Interesting article. Pretty much confirms what most of us thought. One thing I believe is (not in the article) it wasn't Cozgrove who made Callahan worse. It was Callahan who made Cozgrove worse. Coz at Wisconsin was probably considered an adequate D.C. and nothing more. But with B.C.'s stupid system of not teaching, he made Coz a below average D.C.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200...;u_sid=10293118
NU Football: Progress halted by lack of teaching
BY DIRK CHATELAIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
• NU football schedule
• On the Web: Big 12 Football
• On the Web: NU Football
RELATED
• NU football schedule
• On the Web: Big 12 Football
• On the Web: NU Football
Football coaches like their handshakes firm and their chinstraps tight and their teams physical — can never be too physical.
So think of today's topic as a physics class.
Bill Callahan is the professor. Each day at 2 p.m., he introduces a set of formulas, concepts and packages — technical jargon you and I wouldn't understand.
At 3:30 p.m., his students move to the laboratory to practice what they've heard.
Next day, new lesson, new lab assignment. Stick to the schedule.
This is the regimen Nebraska football players followed the past four years.
Bo Pelini described a different philosophy on Monday.
"You just don't get an installation schedule and throw it at them and say, 'This is what we're staying with.' You set things and say, 'This is where we're going to start.'
"Then you move on as you need to, as you're ready to. . . . It's a teaching progression."
Spring football starts Wednesday at Memorial Stadium, and Pelini's students may be surprised by the new classroom procedure.
Callahan emphasized rhythm and repetition in his practices. That's how you perfect timing within a West Coast offense. That's how you stay one move ahead in the war of X's and O's.
Players had questions and players made mistakes, but they were best solved in the meeting rooms. Time spent deliberating on the practice field equaled time wasted.
These principles made Callahan's drills a sight to behold. Observers marveled at the pace. Legs were constantly churning.
"Callahan always wanted to keep going and going and going, get a certain amount of plays done for each period," receiver Nate Swift said.
But Callahan's routine, conceived in the NFL and tailored to prepare starters for Sunday games, had a drawback at the college level, some believe. It's a problem every kid who's ever taken a science or math class can understand: Comprehension of one day's material determines comprehension of the next day's. Fall behind, even a day or two, and the test questions get mighty hard.
Nebraska football players often fell behind.
"Coaches weren't really in teaching mode," safety Larry Asante said.
So whoever understood the information, Asante said, "that's the guy who played."
"There were guys out there lost."
Like freshman defensive back Eric Hagg. Asante remembers filling in the blanks for Hagg so he could keep up with the "rapid-fire" installation of blitzes and coverages.
"For an incoming freshman, even for a juco guy coming in for spring ball, you're just getting drilled with so much stuff right away," defensive end Zach Potter said. "It was something new every day. It's not like you got something and had a week to digest it."
That's one reason newcomers struggled to make an impact, Potter said.
The problem, Swift said, wasn't so much the volume of material, but how coaches waited until film-room sessions to point out mistakes and answer questions from the previous night's practice.
"You had to watch film (of practice) and kind of correct while you were watching," Swift said. "With the younger guys learning the system, I think it's definitely helpful to correct them right on the spot."
Pelini described a more flexible routine, which Asante called "comforting." There's an order to the lessons he'll teach, but no fixed schedule.
"You don't progress 'til you're ready to progress," Pelini said.
If a coach moves too fast, he confuses the whole offense or defense, Pelini said. He offers his own metaphor.
"It's like if you put the walls up before you have the foundation built. The whole thing gets screwed up, right?"
For example, Pelini may have planned in advance to install one phase of the defense.
"If on Wednesday they don't have what we're doing on Wednesday, then I might say, 'Let's move what we were going to do Friday to Saturday.'"
Certain concepts need to be covered this spring. But Pelini doesn't expect to have everything established by the first game. Better to be great at a few things than average at several.
"You can make the mistake of trying to be the Patriots tomorrow," Pelini said.
The past few years, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove had a base defense, a speed defense, a nickel defense — and different calls within each. It might have become too specialized, Potter said.
Potter expects a simpler, less-stressful system under Pelini.
The offensive routine is a little murkier. Callahan's coordinator, Shawn Watson, is still running the show.
Swift isn't sure how practice will change. Maybe fewer repetitions. Maybe more time between plays for discussion. More teaching moments.
It's a little strange, players say. Pelini's a first-time head coach, so no one knows for certain what he'll be like.
Intensity will be unrelenting, they know that much. Effort will be critical. Winning can't wait long.
But when it comes to the practice field, Pelini's players have already learned one lesson: To take big strides, sometimes you've got to slow down.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
Copyright ©2008 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200...;u_sid=10293118
NU Football: Progress halted by lack of teaching
BY DIRK CHATELAIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
• NU football schedule
• On the Web: Big 12 Football
• On the Web: NU Football
RELATED
• NU football schedule
• On the Web: Big 12 Football
• On the Web: NU Football
Football coaches like their handshakes firm and their chinstraps tight and their teams physical — can never be too physical.
So think of today's topic as a physics class.
Bill Callahan is the professor. Each day at 2 p.m., he introduces a set of formulas, concepts and packages — technical jargon you and I wouldn't understand.
At 3:30 p.m., his students move to the laboratory to practice what they've heard.
Next day, new lesson, new lab assignment. Stick to the schedule.
This is the regimen Nebraska football players followed the past four years.
Bo Pelini described a different philosophy on Monday.
"You just don't get an installation schedule and throw it at them and say, 'This is what we're staying with.' You set things and say, 'This is where we're going to start.'
"Then you move on as you need to, as you're ready to. . . . It's a teaching progression."
Spring football starts Wednesday at Memorial Stadium, and Pelini's students may be surprised by the new classroom procedure.
Callahan emphasized rhythm and repetition in his practices. That's how you perfect timing within a West Coast offense. That's how you stay one move ahead in the war of X's and O's.
Players had questions and players made mistakes, but they were best solved in the meeting rooms. Time spent deliberating on the practice field equaled time wasted.
These principles made Callahan's drills a sight to behold. Observers marveled at the pace. Legs were constantly churning.
"Callahan always wanted to keep going and going and going, get a certain amount of plays done for each period," receiver Nate Swift said.
But Callahan's routine, conceived in the NFL and tailored to prepare starters for Sunday games, had a drawback at the college level, some believe. It's a problem every kid who's ever taken a science or math class can understand: Comprehension of one day's material determines comprehension of the next day's. Fall behind, even a day or two, and the test questions get mighty hard.
Nebraska football players often fell behind.
"Coaches weren't really in teaching mode," safety Larry Asante said.
So whoever understood the information, Asante said, "that's the guy who played."
"There were guys out there lost."
Like freshman defensive back Eric Hagg. Asante remembers filling in the blanks for Hagg so he could keep up with the "rapid-fire" installation of blitzes and coverages.
"For an incoming freshman, even for a juco guy coming in for spring ball, you're just getting drilled with so much stuff right away," defensive end Zach Potter said. "It was something new every day. It's not like you got something and had a week to digest it."
That's one reason newcomers struggled to make an impact, Potter said.
The problem, Swift said, wasn't so much the volume of material, but how coaches waited until film-room sessions to point out mistakes and answer questions from the previous night's practice.
"You had to watch film (of practice) and kind of correct while you were watching," Swift said. "With the younger guys learning the system, I think it's definitely helpful to correct them right on the spot."
Pelini described a more flexible routine, which Asante called "comforting." There's an order to the lessons he'll teach, but no fixed schedule.
"You don't progress 'til you're ready to progress," Pelini said.
If a coach moves too fast, he confuses the whole offense or defense, Pelini said. He offers his own metaphor.
"It's like if you put the walls up before you have the foundation built. The whole thing gets screwed up, right?"
For example, Pelini may have planned in advance to install one phase of the defense.
"If on Wednesday they don't have what we're doing on Wednesday, then I might say, 'Let's move what we were going to do Friday to Saturday.'"
Certain concepts need to be covered this spring. But Pelini doesn't expect to have everything established by the first game. Better to be great at a few things than average at several.
"You can make the mistake of trying to be the Patriots tomorrow," Pelini said.
The past few years, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove had a base defense, a speed defense, a nickel defense — and different calls within each. It might have become too specialized, Potter said.
Potter expects a simpler, less-stressful system under Pelini.
The offensive routine is a little murkier. Callahan's coordinator, Shawn Watson, is still running the show.
Swift isn't sure how practice will change. Maybe fewer repetitions. Maybe more time between plays for discussion. More teaching moments.
It's a little strange, players say. Pelini's a first-time head coach, so no one knows for certain what he'll be like.
Intensity will be unrelenting, they know that much. Effort will be critical. Winning can't wait long.
But when it comes to the practice field, Pelini's players have already learned one lesson: To take big strides, sometimes you've got to slow down.
Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom
Copyright ©2008 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
