Simplification

of the
Complicated
Alex Heilig
Defensive/Special Teams Coordinator
South Tahoe HS, CA
Nogales HS, AZ Coupeville HS, WA
OL/DL & Frosh OC RB/LB/Specials

South Whidbey HS, WA Granite Falls HS, WA

OC/OL/LB HC/OC/DC/QB

Port Townsend HS, WA South Tahoe HS, CA

HC/OC DC/DB/Specials
 Why?
AFCA’s Top 35 Under 35
 Students have more time demands than
ever before.

Students have more distractions than

ever before.

Adapting Students home lives are more

to Change disturbed/disrupted than ever before.

Students are less attentive than ever

before.

Increase amount of students with IEPs.

 • Study of how the game has
changed
• Run & Shoot
• Vertical Passing Game
• West Coast
• Modern Passing
Offenses
Evolution • No Huddle
• Mathematical
Advantages
• Each evolution allowed for
improvements
• Improvements for
offense = customization
 West Coast Offense
Bill Walsh

Custom Allowed for OC’s to customize their offense to fit

what they see on the field.
Offense Formations Slide Calls Audibles Snap Counts
Hot Reads &
Other
Designations

West X Fly Y Cross 4 Under F Dive

 The Big How the hell do I teach
this to 13-18 year old’s?
Question
 OODA Loops

Observe, Implemented Remove the Focused

by Oregon amount of
Orient, material or on the
and Chip
Decide, & Kelley. road blocks Orient &
Act in the way to
speed the
Decide.
OODA Loop.

If we reduce the amount of choices needed for a

player to re-orient and decide to a given
situation, then I speed the process, and increase
efficiency.
 Clinic Diet
Understanding What You Have Been
Taught, Worked for that Situation.
Realizing What You Have
College Recruit
-Hand Picked
-Have to Qualify Academically
-Understanding of Outside
Influences on Students
High School Student
-Who the Hell Knows Who Walks
Through the Door
-How Do You Spell Academics?
-Learn About Their Lives on the Fly
 High School Athlete Collegiate Athlete Professional Athlete
Inconsistent Life Schedule Highly Choreographed Life Highly Choreographed Life
Perform to be Cool? Perform or be Replaced Perform or be Replaced

Choice’s Have Little Consequences Choice’s Effect Careers Choice’s Effect Careers

13-18 Years Old 18-23 Years Old 21-40 Years Old

Tailored Academic
No Concern for Academic Coarse load and Athletics X
Schedules/Academic Assistance

No Drug Testing Drug Tested Drug Tested

No Guarantee of Consistent Food Provided Meals Food is a Non-Factor
Puberty/Girls for the 1st Time Survived High School Survived High School
Less Cognitive Development Survived College
1st Time Playing Organized Football Some have Handlers

Social Pressures of High School/Experimentation

 • Good teachers translate
information to students in
relatable means.
• History
• We Don’t Demand that
Students Understand
Effective 100% of American
History.
Teaching • We Pick and Choose the
Most Important Aspects,
So they can Effectively
Utilize the Information in
Life.
• Why do we change this
philosophy when we are on
the practice field?
 • Players no longer memorize
formations.
Got it…Can • Allows Players to Remember One
You Please Less Thing
• Cuts Down Verbiage/Play Call
Tell Us How? • Allows Player to Focus on the
Play
Delete Formations
To accomplish this simplification without compromising the offensive
strategy, we reduced the stress on our athletes by moving to numbers.

Athletes are taught a series of numbers (1-9 with !).

Each number or symbol corresponds to a spot on the field.

Any system could be substituted for numbers or be added in addition to the

numbers.

Athletes are only required to know the numbers and where they need to
stand.
 Players are shown a board from
the sideline.

Play They simply find their number

Calling based on order and color and go

to their spot.

By accomplishing this
simplification, coaches become
the only individuals that need to
know the formations.
 • The next step in simplifying the
offense is to further simplify the play
call.
• We have paired routes instead of
individualizing them for each player.
• West Coast system a play call
could be; “U Corner X Hitch”,
Play Call • Passing Tree; “U 8 X 4.”
• To simplify this, we say “Smash.”
Players immediately know that the
inside guy runs a corner and outside
man runs a hitch.
• This allows us to have simple play
calls, limited memorization, and a
faster transfer of play call from
coach to players.
 Cut Down Your Playbook
• The final component in this process is pairing down our
playbook.
• An offensive playbook can have 50-100 plays.
• This is a lot of information to ask players to remember.
• This is equivalent to asking history students to memorize all of
history.
• Instead we ask our players to memorize a limited amount but,
become highly specialized in these select plays.
• We want players to be Masters of their craft, Not Journeymen.
 Our Playbook

In our system, we have 7.5 run plays and 15.5 pass plays.

These plays can be presented through numerous

formations and personnel.
This goes back to the boards which removes the
memorization for the players while still providing a
complicated multi-dimensional offense.
 Benefits

We can now run Spend time We could have We increase our

all of our plays perfecting our plays, practiced a single overall practice
play 40 times in
at every instead of learning one week, while
reps from 40 a
practice. and becoming other teams may practice, to over
somewhat effective only get ten reps at 100.
at more plays. a single play in the
same week.
Laketahoefootballcamp.com
Cost: $90 a Team
 Alex Heilig
South Tahoe High School

1735 Lake Tahoe Blvd,

South Lake Tahoe, CA
96150

Aheilig@ltusd.org

520-841-1892
@CoachHeilig