparation
7/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 7, 2001
Boca Raton News
Guest Commentary: Howard Schnellenberger
Now that 25 football team members were introduced to Boca Raton as part of the city's 37th Independence Day celebration on FAU's campus, and now that Coca-Cola has created commemorative cartons of Classic Coke which Publix has on display, and now that the old coach and his staff have visited six Publix stores to showcase the commemorative bottles, and now that the slow boat from Hong Kong has arrived with panoramic manuscripts documenting FAU Football's development, and now that Coach Kirk Hoza has returned from his surprise anniversary cruise, and now that Christ Vagotis has returned from his homeland of Greece, finally we are beginning intense preparation for our two-a-day practice that begins August 6, 2001.
Many things need to be accomplished in the seven weeks prior to the opening game. A critical area for our new staff and young players is studying FAU's opponents from an individual technique standpoint to determine the style of offenses and the types of defenses that are used, down to the probability of play in defense selection. Coaches and players will get to know our twelve opponents inside and out.
The coaches' responsibility is to have the best play calling and defensive schemes available to stop the greatest probability of what opponents will do. In this day of modern technology, we've installed a computer system that not only provides individual game tapes, but also enables us to break down each play and group them into categories that determine the probability of certain plays being called in certain situations. From the video breakdown, coaches will know when specific plays will be run, on what down and distance, from what formation, at what score and time in the game, and under what weather conditions.
Before the first game, dossiers will be compiled on our opponents. Every play that each opponent ran in its 2000 season will be analyzed and become part of our large database. We'll have the data needed to prepare the most analytical and comprehensive information. (Back in the days of Shula and Bryant, Allen and Woody Hayes, this same information was gathered with pencil, pad, adding machine, and calculator.)
This concentrated effort will get us only to the level of each of our opponents when it comes to game preparation. As always, information at hand that prepares the body and mind are only as good as the ability to work, sacrifice, and execute. On game day, all this information must be stored in the memory of our minds and muscles. We must execute with reckless abandon and be guided by our instincts that have been improved by such preparation.
For now, this is all we can do. We have to wait 56 more days before we can unleash this preparation.
Monday, July 13
Monday, July 13
Monday, July 13
Monday, July 13